JA for redaction_Redacted.pdf

Control Number VA-20-00077776

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: This proposed action is for a firm fixed-price delivery order under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise- Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name DigiCert Secure Socket Layer (SSL) subscriptions, gold support, and licenses.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information & Technology (Ol&T), Infrastructure Operations, Information Technology Operations and Services (ITOPS), requires brand name DigiCert SSL subscriptions, gold support, and licenses.

The gold support will consist of certificate upgrades and updates to include major releases, patch releases, service releases, and security releases of applicable software on a quarterly basis and/or within 48 hours in cases with high risk vulnerability fixes. The contractor shall provide one telephone number and/or a point of contact for VA to contact and open maintenance service calls. For the proposed action, the period of performance is 12 months plus one, 12 month option period and optional tasks with an estimated price is

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 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 on market research, as described in section 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is available for DigiCert SSL certificate/software maintenance, upgrades, and updates.

The current Windows 10 is based on existing DigiCert SSL certificates used to support the Office of Asset Enterprise Management (AEM). VA requires support compatible with its existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. Only DigiCert SSL or an authorized reseller can provide the necessary certificate updates, because of the proprietary source code required to develop and implement certificate/software upgrades and updates. No other source can provide the required certificate/software maintenance that meets VA's unique functional requirements. In addition, a prior implementation of DigiCert—Symantec SSL certificate/software licenses already exists in Windows 10. Replacing the existing certificate software by purchasing new certificate software, would require onsite

FY21 Software License and Gold Support Digicert

VA 20-00077776

installation and configuration of the new certificate software and re-training of all VA information technology support staff. No other license is compatible with or interoperable with the existing DigiCert SSL proprietary database structures, protocols, and certificate software application programming interfaces. The brand name DigiCert—SSL gold support, subscriptions, and certificates/licenses are the only certificate/software maintenance that meets the Government's requirements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this justification. Although the Government is limiting competition because of specifying DigiCert’s SSL gold support, subscriptions, and certificates/licenses, it was determined that there are multiple value-added resellers of this product that hold NASA SEWP V contracts. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), this action will be synopsized, and the justification will be made publicly available on the Contracting Opportunities Page within 14 days after award. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A), the justification will be posted with the Request for Quote on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for the requirement described herein, the Government's technical experts have and will continue to perform market research to determine if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted in April 2020. The Government's technical experts reviewed similar service providers to determine if the current DigiCert SSL being utilized by VA could be supported by other service providers. Specifically, technical experts conducted web-based research on Entrust and Rapid SSL products. As a result of the market research, the technical experts confirmed that the source code required to issue the certificate/software updates is proprietary. Therefore, DigiCert SSL, Incorporated is the only source capable of providing the required maintenance for DigiCert SSL gold support, subscriptions, and certificates/licenses. No other software provider has the capability of developing and issuing certificate/software updates and fixes for DigiCert SSL software. DigiCert uses multiply authorized resellers via NASA

SEWP.

9. Other Facts: N/A