Internet2 circuits and Annual Membership Intent to Sole Source

This federal justification document outlines the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) plan to award a sole source, firm-fixed-price contract to the University Corporation for Advanced Internet Development for Internet2 circuits and an annual membership. Serving the USDA’s Scientific Computing Initiative Network (SCINet) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), this five-year acquisition includes a 12-month base period and four 12-month options, totaling $5,467,890.46. The justification to restrict competition is authorized under simplified acquisition procedures for commercial items. Internet2 is a unique, non-profit research and education consortium that provides a dedicated, high-capacity, low-latency network footprint. This infrastructure supports the Science DMZ model, allowing secure, high-performance scientific data transfers that bypass standard enterprise firewall bottlenecks. Market research confirmed that conventional commercial Internet Service Providers and existing government-wide acquisition contracts, such as the GSA Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions, cannot replicate Internet2's specialized routing, peering relationships, or software-defined services. Utilizing standard commodity internet would severely congest USDA's administrative network. Consequently, Internet2 is the only source capable of supporting the USDA’s high-performance scientific computing and collaborative research workflows. A notice of intent to sole source will be posted on SAM.gov, and the USDA will continue to monitor the market for future competitive alternatives.