1.5.1_FAR 6.3_JOFOC FINAL_Redacted.pdf

OFFICE OF ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT

ICE Acquisition Manual 3006.301-90

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 USC 3304 (A): USE OF NONCOMPETITIVE PROCEDURES

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(e) Year of funding: Multi-Year 2025 / 2026

(f) Solicitation Number: 192126VHQ6T3T0028

(g) Background information about the requirement: Internet services have been provided by

COX through purchase order 70CMSD25P00000103 for support Title III operations across the United States in support of Executive Order 14385 (Protecting the National Security and Welfare of the United States and Its Citizens from Criminal Actors and Other Public Safety Threats).

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

We are seeking Cox to provide continued internet service and technical support for existing Cox services at all covered locations, including service availability, maintenance, trouble ticket management, outage response, incident escalation, planned maintenance notifications, and support for account, circuit, billing, and service inventory validation.

Cox would also provide, install, activate, configure, and test new Cox internet circuits at the Northwest Core and Southeast Core locations. This would include furnishing all necessary labor, tools, materials, equipment, cabling, customer premises equipment, coordination, and configuration needed to extend service to the Government-approved demarcation point and make the circuits operational. Cox would coordinate site access, installation requirements, scheduling, power, rack space, cabling pathways, and any permitting or special installation needs with the Government before beginning work.

After installation, Cox would verify provisioning, confirm bandwidth, Internet Protocol (IP) addressing, gateway, and other configuration details, provide static IP addressing if required, support cutover and connectivity validation, and perform testing to confirm physical connectivity, internet reachability, bandwidth, latency, packet loss, public IP assignment, and stable operation. Cox would provide test results to the Government before requesting acceptance.

4. Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. §3304 as implemented by:

RFO 6.103-1: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Identification of Exception to the Buy American Statute.

Not applicable.

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Therefore, Cox is the only source capable of providing continuous service without unacceptable delays to the agency's statutory law enforcement mission.

The specific requirement is for Cox to continue providing existing internet services and technical support at all covered HSI locations for the full period of performance as laid out in Section 3.

The requirement also includes the installation of new Cox internet circuits at the Northwest Core and Southeast Core locations. For each new circuit, Cox must provide the labor, tools, materials, equipment, cabling, customer premises equipment, site coordination, installation, activation, configuration, labeling, testing, and cleanup necessary to deliver operational internet service to the Government-approved demarcation point.

Although these are new locations, the requirement from Cox does not change. Cox is currently providing internet access to seven (7) sites, and that number is not changing.

The only aspect that is changing is the location of two (2) of the seven (7) sites already being serviced by Cox. The Northwest Core (Portland, OR) and Southeast Core (Atlanta, GA) locations will be moving to Charleston, SC (SE CORE) and Tacoma, WA (NW

CORE).

As the incumbent, they currently support the established network architecture. Utilizing any other provider would necessitate significant infrastructure duplication and the risks outlined above, which cannot be mitigated through competitive sourcing. Other contractors cannot meet the requirement without unacceptable disruption because switching providers would require new static IP addresses, rebuilding , duplicating infrastructure, and risking extended outages to mission-critical Title III and flows. An inadvertent change to HSI’s ISP last April created a new IP address, causing months of downtime for wiretaps and while connections were re-established. Because IP addresses are provider-specific and used to create secure tunnels with roughly fifty (50) telecommunications providers, changing ISPs would require new IP addresses and rebuilding those connections. Cox is therefore the only source capable of maintaining continuous service without unacceptable delays to HSI’s statutory law enforcement mission.

Re-establishing with telecommunications providers is not completely within the Government's control. Many external service providers will not pre-negotiate or pre-configure new connections. Consequently, HSI would be forced onto external providers’ timelines to rebuild these connections.

A loss of Title III and capabilities for weeks or months while transitioning ISPs would severely cripple ongoing, high-stakes HSI criminal investigations. The inability to intercept critical communications poses a direct, unquantifiable risk to the lives and safety of undercover agents, officers, and the public.

Page - 6 - of 6 maintenance, and related circuit installations are interdependent and necessary to preserve the current mission support structure.

11. A listing of the sources, if any that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

A special notice was issued on sam.gov on September 5, 2026, requesting that parties express their interest in writing to the Contracting Officer by September 8, 2026. No vendors expressed interest.

12. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for supplies or services required.

TechOps and OAQ will continue to monitor the necessary configurations and Commercial Off-The-Shelf capabilities of vendors offerings in this space. Prior to any subsequent acquisition and option year exercise, the Government will conduct additional market research and may issue a “sources sought” notice or request for information to evaluate whether other commercial providers can meet the Government’s minimum requirements.

13. Contracting Officer’s Certification and Approval.

I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Date

14. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate.

Technical Representative/COR Date

SEFANIT BAYOU Digitally signed by SEFANIT BAYOU Date: 2026.09.27 19:49:23 -04'00'

MICHELLE E LEVINE

Digitally signed by MICHELLE E

LEVINE

Date: 2026.09.28 07:24:56 -05'00'