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Cisco Firepower hardware and software Control Number: VA-20-00042068 Page 6 of 6 Cisco Firepower hardware and software Control Number: VA-20-00042068 Page 1 of 6 JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR... Cisco Firepower hardware and software Control Number: VA-20-00042068 Page 6 of 6 Cisco Firepower hardware and software Control Number: VA-20-00042068 Page 1 of 6 JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY 1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724 2. Description of Action: This proposed action is for the award of a firm-fixed-price delivery order (DO) issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cisco Firepower hardware consisting of network security equipment and associated Cisco Firepower software licenses. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), IT Operations and Services (ITOPS), Solution Delivery (SD) has a requirement to purchase Cisco Firepower hardware consisting of network security equipment and associated Cisco Firepower software licenses to expand secure remote access (RESCUE) capabilities agency wide. The hardware consists of 22 Cisco Firepower 4150 Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA), ten Cisco Firepower 4145 Next Generation Intrusion Prevention System Appliances, and other peripherals and Firepower software licensing required for augmentation. All warranties for Cisco equipment and licenses will be covered under VA s National Enterprise Service Agreement. The additional Cisco Firepower hardware and software licensing is needed to augment identical gear already on site. Existing Cisco Firepower hardware is operating at peak capacity of approximately 240,000 concurrent users and cannot meet the required carrying capacity needed for the additional 300,000 concurrent connections expected during telework expansion as a result of Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID-19). No other Original Equipment Manufacturer provides hardware or software that can expand existing gateway firewalls. This hardware will be used to expand VA s existing capability to secure remote access for employees and contractors teleworking through VA s four gateways. The expansion of gateways is required due to telework requirements brought into effect on March 16, 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. Installation services are not part of this procurement. RESCUE remote access allows VA employees to access and conduct networking traffic for virtually all computers and other information technology (IT) equipment components, Veterans Health Information Systems & Technology Architecture, (VistA), VistA Imaging Systems, desktop computers, voice, computer room servers, and lab equipment throughout VA. VA is dependent upon the networking infrastructure to more efficiently deliver health care and perform its business and mission of ensuring timely inpatient and outpatient medical care services, mental health benefits, disability benefits, education benefits, housing benefits, and memorial services to over nine million U.S. Veterans. All hardware and software shall be delivered 30-45 days after DO award. 4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the FAR 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. 5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: This effort will expand the existing Cisco hardware in production, which supports secure RESCUE access to meet VA s security requirements. Currently installed Cisco equipment at these locations supports thousands of teleworkers requiring secure access to clinical, logistic, financial and administrative devices; connecting all facets of delivering Veteran patient care at all locations. The current VA OI&T ITOPS infrastructure in place requires augmentation that ensures compatibility and interoperability with the existing Cisco equipment. There is no hardware or software that is currently compatible and interoperable with the existing Cisco Firepower systems at VA gateways. Only brand name Cisco can be used due to the proprietary nature of the Cisco Firepower and ASA software and hardware architecture. Specifically, the current software communicates through a source code that is based on Cisco proprietary data. Only Cisco can ensure required communications protocols are available for local and agency-wide connectivity between all VA facilities. Network equipment needs to run Cisco Firepower and ASA software to achieve full interoperability with existing VA network infrastructure. Utilizing any other manufacturer s hardware and software would impact VA s ability to implement and maintain a workable baseline which presents security and business continuity risk for delivering health and benefits services. Therefore, for security and system stability, Cisco Firepower hardware and software is required. Non-interoperable network equipment brings significant risk to remote users providing clinical services as providers and administrative personnel would not have the data they need to provide patient care. Lack of expansion will prevent clinicians electronic access to patient records, and clerical staff will not have electronic patient information to schedule appointments. As such, interoperability with existing Cisco hardware and software is required so that all VA facilities can provide medical, logistical and other administrative business data. Use of alternative hardware or software other than Cisco for this augmentation effort would result in extensive implementation delays and duplicated costs from rebuilding VA s current infrastructure that would not be recovered through competition. The augmented Cisco hardware and software for VA gateways will support more than 300,000 telecommunications devices; based on the assessed value of all equipment warranted under VA s Cisco Enterprise Support Agreement, the duplicated costs associated with having to replace the existing Cisco infrastructure, in the event that non-Cisco equipment was procured, would result in duplicative cost of approximately $30 million. Replacing Cisco hardware and software with another manufacturer s hardware or software would also cause issues due to interoperable communications with existing facility networks. Hardware and software other than Cisco Firepower will not work with VA s existing network infrastructure and would require a dual remote gateway. If VA was able to implement a dual remote gateway infrastructure, this would negatively impact patient care due to the added risk of additional unacceptable bottlenecks, including the extended downtime presented in determining root-cause between dueling support vendors. This would impact both cost and human resources of maintaining multiple network infrastructure plants and would result in unacceptable delays and duplicative costs (largely associated with back-filling information collected during contingency plan data during outages). Using two different manufacturers hardware and software would negatively impact medical care and administration of benefits due to communications dis-interoperability. Additional impacts of disassociated systems monitoring would greatly complicate sustaining a dual architecture and put VA back into a high-risk position. Having a multi-vendor environment would require duplicate maintenance and support efforts anywhere this multi-vendor environment existed. Duplicate firmware update monitoring and schedules would need to be maintained as well as duplicative firmware upgrading efforts. Ultimately, due the interoperability issues and the high risk of introducing a dual remote gateway, only Cisco Firepower hardware and software can meet all of VA s needs. Furthermore, failure to augment network equipment would result in a disruption of communications and business operations for VA teleworkers. This, in turn, will impact and seriously compromise VA s ability to perform its mission including response to COVID-19 pandemic. Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this document, it is determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for the brand name Cisco Firepower hardware and software licensing. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in Section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name Cisco products. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed. Specifically, the Government will continue to investigate alternatives to Cisco products that may be compatible with the current infrastructure. 8. Market Research: VA technical experts conducted market research in March 2020, which consisted of a review of similar products from alternative manufacturers, including Arista, Broadcom, and Dell. While other hardware and software solutions from alternative manufacturers exist, they do not meet VA s requirements as outlined in Section 5 of this Justification because only Cisco, through an authorized reseller, can provide the current hardware and software that communicates through a source code based on Cisco proprietary data currently in place across the VA. In addition, VA technical experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if any other brand name equipment is available. As a result of the market research, it was determined that no other equipment was found to be compatible and interoperable with the existing Cisco networking system. Based on this market research, VA s technical experts have determined that only Cisco brand name Firepower hardware and software licensing can meet all VA s needs. Additional market research was conducted in March 2020 by issuance of a Request for Information amongst NASA SEWP V GWAC holders to determine what vendors are capable of meeting the requirement. Based on this market research, it was determined there are multiple authorized resellers under NASA SEWP V GWAC capable of meeting the Government s requirements. Further market research was conducted in March 2020 by utilizing the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup tool to determine whether the required brand name Cisco Firepower hardware consisting of network security equipment and associated Cisco Firepower software licenses was available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. It was determined that there are several authorized resellers that hold current GWACs such that limited competition is anticipated. 9. Other Facts: None.