Consolidation Determination - CDC Telecommunications

***THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL*** The General Services Administration (GSA), Region 4 Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS) Division in General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), has analyzed the benefits of consolidating two separate efforts into one task order (TO) on behalf of a client agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). AAS plans to issue one TO under the VETS 2 Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), which is the only GWAC set aside exclusively for Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB). GSA has found the consolidation necessary and justified. The expected benefits do not meet the threshold for substantial benefits identified in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 7.107-2(d) but are critical to mission success in accordance with FAR 7.107-2(e). The CDC’s mission is to protect America from health, safety, and security threats, both foreign and domestic. The agency depends on their telecommunications infrastructure to provide information that protects America from dangerous health threats on a continuous basis. As an information-intensive organization, the CDC’s dependence on their telecommunications infrastructure continues to grow rapidly and is essential to the success of their mission. This infrastructure has a direct impact on CDC’s mission − it enables the agency to connect with the American public and Americans worldwide as well as universities, research laboratories, hospitals, healthcare organizations, and quarantine stations to share guidance and exchange knowledge on important topics such as COVID-19. A consolidated effort would ensure that CDC’s telecommunications infrastructure would perform at peak levels with no degradation due to poor support of their PBX/telephony services, communications cabling, cellular repeaters, or email/chat/virtual meeting services. The direct support for the CDC’s mission as well as substantial cost savings that will be realized as a result of this consolidated order outweigh any potential negative impacts to small businesses. The Government reserves the right to further set-aside this requirement for specific small business socio-economic categories.