Inactive

2 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Cen... 2 JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724 Description of Action: The proposed action is for a Firm-Fixed-Price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurements (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Cisco Systems Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) modules, Cisco 5-Port expansion cards and Cisco 1Gb fiber transceivers. Description of Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Electronic Health Record Modernization (OEHRM) requires brand name Cisco SFP Modules. OEHRM is required to securely connect VA medical centers and clinics to the Cerner data center where the Electronic Health Record (EHR) solution is being hosted. The hosting environment is jointly managed by the Department of Defense (DOD) and VA. The required brand name Cisco Systems SFP modules, Cisco 5-Port expansion cards, and 1Gb fiber transceivers, shall be used to enable connections of Cisco networking equipment in support of the Medical Communities of Interest (COI) Wide-Area Network (WAN) infrastructure for continued Wave deployment as required. These hardware devices are required to monitor and connect the Cisco networking equipment supporting Medical COI WAN infrastructure. The total estimated price for the proposed action is $XXXXXX. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting an exception to fair opportunity is Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (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 . Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on the market research described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the required Cisco Systems SFP modules, Cisco 5-Port expansion cards and 1Gb fiber transceivers to support the continued deployment of Cisco networking equipment in support of the Medical COI WAN infrastructure. Cisco Systems is the only manufacturer that creates the components that are compatible with the existing VA owned, Cisco Systems network equipment currently deployed. VA does not possess the proprietary technical knowledge on hardware components required to maintain and upgrade the VA Med COI WAN equipment currently in use. The current infrastructure is based on existing Cisco Systems network hardware and VA requires hardware equipment compatible with the existing Cisco Systems protocols and functionality for continued Medical COI WAN infrastructure functionality. Since DoD is currently using Cisco Systems hardware equipment, VA cannot use any other networking products as non-proprietary Cisco Systems products would cause interoperability issues among existing VA sites using Cerner and cause a total loss of access to patient health records. Therefore, no other networking products can meet VA s Medical COI WAN infrastructure requirements. Failure to acquire the hardware components would leave VA without the necessary networking equipment required to protect Veteran, beneficiary, and VA Business partner s data. 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, it was determined that limited competition is viable among resellers for these brand name items. 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 Contract Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award. 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. Market Research: The Government s technical experts conducted market research in January 2021 by reviewing similar products to ascertain if other brands could meet VA s functionality requirements. Specifically, the Government s technical experts conducted web-based research and discovered that while other similar products from alternative manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard and Juniper exist, they do not meet VA s unique networking requirements because the Cisco Systems branded modules, expansion cards, and transceivers are supported by the vendor, manufacturer and VA s existing Cisco System support agreements. Only Cisco Systems, or an authorized reseller, has access to the current hardware and software that communicates through a source code based upon the proprietary data currently in place in VA, DoD and Cerner locations supporting the EHR. In addition, the Cisco Systems branded modules, expansion cards, and transceivers is the only hardware that is compatible with VA s existing Cisco networking equipment. Therefore, only Cisco Systems modules, expansion cards, and transceivers can support VA s currently installed and anticipated deployment of networking equipment. Other Facts: None. 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.