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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF NOVEMBER 02, 2019 FBO #6551
DOCUMENT

D -- TAC-19-54087 - IBM Hardware Maintenance - Attachment

Notice Date

10/31/2019
 

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

36C10B19Q0532
 

Archive Date

11/5/2019
 

Point of Contact

Amanda.Bleses@va.gov
 

E-Mail Address

Amanda.Bleses@va.gov
(Amanda.Bleses@va.gov)
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG15SD38B 36C10B19F0406
 

Award Date

9/6/2019
 

Awardee

REDHAWK IT SOLUTIONS LLC;2689 MAPLE RIDGE DR;WOODBRIDGE;VA;22192
 

Award Amount

$70,161.31
 

Description

FY-19 SW & HW Maintenance for IBM Power Systems E850/E870 TAC-19-54087 2 JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Operations Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724 Description of Action: This proposed action is for award of a brand name firm-fixed price delivery order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Information Technology Operations and Services (ITOPS), Infrastructure Operations (IO), requires hardware and software maintenance for brand name International Business Machines (IBM) Power System E850 and E870 currently located at Quantico Information Technology Center (QITC) and Culpeper Disaster Recovery Site in support of the National Cemetery Administration (NCA). The maintenance is required to ensure the existing hardware remains operational. The period of performance shall be September 6, 2019 through September 5, 2020 followed by four (4) 12-month option periods, if exercised. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting this exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C 4106(c)(2) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Section 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. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited: Based on extensive market research, as described in section eight of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers of the brand name IBM software and hardware maintenance coverage as described in section three of this justification. The current IO infrastructure is based on existing IBM hardware and software, for which VA requires support compatible with the existing infrastructure protocols and functionality for continued operational availability. Only IBM or an authorized IBM reseller can provide the necessary software and hardware maintenance coverage, because of the requirement for patches and updates that are compatible with the existing propriety source code. Only IBM or an authorized reseller of IBM, has access to the proprietary source code necessary to provide the updates to the existing IBM Power System. No other source is capable of providing the required software and hardware maintenance that meets VA s unique functional requirements. No other maintenance is compatible with or interoperable with the existing IBM software and hardware. The brand name IBM software and hardware maintenance coverage is the only software and hardware maintenance coverage that meets the Government s requirements. Failure to acquire would leave IO without the necessary maintenance that ensures the hardware remains optional. 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. Only IBM hardware and software maintenance can meet the Government s requirements. It was determined, however, that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for this brand name hardware maintenance. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(2), this Justification will be posted along with the solicitation to all contract holders on NASA SEWP. Actions to Increase Competition: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for the requirements described herein, the agency will continue to perform market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed. Market Research: IBM Power System software and hardware maintenance and warranty are commercially available off-the-shelf packages currently in use in VA. When conducting market research in May 2019 the Government s technical experts reviewed other brand OEM maintenance to ascertain if another vendor could provide maintenance to meet VA s requirements. Specifically, VA technical experts reviewed Quality Associates Incorporated and GovLoop and determined their products do not meet VA s functional and interoperability requirements as outlined in paragraph 5 of this justification. Additionally, the technical experts reviewed other software and maintenance support vendors to determine if they could provide the required services. Based on the market research conducted, the technical experts confirmed that access to the required source code to issue the updates is proprietary and access to non-grey item parts is limited to authorized resellers of IBM software and hardware updates. This maintenance is critical to ensure the IBM Power Systems Models E850 and E870 perform efficiently. No other vendors aside from authorized resellers of IBM have the capability of developing and issuing hardware maintenance coverage for IBM software and hardware necessary to support existing IO requirements. All of the products researched were unable to meet the functional requirements as stated in section 5 of this document. Only IBM software and hardware maintenance can meet the performance and functional requirements and integrate with existing installed hardware and software. Based on the above, only IBM software and hardware maintenance coverage meets the Government s requirements. Additional market research was conducted by the Contract Specialist in July 2019 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup tool to determine whether the brand name IBM software and hardware coverage is available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. It was determined that there are several authorized resellers, including 24 Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, of the brand name IBM software and hardware maintenance that hold current GWACs such that limited competition is anticipated. Other Facts: None.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/a2013e29ede9620eee10c65022c4c171)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG15SD38B 36C10B19F0406 NNG15SD38B 36C10B19F0406_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=5208754&FileName=NNG15SD38B-049.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=5208754&FileName=NNG15SD38B-049.docx

 

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

Record

SN05487426-W 20191102/191031230753-a2013e29ede9620eee10c65022c4c171 (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

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

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