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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2017 FBO #5780
DOCUMENT

70 -- TAC-17-45399-NetApp A200 - Attachment

Notice Date

9/18/2017
 

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

VA11817Q2279
 

Archive Date

11/17/2017
 

Point of Contact

William Freer
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG15SD26B VA118-17-F-2405
 

Award Date

9/18/2017
 

Awardee

THUNDERCAT TECHNOLOGY, LLC;1925 ISAAC NEWTON SQ STE 180;RESTON;VA;20190
 

Award Amount

$199,950.42
 

Description

Net App A200 TAC-17-45399 1 of 4 Control Number XX-XXX 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-priced delivery order under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the procurement of brand name NetApp equipment 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Information and Technology, Enterprise Systems Engineering (ESE) has a requirement for the acquisition of a brand name NetApp AFF A200 (All Flash) storage system to be implemented in the Systems Design & SE Core Services ESE Lab in the Pittsburgh VA Data Center. The ESE LAB provides testing for network devices installed throughout the VA s Enterprise Network, and this effort is to procure a NetApp AFF Storage System that will replicate newly implemented NetApp AFF storage systems in both the Defense Enterprise Computing Centers (DECC) in VA. The proposed action will allow ESE to test the NetApp storage system without disrupting the systems currently fielded at both DECCs. The procurement will also include maintenance support on the storage system consisting of remote assistance, patches, bug fixes, minor and major software updates. Delivery of the storage system is required within 30 days after receipt of award with 12 months of maintenance support. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 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 paragraph 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the required brand name NetApp Storage System and maintenance support. The ESE Lab is a complete testing infrastructure used by the Software Strategy and Risk Management division to perform software and hardware vulnerability management, testing of software and hardware upgrades, and architecture design testing to maintain and update VA s existing network baselines. ESE needs to replicate the newly fielded NetApp AFF A200 storage systems at the DECCs within its testing environment in order to accurately test and troubleshoot various configuration updates and to augment and optimize performance of the new storage implementations. The DECCs new NetApp storage implementations are critical to support an increased workload within these data centers, and ESE plays a critical role in supporting these implementations. Procuring any other brand storage system with different configurations than those deployed at the DECCs would result in inaccurate testing data and could, as a result, produce application failures causing significant delays in the DECC ability to effectively process data for VA Regions 2 and 3. Therefore, only a NetApp AFF A200 storage system is capable of satisfying VA s requirements for this procurement. In addition, only NetApp or authorized resellers can access NetApp s proprietary source code in order to provide the required maintenance support. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that could meet the Government s technical requirements. It has been determined however that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the brand name requirements. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2), the resulting contract award will be synopsized within 14 days of award on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) webpage and this Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity will be posted on the NASA SEWP V website with the solicitation. 7. Actions to Increase Competition In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, the Government will continue to perform market research to determine if there are any new products or maintenance services available that will enable future requirements to be competed. 8. Market Research: VA s technical experts conducted market research in May 2017 to ascertain the ability of any other brand storage system that could meet VA s requirements. The Government s technical experts researched similar storage systems available from EMC, International Business Machines and Hewlett Packard. As a result of the market research, VA s technical experts confirmed that only a NetApp storage system could replicate the newly implemented NetApp storage systems at the DECCs to ensure effective testing within the ESE Lab environment in support of these implementations. Testing any other brand storage system does not satisfy ESE s testing protocols. Further, only NetApp or its authorized resellers can access the source code to perform the required maintenance support on the storage system. Additional market research was conducted in June 2017 by the Contract Specialist by utilizing the Provider Lookup tool on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website which identified 14 resellers of the required NetApp equipment and technical support including multiple prospective Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) GWAC holders. Therefore, competition is anticipated on NASA SEWP V among authorized resellers of the required NetApp equipment. 9. Other Facts: N/A 10. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. 11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable based upon competition among NASA SEWP V GWAC holders who are authorized resellers of the required brand name NetApp Storage System and maintenance support. Contracts awarded on NASA SEWP V GWAC include catalog prices that have already been determined to be fair and reasonable. Additionally, price analysis shall be conducted by comparing quotes to the Independent Government Cost Estimate. 12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. As this contract action does not exceed $700,000, the certification below required by FAR 16.505(b) (2) (ii) (C) (1) serves as approval.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/5319f6cce5a5e55796c04d834a7cb810)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG15SD26B VA118-17-F-2405 NNG15SD26B VA118-17-F-2405.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=3801035&FileName=NNG15SD26B-111.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=3801035&FileName=NNG15SD26B-111.docx

 

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

Record

SN04682304-W 20170920/170918231707-5319f6cce5a5e55796c04d834a7cb810 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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