Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION (a) This justification has been developed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501- Brand Name Justification. BRIEF SUMMARY OF ACQUISITION: The Departmen... BRAND NAME JUSTIFICATION (a) This justification has been developed in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501- Brand Name Justification. BRIEF SUMMARY OF ACQUISITION: The Department has a continuous requirement for the installation and maintenance of security systems at its facilities that are fully compatible with the current existing infrastructure to ensure proper monitoring and access control in accordance with Federal laws, directives, and policies. Security Services has a requirement to ensure installation and maintenance of access control systems and equipment for identification of all individuals into all future facilities. ANALYSIS AND SUMMARY OF ACQUISITION PLANNING REVIEW: The acquisition planning review, conducted in October 2018, consisted of key individuals with extensive historical and technical knowledge of the Department's security infrastructure. The key individuals included the Contracting Officer Representative (COR), Contracts and Acquisitions Management (CAM) Contracting Officer (CO) and Contract Specialist (CS). These individuals collectively concluded that it is in the best interest of the Department to acquire the DSX, Inc solution because alternative products in the marketplace would be costly to effectively test and implement. For additional details regarding the associated costs. Market research shows that DSX, Inc is a commercially available solution that has been acquired by the Department in years past. The Department intends to solicit DSX, Inc product line resellers in accordance with the procedures in FAR Parts 12 and 13. The Department will mitigate risk by posting a Request for Quote (RFQ) on Federal Business Opportunities for the item to allow for market visibility and promote competition. The resulting solicitation will be competed amongst all authorized resellers, thus still providing competition. The brand name justification will be posted along with the RFQ. The Department's alternative is to acquire a solution considered equivalent to DSX, Inc. product line. This alternate solution has not been deemed as a viable one, as the risk of incompatibility with the Department's current infrastructure increases. In 2014, the Department upgraded all DSX Proximity Readers/Smart Card readers with multi-technology readers in an effort to guard against system compromised of the older technology and to integrate into the current EDSTAR background tracking system. This upgrade not only protects the physical assets but also the information in partnership with OCIO. The Office of Management (OM), is recommending the DSX product line based on its reliability and the partnership with Silent Partner a certified vendor of DSX and to ensure the current integrated system stays intact. DSX meets the system criteria outlined in the SOW. Changing of either the DSX access control or the EDSTAR security management package would be cost prohibited as both systems would have to be redesigned and integration of the new system would cause an immediate re-compete of the total EDSTAR systems. EDSTAR is a conglomerate of three companies supporting four systems on one platform The current need is for a brand-name solution. Until the business need no longer requires a brand-specific solution, this risk will remain. The Department remains committed to encouraging competition to the maximum extent possible. CO DETERMINATION: For the reasons explained and supported with a Brand Name Justification, the CO chooses a noncompetitive contract method. A justification for this brand name justification has been prepared and will be posted on FBO with the solicitation. 1 Noncompetitive contract: In accordance with FAR 13.501, Special documentation requirements, the Contracting Officer will be awarding a purchase order utilizing a brand name justification. DSX, Inc. is the hardware and software manufacturers of the access control system that supports the Department's HSPD-12/PIV critical mission system EDSTAR, which is the Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD)-12 and Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 201 requirements mandated by OMB. The DSX software technology provides visitor and card holder management within the system. Preventive maintenance helps identify vulnerabilities, fix problems and safeguard against major breakdowns and to extend to life of hardware. PROGRAM OFFICE CERTIFICATION OF ACCURACY AND COMPETENESS This is to certify that the portions of this justification developed by the undersigned program office personnel, including supporting documentation and data verifying the Government's needs, schedule requirements and other rationale for other than full and open competition, are accurate and complete. All questions in response to this solicitation must be received at or before 10:00am Eastern Time on March 07, 2019. The technical and business quotes must be received at or before 10:00am Eastern Time on March 15, 2019. Please see attached document for details.