FAR 6 JOFOC USAO Axon The Platform 092023 4DS_Redacted.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice Justice Management Division Procurement Services Staff Washington, D.C. 20002

JOFOC – USAO ‐ Axon “The Platform”

Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition FAR Part 6.3

1. Identification of the requiring activity and the contracting activity.

The requiring activity is the United States Department of Justice, Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA), in support of the 94 Districts United States Attorneys’ Office (USAO) nationwide.

The contracting activity is Procurement Services Staff (PSS).

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

The purpose of this sole source justification is to obtain approval to award a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract with Axon Enterprises, Inc. for individual licenses to access a secured proprietary Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud hosting environment called Evidence.com (“the Platform”) as described below.

The need date for these items is 29 September 2023. The period of performance will be for a base year with four one‐year option periods running through 28 September 2028.

3. Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s need (including the estimated dollar value).

EOUSA personnel requires access to Axon’s “The Platform”, specifically, Axon’s Justice Premier – Digital Evidence Solution hosted on Evidence.com to allow prosecutorial and litigation support staff to seamlessly receive, upload, download, store, manage, review, redact, and securely share Axon’s extensive and exclusive library of law enforcement recordings throughout EOUSA. These recordings are made by Axon cameras and peripherals that are used by law enforcement personnel in many jurisdictions. Access is required to permit collaboration and efficiencies, secure information exchanged, to include the USAOs, federal, state, local, and partner agencies in support of on‐going cases.

The Department estimated that USAOs require approximately 5,000 licenses annually for the Base Period. The estimate is derived based on historical case prosecution data compiled from the number of cases processed annually across the USAO enterprise for the past five (5) years and multiplied by current USAO personnel who are assigned to or supporting cases per District nationwide.

The total estimated cost of this requirement is anticipated to be purchased at discounted rates offered by Axon at $12.32 million for a total of the period of performance of one base year period and four one‐year option periods, with annual escalations of $2 million per year.

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4. Identification of the statutory authority.

The statutory authority is in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) and the exception cited at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302‐1, where only one responsible source and no other supplies or services can satisfy the agency’s requirements.

5. Demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

On 15 September 2016, the Department of Justice issued the “DOJ Cybersecurity Order.” See DOJ Order 0904. Under DOJ Order 0904, Cloud Computing Unclassified systems within DOJ that use cloud technologies and connect to the production network or process, store, or transmit DOJ information must adhere to the requirements identified in FISMA, NIST, and Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) documentation. DOJ components are required to use cloud service providers (CSPs) that have a provisional Authority to Operate (ATO) from the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board, an Agency ATO, or a CSP ATO.

FedRAMP certification is required by the Federal Government and is governed by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A‐130 requiring the use of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) guidelines.

If the CSP does not have one of these provisional ATOs, the CSP must work with the component to ensure FedRAMP compliance.

Currently, Axon is the only vendor able to provide a FedRAMP certified SaaS solution to permit USAO access to Axon equipment data recordings. Axon Enterprise, Inc., does not provide their proprietary source code to any service partners, nor does Axon authorize any resellers of “The Platform” or its data outside Evidence.com. Axon Enterprise‐branded licensing and applications are the only solution meeting FedRAMP, Criminal Justice Information System, and EOUSA Chief Information Officer IT security standards and program requirements.

Axon stores the electronic data collected by its own body cam and peripheral law enforcement equipment. Based on market research, there is no other provider in the marketplace that can provide the evidence USAOs need in prosecutorial efforts. Axon Enterprises, Inc. is the only source that hosts a commercially available FedRAMP‐certified SaaS solution for storage and access of its law enforcement equipment recordings necessary for USAO litigation proceedings.

Evidence.com is only accessible to validated law enforcement entities, including the USAO, via user licenses. These licenses permit authorized entity personnel to review, categorize, and redact video as necessary for discovery efforts and case prosecution.

Axon’s solution provides an all‐in‐one, integrated user interface (UI) that allows USAOs to seamlessly receive, upload, download, store, manage, review, redact, and securely share digital data, store digital evidence, and share with Federal, State, Local and Other Law Enforcement agencies.

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“The Platform” seamlessly accepts video captured on Axon cameras and devices without use of external media. Data shared within the Platform happens instantly and does not require the data first be downloaded and/or transferred to external media, such as a removable hard drive or USB drive, and later shipped to the USAO. Many USAO law enforcement partners (i.e., the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), US Marshals Service (USMS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), US Forestry Service, State and Local agencies such as the New York City Police Department, among others) have standardized the use of only Axon recording equipment and seek to share digital data and evidence directly with USAOs through “The Platform”.

