AWS Bridge PR 20137133 JEFO (redacted).pdf

U.S CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

JUSTIFICATION FOR EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY (JEFO)

PURSUANT TO FAR 16.505(b)(2)(B)

Date: January 05, 2023 PR Number: 20137133

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Acquisition, Information Technology Contracting Division, on behalf of the Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Enterprise Data Management & Engineering Directorate (EDMED), prepared this justification for exception to fair opportunity (JEFO).

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

CBP requires continued services on the AWS platform as it is the base level computing power for a multitude of mission critical applications. This task order is necessary to continue the aforementioned services without interruption as a Government Accountability Office (GAO) protest has been filed against the awarded Task Order 70B04C23F00000007.

CBP intends to enter into a Task Order on a sole source basis without considering other awardees. The Government intends to award a task order to Four Points Technology, LLC (14900 Conference Center Drive, Suite, 100, Chantilly, VA 20151) via their NASA SEWP contract NNG15SC74B, pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) (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).

This short-term sole source task order (for up to 3 months, if all option periods are exercised) will be awarded on a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) basis for Amazon Web Services units.

Services approved under this justification are on-going and were previously performed under task order 70B04C22F00000001 with Four Points Technology, LLC.

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

CBP OIT has a need to acquire proprietary brand name Amazon Web Services via authorized reseller Four Points Technology, LLC, which includes cloud computing services, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS). This effort will allow CBP to continue to innovate and modernize the way software is built, deployed and managed. These as-a-service solutions will allow for building digital solutions based on micro-services, implementing Application Program Interface (API) based modern web frameworks, building solutions that are extensible to mobile and forward-looking industry paradigms, building consistent, standard, reliable and portable environments in the cloud, defining container strategies and operational models. This requirement will provide a methodology that cuts across two dimensions:

1. Provisioning of Cloud Services Provider (CSP) resources – including, but not limited to, the capabilities and services they offer, be it IaaS, SaaS, or PaaS.

2. Inter-Connection Point – provisioning of connectivity to and from the CSP.

The services to be acquired are Amazon Web Services units which make up the AWS cloud platform. The system architecture currently depends on access to units already allocated as well as new units that are needed to continue use and migration of applications. This platform hosts many mission critical applications that must never experience an outage to ensure continued operations at the Nation’s borders, trade operations and travel.

Estimated total value (including options):

Unit QTY Unit Price Ext Price Base Period (1/9/2023-2/8/2023)

Option Period 1 (2/9/2023-3/8/2023)

Option Period 2 (3/9/2023-4/8/2023)

4. Identify the exception to fair opportunity and supporting rationale.

FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B) - 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.

Task order 70B04C23F00000007 was awarded on December 19, 2022 and was subsequently protested. Because the new AWS task order has been protested, OIT requires continued services while the protest is adjudicated. OIT cannot allow a disruption of services due to the high priority national security mission requirements of CBP that Four Points Technology/AWS supports, which are critical to the safety of the nation.

This JEFO approves continuation of services via a new sole source task order to Four Points Technology, LLC for up to 3 months (a one-month base period with two one-month option periods) while the protest is adjudicated.

To date, CBP has migrated 62% of the overall CBP application portfolio, which includes 73 application components determined to be High Value Assets and critical to the ongoing success of CBP’s mission. Without a valid task order for these services, DHS and CBP would experience catastrophic, nation-wide outage impacts due to a lapse in Cloud hosting services. Specifically, there would be significant national security vulnerabilities in the areas of Trade, Travel, Border Operations, and tactical Targeting of terrorists. The following notable programs are urgent and compelling circumstances and systems that would be significantly impacted if continued Amazon Web Services are not provided:

BEI-e3Border Enforcement Secondary Tool (BEST) serves as the CBP portal to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement Integrated Database (EID) and the DHS Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT) to collect and transmit data related to law enforcement activities. The e3 system collects and transmits biographic, encounter, and biometric data for identification and verification of individuals encountered at the border for CBP's law enforcement and immigration mission.

The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is an automated system used to determine the eligibility of visitors to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and whether such travel poses any law enforcement or security risk.

eAPIS / APIS (Advance Passenger Information) data is biographic information on passengers (as contained in travel documents) collected by air carriers during check-in and, complemented with travel route information, transmitted by these carriers to the border control authorities of the country of destination. It also amends the time within which APIS data must be transmitted to CBP for commercial vessel carriers departing from the United States.

