IST Pulse SBIR III Justification and Approval_Redacted.pdf

FEDSIM is a Client Support Center housed within GSA, FAS, AAS Version 06/14/19

Under SB162-003 IST will continue to advance efforts from their SBIR Phase II and III to enhance the Pulse Platform through the creation of an extensible framework that enables wide-scale, targeted, domain-specific data aggregation across the open, deep, and dark webs; to include multiple social media platforms. At the Phase III level this technology can be scaled to ingest data/documents over 50 million per month/ per instance. This capability will also be used to analyze and assess counterintelligence risks.

3. A Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet Agency’s Need:

The scope of the IDIQ is for the purchase of Pulse Platform user licenses, Pulse Platform customized kits, and options for custom research, custom data visualization packages, and training on the Pulse Platform.

a. Pulse Globally Deployable Kit (GDK)

b. Pulse GDK Software Refresh

c. Pulse Tactical Info Warfare Kit

d. Pulse Cloud Connected Kit

e. Pulse Cloud Customized Hosted-Population Engagement

f. Pulse Cloud IST Research Hosted- Population Engagement

g. Pulse Cloud IST Research Hosted--Online Content Discovery

h. Pulse Cloud IST REsearch Hosted--Complete

i. Add-On Pulse Gateway Device Enhancements:

i. Pulse Enhancement--Additional Data Processing (Lot= 1 Million Documents/ mo)

ii. Pulse Enhancement--Additional Social Transactions (Lot= 1 Million transactions)

iii. Pulse Enhancement--Page Rendering per 25 million documents

iv. Pulse Enhancements--Page Rendering--additional documents (Lot= 1 million documents).

j. Pulse Data Collection Expanded Repository (1 lot= 1.3 terabytes (TB) for 12 months).

k. Pulse Data collection Expanded Repository--Temporary (1 Lot= 1.3 TB for 1 month).

l. Pulse Historic Data Collections (1 Lot= 1 million documents)

m. Pulse Analytical Reports (Quick Report)

n. Pulse Analytical Report (In-depth)

Ancillary services in support of the deployment of the Pulse Platform licensing described above include the following:

a. Full Service Technical Support (6 months)

b. Full Service Technical Support (12 months)

c. Project Management

d. Remote Technical Support

e. Pulse Training for Government users (four day course)

f. Customized Analytical Support

Travel and Other Direct Costs are anticipated.

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

Competition: This sole source IDIQ will be awarded pursuant to FAR 6.302-5 Authorized or Required by Statute. The project is a SBIR Phase III award that is derived from and extends efforts made under prior SBIR funding agreements and is authorized under 10 U.S.C 2304(b)(2).

In accordance with the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Policy Directive dated February 24, 2014, the competition for the SBIR Phase I and II award satisfies any competition requirement set out in the following: the Armed Services Procurement Act, The Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, and the Competition in Contracting Act. As such, awarding this SBIR Phase III does not require the Government to conduct another competition in order to satisfy those statutory provisions.

5. A Demonstration that the Proposed Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or the

Nature of the Acquisition Requires Use of the Authority Cited:

This acquisition is executed in accordance with FAR 6.302-5 Authorized or Required by Statute. The specific statute authorizing the acquisition here is the Small Business Innovation Research Program, which is codified at section 9 of 15 U.S.C 638.

In accordance with the SBIR process, the competition occurs during the Phase I selection.

Phase I competitive awards determine the scientific and technical merit and feasibility of ideas that appear to have commercial potential and determine the quality of performance of the small business awardee prior to providing further federal support through Phase II or III. (If the technology is relatively mature it is allowable to skip Phase II or III in accordance with the program.)

Phase II awards further develop work from Phase I that meets particular program needs based on the results achieved in Phase I and the scientific and technical merit and commercial potential proposed in Phase II. Only Phase I awardees are eligible for Phase II or III awards.

Phase III commercializes and finalizes development of work deriving from Phase I/II activities. The SBIR program does not fund Phase III. For some federal agencies, Phase III may involve follow-on non-SBIR R&D and/or production related work depending on the type of activities required by the Government. The Phase III work derives from, extends, or complets efforts performed under Phase I and/or Phase II. Since this work is only available, due to data rights, from the SBIR source that was awarded the Phase I/II work, the use of the authority at FAR 6.302-5 “full and open competition” need not be provided when--a statute expressly authorizes or requires that the acquisition be made through another agency or from a specified source.” In this case; due to the data rights and the restrictions of the SBIR statute 15 U.S.C 638; the direction is made to procure Phase III activities from the exact same source as the Phase I/II efforts.

6. A Description of Efforts Made to Ensure that Offers are Solicited From as Many Potential Sources as Practicable:

As this technology is unique to the particular Small Business vendor and it is necessary to strengthen the industrial small business base; no other offerors were solicited.

Furthermore, in accordance with FAR. 5.202-7, proposed contract actions resulting from the acceptance of a proposal under the Small Business Development Act of 1982 are exempt from being publicized.

7. A Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the

Government will be Fair and Reasonable:

The Contracting Officer will conduct proposal analysis in accordance with FAR Subpart 15.404-1 (Proposal Analysis Techniques) and 15.405 (Price Negotiation) to ensure that the final price is fair and reasonable.

8. A Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results or a Statement of the Reason Market Research was not Conducted:

The Government conducted significant market research to verify and determine that the technologies for respective Phase I and II efforts for the Pulse Platform were worth pursuing through the SBIR process. As these efforts are for rapidly advancing technologies and were awarded within the past 18 months the market research conducted is very recent. In accordance with FAR 10.002. “ the Contracting Officer may use market research conducted within 18 months before the award of a task/delivery order if the information is still accurate, current, or relevant.” In this instance the information is still very relevant as it pertains to the exact work to be performed by the SBIR awardee.

Additionally, the Government queried the SBIR website and contractor registry to validate IST’s previous SBIR awards. The technologies and capabilities in IST were derived from it’s participation in the SBIR program and are currently only available to the Government through an SBIR Phase III award to IST.

9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition:

All facts supporting the use of the authority have already been discussed within this document.