Brand Name Justification - Russ Electric CO Redacted

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL (J&A)

FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Agency/Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, VISN 01, Providence Medical Center

2. Description of Action:

Nature:

New Requirement
Follow-on Requirement
Mod to Existing Purchase Order/Contract Number

Pricing:

Firm-Fixed Price

Time & Materials

Cost

3. Description of Services or Supplies:

4. Authority: The following authorities are for actions other than simplified acquisition. FAR 6.103-1: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(1).
FAR 6.103-2: Unusual and compelling urgency, 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(2). FAR 6.103-3: Industrial mobilization, engineering, development, or research capability; or expert services, 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(3).
FAR 6.103-4: International agreement, 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(4). FAR 6.103-5: Authorized or required by statute, 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(5). FAR 6.103-6: National security, 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(6). FAR 6.103-7: Public interest, 41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(7).

5. Reasons for Authority Cited:

Existing paralleling gear is a proprietary item of Russ Electric. The required paralleling controls shall tie into this paralleling gear per this contract. Due to the proprietary item, only Russ electric is authorized to perform this work. There are existing emergency power generators tied into this existing paralleling gear proprietary item. Should another vendor be used, another paralleling gear would be required to be installed, and the other existing emergency power generators would need to be reprogrammed. Procuring a different Contractor, rather than sticking with Russ Electric’s proprietary system would likely incur substantial additional costs to the VA that would ultimately outweigh positive gains from competing systems.

6. Actions to Increase Competition: As such, though no actions have been or plan to be taken to increase competition regarding the paralleling controls, the posting of this justification will yield two results that will assist in increasing competition overall. First, the public posting of this document will alert interested parties of the proprietary nature of this item and promote the idea of them becoming authorized distributors/associates for Russ Electric. Second, this public posting will ensure that all offerors who respond to this solicitation will be utilizing the same paralleling gear required for successful completion of this requirement. With the base price of this particular portion