2021 GITM Program 030

Identification of the agency and the contracting activity: The Office of Acquisition Management proposes to award a task order for a qualified distributor of Red Hat services for professional services and architecture support on behalf of the Bureau of Information Resource Management, Foreign Operations Directorate, Information Technology and Infrastructure Office, Global IT Modernization Division (IRM/FO/ITI/GITM). The total estimated cost is $XXX. 2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. The requested action is for approval to support a Firm-Fixed-Priced purchase order under NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V to a qualified distributor of Red Hat services for the purpose of implementing system automation using Ansible, Ansible Tower and Gitlab, and for on-site engineering support for GITM. The contractor will assist with: Configuration and validation of a production-ready Ansible Tower cluster and the backend data store Integration of CyberArk or other single sign-on tools Importing Ansible content from supported version control systems Validation of Citrix deployment playbooks Creation of base level role-based-access controls Automated provisioning and configuration of Windows VMs Automation of Operational tasks Automated deployment of core infrastructure components The previous award was for Award XXX. The new period of performance will be August 8, 2021 - March 31, 2022. 3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the Department's needs. The requirement is to provide architecture and design support services, and on-site engineering support for new infrastructure through Red Hat. This service will enable GITM to automate the deployment and configuration of core infrastructure components, automate provisioning and configuration of Windows VMs, and enable Infrastructure as Code. This will help IRM increase the speed and reliability of system and software deployments, thereby reducing costs and freeing existing personnel to work on new innovations. In addition, the automation will improve configuration control and standardization of deployed systems which will reduce the number of operational incidents created by user error. 4. Authority permitting a Fair Opportunity Exception and the supporting rationale. This acquisition is conducted pursuant to 41 U.S.C. 4103 and 4106 as implemented by FAR 16.505(b)(2) and substantiated by the following: ? FAR 16.505(a)(4) - The agency need for procuring items peculiar to one manufacturer. Red Hat Consulting is needed to provide subject-matter expertise on Red Hat products used within the Department of State (DOS) and the GITM environment. The consultant will provide mentoring/training to DOS and contracting staff personnel on the technical aspects and best practices of managing the Red Hat Ansible Platform. GITM has unique support cases that require the onsite expertise, mentoring, and direct Red Hat engineering reach back that is only provided through Red Hat Services.? Direct reach back into the Red Hat organization will ensure:? DOS needs are submitted as feature/functionality requests for the product roadmap, allowing DOS to help shape the product; Software bugs are addressed faster and escalated as needed; Technical issues are resolved by Red Hat certified resources, who know the product best; All necessary information needed for accurately troubleshooting issues is gathered thoroughly and once, reducing the number of follow-on calls thus freeing up resources to focus on pressing issues.? This will further enable GITM to maximize their return on investment by talking directly with the resources responsible for any particular product and receiving priority for patches and resolutions.? No other provider will match this level of access and service. 5. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated cost to the government is fair and reasonable. The required services are proprietary to Red Hat as the owner of Ansible and primary source code contributor. As such, Red Hat has uniquely skilled subject matter experts skilled in Ansible Core and Tower. Ansible was selected for its ease of use, functionality (Infrastructure as Code), and agentless architecture. These features were extremely attractive for implementing Infrastructure as Code in an environment as diverse and geographically dispersed as the DOS Overseas Posts. While there are other automation tools available, Ansible's strength is in its IT infrastructure configurations and deployments, which is GITM's core mission. Other tools reviewed to include, Jenkins, Puppet, Chef, or Terraform were either meant for software development/deployment, not as strong facilitating Infrastructure as Code, or required an agent to function. Ansible is already used by IRM and other Bureaus with approved ITCCB submissions for Ansible Tower by Consular Affairs. 6. Any other facts supporting the justification. As this is a brand name only justification, no one contractor's unique qualifications are cited as the basis for this justification. Rather, the products identified by brand name herein have been determined to be the only items that meet the Department's requirements. It is anticipated that the requirement will be competed among authorized vendors and award will be made based on a NASA SEWP V GWAC competition. 7. Actions the agency May Take to Remove or Overcome Any Barriers to Increase Fair Opportunity before any subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services is made. The Bureau of Information Resource Management, Foreign Operations Directorate, Information Technology and Infrastructure Office, Global IT Modernization Division (IRM/FO/ITI/GITM) will continue to keep abreast of the market to understand when it will be in the best interest of the Department to update this requirement in the future. An Alternatives Analysis is also occasionally performed to determine where improvements in cost, services, and vendor products can be implemented to offer better a value to the Department.