1.5.1-FAR 6.3_Other_Than_Full_and_Open_Competition_August 2022 JA-23-00201 - Whooster FINAL.pdf

OFFICE OF ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT

ICE Acquisition Manual 3006.301-90

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 U.S.C. 3304

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J&A-23-00201

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1.

The justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is based on the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Acquisition Management (OAQ), proposes to enter into a contract on behalf of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office of Intelligence (Intel) on a basis of other than full and open competition.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

(a) Type of action: New Action; Firm-fixed price contract

(b) Amount of the current J&A: $1,576,250.00

Base: $500,000.00 Option 1: $525,000.00 Option 2: $551,250.00

(c) Brief Description: OAQ intends to procure, on a sole source basis, access to Whooster

Inc, LE Daas Web Site Licenses (500 ea) and Search Credits (475,000 ea) for law enforcement investigative purposes.

Whooster, Inc.

112 Cimarron Park Loop, Suite C Buda, TX 78610

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

This requirement is to provide HSI Intel with one (1) twelve-month base period and two (2) twelve-month option periods to Whooster Inc, LE Daas Web Site Licenses and Search Credits for law enforcement investigative purposes at an estimated total cost of $1,576,250.

This includes 500 licenses and 475,000 Whooster data searches. HSI Intel employees would use Whooster, Inc licenses to obtain foreign telephone number subscriber information on a transactional basis to support cross border investigations, covering nearly all HSI Intel programmatic areas. These capabilities are currently unavailable in HSI Intel data service/systems and are essential for HSI investigations where criminal activity is conducted over foreign telephone numbers.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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Period Time Total

Base 12 mos. $500,000 Option Year 1 12 mos. $525,000 Option Year 2 12 mos. $551,250

$1,576,250

ICE HSI is the principal investigative arm of DHS, responsible for combatting transnational criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through international trade, travel, and finance move.

Whooster, Inc provides investigative data solutions that allow law enforcement to discover non-obvious links between the who, what, and where of investigations. Amongst its strongest capabilities, Whooster, Inc provides the ability to obtain subscriber information and international telephone numbers in support of transnational organized crime research.

Whooster, Inc enables HSI Intel to identity criminal suspects, witnesses, the location of at-large individuals, businesses, and assets of targets of investigations for potential arrest, seizure, and forfeiture. Web-based queries and reverse queries are conducted individually or in bulk to link subscriber information for domestic and international telephone numbers.

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(a)(1) as implemented by:

☒ FAR Subsection 6.302-1: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

☐ 6.302-2: Unusual and compelling urgency.

☐ 6.302-3: Industrial mobilization; engineering, development, or research capability; or expert services.

☐ 6.302-4: International agreement.

☐ 6.302-5: Authorized or required by statute.

☐ 6.302-6: National security.

☐ 6.302-7: Public interest.

5. Demonstration that the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

To fulfill its statutory mission, HSI Intel uses a variety of sources to collect information related to (ongoing or potential) criminal investigations, immigration enforcement matters, JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Page - 3 - of 7 and situational awareness.Because of the breadth of information available on social media platforms, HSI Intel personnel can use publicly available information to generate leads for its law enforcement investigations. To achieve its mission, HSI Intel personnel collect information from a variety of sources including open-source, publicly available information on prominent social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. HSI Intel seeks to use Whooster, Inc LE Daas Web Site Licenses and Search Credits to identify criminal suspects, witnesses, the location of at-large individuals, businesses, and assets of targets of investigations for potential arrest, seizure, and forfeiture.

HSI Intel operators and analysts would access Whooster, Inc LE Daas Web Site Licenses and Search Credits through a web-based portal (username/password) or submit queries via Short Messaging Service (SMS) text. Web access research queries can be conducted individually or in bulk.

HSI Intel would use Whooster LE Daas Web Site Licenses and Search Credits to reduce the potential subjects identified in an investigation. For example, a child predator has been striking at several households within a small apartment building complex. HSI Intel has telephone numbers of known residents who are potential witnesses in a child exploitation case. HSI Intel compares the cell tower logs at the time of incidents to known residents. The HSI Intel user enters a reverse phone number query of known residents and neighbors within their holdings. Whooster Inc’s Reverse Phone Number query locates names and physical addresses of residents and neighbors. Through use of comparing cell tower records, Whooster Inc’s queries results and through the process of elimination, corroborating evidence is obtained excluding residents of suspicion and/or prioritizing those residents who are confirmed witnesses for possible witness interviews, saving analysts and agents research time. Whooster Inc’s software and algorithms uniquely sort, match, and link multiple open-source databases to deliver the most comprehensive results available. Whooster Inc supports a variety of data delivery platforms; including Web, Application Programming Interface (API), and SMS/MMS, Bulk Data Delivery. Whooster Inc leverages the SMS/MMS (Text Messaging) network as a User Interface.

