JA - IR96c - JA VAEC- Cisco ASR Routers 4-24 FINAL - REDACTED_Redacted.pdf

Cisco Aggregation Services Routers Control Number: VA-20-00044097

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724

Description of Action: The proposed action is for a Firm-Fixed-Price delivery order (DO) to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurements (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cisco Aggregation Services Routers (ASR) 1009-X routers.

Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM) requires eight brand name Cisco ASR1009-X high-performance routers. OEHRM is required to securely connect VA medical centers and clinics to the Cerner data center where the Electronic Health Record (EHR) solution is being hosted. The hosting environment is jointly managed by the Department of Defense and VA. The required brand name Cisco ASR1009-X high-performance routing equipment shall be used to provide redundant paths to support direct access from the VA Wide Area Network (WAN) to VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC), by using (2) dedicated 10GB circuit paths. Circuit path (1) will establish dedicated traffic between the VAEC (A Loc: Equinix) and Cerner's Data Center (Z Loc: Cerner KC Data Center). Circuit path (2) establishes dedicated hardware only. No software or maintenance will be renewed or procured under this proposed action.

. The period of performance shall be delivery within 30 days after DO 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 the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on the market research described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the required Cisco ASR 1009-X high-performance routing equipment to support the continued deployment of direct circuit connections from the VA WAN to the VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC).

Currently, Cisco equipment installed within the VA WAN infrastructure supports

Cisco Aggregation Services Routers Control Number: VA-20-00044097 thousands of employees and contractors requiring secure access to clinical, logistic, financial and administrative devices; connecting all facets of delivering Veteran patient care at all locations. The current VA infrastructure in place requires augmentation that ensures compatibility and interoperability with the existing Cisco equipment. Only brand name Cisco Aggregation Services Routers (ASR) 1009-X routers can meet the VA need as they communicate through a source code based on Cisco proprietary data. There is no hardware that is currently compatible and interoperable with the existing Cisco equipment currently deployed. Only brand name Cisco can be used due to the proprietary nature of the Cisco Systems architecture. Only Cisco can ensure required communications protocols are available for local and agency-wide connectivity between all VA facilities. Failure to acquire the brand name Cisco Aggregation Services Routers (ASR) 1009-X routers would leave VA without the necessary network connectivity required to implement

Initial Operating Capability deployment schedule.

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 limited competition is viable among resellers for these brand name Cisco products.

In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all interested NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. In accordance with FAR 5.301, FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D) and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), notice of award of the resulting order will be synopsized and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days after 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. Specifically, the Government will continue to investigate alternatives to Cisco products that may be compatible with the current infrastructure.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by VA representatives in March 2020 through internet research to determine if any other vendors are companies researched included Juniper Networks Switching Solutions, HPE Switching Solutions, and Arista Switching Solutions. While other hardware requirements as outlined in Section 5 of this Justification because only Cisco, through an authorized reseller, can provide the current hardware that communicates through a source code based on Cisco proprietary data currently have determined that only brand name Cisco ASR 1009-X high-performance

Additional market research was conducted in March 2020 by issuance of a

Cisco Aggregation Services Routers Control Number: VA-20-00044097

Request for Information amongst NASA SEWP V GWAC holders to determine what vendors are capable of meeting the requirement. Based on this market research, it was determined there are multiple service-disabled Veteran-owned small business authorized resellers under NASA SEWP V GWAC capable of in April 2020 by utilizing the NASA SEWP V Provider Lookup Tool. The Provider Lookup Tool yielded fourteen (14) SDVOSB NASA SEWP V GWAC holders that are resellers of the required brand name Cisco hardware under North American Industry Classification System code 541519. Therefore, limited competition is anticipated for this requirement.

9. Other Facts: None.

Cisco Aggregation Services Routers Control Number: VA-20-00044097

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.

Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this action will be fair and reasonable because NASA SEWP V GWAC prices have previously been determined fair and reasonable. Additionally, the successful quote will be compared to the published price lists on the NASA SEWP V GWAC price catalog of the successful offeror.

Finally, the successful quote will be compared with competitive quotes and/or 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.