Notice ID 36c10b21q0417
“2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for the award of a firm-fixed-price delivery order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for brand name Nlyte Energy Optimizer (NEO) software which includes perpetual software licenses, installation, software support and maintenance.
This action also includes device-specific communication hardware for the Orlando Regional Data Center, and eight other VA data center locations as optional tasks which is to be procured on a brand name or equal basis.
- Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information & Technology (OIT), National Data Center Operations & Logistics (NDCOL) has a requirement for expanding an existing NEO Data Center Facilities Systems Monitoring Tool that provides a single pane view across all data center sites to monitor the operational health status of critical infrastructure equipment supporting core and regional data centers. Additionally, data captured in NEO is used to report power metrics and input into the Common Operating Picture (COP) tool for a monthly roll up report to the Office of Management and Budget who requires VA to capture data center power usage to comply with the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act…”
“Additional data center sites are ready to have NEO deployed including Capital Regional Readiness Center (CRRC) and five VA-owned regional data centers located in Orlando, FL, Cleveland, OH, Brooklyn, NY, Temple, TX and Little Rock, AR. The Orlando, FL regional data center is the base task for this requirement and the other five data centers are the optional tasks. Additionally, the existing NEO deployed sites of AITC, PITC, and HITC, and the previously mentioned ready for NEO deployment sites, may, during the duration of the resulting delivery order, require expansion of devices monitored. This expansion requires software licenses added to NEO system to accommodate them, which is also listed as an optional task for this requirement. NEO software code is owned, developed, and supported by Nlyte Software who provide upgrades, updates, patches, and fixes for their proprietary software…”
“The period of performance of this action is 60 months, which includes 180 days for the base task and up to 60 months to exercise all optional quantities/tasks…”
“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: VA requires the expansion of the existing NEO Data Center Facilities Systems Monitoring Tool to continue to provide pro-active monitoring of critical infrastructure supporting core and regional data centers and to support Office of Management and Budget requirement for VA to capture data center power usage to comply with the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act. NEO brand name software is the only software that can continue to build upon VA’s existing NEO data center facilities monitoring system that performs both functions. Any other brand name software is unable to integrate or interoperate with the currently fielded NEO-based data center facilities monitoring software. Specifically, the current system and software communicates through a source code that is based on Nlyte Software’s proprietary data. No other software can provide this communication capability without this source code. No other software product can meet VA’s interoperability and compatibility requirements and would require a complete replacement of the current NEO system…”
“For the software support and maintenance portion of this requirement, no other brand name software can function with the existing environment of NEO software. Only Nlyte, or its authorized resellers, can provide NEO software, implementation, maintenance, and support. NEO’s software coding is proprietary in nature and is not released to any other party. Any source must have access to this code to ensure the services provided are properly configured and the updates are properly developed and pushed to the software. No other software provider has the capability to develop and issue software updates, patches, and fixes for NEO software necessary to support existing requirements without access to NEO proprietary software code. Due to the nature of the intellectual property and software codes to perform the needed support services, along with the proprietary copyrighted Nlyte Software, no other software brand products would offer the same capability. The proprietary source code and proprietary data formats are necessary in order for the existing infrastructure and configuration to run properly. Furthermore, NEO software maintenance will ensure that all support services are performed and properly configured to the VA-owned NEO software which can only be provided by those who have access to the proprietary software code. Without procurement of the required brand name NEO software maintenance and support, VA would lose the ability to obtain software upgrades, updates, padisttches and critical fixes which will negatively impact the VA’s ability to monitor our critical infrastructure and provide the live notification to facilities to address potential system issues…”
“AWARD INFORMATION…”
“DELIVERY/TASK ORDER NUMBER 36C10B21F0322…”
“AWARD NUMBER* NNG15SC31B…”
“AWARDEE NAME* DISTRIBUTED TECHNOLOGY GROUP LLC…”
Total Contract Value: $4,233,637.51
