Att_4-LSJ_Exceeding_SAT_FAR_8.405-6_V2.F - signed.pdf

Attachment 4 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ) - FAR 8.405-6 For orders or BPAs exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT)

Date: May 7, 2024 PR Number: 20139560

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program, 41 U.S.C.

152(3), Competitive Procedures, and 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies.

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Enterprise Services, Office of Acquisition, Procurement Directorate, Information Technology Contracting Division and the Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Enterprise Infrastructure and Operations Directorate (EIOD) have prepared this Limited Sources Justification.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. Describe the action being approved and include the name and address of the proposed contractor(s).

CBP has a requirement for enterprise network architecture and engineering support services. These services are currently provided by Sev1Tech, LLC under a task order which will expire on May 8, 2024. CBP intends to extend the current task order by up to six (6) months in order to avoid a lapse in service.

Sev1Tech, LLC.

12700 Black Forest Dive Woodbridge, VA 22192

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The network architecture and engineering support services (ENAESS) task order provides network architecture and engineering services, solutions implementation support, telecommunications and collaboration services, mobile device management (MDM) services, network security engineering and Information System Security Officer (ISSO) support, and Tier 3 Network Operations Center (NOC) support. This includes:

• Providing network connectivity and telecommunications services for data centers, co-locations, and field sites.

• Establishing and maintaining secure connectivity to Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and cloud-based solutions.

• Designing and implementing secure solutions to comply with the Zero Trust mandate.

• Supporting Program Management Office Directorate (PMOD) initiatives like Incident Driven

Video Recording System (IDVRS), Common Operating Picture (COP), Remote Video Surveillance System (RVSS), and Mobile Video Surveillance System (MVSS).

• Designing, engineering, and implementing network solutions to support video surveillance, internet of things (IoT) sensors, and emerging technologies.

• Implementing and maintaining AirWatch to manage mobile devices.

• Supporting tactical mobile solutions.

http://uscode.house.gov/

Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ) - FAR 8.405-6 For orders or BPAs exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT)

• Designing and implementing network monitoring and management tools and solutions for both on-premise and cloud solutions.

In addition, this task order provides the deployment of hardware, software, and support services across the CBP network. These services impact more than 1300 CBP locations both in the continental United States (CONUS) and outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) impacting more than 65,000 CBP staff, contractors, multiple federal agencies, and international trade partners.

The estimated value of the six (6) month extension is $12,573,724.75. The total task order value will increase from: $15,553,248.29 by: $12,573,724.75 to: $28,126,973.04.

4. Authority and supporting rationale.

FAR 8.406(a)(1)(B) Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.

Rationale:

Sev1Tech is the vendor providing these services under task order 70B04C23F00000887 which will expire May 8, 2024. CBP anticipates releasing a solicitation for these services in Q3 FY2024.

Extending this task order will allow the government to continue services during the recompete process. Sev1Tech is the only vendor capable of providing these services in the short term while the agency recompetes this effort. CBP has a mission-critical need for continuity of these services and no other vendor can transition-in immediately given the time it takes for actions like Background Investigation (BI)clearance and the ability for a contractor to learn the intricacies of the tasks in the Performance Work Statement.

If the services did not continue, CBP would be affected in the following mission objectives:

• delays in the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) transitioning and the provisioning of new circuits across the enterprise. Sev1Tech tests and supports these services post award.

• Need to build out additional Inter-connection Point (ICP) capacity in Ashburn, Virginia

• Need to vacate the National Data Center in FY25 with the transition of services to a new location or network support cloud environment;

• Need to upgrade IPv6 network equipment and services to address security requirements mandated by DHS

• DHS acceleration of requirements to implement Zero Trust functionality across the CBP enterprise network for all connected devices.

These delays and/or last-minute mandates affects this task order since this task order is responsible for the support or maintenance of other efforts. As such, EIOD needs to add sufficient transition time to ensure sufficient continuity of operations and limit network disruptions and exposure to security risks. CBP will suffer the following impacts if an extension is not put in place with the contractors who are fully cleared to perform duties, and the appropriate level on familiarity with CBP’s network infrastructure, which can take months with a new vendor.

Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ) - FAR 8.405-6 For orders or BPAs exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT)

• Increased risk of cybersecurity incidents due to the need to update, patch, test, or decommission network security capabilities currently managed by CBP’s Network Architecture and Engineering Division (NAED).

• Critical sites such as the OIT facility in Ashburn, VA; CBP Headquarters at RRB, the NTC; and other critical sites in the National Capital Region (NCR) will lose required network engineering support.

• CBP will lose support services for network connectivity to mission critical applications in the Cloud and data centers.

• Also, due to the nature of CBP’s mission-critical operations in support of safe and expedited processing of travelers and trade, CBP requires rapid provisioning and de-provisioning of connectivity of the systems and applications in the Cloud. The services provided on the ENAESS contract ensure these network services are maintained, monitored, and secure from outside actors who pose a security risk.

• The services provided in the ENAESS task order manage the monolithic design of CBP’s legacy systems and applications leaves them in an inherently fragile state for migrating from the Data Center to the Cloud. These services are mission critical to the nation’s security and economic stability as they impact the security monitoring and processing of trade and travel conducted by CBP officers and agents. As CBP begins to stretch these systems in a Hybrid Cloud environment, the injection of latency (i.e. slower network performance and delay in data transmission) is an immediate failure for these fragile systems. If there are outages and network performance delays greater than 10ms, as these systems and applications cannot tolerate down time, they would not be able to be utilized to support the day-to-day missions and operations across CBP and could lead to security vulnerabilities, delays in the processing of cargo and passengers at port of entries (POEs), and lead to officer safety issues.

Sev1Tech LLC. is the only vendor that can provide the cleared personnel with the institutional knowledge to support these mission critical capabilities while the recompete is in progress.

5. Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the anticipated order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

The Contracting Officer will determine that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable by comparing the proposed rates to the vendor’s GSA Schedule # GS-35F-424AA, comparison to the government’s independent government cost estimate, and comparison to the historical pricing on the current task order.

6. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results, or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted for the ENAESS recompete effort. There are multiple vendors who can execute the requirement however, research shows that a new contractor may need six (6) to nine

(9) months to transition for the new ENAESS requirement.

Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ) - FAR 8.405-6 For orders or BPAs exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT)

7. Any other facts supporting the limited-sources justification. Additional facts may be stated in this section. If there are no additional facts, you must state that here.

If this support is not continued with Sev1Tech, LLC CBP will lose the benefits of uninterrupted service for their ENAESS support. The purpose of this procurement is to provide ENAESS support services to CBP for the minimum time necessary without any interruption of service to CBP offices and programs, allowing for the competitive follow-on contract to be awarded.

8. A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to restricted consideration (i.e., limited-sources) before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made. Include a statement of actions taken or that will be taken to increase competition for future acquisitions of the same item/service (e.g., the government intends to revise overly restrictive technical specifications, acquire data rights, or pursue some other means to increase future competition). Posting requirements may also be addressed here or in #9 below.

CBP intends to complete a competitive procurement for these services. This competitively awarded task order will represent the principal action to remove and overcome the barrier to competition now faced. To ensure the timely award of the new competitive acquisition, integrated project teams and milestones toward award will be established. The proposed milestones will be monitored to ensure the competitive solicitation is issued in Q3 FY 24.

9. CBP intends to post this requirement on SAM.gov pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a)(2)(i).

10. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification:

Pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(x), I certify that this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which form a basis for the Limited-Sources Justification, are accurate and complete.

Technical Representative/COR Date

5/8/24

Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ) - FAR 8.405-6 For orders or BPAs exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT)

11. Contracting Officer Certification and/or Approval: *

Pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(c)(2)(ix), I certify that the Limited-Sources Justification is accurate and to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Contracting Officer Date

*Note: In accordance with FAR 8.405-6(d)(1) for proposed BPAs or orders with an estimated value exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, but not exceeding $750,000, the ordering activity contracting officer’s certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the ordering activity contracting officer’s knowledge and belief will serve as approval.

► LSJ Approvals:

12. COMPETITION ADVOCATE (Per FAR 8.405-6(d)(2) - Exceeding $750,000)

Approved Disapproved

Name (Print): ________________________ Competition Advocate

Signature: ___________________________ Date: _____________

5/8/24

FABE0ET

Accepted

Name (Print): ________________________