Redacted FY25-0121 Brand Name JA NRD.pdf

CUI

Control Number: FY25-0121

Controlled by: Defense Health Agency (DHA)

Controlled by: Professional Services (PS) – Contracting

Division (CD)

CUI Category(ies): Source Selection

Limited Dissemination Control: (Insert FEDCON or

FED Only)

POC: Charles Wa

Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR)16.505 (b)(2)(ii)(B)

1. Identification of the Agency and Contracting Activity: Defense Health Agency (DHA), DHA Contracting Activity (DHACA), Professional Services (PS) – Contracting Division (CD).

2. Nature and/or Description of Action being Approved: Defense Health Agency (DHA) requests to award a firm-fixed price delivery order contract for Amazon Web Services (AWS) via National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide

Procurement (SEWP), on brand name only basis for subscription renewal for cloud-based web-hosting for the National Resource Directory (NRD) in support of Medical Affairs, Clinical

Support Division, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

16.505(b)(1)(iii)(A): multiple-award contracts – “Fair Opportunity” amongst all groups of contract holders.

3. Description of Supplies or Services and Estimated Value: The purpose of this action is to procure AWS to provide Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) compliant, cloud-based hosting of the NRD. Services include 24/7 publicly accessible internet access to the NRD, remote access for system administrators, and ongoing security monitoring to include detection of and response to incidents, outages, and exploits. The Contractor shall provide management support for all software servers (database, web servers, application enablers), operating systems, hypervisors, hardware, and network infrastructure that are included in the Contractor's boundary and will specifically describe the Consumer/Provider responsibilities for maintenance. The Contractor shall provide web hosting infrastructure and application integrations support. The Contractor shall provide Operations Management and operations of the environment to be inclusive of all the above components and their respective integration. Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Operations & Maintenance (O&M) funding will be used for the base period, and appropriate fiscal year funding will be obtained for each option year.

Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4

OCT 2024

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Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4

Period Period of Performance or Required Delivery Date

Estimated Value Type of Funding

Base Period 9/30/2025 – 9/29/2026 O&M

Option Period 1 9/30/2026 – 9/28/2027 O&M

Option Period 2 9/30/2027 – 9/28/2028 O&M

Total O&M

4. Authority Cited: FAR 16.505(a)(4): “Items peculiar to one manufacturer/Brand Name.”

5. Rationale Justifying Use of Authority Cited: The customer seeks to renew cloud-based web-hosting for the NRD on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The current NRD is hosted on AWS and the associated DHA infrastructure is configured to support AWS. During market research, DHA evaluated the potential of hosting the NRD on Azure and Google Cloud Provider (GCP).

Although Azure and GCP have the technical capability to support NRD, AWS has an Authority to Operate (ATO) with Washington Headquarters Services (WHS) Joint Service Provider (JSP) and DOD Chief Information Officer (CIO) approval. In order to transition to another service provider, DHA will have to modify the existing Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, migrate all data associate with NRD, and for the new platform to receive ATO. In order for a new platform to receive the ATO, the process takes approximately nine (9) to twelve (12) months. Furthermore, the cost of procuring new infrastructure to support the new platform as well as data migration fee would cost the Government hundreds of thousands of dollars in addition. Introducing other brands would require cumbersome and inefficient configuration modifications that have not been tested or approved. The required AWS support to host NRD is only available through Amazon and authorized/approved AWS resellers.

6. Other Facts:

a. Procurement history.

(1) Is this a new requirement? No.

(2) If 7.a.(1) is No, was the action just prior to this one competed? Yes; competitive

100% Small Business Set-aside.

(3) If 7.a.(2) is Yes, what has changed where this action cannot be competed? This requirement will be competed.

b. Additional Information. N/A.

7. Actions to Remove or Overcome any Barrier to Competition:

(a) Efforts to Obtain Competition. Any authorized/approved AWS partner able to provide the products/service required can bid on the requirement.

(b) Actions to Increase Competition. DHA will continue to research the market to ascertain if

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Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4 there are changes in the requirement or the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed.

(c) Follow-on Order. The follow-on requirement will be competed.

8. Market Research: In accordance with FAR Part 10, market research was conducted from 27

March 2025 to 08 April 2025. Market research on NASA SEWP identified eight (8) Service

Women Owned Small Businesses (WOSBs) that are approved AWS resellers. Adequate price competition can be achieved for this requirement on NASA SEWP through WOSB competition.

Therefore, it is the determination of the Contracting Officer to compete this requirement as a

100% WOSB set aside.

9. Technical Certification:

I certify the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Nurse Consultant

Medical Affairs, Clinical Support Division

Defense Health Agency

10. Requirements Certification:

I certify the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Nurse Consultant

Medical Affairs, Clinical Support Division

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination:

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Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4

I hereby determine the anticipated cost to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable.

Basis for Determination: The Contracting Officer will make an independent determination that the anticipated cost to the Government is fair and reasonable through price competition, price analysis techniques using the Contractor’s list prices, the Independent Government Cost

Estimate, and historical pricing under previous contracts for the same or similar products.

Contracting Officer

Professional Services (PS) – Contracting Division (CD)

Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity (DHACA)

12. Legal Review:

I have reviewed this justification and have found it to be legally sufficient.

Associate General Counsel, Contract Law IT/HQ/PM Support

Office of General Counsel

13. Contracting Officer Certification:

I certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

CUI

Source Selection Information - See FAR 2.101 and 3.104-4

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve limiting sources in the acquisition of

Subscription renewal for cloud-based web-hosting for the National Resource Directory in the amount of pursuant to the authority of FAR 16.505(a)(4), subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and property herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.