D -- STAFF AUGUMENTATION SERVICES FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Notice Date

June 25, 2001

Contracting Office

Department of Veteran Affairs, Network Acquisition Program, 130 West Kingsbridge Road, 10N3ACQ, Bronx, NY 10468-9938

ZIP Code

10468-9938

Solicitation Number

RFP 10N3-176-01

Response Due

July 10, 2001

Point of Contact

Mr. Rufino Villaluz 718-741-4332 fax 718-741-4722

Description

Refer to numbered Note 22. VISN3 intends to negotiate a sole source procurement with EB Network to provide Staff Augmentation Services for Information Technology to include but not limited to: Monitoring, management and troubleshooting of the complex, multi-tiered, fully switched GbE LANs; VISN 3's points of presence on the existing VA IDCU WAN; VISN 3's private lines used for WAN connectivity between its eight major facilities and 50+ satellites; VISN 3's new private WAN and its hand-offs to the VA corporate WAN; implement, support and troubleshoot the VISN's Cisco IPTV architecture, including 3411 Control Servers, 3423; Broadcast Servers, 3431 Archive Servers and 2610 Gatekeeper with H.323 IOS; VISN's pilot IPTV project using Cisco Call Manager, Unity Unified Messaging, 7900 Series handsets and all related infrastructure (servers, routers, etc.): redundant Cisco PIX firewalls at VISN3's two private gateway locations; Cache flow and Cisco caching engines used in conjunction with the aforementioned VISN independent gateways; VISN 3's RAS architecture across all sites including Ascend MAX and Cisco Secure ACS platforms; Cache flow and Cisco caching engines used in conjunction with the aforementioned VISN independent gateways; VISN 3's RAS architecture across all sites including Ascend MAX and Cisco Secure ACS platforms. This is a justification for only one responsible source and no other services will satisfy agency requirements. eB Networks has provided Information Technology services to VISN 3 for approximately 3 years. VISN3's requirement is to standardize all information technology thus the vendor has to have experience with the VA unique system that requires high technology and familiarity. eB Networks started as the integrator for the VISN 3 Local Area Network (LAN) replacement project. eB Networks assisted in the maintenance of VISN 3's LAN and existing Wide Area Network (WN) and all network related projects. To ensure that the LAN and WAN are available and at optimum performance, eB Networks monitors and troubleshoots on a daily basis. VISN 3 launched its WAN replacement project which was necessary and mandated architecture change that moved the VISN off the VA's legacy IDCU network and onto a state-of-the-art, high-speed, private VISN WAN eB Network's intimate and exhaustive knowledge of the VISN's network environment and their relation with Cisco Systems as the prime vendor (integration partner) differentiate that of any other vendor to serve the VISN. If the contract were awarded to another vendor at this point in time, the impact to VISN 3 could be substantial. The learning curve for the new vendor to become familiar with VISN3 and its network architectures as well as to transition all existing projects would have severe and adverse consequences, financially and operationally. During this transition period, day-to-day activities would experience an increase downtime and/or performance problems would be increased which would degrade Medical Center operations and patient care.

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010627/DSOL004.HTM (W-176 SN50P9P4)