Loren Data's SAM Daily™

FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF JULY 30, 2015 FBO #4997
DOCUMENT

D -- EO Security architecture refresh of QRadar Flow Collectors. - Attachment

Notice Date

7/28/2015
 

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

VA11815Q0364
 

Archive Date

10/30/2015
 

Point of Contact

Amy Schmalzigan
 

E-Mail Address

hmalzigan@va.gov<br
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Award Number

NNG15SD03B VA118-15-F-0208
 

Award Date

7/23/2015
 

Awardee

PREMIER TECHNICAL SERVICES CORPORATION;312 E MAIN ST;LURAY;VA;22835
 

Award Amount

$261,584.83
 

Description

On July 23, 2015, the Technology Acquisition Center awarded Delivery Order VA118-15-F-0208 under the terms and conditions of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V contract NNG15SD03B with Premier Technical Services Corporation, 312 East Main Street, Luray, Virginia 22835. Premier Technical Services Corporation will be providing International Business Machines QRadar hardware and licenses. Hardware shall be delivered by August 22, 2015. Period of Performance for support is from August 23, 2015 through August 22, 2016, the total order value of $261,584.83. 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 is for the award of a brand name firm-fixed-price Delivery Order (DO) issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). 3. Description of Supplies or Services: VA Office of Information and Technology, Service Delivery and Engineering, Enterprise Operations (EO) Security Division has a requirement for new International Business Machines (IBM) QRadar hardware appliances and perpetual software license upgrades to integrate into the existing EO Security Division QRadar architecture that includes QRadar consoles, QRadar software licensing, and other existing QRadar event collectors and processors. The required security appliances and software license upgrades provide VA the ability to achieve central QRadar device management, event reporting, event alerting, and event correlation, which ultimately helps identify and reduce security risks. The procurement of the IBM QRadar appliances, software upgrades and support will continue the current required coverage that EO has in place for Continuous Readiness in Information Security Program compliance. Completing the refresh effort requires the purchase of nine event processors. This also includes the QRadar standard maintenance for both QRadar hardware and upgraded software licenses. The QRadar brand name appliances and software license upgrades will be delivered within 30 days after DO award. Maintenance support shall include 24x7x365 assistance via phone, email, and Internet web portal for hardware and appliance software function, and will be for a 12-month period commencing upon VA's acceptance of the QRadar appliances and software license upgrades. 4. Statutory Authority: The statutory authority permitting this exception to fair opportunity is 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 accordance with FAR Subpart 11.105, Items Peculiar to One Manufacturer. Based on extensive market research, as described in section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is available through authorized resellers for the aforementioned brand name IBM QRadar appliances, software license upgrades, and support. If another brand name appliance is introduced into VA's current production QRadar SIEM architecture, there would be interoperability and compatibility issues that would render the existing hardware and software inoperable. For example, the current QRadar infrastructure includes meta data transfers, the QRadar management console, and QRadar editor. This functionality would not be usable with any other brand product. Additionally, non-QRadar appliances are unable to perform the following security event functions when attached to the current QRadar infrastructure: analyze logs; collect network flows; correlate events and network data; identify vulnerabilities; identify user activity; and generate reports, alerts, and asset data. This would prevent VA from achieving near real-time correlation and behavioral anomaly detection to identify high-risk security threats. Any other brand name appliance and software would require an extensive re-development effort and replacement of the current QRadar infrastructure, to expand the current EO Security SIEM architecture. Additionally, the required maintenance must also be provided by IBM or an authorized reseller as the QRadar hardware and software includes proprietary firmware and source code. No other source is capable or permitted to provide the maintenance as this involves an understanding of the proprietary firmware, software and protocols and the ability to access it. 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. It was determined that limited competition is viable among authorized resellers for the required brand QRadar appliances, perpetual software license upgrades and maintenance. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), notice of award of this action will be synopsized within 14 days of award on the Federal Business Opportunities Page and this Justification will be made publicly available. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A), this Justification will be posted with the request for quote on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website with the solicitation to notify all interested parties. 7. 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. 8. Market Research: The Government's IT Security Specialists performed market research between September 2014 through January 2015 by researching other similar solutions, to ascertain if these items could meet and be compatible with VA's existing SIEM architecture connectivity, licensing, and management requirements. The Government's IT Security Specialists reviewed similar solutions from McAfee NitroSecurity, eiQnetworks, Trustwave, and Splunk. The products were found to be incompatible with EO's current SIEM architecture, consisting of brand name IBM QRadar hardware and software due to the proprietary nature of the firmware and source code that preclude integration of any hardware or software products other than QRadar. Based on this market research, the Government's IT Security specialists have concluded that only the IBM QRadar brand name appliances and software license upgrades will meet all of the Government's interoperability requirements with the existing SIEM architecture. Additional market research was conducted in June 2015 by utilizing the Provider Lookup Tool to determine whether the brand name IBM QRadar SIEM hardware, perpetual license upgrades, and associated maintenance are available on the NASA SEWP V GWAC. It was determined that there are several resellers of the brand name IBM QRadar SIEM. 9. Other Facts: None.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/3fad82bbc07d0484745b78259e96877a)
 

Document(s)

Attachment
 

File Name: NNG15SD03B VA118-15-F-0208 NNG15SD03B VA118-15-F-0208_1.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2195648&FileName=NNG15SD03B-007.docx)

Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=2195648&FileName=NNG15SD03B-007.docx

 

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

Record

SN03814078-W 20150730/150729000507-3fad82bbc07d0484745b78259e96877a (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

---

| FSG Index  |  This Issue's Index  |  Today's FBO Daily Index Page |