II_4 Notice of Intent Brand Name Justification SAM.GOV.pdf

COMBINED NOTICE

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SOLE SOURCE ACQUISITION and BRAND NAME

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION

TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

The Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Office of Information Technology Acquisitions (OITA) intends to negotiate a Firm Fixed Price (FFP), sole source contract for brand name specific TRM Web-Based Subscriptions to TRM Labs, Inc., 450 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107. TRM Labs, Inc. is the sole source provider for TRM Web-Based Subscriptions. Criminal Investigation (CI), Office of Fraud Enforcement has a need for a web-based subscription. The acquisition of the TRM Web-Based Subscriptions is necessary for IRS- CI to fulfill its mission of protecting the integrity and fairness of the U.S. Tax and Financial systems. This action will result in a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract.

Period of Performance 09/29/2023 - 09/28/2025

THIS PROCUREMENT IS LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE

THE COMPETITION IN CONTRACTING ACT OF 1984 (P.L. 98-369)

41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(1), FAR 6.302-1– Only one responsible source; or brand name specification.

41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(6), FAR 6.302-6 – National Security

This is a highly sensitive, law enforcement request for a base plus one (1) option year contract for web-based subscriptions. This requirement should not be publicized or advertised in the interest of national security and agent safety.

This is a Law Enforcement Sensitive requirement and should not be advertised or publicized.

(FAR 6.305(e)/ 5 U.S.C. 552). In accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(1), parts of this requirement should not be synopsized, as these web-based subscriptions will be used in the most sensitive and high-risk cases.

Brand Name Justification The mission of IRS-CI Cyber & Forensic Services Section (C&FS) is to support large-scale criminal investigations of a financial nature involving cyber or and/or cryptocurrency components. Specifically, C&FS supports investigations that involve the Internet and Internet-based technologies/methodologies that enable criminals to engage in illegal activity with anonymity and across international borders without a defined physical presence.

C&FS supports criminal investigations by providing tools and other analytical methods to properly identify, develop, and deconflict cybercrime investigations. Additionally, C&FS supports IRS-CI through the forensic acquisition, preservation, investigative analysis, reporting of digital evidence, supporting and conducting online investigations as well as other related digital evidence issues.

Cyber investigations are, by nature, very data intensive. Data and digital evidence can come from hundreds of different sources making it difficult to determine links between data/evidence collected from different sources. To be of substantial value individual pieces of digital evidence

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must be pieced together. Digital evidence coming from various sources can often be difficult to piece together based on its originating source.

C&FS uses the collected data to aggressively identify illicit financial cyber activity and enhance the information to develop actionable intelligence for CI’s special agents. C&FS also provides technical cyber investigative assistance to CI’s special agents so they can meet their investigatory mission. The primary focus of IRS-CI’s Cybercrime section is to identify and dismantle criminal organizations involved in tax evasion, money laundering, criminal violations of the bank secrecy act, and other financial crimes with a primary cyber element.

IRS-CI has performed market research on numerous web-based solutions, including Blockchain Analytics & Tax Software LLC (BATS), Chainalysis All Assets, Skopenow, Spycloud, Cryptelligence, Risk IQ (PassiveTotal™), CipherTrace, Elliptic, BlockTrace (Arcane), BlockTrace (Strikes), Qintel Intelligence, Pipl, Sayari, Dark Web Monitor, Cobwebs and Domain Tools.

In support of its law enforcement investigative mission, IRS-CI has a need for a web-based subscription that provides the necessary blockchain intelligence and analysis which will enable law enforcement to trace the flow of cryptocurrency across various blockchains through a single user interface. Therefore, the acquisition of the below described TRM Web-Based Subscriptions is necessary for IRS-CI to fulfill its mission of protecting the integrity & fairness of the U.S. Tax and Financial systems.

Based on this market research, the government has determined the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications and the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited as follows.

i. TRM Labs, Inc. developed and owns the propriety and patented software and algorithms used in the required products, which support the data and analytic capabilities specifically required for this acquisition; thereby the proposed source has the sole unique technical and other resources required for this acquisition. See Vendor Sole Source Statement included with this acquisition package.

ii. TRM Forensics is a web-based blockchain intelligence and analysis tool that offers unique capabilities in terms of which blockchains it supports, the identification of addresses owned by services, and user interface features that facilitate the tracing of cross blockchain tracing.

While many providers have similar tracing capabilities a primary differentiator for TRM Forensics is the address identification data and how addresses/clusters are labeled.

iii. TRM Forensics has a rich dataset that corroborates and/or supplements address identification from other web-based tools IRS-CI uses.

iv. TRM Forensics provides capabilities such as cross chain tracing and automated peel chain identification.

v. TRM Forensics provides capabilities such as behavioral signatures not found in other tools.

vi. The Government currently uses the TRM Labs, Inc.’s web-based subscriptions in multiple posts-of-duty across the country. This brand name product supports the Government need for continuity of operations (COOP) to continue to aggressively identify and investigate illicit actors in its mission to identify and dismantle criminal organizations involved in tax evasion, JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION

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money laundering, criminal violations of the bank secrecy act, and other financial crimes with a primary cyber element.

There are multiple cryptocurrency tracing platforms in the market today, however based on the way blockchain technology works, a significant portion of the intelligence and coverage each provides is unique to the individual provider. As outlined above, TRM Labs, Inc’s web-based tools provides unique capabilities that are not currently found in tools from other providers. As such, C&FS and OFE personnel have determined that deploying a variety of cryptocurrency tracing tools gives the IRS specific capabilities and features that are not offered by any single company, which is primarily due to the proprietary data collected and associated with each vendor’s patented web-based solutions. Subsequently, the IRS has numerous subscriptions to various web-based tools in order to utilize the specific capabilities and features that are not offered by any single company.

The required web-based subscription is proprietary to TRM Labs, Inc. There are no authorized resellers of the required products. See Vendor Sole Source Statement included with this acquisition package.

The NAICS code is 513210. This announcement is in accordance with FAR 6.302. The point of contact is Tonitta Jones, Contract Specialist, e-mail: tonitta.l.jones@irs.gov

Responses shall include, at a minimum, the following information:

1. The name of your company;

2. Company DUNS and UEI.;

3. POC name and contact information;

4. The specific product(s) that your company offers that fulfills the same function as the items to be included on this order; and,

5. A description of that product(s) and its overall capabilities.

Interested persons may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement. This is a notice of intent to award using other than full and open competition and should not be considered a request for information on whether additional vendors have the capability to perform this service. NO SOLICITATION DOCUMENT IS AVAILABLE. A request for more information or a copy of the solicitation will not be considered a response. No telephone inquiries will be accepted. Responses to this notice must be emailed to Tonitta Jones at tonitta.l.jones@irs.gov. All responses must be received no later than Noon Eastern Standard Time (EST) on September 27, 2023 and will be considered by the Government. All information submitted should support the offeror's capability to provide the services required and shall be furnished at no cost or obligation to the Government. Responses must be in writing and provide clear and concise documentation indicating an offeror's bona fide capability to provide these services. Verbal responses are not acceptable and will not be considered. Any responses

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received as a result of this notice, shall be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a future competitive requirement. Responses will NOT be considered as either proposals or bids. A determination by the Government not to open this requirement to competition, based upon any written responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government.