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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 FBO #5411
DOCUMENT

D -- VACO VoIP Servers and Voice Gateways Tech Refresh - Attachment

Notice Date

9/14/2016
 

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

VA11816Q1564
 

Archive Date

12/22/2016
 

Point of Contact

Amy Schmalzigan
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG15SD38B VA118-16-F-1468
 

Award Date

9/14/2016
 

Awardee

REDHAWK IT SOLUTIONS LLC;2689 MAPLE RIDGE DR;WOODBRIDGE;VA;22192
 

Award Amount

$329,553.62
 

Description

On September 14, 2016, the Technology Acquisition Center awarded Delivery Order VA118-16-F-1468 under the terms and conditions of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V contract NNG15SD38B with RedHawk IT Solutions, LLC (RedHawk IT), 2689 Maple Ridge Drive, Woodbridge, VA 22192. RedHawk IT will be providing Cisco hardware and maintenance, the total order value of $329,553.62. ? 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: This proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cisco hardware and maintenance support. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA Central Office (VACO) Information Technology Services and Support has a requirement for 40 brand name Cisco Voice Gateways (VG), 12 Business Class Servers, and 10 Analog Telephone Adapters (ATA), and annual hardware maintenance support to perform a technology refresh of the VACO Enterprise Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (UCCE) and Unified Communications Management System (UCMS). The purpose of this acquisition is to perform technology refresh of the VACO UCCE and UCMS that are end of life. VACO currently uses a Cisco UCCE platform to host the Call Center Queues and the UCMS as the campus telephone management system. The existing UC Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) hardware is no longer supported by the manufacturer and replacement units are required to maintain the VACO Campus UC system. Delivery is required within 30 days of award. The period of performance for the hardware maintenance shall be 12 months from date of delivery. No installation is required. 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) 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 eight of this document, it was determined that limited competition is available for the required brand name Cisco hardware and maintenance. Cisco is the only brand hardware that can be added to the current VA Cisco infrastructure. Since this hardware is being applied to the existing infrastructure, similar hardware, such as those available from Avaya and Tadiran, are not interoperable or compatible with VA's existing Cisco based equipment. The interoperability issues are due to the incompatibility of the underlying firmware (Cisco proprietary source code) which limits managing devices to their full capabilities as well as system license keys which are only available and applicable to the specific Cisco branded devices. This proprietary source code allows the currently fielded Cisco hardware and software to communicate with only additional Cisco brand name items. Cisco's VG and ATAs use proprietary firmware; therefore, no other hardware maintenance provider has the proprietary code to perform the necessary support services. The hardware maintenance support is required to ensure the hardware, Call Manager and Call Center queue are operational and configured properly. Based on the market research conducted by the Government's technical experts it has been determined that only Cisco and its authorized resellers have the required access to the proprietary firmware to be able meet the Government's requirements. Furthermore, the use of any other hardware would also require a complete replacement of the currently fielded Cisco brand name VoIP utilized at the VACO Campus where this hardware is required. This replacement effort would result in extensive delivery delays and duplicated costs that would not be recovered through competition. Only Cisco or an authorized reseller can provide the aforementioned Cisco brand name products and maintenance. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section eight of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. It was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the required brand Cisco hardware and maintenance. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), notice of award of this action will be synopsized and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award on the Federal Business Opportunities Page. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(2) this Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity will be posted on the NASA SEWP website with the solicitation to all contract awardees. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, the agency will work with the program office to continue to perform market research to consider and ascertain if any other sources can provide these services in the future. Specifically the Government will continue to investigate alternatives to Cisco that may be compatible with the current system and analyze if or when a completely new solution would be technically feasible and appropriate. VA technical experts will conduct this market research on a continual basis. 8. Market Research: Market research was conducted by the Government's technical experts in July 2016 by performing an internet search to determine if there was another source available that could meet the Government's hardware requirement. The research consisted of reviewing vendor's web sites such as Avaya and Tadiran. However, Avaya and Tadiran products cannot meet VA's requirement as they are not fully interoperable and compatible with the current Cisco UCCE and UCMS application due to the proprietary constraints discussed in section 5 of this document. Only Cisco hardware is interoperable with the current UCCE and UCMS application and only Cisco, or an authorized reseller of its hardware, can provide the necessary firmware updates to the existing hardware if needed for future maintenance and security management. Furthermore, the market research revealed that no other hardware maintenance provider has the proprietary code to perform the necessary maintenance support services. Additional market research was conducted in August 2016 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup tool to determine whether the brand name Cisco hardware and maintenance is available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. It was determined that there are several resellers of the brand name Cisco hardware and maintenance that hold current GWACs such that limited competition is anticipated. 9. Other Facts: None
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/8aaa45cbe7e7587edd47daeaaf6402be)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG15SD38B VA118-16-F-1468 NNG15SD38B VA118-16-F-1468_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=3004324&FileName=NNG15SD38B-007.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=3004324&FileName=NNG15SD38B-007.docx

 

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

Record

SN04271105-W 20160916/160914234936-8aaa45cbe7e7587edd47daeaaf6402be (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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