CBP JA for BPTOC 12-16-2025_fully signed_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN

COMPETITION

((41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(5))

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.103 (FAR Class Deviation 25-11) and in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.104 (FAR Class Deviation 25-11), the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR 6.103 (FAR Class Deviation 25-11) is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.104-1 (FAR Class Deviation 25-11) as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Acquisition (OA), Procurement Directorate (PD) prepared this justification and approval for other than full and open competition for the United States Border Patrol.

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

(a) Nature of action.

CBP intends to award a sole source contract for the operation of the centralized Network Operations Center (NOC), the Security Operations Center (SOC), and the Helpdesk, collectively known as the Border Patrol Technical Operations Center (BPTOC). The BPTOC plays a crucial role in supporting the currently deployed Integrated Surveillance Tower (IST) systems.

(b) Name and address of the contractor.

EvoTech, LLC 12903 Delivery

SAN ANTONIO, TX 78247-3476

(c) Contract type.

The Award will be firm, fixed-price.

(d) Estimated total value (including options).

The estimated total value for this effort is $23.6M. The period of performance for this effort is as follows:

Base Period: 12/22/2025-12/21/2026 (12 months) Option Period 1: 12/22/2026-12/21/2027 (12 months) Option Period 2: 12/22/2027-12/21/2028 (12 months)

(e) Type of funding.

Operations and Support (O&S)

(f) Year of funding.

Fiscal Year 2026

(g) Solicitation number N/A. Purchase Request number:

20154447

(h) Background information about the requirement.

The Government’s long-term plan is to bring the BPTOC requirement in-house so the Government can perform the work itself organically; therefore, the planned sole source is intended to bridge a gap in time to allow for an efficient transition of the work back to the Government. Should the Government end up not being able to perform the requirement in house in the future, then full-and-open competition of a potential future requirement is expected.

EvoTech, LLC is currently performing the identical services under FAA contract 6973GH-20-D-00012. A search performed via “SBA Dynamic Small Business Search” revealed EvoTech, LLC is a Certified SBA 8(a) Program Participant. Past Performance under the indicated contract has been Satisfactory to Very Good.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a comprehensive multi-year plan to secure America’s borders. The United States Border Patrol (USBP) Program Management Office Directorate (PMOD) has been tasked to establish a consolidated persistent surveillance capability under a Border Patrol Technical Operations Center (BPTOC) comprised of a Centralized Network Operations Center (NOC), Security Operations Center (SOC), and a 24 hours per day / 7 days per week call center (CC) for several deployed CBP surveillance technologies for the Integrated Surveillance Towers (IST) portfolio.

Current USBP persistent surveillance capabilities are being provided through four (4) separate legacy programs: Remote Video Surveillance System-Upgrade (RVSS-U), Northern Border Remote Video Surveillance System (NB-RVSS), Integrated Fixed Towers (IFT), Automated Surveillance Towers (AST). The USBP seeks to consolidate and perform BPTOC services for Integrated Surveillance Towers (IST) under command and control (C2) of BPTOC. The BPTOC contract will provide a single point of contact 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. The call center (CC) supports users and operators for reporting, documenting, tracking, and resolution of system problems that occur with the following family of IST projects, excluding AST: Remote Video Surveillance System Legacy (RVSS-

L) , RVSS Upgrade (RVSS-U), RVSS Overhaul (RVSS- O), Northern Border RVSS (NB- RVSS), Integrated Fixed Tower (IFT) Systems. Additional systems may be added in the future. The BPTOC shall support existing command and control (C2) facilities as well as lead coordinating and set-up/adding for new C2 facilities and new sensor towers under this contract. In addition, the BPTOC shall be responsible for logging (creating and following up of trouble tickets and tracking), dispatching the appropriate resources to resolve issues, and configuration management on the appropriate CBP systems (e.g., Integrated Logistics Support System (ILSS), TRIRIGA, ServiceNow (SNOW)).

The Contractor-supplied, fully managed BPTOC solution shall be as follows:

• The NOC provides system monitoring, health and status reporting, and security services for all CBP deployed IST program systems.

• The SOC provides a 24x7x365 security management capability for monitoring system conformance to DHS Security policy. Security monitoring includes monitoring and analysis of network traffic, intrusion detection through the inclusion of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and security event incident response logging.

Additionally, it includes conducting and tracking security events, composing and distributing security alert notifications, and preemptive measures such as centralized logging, virus protection, and system hardening.

• The CC will provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 support and coordinate with NOC/SOC and

CBP Field Service Representatives (FSR) to resolve and document incidents. The BPTOC will also work with FSRs to resolve incidents that are detected by the BPTOC monitoring system. When necessary, the BPTOC will work with the CBP designated In-Service Management Authority/Software Support Authority (ISMA/SSA) that supports the IST deployments.

• The CC provides a single point of contact which users and operators can use to report, document, track, and resolve system problems and account issues. The CC also handles system change requests to the system as well as to personal accounts and associated access privileges. The CC will use the Government provided trouble ticket system to track, respond to, and report on user-reported issues.

