Notice of Intent to Sole Source - OARnet VMWare Subscription Maintenance for AFIT

Air Force Materiel Command, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson AFB OH, intends to negotiate a sole source Firm-Fixed Price contract for the renewal of Oarnet’s VMWare Subscription Maintenance (1 Year Maintenance Renewal) for Horizon View Enterprise Edition Software (500 Users) in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 15.2, as supplemented with additional information in this notice. The contract will be awarded to The Ohio State University doing business as Oarnet. Market research was previously conducted, and it has been determined that this is a sole source requirement IAW FAR 6.302-1, FAR 13.106-1(b) and AFFARS 5313.106-1(b).

This is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation is available at this time. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency. Interested sources must respond in writing with clear and convincing evidence to support their ability to provide the required supplies/services within five (5) days of this publication. A determination by the Government not to compete this action based on responses received is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), Justification: Supplies required are available from only one or a limited number of responsible source and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

Market research was conducted with only one respondent, Oarnet is able to meet the government’s requirement. Oarnet is the only maintenance source for AFIT's continued use of the Oarnet VMWare subscription maintenance of the licenses AFIT leases.  No other vendor can provide required support and maintenance of the Oarnet VMWare Horizon View managed licenses. Furthermore, if the government procured VMWare Horizon View licenses from an alternative source, AFIT would incur the cost of purchasing a new suite of licenses with maintenance which is prohibitively expensive.

Col. Todd has been appointed as Ombudsman to hear concerns from offerors, or potential offerors, during the proposal development. The purpose of the Ombudsman is to communicate contractor concerns, issues, disagreements, and recommendations to the appropriate government personnel. Existence of the Ombudsman does not diminish the authority of the program director or the contracting officer. Accordingly, the Ombudsman does not participate in the preparation of solicitations, the evaluation of proposals or the source selection process and, therefore, for routine matters on individual solicitations, please contact the buyer at the telephone number listed herein. When requested, the Ombudsman will maintain strict confidentiality as to the source of the concern. Should you desire to contact the Ombudsman, Col. Todd can be reached at e-mail: asca@us.af.mil.