Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 22, 2010 FBO #3224
DOCUMENT

70 -- HEV - Software and Maintenance - Justification and Approval (J&A)

Notice Date

9/20/2010
 

Notice Type

Justification and Approval (J&A)
 

NAICS

334111 — Electronic Computer Manufacturing
 

Contracting Office

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

ZIP Code

78744
 

Solicitation Number

V200P90910152
 

Archive Date

10/5/2010
 

Point of Contact

Brian Steensland
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

V200P-909 VA798A-10-0746
 

Description

Justification for other than Full and Open Competition Based on a Brand Name Justification Each justification shall contain sufficient facts and rationale to justify the use of the specific authority cited. As required of FAR 6.303-2, each justification shall include the following information: 1.Requesting Agency:Department of Veterans Affairs Austin Information Technology Center (AITC) 1615 Woodward Street Austin, TX 78772 Contracting Activity:Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Acquisition Innovation-Austin 1701 Directors Blvd., Suite 600 Austin, TX 78744 2.Nature and/or description of the action: The Department of Veterans Affairs, Austin Information Technology Center (AITC), requires the purchase of software licensing and support for VMware software products. VMware is virtualization software that allows one to run multiple server instances on one server, thus reducing required footprint, power and hardware. Implementing VMware will reduce the footprint; provide added functionality, and increased efficiency and management. 3.A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs: The following software licensing and support is required: "VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 4 for 1 processor "Quantity - 126 each "Platinum support for one year - VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 4 for 1 processor "Quantity - 126 each "VMware vCenter Lab Manager 4.0 for 1 processor "Quantity - 63 each "Platinum support for one year - VMware vCenter Lab Manager 4.0 for 1 processor "Quantity - 63 each The estimated value of the brand name portion of the acquisition is $315,514.71. The estimated value of the entire acquisition is $552,844.21. 4.An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition: This acquisition is conducted under the authority of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 11.105, Items Peculiar to One Manufacturer and 6.302-1(c), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. This is not a sole source justification; rather it is a justification to permit other than full and open competition due to a brand name requirement. 5.A demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited: VMware is the sole manufacturer of VMware software. This software and maintenance is available through resellers on Austin Automation Center Enterprise System (AACES), NASA Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) and General Services Administration (GSA). Use of VMware technology provides the ability to deploy highly available, standardized system configurations through built-in capabilities such as Physical to Virtual (P2V) and V-Motion. VMware is a software virtualization platform that currently supports over 600 virtual servers running Microsoft and Linux operating systems. Software virtualization allows multiple virtual systems to run on a single physical platform, conserving on power and space, as well as simplifying deployment of IT OS (Information Technology Operating systems) platforms. Any other vendor would be required to familiarize themselves with the server infrastructure, implement their software on 126 new physical systems and completely evaluate the impact and capabilities to match compatibility with the VMware architecture and hypervisor. Additionally, the vendor would need complete extensive testing to ensure interoperability of the software. If a product other than VMware is procured, CDCO would not have the ability to perform a Physical to Virtual conversion of existing VMware virtual machines. This would create a substantial duplication of costs to the VA since the current VMware infrastructure that has been in place for over five years, is functional and does not require additional testing or possible downtime. If any other virtualization product were implemented, it would not be compatible with the current infrastructure. The VA could not recover these substantial duplication costs through competition. All hardware and software is compatible with the existing infrastructure. The benefit of procuring a COTS product that interfaces with the current infrastructure far outweigh software development of the same requirement. Although, there is an annual software and maintenance expense, the time and cost to develop and update an equivalent requirement would be both risky and costly. Austin Corporate Data Center Operations (CDCO) requires the infrastructure to be a virtualized environment. CDCO currently uses VMware for its virtualization infrastructure. Full Time Employees (FTEs) who manage the VMware farm on a daily basis are trained in VMware operations. Procuring VMware software for the CDCO environment ensures FTEs would immediately be ready and able to implement without additional training. 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 brand name justification shall be posted to Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) to advertise VA's intent. The previous version of software and accompanying maintenance was acquired under the AACES contract vehicle. The software has since been further developed and added functionality which was not included in the previous procurement. The existing server environment operates using the software specified in this document. This requirement will be solicited under the AACES Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) V200P-909 contract. The AACESS contract offers the software at discounted prices based on open market competition of the IDIQ contract. A post-award notice will also be published within 14 days of award as required under FAR 5.301(d). 7.A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable: Pricing has already been determined as fair and reasonable based on competition held under the IDIQ contract, as prescribed in FAR 16.505 (b)(3). To further mitigate risk, the quoted AACES products and services shall be compared to published GSA pricing to ensure the prices are at or below published GSA pricing. 8.A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted: The VMware brand name software and maintenance identified in paragraph three are available through additional resellers on NASA SEWP and GSA Schedules. Published pricing is available through GSA. In the event that AACES quoted pricing is above GSA Pricing, a determination shall be made to either pursue another contract vehicle outside of the AACES contract vehicle or to justify potentially higher cost. Pricing is expected to be at or below published GSA pricing. 9.Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition: There are no additional facts in support of this justification. 10.A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition: Northrop Grumman Information Technology Inc. (NGIT) expressed interested to provide the products under the AACES IDIQ contract. 11.A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required: As VA continues to modernize the server environment to run more efficiently and effectively, other software solutions may prove to be cost efficient in the long run. However, this does not provide relief from the competition limitations. It would, at best, place VA into a subsequent brand name situation with, at best, a different software manufacturer. This undesirable situation still would cost less than the cost of development, maintenance, upgrade, configuration, testing and modernization of internal software to maintain the server environment. Standardization of software and product suites has driven training and innovation with the VA. Any product outside of this capability would cause significant impact to continuing operations as it would require significant architecture changes. Additionally, the personnel that support this environment would require additional training. The cost would be substantial enough to outweigh any other potential efficiency in price obtained.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/8164ac88f50deeb1bfcc725349f36bce)
 

Document(s)

Justification and Approval (J&A)
 

File Name: V200P-909 VA798A-10-0746 VA798A-10-0746.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=156592&FileName=V200P-909-001.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=156592&FileName=V200P-909-001.docx

 

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

Record

SN02289556-W 20100922/100920235552-8164ac88f50deeb1bfcc725349f36bce (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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

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