Justification and Approval - ESTIII Fire Alarm System.pdf

VHAPG Part 806.3 OFOC Page 1 of 4 Revision: 02 Effective Date: 11/15/23

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Justification and Approval (J&A) For

Other Than Full and Open Competition

Project 520-317X: Biloxi Building 1 Renovation – Biloxi, Mississippi Solicitation: 36C10F24R50025

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Construction and Facilities

Management (CFM), Office of Facilities Acquisition (OFA).

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed:

The VA Office of Construction and Facilities Management intends to award a firm-fixed price contract which will allow for full and open competition for all elements of construction except for the item(s) specifically identified herein. Therefore, this action is a sole source justification for requiring use of Edwards Technology System III (ESTIII) fire alarm system that will be a component of the overall construction project 520-317X: Biloxi Building 1 Renovation.

3. Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs:

As a part of overall construction, the contractor will be required will be required to utilize ESTIII to expand the existing Engineering Fire Alarm System including hardware, software, and various programming elements for the Building 1 Renovation. The system consists of two EST network loops (one with 28 nodes and a second with 49 notes) integrated by five UL compliant Fireworks workstations. Any installation of ESTIII system components or software requires updating the Fireworks workstations. The estimated total cost of the proprietary components is which represents % of the total construction value to be awarded. The estimated cost is based on the budgetary estimates provided by Anderson Enginering, May 3, 2019 and escalated based on historical Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.

Expansion of the existing Engineering Fire Alarm system (attached to over 40 Buildings) eliminates the inevitable gaps and irregularities experienced when other proprietary systems are cobbled into an established system. Other manufacturers may state that their system will seamlessly interface with any other system, but the Bilox VAMC has never experienced an instance when other system has worked as advertised. Additionally, the ESTIII Fire Alarm provides the Mass Notification system for the entire Biloxi Campus.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other than Full and Open Competition:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is:

( X ) (1) Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements per 41 USC §3304(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1;

( ) (2) Unusual and Compelling Urgency per 41 USC §3304(a)(2) as implemented by FAR 6.302-2;

( ) (3) Industrial Mobilization, Engineering, Developmental or Research Capability or Expert Services per 41 USC §3304(a)(3) as implemented by FAR 6.302-3;

( ) (4) International Agreement per 41 USC §3304(a)(4) as implemented by FAR 6.302-4

VHAPG Part 806.3 OFOC Page 2 of 4

( ) (5) Authorized or Required by Statute per 41 USC §3304(a)(5) as implemented by FAR 6.302-5;

( ) (6) National Security per 41 USC §3304(a)(6) as implemented by FAR 6.302-6;

( ) (7) Public Interest per 41 USC §3304(a)(7) as implemented by FAR 6.302-7;

5. Demonstration that the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the

Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above (applicability of authority):

Therefore, as indicated above, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements and that any other source would likely result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition and could cause unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agency’s requirements. ESTIII exists as the Biloxi Medical Center’s current Fire Alarm System. ESTIII is a proprietary system operating a single database on dedicated networks for the medical center’s Fire Monitoring and Mass Notification System which has been designed to meet all requirements necessary to satisfy The Joint Commission, NFPA, VA, and life safety requirements among others. As with all construction for the Biloxi VAMC, this system must be restored during the Building 1 Renovation (it exists and operates in other parts of the building that are not part of the renovation and exists in the space to be renovated) to ensure continuity of life safety and building service equipment operations.

6. Description of Efforts Made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as deemed practicable:

Efforts to ensure offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practical will include synopsizing the construction contract as required as FAR Part 5.2. This sole source justification is meant to only allow for specifying brand name for the specific Fire Alarm system and associated dedicated network which will comprise only a very small portion of the construction contract to be awarded. Where possible, the construction contract requirements will be tailored to allow full and open competition for all but the Fire Alarm and dedicated network application with the exception of any other items approved under separate, approved sole source justifications to be included in the solicitation.

7. Determination by the CO that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and

Reasonable:

The anticipated cost of this proprietary system is expected to be . The costs of providing a full and open bid Fire Alarm and dedicated network is not available as there have been no previous bids requested. The only cost is based on the Anderson budgetary estimate.

The result of the expense of the added cost results in continuation of a single Fire Alarm solution at the Biloxi Medical Center facilitating patient safety and patient care best practices.

To sole source this construction requirement will provide the Government a cost savings in the field as Resident Engineer Office, Construction Team, and VA staff will not incur delays for additional design work and potential construction change requests when other systems attempt to intregrate into proprietary systems. Therefore, a determination has been made by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

VHAPG Part 806.3 OFOC Page 3 of 4

8. Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results, or a Statement of the Reasons Market Research Was Not Conducted:

As the Medical Center has standardized the fire alarm system requiring a brand name product for seamless integration into an existing firm alarm, no other vendor besides Edwards can accomplish the need. The strategic partners that exist in the Biloxi MS market are ADT Commercial and B&E Communications, Inc.

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other than Full and Open Competition:

From a performance and features standpoint, the Edwards ESTIII system does not hold a significant advantage over other manufacturers of Fire Alarm Systems. However, the following capabilities support the continuation of ESTIII standardization throughout the Biloxi Healthcare System.

Single system campus wide: all other manufacturers of Fire Alarm systems are also proprietary and would require work arounds to integrate into another proprietary system. In addition, another proprietary system could not work from the same database requiring redundant programming adding cost to the original work and additional cost for future maintenance of the system.

The single manufacturer spare part inventory: the campus would only need to maintain an inventory of ESTIII parts allowing for improved material management and economics.

Single system training: staff would only require training on new parts of the system and any updates as opposed to having to be trained on multiple systems.

Single service contract: the campus would only need to enter into a single Service Level

Agreement (SLA) eliminating possible confusion when scheduling maintenance and service calls. This would allow the Engineering Dept to save on overall annual service contract costs as well.

10. Listing of Sources that Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition: N/A

11. A Statement of the Actions, if any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome any

Barriers to Competition before Making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required: N/A

12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a

Bona Fide Need of the Department of Veterans Affairs and that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Khaled Zaatreh CFM Project Manager

KHALED

ZAATREH

Digitally signed by

KHALED ZAATREH

Date: 2024.04.09 09:39:22 -05'00'

VHAPG Part 806.3 OFOC Page 4 of 4

13. Approvals in accordance with the VHAPM Part 806.3 OFOC SOP:

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

Jason Hardy CFM Contracting Officer

Associate Executive Director (Level Above CO) Certification: I certify that the foregoing justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Zebulon Fox, DBA Associate Executive Director Office of Facilities Acquisition Office of Construction and Facilities Management Department of Veterans Affairs

ZEBULON

FOX

Digitally signed by

ZEBULON FOX

Date: 2024.04.09 14:18:32 -04'00'

JASON

HARDY

Digitally signed by JASON

HARDY

Date: 2024.04.09 09:50:52 -05'00'