Communication Tower Network Installation and Configuration Services

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) hereby issues a notice of intent in accordance with (IAW) FAR 5.201 . NIEHS intends to award a sole-source NITAAC GWAC task order, pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(B): Only One Awardee Is Capable of Providing the Supplies or Services Required at the Level of Quality Required … , to Tantus Technologies, Inc. (Tantus), 1735 N. Lynn Street, Suite 650, Arlington, VA 22209. The resulting procurement of this task order will be conducted in accordance with FAR Part 12 – Acquisition of Commercial Items and Part 13.5 – Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items . This requirement is for installation and configuration of new network equipment previously purchased to expand and upgrade NIEHS’ enterprise network. This equipment will be installed in twelve new telecommunication rooms (TRs) that have been constructed on NIEHS’ campus. This requirement is also for the decommissioning and disposal of old network equipment. Tantus currently provides operations and maintenance (O&M) support for NIEHS' IT infrastructure, including its enterprise network system, under a NIEHS five-year task order. As such, Tantus will be providing O&M support for the new equipment after installation and configuration. By virtue of these responsibilities, Tantus is the only contractor that has sufficient understanding of the current network system and underlying technologies, as well as the technical skills and competencies, to successfully perform the required installation and configuration requirements in a timeframe that meets the immediate Government need and completion milestone. Awarding a task order via NITAAC CIO-SP3 to Tantus is the most efficient method to meet these critical requirements as it would take time for an alternative contractor to examine the current network configuration and baseline before being able to start performance. It is much more efficient for the Government to utilize the existing network O&M support contractor (Tantus) as there would be zero time required to obtain the necessary level of network working knowledge and network security onboarding protocols and approvals. In addition, Tantus would provide the most cost-effective and risk mitigation approach to meet the governments requirements. There would be no cost for a technical discovery phase prior to the network installation and configuration. Misconfiguration risk would be minimal due to familiarity of the network system and NIEHS configuration baseline. Any misconfiguration could have cascading impacts causing the whole network to fail which would possibly put a stop to critical scientific operations. Network failure could lead to significant additional costs to restore the network.