Att_6-JEFO_Exceeding_SAT_FAR_16 redacted_Redacted.pdf

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity (JEFO)

Exceeding the SAT – RFO 16.507-6

March 2026

Date: August 13, 2026 PR Number: 20157863

1. Agency and Contracting Activity: Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity.”

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Acquisition, Mission Support Contracting Division - West prepared this justification for an exception to fair opportunity on behalf of the Office of Trade (OT), Trade Transformation Office (TTO).

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

CBP intends to award a task order without considering other awardees under the General Services Administration (GSA) POLARIS Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) pursuant to RFO 16.507-6(b)(1).

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

The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is the United States’ primary platform for facilitating international trade, serving as a critical system for CBP and the broader trade community. These services are necessary to implement essential updates to ACE, including adjusting tariff rates and making system changes required to enforce recent Presidential Executive Actions and new trade agreements. The services acquired through this procurement are requirements management support services, which are integral to the effective oversight of Programs and Projects managed by the TTO.

Estimated Contract Value: $5,265,005.78 Period of Performance: September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027

4. Identify the exception to fair opportunity and provide supporting rationale, including a demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the exception cited.

____X_____RFO 16.507-6(b)(1). The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

_________RFO 16.507-6(b)(2). Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

_________RFO 16.507-6(b)(3). The order must be issued on a sole-source basis in the interest of economy and efficiency because it is a logical follow-on to an order already issued under the contract, provided that all awardees were given a fair opportunity to be considered for the original order.

_________RFO 16.507-6(b)(4). It is necessary to place an order to satisfy a minimum guarantee.

_________RFO 16.507-6(b)(5). For orders exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, a statute expressly authorizes or requires that the purchase be made from a specified source.

_________RFO 16.507-7. Brand-name justification for items peculiar to one manufacturer.

Rationale (for all exceptions):

A new larger, long-term competitive contract for these services will be awarded in Fiscal Year 2027, incorporating a substantial transition period allowing a potential new contractor to be positioned with cleared staff on day one.

While other vendors possess generalized cloud-native IT skills, none have the specialized ACE program knowledge required to ensure uninterrupted service. The current contractor has access to CBP IT systems and routinely handles sensitive information, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Sensitive PII (SPII), and For Official Use Only (FOUO) material. All contractor employees are required to complete extensive background investigations, which can take six months to a year. Without previously cleared staff, a new contractor would require new background investigations, resulting in delays to critical TTO programs such as ACE and posing risks of unrecoverable mission failure and catastrophic system errors.

Without this contract, CBP will be unable to ensure timely and accurate implementation of Administration trade policies, which would negatively impact agency operations, the trade community, and American commerce. A significant mission impact would result from the loss of Business Analyst support currently embedded across more than 15 ACE agile delivery teams. Without Business Analyst support, CBP would face inaccurate or delayed documentation updates, which could disrupt system-to-system communications and negatively affect trade processing. Business Analysts also perform critical roles in recent tariff changes resulting from multiple Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations, which affect how ACE processes tariffs using the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. They work directly with Trade Transformation Office Capability Owners and the Trade Remedy Branch to analyze, document, and track changes to business rules and scenarios related to trade remedy actions and tariff calculation and collection. These evolving scenarios and requirements are complex, and Business Analysts are integral to ensuring that requirements are accurately documented, analyzed, and communicated to development teams. Their support helps ensure that ACE can implement tariff and trade policy changes accurately, efficiently, and in alignment with Administration priorities.

The absence of these support services would severely hinder CBP’s ability to implement trade policy changes, resulting in delays, operational inefficiencies, and disruptions to the flow of commerce.

Dynamic Government Resources LLC (DGR) is uniquely positioned to meet the Government’s needs due to its full staff of background-cleared personnel, extensive expertise in the highly complex ACE program and its system functionalities, which cannot be replicated by other vendors without a significant transition period. Over the last four years, DGR has met or exceeded contract requirements and has shown the ability to deliver to meet increased CBP demands. It is necessary to award this short-term bridge task order to avoid the interruption of ongoing projects and deliverables until a successor contract is awarded. DGR has the expertise and cleared personnel in place and is uniquely positioned to continue and finish the near-term activities.

