Inactive

Local Exchange Carrier State of Alaska VA-21-00039802 2 VA-21-00039802 JA Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics, Technology Acquisition Center (TAC), loc... Local Exchange Carrier State of Alaska VA-21-00039802 2 VA-21-00039802 JA Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics, Technology Acquisition Center (TAC), located at 23 Christopher Way, Eatontown NJ intends to enter into a contract on a basis of other than full and open competition for Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) services in the state of Alaska. This effort is proposed to be awarded on a sole source basis. The period of performance will be a 12-month base period and two, 12-month option periods. The TAC has awarded a sole source, firm-fixed price contract to GCI Communication Corp. (GCI) 2550 Denali St, Suite 1000, Anchorage, AK 99503. Any inquiries shall be submitted to Joshua.McGarry@va.gov and Brett.Schwerin@va.gov with the synopsis number, 36C10B21C0023, as the subject line. The Points of Contact (POCs) for this action are Joshua McGarry, Contract Specialist, Joshua.McGarry@va.gov and Brett Schwerin, Contracting Officer, Brett.Schwerin@va.gov. JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION 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: The proposed action is for a new sole-source firm-fixed price (FFP) contract for Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) services with GCI Communication Corp. (GCI) 2550 Denali St, Suite 1000, Anchorage, AK 99503. 3. Description of Supplies or Services: The Contractor shall provide LEC services at 22 Service Delivery Points (SDPs) in the state of Alaska. The services include plain old telephone services (POTS) lines, Primary Rate ISDN (PRI), Direct Inward Dialing (DID) / Direct Outbound Dialing (DOD) blocks of 20, Metro Ethernet (multiple speeds), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) (multiple speeds) with feature sets for each of the required services specific to the location. The period of performance shall consist of a 12-month base period, and two 12-month options. The Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) total contract value including all options is $1,060,758.18. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 entitled, Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. 5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Based on Market Research, as documented in Section 8 of this Justification, the proposed source is GCI. GCI owns the existing infrastructure and connectivity to a large portion of geographically disparate locations in the state of Alaska. GCI currently provides uninterrupted and seamless services where Veterans receive treatment and care. GCI already has an established telecommunications network and ran cable to these locations. This network and the associated cables are proprietary to GCI. As such, any potential source other than GCI will have to establish its own telecommunications network and cabling to provide the required services. Based on historical data, and acknowledging new activation timelines range widely from vendor to vendor, VA estimates that even if another source were interested in providing services to these locations it would take another source a minimum of 14 to 20 months to establish service to the required locations. In the state of Alaska Inclement weather, frozen ground, and remote locations will ultimately determine the transition-in time frames. One current example to demonstrate the length of time for a new vendor to transition-in, in the state of Louisiana it took over eight months to transition-in four SDPs. , Specifically, the vendor would have to design the system/infrastructure for all of the existing SDPs. This includes performing site surveys by deploying technicians to each SDP to inventory existing outdoor technology, indoor cable paths, conduit capacities and telecommunications room readiness. Based on historical data to conduct site surveys at the 22 geographically disparate sites, it would take approximately two months or more, and once these preparatory services are completed, the vendor must then execute upon the planning activities of converting each SDP to its network; Based on historical data, VA estimates this effort to be between an additional 12 to 18 months to complete. VA also estimates a total cost of $110,000.00 to $222,000.00 for the 22 SDPs depending on site conditions, at a cost of $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 per SDP. This estimate is based on previous acquisition history. During this time, VA would have to maintain the existing infrastructure as these critical services cannot be shut off during any potential transition. The cost estimate above does not contain the duplicative costs of ensuring the existing network is supported. Failure to procure the services as proposed would significantly increase the risk to VA in fulfilling its mission of providing care to the Veterans. Veterans in these remote areas are additionally at an increased risk as there is a continually growing reliance on telehealth medicine. The interruption or cessation of these services would significantly impact the ability for Veterans to call their medical care providers to schedule appointments, check on medications, participate in scheduled Telehealth appointments, and receive COVID-19 vaccines would be, at minimum, severely hampered. It is likely, however, that Veterans would be cut off from accessing healthcare completely which would cause catastrophic medical events and potentially death. 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. There is no competition anticipated for this acquisition. Additionally, the proposed action will be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities Page in accordance with FAR 5.201. Any proposals that are received shall be evaluated. 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: Market research was conducted by releasing a Request for Information (RFI) on the https://beta.sam.gov (Contracting Opportunities) website on May 5, 2021. VA RFI 36C10B21Q0277 closed on May 11, 2021 with one response received from GCI Communications Corp., a large business. A statement was also provided by GCI which explained that all infrastructure is in place for the existing services being procured though this effort and therefore no subcontracting possibilities exist. GCI is currently providing the LEC services to VA SDPs in the state of Alaska and is capable of meeting the requirements for the entire state of Alaska. Based on this market research it was determined that there are no other vendors capable in providing the services to the required 22 SDPs without the duplicative time and effort as described in Section 5 of this justification. 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. Date: ________________________________ Telecomm Specialist 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 based on analysis of the proposal against the Independent Government Cost Estimate and past historical prices paid for the same and/or similar services. 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. Date: ________________________________ Procuring Contracting Officer Signature: ____________________________ Approval In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of LEC services in the state of Alaska with GCI Communication Corp, on an other than full and open competition basis pursuant to the statutory authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition. Date: ____________ Signature: _________________________________ Advocate for Competition Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics