Tokens Licenses for IBM Servers

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity: The Office of Acquisition Management is conducting this acquisition for IBM Server Renewal on behalf of the Department of State (DoS), Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA), and Office of Consular Systems & Technology (CA/CST). 2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. As a logical follow-on to task order SAQMMA16F2570, the requirement is to renew the token licenses for IBM Servers covering 30September 2017 through 29 September 2018 with two Option Periods (Years). This will allow CA/CST to have continued support for the development lifecycle and software baseline configuration repository management at CST. 3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the Department's needs. The estimated cost for the base year renewal and two Option Years is $xx.00. As a Firm-Fixed-Price purchase CA/CST requires the following: - IBM Support Renewal. PoP: Sep. 30, 2017 - Sep. 29, 2018. - IBM Support Renewal OY1. PoP: Sep. 30, 2018 - Sep. 29, 2019 - IBM Support Renewal OY2. PoP: Sep. 30, 2019 - Sep. 29, 2020 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(b)(2)(i)(B) - 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. A determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. The requirement will be competed as authorized resellers respond to request for quotation using NASA SEWP Contract NNG15SC73B. As a logical follow-on, AQM has determined that the cost of the delivery order represents the best value consistent with the FAR. CA/CST's enterprise is already significantly invested in IBM and it has already provided substantial technical and cost history performing this work, there is sufficient data internally to verify if the proposed cost is fair and reasonable. Additionally, sufficient competition should be available through authorized resellers, to ensure a fair and reasonable price can be obtained. 6. Any other facts supporting the justification. As this is a brand name only justification, no single contractor's unique qualifications are cited as the basis of this justification. Rather, the services identified by brand name herein have been determined to be the only services known to CST that meets CST's requirements. IBM support is key to the Department's mission critical systems. Only IBM, through any of their authorized resellers, can provide CA/CST requirements to support its infrastructure availability requirements. The procurement consists of items that are all part of the IBM Rational suite of products, which are used for software development lifecycle and software baseline configuration repository management at CST. The full range of the product suite for which license renewal is being sought supports the said functions for both the Legacy Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) process and the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) at CST. No other tools at CST serves this critical set of functions. If the item/service is not purchased then it will severely impact CST's ability for managed software development, as also its ability for managing the configuration and product baseline of software custom developed by CST for use by CA worldwide. While CA is exploring new potential tools that can conduct these checks and provide additional capabilities, the directorate needs to continue the maintenance and support of this tool to ensure that there is no gap in production monitoring. A search using NASA SEWP's Market Research tool yielded 37 resellers of IBM goods and services. It is anticipated that the final award will be to the entity providing the best competitive prices through the FedBid process, likely among NASA SEWP contract holders. This renewal request is for the order of IBM Server Renewal previously purchased under Task Order SAQMMA16F2570. The order was issued through NASA SEWP and awarded on 06/28/2016. 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. Future extensions of maintenance and support agreements will continue to be competed among brand-name resellers, with the proper reviews, justification and authorization. The replacement of CA/CST hardware and software as products approach end-of-use will be competed to the greatest extent practicable.