JA Cisco ESM SAN Supervisor Cards and Fabric Modules _Redacted.pdf

CISCO ESM SAN Supervisor Cards and Fabric Modules Control Number: VA-24-00029950

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 Brand Name firm-fixed price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the purchase of Brand Name Cisco supervisor cards and fabric modules to replace the existing brand name Cisco supervisors and fabric modules and Cisco Nexus Dashboard Appliances with associated installation services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services:

VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Information Technology Operations and Services (ITOPS), Infrastructure Operations (IO), Enterprise Storage Service Line (ESSL) has a requirement to upgrade the current brand name Cisco Multilayer Director Switch (MDS), Storage Area Network (SAN) switching infrastructure and associated SAN management systems in place at the Austin Information Technology Center (AITC), Philadelphia Information Technology Center (PITC), and Capital Region Readiness Center (CRRC) locations. The pre-existing brand name Cisco supervisor cards and fabric modules are approaching End of Life (EOL) and require a technical equipment upgrade to maintain continued interconnectivity and operability support for all IO hosted systems, storage and associated applications. Only brand name Cisco Nexus Dashboard Appliances run the latest necessary proprietary software to administer and manage the existing Cisco SAN environment. The Contractor shall be responsible for coordinating delivery of the requested supervisor cards and fabric modules to all 3 locations. The Contractor shall be responsible for coordinating delivery, installation, and configuration of the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Appliances at AITC and PITC. The associated maintenance support for the hardware will be covered under the Cisco National SmartNet Enterprise Agreement. The total estimated price of this proposed action is and the Period of Performance for all hardware deliverables, installation, and configuration is within 60 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 can provide the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized”.

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 Contracting Opportunities 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 market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: The Government’s Subject Matter Experts conducted market research in May and November/December 2023, through reviews of internet websites and trade publications, to determine if other similar supervisr cards, fabric modules, and CISCO Nexus Dashboard Appliances could meet the Government’s requirements.

Specifically, the Subject Matter Experts reviewed similar OEM supervisor cards and fabric modules from alternative vendors including those from Brocade and Dell.

Although other products can provide similar capabilities, no other product can meet VA’s requirements as outlined in Section 5 of this justification, as they are not compatible and interoperable with the existing infrastructure in place. The alternate brand name OEM supervisor cards and fabric modules do not have access to brand name Cisco’s proprietary source code needed in order to seamlessly interoperate and communicate with the existing infrastructure. Therefore, at present there is no other hardware available in the marketplace that can meet this requirement. In addition, VA networking Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name hardware is available.

Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government’s Subject Matter Experts have determined that only the Cisco brand name supervisor cards, fabric modules and CISCO Nexus Dashboard Appliances can meet all VA’s needs.

In November 2023. additional market research was conducted by the Governments Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) by releasing a Request for Information (RFI) #292865 from November 24, 2023 through December 1st, 2023 on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise- Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) to all contract holders to determine whether there were resellers available to provide brand name CISCO SAN Supervisor Cards and Fabric Modules. Four (4) contract holders responded to the RFI with quotes two (2) of which are Service -Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business resellers. The Subject Matter Experts determined that the resellers met VA’s requirement and demonstrated their ability to provide the required hardware. Additional market research was conducted during this time as the COR utilized the NASA SEWP V GWAC Provider Lookup Tool. It was determined that there were 129 CISCO resellers capable of meeting the full requirement. Of those 129 resellers there were multiple SDVOSB authorized resellers of CISCO ESM SAN Supervisor Cards and Fabric Modules on the NASA SEWP V GWAC. Therefore, limited competition is expected for this proposed action on NASA SEWP V GWAC.

9. Other Facts: None

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

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based on the expectation of price competition in addition to the fact that prices on the NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable. Additional price analysis will be performed by comparing the proposed prices to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

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