DOCUMENT
R -- Attachmate software maintenance - Attachment
- Notice Date
- 9/2/2016
- Notice Type
- Attachment
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs;Technology Acquisition Center;23 Christopher Way;Eatontown NJ 07724
- ZIP Code
- 07724
- Solicitation Number
- VA11816Q1309
- Archive Date
- 12/10/2016
- Point of Contact
- Joe Pignataro, Contract Specialist
- E-Mail Address
-
.Pignataro@va.gov<br
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Award Number
- NNG15SD31B VA118-16-F-1313
- Award Date
- 9/2/2016
- Awardee
- I3 FEDERAL, LLC;11400 QUAILWOOD MANOR DR;FAIRFAX STATION;VA;22039
- Award Amount
- $5,443,210.00
- Description
- JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY 1. Contracting Activity:Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Operations Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724 2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for firm-fixed-price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), for brand name Attachmate Reflection software licenses and software maintenance. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, Service Delivery and Engineering has a requirement for the renewal of software maintenance for 440,000 brand name Attachmate Reflection licenses and the procurement of up to 82,000 additional Attachmate Reflection licenses and associated maintenance. Attachmate Reflection software provides secure encrypted user-to-server connections to applications on International Business Machines (IBM), Hewlett-Packard (HP), UNiplexed Information and Computing System (UNIX), and Unisys systems from any web browser or Windows desktop. The Attachmate Reflection software will cover the full spectrum of host access needed in one package. This software allows VA application programmers to work with an established baseline of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) from which to write interdependent applications such as Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) and other VA in-house applications. This software also allows VA to deploy and maintain the terminal emulation product on a single Windows platform. This software also provides users with connections to text-based and graphical applications, and safely transfers the files. Desktop sessions can be suspended and resumed, or transferred to another workstation when using Attachmate Reflection software. The Attachmate Reflection software functionality includes strengthened host security and improved user productivity. In addition to providing the latest encryption and authentication technologies, Attachmate Reflection software offers enhanced support for Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), including required single sign-on authentication. The Attachmate Reflection software includes a crypto module validated against the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2, which is a U.S. Government computer security standard used to accredit cryptographic modules. This integrated solution will allow secure access for mission critical applications on various systems used by VA. These software licenses provide VA with a standard terminal emulator across the enterprise. Additionally, software maintenance agreements are required to ensure the Attachmate Reflection software remains operational. The initial purchase of the licenses includes a 12-month maintenance plan. The period of performance for this effort consists of one 12-month base period with two 12-month option periods. The total estimated price of the proposed action inclusive of the optional tasks and option periods is $ 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting this exception to fair opportunity is 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) entitled, "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. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, it has been determined that limited competition is viable for these brand name items and services. In September 2007, VA chose the Attachmate Reflection software as an enterprise solution to protect "Data in transit" for the Host Integration and Emulation Program. This software allows protection of patient medical records and personally identifiable information against theft. Additionally, this software also protects Veterans' data by using strong FIPS 140-2 encryption that secures data transmission, and prevents VA data from being transmitted in clear-text, both inside and outside VA. Attachmate Reflection is currently installed on 440,000 desktops within VA. The VA enterprise is diverse and varies region by region and Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) by VISN and within the various functional areas. Due to this, the VA enterprise includes many different protocols, host systems and applications including Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA), VistA Mail, Integrated Funds Distribution Control Point Activity Accounting & Procurement, Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System, and UNIX and Unisys systems. These applications run under host servers from HP, IBM and Honeywell/Bull requiring many different protocols with multiple operating systems including Open Virtual Memory System (OpenVMS),, Microsoft Windows Server (supporting both direct access and over Terminal Services), MAC OS X, IBM zOS and Red Hat Linux. Only Attachmate Reflection software can access all of these applications plus support enterprise-scaled deployment functionality, in adherence to VA security policies. In addition, end-to-end encryption is required while supporting the VA smart card and PKI initiative in response to Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12). Some sites require Secure Shell (SSH) protocol