SOLICITATION NOTICE
D -- Google Search Appliance
- Notice Date
- 9/13/2012
- Notice Type
- Justification and Approval (J&A)
- NAICS
- 443120
— Computer and Software Stores
- Contracting Office
- Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, WO-AQM IT Support, Albuquerque Service Center, Pan American Bldg, Suite 200, 101 B Sun Ave NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87109, United States
- ZIP Code
- 87109
- Solicitation Number
- RFQ730943
- Archive Date
- 10/13/2012
- Point of Contact
- Robert Hinton, Phone: 5055637248
- E-Mail Address
-
rhinton@fs.fed.us
(rhinton@fs.fed.us)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Award Number
- AG7604D120242
- Award Date
- 9/13/2012
- Description
- LIMITED SOURCES JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION -Google Search Appliance) Chief Information Office Orders placed under Federal Supply Schedules are exempt from the requirements of Part 6. However, an ordering activity must justify its action when restricting consideration to one schedule contractor or to an item peculiar to one manufacturer in accordance with FAR 8.405-6. The normal process of acquisitions takes a minimum of 90 calendar days. The FAR requires that justifications for total acquisition needs within certain dollar levels be approved by the Competition Advocate (FAR 8.405-6(h)). Accordingly, the following Limited Sources Justification and Approval is prepared in accordance with FAR 8.405-6: 1. Identification of Agency: USDA Forest Service, WO, AQM, IT Support Branch 2. Nature and/or Description of Action Being Approved: Acquisition of Google Search Appliance. This is an appliance connected to the Agency's private intranet that provides a well-known search function for all internet content. 3. Description of Supplies or Services Required to Meet Agency's Need Including Estimated the Value: Request to a Google Search Appliance with a 10 million document capacity and a 2 year support period. 4. Identification of Justification Rationale and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractor's unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service: The Google Appliance has been the search appliance used by the FS for the past eight (8) years and has been integrated into existing General Support System (GSS) documentation, policy, and procedures. Changing to a different brand search appliance would result in substantial additional cost to the Forest Service due to the required modifications to current security, certification and accreditation documentation as well as the costs that would be required to retrain system managers and operators on the use of an alternate search appliance. In addition, over 140 web sites would need modification to use a different type of search appliance imposing additional costs on field units and web managers across the agency. An effective search appliance for the intranet is necessary for the current data center environment. The Google Appliance provides a secure and reliable interface with minimal barriers to usability to Agency employees and contractors that need to find content on the intranet. Due to the nature of the information accessed it is critical that the Forest Service maintain the continuity of secure service in order to assure that there is no unintentional release of information. A break in service that would be required to obtain revised security, certification and accreditation documentation and retraining of personnel caused by implementing a new search appliance is not acceptable. 5. Determination by the Ordering Activity Contracting Officer That the Order Represents the Best Value Consistent with FAR 8.404(d): Pricing is under established Federal Supply Schedule contract and has already been determined fair and reasonable. There are at least two (2) GSA contract holders for this product. This requirement will be competed on GSA e-Buy to obtain the lowest possible price. 6. Description of Market Research Conducted Among Schedule Holders and the Results or a Statement of the Reason Market Research was not Conducted: The Google Search A Request for Information for search appliance requirements was published and response for Google Search Appliances on the prior order, reference AG 7604 D 10 0443. A small set of phrases were submitted to each search engine. The relevance of results was evaluated with results tagged as better or tie. Better was assigned if the target page was in the top 3 results. If both search engines had similar results for the top 3 then the relevance of the remaining results on the first page were evaluated. These results are based on the public search engine capability of each vendor. Phrase CloudView Google US FS Better USDA Better FS Fire Safety Better FS Invasive Species Tie Tie FS Planning Rule Better FS Research Better Based on the above results, the Google Search Appliance was determined to better satisfy the FS needs. It offers a well-known capability based on existing performance within the agency and doesn't require additional implementation costs that would be incurred with a switch to the CloudView appliance. 7. Appliance is available under a GSA schedule. Given the rationale above to replace the existing Google Search Appliance with a new Google Search Appliance to minimize disruption and avoiding additional implementation costs a market research of search appliance providers was not conducted. 8. Any Other Facts Supporting the Justification: Attached SOO, IGCE. 9. 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 is Made: This requirement was competed on GSA and four vendors' submitted quotes. The Google Search Appliance order will be written for a two (2) year period so that bi-annually the market can be reevaluated to determine whether or not there is another compatible search appliance that can be used for competitive purposes as a potential streamlined transition for the FS. At this time there is no other search appliance on the market that could be used without serious detriment to the FS due to implementation cost.
- Web Link
-
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(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USDA/FS/WOAQMITS/RFQ730943/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02882515-W 20120915/120914002443-5c69438e7d44a919917667d301ca938f (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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