JA - Activation - Phoenix Redacted.pdf

Brand Name Cisco VS Equipment Control Number: VA-21- 00086320

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

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

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a Firm-Fixed-Price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cisco Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Wide Area Network (WAN) and Local Area Network (LAN) equipment.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services VA Office of Information and Technology, IT Operations and Services (ITOPS) Unified Communications Infrastructure Support (UCIS) section has a requirement for brand name Cisco VoIP phones and WAN/LAN equipment to support for the Phoenix VA Medical Center (VAMC) Voice Activation project. This procurement will also include both Cisco and non-Cisco brand incidental hardware, software and maintenance. This effort will expand the currently fielded Cisco Voice System (VS) infrastructure to enable and sustain operations. The VA site will install and configure the equipment; therefore, installation is not required by the Contractor. All required hardware and software shall be delivered no later than thirty

(30) days after award.

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 adequate competition is viable among resellers for the required brand name Cisco equipment and incidental hardware and software. The current VS infrastructure in place within the VA’s Enterprise Voice Network consists of several Cisco Unified Call Manager (CUCM) clusters. Only brand name Cisco phones and WAN/LAN equipment will ensure proper integration with the existing CUCM clusters across the enterprise. The existing Cisco VS utilizes a proprietary database structure specific only to Cisco hardware and software. No other brand VoIP phones or WAN/LAN equipment can integrate into the existing CUCM due to these proprietary constraints. Therefore, procuring any other brand phones and WAN/LAN equipment would require a complete replacement of VA’s existing VS infrastructure for which the costs would not be recovered through competition. Additionally, VA already owns the associated licensing required to ensure the Cisco phones are fully functional. VA has an enterprise licensing agreement with

Brand Name VS Cisco Equipment Control Number: VA-21- 00086320

Cisco which allows the addition of these phones without the need to procure additional licensing and maintenance support. Therefore, only Cisco phones and WAN/LAN equipment can meet VA’s requirements to expand the existing Cisco VS to support the Phoenix VAMC Voice Activation project.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. However, the Government determined that limited competition is available among resellers of the required Cisco equipment and incidental hardware and software. 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. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities Page website on beta.SAM.gov website and this 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: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research during April 2021 by reviewing VoIP and WAN/LAN equipment available from other manufacturers such a Blackbox and Brocade. The market research confirmed that due to Cisco’s proprietary database structure as discussed in Section 5, no other brand phones and WAN/LAN equipment are fully compatible or interoperable with the existing Cisco VS infrastructure. Therefore, only Cisco brand phones and network equipment can meet VA’s requirements for this VS expansion effort.

Further market research was conducted in July utilizing the NASA SEWP provider lookup tool which revealed multiple resellers of the required Cisco equipment and incidental hardware and software, including multiple verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs).

9. Other Facts: None.