JA.pdf

Department of the Air Force: Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition

CUI

March 2026 Page 2 of 4

I. Agency and Contracting Activity (RFO 6.104-1(a)(1)):

Department of the Air Force, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), HNCK Contracting, Lackland AFB, TX. The Contracting Officer for this requirement is Captain Philip Carder, philip.carder.2@us.af.mil, 210-925-3350.

II. Nature and/or description of the action being approved (RFO 6.104-1(a)(2)):

This document provides the justification to restrict consideration to brand-name items in accordance with RFO 6.103-1(d).

Approval will authorize the award of a new firm-fixed-price purchase order for the hardware and software required by the Hyper Converged Interface (HCI) Equipment Program. This justification is made on an individual basis.

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs (RFO 6.104-1(a)(3)):

This acquisition is for commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) IT hardware and software necessary to execute a technology refresh and expand the architecture of the HCI Equipment system. funded for CLIN 0001(3400) and CLIN 0002 (3080). The specific items required and CLIN structure are as follows:

Line Item Brand P/N QTY

CLIN 0001 (3400) Tech Refresh

Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX3 wtih 48p Cisco N9K-C93180YCFX3-WS QTY: 2 Dell PowerEdge R770 Dell R770 QTY: 2 Elasticsearch License 2.0 Enterprise Elastic QTY: 1

CLIN 0002 (3080) New System

Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX3 with 48p Cisco N9K-C93180YCFX3-WS QTY: 4 Cisco Firepower 3105 Threat Defense Cisco FPR3105-NGFW-K9 QTY: 2 Dell Power Edge R770 Dell R770 QTY: 4 C14 Power Cable 2 Meter QTY: 14 Cisco GLC-T Extended Temp edition (RJ45) Cisco GLC-TE QTY:12 Cisco Multimode Extended Temp edition (LC) Cisco GLC-MM-SXW QTY:16 Cisco Singlemode Long Range 1Gb GBIC (LC) Cisco GLC-LH-SMD QTY: 12 Cisco SHORT Range 10Gb (LC) Cisco SFP-10G-SR QTY:88

Firepower 3105 Threat Defense License Cisco L-FPR3105T-T-1Y QTY: 2 Elasticsearch License 2.0 Enterprise Elastic QTY: 2 1 Meter OM3 Multimode Fiber cable (Green) QTY: 42 RJ45 Patch Cable (Green) 3ft QTY: 8 Velcro Roll - Black- 75ft QTY: 1 Label Maker QTY: 1

IV. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition (RFO 6.104-1(a)(4)):

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1), Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

V. Rationale for Use of Authority (RFO 6.104-1(a)(5)):

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This brand-name justification is required as only the specified brand items can meet the Government's needs. The HCI system is standardized on Dell PowerEdge servers, Cisco networking components, and other brand names listed in Section 3, for full interoperability. One CLIN is for sustaining the existing Government-owned system, and the next is for a new system that must be compatible with it. Awarding an order with any other brands would result in substantial duplication of cost and unacceptable delays.

Integrating a different brand would force the Government to duplicate the significant investments required for the original system's Authority to Operate (ATO). This would involve costs comparable to sustainment contract and the per-FTE cost for specialized personnel that were required for the initial effort. A costly, out-of-scope modification to the existing sustainment contract (FA8307-22-F-0030) would also be unavoidable, delaying this requirement by months.

Introducing non-standard hardware would trigger a lengthy re-accreditation process. The original ATO for this system took three years to secure. A major baseline change is estimated to cause a minimum delay of one year for integration, security re-documentation, authorization package approval, transition, and final approval. A delay of this magnitude is unacceptable as it would deny operators the continuous operational access they require, introducing a significant risk to mission readiness.

Therefore, consistent with the agency's established standardization for this system, only the brands requested in Section 3 can meet the Government's needs without incurring these critical costs and delays.

VI. Integrated Market Analysis and Efforts to Solicit Competition (RFO 6.104-1(a)(6), (8), and (10)):

Market research was conducted to ascertain whether other sources could provide supplies that would meet the Government's requirements.

A Request For Information (RFI1795196) was posted to 2GIT with two small business responses. These responses determined that significant portions of these items are not available on 2GIT's schedule, and were subject to ordering through the open market.

This research supports this acquisition as a 100% small business set aside.

VII. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Cost (RFO 6.104-1(a)(7)):

The Contracting Officer is responsible for evaluating, determining, and documenting the anticipated contract cost/price is fair and reasonable in accordance with RFO Subpart 15.4, Contract Pricing.

VIII. Any Other Facts Supporting the Justification (RFO 6.104-1(a)(9)):

The totality of this research has confirmed that due to the proprietary nature of the hardware and software interfaces within the existing system, only the specified brand-name products can meet the critical need for full interoperability. The HCI Equipment system is mission-critical, and any failure to maintain perfect compatibility during the technology refresh and expansion would introduce an unacceptable risk of operational failure and mission degradation. Therefore, procuring the specified brand-name items is the only approach that mitigates these technical and mission risks.

IX. Actions to Overcome Barriers to Competition (RFO 6.104-1(a)(11):

For all future technology refreshes or system replacements, the Program Office will conduct market research to assess the feasibility of migrating to a more modular or open-systems architecture. This analysis will be part of the formal requirements

March 2026 Page 4 of 4 generation process for the next major lifecycle replacement of the HCI Equipment system. It will evaluate whether alternative solutions can meet the Government's evolving performance, security, and interoperability requirements without incurring unacceptable costs or mission risks, with the goal of increasing competition in future acquisitions.