FAR Part 16 SolarWinds Brand Name EFOJ Redacted FINAL_Redacted.pdf

(Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4) JUN 2023

JUSTIFICATION REVIEW DOCUMENT

FAR Part 16 Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

Program/Equipment: SolarWinds Software Suite for Comprehensive IT Infrastructure Monitoring and Management

Authority: 10 United States Code 3406(c)(5) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) and FAR 16.505(a)(4), “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized ”.

Prepared by:

Contracting Officer:

Technical:

Requirements:

(Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4) JUN 2023

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.

Program Manager:

Legal Counsel:

(Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4)

Department of the Army Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity - Brand Name

Under Multiple Award Indefinite Delivery Contracts

1. Requiring Activity: US. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Software Engineering Center (SEC) for Department of the Army agencies, 6585 Surveillance Loop, Aberdeen Proving Gound, Maryland 21005

2. Contracting Activity: Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Grounds, ATTN: Digital Capabilities Center of Excellence (DC3oE), 6472 Integrity Court, Building 4401, Aberdeen Proving Grounds MD 21005

3. Description of Action: Request is for a new estimated Competitive Firm-Fixed Price Delivery Order for SolarWinds Software Suite for Comprehensive IT Infrastructure Monitoring and Management brand name under Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS/Digital Market) with a period of performance from 30 September 2025 through 29 September 2030. Fiscal Year 2025 funding under Operation and Maintenance, Army (OMA) will be used. U.S. Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT), responsible for air operations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, requires the SolarWinds software suite for comprehensive IT infrastructure monitoring and management. This includes network performance monitoring, database optimization, storage resource oversight, and web application performance tracking to ensure operational readiness and cybersecurity in dynamic, high-stakes environments.

4. Description of Supplies/Services: SolarWinds' suite, including Hybrid Cloud Observability (Self-Hosted Advanced), Database Performance Analyzer (with SQL Sentry), SRM, WPMX, and Engineer's Toolset, offers several distinctive features not commonly matched by competitors, particularly in hybrid, self-hosted, and federal/DoD contexts. The 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Observability Platforms recognized SolarWinds as a Niche Player, acknowledging its ability to ingest, store, and analyze operational telemetry feeds, identify and analyze changes in application, service, and infrastructure behavior, enrich telemetry with contextualization, support relationship modeling, and collect telemetry from public cloud providers. This recognition highlights SolarWinds' role in empowering businesses with full-stack observability across hybrid IT environments, a critical requirement for AFCENT.

The specific requirement encompasses SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted Advanced for 15,000 nodes with deployment services, Federal Professional Engineer's Toolset per seat license (includes one desktop install and one web named user), Flexible Database Performance Analyzer for virtualized environments and SQL Sentry license per instance, SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor (SRM)10000 (up to 10,000 disks) - subscription, and SolarWinds Web Performance Monitor (WPMX) (unlimited recordings x locations, standard playback rate). The self-hosted nature of the software aligns with Department of Defense (DoD) requirements for data sovereignty and security, enabling AFCENT to monitor up to 15,000 nodes, 10,000 disks, and unlimited web recordings/locations while integrating with federal engineering toolsets for deployment and maintenance.

Self-Hosted Deployment with Flexible Node Allocation: Unlike SaaS-heavy competitors, SolarWinds provides a fully self-hosted option that ensures data remains on-premises for enhanced security and compliance in sensitive environments like DoD operations. This includes allocating licenses across instances without additional polling engines, reducing costs and complexity for large-scale deployments (e.g., 15,000 nodes). Gartner notes SolarWinds' focus on supporting both cloud and on-premises workloads, critical for organizations like AFCENT with regulatory requirements for data sovereignty.

AI-Powered Anomaly Detection Integrated with Security Tools: SolarWinds uses machine learning for anomaly-based alerting across networks, databases, and storage, reducing alert fatigue by prioritizing threats. Features like Root Cause Assist and AI-powered log insights streamline issue investigation, as highlighted in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant. This integrates directly with security solutions for proactive remediation, a feature less emphasized in competitors' offerings, making it uniquely suited for threat detection in federal settings.

Comprehensive Multi-Vendor Storage and SAN/NAS Monitoring: SRM provides automated capacity planning and dynamic relationship tracing for up to 10,000 disks, including SAN performance and NAS health, which goes beyond the storage insights offered by competitors by providing prebuilt reports and integration with full-stack observability without tool sprawl. Gartner recognizes SolarWinds' hybrid IT awareness enhancements, improving visibility across cloud and on-premises workloads.

End-User Focused Web Monitoring with Device-Specific Testing: WPM monitors unlimited recordings and locations with multi-tenant UI and resolution-based testing for responsive designs, emphasizing user experience diagnostics and seamless integration with broader IT tools, a strength noted in SolarWinds' customer feedback in Gartner Peer Insights.

Over 60 Network Engineering Tools in One Package: The Federal Professional Engineer's Toolset includes specialized features like WAN stress testing, automated discovery, and secure config management, tailored for DoD compliance, which competitors often fragment across multiple products or lack in depth for network-specific tasks.

Cross-Platform Database Tuning for Virtualized Environments: DPA's expert advisors and query analysis for virtualized setups (e.g., VMware) provide optimization not as robustly available in competitors, focusing on multi-DBMS support without requiring separate tools. Gartner highlights SolarWinds' database performance monitoring as a key component of its observability suite.

The total estimated value for this procurement is for a five-year (5), one, one year base, and four, one year option period Firm-Fixed-Priced (FFP) delivery order services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized. SolarWinds brand name is the only source that can meet requirements because of its b.

11. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

12. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. Competition is expected on this requirement in order to determine reasonableness. However, if reasonableness is unable to be determined by competition, a price analysis, comparison to Independent Government Cost Estimate, comparison to historical prices, and/or comparison to commercial prices may be done. Additionally, certified cost or pricing data will not be required in accordance with FAR 15.403-1(b)(3), as a commercial item is being acquired.

13. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of SolarWinds Software Suite for Comprehensive IT Infrastructure Monitoring and Management on an Exception to Fair Opportunity basis pursuant to the authority of Title 10 United States Code 3406(c)(5) as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) and FAR 16.505(a)(4), Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized”. The estimated value of the new contract action is for one one-year base period and four option years of performance from 30 September 2025 to 29 September 2030. The approval is subject to availability of funds, and provided that the supplies and/or services herein described have otherwise been authorized for this acquisition/or services herein described have otherwise been authorized for this acquisition.