JA - Puppet Enterprise Platform Redacted

JUSTIFICATION

FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity:

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics
Technology Acquisition Center

23 Christopher Way

Eatontown, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) Delivery Order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) for Puppet Enterprise Software Licenses and maintenance support. The action includes a 12-month base period of performance and three 12-month option periods.
3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The VA Financial Services Center (FSC), Financial Technology Service (FTS), requires Puppet Enterprise Software Licenses with maintenance support. FSC currently uses Puppet to automate server builds and manage configuration and server state. This procurement supports continued use of the existing Puppet Enterprise environment by acquiring the required software licenses and premium support services. Puppet Enterprise provides both model-based and taskbased automation capabilities that enable FSC to scale its multi-cloud and on-premises infrastructure. It includes agent-based and agentless automation flexibility. Premium support provides 24x7x365 phone and online support, unlimited technical contacts, and unlimited support cases per month. Additional nodes may be acquired through optional CLINs. The total estimated cost, inclusive of all option periods, is .
4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul (RFO) 16.507-7, the following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by RFO 16.507(b)(2), entitled “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. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above: Market research determined that no other configuration management solution can integrate with the VA’s existing Puppet-based automation environment without extensive redevelopment, compatibility failures, or operational disruption. Puppet Enterprise is proprietary software that uniquely supports the VA’s existing infrastructure, including the Puppet Perforce operating environment, modules, and operating system configurations. Alternative