USAOs work with an inordinately high volume of data from a variety of sources within very short turnaround times to investigate and litigate cases. This reality requires a standardized security framework with centralized identity access and management that also allows for a logical segregation of data and autonomy for each individual USAO so they can individually manage their own data, permissions, and billing. “The Platform” is the only means to meet the USAOs’ specific needs to deal with the tremendous volume of Axon’s law enforcement data recordings stored at Evidence.com.

“The Platform” allows for secure management, access, and sharing of the digital evidence collected from Axon equipment and is the only SaaS currently available that includes FedRAMP Authorized solutions which allow for digital content request/ingest and artificial intelligence (AI) powered redaction within the platform to ensure secured transmission of sensitive data. Without access to “The Platform”, USAOs are unduly burdened with finding alternate methods of manual interfacing to facilitate the transitioning of an overwhelmingly large volumes of video and recorded data stored in Evidence.com to USAO operated servers or other manual storage means requiring the use of external media, such as USB thumb drives or external hard drives. As an example, a law enforcement entity that has to share data with a USAO outside “The Platform”, must create an individual download for each digital media/video from Evidence.com every time access is required for an individual case, copy that digital media/video to the external media, encrypt the external media, ship the external media to the USAO, whereupon the USAO will then be required to stage the external media, decrypt the content, and then copy the content to USAO/Department servers, and then load the content to a platform where they can then manage and review the media content. This process causes storage capacity issues on the Department’s servers and introduces additional labor and delays in receiving and working with the data, as well as unnecessary security risks where potentially sensitive recording data is both being transferred outside the secured “The Platform”, transferred on external media, and stored in a duplicate location on a Department’s server. As the number of cases involving video stored in “The Platform” has increased, the USAOs no longer have the bandwidth, storage, or tools to download, manage, review, and redact the volume of videos involved in USAO cases using indirect processes.

The volume of video is growing rapidly, and quickly outpacing any ad‐hoc workaround solutions which, the USAOs rely on in order to connect sections of data recordings for individual cases. This video process in its current state, is inefficient, costly, and unsecure. Within the legal/law enforcement communities nationwide, Axon proprietary equipment is almost exclusively worn by officers and other personnel while on duty, which captures petabytes of evidentiary video relevant to prosecutors when cases go to trial. Body camera video is a growing problem for an increasing number of USAOs, because they do not have the bandwidth, storage, or tools to receive, upload, JOFOC – USAO ‐ Axon “The Platform” Page 6 of 7 facilitate the EOUSA and USAO mission.

The results of the market research support the Government’s determination to obtain this acquisition under a sole source basis.

9. Other facts supporting the justification.

The requirements cannot be modified as a core requirement is the ability to utilize a platform that is compatible to that which is used by the overwhelming number of law enforcement agencies, at the federal, state, and local levels. Federal agencies including ATF, USMS, DEA, Forestry, CBP, and State and Local police forces use Axon BWCs and the video and reports generated using these devices is natively present in “The Platform”, Axon’s proprietary platform. No other vendor has access to this platform. No other vendor has a platform that connects to or that can communicate with Evidence.com, and moreover, no other vendor has a platform that is FEDRamp Authorized.

Simply put, there is no other vendor capable of meeting the requirements.

The prior procurement for these services was awarded to Carahsoft Technology Corp and the current contract number is 15JA0519D0000008. The Period of Performance is 29 September 2022 through 28 September 2023. This contract no longer meets EOUSA’s requirements as it offers licenses that do not include the full functionality available in the Axon‐provided licenses to be purchased.

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

No sources submitted a response in writing expressing interest to the governments intent to sole source as posted on SAM.gov on 15 June 2023.

11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

The Department will continue to research the marketplace for potential sources and communicate with other law enforcement and partnering agencies, to determine if similar products and/or services can meet its needs in the future to remedy the restricted competition on future requirements of this technical nature.

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12. Certifications, Concurrences and Approval.

Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification:

I hereby certify that the information contained in this document and all supporting data provided, which form the basis for this justification, and for which I am responsible are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Anthony Bellino Managing Attorney, Executive Office for United States Attorneys

Contracting Officer Certification and Approval:

I hereby determine the circumstances of this acquisition support the justification to acquire the item(s) on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR subpart 6.302‐1. I also certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. Therefore, unless additional approvals are required as prescribed below, as the authorized contracting officer for this acquisition, I hereby approve this justification.

Arita Edwards, Contracting Officer Procurement Services Staff, Justice Management Division

Concurrence:

Subsection 2806.304(b) of the Justice Acquisition Regulation requires concurrence by the Bureau Procurement Chief prior to being submitted to the Competition Advocate.

Telly Renfroe, Acting Director Procurement Services Staff, Justice Management Division

Approval:

Subsection 6.304(a)(2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation requires approval by the Advocate for Competition of the activity placing the order for proposed actions over $750,000 but not exceeding $15 million.

Tara Jamison, Competition Advocate Justice Management Division