20119227 - JEFO (O365 Support Services) Signed_Redacted.pdf

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity (JEFO) – FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(E)

Exceeding the SAT

Date: August 11, 2021 PR Number: 20119227

1. Agency and Contracting Activity

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Enterprise Data Management and Engineering Directorate (EDMED) and the Office of Acquisition’s (OA) Procurement Directorate prepared this Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity (JEFO).

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Approved

CBP intends to award a firm fixed price (FFP) task order under S2Alliance’s General Services Administration (GSA) Streamlined Technology Application Resource for Services (STARS) III Contract without considering other awardees pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.505(b)(2)(i)(E). This JEFO action is to ensure the continuity of services in support of the EDMED on a sole source (other than fair opportunity) basis. The period of performance for the anticipated task order is September 20, 2021 – September 19, 2022.

3. Description of Supplies/Services

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Chief Information Officer (CIO) mandated that every component move to Microsoft’s Office 365 (O365) cloud services. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Information and Technology (OIT) Enterprise Data Management and Engineering Directorate (EDMED) migrated all email services to O365 in July 2019, and now has several major post enablement initiatives to complete full Office 365 adoption.

These tasks include but are not limited to the following: migration of existing Email Journaling and Office 365 Litigation Hold to a cloud service supporting the DHS enterprise Email hygiene service, migration of user “Home Drives” to OneDrive, Integration of InTune/AutoPilot, expand the security posture for CBP’s O365 environment and support integration with Federated Identity Providers and Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. EDMED, as the O365 Service Owner, is seeking contractor support in transitioning O365 into a mature Operations and Maintenance (O&M) state, to include the high-level tasks of providing O365 subject matter expertise, developing governance, training, and communications strategies, helping align O365 O&M activities with overall CBP cloud service strategies.

CBP has established its own Production and Dev MS O365 Tenants, connectivity via Microsoft Express Routes using dedicated Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Connections, implemented Federated Identity with CBP Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), Business to Business (B2) Guest integration with other DHS components, and integrated with CBPs MDM solution. O365 G3 plan Services are enabled for all CBP employees.

The estimated value is

4. Identification of Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

The statutory authority permitting the award of this task order without providing for a fair opportunity to be considered for competition is FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(E) – For orders exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, a statute expressly authorizes or requires that the purchase be made from a specified source. Specifically, this STARS III directed order will be awarded under the 8(a) Program pursuant to the authority of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 637(a).

The proposed award will result in a task order issued under the GSA’s 8(a) STARS III Government-wide acquisition contract (GWAC). The 8(a) STARS III GWAC is a competitively awarded, multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for requirements associated with six North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes, one of which this acquisition will use.

STARS III was authorized under the provisions of Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. 637(a) and retains the 8(a) sole source (a/k/a/ “directed order”) authority found in FAR Subpart 19.8 – Contracting with the Small Business Administration Program (The 8(a) Program). STARS III was the result of a competitive 8(a) procurement, which was offered to and accepted into the SBA 8(a) program; therefore, order requirements do not require an additional offer and acceptance from SBA per 19.804-6(a).

STARS III allows for directed orders under the competitive threshold, currently $4.5 million, per FAR 19.804-6 and has the same per order ceiling on directed orders for all industry partners.

5. A Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the

Government will be Fair and Reasonable

The Contracting Officer (CO) will determine the final price to be fair and reasonable prior to award, using applicable price analysis techniques. The competitive STARS III basic published pricing is available on the 8(a) STARS III website and is useful as references for Ordering COs to incorporate into their price analyses for FFP type contracts. The Ordering CO will consider the published prices in the STARS III contracts versus proposed prices for the specific items being ordered, to determine that the total FFP for the order is appropriate given the requirements and order type, consistent with FAR 15.4, Contract Pricing.

6. Any Other Facts Supporting the Justification.

S2Alliance currently performs on-site services, including system architecture, design, application, development, and maintenance for CBP.

7. 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

None. Sole source 8(a) awards under the established competitive threshold are expressly permitted by statute.