Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF AUGUST 21, 2010 FBO #3192
SOLICITATION NOTICE

70 -- Upgrade of hardware and software components of installed raio control over IP systems on the Tonto National Forest availabe from NICS using Wave Technology.

Notice Date

8/19/2010
 

Notice Type

Justification and Approval (J&A)
 

NAICS

811212 — Computer and Office Machine Repair and Maintenance
 

Contracting Office

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, WO-AQM IT Support, 333 Broadway Blvd, SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87102
 

ZIP Code

87102
 

Archive Date

9/16/2010
 

Point of Contact

Lorraine Lucero, Phone: 5058423407
 

E-Mail Address

llucero@fs.fed.us
(llucero@fs.fed.us)
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

AG7604P100170
 

Award Date

8/17/2010
 

Description

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION CONTRACTING OFFICER'S STATEMENT REGARDING NICS 1. Identification of Agency and the Contracting Activity: United States Forest Service, WO-AQM Support Branch 2. Nature and/or Description of Action Being Approved: This procurement is for the upgrade of all hardware and software components of the installed radio control over IP (RCoIP) systems on the Tonto National Forest Region 3 which uses WAVE Technology available from NICS and is a proprietary product. The full task includes upgrading all software and hardware to current supportable versions as well as the installation of RAVIN hardware necessary to migrate away from multicasting on the IP network. This statement of work includes all labor, configuration, programming and testing necessary to create the infrastructure to have a functional RCoIP transport system on the USFS IP network. The final product system shall be fully operational on the Tonto National Forest and will offer ability for USFS employees to use a desktop software client to access their appropriate radio channels. The system shall also support all legacy hardware radio control equipment such as analog dispatch consoles and tone remotes. 3. Description of Supplies or Services Required to Meet Agency's Need Including Estimated the Value: The Contractor shall provide all hardware and software components necessary to provide RCoIP systems for the Tonto National Forest hosted by Primary and Redundant servers located at the Kansas City Data Center. The Contractor shall also provide and install LMR gateways and other hardware devices at all necessary locations (identified in the attached SOW documents) to migrate the Tonto National Forest radio channels to multicast technology. The Contractor shall provide, install, configure, and test all components. The system shall use the existing USFS Enterprise network. The value of this action is estimated xxx. 4. Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition: 41 USC 253(c)(1) 5. A demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited: BRAND NAME REQUIREMENT: Six National Forests in Region 3 including the Tonto National Forest use a Radio Control over IP (RCoIP) system known as the WAVE system from NICS. This system is a server-based radio control system which enables users to use a software program on individual PCs to access radio channels. These systems have been in place for many years and have generally been well received and quite reliable. The USFS IP network has also evolved since the WAVE systems were first installed. The IP network is now transitioning away from the traditional hub-and-spoke systems based upon point-to-point T1 circuits. These traditional networks allowed for Forest networks to isolate themselves from each other. Network architecture now necessitates the requirement to move toward new network technologies; notably migration toward multi-packet label switching (MPLS) networks provided commercially from AT&T. The use of the AT&T's MPLS service is mandated by the Department of Agriculture and is not optional. While this architecture allows for greater performance for the Forest Service's information technology (IT) program overall, it does have some negative aspects for RCoIP. The current WAVE RCoIP systems use multicast technology to distribute radio signals and audio through the IP network. Multicast technology has worked well and met our needs, but there are known vulnerabilities associated with using it when using AT&T's MP LS technology. (The AT&T service is known as the Universal Telecommunications Network (UTN)). These vulnerabilities can result in the loss of radio packets in the IP network and degraded or unavailable radio system performance. All six WAVE systems in Region 3 were purchased and installed by NICS. The current solution from the NICS offers a choice of moving away from multicast technologies while offering the same network performance. NICS is the only source that offers an upgrade path for the WAVE systems for the hardware and software as well an option for RCoIP that does not use multicast. In the time period between the installations of the WAVE systems in Region 3 until the present, NICS has improved their product solution. While still using the WAVE software on the user's PC, the heart of the system is a server known as RAVIN from NICS. When the WAVE systems were first installed in Region 3 by NICS, the Tonto National Forest as with all Forests has its own server which manages the radio channels and user profiles. Each server only serves the Forest on which it was located.