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CSOC NetApp Hardware Upgrade Control Number: VA-21-00052233 3 of 4 CSOC NetApp Hardware Upgrade Control Number: VA-21-00052233 JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY 1. Contracting Activit... CSOC NetApp Hardware Upgrade Control Number: VA-21-00052233 3 of 4 CSOC NetApp Hardware Upgrade Control Number: VA-21-00052233 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 a firm-fixed-price Delivery Order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for the storage and capacity expansion of brand name NetApp Disk Array Enclosures (DAE) equipment, licenses, and associated support services located at the VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Office of Information Security (OIS), Cyber Security Operations Center (VA CSOC CRRC) facilities in Martinsburg, WV and Hines, IL. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The VA CSOC at the Community Resource & Referral Center (CRRC) has a requirement for a solution to expand the storage of the existing NetApp FAS 8200 systems at the Hines and CRRC facilities with additional brand name NetApp DAE equipment and NetApp ONTAP Data Management software. The existing VA storage infrastructure is comprised of brand name NetApp products, licenses and hardware. This effort will expand on the existing storage system capabilities to accommodate the need for additional storage of digital forensic evidence, case data, and artifacts. Delivery of all hardware, software and licenses, and ancillary components shall be delivered within 30 days of delivery order award. The successful offeror shall provide 12 months of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) warranty support for all hardware and software at time of award along with four 12-month option periods and optional tasks for additional NetApp products, licenses and hardware. The NetApp hardware and software warranty support shall include remote assistance, patches, bug fixes, and minor and major software upgrades. The total estimated value for this proposed action is $327,863.00, inclusive of option periods. 4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 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 FAR Subpart 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: Based on market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available for this procurement. As the below analysis will show, components consisting of different brands will not be able to communicate with the existing infrastructure located at the VA facilities. Only brand name NetApp products can meet the Governments technical requirements. Brand name NetApp products are required to augment the existing install base to reduce capital expenditure, operational, and maintenance costs. The NetApp products, including hardware and software, rely on proprietary NetApp microcoding to communicate with each other, that no other vendor can reproduce. Due to proprietary technology non-NetApp storage controllers and disk shelves are not compatible with the existing storage systems, as each OEM has its own proprietary hardware and software for storage devises. Additionally, no other cluster interconnection hardware is interoperable or compatible with the currently fielded NetApp storage systems. If VA were to utilize any other brand name hardware and software, it would not operate in the current infrastructure due to the proprietary constraints and VA would be required to field and maintain multiple infrastructures, resulting in increased costs and operational burden. As a result, the NetApp storage infrastructure that is currently used for storage and processing of VA forensic evidence, case data, and artifacts would be inoperative, effectively halting investigative functions. This would critically impact the VA s ability to react to cyber threats and in turn directly impact the VA s ability to protect veterans Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Due to these proprietary restrictions, the required NetApp DAE hardware, and NetApp software are the only products fully compatible with existing NetApp infrastructure currently utilized within the facilities. Additionally, as previously discussed in section three of this Justification, the required technical support services are for NetApp hardware and software warranty support. These support services include the following: 24x7x365 remote help support, 4-hour response time, installation of minor/major software upgrades, hardware and software support, and troubleshooting. These support services are required to ensure that the procured hardware continue to run efficiently. Failure to acquire the aforementioned support will prevent the VA team from obtaining fixes and patches to identify security vulnerabilities and defect resolutions. Due to the proprietary nature of the hardware and software, only NetApp or its authorized resellers can provide the required support within the FAS 8200 storage environment, and the license keys necessary for the products to operate. NetApp or its authorized resellers are the only source available that can provide software updates, troubleshooting, patches, and version releases as well as authorize hardware replacement and remediation services. Other manufacturers do not have the proprietary source code and hardware replacement parts necessary to provide the required maintenance and support. Support services performed by parties not authorized by NetApp invalidate product warranties and remove liability for performance from the manufacturer. VA relies heavily on patient care data research stored within the platform for various Patient Care projects. Procurement of the required maintenance and support will ensure that the storage systems remain operational, without interruption. Only NetApp can provide the required hardware support as only NetApp has access to the proprietary microcode utilized by NetApp hardware s core software. Access to the microcode is required for updates as well as bug fixes to the NetApp hardware. Updates and patches to the hardware s core software are required to maintain compatibility with other NetApp software. If any other source were to provide hardware maintenance on the NetApp products, they would not be able to access the hardware microcode to provide updates and patches, and as such the NetApp hardware would not remain compatible with the NetApp software. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this document. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government s requirements. It was determined however that competition is available among the required resellers of NetApp. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name NetApp hardware, as well as software warranty and support. 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 Federal Business 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 market place that would enable future actions to be competed. 8. Market Research: VA Subject Matter Experts conducted market research in March 2021 to determine the ability of non-NetApp sources that can provide an expansion solution for the VA s existing NetApp FAS 8200 by performing web searches of similar storage expansion options from EMC Corporation, Dell, International Business Machines (IBM), and Hewlett Packard (HP). While these OEMs provide similar storage expansion solutions, they cannot provide the proprietary NetApp technology to expand the existing NetApp FAS 8200. A non-NetApp solution cannot access the proprietary data, source codes, and protocols to provide the required expansion needs for the existing NetApp FAS 8200 platform storage expansion. Additionally, in April 2021, market research was conducted by utilizing the NASA SEWP V GWAC Provider Look-up Tool to determine whether brand-name NetApp product are available from authorized resellers that hold NASA SEWP V contracts. It was confirmed that there are 75 contract holders for NetApp products on the NASA SEWP V GWAC, including seven verified Vendor Information Pages (VIP) SDVOSB sources. Based on this information, there is a reasonable expectation limited competition exists on the NASA SEWP V GWAC for the required storage solution upgrade. 9. Other Facts: None. 10. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Name: Glenn Fudge Date: ________________________________ Program Manager Signature: ____________________________ 11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. Contracts awarded on NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable. Price competition is anticipated as there are multiple potential vendors on NASA SEWP V GWAC. Finally, if necessary, the successful quote will be compared to the Independent Government Cost Estimate. Matthew J. Truex Date: _______________________________ Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________ 12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. As this contract action does not exceed $700,000.00, the certification below required by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(C)(1) serves as approval. Matthew J. Truex Date: _______________________________ Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________