P03 JA Oracle HW Maintenance REDACTED Final.pdf

VA-20-00078198

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center

1701 Directors Blvd Austin, TX 78744

2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for a firm-fixed price task 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 Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Information Technology Operations and Services (ITOPS), Infrastructure Operations (IO) has a requirement for brand name Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance, consisting of major product and technology releases for software, program updates, fixes and security alerts, general maintenance releases, functionality releases, documentation updates, and upgrade tools/scripts. Sun-Oracle hardware and software are used throughout the VA for many critical applications and databases such as VA’s Financial Management System, VBA Corporate Databases, VBA Enterprise Data Warehouse (supporting the Blue Water Navy initiative), Retail, Accounting, and Canteen Services. The Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance coverage to be provided under the proposed effort will ensure that the applications and databases that utilize Sun-Oracle hardware and software components remain operational. The required hardware maintenance consists of repairs and/or replacement of Sun-Oracle hardware components to fully restore the system to operational status in the event of a system failure. The software maintenance consists of access to technical experts, backed by industry leading online tools and knowledgebase resources, major product and technology releases for software, program updates, fixes and security alerts, general maintenance releases, functionality releases, documentation updates, upgrade tools/scripts, assistance with service requests 24 hours per day, seven days a week, access to My Oracle Support, and non-technical customer service. No additional hardware or software will be procured as a result of this action. The period of performance shall include a 12-month base period which will run October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021 and two 12-month option periods. The total estimated price of the proposed action is $4,418,266.87, inclusive of all option periods.

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 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 Subpart 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.”

Oracle Hardware and Software Maintenance Control Number: VA-20-00078198

Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited: Based on market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the brand name Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance and support described in section 3 of this justification. The current IO infrastructure is based on existing Sun-Oracle hardware and software. VA requires support compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. VA requires hardware upgrades and updates to include major releases, point releases, service releases of applicable hardware on a quarterly basis, or within 48 hours in cases where a high-risk vulnerability fix becomes available to maintain operational functionality. Only Sun-Oracle or an authorized reseller can provide the necessary hardware and software maintenance coverage because of hardware compatibility and the propriety source code required to develop and implement software updates. Access to this code is also required to ensure all the services provided are properly configured. No other source is capable of providing the required hardware and software maintenance that meets VA’s unique functional requirements. Also, no other brand name replacement hardware can meet VA’s form, fit and functional requirements. Specifically, any other hardware will not communicate nor fit in the existing infrastructure due to Sun-Oracle’s proprietary constraints within the existing platform. No other maintenance is compatible with or interoperable with the existing Sun-Oracle hardware and software. The brand name Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance is the only maintenance coverage that meets the Government’s requirements. Failure to procure the required brand name Sun-Oracle hardware maintenance will impact the ability to fix the hardware, upgrading will be more costly, and finding replacement parts can be difficult if not impossible. All of which will lead to a loss in productivity and leave the systems vulnerable to system failure.

Failure to procure the required brand name Sun-Oracle software maintenance will impact CRISP patching, bug fixes, security patching, and product support, all of which will make the servers more vulnerable to security risks like cyber-attacks and would not meet VA security requirements. VA would not have access to new functionality and any third-party software on the servers would not be supported.

5. 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. 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 Federal Business Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

6. 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 fully competed.

7. Market Research: The Government’s technical experts conducted market research in April of 2020 to ascertain if any other sources could provide the required hardware and software maintenance. Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted web-based research for other equipment manufacturers hardware and software maintenance services to include those from International Business Machines (IBM) and Hewlett Packard (HP). None of the hardware and software maintenance services offered by these companies can meet the Government’s requirements as outlined in section five of this justification. In addition, IBM and HP’s hardware and software cannot communicate with or through the existing Sun-Oracle proprietary source code.

Sun-Oracle or authorized resellers are the only sources capable of providing the required maintenance. Based on the above, only Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance meets all of the Government’s requirements.

The Government’s technical experts conducted additional research in April 2020 by utilizing the NASA SEWP V Provider Lookup Tool to determine whether the brand name Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance is available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. This research revealed there are several sellers of the brand name Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance that hold current GWACs. Of the identified sellers, 32 are verified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses.

Therefore, limited competition among these vendors was anticipated. However, this research did not consider the need for authorized resellers only.

The Contract Specialist (CS) conducted additional market research in July and August 2020 by using the NASA SEWP V GWAC Market Research tools. SEWP has both authorized resellers and subset resellers. Authorized resellers are authorized by the brand name to resell all their products, whereas subsets have been given authorization to resell specific items. Any subset would have to show they had the authorization to support all of the specific requirements of this effort. The Market Research tools search resulted in the following: Group B-Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) one authorized reseller and three subset resellers, Group B-Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) no authorized resellers and two subset resellers, Group C Small Businesses (SB) four authorized resellers and ten subset resellers, Group D four authorized resellers and seven subset resellers. On July 24, 2020 RFIs were posted on General Services Administration (GSA) and SEWP Groups B-SDVOSB and C, to determine what vendors are capable of meeting the requirement.

The RFIs closed on July 30, 2020. Only Affigent (SB) responded to the SEWP RFI, stating that they are capable of meeting the full requirement. No responses were received from the GSA RFI. On August 03, 2020 an RFI was posted on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO.gov) website to determine if there are any additional small businesses capable of meeting this requirement. No responses were received. On August 07, 2020, the CS received contact information for Sun-Oracle and requested a list of all vendors authorized to provide both Sun-Oracle hardware and software maintenance. Sun-Oracle provided a list of six vendors (Affigent, DLT, Dynamic Systems, Inc (DSI), Lancer, Mythics through teaming partner Emergent, and BIAS through teaming partner Copper River). The CS conducted additional research on these vendors and found only one is an SDVOSB under SEWP Group B and three are

SB under Group C. A search was conducted in VIP for each of the six vendors and only one was found. Based on the additional market research performed there is a reasonable expectation of competition among small businesses on NASA SEWP.

9. Other Facts: None