Date: June 1, 2015 Description: NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD TO A SOLE SOURCE Solicitation #: VA101-15-Q-0107 Under the authority of FAR 13.106-19b) (1) (i), "Contracting officers may solicit from one source if the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available." This notice of intent is not a request for proposals or quotes; however, all interested and responsible sources may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit a quotation and technical capabilities, no later than June 17, 2015. All responses received within fifteen days after the date of publication of this notice will not be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government mot to compete this proposed contract award based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Acquisition Business Service (ABS) intends to award a Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) single source award to: Pegasus Radio Corp/Federal Radio, 1202 Technology Drive Suite C, Aberdeen, Maryland 21001. The North American Industry Classification System is 811213 - Communication Equipment Repair and Maintenance. CLIN ITEM 0001 2-way portable handheld digital radio 0002 radio chargers The purchase of new radios will include radio programming and radio maintenance, all radios will be programmed for 3 talk groups (the assigned facility maintenance, all radios will be programmed for 3 talk groups (the assigned facility channel such as 810, an all call channel, back up channel.) Trucking Services include independent call groups at each location and across all locations and the Washington, DC Metropolitan Wide Area. The Department of Commerce's (DoC) National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has been designated as the regulating agency for all Federal spectrum use in accordance with the Executive Order 12046, Section 2-404 dated Mar 27, 1978 and the Executive Order 12472, Section 2 (c)(3) dated April 3, 1984. As the designee, NTIA, with advice from the Emergency Planning Subcommittee (EPS) and Spectrum Planning Subcommittee (SPS), reviews National Security and Emergency Planning (NSEP) spectrum dependent systems and assigns the appropriate Telecommunications Service Priority for Radio communications (TSP-R) (spectrum use priority) and system approval certifications, which ensures system compliance with prevailing spectrum management policies, allocations, regulations and technical standards (Federal, National, and International). The SPS Secretary maintains a list of NTIA approved trunking systems and their TSP-R information. Radio frequency and telecommunications have specific interoperability requirements that are regulated in order to provide a secure and survivable interagency telecommunications capability within the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the White House. In order to encourage the efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum, on December 01, 1992, Department of Commerce/National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) contracted with Federal Specialized Mobile Radio (FedSMR) to operate a land mobile radio system for Federal Agencies. Under this agreement, Pegasus Radio Corp. (doing business as (DBA) Federal Radio) is the sole approved provider of trunked radio, programming, and equipment maintenance services for Federal Agencies within the Washington, DC area. The use of Pegasus Radio Corp/Federal Radio frequency spectrum and equipment will provide the necessary interoperability and compatibility required to continue secure communications between federal agencies and state/local government and their existing radio frequencies. Additionally, being an approved NTIA frequency spectrum provider, Pegasus Radio Corp/Federal Radio meets all spectrum management policies, allocations, emergency preparedness regulations and technical standards which ensure that their frequency and equipment provide a robust communications network for protecting Federal Continuity of Government communications; which is critical to telecommunications emergency preparedness. Furthermore, the NTIA Manual of Regulations and Procedures for Federal Radio Frequency Management (Red Book) Paragraph 8.2.48A.5 states "All requests for frequency assignments to support Government owned and operated conventional or trunked land mobile radio systems within 30 km of an existing NTIA-authorized trunked land-mobile system, whether operated by a Federal agency or a commercial vendor, shall be accompanied by a justification that indicates why use of the existing system could not meet agency requirements." (ex. Existing system would not meet the requesting agency's mission requirements, GAO B-279349). The available FedSMR trunking system meets VACO needs. The National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) has established the Federal Specialized Mobile Radio Program (FedSMR) to provide spectrum-efficient trunked radio communications to Federal users that can benefit from multiple talk groups and other features. Several other agencies also use the NTIA-administered FedSMR system, which supports Continuity of Operations (COOP), emergency response operation requirements as well as day-to-day communications. All questions and submissions in response to this notice must be submitted electronically via email to
[email protected] by 2:00 PM EDT on June 17, 2015.