JA - Abacus - Redacted

Abacus Visual Playbook Builder & Automation Orchestrator required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized”.; the basis for limiting the sources is that Red Hat AAP is the only automation platform possessing the salient characteristics required to meet the Government’s needs, as set forth in Section 5 below. As AAP is a product peculiar to a single manufacturer (Red Hat), this justification supports specifying that brand-name product. 5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: The purpose of this effort is to create a Red Hat AAP usable by VISN 23 HTM staff to create an integrated automation platform to streamline Windows and Linux server and workstation provisioning and configuration management across multiple geographically distributed VISN 23 sites. AAP operated through its default tooling requires authoring automation directly in YAML (yet another markup language) and managing platform constructs at a level of expertise that exceeds the skillsets of the HTM team. To overcome this skill gap, the Government requires a purpose-built web interface that orchestrates AAP around the team’s actual abilities and workflows. The ABACUS System provides that interface, and adds capabilities that do not exist natively in AAP, such as the browser-based upload service for staging the files used to build and configure medical systems. The automation engine underneath that interface must be AAP, because only AAP possesses the combination of salient characteristics the VISN 23 medical environment requires. The Government’s operating environment imposes constraints that are driven by medical device vendor support agreements and the security posture of the medical VLANs in which these systems reside. Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is the only available product that satisfies all of them. The salient characteristics that make it the only suitable automation platform are:
a. Agentless Operation – AAP manages target systems without installing persistent software agents on them. This is essential because medical device vendor agreements restrict installing third-party agent software on clinical workstations and servers, and an agentless approach is the only way to achieve automation coverage across these systems without jeopardizing vendor support. b. Native Windows Management via WinRM – AAP manages Windows targets using Windows Remote Management (WinRM), the only remote management protocol permitted on these clinical systems. It also does not require enabling