JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR A LIMITED SOURCE AWARD UNDER A FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULE 1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Acquisition Operations Technology Acquisition Center-Austin 1701 Directors Blvd Austin, TX 78744 2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a two-month firm-fixed-price task order with one three-month option to lease satellite bandwidth via the Galaxy 18 satellite for the VA Knowledge Network (VAKN) serving the VA Learning University (VALU) and the Employee Education System (EES). This effort is being conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program; the proposed effort will be awarded under the General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Commercial Satellite Communications Transponded Communications (COMSATCOM) Contract Number GS-35F-0478U, to Intelsat General Corporation, 6550 Rock Spring Drive, Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20817-1112. 3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VALU and EES seek to lease 18 MHz of non-preemptible bandwidth, 24/7, Vert Up polarity, Ku- band bandwidth with continuous uninterrupted service via the Galaxy 18 satellite. VALU and EES use a satellite delivery system for the transmission and delivery of video, audio, and internet protocol data for the VAKN and the Content Delivery Network (CDN). VAKN is an e-learning initiative to effectively distribute educational programs to VA employees via digital satellite technology. VA employees can watch VAKN video programs at their workstations, connected conference rooms, and other VA closed-circuit television systems by going to the CDN website at http://vaww.vakncdn.lrn.va.gov. Since 2000, over 400 VAKN satellite dishes were installed at VA facilities nationwide. This bandwidth will provide for three conventional channels and four channels of Internet Protocol (IP) video required for the continued operation of the CDN. VA's digital satellite network utilizes fixed receiving dishes. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $427,500.00 (inclusive of options). 4. Authority: The statutory authority permitting this proposed action is Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C), "In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures." The original order was placed in accordance with applicable FSS ordering procedures and was not previously issued under sole source or limited source procedures. 5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Intelsat General Corporation's Galaxy 18 KU-Band satellite is used to distribute educational and training content to over 400 VA facilities throughout the Continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. If an additional vendor is selected, VA would incur additional risk if the satellite was changed, or the current satellite was leased from a reseller. First, if VA changed satellites, there would be an operational downtime of six weeks for a transition to a new satellite, as well as significant costs estimated to be at least $637,500.00 more than the proposed effort in order to repoint 400 satellite downlink locations to a new vendor's satellite space segment. This value does not include the administrative hours by VA staff to coordinate the re-alignment of the satellite dishes across the agency, assure line-of-site to another satellite, re-program receivers, and ensure simultaneous transmission between the current and new satellite to prevent disruption of services. In addition, the use of a different satellite would not assure line-of site accessibility since many dishes are ground-mounted next to buildings, roofs, and other obstructions. Secondly, while other sources could lease the Galaxy 18 bandwidth, it would be at a 31 percent price premium since the sources are resellers of the bandwidth as opposed to Intelsat General Corporation, the owner of the Galaxy 18 satellite. 6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in the market research section in paragraph 8 below. No competition is anticipated for this effort. GSA Schedule 70 COMSATCOM has 22 schedule vendors capable of providing satellite services; however, there is no competition anticipated for this acquisition, as detailed in the above section. In accordance with FAR 5.301 and 8.405-6(a)(2), this action will be synopsized at award on the Federal Business Opportunities Page (FBO) and the justification will be made publically available. 7. Actions to Increase Competition: No barriers to future competition are anticipated. A competitive contract is anticipated to be awarded on January 1, 2014, which would allow VA to avoid the option period mentioned in paragraph two. 8. Market Research: Market Research efforts were conducted by Government technical experts in May and October of 2013, and it was discovered while other sources could lease the Galaxy 18 bandwidth that it would be at a 31 percent price premium since the sources are resellers of the bandwidth as opposed to Intelsat General Corporation, the owner of the Galaxy 18 satellite. Furthermore, Government technical experts revealed that switching to another satellite would cost at least $637,500.00 more to repoint 400 satellite dishes to a new satellite that the estimate value of the proposed action. This value does not include the administrative hours by VA staff to coordinate the re-alignment of the satellite dishes across the agency, assure line-of-site to another satellite, re-program receivers, and ensure simultaneous transmission between the current and new satellite to prevent disruption of services. Also, another unknown cost is a condition whereby downlink dishes are positioned an placed at site locations around the country for a line of site to receive the signal from the Galaxy 18 satellite; the use of a different satellite would not assure line-of-site accessibility since many dishes are ground-mounted next to buildings, roofs, and other obstructions. Government technical experts also conducted a search of the GSA Schedule 70 COMSATCOM in services for additional sources that could provide the aforementioned services. It was determined that while other sources could lease satellite bandwidth, Intelsat General Corporation is best positioned to provide satellite bandwidth without interrupted service, and at the best value to the Government. 9. Other Facts: The original order for this effort is VA118A-12-F-0184 and was competitively awarded under GSA Schedule 70 COMSATCOM contract GS-35F-0478U on October 1, 2011, for $1,795,500.00. Intelsat General Corporation submitted the most advantageous savings to VA during the previous satellite bandwidth competition. This effort meets the criteria stated, which requires that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable FSS ordering procedures and was not issued under sole source or limited source procedures.
