JA -VISN 23 FY26 Nutanix Hardware Replacement _Redacted.pdf

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 issuance of 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 a Brand-Name acquisition of Nutanix software and Nutanix-compatible hardware to accomplish replacement of end of serviceable life hardware for five medical centers in the VA Midwest Healthcare Network.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN) 23 has a requirement to refresh its brand name Nutanix HCI solution deployed at four data centers in VISN 23 (Sioux Falls, Fargo, Black Hills, and St. Cloud), as well as one GPU enabled cluster located in Iowa City. VISN 23 requires the solution hardware to be serviceable and maintained throughout the contract Period of Performance (PoP) to include the replacement of any end-of-life hardware that is currently part of the Nutanix HCI solution. Additionally, this requirement will include all associated software, maintenance and support. VA requires the solution to be interoperable and compatible with the existing infrastructure.

The Contractor shall provide Nutanix Support and Maintenance services, which consists of 24x7x365 complete solutions maintenance and support for all hardware and software components of the proposed solution, including updates and patches as well as technical support available via telephone, email, and web during all hours (24 hours per day, 365 days per year). The Contractor shall provide US-soil-based support with a dedicated 24/7 “Federal only” support line.

The PoP for this order shall be 90 days for delivery, installation, configuration and data migration followed by 12 months of maintenance and support.

4. Statutory Authority: 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 Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul (RFO) VA Deviation 16.507-6(b)(2), 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 justification, it was determined that only brand name Nutanix Software and Nutanix compatible hardware installation, data migration services and support can meet the Government’s requirement. Currently, VISN 23 has an existing Nutanix Virtual Cluster Environment throughout the VISN. No other brand

VISN 23 Nutanix Virtual Environment HW Replacement Control Number VA-26-00046996 software meets VA’s requirements due to the proprietary software licensing and maintenance. Additionally, all hardware procured and installed at these data centers will be maintained as serviceable and include replacement for any hardware failing or reaching end-of-life during the PoP of this procurement. All new hardware must be limited only to configurations that are on Nutanix’s compatibility list. While there are various brands and combinations of Nutanix-compatible hardware, all proposed hardware configurations will be verified during a technical review of quotes received using the Nutanix Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix site, which can be found on the OEM’s web page. If they are not compatible, then Nutanix will not support the installation and cannot guarantee that the overarching Nutanix solution will function properly. If these systems are not functioning properly, it could lead to delays or cancellations of patient care or patient diagnoses, as these systems house virtual servers for medical systems. Replacing the existing Nutanix solution with another branded solution would cause duplicative costs of at least $3.4 million not including the additional tasks of recovering and transferring existing data to the new solution and training staff on the proper functionality of the new solution.

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 that could meet the Government’s requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name Nutanix licenses, support, and Nutanix-compatible hardware.

In accordance with RFO VA Deviation 16.507-7(c)(ii) this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders.

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, VA will continue to monitor market trends, new/emerging products, and services for availability of other solutions to meet VA needs.

8. Market Research: VISN 23 Biomedical Engineering staff conducted market research by reviewing other similar software. This market research was conducted in the fall of 2025. Based on reviews of other virtual server environments, no other manufacturers can meet the Government’s requirements of the software being interoperable and compatible with the existing infrastructure without significant duplication of time and cost as detailed above. During market research, VMWare, Microsoft Hyper-V, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise SimpliVity were researched. Review of these companies is based on technical presentations that were provided to the team. These other companies would not be able to integrate into the existing infrastructure Additionally, VA Subject Matter Experts reviewed industry trade publications and conducted internet research to ascertain if any other brand name software is available to meet the Government’s requirements and did not find any additional sources.

Moreover, on March 25, 2026, the Contract Specialist conducted market research by releasing Request for Information (RFI), 36C10B26Q0289, via NASA SEWP V GWAC and responses were due April 2, 2026. The results yielded two separate platform solutions from ThunderCat Technology (ThunderCat). Both include the same brand of software but different configurations of compatible hardware, Option One detailed a Nutanix NX Supermicor solution and Option Two detailed a Cisco solution. Both were forwarded to the customer team; both were deemed technically capable.

Due to the limited number of responses received from the RFI the Contract Specialist (CS) emailed NASA SEWP on April 8, 2026, requesting assistance in contacting other authorized resellers to ascertain their ability to meet the requirement. NASA SEWP extended the RFI response date to April 15, 2026, and contacted authorized resellers of Nutanix products to inquire if they would be interested in providing a response to the RFI. VA received two additional responses, one from Software Information Resource Corp. (SIRC) and the other from CACI IDT. Additionally, on June 24, 2026, the CS contacted and received a response from the incumbent, Greenbrier Government Solutions. All three vendors submitted a response that they plan to provide a quote if a solicitation is posted. The additional two responses received were not provided to the customer for technical review because there was no additional information provided within the responses to determine if they could meet the requirements as outlined in the draft Product Description (PD). Furthermore, the Contract Specialist did confirm that although SIRC, CACI IDT, and Greenbrier Government Solutions did not provide any additional information in response to the RFI they are listed as authorized resellers of Nutanix products. It has been verified, via the NASA SEWP site, responses were received from the following size categories, two Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small businesses (SDVOSB), one Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB), and one Other Than Small Business.

Furthermore, the NASA SEWP V GWAC has a dynamic catalog where line items can be added based on customer requests; therefore, as long as the required item or service is within scope of the NASA SEWP V GWAC, items and services can be added to the catalog on a daily basis. Based on the above, there is a reasonable expectation that limited competition exists on the NASA SEWP V GWAC. The requirement discussed herein has been found to be within scope of NASA SEWP V GWAC in a separate determination. As a result of the aforementioned market research, VA intends to issue a Request for Quotation to all SDVOSBs contract holders on the NASA SEWP

V GWAC.

Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that a comprehensive Brand Name Nutanix solution with compatible hardware is the only solution that can meet all of the VA’s needs.

9. Other Facts: N/A

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 contract action will be fair and reasonable based on anticipated price competition. Furthermore, contracts awarded on NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable and more competitive pricing may result from competition.

Contracting Officer Certification

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Advocate for Competition Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of brand name Nutanix software maintenance and support and Nutanix Compatible hardware on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.