F03 JA JOFOC NIGC Fingerprint Modernization.pdf

United States Department of the Interior

INTERIOR BUSINESS CENTER

Washington, DC 20240

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

AUTHORITY: FAR 6.302, 41 U.S.C. 3304

Purchase Order: 140D0421P0162 Modification 16

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by FAR 6.3 and in accordance with the requirements by FAR 6.303-1, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR 6.3 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Justification for other than full and open competition.”

This document is a justification for other than full and open competition for the Department of the Interior, Interior Business Center, Acquisition Services Directorate, (AQD), Division II Branch II on behalf of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC).

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

This proposed action is to exercise Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Clause 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, for Purchase Order 140D0421P0162 with BioMetrics4All. This modification to the existing Purchase Order will be for a six (6) month period from February 16, 2025 to August 15, 2025. The Purchase Order includes the clause FAR 52.217-8; however, the price and period of performance of the FAR 52.217-8 option were not evaluated at the time of award. The initial award was competed utilizing FAR 12 procedures.

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

The Contractor shall provide modernization of the agency managed fingerprint system and application services to their tribal customers. The scope also requires the replacement of in-house legacy application and databased with a modernized solution which will enable electronic receiving, processing, storing, reporting, and retrieving of tribal employee information, facility information and sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The scope of this modernization project includes three tasks:

1. Fingerprint System Modernization

2. Tribal Information Management System (TIMS) / Tribal Access Portal (TAP) Modernization

3. Operations & Maintenance Services

This six month extension is being requested to avoid any interruption in service while AQD competes these services as part of a new contract vehicle on behalf of NIGC. The current period of performance (POP) expires on February 15, 2025. The estimated value for these services is for six (6) months until August 15, 2025. This increases the total ceiling of the Purchase Order from $ by $ to $

4. An Identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

FAR 6.302-1 -- Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1)

Only support required to maintain current NIGC program needs will be provided under this extension.

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

The current Purchase Order expires on February 15, 2025 and efforts are currently underway to compete this requirement as part of a new contract vehicle. To ensure that the client’s needs are met during this time, it is necessary to award an extension pursuant to the current Purchase Order. As NIGC requires continuous support during this time, it is not feasible for another Contractor to provide these services. The extension will provide the necessary time it will take for AQD to compete and award the replacement vehicle for these services.

Therefore, the Purchase Order is being extended for an additional six months to accommodate the re-compete timeline.

The contractor, BioMetrics4All, is uniquely qualified to continue to provide services as it has been involved with the services required by the Purchase Order for over 3 years and has successfully provided the services throughout the life of the award. The contractor developed a custom web-based application that operates in the Microsoft Azure secure government cloud environment and connects to the FBI network. The application complies with the FBI CJJS security mandates and is compliant with FBI’s Electronic Biometric Transmission Specification.

No other vendor can provide the services at the same level of quality or timeliness during the extension period considering price, lead time, and administrative burden, and meet the client’s needs. The pricing shall remain the same as the last six (6) months of Option Period 2 of the Purchase Order.

6. A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies.

FAR 5.202(a)(11) - The proposed contract action is made under the terms of an existing Purchase Order that was previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with the requirements of 5.207 with respect to the current proposed contract action.

While it was clearly stated in the solicitation and award documentation, the awarding Contracting Officer failed to include the pricing for the extension pursuant to 52.217-8 in the award summary prior to award. As such, the terms of the existing contract were previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with the requirements of 5.207 with respect to the current proposed contract action.

7. A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The pricing from option two (2) was deemed fair and reasonable at award. In accordance with the terms of FAR 52.217-8, pricing will remain the same as option two (2), Biometrics4All provided concurrence that pricing for the extension would be one half of the pricing that was utilized for option 2 and will not increase for the - 8 extension.

8. A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted at the time of solicitation and subsequent award.

No additional market research was performed as this is a modification to an existing Purchase Order.

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition; such as:

Not Applicable

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

None, as this is a follow on for an existing Purchase Order.

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

AQD is currently re-competing these services as part of a new contract vehicle that will be set-aside and competed to small businesses, with an estimate to be awarded by August 1, 2025.

This extension under FAR 52.217-8 will allow the continuity of service until the award of the re-compete can be completed.

A delay in executing this award to maintain support for these services would be detrimental to the mission of NIGC and would result in a gap in service as no Tribal Information Management System (TIMS) / Tribal Access Portal (TAP) Modernization or Operations and Maintenance Services would be available to NIGC’s tribal customers to support their agency managed fingerprint system and application service needs.