Sole Source Special Notice for PR WCS2021S60CNBK1005 for Passive Optical Network as PUBLISHED.pdf

This is NOT a solicitation. This is instead a SOLE-SOURCE Special Notice regarding the

U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) intention to award, to a company named VT

Milcom Inc. dba VT Group, a SOLE-SOURCE contract for Maintenance of Passive Optical

Local Area Network (LAN) (PON) Solution at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)

Continuity of Operations (COOP) site, as described below.

1. Agency & Contracting Activity:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, Office of the Senior Procurement

Executive, Acquisition Services Division, M-63

2. Nature of Action Being Approved:

Sole-Source contract-award to VT Milcom Inc. dba VT Group

3. Description of Supplies or Services:

The purpose of this award is for Maintenance of Passive Optical Local Area Network (LAN)

(PON) Solution at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Continuity of Operations

(COOP) site.

The total cost of the award is estimated at $52,782.00 for a firm fixed price (FFP) contract with a period of performance of one year with four option years.

In April of 2010, the Department of the Army, Office of the Secretary issued Directive 2010-

XXX, Technical Guidance for Network Modernization. Section 3a. of the Directive reads, “Current commercial technologies, such as Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology and broadband wireless networking, have been proven to reduce cost up to 60 percent for network devices and to reduce time to market in the modernization of campus networks.” 1

In May of 2012, the Department of the Army, United States Army Network Enterprise

Technology Command issued a memorandum titled, Program Execution Requirements for

Installation Information Infrastructure Modernization Program (I3MP) Fiscal Year (FY) 13.

Section 3 of the memorandum reads, “As part of the FY 13 efforts and beyond, and in accordance with the Memorandum dated 23 April 2010, Department of the Army (DA)

Directive 2010-XXX, Technical Guidance for Network Modernization, NETCOM has identified a requirement for all new construction and all major renovations to utilize Gigabit

Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology. Any deviation from the requirement to utilize

GPON for said projects will require a waiver from the CG, NETCOM prior to execution.” 2

1 Memorandum: Subject: Department of the Army (DA)Directive 2010-XXX, Technical Guidance for Network Modernization (April 23, 2010) 2 Memorandum, Subject: Program Execution Requirements for Installation

Information Infrastructure Modernization Program (I3MP) Fiscal Year (FY) 13

(May 11 2012)

Since the summer of 2012 DOT has leased temporary COOP space from the Lundeburg

Maryland School of Seamanship located at Piney Point, MD. In 2013, DOT was advised that some of the temporary leased space would have to be returned to the school but that a new building, on campus, was being planned with DOT being offered 14,000 square feet of permanent COOP space. DOT leadership determined that all of the modes and OST offices would have leadership presence at the DOT COOP site and space would be available to house modal COOP sites, if feasible.

In May of 2013, S-60’s technical subject matter expert attended a briefing on Passive Optical

LAN technology. In March of 2014, S-60’s National Continuity Program staff visited VT

Group’s training facility in Sterling, VA to further explore PON technology as an innovative and cost effective replacement to traditional copper cable and wiring architecture. A PON solution installed today is a future proof solution to today’s copper wiring methodologies. PON allows for:

• Reduced thermal and rack space footprint;

• Provides for a Green Procurement opportunity because of lower cost electronics, lower power consumption and reduced HVAC requirements;

• Increased bandwidth to support DOT current and future COOP IT requirements;

• Low-cost fiber optic cable bundling over traditional copper cable and wire ; and

• Like services and applications similar to Active Ethernet (Verizon™ in your home).

In 2015, VT Group installed the PON system at the DOT COOP site in Piney Point, MD.

4. Statutory Authority:

Unique capability - 41 U.S.C. 253 (c)(1).

