Summary: Justification and Approval for Exception to Fair Opportunity

This is a Justification and Approval (J&A) document for an exception to fair opportunity competition issued by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division seeks to award a firm-fixed-price delivery order under the NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) Government-wide acquisition contract for Red Hat software and support services. The order will be placed with DLT Solutions LLC under their single vendor SEWP Navy Agency Catalog (Contract Number N00189-22-F-R009 / NNG15SC98B) on a brand-name sole source basis. The requirement includes twenty (20) Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform (AAP) Standard subscription licenses (100 Managed Nodes each) with 728 consulting hours to support continued operations. Delivery is required 12 months after receipt of the order. The estimated contract cost is redacted in the document. Navy Working Capital Funds will finance the procurement.

The justification for sole source procurement under 41 U.S.C. sections 4101-4106 (FAR 16.507-6) cites the complexity of integrating Red Hat AAP with existing solutions, the need for critical access to patches, bug fixes, updates, and technical support, and compatibility requirements with current software and hardware. The rationale emphasizes that failure to procure these licenses would prevent corporate operations automation, create transition costs estimated in the millions, and cause unacceptable project delays. Market research confirmed Red Hat Inc. as the proprietary software owner, and the Department of Navy established an Enterprise Software Licensing Agreement with DLT Solutions LLC, with all DON organizations mandated to use DON Enterprise Licensing Agreements per DFARS 208.74. The document certifies that anticipated costs are fair and reasonable.