J&A_FBO.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER

CARDEROCK DIVISION

9500 MACARTHUR BOULEVARD

WEST BETHESDA, MD 20817-5700

IN REPLY REFER TO

J&A Number: 0224-17-006-00 Code: 10411 ----- Requisition Number: 1300638254

Brand Name Justification

1. Contracting Activity

Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD), Contracting & Acquisitions Department (Code 02).

2. Description of the Action Being Approved

This is a Brand Name Justification to be awarded on a lowest price technically-acceptable basis. The proposed action is for DataDirect Networks (DON) hardware for an Enterprise-class mass storage system using authorized resellers of DON products. The system will include the following components.

Storage Systems

• SFA7700X Block Storage System - 224 Disk Enclosure Slots Available;

• Four NSD GridScaler Servers; and

• On-Site Spares.

Drives

• Primary Storage: 6TB NL SAS Two 10(8+2) 612TB Raw - 480TB Formattable - -426TB GridScaler Usable or System Total = 1.2PB Raw - 960TB Formattable - -852TB GridScaler Usable;

• BOOGB SSD 4(1+1) Replicaetd Metadata 12.BTB Raw - -3.2TB Usable

• Protocol Shared Root Drives; and

• Hot Spares.

Software

• NSD Server Software License.

Services

• Planning, installation, configuration, training;

• GRIDScaler Technical Training; and

• Shipping & Handling

This justification document is in accordance with FAR 13.501(a).

The requirement was synopsized and publicly posted to the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOps) website on May 12, 2017. The anticipated value of the acquisition is

Required delivery date is August 15, 2017.

This action is a new firm-fixed price (FFP) contract citing FY17 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) funding.

3. Description of Supplies/Services

The Subject requirements provide for the acquisition of a mass storage system for NSWCCD Ship Engineering and Analysis Technology Center (SEATech). The acquisition comprises two (2) SFA-7700X Appliances with 60 drive slots and two (2) SS8460 84-slot expansion enclosures, four (4) NSD GRIDScalers, four (4) Protocol Nodes, required infrastructure, and licensing. The system will have RAID6 8+2 with 612TB RAW and 480TB Formattable space and will require installation and additional training for personnel.

Currently this data temporarily resides on a mass storage system that is configured for a High Performance Computing (HPC) data profile and sized for only the HPC data. This data does not fit the HPC data profile and is impacting the performance of the system. The Carderock Engineers and Naval Architects experience work slowdowns when the storage freezes. Without this purchase, the SEASpace data will not only continue to impact the performance of the HPC storage, but it will fill up the available space and render the storage unavailable for its designed HPC application. This impacts work on the projects that SEATech supports, notably the Virginia Class, Columbia Class, Ohio Replacement, and DDG-1000 Programs.

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition

10 U.S.C. 2304(c) (1), "The property or services needed by the agency are available from only one responsible source or only from a limited number of responsible sources and no other type of property or services will satisfy the needs of the agency." FAR

13.501 (a).

While only one source is capable of manufacturing the required supplies, that source has authorized sellers who may also compete for the contract.

5. Identification of Limited Justification Rationale

Only three vendors' mass storage systems meet most of our requirements (DON, EMC-Isilon, and Panasas). These requirements include, but are not limited to, a Large Enterprise-class mass storage system that has a linear increase in performance versus increase in capacity. It must have a very high density footprint (for capacity). It must have an adjustable amount of SSDs for cache. It must support full capacity in a single file system. It must be able to grow to at least 10 Petabytes. It must support 2 billion files per volume. It must have N+l Architecture (redundancy). It must maintain a journal on the file system for fast rebuilds (rebuilding in seconds or minutes instead of hours or days). It must be performance-tuned for a business-style data and I/O profile (high number of small files with a business-style I/O). It must allow for a custom ratio of SSD vs. HOD (only DDN's hardware can meet this requirement) . It must allow for a custom AD Security Group to be configured at the CIFS Share level (the Panasas hardware cannot meet this requirement). The cost of annual Support & Maintenance is to be considered part of the total cost of ownership, and thus a quote for that must accompany any CIP quote (CIP is not allowed to include the annual Support & Maintenance)

DON

All of the vendors' storage systems use a minimum 512KB chunk (or much larger) for storing data. This means that no matter how small the file, it will always take up a least 512KB (even if it's 12KB, for example). This is very wasteful of space, especially when your data profile is a lot of small files. DDN's storage systems alone employ a method where it can use as little as 1/32 of a block, called sub-blocks, which can fill a block with multiple small files. Since one aspect of the data profile for this procurement is, in fact, a high number of small files, this is an extreme advantage in not wasting storage capacity.

