SEWP RFQ JA_D6T3-Hampton-HCC1 Chesapeake VoIP Equipment_Final-2_Redacted.pdf

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 delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for procurement of brand name Cisco Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services VA Office of Information and Technology, IT Operations and Services (ITOPS) Unified Communications Infrastructure Support (UCIS) section has a requirement for brand Name Cisco Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment for the Hampton VAMC. This effort will expand the currently fielded Cisco Voice System to enable and sustain operations. This Voice Equipment shall be delivered to the site within 30 days of award.

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:

Based upon market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that only Cisco Brand Name VoIP phones have the capability to satisfy this requirement. The current Voice System (VS) infrastructure in place within the VA’s Enterprise Voice Network consists of several Cisco Unified Call Manager (CUCM) clusters. Procuring and using Cisco Brand Name VoIP Phones will ensure proper integration with any existing CUCM cluster across the enterprise. Cisco phones and CUCMs utilize a proprietary database structure specific only to Cisco hardware. The required Cisco phones will integrate into an existing CUCM that no other brand hardware would be compatible with. Additionally, VA already owns the associated licensing required to ensure the Cisco phones are fully functional. VA has an enterprise licensing agreement with Cisco which allows the addition of these phones without the need to re-negotiate licensing; therefore, only Cisco or an authorized reseller can provide the necessary products for the expansion of the existing CUCM currently deployed throughout the VA’s Enterprise Voice Network. If VA were to procure different VS products, even if another existed with qualifications that met VA’s functional needs, VA-24-00062743

Brand Name Cisco Activation Hampton VAMC Voice

One vendor was determined capable of fulfilling the requirements by the technical experts. However, shipping appears to be slow for Four Points Technology, LLC, due to “supply chain issues.”

Additional market research was conducted by the Contract Specialist in May 2024 by utilizing the NASA SEWP V Provider Lookup Tool. The search identified 38 contract holders that are Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business Cisco Authorized resellers on the NASA SEWP V GWAC. Furthermore, the NASA SEWP V GWAC has a dynamic catalog where line items can be added based on customer requests; therefore, as long as the required item or service is within scope of the NASA SEWP V GWAC. Based on the above, there is a reasonable expectation that limited competition exists on the NASA SEWP V GWAC. As a result of the aforementioned market research, VA intends to issue a Request for Quotation on NASA SEWP V

GWAC.

9. Other Facts: None.