Trusted Traveler Programs (Global Entry, TSA PreCheck®, SENTRI, NEXUS, and FAST) are risk-based programs to facilitate the entry of pre-approved travelers. All applicants are vetted to ensure that they meet the qualifications for the program to which they are applying.

Unified Immigration Portal is a technical solution that connects disparate data across agencies with a role in the U.S. immigration system, enabling users from the front-line to executives to have visibility into interagency operations and improve insights for better coordination.

Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK) application is an extensible moving map display that integrates Department of Defense (DoD) and commercial imagery, map and overlay information to provide enhanced collaboration and Situational Awareness (SA) over a tactical meshed network. ATAK promotes information flow and communications from the tactical environment to command enterprise locations.

Unified Processing (UPRO) delivers processing efficiencies and improves agent, officer, and detainee safety through the use of advanced technologies which increase situational awareness. For example, this program integrates existing enterprise solutions such as CBP’s enterprise facial comparison capabilities through mobile solutions that can run on an agent’s mobile device. It is also designed to improve flexibility and the response to changing tactical situations along the border.

Without a valid task order in place, all systems described above would immediately cease operation or fail to function properly. This will directly adversely impact Border Operations as well as halt varying levels of passenger processing at airports. It will also have an impact on Trade Operations. Stopping AWS services has the capability to cause significant delays at airports as well as problems at border crossings with the loss of services like APIS/eAPIS, ESTA, Trusted Traveler and Unified Immigration Processing. It may also severely slow trade transactions through air, land and sea entrances due to the lack of access to databases that host information needed to process import/export information. The loss of BEST, ATAK and UPRO would also render mission critical systems used by Border Agents useless and could endanger human life while posing national security vulnerabilities without the ability to access biometric and demographic data of individuals encountered. The impact of AWS being stopped would cause significant damage at a national level.

Four Points Technology has been performing the required services since 2017. They are the only responsible source and no other sources will satisfy agency requirements without causing an interruption of services while the protest is adjudicated. Four Points has all the corporate knowledge/experience and are readily available to continue the services required. It would not be feasible for another vendor to assume the work being performed by Four Points for this short period of time as it would take more than a month to transition the efforts to a different vendor.

It is essential that required services be provided by the contractor to ensure that CBP OIT has AWS units and the capability to maintain the AWS cloud environment and the applications that it supports. Any interruption of the applications would impact national security through outages in passenger applications at airports, border enforcement applications and trade applications that are all necessary for operations to continue uninterrupted.

5. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable.

The Contracting Officer will evaluate price reasonableness by comparing proposed prices with the Independent Government Cost Estimate and historical pricing information.

6. Any Other Facts Supporting the justification.

Four Points Technology, LLC, the current contractor, is heavily embedded with all support requirements of AWS for CBP. These support requirements include but are not limited to expert knowledge of the current AWS architecture and billing processes, account accesses, and AWS processes needed to be able to maintain the cloud platform.

As stated in Section 4 above, halting AWS services would be catastrophic on a national level.

There is no way to transition to another contractor without experiencing an outage without allowing the current contractor to maintain the services until a resolution can be reached and the task order is reinstated or a new one awarded.

7. A Listing of the Sources, if Any That Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition.

Numerous NASA SEWP and DHS First Source II (FSII) vendors expressed interest in the awarded AWS requirement based on a Request for Information (RFI) that was posted to NASA SEWP on September 15, 2022 and FSII on September 28, 2022, requesting that parties express their interest in writing to the contracting officer. The following parties responded to the RFI:

NASA SWEP

Four Points Technology

SIRC

New Tech Solutions

FCN

Strategic Communications

First Source II Thundercat Technologies Akira Four Points Technologies

FCN

Blue Tech FS Partners

Based in part on the information received in response to the September 2022 RFI, the acquisition strategy for protested task order 70B04C23F0000007 was finalized.

No vendors have expressed interest, in writing, to this proposed short-term sole source task order to Four Points Technology, LLC.

8. The Government intends to post this requirement on Beta.sam.gov pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D).

9. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

Pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(9), 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.

10. Contracting Officer Certification:

Pursuant to FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(B)(8), 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:

11. Competition Advocate (Per FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(C)(2) – Above $750,000 but not exceeding $15M