DGR, as the incumbent contractor for this effort, is the only contractor that possesses immediate capability, a comprehensive understanding of the requirements, working relationships with CBP key stakeholders, and the resources required to ensure that this high priority CBP program is successful. DGR is the only contractor that can provide the current level of output that will prevent a break in the service being provided by their support. A decrement or interruption to the current level of delivery would be detrimental to the completion of the work and would put mission critical ACE requirements at risk.

Additionally, it would not be administratively or cost-effective to award a competitive procurement for this short-term bridge action. Under the current circumstances, any contractor other than DGR would be challenged with contract transition efforts, the learning curve of the program’s needs, establishing a workflow to support the program, paying for and clearing contractor employees through CBP’s stringent background investigation (BI) procedures, and ultimately ramping up BI-cleared contractor staff to support the program. As such, awarding to a different contractor would result in undue delay, increased costs and resources, and heightened risks that could jeopardize the success of the program. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the Government to award this short-term bridge task order that will allow for the continuation of work and completion of critical contract deliverables. As stated previously herein, this bridge shall allow for the program office and contracting office to work through the recompete process of this requirement with a planned award date in fiscal year 2027.

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

The task order will be issued to Dynamic Government Resources LLC, a Service- Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, under the GSA POLARIS GWAC for business analyst support services. POLARIS provides pre-negotiated labor rates which have already been determined to be fair and reasonable by GSA. Additional discounts to these rates will be sought in the Request for Quote.

After receiving a quote from the contractor, the Contracting Officer will thoroughly assess the proposed labor mix and level of effort to ensure the total price is fair and reasonable. This assessment will include a comparison to the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) and historical contract data to validate price reasonableness.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

With a plan in place to competitively award a long-term contract for these services in FY27, the incumbent’s familiarity with ACE’s deeply integrated IT architecture and operational processes is irreplaceable in the short term. Onboarding new contractors without a proper transition would disrupt ongoing projects, delay implementation of Congressional and Administration directives, and jeopardize the agency’s ability to respond to evolving trade requirements. This short-term bridge will allow for an adequate transition period for a new contractor to come on board without a lapse in service.

These management support services from DGR are essential to maintain the integrity, operational continuity, and compliance of the Automated Commercial Environment. This approach ensures that CBP can implement Administration trade policies efficiently and effectively, protecting the interests of the agency, the trade community, and American commerce. The incumbent’s specialized expertise, established operational presence, and proven track record make them the only viable option to support these mission-critical functions on a short-term bridge task order without introducing unacceptable risk.

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.

The agency is committed to promoting competition and ensuring fair opportunity in future acquisitions for requirements management support services related to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). To address the circumstances that led to the current exception to fair opportunity, the Government will initiate a comprehensive review of the support requirements associated with this contract. This review will focus on identifying any performance requirements or conditions that may be unnecessarily restrictive or that limit the pool of qualified vendors.

Where feasible, the agency will revise and update these requirements to remove barriers and encourage broader participation from qualified vendors in future procurements. This may include clarifying technical specifications, streamlining security and onboarding processes, and reassessing the scope of specialized knowledge required, with the goal of maximizing competition without compromising mission effectiveness or security standards.

Additionally, the agency will continue to monitor market capabilities and engage with industry partners to stay informed of evolving vendor capabilities that could meet the Government’s needs. These actions will help ensure that future acquisitions are structured to provide fair opportunity to all eligible vendors, in alignment with federal procurement regulations and best practices.

8. CBP intends to post this justification on www.sam.gov pursuant to RFO 16.507-6(f).

9. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification:

Pursuant to RFO 16.507-6(d)(2)(ix), I certify that this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which form a basis for the justification, are accurate and complete.

Technical Representative/COR Date

10. Contracting Officer Certification and Approval: *

Pursuant to RFO 16.507-6(e)(1), I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief and hereby determine that the circumstances for an exception to fair opportunity exist and legal review was obtained when required based on dollar value.

Contracting Officer Date

*Note: In accordance with RFO 16.507-6(e)(1), proposed orders with an estimated value exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold, but not exceeding $900,000, 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. For CBP, the contracting officer should sign each justification prior to approval by the next higher level (e.g., PAAC, HCA, and/or CPO).

Approvals:

11. PROCURING ACTIVITY ADVOCATE FOR COMPETITION (PAAC) (Per RFO 16.507- 6(e)(2) – Exceeding $900,000 to $20M)

Approved Disapproved