Siemens Wireless InterMesh Fire Alarm Monitoring System _ Final Redacted.pdf

Control Number VA-24-00043406

SIMPLIFIED ACQUSITION PROCEDURES JUSTIFICATION FOR A SOLE SOURCE

AWARD FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

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 (FFP) contract for the procurement of a brand name Siemens Wireless InterMesh Fire Alarm Monitoring System.

3. Description of Supplies or Services: The VA, Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center in Leavenworth, KS (VAMC Leavenworth), requires the procurement of a Siemens Wireless InterMesh Fire Alarm Monitoring System and Siemens Cloud Application solution. VAMC Leavenworth currently has a Siemens Fire Alarm Monitoring System communicating via fiber optic cable. The Siemens Fire Alarm Monitoring System covers an area of 323 acres with monitored buildings spread throughout the property. These buildings range from critical care areas like the hospital and community living center to maintenance shops and warehouses. Due to the fragile condition of the fiber network that interconnects all of the monitoring panels together from each building to form one system, VAMC Leavenworth is losing reliability and vision on sectors within the whole. This wireless technology provides wireless radio mesh that monitors the existing panel and communicates to the central station and this solution can operate as a secondary means to the existing fire alarm monitoring system, or be configured to operate as the primary means of communication with an Application Programming Interface to the existing Desigo Command Center Computers.

4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 entitled, “Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on the extensive market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, it was determined that competition is viable among resellers of the Siemens Wireless InterMesh Fire Monitoring System and Siemens Cloud Application solution. Only the brand name Siemens Wireless InterMesh Fire Monitoring System and Siemens Cloud Application solution can meet VA’s requirements. Over the years, the existing Fiber Network has been compromised by a series of construction projects, causing interruptions of the fire alarm system at VAMC Leavenworth. VA has spent significant time, labor and money to re-establish fiber that has been damaged over time. The fire alarm system fiber network was originally designed with a redundant fiber network. Due to these ongoing issues with the existing fiber network, it is currently operating on one fiber patched together between the original two redundant fibers.

VAMC Leavenworth has over 1,000 employees and over 20,000 Veteran visits a year, all of whom rely on the fire system for their personal safety. An unreliable system is not an option as per National Fire Protection Association 99 16.7.1.2.

Siemens and its authorized resellers are the only providers and installers of the Siemens Wireless InterMesh Fire Monitoring System and Siemens Cloud Application solution due to the proprietary data required to integrate with the already existing Siemens Fire Monitoring System. No other manufacturer has a fire monitoring system that can communicate with the existing system. Without a functioning fire monitoring system, VAMC Leavenworth cannot monitor any emergencies at their 16 locations. If VA were to procure another product to replace the Siemens Fire Alarm Monitoring system, the estimated cost of replacement would be approximately $3,000,000.00 for the solution and it would take approximately 1 to 2 months to replace

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government’s requirements. Additionally, the proposed action will be posted as a combined synopsis and solicitation on the Contract Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 12.603.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be competed.

8. Market Research: VA technical experts conducted web-based market research in January 2024 to determine if competition was viable for this action. Specifically, the Government’s technical experts conducted web-based research and discovered that while other wireless mesh fire alarm monitoring system offerings from other brands such as Firetide, KBC Networking, and Ruckus exist, they do not meet the VA’s technical compatibility requirements for the existing Siemens Fire Alarm Monitoring System and Siemens Cloud Application solution. As a result, the Government’s technical experts concluded that only brand name Siemens or its resellers have the capability to provide the wireless mesh fire alarm monitoring system for the existing Siemens Fire Alarm Monitoring System. In addition, VA networking Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name wireless mesh fire alarm monitoring systems are available. Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government’s technical experts have determined that only the aforementioned Siemens Wireless InterMesh Fire Monitoring System and Siemens Cloud Application solution can meet all of VA’s requirements.

The Contracting Office communicated with Siemens directly to determine if there were any resellers capable of meeting the requirements. Siemens sent the VA an authorized letter confirming three authorized SDVOSB resellers. The three vendors are: Veterans Fire & Life Safety Inc., Accord Federal Services, and Remember Everyone Deployed Construction Services. Based on the confirmation from Siemens, there is adequate reason to believe there would be sufficient competition amongst SDVOSBs. As such, this effort shall be solicited as a SDVOSB set-aside on Contracting Opportunities.

9. Other Facts: N/A.