Scope includes Contract Data Line Item (CDRL) deliverables, such as - but not limited to the following: Transition Planning, Project Management Plan, Integrated Management Schedule (IMS), various recurring reports, BPTOC Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), System Description Document (SDD), Network Description Document (NDD), Version Description Document (VDD), Asset Management, Cybersecurity Compliance.

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

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C.

3304(a)(5) implemented by FAR 6.103-5(c)(1)(FAR Class Deviation 25-11) (Authorized or required by statute) which expressly authorizes or requires that the acquisition be made from a specified source or through another agency, including sole source awards under the 8(a) Program (15 U.S.C. 637).

FAR 6.302-5(b)(4) – Authorized or required by statute, for Sole source awards under the 8(a) Program along FAR 19.805-1(b)(1) permits the SBA to accept the requirement for a sole source 8(a) award if “There is not a reasonable expectation that at least two eligible and responsible 8(a) participants will submit offers at a fair market price.”

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

Market research indicates the Government’s need cannot be met by services customarily available in the commercial marketplace without a break in service or unacceptable delays, with the exception of one company, EvoTech, LLC. In specific, EvoTech, LLC possesses a fully security-cleared facility with an active approved Authority to Operate (ATO) at the time of award. No other respondent to the Sources Sought Notice has this capability. The contractor is currently performing the identical work and is uniquely experienced with USBP network architecture and is the only vendor with direct access to historical configuration data, custom integrations, and legacy systems, ensuring seamless continuity of operations without risk of data loss or service disruption. EvoTech, LLC possesses proprietary network management and monitoring tools specifically designed for USBP operations, which are not currently available or licensed to other vendors. This technology enables real-time diagnostics, rapid incident response, and seamless integration with existing USBP systems, ensuring mission continuity and security compliance.

Additionally, EvoTech, LLC is uniquely qualified to provide all the required equipment as of the date of award, as well as the capability to resolve tower outages within 12 hours at startup. EvoTech, LLC is the current provider of the services and the only company which possesses the capability to ensure continuity of operations for the critical IST surveillance systems along the southern border and can satisfy all of the required criteria below:

1. Demonstrated experience in performing similar or identical services within an environment comparable in scope and volume to the current FAA BPTOC services contract.

2. Ability to provide continuous NOC/SOC support to prevent system vulnerabilities and mitigate risks of cyberattacks.

3. Commitment to resolve tower outages within a maximum timeframe of 12 hours.

4. Proficiency in understanding the USBP network architecture to effectively test and deploy security patches without disruption.

The Program Office has determined EvoTech, LLC, an SBA Certified 8(a) Program Participant, is the only supplier who can meet CBP mission requirements for BPTOC services. The Government does not expect two "eligible and responsible" 8(a) participants to be able to compete for the Requirement. While the Government did identify other 8(a) participants who perform work in areas similar to the BPTOC services being procured, it concluded that those participants cannot meet all of the Government's minimum requirements for this effort. Therefore, the Government does not expect 8(a) participants other than EvoTech LLC to submit offers at a fair market price to satisfy this requirement. Further details are provided below in Paragraph 8.

6. Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers are Solicited from as Many Potential

Sources as is Practicable.

The Government reviewed existing DHS-wide and multi-component contract vehicles, the DHS Enterprise-wide Contract Vehicle Portal, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) GWAC, and Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) to identify potential sources with the capability of performing the requirements of the BPTOC. Additionally, a Sources Sought Notice was published May 22, 2025, for 30 days, and CBP received nineteen (19) responses, six (6) of which listed themselves as Small Business 8(a) concerns. The results of Market Research, inclusive of the Sources Sought Notice, indicated there is not a reasonable expectation that at least two eligible and responsible 8(a) participants will submit offers at a fair market price for this procurement.

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

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable based on conducting a proposal analysis using techniques outlined in the FAR 15.404-1. The contracting officer will have access to prior acquisition history. CBP has prepared an Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) to determine the likely cost associated with procuring the necessary equipment to establish, repair, maintain, and support spares, training, engineering, logistics, and services for the BPTOC Services. CBP fully understands the costs of this effort and can determine whether the services provided under this agreement are fair and reasonable based on current, highly similar programs, and cost data. Further, CBP will analyze the cost structure of the EvoTech, LLC price proposal to include the basis of estimate for all costs, resources, equipment, materials, and personnel.

Finally, the Contracting Officer will request other than certified cost data from EvoTech, LLC.

CBP anticipates negotiations with the vendor prior to final award.

8. Description of Market Research.

Market Research indicated there is not a reasonable expectation that at least two eligible and responsible 8(a) participants will submit offers at a fair market price for this procurement. A

EARL J LEWIS

Head of Contracting Activity

Note: The HCA is the approving official when the action exceeds $20M but is less than or equal to $90M. The HCA is not required to approve the justification if the Component PAAC is a member of the armed services at the general or flag officer level or is a civilian in a grade above the GS-15 (or equivalent) level. However, this exception does not apply to justifications that cite FAR 6.103-2 (FAR Class Deviation 25-11) Unusual and Compelling Urgency as the authority.

(b) (6)