CONTROL NUMBER VA-26-0002102

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, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price (FFP) 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 NetApp, Inc (NetApp) hardware, ancillary supplies, software licenses, maintenance support, and professional services for installation and configuration.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services:

The VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Infrastructure Operations (IO), Information Technology Operations and Services (ITOPS), requires replacement of existing NetApp Flash Fabric-Attached Storage (AFF) A900 Storage Controllers, cluster switches, and 32 Gigabyte (Gb) Input/Output (IO) Modules hardware, as well as maintenance support because the existing equipment has been discontinued by NetApp and will no longer be supported. VA requires replacement of the NetApp A900 with brand name NetApp Support Edge Advisor hardware with associated software maintenance at the following four VA locations: Austin Information Technology Center (AITC), Philadelphia Information Technology Center (PITC), Hines Information Technology Center (HITC), and Capital Region Readiness Center (CRRC). VA requires the replacement storage controllers, switches, modules, and maintenance to be compatible with other existing NetApp based infrastructure in place at the AITC, HITC, PITC, and CRRC locations in order to ensure these sites and the applications it hosts remain operable. Finally, VA requires sustainment of the existing brand name NetApp AFF Storage Cluster disk capacity already in place through the replacement of the new brand name NetApp Support Edge Advisor. These storage cluster components provide necessary storage access, storage compute, and connectivity for all IO hosted systems, storage, and associated applications in order for the sites identified to remain operable.

VA requires all hardware and ancillary supplies be delivered to the requested site within 60 days from award. VA also requires installation and configuration within 30 days after delivery. The Period of Performance shall be 12 months from date of award, and the total estimated value of the proposed action 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:

NetApp Hardware and Software Maintenance CONTROL NUMBER VA-26-0002102

Based on the market research described in paragraph 8, no other brand of hardware is compatible with the existing NetApp AFF storage controllers, drive packs, shelves and modules currently in place. Use of another brand would necessitate a complete replacement of the existing NetApp storage infrastructure in place at all four datacenter locations. This replacement would require VA to not only purchase entirely new storage controllers and associated storage disk capacity for all four datacenters, it would also require staffing to run cables in preparation of the migration effort necessary to pivot to any alternative solution. Additionally, VA staff would need training on how to use an alternative solution. To replace the current storage controllers it is estimated to take approximately 12 months and estimated to cost $30M for the hardware, software, and maintenance alone. These duplicative estimated costs, which are based on previous acquisition history and market research, would not be recovered through competition. No source, other than brand name NetApp, and their resellers, has access to the proprietary hardware that runs the current NetApp infrastructure in order to fully interoperate. Due to the high level of interdependency between devices and systems that comprise the VA IO storage solution, the Government requires a solution that will fully interoperate with the current brand name NetApp system. Any other brand name would not meet VA’s functional requirements.

Failure to procure the required brand name NetApp Support Edge Advisor controllers, switches, modules, and maintenance would produce disastrous effects on VA’s ability to support interconnectivity for hosted systems and storage needs.

This would negatively impact each of the more than 200 Veteran facing applications that are supported from the AITC, PITC, HITC, and CRRC locations and would compromise VA’s ability to provide care and support to its Veterans. These applications include mission-critical systems like the Insurance Payment System, Veterans Benefit Administration Corporate Databases, Financial Management Systems, Veterans Canteen Services Point of Sale System, and Veterans Crisis Line. Further, only the OEM, NetApp, or its authorized resellers can provide the maintenance and installation services necessary to ensure the solution is properly installed and integrated with the existing hardware, due to proprietary constraints.

No other sources have access to the source code or are authorized to provide maintenance and installation.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition:

Market research was conducted, details of which are addressed in the market research section of this document. This effort didn’t yield any additional sources that could meet the Government’s requirements. It was determined however that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for the brand name NetApp hardware, ancillary supplies, licenses, maintenance support and professional services for installation and configuration. 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 Contracting 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 whether 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 between March 2025 – April 2025, through reviews of internet websites, vendor demonstrations and product line showcase, and trade publications to determine if another brand of storage drives would be compatible with VA’s existing environment. Specifically, the technical experts reviewed similar offerings from Pure Storage, Dell EMC, and IBM. Although other brand name products can provide similar capabilities, no other product can meet VA’s requirements as outlined in section 5 of this justification, as they are not compatible and interoperable with the existing brand name NetApp infrastructure currently in place.

Alternate brand name storage drives do not have access to NetApp’s proprietary source code needed to seamlessly interoperate and communicate with the existing NetApp infrastructure. Therefore, at present there is no other brand available in the marketplace that can meet VA’s requirements. In addition, VA storage Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name hardware is available. Based on all these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only brand name controllers, switches, modules, maintenance, and installation can meet all VA’s needs.

9. Facts: None