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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 09, 2016 FBO #5404
DOCUMENT

D -- Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Implementation Hardware and Software - Attachment

Notice Date

9/7/2016
 

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

VA11816Q1430
 

Archive Date

12/15/2016
 

Point of Contact

Amy Schmalzigan
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG15SD19B VA118-16-F-1397
 

Award Date

9/7/2016
 

Awardee

ALVAREZ & ASSOCIATES, LLC;8251 GREENSBORO DR STE 230;TYSONS CORNER;VA;22102
 

Award Amount

$9,837,438.85
 

Description

On September 7, 2016, the Technology Acquisition Center awarded Delivery Order VA118-16-F-1397 under the terms and conditions of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V contract NNG15SD19B with Alvarez & Associates (Alvarez), located at 8251 Greensboro Drive Suite 230, Tysons Corner, VA 22102. Alvarez will be providing Gigamon Port Aggregation and Network Traffic Filtering appliances with associated software. The period of performance for the required maintenance shall be 12 months from date of delivery of hardware and software, the total order value of $9,837,438.85. ? 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, NJ 07724 2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Gigamon hardware and software products. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology, Enterprise Program Management Office (ePMO) has a requirement for brand name Gigamon hardware and software products which consists of various parts with a total quantity of 1,792 in support of the joint Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and VA Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program. DHS has a mission to safeguard and secure cyberspace in an environment where the cyber-attack threat is continuously growing and evolving. The CDM program seeks to defend Federal Information Technology (IT) networks from cyber-security threats by providing continuous monitoring sensors, diagnosis, mitigation tools, dashboards, and Continuous Monitoring as a Service (CMaaS) to strengthen the security posture of Government networks. Congress established the CDM program to provide adequate, risk-based, and cost-effective cyber-security and more efficiently allocate cyber-security resources. DHS procured materials and services to provide the VA with capabilities and tools that identify cyber-security risks on an ongoing basis, prioritize these risks based upon potential impacts, and enable cyber-security personnel to mitigate the most significant problems first. VA ePMO requires hardware and software, specifically brand name Gigamon Network port/traffic aggregation devices, inclusive of associated software licensing, small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers and add-on cards, on behalf of the VA Office of Information Security (OIS) to support the CDM project. The procurement is primarily for hardware appliances that also require VA to purchase software to enhance features of the hardware. The devices will aggregate, filter and replicate network traffic flows across multiple passive security and monitoring tools. The proposed Gigamon hardware and software will enable OIS to intercept VA traffic as it traverses in and out of the VA Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) Gateways and VA Medical Centers and distribute it to other security devices which can then analyze the traffic to identify possible cyber-security threats. The additional transceiver cards will provide network packet slicing, data masking for security purposes, network port labeling, time stamping, Internet Protocol tunneling and de-duplication to support cyber-security analysis. This hardware requires software licensing to activate features of the hardware. In addition to the hardware and software, VA has a requirement for 12 months of support that will include Gigamon Standard-level Software Maintenance Support in accordance with the Gigamon Standard Software Support and Maintenance Agreement. This support shall consist of unlimited email technical support for software and technical issues from 9AM to 5PM EST, response to non-critical issues within one business day, and response to critical issues within four hours. This support shall also consist of standard-level software maintenance which includes, but is not limited to, any and all manufacturer-released software updates, patches and versions for the existing installation. In addition to the hardware and software, VA has a requirement for 12 months of support that will include Gigamon Standard-level Software Maintenance Support in accordance with the Gigamon Standard Software Support and Maintenance Agreement. Delivery is required within 30 days of award. The period of performance shall be 12 months from date of delivery. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting this exception to fair opportunity is 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by 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 extensive market research, as described in section eight of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available for the required brand name Gigamon products among authorized Gigamon resellers. The required hardware and supporting software is part of an integrated monitoring system that DHS developed utilizing Gigamon devices. The existing Gigamon devices and products located at five Enterprise Operations data centers and four TICs can only integrate and interoperate with other Gigamon products. Specifically, both the administrative control interface which controls the network visibility fabric and the physical device interfaces for network clustering and load balancing are proprietary and only Gigamon devices are able to integrate into the existing Gigamon infrastructure. Network visibility/port aggregation/filtering hardware solutions from other vendors will not integrate with the existing Gigamon infrastructure and would require separate infrastructure with duplication of costs to integrate the data and support two different proprietary cyber-security systems. In addition, only authorized resellers of Gigamon products have access to proprietary Gigamon code to provide product support. The primary requirement of this acquisition, outside of the technical specifications of the equipment, is the ability to maintain an integrated, seamless view of network data and network performance across the VA IT infrastructure to monitor cyber-security threats. This complete view of the network is necessary to support the VA mission since multiple incomplete "islands" of data requiring separate management and integration could result in an inability to triage and troubleshoot cyber-security threats across the entire infrastructure. This impacts VA's ability to efficiently and effectively maintain the security of its core IT systems that directly support Veterans. Given the existing Gigamon infrastructure, only Gigamon devices will meet the requirements since the alternative is to replace all existing infrastructure with products from a new vendor in addition to replacing cyber-security equipment delivered to the VA by DHS with equivalent functionality. 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 name Gigamon hardware and supporting software products. 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), this justification will be posted with the request for quotation on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website to notify all interested parties. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the market place that would enable future actions to be competed. The program office will continue to monitor the market for availability of other solutions that are compatible with VA's infrastructure, and will continually conduct test and evaluation of those tools when feasible for consideration during the next competitive procurement and or technology refresh. 8. Market Research: The Government's technical experts conducted market research in May 2016 by reviewing other similar hardware and software, including Network capture products manufactured by Net Optics; Visibility, Stealth, Security (VSS) Monitoring; and Ixia (Anue). This market research is an ongoing process and is continuously being conducted through subscription services with research organizations (such as Forrester Research, Gartner Research, and Frost and Sullivan), reviews of publically available Magic Quadrant and other white papers, VA side-by-side review of multiple competing products already in use in VA, review of professional trade publications specific to the cyber-security processes products implement, attendance at national conferences hosted by vendors, and research of NASA SEWP contract holders' catalogs for alternative sources and products. Based on reviews of these products, the Government's technical experts determined that none of these products can meet the Government's proprietary, interoperability and compatibility requirements with the existing Gigamon infrastructure as discussed in section 5 above. VA has not identified any other provider that has compatible or interoperable products with the existing VA infrastructure to meet the Government's need. Additional market research was conducted in April 2016 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup tool to determine whether the required brand name Gigamon hardware and associated software is available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. It was determined that there are several resellers of the brand name Gigamon products that hold current GWACs such that limited competition is anticipated. 9. Other Facts: None.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/8b291978d3b53387295b20e71cc7c601)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG15SD19B VA118-16-F-1397 NNG15SD19B VA118-16-F-1397_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2991360&FileName=NNG15SD19B-057.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2991360&FileName=NNG15SD19B-057.docx

 

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

Record

SN04260044-W 20160909/160907235524-8b291978d3b53387295b20e71cc7c601 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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

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