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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF JUNE 07, 2015 FBO #4944
DOCUMENT

D -- PIV Equipment Improvements - Attachment

Notice Date

6/5/2015
 

Notice Type

Attachment
 

NAICS

541519 — Other Computer Related Services
 

Contracting Office

Department of Veterans Affairs;Technology Acquisition Center;23 Christopher Way;Eatontown NJ 07724
 

ZIP Code

07724
 

Solicitation Number

VA11815Q7025
 

Archive Date

9/11/2015
 

Point of Contact

Amy Schmalzigan
 

E-Mail Address

5-1121<br
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG15SD19B VA118-15-F-0071
 

Award Date

6/4/2015
 

Awardee

ALVAREZ & ASSOCIATES, LLC;8251 GREENSBORO DR STE 230;TYSONS CORNER;VA;22102
 

Award Amount

$310,441.84
 

Description

On June 4, 2015, the Technology Acquisition Center awarded Delivery Order VA118-15-F-0071 under the terms and conditions of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V contract NNG15SD19B with Alvarez & Associates, 8251 Greensboro Drive Suite 230, Tysons Corner, VA 22102. Alvarez & Associates will be providing the expansion of the existing Personal Identity Verification Hewlett Packard (HP) Blade server and Storage Array. The period of performance shall be from June 4, 2015 to June 3, 2016, in the total order value of $310,441.84. ? JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY 1. Contracting Activity:Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Operations Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, NJ 07724 2. Description of Action: This proposed action will limit competition to solicit for brand name Hewlett Packard (HP) Blade server and Storage Array resources under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology (OI&T), Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Program Office has a requirement for additional HP Blade Servers and Storage Array System hardware with 5 year extended warranty support to augment VA's PIV Implementation Environment. The PIV virtualization environment is located at two geographically separated locations. The Production System is located at Martinsburg, West Virginia Capital Region Readiness Center (CRRC), and the Disaster Recovery system is located at Hines, Illinois Information Technology Center (ITC). There are four existing HP Blade System c-Class (BLc) Blade Chassis at Martinsburg CRRC and four existing HP BLc Blade Chassis at Hines ITC. The proposed action shall include installation services for these additional HP server and storage hardware to include: inventory, set-up, start-up, installation, configuration, and integration of the additional Storage Area Networks (SAN) into existing system environment to full operation. Hardware shall be delivered within 30 days of contract award with installation completed within 60 days of award, and the warranty support shall be 5 years from receipt of hardware. 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) Paragraph 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 is a brand name justification in support of FAR Subpart 11.105, Items Peculiar to One Manufacturer. Based on extensive market research, as described in paragraph 8 of this document, it was determined that limited competition is available for these brand name HP products. HP Blade and Storage Array systems are uniquely integrated into PIV environment's infrastructure. The expansion of any of these systems must be of the same manufacturer so that the hardware architecture will interoperate, integrate, and expand between the HP Blade chassis and to utilize the HP Virtual Connect Flex-IO technology within the HP Blade systems. Flex-IO technology is a hardware-based solution that enables the splitting of a 10 Gigabits server network connection into four variable partitions. This technology allows network administrators to replace multiple lower bandwidth physical Network Interface Card (NIC) ports with a single Flex-IO port, thereby reducing management requirements, number of NICs and interconnect modules needed, and power and operational costs. Only HP has the Virtual Connect technology, which is proprietary to HP. Furthermore, the Integrated Lights-Out is an embedded server management technology exclusive to HP. This unique server management system allows VA System Administrators with one management tool platform to manage all VA's Blade chassis. Any additional component must be compatible and interoperable within the various HP Chassis. Only HP Blade and Storage Array systems can integrate and interface with the existing HP Chassis and already integrated HP server-storage hardware. Using alternative products would compromise VA's virtualization environment. Only HP can meet all of the Government's requirements due to the existence of the current HP servers and storage arrays. Furthermore, the Government does not possess the proprietary technical data and patents for the HP brand name server and storage systems. Without this technical data, no other source has the ability to provide the aforementioned products and warranty support other than HP and their authorized resellers. The HP Blade and Storage Array systems communicate through a source code that is based on HP proprietary data. No other software can provide this communication capability without this source code. Any other brand name system is unable to integrate or support currently fielded HP server and storage solutions partially without reworking and completely replacing the existing HP infrastructure. A move to an alternative storage system and server infrastructure would require costly replacement of the existing entire HP based server and storage infrastructure rather than mere expansion at much reduced costs. Based on historical data, the estimated cost of repurchasing the HP Chassis and SANs for just the PIV Production and Disaster Recovery networks would be $2M. Switching to a new manufacturer would result in a substantial duplication of cost that would not be recovered through competition. Additionally, substantial delays would be incurred that would delay delivery of PIV critical services. 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 limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the required brand HP hardware. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), this action will be synopsized within 14 days of award on the Federal Business Opportunities Page and the justification will be made publicly available. 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: The Government's technical experts conducted market research from October 2014 through April 2015 by reviewing other similar hardware products. The team conducted research on server and storage systems manufacturers for availability of similar Blade Servers and Storage Array systems. These vendors include Dell, Fujitsu, Toshiba, SuperMicro, Oracle, EMC, IBM/Lenovo and Cisco. Based on reviews of these products, the Government's technical experts determined that none of these products can meet the Government's interoperability and compatibility requirements previously discussed. Additionally, none of these other products can offer the lateral communication of hardware management into the existing VA Enterprise HP architecture throughout VA data centers, which is critical in producing a unified view of all Blade infrastructures status over the network. It was determined that acquiring similar Blade Servers and Storage Array systems from other original equipment manufacturers would require purchasing new compatible infrastructures from same vendor to host them. Nonetheless, the new infrastructure would not be able to communicate with existing VA HP infrastructures and systems creating more problems. Furthermore, VA networking Subject Matter Experts regularly review industry trade publications and conduct internet research to ascertain if other compatible brand name hardware is available. Based on all of these market research efforts, the Government's technical experts have determined that only HP brand name Blade and Storage Array hardware can meet all of VA's needs. In April 2015, additional market research was conducted by the Government by viewing HP's authorized resellers on HP's website to see who could provide the requirement on NASA SEWP V GWAC. There are four vendors in Group B (Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned small businesses) that are authorized resellers of HP products and services. Therefore, based on this market research there is an expectation of limited competition among resellers on the NASA SEWP V GWAC for brand name HP Blade server and Storage Array. 9. Other Facts: None.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/ea7e02944487cbdb43f6f150bb695b5f)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG15SD19B VA118-15-F-0071 NNG15SD19B VA118-15-F-0071_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2089057&FileName=NNG15SD19B-002.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2089057&FileName=NNG15SD19B-002.docx

 

Note: If links are broken, refer to Point of Contact above or contact the FBO Help Desk at 877-472-3779.
 

Record

SN03755451-W 20150607/150605235127-ea7e02944487cbdb43f6f150bb695b5f (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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