Class JOFOC_SWIFT_Final_Redacted.pdf

OFFICE OF ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT

ICE Acquisition Manual 3006.301-90

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 U.S.C. 3304

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J&A-24-0003

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1.

The justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is based on the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States (US) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Acquisition Management (OAQ), proposes to modify contracts on behalf of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) on a basis of other than full and open competition.

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

(a) Nature of action: This class Justification and Approval (J&A) proposes to increase a shared ceiling for a pool of multiple award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract holders supporting OCIO’s existing contracting vehicles; Scalable Ways to Initiate Flexible Tasks (SWIFT) because each of the SWIFT IDIQ contracts provide the same or related services that require essentially identical justifications. The contractual actions under the scope of this class J&A are SWIFT IDIQ contracts

70CTD022D00000010, 70CTD022D00000011, 70CTD022D00000012,

70CTD022D00000013, 70CTD022D00000014, 70CTD022D00000015,

70CTD022D00000016, and 70CTD022D00000017. The ceiling increase will occur by modification to the respective contracts.

(b) Name and address of the contractor(s):

Procentrix, Inc. (Procentrix)

KPGEH1F7E1M4

2201 Cooperative Way Suite 550 Herndon, VA 20171 Collaborative Services

70CTD022D00000011

DEV Technology Group, Inc. (Dev)

EBHPGDLGQLB5

11480 Commerce Park Dr Suite 400 Reston, VA 20191 Collaborative Services

70CTD022D00000010

INDEV, LLC (INDEV)

KL5NHJFK1KT6

3 Heatherwood Dr Malvern, PA 19355 Analytics and Visualization

70CTD022D00000017

Unissant, Inc. (Unissant)

U8PWX251MWG6

12901 Worldgate Dr Ste 600 Herndon, VA 20170

Analytics and Visualization

70CTD022D00000016

Hyper Automation

70CTD022D00000015

Stella JV LLC (Stella)

FYAVUWB5C8K9

1712 Clubhouse Road Ste 127 Reston, VA 20190 Hyper Automation

70CTD022D00000014

ICF Incorporated, L.L.C. (ICF)

QHBLBNKKV4U3

9300 Lee Highway Fairfax, VA 22031

Salient CRGT, Inc. (Salient)

Q5LJNF15T2R5

4000 Legato Rd, Ste 600 Fairfax, VA 22033

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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Platform as a Service

70CTD022D00000012

Platform as a Service

70CTD022D00000013

Table 1: Contractors in SWIFT Shared Capacity.

(c) Contract Type: IDIQ where task orders can be placed using hybrid, either Firm Fixed Price (FFP) and/or Time and Materials (T&M) contract types.

(d) Estimated total value of this J&A (including options):

Period Time Total

Base: September 2022-September 2027 5 years

Current J&A No Additional Time

Table 2: Demonstration of the Period of Performance, Original Ceiling and Increased Ceiling

(e) Type of funding: Varies, Funding is obligated at the task order level.

(f) Year of funding: Varies. Funding is obligated at the task order level.

(g) Solicitation number: 70CTD022R00000002.

(h) Background information about the requirement: The SWIFT suite of contracts were awarded using competitive procedures in September of 2022 to the most highly qualified contractors using trade-off evaluation processes. ICE underestimated the forecasted needs at for the five-year ordering period which ICE anticipates will be exhausted as early as May 2024. To date, ICE has already used of this ceiling, leaving only for the remaining four-year ordering period. In response to this dilemma, OCIO conducted an analysis which demonstrates a more realistic forecast of an additional ceiling over the remaining ordering period. This ceiling increase will be shared among all of the SWIFT suite of contracts.

This analysis considered historical need, anticipated need, examination of expiring legacy awards that can be transitioned to SWIFT and ICE enterprise modernization efforts.

While the ceiling is being increased, the overall period of performance is not extended beyond the original ordering period. Given the anticipated competition timeline for SWIFT 2.0 and the forecast of requirements, if approved under this class justification, the modifications to increase the ceiling will not add new services or extend the duration of the existing scope of the contracts. The scope of SWIFT will be recompeted by November 2025.

