REDACTED Brand Name JA FAR 8 Under SAT.doc.pdf

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION

SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES

FAR 8 ACQUISITION PROCEDURES

Red Hat Maintenance FY21

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This requirement is being issued IAW witht the procedures identified within DFARS 208.7402(1) “Departments and agencies shall fulfill requirements for commercial software and related services, such as software maintenance, in accordance with the DoD Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI) (see website at http://www.esi.mil/). ESI promotes the use of enterprise software agreements (ESAs) with contractors that allow DoD to obtain favorable terms and pricing for commercial software and related services. ESI does not dictate the products or services to be acquired.”

IAW FAR 8.405-6 “Limiting Sources” Orders placed or BPAs established under Federal Supply Schedules are exempt from the requirements in part 6. However, an ordering activity must justify its action when restricting consideration in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b) of this section:

(b) Items peculiar to one manufacturer. An item peculiar to one manufacturer can be a particular brand name, product, or a feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer. A brand name item, whether available on one or more schedule contracts, is an item peculiar to one manufacturer.

(1) Brand name specifications shall not be used unless the particular brand name, product, or feature is essential to the Government’s requirements, and market research indicates other companies’ similar products, or products lacking the particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency’s needs.

This justification serves to doucment the basis for using a “Brand Name” specification:

DFAS I&T IPS request the maintenance renewal for DFAS-owned Red Hat software licenses. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop licenses are used for network response time troubleshooting, outside the network security infrastructure. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Platform licenses are required to support the DFAS Computer Network Defense team's central security event and correlation database. The Advanced Platform is required by the database vendor and less expensive versions or license options will not work. The central security event and correlation database is a mandated requirement and without this capability, the DFAS Computer Network Defense team could lose its Authority to Operate (ATO).

The maintenance is required in order to have access to the vendor’s patches and upgrades that may be released for these products. Current DOD security policies require that we have the ability to apply security patches when/if they are released.

This will be a Brand Name specific procurement because the maintenance must be for the Red Hat products that are currently owned. This procurement includes software, support agreements, and licenses. DFAS is standardized on the protocols of the brand name manufacturer (Red Hat); use of any other manufacturer will incur substantial transition costs and considerable time and effort (hardware/software/licensing requirements and staff retraining) to convert our existing platform over to an alternate solution. Consequently, the renewal of the existing product ensures continuity of operations without interruption.

DISA has mandated the use of the Assured Compliance Assessment Solution (ACAS) which is manufactured by Tenable, and recommends that it be run on RedHat. A new product brand would force formal training for all network engineering and operations personnel. Man hours required to complete the actions needed to change vendors would drastically exceed man hours available and render DFAS network personnel incapable of meeting operational mission objectives. Therefore for cost consideration, and to remain compliant with current DOD security requirements the Brand Name of Red Hat is being sought.

CERTIFICATION

As the technical and requirements subject matter expert, I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance which are included in this justification and which form a basis for this justification are complete and accurate.

Technical Certification:

Printed Name: _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX______________________________________

Title: XXXXXXXXXXXX Org. Code: _XXXXXXXXXX__

Signature: __XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX__________________ Phone: __XXXXXXXXXXXXX___

Date: _XXXXXXXXX_

Requiring Activity/Program Management Office Certification:

Printed Name: _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_______________

Title: XXXXXXXXXX Org. Code: _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX__

Signature _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_______ Phone: ___XXXXXXXXXX_XXX___

Date:__XXXXXXXXXX___

Contracting Officer Certification:

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. I certify that this J&A is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Printed Name: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Title: XXXXXXXXXXXX Organization Code XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Signature:_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX___________ Phone: XXXXXXXXXX