BNJ - AWARE_Redacted.pdf

Brand Name Justification for Aware Software and Associated Services Page 2

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

The Department requires continued use of the software products, UABS and BioComponents, that are peculiar to one manufacturer, Aware, Inc. In addition, the Department requires incidental professional services for engineering support from the manufacturer of these software products. The manufacturer does not have authorized resellers for its software products or services. As a result, Aware is uniquely qualified to provide the necessary software, software maintenance support and any subsequent software expansion or needed enhancement under the proposed contract.

The Government completed extensive market research prior to its initial purchase of the Aware software in 2010. Since that award, DOJ, OCIO has been utilizing Aware’s software and with the implementation of UABS / BioComponent, the expense of maintaining and supporting separate booking systems and accommodating different peripherals, PC models and components was eliminated. As of 2017, nearly 970 UABS / BioComponent application instances were deployed and are active across DOJ law enforcement agencies.

In 2017, a follow-on contract, DJJ17-C-2778 was awarded, for software maintenance, including version changes, bug fixes and help desk support as well as software upgrades that expanded the functionality of UABS and BioComponents, which provides the Department’s law enforcement agencies with the capability to electronically identify and/or book a federal detainee or subject.

As of 2022, 1,042 UABS / BioComponent application instances were deployed and are active across DOJ law enforcement agencies.

In its determination to continue to use the Aware platform, the DOJ considered the costs already incurred for the software and associated support. To date, the Department has invested $8.8 million in development, maintenance, and licensing costs to implement the UABS and BioComponent system. If DOJ procured an alternative platform, it would be necessary to run two systems during the transition period, which would is estimated to cost nearly $860,000 per year.

This figure does not include additional costs that would be associated with training end users and administrators or any updates necessary for software compatibility.

Additionally, the DOJ invested a high level of intellectual capital and business knowledge into the use of Aware, Inc. products and resources, and at this time, it does not have the capacity to replace the software and develop a new automated booking platform. In this regard, there are significant and complex business workflows that comprise the JABS UABS and BioComponent, and a significant amount of time and funds would have to be expended for them to be reconfigured to work under a new booking system.

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The inability to use this software to obtain critical data and continued services from Aware, Inc.

would severely impact the Department’s law enforcement operations, impeding our ability to conduct criminal arrests, identification and investigations. Aware, Inc. developed the UABS and BioComponent software used by the JABS program and also retains rights to the software development kit (SDK) libraries with associated documentation and software code being proprietary to Aware.

The period of performance under the new purchase order would allow the Department to receive extended support for software license and maintenance/engineering support until the Department can procure, implement, and transition to a new JABS system.

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

A synopsis will be published on SAM.gov as required at FAR 5.2.

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

To determine fair and reasonable pricing, PSS will compare the historical pricing of the current contract awarded to Aware, to published pricing for similar software products, maintenance, licensing, and DOJ’s Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) with the proposed pricing for this procurement, consistent with the various techniques outlined at FAR 15.404-1(b)(2).

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

DOJ, JMD, OCIO, LESIS conducted market research to determine if there were industry offerings for similar software. In 2022, DOJ LESIS was informed that its current thick-client front end application to JABS, Aware UABS, would reach end of life in two to three years. LESIS had been doing on-going requirements gathering but its market research efforts increased with notification that Aware UABS would no longer be available. DOJ’s market research focused on a review of (1) thick-client front end application and (2) web-based COTS solution with the following capabilities necessary to meet DOJ’s requirements-

a. Capability to provide peripheral abstractions for some 130 manufactured peripherals to include fingerprint scanners, flatbed scanners, iris scanners, palm print devices, SLR and direct connect cameras

b. Capability to provide modular browser access with a high degree of configurability in terms of functionality and workflow

c. Capability to support law enforcement workflows (e.g. arrests, sex offender registration, DNA collection, etc.) and integration

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d. Capability to create, integrate and manage biometric ANSI/NIST and EBTS standard compliant transactions

e. Capability to verify and search for biometric transaction information

f. Capability for integration with DOJ’s existing networks and architecture.

These were identified as the primary capabilities necessary to replace Aware SDK libraries and Aware BioComponents software. Aware SDK libraries provide peripheral abstractions (common set of application programming interface) for some 130 manufactured peripherals to include fingerprint scanners, flatbed scanners, iris scanners, palm print devices, SLR and direct connect cameras and Aware BioComponents provide modular browser access to the Aware SDKs with a high degree of configurability in terms of functionality and workflow.

In order to assist with requirements gathering and determining market capabilities, LESIS had discussions with a well-known industry vendor and also with DOJ’s biometric vendor subject matter expert (SME). DOJ’s SME had knowledge of major biometric vendors such as NEC, HID Global, IDEMIA and other small and medium-sized vendors such as Imageware and Aware Inc.

The SME had previously contacted these biometric vendors to assist with DOJ’s requirements gathering related to both JABS front and back-end systems. Imageware was contacted because the firm is a well-known industry provider and to obtain information related to its device abstraction and web-based solution.

Based on market research, LESIS determined that major biometric vendors such as NEC, HID Global, IDEMIA and other small and medium-sized vendors such as Imageware and Aware Inc.

had some combination of software solutions that met some of DOJ’s required capabilities.

However, there did not appear to be one solution with sufficient capability to capture biometrics and biographics and create FBI/CJIS compliant transactions in either offline (as thick client) or connected mode (as thick or web-based client). The web-based COTS solutions that were researched exceeded the capabilities of UABS, because any web-based solution has to include requirements such as transaction management, database storage and store-and-forward mechanisms. This is necessary for compatibility with the DOJ’s modernization efforts to replace JABS and CAS for both front and back end systems and includes implementations that considerably overlap with those of JABS modernization efforts. Therefore, it was concluded that any requirements for a web-based COTS solutions would also include replacement of not only the frontend, but also the backend of the JABS system, which may require 2 to 3 years to implement.

Additionally, it was found that none of the vendors other than Aware Inc. had any equivalent scope of functionality and/or viable product to replace peripheral-abstraction SDK libraries and software to support modular browser access with high degree of configurability to the software that provides biometric abstraction – both of which are currently integrated and used by DOJ LESIS customers such as USMS Capture, BOP RaBid and FixNICS Ender solutions.

Market research regarding the availability of the Aware software revealed that the software supporting JABS is not available on any Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) or DOJ ordering vehicles.

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

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N/A

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

No other sources expressed interest in this immediate acquisition.

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.

Currently, the DOJ neither has the resources nor capacity implement a similar software solution to replace JABS Abrupt discontinuation of the current JABS system, which utilizes the Aware software, would severely impact the Department’s law enforcement mission. Award of a purchase order to Aware will allow the DOJ to maintain its current JABS platform while the Department formulates and executes a plan to replace the system competitively in the next few years.