Inactive

Identification of the agency and the contracting activity: The Office of Acquisition Management proposes to enter into a delivery order for the purchase of HPE Apollo Hardware under multiple award con... Identification of the agency and the contracting activity: The Office of Acquisition Management proposes to enter into a delivery order for the purchase of HPE Apollo Hardware under multiple award contract with exception to fair opportunity for the HPE Hardware Refresh for new physical servers and the support maintenance on behalf of Information Resource Management, Enterprise Network Management Office (IRM/OPS/ENM). The total estimated cost is $XXX. 2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. The HPE physical hardware will provide the Department the ability to provide site redundancy to all of the HPE Apollo domain controllers and servers, as well as CORE Site redundancy technology on backed up replication information & data. Without this HPE 24x7 Hardware purchase and support, the Department will be subject to hardware breakdown, equipment failure and errors that will come since the current hardware (HPE DL360 G9) has reached its end-of-life. This purchase will refresh the entire Active Directory Core Hardware at SA-26 (BIMC) which is why we recommend this purchase for FY22. The previous awarded purchase of HPE Apollo Hardware: XXXX 3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the Department’s needs. The requirement is to provide identity information is stored in many different data systems, such as directories, databases, or formatted dump files at the redundancy site Office of IRM/OPS/ENM/NED at a total cost of $XXX. These supplies/services require that the activities of the data synchronization occur between all data centers. This will allow the Office of IRM/OPS/ENM/NED to accomplish replacing the current end-of-life equipment. ITCCB approval has been obtained for this hardware replacement to maintain the AD-Core in SA-26 (Site-3) infrastructure and keep the entire Active Directory Forest from going down due to hardware failure. 4. Authority permitting a Fair Opportunity Exception and the supporting rationale. This acquisition is conducted pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 4103 and 4106 as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2) and substantiated by the following: ? FAR 16.505(a)(4) – The following requirements apply when procuring items peculiar This request is to purchase specific IT hardware and support based on name-brand specification, HPE Physical Hardware Refresh and Support Maintenance. While the item is peculiar to a specific manufacturer, the reseller does not need to be specified. HPE Apollo Hardware Refresh includes proprietary firmware updates and technical support. This hardware purchase also includes firmware updates, hot fixes, and telephone/remote support for technical issues and troubleshooting from the vendor, as well coverage for as the core software, are proprietary to a single manufacturer. The HPE Apollo XL Hardware being purchased is required for the purpose of providing hardware redundancy, that is not offered with 1U chassis. The new HPE Apollo servers provides us with the density needed for AD-CORE DC that offer 6U chassis, so that if one DC goes down, we can bring another blade on-line quickly, instead of 1-to-1. 5. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. The Contracting Officer determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable based on market research. By signing the justification, the Contracting Officer makes a determination that the cost to the Government are expected to be fair and reasonable. 6. Any other facts supporting the justification. As this is a brand name only justification, no one contractor’s unique qualifications are used as the basis for this justification. Rather, the products identified by brand name herein have been identified as the only products that will meet the Department’s requirements. HPE Hardware Refresh and Maintenance is already currently being used throughout the Department of State, however, the current hardware at the SA-26 location (HPE DL360 G9) has reached its end-of-life. This software is already approved by the various governance approving bodies and have been authorized for use on Department enterprise networks by the various security and information assurance organizations within the Department. Maintenance for hardware is proprietary to the original manufacturer of the OS, and no other firmware have been determined to meet the mission need of ENM at this time. 7. Actions the agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Increase Fair Opportunity before any subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services is made. As is prudent, IRM/OPS/ENM/ NED will continue to conduct market research to attempt to identify competing sources that offer satisfactory material and service. This research will be conducted as part of the rebid or re-compete of this contract.