3. Description of Services.

The SWIFT suite of contracts support ICE’s requirements for the purchase of Information Technology (IT) services and Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) software. These contracts provide ICE with a creative delivery strategy designed to expeditiously support the integration, customization, and development of ICE applications and systems on a variety of platforms. OCIO’s cloud-based solution delivery requirements are organized in four separate

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

- 3 -work domains: Platform as a Service (PaaS), Hyper Automation (HA), Analytics and Visualization (AV), and Collaborative Services (CS). The contractors provide all necessary administration, supervision, service, operational and maintenance (O&M), development, and performance resources needed to support PaaS, HA, AV and CS, associated development and test environments, custom applications, and ensure continued reliability and availability of these resources. They provide support for existing and prospective systems while the agency expands the operational model to include additional ICE programs and offices, evaluates the adoption of new and emerging technologies, as well as new software and alternative hosting options. They support the integration, customization, and development of ICE applications and systems on a variety of platforms. The benefits of this contracting strategy include accelerating service delivery, leveraging industry and government best practices, improving code quality, reducing administrative overhead, and enhancing customer service.

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 as implemented by:

FAR Subsection 6.302-1: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Identification of Exception to the Buy American Statute. This is not applicable to the current action.

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

(a) Rationale for using the authority cited in section 4 of the J&A. Federal Acquisition Regulation

(FAR) subsection 6.302-1, and 41 U.S.C.3304(a)(1), “Only One Responsible Source” is the proper authority for this justification because no other contractors can provide continuity of critical services with experienced, vetted contractors whose personnel have been cleared at the TS/SCI level to support OCIO’s requirements before the existing ceiling is completely exhausted, which is anticipated to occur in May 2024. Continuity of services provided by this justification ensures that support continues seamlessly to enable ICE to capture the lessons learned under the current suite of contracts and implement changes to the requirements documents in preparation for the next suite of contracts. This will also enable ICE to competitively emplace the successor awards, properly vet and successfully transition into the next generation of contracts.

(b) Details covering what events led to the situation requiring use of other than full and open competition procedures: ICE will continue to conduct fair opportunity competition at the task order level. The events that led up to this need for other than full and open competition are primarily attributable to circumstances outside of ICE’s control. These services support law enforcement operations subject to congressional mandates and executive orders. The variables that influence fluctuations in these requirements are unforeseeable. For example, changes in immigration, criminal behavior, emerging technologies, congressional mandates, executive

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

- 4 -orders, etc. are some examples of known variables that introduce significant unpredictability in ICE’s ability to accurately forecast requirements. This unpredictability resulted in an underestimated ceiling being established on the SWIFT suite of contracts.

Specifically, ICE experienced an unforeseeable increase of requirements from individual ICE components for enterprise-wide solutions. For example, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) both expanded their utilization of the enterprise ServiceNow platform for workflow capabilities. As a result, both components also greatly increased their presence within the enterprise Microsoft 365 environment following a SharePoint modernization initiative and required additional dedicated pages and workflows for various field offices to accommodate new offices and expanded mission demands. Much of these new requirements were brought about to manage the unprecedented surge at the southwest border. This increase in technology requirements supported by SWIFT enabled an increased federal response to deal with the new immigrants and efficiently process documentation, provide points of public interface, and give agents and other users advanced cloud-based capabilities they could use seamlessly both in the field and in the office. These enterprise and other new and emerging technologies were utilized in the task orders awarded under SWIFT to both support the existing infrastructure and handle new applications that were being created to meet the unforeseen needs.

(c) Why considered alternatives will not work: ICE would not be able to emplace any other order, contract or enterprise vehicle to support new requirements or changes to existing SWIFT task orders before the ceiling is completely exhausted. Therefore, other alternatives cannot adequately support ICE’s immediate needs. In the absence of SWIFT, ICE considered competing orders on Government Wide Acquisition Vehicles (GWACs) and determined that this approach unnecessarily induces increased costs and delayed schedules. Using GWACs requires payment of contract access fees which is not required when using SWIFT. In addition, GWACs experience greater delay in schedule as compared to SWIFT contract holders since SWIFT contract holders are able to submit security packages on their ICE contract in preparation for task order competition, whereas GWAC holders cannot submit a security package until after they are awarded a task order.

(d) Explain the impact to the mission that would result if the J&A is not approved and, consequently, the product or service not provided: If this J&A is not approved, some of ICE’s most critical missions will be adversely impacted. SWIFT is utilized to support ICE’s critical information technology infrastructure. The entire enterprise IT ecosystem is operated and maintained through the support of contractors with proven best in class skills and knowledge to keep ICE’s environments running 24/7/365. These environments host mission critical applications and services that are imperative to the law enforcement community within ICE and enable them to perform their mission. Without this support, the ICE information technology enterprise is unnecessarily exposed to avoidable risks associated with potential security breech by bad actors or other infrastructure failings and potential exposure of sensitive data or crucial application failure. These are systems and environments that support the safety and security of the United States through the execution of the ICE mission, as performed by HSI and ERO. SWIFT not only supports the ICE agents and users by providing the tools they use every day to perform the mission, but it is able to take an

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

- 5 -emerging requirement from need to delivery in record time due to the expedited acquisition process from already having experienced, vetted vendors in place. Without the corporate knowledge, existing clearances, familiarity with ICE infrastructure and processes, new vendors from a different vehicle would not provide new functionality such as application delivery to law enforcement agents in a timely manner for successful mission execution. In addition, existing task orders could not be modified to consider in-scope changes that are integral to the work already being performed. Only SWIFT contract holders can provide these services at the speed and quality that ICE requires to continue its mission.

7. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable.

ICE made a reasonable effort to ensure that offers are considered from as many potential sources as practicable. A notice of intent to sole source was published on sam.gov on January 17, 2024. This notice of intent informed industry of ICE’s intent to increase the ceiling of the SWIFT contracts in a sole source environment and allowed industry to provide feedback for consideration in this justification. ICE did not receive any response from industry that demonstrated an ability to meet ICE’s requirements within the required schedule or any response that otherwise objected to ICE’s intent to sole source.

8. 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 cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable. SWIFT IDIQ’s were placed as a result of a competitive acquisition in 2022. The procuring contracting officer has already negotiated fair and reasonable pricing in their contractually established rates at the time of IDIQ award. These rates remain fair and reasonable as the market has not changed significantly since their establishment. Additional discounts are sought at the task order level, where they are solicited using fair opportunity competitive procedures, and where competition normally establishes a fair and reasonable price. At the task order level, OAQ also considers the licensing fees and quantities, level of effort and the mix of labor proposed to perform the requirements of the Performance Work Statement (PWS) in order to determine that they are commensurate to the work being performed, thereby supporting a determination that the total price is fair and reasonable.

Finally, the contractor’s licensing fees and quantities, labor mix and level of effort will also be compared to the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) and historical prices paid for substantially similar procurements. Based on these facts, the contracting officer determines that the anticipated cost to the Government experienced by continued use of the SWIFT suite of contracts will be fair and reasonable.

9. Description of market research.

ICE conducted market research as required by FAR Part 10, HSAM 3010, and the DHS Market Research Guide. Market research was conducted prior to the original competitive awards of the SWIFT IDIQ contracts in June 2021, and additional market research was conducted in January 2024 to support this action. Several SWIFT incumbent contract holders

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

- 6 -responded to the notice of intent that was issued, expressing interest in the requirement, demonstrating their ability to support the requirements within the required schedule and providing feedback for consideration in this decision. One response was received from a company that is not a current incumbent, Norseman Defense Technologies. They submitted a generic capabilities statement that does not align with the capabilities needed to support SWIFT, failing to demonstrate their ability to successfully perform these requirements. In addition, they did not expressly object to the stated intent to sole source.

In the sixteen months since SWIFT was competitively awarded, the vendor landscape has not changed. It is unlikely that an early recompete would attract additional vendors that exceed the qualifications of ICE’s current vendor pool. ICE did not receive any response to the market research that objected to the stated intent to sole source by increasing the ceiling on the SWIFT suite of contracts.

10. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

The contracting officer shall ensure that each contract action taken pursuant to the authority of this class J&A is within the scope of the class J&A and shall document the contract file for each contract action accordingly.

11. A listing of the sources, if any that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

A notice of intent to sole source, was issued on sam.gov on January 17, 2024 requesting that parties express their interest in writing to the contracting officer. The companies that responded to the notice of intent expressing interest in the requirement are identified in the table below.

Indev (Incumbent) Procentrix (Incumbent) Salient (Incumbent) ICF (Incumbent) Dev (Incumbent) Stella (Incumbent) Unnisant (Incumbent) Norsemen Defense Technologies

Table 3: List of Interested Sources

12. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for supplies or services required.

ICE intends to aggressively pursue a competitive acquisition of OCIO’s requirements for the emplacement of a new multiple award IDIQ. ICE is targeting issuance of a competitive solicitation in November 2025. If a competitive acquisition is solicited in November 2025, a contract award is anticipated in February 2026, which is still a year before the ordering period of the existing SWIFT contracts expires. In support of this timeline, ICE intends to conduct additional market research to produce a more refined requirement that considers the lessons learned of this iteration in order to increase the vehicles’ ability to more directly meet the needs of ICE customers and maximizes competition. ICE intends to further investigate the solutions available in the then current market through focused one-on-one engagements.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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After award of this action, DHS intends to post the approved/signed justification pursuant to 6.305.