PN 85739 Siemon Brand-name J&A.PDF

Program/Equipment: SOTF/Siemon Products

Control Number: SAW-20-0003

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JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

SIEMON PRODUCTS FOR SOTF

1. CONTRACTING AGENCY:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington District

2. DESCRIPTION OF ACTION:

Subject project in the Security Operations Training Facility (SOTF) includes renovation and upgrades of existing non-secure working area into a secure working area meeting ICD

705 requirements. Approximately 9,000 square foot area is in the construction footprint.

The proposed Siemon products are required to maintain technical characteristics of other

Siemon products throughout SOTF.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES OR NATURE OF CONSTRUCTION:

The referenced construction effort was awarded in FY 11, and consists of additions to an existing large facility on the SOTF campus at Ft. Bragg, NC. The original contract language included requirements for copper telecommunications cable that could ostensibly be met by more than one product. As further described below, USACE intends to require a specific cable product, as that product has been shown by the user to be a unique product with unique capabilities that meets the user’s stringent requirements for top-quality and secure telecommunications equipment.

SOTF’s physical layer telecommunication horizontal copper cable is currently built upon

Siemon Systems 10Ghz category six augmented cable (CAT6a) and its associated system ancillary termination components. Over two million feet and approximately 95% of the entire compound’s infrastructure is designed and installed with this premium quality shielded and plenum-rated cabling system. These unique product components provide standardization across the campus environment ensuring equipment compatibility, network stability and security, and reduce long-term sustainment and maintenance costs due to the

25 year end-to-end system warranty provided by the manufacturer. Over the past eight years of product installation SOTF has had zero operational down time due to physical network infrastructure failure as a result of the reliability of the components as well as the warranty coverage provided by Siemon.

Due to the unique operational requirements for high system availability, the SOTF voice and data network requires the highest level of performance and reliability through a 10 Ghz solution capable of supporting emerging and converging IP applications such as Voice over

IP and IP video across a multi-classification network architecture. The data network must maintain the smallest footprint of electromagnetic interference providing an optimum shielded solution with zero alien cross talk emanation in a building that is over three

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decades old. The network must be in accordance with all applicable security policies and

TEMPEST guidelines in order to pass accreditation and receive an authority to operate.

The estimated value of the entire contract is $4,500,000. The estimated value of the sole-source portion that requires Siemon products is $162,000.

4. AUTHORITY CITED:

The authority for this sole-source acquisition is 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), IAW FAR 6.302-

1(c), Only One Responsible Source, Brand Name Exception. Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements

5. REASON FOR AUTHORITY CITED:

FAR 6.302-1(c): This justification is to use only Siemon CAT 6A F/UTP copper cable, Z-Max series terminations and patch panels which are currently the only specified acceptable copper cable throughout SOTF. The CAT 6A F/UTP cable provides channel performance exceeding TIA-568-C-2 category requirements for 10GBASE-T operation over 100-meters and 4-conductor topology. The Siemon cable is the only product that

SOTF has been able to find that can provide a validated and guaranteed margin over the more stringent TIA/ISO standards that it requires. These factors provide significant advantages in throughput performance and stability as well as scalability for SOTF long-term infrastructure requirements while simultaneously reducing long-term sustainment and maintenance costs.

a. Background: Currently, 100% of the copper cabling, terminations, and patch panels in SOTF are Siemon products. SOTF’s testing of shielded cabled systems revealed that the Siemon shielded solution was the only cable tested that did not emit any emanations during testing. As a result, the end-to-end shielded system is the only cable the organization feels confident in using for secure communications and has been used extensively by SOTF for internally procured telecommunications improvements projects. The

Government’s intent is to maintain a system that is entirely Siemon to prevent service or security interruptions or warranty issues due to multiple cabling brands that must operate together. Due to the increase in cybersecurity threats, maintaining an entire system that exceeds TIA-568-C-

2 requirements is essential to protecting sensitive communications within

SOTF.

b. Alternatives: There are currently no other alternate manufacturers that manufacture copper cabling to the specifications SOTF requires in its current infrastructure nor the warranty period necessary to reduce long-term costs to the government. Over the past nine years, SOTF determined through hands-on experience that having multiple manufacturers of cabling significantly reduced network availability and increased manpower overhead to manage a non-homogeneous copper infrastructure.

c. Justification: FAR 6.302-1(c) allows for limiting competition to those sources who can provide a brand name product.

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11. FAIR AND REASONABLE COST DETERMINATION:

I hereby determine that the anticipated cost or price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. Proposed pricing will be compared with the IGCE submitted by Wilmington District Technical Services Section.

NAME: Jere West DATE: _________________________

TITLE: Contracting Officer SIGNATURE: _________________

12. CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION:

I hereby certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Based on the foregoing, I approve this Brand Name/Limited

Sources justification subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services and supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

NAME: Jere F. West DATE: _________________________

TITLE: Contracting Officer SIGNATURE: _________________

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APPROVAL

Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Siemon

Products for SOTF on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the authority of 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), FAR 6.302-1(c) and provided the property and services herein described has otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

NAME: Jere F. West DATE: _________________________

TITLE: Contracting Officer SIGNATURE: ___________________