NOAA_JOFOC_HPSS Sole Source IBM_for an Order Exceeding the SAT_Legal Signed Final_Redacted.pdf

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JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

FOR AN ORDER EXCEEDING THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION THRESHOLD

(AUTHORITY: FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i))

Requisition Number: 144014-24-0027

1. Agency and contracting activity.

Department of Commerce, NOAA Acquisition and Grants Office (AGO), Acquisition and Grants

Office (AGO), Satellite and Information Acquisition Division (SIAD) and the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This is a justification for an exception to fair opportunity for a follow-on requirement for annual maintenance support and software updates of the IBM High Performance Storage System (HPSS), a scalable storage management system. A Firm Fixed Price (FFP) task order is contemplated for award using NASA SEWP V. The Government intends to negotiate an award with IBM Corporation, a NASA SEWP contract holder.

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

The NCEI requires a maintenance solution for annual support and software updates of the IBM HPSS, a scalable Hierarchical Storage Management System in Asheville, North Carolina. The estimated value of this requirement is which includes a base year and two (2) additional option year periods.

Technical Specifications:

• Base Year: Qty (1) HPSS Annual Standard Support Services, Product No.: HPSS02

• Option Year 1: Qty (1) HPSS Annual Standard Support Services, Prod. No.: HPSS02

• Option Year 2: Qty (1) HPSS Annual Standard Support Services, Prod. No.: HPSS02

Periods of Performance:

• Base Year: April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025

• Option Year 1: April 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026

• Option Year 2: April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027

4. Authority and supporting rationale. The contracting officer has determined the circumstances of the acquisition meet the following statutory exception under FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i) as supported below:

Only one awardee is capable - FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) – 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. The HPSS software is a proprietary software product that can only be supported by the IBM HPSS customer support team which is part of IBM Corporation. HPSS Software and Maintenance is a mission critical piece of software solution that enables NCEI-NC to archive currently over five Petabytes of vital weather data. The weather data programs are based on applied research, data analysis, data interpretation, and predicting atmospheric circulation. NCEI has used HPSS as its means to store and retrieve weather data for over 24 years and it is an integral part of NCEI’s data storage program.

5. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

NASA SEWP V will be used for this requirement, and NASA SEWP V pricing has already been determined to be fair and reasonable. In addition, the proposed price will be compared to historical purchases as well as purchases of HPSS maintenance by other line offices.

Prior to award of the proposed contract, an analysis of the submitted price will be performed and documented to determine that the price is fair and reasonable. Therefore, the contracting officer determines that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

If the HPSS is unable to be used and a different system procured, NCEI’s mission is in jeopardy as there would be large amounts of time where data would be unavailable due to the transfer to a new platform. Further, to replace the current IBM HPSS with that of a different vendor would be an extremely time- and cost-prohibitive endeavor. It would take several months and possibly up to a year to transfer the amount of data that would be required to move from HPSS to another vendor’s solution. Additionally, this effort would pull the Government’s limited resources within NCEI from mission objectives to monitor the vast data transfer.

Transferring all of the NCEI data to a new platform would also mean that there would be significant incurred costs. The costs to transfer the data to the new platform; the costs to test, scale up, and validate the new platform; the costs to house the data on the new platform and at the same time scale down the HPSS platform, as the data transfer would have to overlap to reduce the time and amount of data that would be unavailable. There would likely be two systems running parallel to each other which would likely lend to delays in obtaining necessary data for mission objectives.

The Contract Specialist contacted Pete Chaplin, POC, for the IBM NASA SEWP V Contract NNG15SC15B on March 5, 2024 requesting confirmation if their business entity possessed the capabilities to perform the requirements as shown in the SOW. The vendor provided confirmation of their ability to successfully perform the requirements.

On March 6, 2024 the Contracting Team contacted Ricard Dunay, Project Executive HPSS IBM and the Program Manager Team requesting a contact listing of any HPSS IBM Authorized Resellers. The vendor responded that, IBM does not offer HPSS software and services through any reseller as they are the only organization qualified to deliver HPSS services based on thirty plus (30) year investment in both development and supporting HPSS software.

7. Actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

The Government reviews every information technology requirement. With every new maintenance period required (as well as option periods under the contemplated task order), the continued need is evaluated both by AGO and by the Assistant Chief Information Officer for NESDIS.

Any actions to remove barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity would require significant architectural redesign of NCEI’s storage system.

8. Technical/Requirements Representative Certification.

I certify this requirement constitutes the Government’s minimum needs and the supporting data provided herein is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Sarah Morison Date Program Office/COR

9. Office of General Counsel Review.

Reviewed by:

Jeremiah Kline Date

Attorney, Contract Law Division Office of the General Counsel U.S. Department of Commerce

10. Approving Official Determination of Circumstance Applicability.

In accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(10), the undersigned approving official for this justification hereby determines the circumstance cited above at #4, Authority and supporting rationale, applies to this order.

Contracting Officer’s Certification and Approval

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

Approve

Sarah McKim Date

Contracting Officer

NOAA/AGO/SIAD

JEREMIAH KLINE Digitally signed by JEREMIAH KLINE Date: 2024.03.11 10:19:53 -04'00'

MCKIM.SARAH.KATHERINE.1287628265 Digitally signed by MCKIM.SARAH.KATHERINE.1287628265 Date: 2024.03.11 13:55:18 -07'00'

MORISON.SARAH.ELIZABETH.13

65833148

Digitally signed by

MORISON.SARAH.ELIZABETH.1365833148

Date: 2024.03.12 07:10:08 -04'00'