P03- 24-HW0045 - Brand name JA Palo Alto_ Final 7.23.24 Redacted.pdf

Palo Alto Networks WildFire and Control Number: VA-24-00046474 Threat Prevention

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 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 brand name Palo Alto Networks PA-7080 firewalls WildFire and Threat Intrusion Prevention License subscription for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Development, Security and Operations (DSO), Infrastructure Operations

(IO).

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA OI&T DSO IO, Security Management division, has a requirement for six Palo Alto Networks Advanced WildFire and eight Palo Alto Networks Threat Protection License subscriptions to be assigned to the associated Palo Alto appliances. All license subscriptions are yearly renewals previously purchased under separate contracts. Currently, Palo Alto Networks software assists attorneys, custodians of relevant information, and other OI&T personnel in accomplishing discovery and auditing tasks. OI&T personnel utilize Palo Alto Networks PA-7080 appliances and associated software in the event they need to assist in litigation and criminal cases where email users attempt to circumvent controls to prevent investigators from accessing their email and associated document archives.

VA’s Federal Information System Management Act (FISMA) System Ownership and National Institute Standards and Technology (NIST) controls require system security monitoring of all system logs and network connectivity to provide event and log correlation, event alerting and information security threat intelligence, automated integration, and reporting of all network intrusion attempt activity, to the IO data center Security Threat Module (STM) security infrastructure standard.

Using combined STM intrusion plug-in data feeds from Palo Alto, collectively referred to as Palo Alto Networks brand name intrusion prevention capabilities, meets these requirements. The intrusion prevention and the Advanced Wildfire & Threat protection License subscriptions include maintenance, which consists of 24/7 telephone and email support and updates for one year. The total period of performance includes a 12-month base period and two 12-month option periods.

The total estimated price of the proposed action is $5,387,752.18, inclusive of all option periods.

Palo Alto Networks AWF and Threat Control Number: VA-24-00046474 Prevention Subscription

4. Statutory 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: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is viable among resellers for the brand name Palo Alto Networks software license/maintenance described in Section 3 herein. Only Palo Alto Networks can provide the necessary software because of the propriety source code required to provide advanced capabilities on the existing firewall infrastructure. The products being procured provide advanced functions that VA requires beyond the base firewall operating systems, including system security monitoring/logging, event alerting, automated integration, and reporting network intrusion attempts.

An acquisition of a different product would require various new infrastructure support costs of approximately $780K and 12-month implementation time to integrate a different brand system. The current IO infrastructure is based on existing Palo Alto Networks hardware and VA requires software and maintenance support compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. Therefore, no other vendor, other than Palo Alto Networks or an authorized reseller, can provide the required software for the Palo Alto Networks PA-7080 appliances. Failure to acquire brand name Palo Alto Networks software could put internal VA sensitive information at risk of security breach, compromise, and loss. Furthermore, data loss or loss of access to data would hamper data from being retrieved to assist Office of General Counsel in any potential criminal ligation cases.

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 this brand name Palo Alto Networks software. 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 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.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research in September 2023 by means of online vendor materials, site visits, and reviews of other similar monitoring appliances’ technical specifications to ascertain if these items could meet VA’s requirements. Throughout the market research process, the Government’s technical experts reviewed similar solutions from Extero, Relativity, Nuix and iPro. The market research indicated that software (including maintenance support) from other alternate brand manufacturers exist. Due to these proprietary constraints, the use of any alternative vendor software, maintenance and technical support services will necessitate a complete replacement of the existing Palo-Alto Networks infrastructure. New hardware would need to be purchased to replace the approximately $1 million in existing Palo Alto Networks infrastructure and associated resources. In addition, it is estimated that one-year would be needed for VA engineering design, testing, procedure development, implementation, and training for a new product to replace the existing Palo Alto Networks infrastructure. Therefore, no other hardware maintenance is compatible with or interoperable with the existing Palo Alto Networks hardware. Therefore, there is no other software/maintenance solution available in the marketplace that can meet this requirement which are outlined in Section 5 of this justification. Based on all these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned Palo Alto Networks brand name software licenses and maintenance can meet all of VA's needs.

The Contracting Officer’s Representative conducted market research in April 2024 by using the NASA SEWP V GWAC market research tool to determine what vendors can meet the requirement. The market research resulted in the identification of several Service-disabled Veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) resellers that may be capable of providing the required Palo Alto Networks brand name software maintenance. Based on this market research, VA has determined that a SDVOSB set-aside on the NASA SEWP V GWAC is a viable acquisition strategy.

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.

Brian Zellin Product Manager Signature: _______________

11. Fair and Reasonable Price Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable because contracts awarded on NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable. Additionally, price competition is expected among authorized resellers for this action. Additional price analysis may be performed in accordance with FAR 15.404-1(b).

_7/23/24___ Jeffrey Bishop Date Contracting Officer

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

Jeffrey Bishop Date Contracting Officer

13. Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of Palo Alto Networks’ Advanced Wildfire and Threat Protection License subscriptions 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.

Jason Bullen Date Advocate for Competition Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Department of Veterans Affairs