Inactive

This action is to provide additional Operations and Maintenance (O&M) support from January 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020 for the DOT, Information Technology SharedServices (ITSS) Core Voice Infrastru... This action is to provide additional Operations and Maintenance (O&M) support from January 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020 for the DOT, Information Technology SharedServices (ITSS) Core Voice Infrastructure. The Core Voice Infrastructure supports all voice communications for the entire DOT, with limited support for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) redundancy and failover capabilities. O&M support includes highly qualified onsite support personnel with extensive knowledge and experience with the current voice infrastructure. The onsite personnel are supported by a Network Operation Center which provides alarm monitoring of the system, next level technical support coordination and hardware component replacement should an existing hardware component fail. O&M support also includes manufacturer level support and maintenance agreements for each core component and peripheral component which comprises the DOT “Core” Voice Infrastructure. A potential change of vendors at this time would introduce significant delays in operating and modernizing the voice infrastructure at DOT. Potential vendor change could break all existing operational relationships, manufacturer warranty agreements and service provider working arrangements which are currently enabling DOT to communicate internally and with the public as a whole. Modernization efforts would cease while aging equipment and failing infrastructure across the country would continue to deteriorate DOT’s ability to serve the community. Under the current contract, transition out planning activities begin ninety (90) days prior to contract expiration and a transition period of up to thirty (30) days is required for the systems coordination and familiarization for the new responsible party. Since the time required for transition activities is unavailable, no alternative vendors can provide services that satisfy agency requirements. Since re-competing the requirements is anticipated to take up to six months to award and the authority to extend under FAR 52.217-8 (Option to Extend Services) has already been exhausted, the ceiling was increased and period of performance extended from December 31, 2019 through March 31, 2020 to allow DOT the necessary time to complete the process of fully re-competing and awarding the new task order with fair opportunity for the services currently provided.