The Whooster LE Daas Web Site Licenses and Search Credits User Interface platforms provide unique data features including:

Identification of Local Routing Numbers (LRN’s).

Phone Number query which provides additional Telco Names historically associated with a number.

Current Telco Data appends in Real-Time to Historical Identity Information.

API access to multiple law enforcement and government specific investigative applications. This includesmultiple third-party applications which are integrated with the Whooster platform. For an updated andcomplete list of these integrated third-party applications please contact Whooster directly.

International Data Sets - For an updated and complete list of these databases please contact Whooster directly.

Whooster's Owl Technology allows for:

Customer Administration of users, datasets, access rights and usage.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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SaaS Solution - Integration of Customer/Agencies proprietary databases directly into Whooster's UserInterface's with linking and matching to Whooster datasets completely siloed for customers access.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable.

A search for other viable database subscription services using NAICS code 561611 - Investigation and Personal Background Check Services, indicated that none of the products can provide the access to proprietary products, global content subscriptions and cellular subscriber data for domestic and international consumers in over 150 countries. There are no resellers of Whooster, Inc licenses, as they are proprietary and they are the only provider of this service in both the classified and unclassified arena.

A sam.gov notice will be publicized, as required by FAR Subpart 5.2.

☒ OAQ intends to publicize this requirement, prior to award, as required by subpart 5.2 by posting a notice on sam.gov on _08/15/2023.

☐ OAQ does not intend to publicize this requirement, prior to award, based on the following 5.202(a) exception:

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The contracting officer determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable based on FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)(ii) comparison of the proposed prices to historical prices paid, whether by the Government or other than the Government, for the same or similar items.

Whooster, Inc pricing for LE Daas Web Site Licenses (500 ea) at $25,000.00 equates to just $50 per year per license. And Whooster, Inc pricing for Search Credits (475,000 ea) at $475,000.00 results in $1.00 per search. Task Order GS-02F-026DA / 70CMSD22FR00000187 is a similar example in which 48 licenses were procured at $408.04 per license CLIN 1001 Option Period One (9/1/2023-8/31/2024) and 48 Real Time Records searches for $53.90 per batch search CLIN 1002. This procurement is much larger and realizes some quantity discount pricing.

8. Description of market research.

HSI Intel conducted market research from April 2, 2023 – May 15, 2023 through various sources to find a provider that can provide the access to proprietary products, global content subscriptions and cellular subscriber data for domestic and international consumers in over 150 countries. In support of transnational organized crime investigations, access to Whooster Inc’s international telephone subscriber data is critical to identifying individuals and companies on a transactional basis to support cross border investigations. Users may search for phone numbers by subscriber name or perform

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

Page - 5 - of 7 reverse searches of phone numbers to provide subscriber names Whooster Inc is the only such application available to generate links through batch searches.

During market research of similar products, ICE found two other vendors that provide similar services but not on the same level as Whooster Inc. The first vender, Accurint could not generate links when doing batch searches and their international information was limited. The second vender, Maltego, provides a similar capability in the form of graphical links but SocialNet cannot obtain foreign telephone number subscriber information on a transactional basis to support cross border investigations……. as Whooster Inc can provide.

The Government’s market research indicates other companies’ similar products, or products lacking the particular feature, do not meet, or cannot be modified to meet, the agency’s needs. Whooster inc provides subscriber data in over 150 countries, current capabilities of other vendors identified only return subscriber information for domestic numbers.

HSI Intel has a need to procurement Whooster LE Daas Web Site Licenses and Search Credits for analysts to complete their criminal investigations. Use of this platform can help an investigator locate a suspected criminal in a matter of minutes which otherwise would have taken weeks to locate.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

Whooster LE Daas Web Site Licenses and Search Credits increases investigative efficiencies by providing cellular subscriber data for domestic and international consumers in over 150 countries. This capability helps identify individuals identified in an investigation allowing users to eliminate subjects more efficiently due to the variety of data the system compiles in an up to date, easy to read format.

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

None.

11. 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.

ICE HSI Office of Intelligence will evaluate the need to continue using this license application service as a sole source requirement on an annual basis through market research, prior to the exercising of subsequent option periods.

☒ After award of this action, DHS intends to post the approved/signed justification pursuant to 6.305.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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☐ After award of this action, DHS does not intend to post the approved/signed justification in accordance with 6.305(f).

DAVID M

WALTHER

Digitally signed by DAVID M

WALTHER

Date: 2023.07.10 11:10:51 -05'00'

STEPHEN J PEACE

Digitally signed by STEPHEN J

PEACE

Date: 2023.07.10 12:15:31 -04'00'