for file transfer while other sites require Secure Socket Layer (SSL). Additionally, some sites also need a locally installed Windows application while others need a web client product or a hosted Terminal Services-based application. Attachmate Reflection is the only emulation and file transfer software that meets all of these requirements. Attachmate Reflection achieves this by providing a modern three-tier security architecture that allows for the vast amount of data in motion to be encrypted and tunneled through either SSH or SSL protocol with either desktop or web clients. Furthermore, Attachmate Reflection is the only brand name software that is deployed on both VA and Mental Health System (MHS) enterprise desktops. Data interoperability between MHS and VA systems is greatly enhanced due to their common desktop, which will enable seamless transfer of various Electronic Health Records. Only Attachmate Reflection software can ensure complete interoperability between the MHS and VA systems. Attachmate Reflection is the only software that gives VA a complete end-to-end solution that is FIPS 140-2 certified, Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) certified and supports the many diverse environments that exist at VA. Additionally, only Attachmate resellers can provide the specific maintenance support services by having direct access to this source code, which VA, or any other vendor, does not own. Any source must have access to this proprietary source code in order to provide the aforementioned maintenance support. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this justification. Although the Government is limiting competition because of specifying a brand name, there are several authorized resellers on NASA SEWP V GWAC. Competition for this requirement among these vendors is anticipated. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(D)(1)(i), this action will be synopsized at award on the Federal Business Opportunities Page (FBO) and the justification will be made publicly available. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, the Government will continue to perform market research on this software application and maintenance to determine if other solutions can be considered for future procurements. 8. Market Research: In January 2016, VA Enterprise Infrastructure Engineering conducted market research to determine if there were viable products from other manufacturers besides Attachmate to meet VA's requirements. Competitors such as VanDyke Terminal Emulation, SSH Tectia, Rocket Software, Clinet/ConnectSecure, PowerTerm, InterConnect, Rational Host on Demand, and Putty were analyzed. Based on this analysis, the Government's technical experts determined that none of these software solutions offered could meet VA's entire requirement, to include operating on all of the applications VA utilizes to meet all of VA's functional and interoperability requirements as detailed in paragraph five of this document. Some of the software solutions evaluated offer a partial solution, for example: emulation only, Windows based only, SSH only, or SSL only. However, none of the products meet all of VA's critical requirements. Specifically, SSH Tectia and Clinet/ConnectSecure did not meet VA's requirements for web-based or JITC-certified client connectivity. In addition, PowerTerm and InterConnect were not able to meet the Government's need for smart card support. None of the computing products, including SecureCRT, was able to demonstrate or verify they had JITC certification. Rocket Software and VanDyke Terminal Emulation do not have JITC certification. Based on this market research, the Government's technical experts determined that only Attachmate Reflection software can meet all of VA's requirements. Enterprise Infrastructure Engineering conducted market research in February 2016 via two Requests for Information (RFI). RFI #22384 was issued to all value added resellers in Groups B, C, and D and RFI #22996 was issued to the contract holders in Group A. The RFIs posted a list of salient characteristics for the host integration and emulation software, and requested budgetary estimates. Only one response was received from Merlin International, a Veteran-Owned Small Business, in Group A. Enterprise Infrastructure Engineering technical experts then released another RFI in May 2016 to all NASA SEWP V GWAC holders in Groups B, C, and D (#29548), and Group A (#29550), with their refined requirements. Only one response was received from Merlin International. In June 2016, the Contract Specialist conducted market research to ascertain the extent of limited competition among resellers. Through use of the Provider Look-up tool on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website, 15 resellers of the required Attachmate Reflection software licenses and maintenance were identified that could possibly meet VA's needs. Therefore, limited competition is anticipated. 9. Other Facts: None.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/5cb29cca932b7b6a1a5a00feee937bef)
- Document(s)
- Attachment
- File Name: NNG15SD31B VA118-16-F-1313 NNG15SD31B VA118-16-F-1313_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2984820&FileName=NNG15SD31B-016.docx)
- Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2984820&FileName=NNG15SD31B-016.docx
- Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
- File Name: NNG15SD31B VA118-16-F-1313 NNG15SD31B VA118-16-F-1313_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2984820&FileName=NNG15SD31B-016.docx)
- Record
- SN04254294-W 20160904/160902235312-5cb29cca932b7b6a1a5a00feee937bef (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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