• This architecture is not going to be replicated in this SOW. Instead Primary and Redundant RAVIN servers will be placed at the Kansas City Data Center. These servers will host all radio channels, all users, and all remote hardware on the six Forests in this SOW. This centralized-server architecture will allow for migration of other WAVE systems within the Forest Service and also for new systems. It reduces the number of discrete servers which must be maintained. The Primary/Redundant configuration allows for failover. As currently deployed, none of the individual Forest servers have any backup. While the overall solution is proprietary it encompasses all traditional control elements such as dispatch consoles and tone remotes. The RAVIN solution can handle all of the current WAVE systems and is also capable of working with our RCoIP systems provided by Telex/Vega. If necessary, it can be used to encapsulate the Telex/Vega multicast radio traffic as well as all of our 2/4-wire analog radio channels. These can be done as unicast or multicast or a mixture. All radio channels, including the Telex/Vega channels can be available to WAVE software users. Across the Forest Service enterprise there are more than 50 radio control systems that use either WAVE or Telex/Vega solutions and are multicasting. The RAVIN product provides a common solution should any or all of these systems need to transition away from multicasting. 6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies: The RAVIN solution is proprietary to NICS. Solutions moving away from RCoIP were investigated, but the ability to provide desktop-PC radio control is only available via RCoIP. Integrating with the current Telex/Vega equipment recently installed on the Tonto National Forest infrastructure is required, and the RAVIN gateway technology supports this integration while seamlessly converting the Telex/Vega solution form multicast to unicast in support of the UTM; MPLS direction. An RCoIP solution from xx was considered. It is capable of unicast and would meet the UTN technology requirements. That said, the solution from xx is not capable of encapsulating the IP traffic from our installed Telex/Vega. This is possible with the RAVIN solution. To implement the solution, all Telex/Vega installations would have to be replaced as well as our installed WAVE systems. The RAVIN solution is the only RCoIP system that is able to handle all of the current USFS WAVE radio control systems as well as all of the Telex/Vega radio control systems across the Enterprise. RAVIN is a licensed product of NICS and is not available from other vendors, partners or resellers. 7. A determination b the eontractin officer that the antici ated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable: After receipt of cost proposal, price analysis will he performed to determine price reasonableness. S. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not concluded: See Rein 6. 9. Any Other Facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: The requirement to upgrade the RCoIP systems in this procurement action arc a result of factors outside the control of the Communications Line of Service (the requesting entity). The Enterprise decision to move to a centralized data center architecture resulted in the need to improve network performance. The network improvements were.mandated to migrate to the Department of Agricultures MPLS network known as UTN. The inherent nature of UTN is a difficulty handling multicast traffic. Unfortunately the radio control systems which use the IP network use multicast technology. This procurement action is a the result of an IT architecture decision made outside the sphere of influence of the Communications Line of Service. To add further Complication, management decisions have been made to transition the. network architecture to UTN in FY2010, thereby requiring a resultant -to our installed systems in a short time period. 10. A listing of the sources, if any that..expressed, in writing, an interest in the acouisition: None II. A Statement of the Actions, if any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers That Led to the Restricted Consideration Before Any Subsequent Acquisition for the Supplies or Services is Made: N/A. See Rem 5 and Item 9. 12. I certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of ny knowledge and belief. SUBMITTED : DAVE RIDDLE Telecom Specialist Lead Lorraine Luccro, Contracting Officer;
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/0421a8ffa1fd6b9035fbac7f57e92f6f)
 

Place of Performance

Address: Tonto National Forest, Phoenix, Arizona, 85006, United States

Zip Code: 85006
 

Record

SN02246992-W 20100821/100819235506-0421a8ffa1fd6b9035fbac7f57e92f6f (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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

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