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Citation in No. 4:

VT Milcom Inc. dba VT Group is an ISO 9001:2008 registered large business with headquarters in Virginia Beach, VA. They are a technology design build integrator who specializes in engineering design and technical installation of Passive Optical Local Area

Network (LAN) (PON) ( also referred to as Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) and

Passive Optical Local Area Network (POL)) solutions for commercial, government and DoD entities. The PON solution is new technology and constitutes a highly technical project requiring the VT Group to work closely, through their project manager, with the construction contractor and DOT in transforming 14,000 square feet of new construction into useable COOP space to include a Crisis Management Center, Planning Team Room, Secure Video Tele-conferencing space, Intelligence Office work space, work space for the Secretary, Deputy

Secretary and Chief of Staff, OST Office work spaces, Modal leadership and Modal COOP space and a multi-use meeting space for 100 employees. The wiring requirements include 157+ optical network terminals for computers (desktop and laptop) and desk phones (secure and non-secure).

VT Group has proven experience with engineering design, technical installation, training, and system support/maintenance. VT Group has an experienced organic team of software developers, electrical engineers, program managers and technology systems integrators. VT

Group has previously completed and continues to support high-visibility, complex projects identical to DOT’s PON requirements with the Department of the Navy, Army and Air Force.

VT Group staff has written the first industry design standard for the current BICSI

Telecommunications Distribution Design Manual (TDMM) – 13th Edition, designed the world’s largest Secure-GPON installation (base Arifjan), designed a GPON for the entire

Bahrain Bay city, and has consulted the military on rewriting base standardization guides to be inclusive of GPON.

VT Group is an expert in Passive Optical LAN innovation and has a certified training facility located in Sterling, VA. The contract includes the training of DOT personnel in the installation and maintenance of this new technology.

VT Group has opened a local office in St. Mary’s County to support the Patuxen River (Pax

River) Naval Air Station. This local office will also be able to support the DOT COOP site in

Piney Point. VT Group is the only vendor that DOT has identified that has the level of expertise and capabilities that will meet DOT’s needs for this contract. No other vendor has both complete PON systems development and maintenance capabilities as well as the ability to train and support DOT staff locally in the technology.

6. Effort to Solicit Potential Sources:

No other vendor in the D.C. metropolitan region can provide the PON solution maintenance necessary.

Leading

Market

GPON

System

Integrators

*Gold and

Distributor Dealer for the Tellabs Optical LAN

Solution (PON)

Has more Optical LAN

(PON)

Enterprise

Engineers on-staff than any other integrator

Certified facility to offer remote

Tellabs certified Optical LAN training

Certified in-house Optical

LAN trainers

Completed multiple converged design/build projects with AV, Security, Wireless integrated over PON

VT Group X X X X X

IBM

SAIC

*Gold Certification demonstrates a measurably high level of customer satisfaction within the market.

7. Determination of Fair and Reasonable Anticipated Cost:

The proposed costs and prices for this effort will be analyzed by the Contracting Officer, in consultation with the Contracting Officer’s Representative, to ensure that they are the best price available for this product.

8. Market Research Conducted:

Market research was done by contacting contacts within the Continuity of Operations (COOP) and IT community. VT Group is the only firm identified that had both complete PON systems development and maintenance capabilities as well as the ability to train and support DOT staff locally in the technology.

9. Plans for Future Competition:

Yearly maintenance plan agreement will be required to maintain the IT service.

10. Listing of Interested Sources:

Not applicable.

11. Actions Taken to Remove Barriers to Competition:

DOT knows of no barriers to competition, other than the technical requirements specified above. Further, DOT knows of no barriers that have ever prevented any technically-capable company from training for, and from ultimately attaining, the needed technical competencies mentioned above. Additionally, DOT’s Market Research, as described above, can plausibly be interpreted only as an action intended to MINIMIZE any barriers to competition that might exist. And, finally, the worldwide publishing of this Sole Source Special Notice in the

BetaSam.gov website arguably stands as the ULTIMATE governmental action to completely

OVERCOME any barriers to competition that might exist. And, pursuant to this published

Sole Source Special Notice, any interested entity (other than VT Milcom Inc. dba VT

Group), which believes that it possesses all of the qualifications needed to perform this project at the high level of quality indispensable to DOT, may, not later than 11:00 PM

Eastern Daylight Time July 7th, 2021, attempt to prove those points by submitting a

Statement of Qualifications to james.mowery@dot.gov and to patricia.freeman@dot.gov .

mailto:james.mowery@dot.gov mailto:patricia.freeman@dot.gov