The DON hardware has no limitation on the mix of SSDs and HDDs that you can put in the enclosures. The mix with the other two vendors is set and cannot change. The ability to change the ratio of SSDs to HDDs is an advantage in performance tuning the system.

The DON hardware can get nearly 400 disk drives in half of a rack (20U). This is the highest density capacity, which is important -particularly for this procurement, which we expect will grow in volume fairly quickly - because of the limited floor space at SEATech.

DDN's annual Support & Maintenance, which is part of total cost of ownership of the hardware, is by far the lowest of the three (-$35K).

The DON configuration support allows custom AD Security Groups to be configured at the CIFS Share level, a requirement for this procurement.

The DON hardware maintains a journal on the data for fast rebuilds. This feature is a requirement because without fast rebuilds, storage can end up in a critical position for too long.

SEATech has four other DON mass storage systems. SEATech personnel have already been trained on these systems and have a combined 16 years of experience. Going with a different vendor's system would require training and on-the-job experience to build proficiency that would not be required with a DON system.

DDN's storage system is the only hardware that meets all of the mission requirements for this application.

EMC-Isilon

The annual Support & Maintenance for the quoted system is more that of the DON system

EMC-Isilon quoted us for hardware that is the last EMC-Isilon branded product they're selling. They have been bought by Dell.

It is unknown how many years out the EMC-Isilon product will continue to be supported by Dell. We have experience with buy outs, where the branded product we owned became the property of another company after a buy-out (this time the buy-out happened after we purchased the product), and the new company dropped support for the product after one year, before its stated End-of Life.

Panasas

Panasas hardware was the third potential option for this procurement. However, Panasas has stated that this procurement's data profile (large numbers of small files with a business-style I/O profile) is not what their product is designed for. They self-profess that their systems are finely tuned for HPC data and I/O profiles. Panasas is unable to provide a system that meets our requirements.

Additionally, we have Panasas systems that attach directly to our HPC clusters. As such, we know that their annual Support & Maintenance for this procurement would be more that of

DON

6. Description of Efforts Made to Solicit Offers from as Many Off erors as Practicable

A Sources Sought was posted on FedBizops for a period of 9 days in accordance with DFARS POI 206.302-1 (d) as well as NASA SEWP (Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement) GWAC (Government-Wide Acquisition Contract) for a period of 8 days. There were no responses received off the FedBizOps sources sought and one quote off NASA SEWP sources sought.

DON is the sole manufacturer of DON storage systems. However, they are not the sole distributor and have a limited number of authorized resellers. DON was requested to provide a list of authorized resellers of their products. DON obliged and provided a few of their approved partners from whom quotes may be solicited.

As reported by the manufacturer of the mass storage system, DON, the authorized resellers include, but are not limited to, the following companies (all Small Businesses): DataDirect Networks (DON), Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI), Meadowgate Technologies, and FCN, Inc.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Costs

The Contracting Officer will determine that the proposed order represents the best value (as defined in FAR 2.101) and results in the lowest overall cost alternative (considering price, special features, administrative costs, etc.) to meet the Government's needs.

8. Actions to Remove Barriers to Competition

NSWC Carderock will likely have reason to solicit similar supplies/services in the future. If other vendors are identified by DON as authorized resellers of DON supplies, these vendors may be considered in future solicitations. If barriers to compatibility among non-DON hardware/software manufacturers can be eliminated at little or no additional cost, non-DON supplies may be considered for acquisition in future solicitations.

The circumstances surrounding the need to obtain the required supplies/services without providing full and open competition will be reviewed annually by the Procuring Contracting Officer

(PCO).

TECHNICAL AND REQUIREMENTS CERTIFICATION - (FAR 6.303-2(b))

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justific ation, exc ept as noted herein, are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.

TECHNICAL COGNIZANCE:

REQUIREMENTS COGNIZANCE:

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY REVIEW (NMCARS 5206.303 (90) )

I have determined that this justification is legally sufficient.

Phone No. Date

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION - (FAR 6.303-2 (a) (12))

I certify that this is accurate and complete to the best of my know

Douglas£ Pohlman Cofttl&ctlng Olllcer

Name (Print) and Title (Code ) Phone No. Date

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