P03- BNJ Cradlepoint HW and Maint_REDACTED.pdf

JUSTIFICATIONFOR 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, 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 Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cradlepoint modems and routers, as well as other hardware, and maintenance support for the Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), OEM requires the purchase of 60 additional brand name Cradlepoint routers and parts for their existing vehicle mounted Cradlepoint modems and routers. The additional modems and routers are required to provide signal coverage from distant cellular networks, in regions where emergencies occur without enough reliable cellular connections. Further, the additional Cradlepoint routers and modems will maintain network connectivity for disaster events that causes normal network disruptions. The Cradlepoint routers and modems as well as ancillary hardware must be compatible with the existing equipment in use at all VA locations. The proposed action will also provide maintenance support due to the proprietary hardware of the solution. Furthermore, the modems and routers shall prevent the OEM from experiencing degraded cellular network functionalities during any natural and human caused disasters by including network connectivity without requiring contracted managed services. Some ancillary equipment are optional and will be exercised if needed. The period of performance for required delivery and support shall be 12-months starting September 06, 2024 through September 05, 2025, plus two (2), 12-month option periods. The total estimated price for this proposed action, inclusive of all option periods is

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 Brand name Cradlepoint modems and routers is the only proprietary technology that can deliver seamless connectivity in remote or temporary locations. Additionally, Cradlepoint hardware is already installed and is in use within OI&T and OEM departments and is a critical component for disaster recovery response operations. OEM has approximately 220 Cradlepoint routers that are installed in vehicles for mobile network disaster response. Brand name Cradlepoint routers and modems are compatible with the existing inventory and must be provided by

Brand name Cradlepoint hardware and Maintenance Control Number: VA-24-00082660 a brand name Cradlepoint approved reseller due the proprietary constraints as mentioned above. If other brands were procured the estimated cost to replace all the infrastructure and equipment to implement an alternative solution is between for hardware replacement including for vehicle hardware installation. Additionally, based on prior life cycle impact level determinations, the time to deploy an alternate solution is estimated to be .

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 Cradlepoint brand routers and modems, as well as maintenance support. 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. Further, the requirement for other hardware associated with this action have been written to maximize competition to the greatest extent possible by identifying the hardware parts as brand name or equal.

8. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research by testing other antennas. This market research is an ongoing process starting in 2022 and continuously being conducted, as recently as May 2024. As a result, the technical experts reviewed , and determined that these other brands cannot meet the Government’s interoperability and compatibility requirements as previously discussed in Section 5. Additionally, other Cellular routers cannot offer the network connectivity in our current management cloud, which is critical in disaster recovery and continuity of operations. The review of other products was based on actual VA experiences using the competing Routers. Furthermore, VA OI&T and OEM Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct Internet research to ascertain if any other brand name antennas are available. Based on all these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only Cradlepoint, Inc. can provide the management cloud, maintenance and support due to the proprietary hardware of the solution that can meet all of VA’s needs.

The Contract Specialist (CS) conducted a formal RFI that was released on June 27, 2024 and concluded on July 03, 2024. The RFI was posted to NASA SEWP V GWAC website to identify potential vendors who could meet the full requirement. The RFI did not render any responses. Additionally, as of June 2024, the CS utilized the NASA SEWP V GWAC market research tool to determine which vendors can meet the requirement. Based on this market research, the CS found various approved resellers who are Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) that are capable of meeting the full requirement. Based upon market research efforts it has been determined that competition amongst VOSB contract-holders through NASA SEWP V GWAC is a viable