J_A Redacted.pdf

VA-21-00052598

JUSTIFICATIONFOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Operations

Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way

Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a Firm-Fixed-Price delivery order (DO) that will be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for an Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support annual software and hardware maintenance including Next Business (W/NBD) onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information Technology (OIT), Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO), Demand Management Office (DMO) Capacity and Performance Engineering (CPE) directorate requires annual software and hardware maintenance for its installation of a 28 node Dell EMC VxRail Hyper-Converged Solution. The annual hardware maintenance will be at the Pro-Support level W/NBD onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting. The annual software maintenance shall include software updates and patches. Troubleshooting shall be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year via telephone support. This procurement is for annual software and hardware maintenance, failed replacement hardware and troubleshooting only. No hardware or software is being procured as a result of this action. The total period of performance shall be one (1) 12-month base period with two (2) 12-month option periods. The total estimated value of the proposed action is , which is inclusive of all option periods.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), entitled “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.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based upon market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is viable among resellers for brand name Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support annual software and hardware maintenance with W/NBD onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting. The VxRail Hyper-Converged Solution is designed by Dell EMC. VA currently utilizes the Dell EMC VxRail Hyper-Converged solution as its virtualized compute and storage solution. The current infrastructure is based on existing VxRail Hyper-Converged solution which requires Dell EMC proprietary software. VA requires support compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. The VxRail Hyper-Converged Solution stores and processes capacity and performance data collected from across the VA enterprise along with hosting numerous systems, including several instances of VA’s Veterans Health Information System Technology Architecture Pre- Production. The Dell EMC VxRail Hyper-Converged system is a proprietary solution comprised of Dell items (hardware and software) and only Dell EMC or a reseller can provide the necessary failed hardware replacement because of the propriety source code required to develop, install, configure, and implement the hardware. Implementation is needed to address failed or non-performing hardware. In addition, no other brand name replacement parts can meet the VxRail Hyper-Converted solution. Other manufacturers do not have access to the proprietary data, source codes, protocols, and proprietary hardware for the Dell EMC VxRail Hyper-Converged solution. Another brand name Hyper- Converged solution or its replacement parts will not integrate and communicate with the existing solution because of the proprietary constraints. Additionally, no other brand name maintenance vendor would have the proprietary knowledge or understanding of the interoperability and compatibility requirements and therefore could jeopardize the stability and operability of the system. Use of another brand Hyper Converged Solution would require VA to replace the existing system. The cost to replace the current system would be approximately for the product plus an estimated of duplicative costs relative to Government resources needed to de-install/install hardware, migrate data and reconfigure supporting infrastructure. These costs also do not account for the additional costs of ongoing maintenance and support of the new hardware and software which would still be required. These estimated costs would not be recovered by competition. This estimate is based on previous efforts conducted by VA.

Failure to procure the required brand name Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support annual software and hardware maintenance including Next Business (W/NBD) onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting would adversely affect the operation of the VxRail system by making manufacturer maintenance and security patches, software updates and hardware fault repair unavailable and therefore creating a potential Information Security risk on VxRail. Continued operation of a system with a security risk is untenable. The CPE VxRail platform supports, among other things, pre-production testing for VA’s VistA EHR (Electronic Health Record). Without the availability of VxRail for the testing of VistA EHR updates, Veteran’s patient care could be adversely affected.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. It was determined however that limited competition is viable among resellers for this brand name acquisition. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on Contracts Opportunities on the beta.SAM.gov website and the justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: VA technical experts conducted market research in April 2021 by reviewing similar software and hardware via web-based research. The VA technical experts reviewed alternative products from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and International Business Machine. The technical experts determined that these products are not able to communicate and function with the currently fielded Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support annual maintenance with W/NBD onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting. In addition, in March 2021 the requiring activity completed additional market research by performing a Market Research Request on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website. The request identified several resellers of maintenance services, including several Service- Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB). While solutions from alternative manufacturers exist, they do not meet VA’s requirements because only Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support, or a reseller, has access to the existing proprietary data, source codes and protocols required to provide support. Based on the above, only brand name Dell EMC can meet all of the Government’ requirements.

Additional market research was conducted in April 2021 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup tool to determine whether the brand name Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support annual maintenance W/NBD onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting is available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. VA determined that there are several SDVOSB Contract Holders that are resellers of the brand name Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support annual maintenance W/NBD onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting. As a result, there is a reasonable expectation that limited competition exists on the NASA SEWP V GWAC for the brand name Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support annual maintenance W/NBD onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting.

9. Other Facts: None.

Approval

In my role as Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of brand name Dell EMC VxRail Pro-Support annual maintenance with Next Business (W/NBD) onsite hardware replacement and troubleshooting, on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the statutory authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.