NNG15SD26B-209.pdf

VA-20-00044277

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, New Jersey 07724

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a firm-fixed price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the augmentation of Cisco hardware and software and Arcana Network’s (Arcana) software licenses and maintenance.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Information Technology Operations and Services (ITOPS), Solution Delivery (SD) has a requirement to purchase 3,650 brand name Cisco Integrated Service Routers and ancillary software (500 in the Base Period to meet the emergent need plus 3,150 optional quantities to support additional mission growth) with Arcana Manage Express Virtual Office (MEVO) Software Licenses and software maintenance (500 in the Base Period to meet the emergent need plus 3,150 optional quantities to support additional mission growth), to augment and support VA Virtual Office (VAVO) Remote Access. For each Cisco router an Arcana software license is required. The additional Cisco hardware and Arcana software is required to augment identical hardware and software already in production at remote locations. This equipment is required to support clinicians teleworking from remote locations across the VA Enterprise. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing numbers of VA clinicians are teleworking. Currently VA can support 130 users. Based on VA’s COVID-19 forecasting and response plan of a pandemic ready solution, additional capacity is required to support 500 additional clinicians immediately but as many as 3,650 total additional clinicians. Equipment will be implemented upon delivery. The required solution will enable secure remote access for computers and specialized ancillary equipment such as printers, scanners and specialized monitors to connect VA Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) computers and hardware. This VAVO solution is required for these clinicians to do their jobs seamlessly from remote locations. Additionally, expansion of this capability will allow additional clinicians to provide remote support to VA facilities providing real time support to Veterans. Any needed maintenance for the Cisco hardware and software being procured under this action shall be covered by VA’s Cisco Enterprise Service Agreement. Total care software maintenance is required for the Arcana MEVO software licenses to ensure VA maintains access to the latest available software patches to address security and reliability flaws. The required Cisco hardware and software shall be delivered 30 days after date of award. The perpetual Arcana MEVO software licenses shall be delivered electronically within seven days of award.

The period of performance for the Arcana MEVO software maintenance shall be 12 months from Government receipt and acceptance of the software licenses. Two 12-month option periods are also required for continued software maintenance (for a total

COVID-19 VAVO Solution VA-20-00047478 of three years). In order to meet potential surges in VHA staff working remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic continues into the foreseeable future, options for increased quantities to expeditiously acquire up to 3,150 Cisco router and up to 3,150 additional Arcana MEVO software licenses and maintenance are part of this requirement over the total three-year period. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $6,868,597.17 (inclusive of options).

4. 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 FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), 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: Only brand name Cisco and Arcana hardware, software, maintenance and support services can be used to expand the existing VAVO environment due to proprietary source code and protocols.

The VAVO solution consists entirely of Cisco hardware and software as well as Arcana's MEVO licenses. It consists of a hub and spoke model where the spoke endpoints on the user side are connected to the hubs located in the VA Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) gateways. The spokes are configured using a zero-touch deployment limiting shipping cost and providing standard configuration based on templates defined in a MEVO server. The termination points at the TICs (hub side) are Cisco ASR 1002s.

The TIC side also includes at Cisco router used for Secure Device Provisioning (SDP).

This capability performs initial user authentication and PKI proxy during client router (spoke) setup allowing an end user to securely provision a client router. The procurement effort covers augmenting the overall solution by adding additional client endpoints (spoke routers), the associated licensing that allows for expansion, as well as upgrading the Cisco router that provides SDP functionality. A client endpoint must be a Cisco Router that supports a Cisco Virtual Office (CVO) configuration. Solutions offered by other vendors cannot be used in expanding the overall VAVO solution; therefore, only this combination of Cisco client routers (spokes) and Arcana's MEVO software will meet VA’s needs.

The Cisco and Arcana systems currently in use in support of VAVO are interdependent and must be expanded in lockstep with one another to maintain a functional telework environment. In order to ensure expansion of both environments simultaneously to provide the connectivity required to expand the VAVO infrastructure, VA requires both the Cisco and Arcana requirements to be bought in tandem from the same vendor. This will ensure synchronization of delivery in order to meet emergent deadlines to expand VA’s capacity to support the agency during the COVID-19 federal emergency. Any interruptions in delivery could delay implementation. Splitting requirement would not increase the competitive base for these products and would only increase the complexities for logistically fielding the hardware and software.

Failure to augment the existing Cisco and Arcana network environment at the TIC gateways would result in an inability to augment VA’s telework environment. In turn, this would lead to a disruption of medical care, communications and business operations for VA’s rapidly expanding teleworking clinician community. This would substantially hamper VA’s ability to provide remote telehealth services and other direct patient care activities and would severely compromise VA’s ability to care for Veterans especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based on extensive market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for the brand name Cisco hardware and software and Arcana software licenses and maintenance on NASA SEWP V GWAC.

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 can meet the Government's requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name Cisco hardware and Arcana software licenses and maintenance. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders.

Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities website (beta.SAM.gov) and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of 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 and Arcana MEVO licensing that may be compatible with the current infrastructure.

8. Market Research: VA Government technical experts conducted market research in March 2020 by reviewing similar hardware products to ascertain if other brands could meet VA’s functionality requirements. Competitors Brocade and Juniper offer routers;

however, they do not offer a router capable of supporting a Cisco Virtual Office configuration required to expand VA’s existing VAVO environment, which requires the current solution’s proprietary source code and protocols. Additional market research was conducted in March/April 2020 by issuance of a 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 meeting the Government’s requirements.

VA Government technical experts concluded that the existing infrastructure is in place supporting over 200 current end routers. No other vendor can merge into the existing deployment. This procurement is additional licensing to support additional capacity of the already fielded system. Arcana is a partner with Cisco to develop and implement the zero touch capabilities and provide automated VA configurations to a large number of customers automatically. Cisco provides the factory configuration that ties directly in http://www.beta.sam.gov/ with Arcana home system where configuration templates and deployment is achieved.

No other brand software is capable of merging into the existing deployment. Nor would any other brand software, other than Arcana interoperate with the existing Cisco based VAVO environment. Additionally, due to the COVID-19 federal emergency no other brand software is capable of meeting the emergent need to augment VA’s telework environment.

Further market research was conducted in March 2020 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup tool to determine whether the required brand name Cisco hardware as well as MEVO licensing was available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. It was determined that there are several authorized resellers that hold current GWACs such that limited competition is anticipated.

9. Other Facts: None.

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.

Daniel J Mesimer Date: __________________________

Director, WAN/LAN Infrastructure Engineering & Provisioning, SD, OIT, ITOS Signature: ______________________

11. 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 competition and discounts among NASA SEWP V GWAC holders.

Additionally, NASA SEWP determines that all catalog prices on its GWAC’s are fair and reasonable. Additional price analysis may be performed in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b).

Debra Clayton Date: ___________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: _______________________

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

Debra Clayton Date: ________________________________

Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of Cisco hardware and software and Arcana software licenses and maintenance 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.

Date: ____________ Signature: _________________________________ Philip Weckesser Advocate for Competition Technology Acquisition Center

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics