Justification for other than Full and Open.pdf

United States Department of Agriculture Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

Rev. 8/13/25

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act as implemented by Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul (RFO) FAR Part 6 and in accordance with the requirements of RFO FAR 6.104-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority cited herein is supported by the following facts and rationale:

(1) Mission Area and Contracting Activity.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Scientific Computing Initiative Network (SCINet) and Marketing and Regulatory Programs - (MRP) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) Proposes to enter into a contract on a basis other than full and open competition.

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved:

This J&A authorizes and approves the award of a firm fixed, sole-source award for the procurement of Internet2 advanced networking services tailored for the research and education (R&E) community. This program is essential with the broader U.S. research infrastructure, enabling USDA scientists to participate in multidisciplinary collaborations, sharedata and tools with academic and federal partners, and contribute to open science initiatives.

Internet2’s trusted environment also supports USDA’s compliance with federal data policies and research security requirements. Given Internet2’s specialized capabilities and deep integration into the national research infrastructure, it remains the only provider for SCINet and APHIS's backbone circuits.

These services are commercial in nature and will be procured utilizing the procedures listed in FAR Part 12 and FAR Part 15.

The proposed contractor is:

UNIVERSITY CORPORATION FOR ADVANCED INTERNET DEVELOPMENT

1150 18th St NW Ste 750 Washington, DC 20036-3880

(3) A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

USDA SCINet and APHIS MRP workflows require reliable, high-speed data movement across geographically distributed computing environments. Specifically, Internet2 (I2) provides dedicated high-capacity circuits (100GBps and scalable) supporting bulk data transfers and low-latency paths optimized for high-performance computing and storage workflows. Internet2 is a nonprofit consortium uniquely dedicated to serving the research and education community. Its network architecture and associated services are specifically engineered to meet the specialized requirements of large-scale academic and government research.

I2 supports USDA’s use of the Science DMZ model enabling secure, high-performance data transfers that bypass traditional enterprise firewall bottlenecks and are compatible with perfSONAR and other tools that monitor end-to-end network performance, which are critical for diagnosing and optimizing large-scale data flows. Internet2’s Next Generation Infrastructure, which is proprietary to I2, provides programmable and cloud-integrated networking with direct peering with major cloud providers, access to research-specific overlays and federations including USDA, NOAA, ESnet and DOE Labs.

The Internet2 Consortium has negotiated long-term Indefeasible Rights of Use (IRUs) agreements with national and international fiber optic owners resulting in substantial savings to consortium members as well as unique network access. The IRU agreements with owners of fiber optical cable have allowed Internet2 to create a national network footprint specifically for the advancement and proliferation of scientific, research and education networking.

It is anticipated that one (1) award consisting of one (1) one-year base period and four (4) one-year option periods will be awarded.

Period Total

BASE YEAR

OPT YR 1

OPT YR 2

OPT YR 3

OPT YR 4

GRAND TOTAL

(4) Identify the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1) as implemented by FAR RFO FAR 6.103-1, Only One Responsible Source.

(5) Demonstrate that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires using the authority cited.

Internet2’s longstanding partnerships with universities, federal labs, and research institutions worldwide uniquely position it to anticipate and respond to the evolving needs of the USDA environment. Leveraging Internet2’s network directly enables participants to access a global ecosystem of specialized research platforms, high-performance computing resources, and shared data repositories without the throughput bottlenecks and service limitations inherent in typical commodity internet connections. For example, if these research applications were run through USDANet or another commonly provided internet connection, it would so significantly impair the bandwidth availability as to make all other uses of that internet connection useless thereby negatively impacting all other USDA users as they accessed daily networking resources.

This environment, unmatched in scale and sophistication, ensures that USDA’s mission-critical data flows, modeling, and analytical tasks are fully supported, thus directly contributing to scientific advancement and agricultural innovation.

The APHIS and SCINet programs periodically assess the market environment to ensure Internet2 Membership and access is still warranted. A survey of other telecommunication services contracts like the GSA Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) to determine the availability of scientific, research and education connectivity support that meet USDA’s needs show that the EIS contract, which provides access to large commercial telecommunication providers and is currently used to provide common network connectivity for

USDANet, does not have the capability to provide I2 circuits or otherwise meet a similar need. At minimum, GSA would have to negotiate contract modifications with each of its awardees.

Additional companies (G2, OWLER and Venture Radar) were compared for Primary purpose, user base, core functions, data focus and key features. As shown in the table below Internet 2 is the only capable source for requirements.

G2 OWLER VentureRadar Internet 2

Primary purpose

Peer-review software marketplace and business intelligence.

Competitive intelligence and market analysis.

Discovery and tracking of innovative and emerging companies.

High-speed network and services for research and education.

User base

Software buyers, sellers, marketers, and technology professionals.

CEOs, sales, and marketing professionals seeking competitive insights.

Corporations, investors, and recruiters seeking to discover or track companies.

Universities, research institutions, government agencies, corporations, and cultural organizations.

Core function

Collects and displays user reviews for business software, providing comparisons, ratings, and buying guides.

Provides company profiles, news alerts, and competitive insights, often sourced from a user community.

Uses AI and web crawling to find and rank emerging and growth companies globally.

Provides high-bandwidth connectivity and advanced networking applications for its member community.

Data focus

User-generated reviews, sentiment analysis, and software category grids.

Community-driven insights and real-time news alerts on competitors.

Identifying innovative and growing companies, including startups and SMEs.

Network infrastructure, cloud solutions, and identity management for research and education.

Key features

- Authentic peer reviews

- Competitive alerts - Custom search services

- 100 Gbit/s network backbone

- Software comparison tools

- Company profiles and firmographics

- Advanced company search filters

- Cloud services and connectivity

- Market reports and awards

- Chrome extension for sales prospecting

- Proprietary company ranking scores

- InCommon identity and access management

Distinguishing factor

Reliability through user-driven reviews helps buyers make informed decisions, and vendor tools aid reputation management.

Community-sourced data and alerts offer real-time competitive monitoring with an emphasis on ease of use.

Custom search capabilities and a focus on uncovering emerging, innovative companies serve a more specific market.

Unique high-speed network infrastructure, and a focus on non-commercial research and educational collaboration.

(6) Provide a description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as possible, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Part 5 and, if not, which exception under Part 5 applies.

No other sources have expressed interest, nothing was posted on SAM, however a notice will be posted in accordance with all FAR directed requirements.

(7) A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer has determined the anticipated cost to the Government of the supplies/services covered by this J&A will be fair and reasonable based past billing rates under the Department of Interior historical pricing for like services.

(8) A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason Market Research was not conducted.

The APHIS and SCINet programs periodically assess the market environment to ensure Internet2 membership and access is still warranted. A survey of other telecommunication services contracts like the GSA Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) to determine the availability of scientific, research and education connectivity support that meet USDA’s needs show that the EIS contract, which provides access to large commercial telecommunication providers and is currently used to provide common network connectivity for USDANet, does not have the capability to provide I2 circuits or otherwise meet a similar need. At minimum, GSA would have to negotiate contract modifications with each of its awardees.

Consideration will be given to any responses received from SAM posting.

(9) Any other facts supporting using other than full and open competition, such as:

None

(10) A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed an interest in the acquisition in writing.

None

(11) A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required.

USDA will ensure that any additional market research, as necessary, is conducted before any subsequent contracting actions are undertaken. If appropriate alternatives are identified that would create a competitive environment, USDA will undertake appropriate action to maximize competition.