Sole_Source_Justification_FAR_13_501_Redacted_1.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

INTERIOR BUSINESS CENTER

Washington, DC 20240

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES FOR CERTAIN COMMERCIAL ITEMS

AUTHORITY: FAR 13.501(a), 41 U.S.C. 1901 140D0425Q0361

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Sole Source Justification.”

Requiring Activity: National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) 1849 C Street NW Mail Stop #1621

Washington, DC 20240

Contracting Activity: United States Department of the Interior (DOI) Interior Business Center (IBC) Acquisition Services Directorate (AQD) Division 2, Branch 2 381 Elden Street

Herndon, VA 20170

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

This is a new requirement to establish a firm-fixed-price purchase order with Biometrics4ALL, Inc., Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) L86JR7RPMKQ1 for software maintenance services.

3. A description of supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

The FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) compliant Tribal Management Services (TMS) system, hosted in the Microsoft Azure Government Cloud, is a mature platform that requires ongoing maintenance and operational support. The agency is seeking services to support daily operations of its background investigation fingerprint system, including system administration, Livescan support, customer service, security log management, limited development, regression testing, software updates, and Information Technology (IT) operational support. Additionally, the contractor will assist in developing standard operating procedures and support documentation to ensure system efficiency and compliance. Tasks include:

Tribal Management Services (TMS) license services o Provide license for continued use of TMS through the contractual period of performance.

TMS system support

Solicitation 140D04250361 require documentation to facilitate proper operation of this platform. The TMS and LiveScan software platforms are proprietary to Biometrics4ALL, Inc.; thus, only Biometrics4ALL, Inc. has the capability, technical knowledge, and permission to perform the required services specific to the TMS and LiveScan platforms.

Using alternative sources who could provide new systems to perform the functions of TMS and LiveScan would be cost prohibitive. During the initial competitive acquisition for the fingerprint modernization platforms, pricing was approximately ten times more than the estimated maintenance costs per year for the existing system.

This reprocurement cost does not include the requalification of existing systems, the compatibility issues in transferring the existing data, nor the training costs upon implementation. Procuring a new systems would disrupt end users' daily operations and jeopardize compliance with the IGRA.

Given these factors, soliciting this requirement directly to the existing provider, Biomertics4ALL, Inc. is in the Government's best interest.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by FAR Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under FAR 5.202 applies.

The Contracting Officer researched Biometrics4ALL, Inc.'s website and discovered they do not use distributors or resellers. Therefore, there are no additional sources capable producing this requirement due to the proprietary nature of this software platform.

The Contracting Officer issued a presolicitation synopsis and notice to solicit sole source on the System for Award Management as required by FAR 5.2 on May 7, 2025, with responses due May 22, 2025. The sources that responded:

The Contracting Officer asked all three sources to explain their capability in providing the licenses and to provide updates to the TMS and LiveScan systems when they do not have access to the proprietary software. Only responded and provided a capabilities statement explaining their approach to the requirement. However, throughout their approach, assumed partnership with Biometrics4ALL, Inc. The Contracting Officer asked for confirmation could obtain partnership with Biometrics4ALL, Inc. prior to solicitation.

did not respond. After the synopsis period, the Contracting Officer concluded Biometrics4ALL was the only viable source for this requirement.

7. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the

Solicitation 140D04250361

Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Contracting Officer will determine the anticipated price will be fair and reasonable based on a comparison with the independent government cost estimate.

Furthermore, as part of the contractor's quotation, the Contracting Officer will request other than certified cost or pricing data to ensure pricing is fair and reasonable.

8. A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

The Contracting Officer reviewed the contract history for the previous acquisition, contract number 140D0421P0162. After reviewing the proposals, the Contracting Officer discovered each offeror proposed a unique solution to the original requirement. This requirement involves maintaining the existing system, which the other offerors on the previous acquisition cannot perform.

Additionally, Biometrics4ALL, Inc. works directly with the Government, not through information technology resellers. Thus, soliciting this directly to Biometrics4ALL, Inc. is in the Government's best interest.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, such as:

Not applicable.

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

Biometrics4ALL, Inc.

18300 Von Karman Ave.

Suite 700 Irvine, CA 92612-1052

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 the supplies or services required.

The Government will reassess these services on a continuous basis to find potential new sources. However, given the proprietary nature of the software; therefore, finding additional sources is unlikely.