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FBO DAILY ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 FBO #3589
DOCUMENT

70 -- Virtual VA (VVA) Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (SW) and Maintenance - IBM - Base + 2OY (FY 11 OIT Funding) - Attachment

Notice Date

9/20/2011
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

511210 — Software Publishers
 

Contracting Office

Department of Veterans Affairs;Center for Acquisition Innovation-Austin;1701 Directors Blvd;Suite 600;Austin TX 78744
 

ZIP Code

78744
 

Solicitation Number

VA118A11RQ0023
 

Archive Date

10/16/2011
 

Point of Contact

Angela Deren
 

E-Mail Address

1-4432<br
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG07DA20B VA118A-11-F-0162
 

Award Date

9/16/2011
 

Awardee

IMMIXTECHNOLOGY, INC.;8444 WESTPARK DR STE 200;MCLEAN;VA;221025112
 

Award Amount

$281,243.37
 

Description

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY 1.Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition and Logistics Center for Acquisition Innovation - Austin 1701 Directors Blvd., Suite 600 Austin, TX 78744 2.Description of Action: This proposed action is for a Firm-Fixed-Price Delivery Order (DO) issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) IV Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), for software licenses to support Virtual Veterans Affairs (VVA) application's Backend (Server) program functions for a Disaster Recovery (DR) solution. Additionally, maintenance support is required for the aforementioned software. The period of performance for the maintenance support will consist of a one (1) year base period with two (2), one (1) year options. 3.Description of Supplies or Services: The proposed action will provide software licenses and maintenance support necessary to support the VVA application's DR strategy implemented within VA's data centers. The VVA solution is a mission critical application, which is sponsored by Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) Compensation and Pension (C&P) Services and is maintained by Office of Information & Technology (OIT) Operations Region 5. A DR solution must be capable of modeling the production system exactly in the event of a catastrophic failure. The purpose of a DR solution is to have a geographically diverse backup system that can be brought on-line quickly to minimize production downtime during a system failure at the primary production sites. The concept of disaster recovery is critical to the VA's ability to execute continuity of operations plans during emergencies. VVA represents VBA's solution to implementing an electronic claims folder in support of the C&P claims process. VVA was rolled out as a pilot in 2003 as a solution to eliminating the heavy paper dependent processes VBA used to adjudicate C&P claims. VVA is now mission critical to VBA's business and claims processing which cannot continue if the application is unavailable. This proposed action will provide support for over 50+ Server Software components that are deployed and necessary to run VVA. Additionally, maintenance support is required to ensure the aforementioned software remains operational. The total estimated price of the proposed action, inclusive of the base year and all option years, is. The specific software and associated functions are as follows: BM brand name software: VVA currently uses the IBM product FileNet Image Services Connector to Independent Storage Archival Resource solution to connect the VVA images with the VVA database. However, IBM FileNet Image Services Connector to Magnetic Storage & Retrieval (MSAR) solution is what VA requires to properly complete back-ups of the VVA e-folders and is the solution certified to provide comprehensive back-up and restore functionality. Because IBM is the manufacturer of both software solutions, it is tightly integrated as part of the overall solution. VA requires IBM's MSAR storage device software license to use IBM's FileNet license with magnetic disk (SAN or single drive) storage. The DR solution is designed to leverage existing VA deployed enterprise technology solutions that have been previously competed. The IBM Content Management software is foundationally critical to the solution. The IBM content management component of Virtual VA was competed during the original development of the application in 1998/1999 timeframe. Approximately five vendors provided quotations for the content management solution with IBM filenet being chosen as the best value to the Government. As such, IBM Filenet has become a foundational component of VVA. To change the content management component of VVA would require a complete re-write and replacement of the application core. In essence, this would result in the replacement of the application and would require a multi-year, multi-million dollar investment. As this procurement is to provide a DR component to VVA, it is absolutely necessary that the software exactly matches the deployed production system. 4.Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 253(j)(b) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B), "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.Reason for Authority Cited: Based on extensive market research, as described in paragraph 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is available for this brand name item and service. VA must ensure the software is completely compatible with the software that exists at other VVA locations. VVA depends on the deployed software, which supports the interoperability and compatibility of devices to operate and perform its mission. As stated previously, the DR solution must exactly match the production model so as to minimize production outages during emergency situations when DR actions are executed. The software licenses and maintenance services being procured under this action will enable the construction of the necessary interfaces between the original VVA production sites and the DR sites located at Corporate Data Center Operations (CDCO). These interfaces will enable the exchange of data to ensure that the DR system maintains a separate and distinct copy of the VVA production data that can be used to continue operations in the event of a catastrophe. As the IBM products are proprietary, they are the only products capable of providing for this interoperability between the DR locations and the primary production sites. The software identified in Paragraph 3 above ensures interoperability and compatibility with the existing VVA Application system and code currently implemented across the country, with its major sites located at the three Regional Offices in Philadelphia, PA, Milwaukee, WI, and St. Paul, MN, as well as the data center in Hines, IL. Use of software, other than the brand name items identified would adversely impact VVA's ability to continue supporting C&P's business operations. Only the identified software can meet all of the Government's interoperability and compatibility requirements for DR. 6.Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. Limited competition is anticipated for the required brand name items and maintenance. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.3 the contract award will be synopsized on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) Page. In addition, this Justification and Approval (J&A) will be made publicly available on the FBO page. 7.Actions to Increase Competition: Although the Government is limiting competition as a result of specifying a brand name item, there are authorized resellers of these products on the NASA SEWP IV GWAC. Limited competition for this requirement among these vendors is anticipated. Accordingly, this J&A and the Request for Quote will be submitted to all four (4) groups on the NASA SEWP IV GWAC in order to fully notify all interested parties and obtain price competition. Any quotations received will be evaluated. Furthermore, in order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, the agency will work with the program office to perform additional market research in a timely manner so that other solutions can be considered. 8.Market Research: Market research was conducted by VA through the issuance of a Request for Information (RFI) on the NASA SEWP IV GWAC. Four contract holders responded to the RFI, showing their ability to provide the required software licenses and maintenance support. Additional market research was conducted utilizing a non-SEWP vendor to identify the availability and clarification of the product list. Based on this market research, limited competition is expected for this proposed action. As stated above, the IBM content management component of VVA was competed during the original development of the application in 1998/1999 timeframe. Approximately five vendors provided quotations for the content management solution with IBM filenet being chosen as the best value to the Government. As such, IBM Filenet has become a foundational component of the VVA system. 9.Other Facts: These software licenses and maintenance support services were previously purchased and have since expired. This procurement is for new updated software licenses and maintenance support services.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/138506e35aa07b950e3cae8582660ae6)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG07DA20B VA118A-11-F-0162 NNG07DA20B VA118A-11-F-0162.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=259807&FileName=NNG07DA20B-013.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=259807&FileName=NNG07DA20B-013.docx

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN02584254-W 20110922/110920235528-138506e35aa07b950e3cae8582660ae6 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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