USU intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with The University of Maryland, located in College Park, Maryland for the installation of a 100 Gbps Dual Connection to Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX) and 12 Month Access.
This installation, connection and 12 month service will be procured in accordance with the procedures of FAR Part 12 - Commercial Items, FAR Part 13 - Simplified Acquisition Procedures, to include FAR Subpart 13.5 - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items.
Sole source determination is made in accordance with:
FAR Part 13.106-1 Soliciting Competition
(b) Soliciting from a single source
(1) For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, 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.
Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX), an R&E network provider consortium led by the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, and The George Washington University, is a GigaPoP (Gigabit Point of Presence) organization that provides innovative high performance networking architecture. MAX participants are provided high performance dedicated peering services (AWS, Google, and Apple etc.), and connectivity to Internet2 as well as various commodity Internet connections.
MAX's proximity to Washington, DC will provide USU the opportunity to collaborate with a number of campuses whose communities have large scale data flow requirements.
MAX's participants include universities, federal agencies, government laboratories, and non-profit institutions in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
The University of Maryland is the only known source that can provided the requested service.
This is not a request for quotes and a solicitation package will not be issued. Sources interested in responding to this requirement must be able to provide compelling evidence that they can fulfill the above-mentioned requirement as specified. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contractual action based upon responses received is solely within the discretion of the Government. Responses must be received via email to [email protected] by 3:00 p.m. EST on 13 September 2018.