AWARD
70 -- ECO NetCloud licenses maintenance and support
- Notice Date
- 5/4/2021 5:41:37 AM
- Notice Type
- Award Notice
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION CENTER NJ (36C10B) EATONTOWN NJ 07724 USA
- ZIP Code
- 07724
- Solicitation Number
- 36C10B21Q0234
- Archive Date
- 07/03/2021
- Point of Contact
- Joseph.Pignataro@va.gov, Kathryn.Pantages@va.gov, Phone: 732-795-1115
- E-Mail Address
-
joseph.pignataro@va.gov
(joseph.pignataro@va.gov)
- Award Number
- NNG15SD42B36C10B21F0133
- Award Date
- 05/04/2021
- Awardee
- ARCHITECHTURE SOLUTIONS, LLC FAIRFAX 22030
- Award Amount
- 67878.68000000
- Description
- Maintenance and Support for NetCloud Licenses Control Number VA-21-00050540 Page 4 of 4 Page 1 of 4 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, New Jersey 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 Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for maintenance and support for 613 brand name NetCloud licenses from CradlePoint. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Office of Emergency Management requires the subscription renewal for maintenance and support for 613 NetCloud licenses from CradlePoint. These are Enterprise Management licenses managed through Enterprise Cloud Manager. These NetCloud licenses provide rapid and relatively seamless restoration of essential communications with secure access to critical systems and records in times of disasters and outages to provide comprehensive support to our nation's Veterans in time of crisis. There are two types of licenses- NetCloud Manager and NetCloud Advanced Upgrade licenses. The maintenance and support for the required licenses provide 24/7 support and limited lifetime warranty including access to network engineers in order to troubleshoot and ensure devices and networks perform correctly. These NetCloud licenses are applied to existing plum case devices that are currently fielded at Office of Emergency Management sites. These licenses provide a quick seamless implementation for connection to the VA Network using Virtual Private Network (VPN) upon application of these licenses to these devices enables them to provide an emergency wireless communications solution. The period of performance for the NetCloud License maintenance and technical support is May 7, 2021 through March 31,2022 with two 12-month option periods and one optional task. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $ , inclusive of all options. 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 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: Based on market research, as described in paragraph 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is viable among resellers. The current Disaster Recovery- Continuity of Operations Program (COOP) Ol&T infrastructure is based only on existing CradlePoint licenses, protocols, and programs. The market research that has been conducted has determined that there are not any other viable licensing products that can effectively provide communication functionality and VPN connectivity within the existing plum case devices architecture. If another product was considered, this would entail a massive redesigning and reengineering effort that would result in extensive delivery delays, duplication of costs, and the end result would still not provide CradlePoint NetCloud Manager License essential requirements. There are no other licenses products that can communicate and function within the existing CradlePoint hardware installed in the plum cases as these licenses are proprietary to CradlePoint. These NetCloud licenses that are applied to plum case devices provide unique capability that is critical to Emergency Recovery in emergency response scenarios and the facility s COOP Program. Failure to acquire the maintenance and support for these NetCloud licenses would leave the VA without the necessary emergency backup lines of communication support that are essential in maintaining and keeping the VA facilities fully operational during emergency situations by providing medical response communication requirements for patient care. These NetCloud licenses provide plum case devices a unique, quick and relatively seamless restoration of essential communications, secure access to critical systems and records in times of disasters and outages to provide comprehensive support to our nation's Veterans in time of crisis. These proprietary licenses provide improved customer service communication support during special event requirements in remote locations. Since these NetCloud licenses are proprietary, no vendor other than CradlePoint or an authorized reseller can provide the required maintenance and support in order to keep the software operating at an optimal level. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that can meet the Government's requirements. 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: In order to remove or overcome barriers to competition in future acquisitions for this requirement, the Government will continue to perform market research to determine if there are any new products or maintenance services available in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be fully competed. 8. Market Research: Market research was conducted in February 2021 by the Government s subject matter experts to ascertain if other products/licenses could meet or be modified to satisfy VA s requirements. Specifically, VA subject matter experts looked at other technologies available in the marketplace from MicroTech and Software Information Resource Corporation (SIRC). Although both MicroTech and SIRC offered similar maintenance products, only CradlePoint is capable of providing the aforementioned services that meet all of the Government's requirements as described in section five of this justification. Furthermore, these vendors cannot provide the subscription renewal for maintenance and technical support services due to the proprietary constraints within the CradlePoint licenses capabilities. The research also revealed that no other Netcloud products had the capability or flexibility to meet all the VA s requirements. In April 2021, the Contract Specialist conducted market research to ascertain the extent of limited competition among resellers of the required maintenance and support for NetCloud licenses. Through the use of the Provider Look-up tool on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website, 12 Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses were identified as resellers of the required maintenance and support for NetCloud licenses. Therefore, limited competition is anticipated. 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: _______________________ 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 based on anticipated limited competition. Additionally, NASA SEWP V has already determined the prices on contract to be fair and reasonable and more competitive pricing may result from competition. Finally, the successful quote will be compared with the Independent Government Cost Estimate. 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 Procurement Service Director, One Level Above the Contracting Officer, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition of maintenance and support for NetCloud licenses in accordance with VAAM M816.505(b)(2)(ii)(C)(1), on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the 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: _________________________________ Procurement Service Director Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics
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