JEFO_70SBUR21F00000121.pdf

Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity, Exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold, SPEED Extension/Alethix

REFERENCE: Justification Log Number: FY25-0067 and PR Number: OIT256042

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Office of Contracting (OCON), proposes to modify an existing task order on behalf of the Office of Information Technology (OIT) / Systems Delivery Division (SDD) pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(b)(2), Exceptions to the fair opportunity process.

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

This action seeks approval for a sole source extension to Alethix, LLC (Alethix) via modification to Task Order No. 70SBUR21F00000121 to continue the system maintenance and security work currently within the technical scope being performed. The current task order was competitively awarded in June 2021 through a small business set aside solicitation under the Chief Information Officer—Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3) Small Business (SB) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC). Prior exception to fair opportunity was issued in accordance with FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(C), logical follow-on to an already issued order. The final completion date of the order was extended from 01/01/2025 to 06/30/2025 non-competitively via modification P00032.

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

The Services for Product Engineering and Enterprise Delivery (SPEED) Performance Work Statement (PWS) details Information Technology Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps) services to operate and maintain major USCIS systems. The Government requires these services for six (6) months, with two two-month and two one-month option periods, for a total performance period from 7/1/2025 through 12/31/2025. The total estimated price for this performance period is . The performance period of the proposed extension is allowable under the CIO-SP3 SB GWAC which remains valid through April 29, 2026.

This justification seeks approval to continue the following work unique to 70SBUR21F00000121 on systems which are not limited to myUSCIS, Computer Linked Application Information Management System (CLAIMS3), and Citizenship and Applicant Information Services (CAIS):

1. Form development and organizational account work to improve the H1B registration process and I-129 forms, slated to be finished in Q4 of FY25.

2. Implementing urgent Director’s Office priorities to implement OAW medical appointment scheduling and I-131 parole filing, set to be implemented in Q4 of FY25 with support to continue and be transitioned to Rapid Application & Product Integration Delivery (RAPID) task order awardees.

www.uscis.gov

Rev: 10/13/2023

JEFO, Exceeding the SAT, SPEED - Alethix Justification Log Number: FY25-0067

3. Continue work within a multi-vendor environment to develop the Applicant Account Unification for family-based adjustment on status filings, slated to continue the I-129 filing season.

4. Continue the AOS family-based accounts and form delivery, slated to continue through the I- 129 filing season.

4. Statutory exception and supporting rationale.

The applicable statutory FAR citation and basis for using an exception to fair opportunity process is:

☒FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B). Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.

Rationale:

The work performed on this task order covers the entire agile development process, from planning and establishing user stories and acceptance criteria through maintenance of code and systems after enhancement. Alethix performs DevSecOps work for three major USCIS systems: myUSCIS, CLAIMS3, and CAIS. In addition, Alethix performs the maintenance and development on the networks that connect and integrate information to and from these systems. Due to the urgent nature of the information contained within these systems as it relates to the mission and the multi-vendor environment in which they are developed, the scope of work within this order can only be provided at the acceptable quality levels by Alethix.

Despite being agile development work, the work performed on these systems is highly specialized for two reasons. First, the systems Alethix develops are major endpoints for USCIS. myUSCIS is the primary external system by which petitioners can submit petitions and claims, monitor the status of their claim, sign up for biometrics appointments and receive digital notices, and submit administrative changes to their applications. Over the course of the SPEED task order, several vendors have contributed to growing and rewriting both the myUSCIS website and application. It has been integrated such that it is a single point for digital notices and application submissions as the agency has made significant progress in the effort to digitize and increase the efficiency of the immigration process. Internally, CLAIMS3 is the single point for case intake, assignment, management, and adjudication system for the agency. Any lapse in CLAIMS3 would bring USCIS’ mission to a standstill, making it impossible to assign immigrant benefits and petition cases and therefore to process and adjudicate them. This system has continued to become highly specialized as legacy systems for adjudication and benefit processing have been decommissioned and work has been moved to CLAIMS3 to increase efficiency and reduce redundancy across the agency. The transition of this work to the vendors who will be awarded Resources for InnoVation and Enterprise Readiness (RIVER) and RAPID task orders is slated to take four months given the size and scope.

No vendor other than Alethix can complete the work that Alethix performs on this task order at full capacity at acceptable quality levels without sufficient transition time. The Government does not have sufficient time for an interim fair opportunity solicitation and award while RIVER and RAPID continue to route through internal processes.

Second, the work is highly specialized in that it operates in a multi-vendor environment with a consistently changing division of work. No less than three vendors have teams which complete work on both myUSCIS and CLAIMS3. As such, these vendors have division of work stand-ups, discussions, and have developed methods and relationships that allow them to execute deployments several times per week in the case of myUSCIS. To transition a new vendor into this position just prior to the transition of all of the work to the new awardees for RIVER and RAPID would not be feasible and result in an almost entire lapse of acceptable services should this order not be extended.

In summary of the established Acceptable Quality Levels and PWS, the contractor is required to release code on a weekly (or greater) basis, release code without error, collaborate and cooperate with other SPEED contractors, and understand the work well enough to being innovative in problem solving and efficient in resource use. The Government does not anticipate recovery of competition costs for this short extension as the best value remains most achievable with Alethix under this task order. The contractor remains uniquely capable of maintaining staffing and providing satisfactory services specified in the PWS without having to compromise performance standards that may otherwise be anticipated with a change in contractors to complete initiatives already in progress.

Another major risk associated with staffing is that the Agency’s Entrance On Duty timeline for new contractors is roughly 90 days. This, coupled with the requirement for transition to a new contractor at the end of the proposed performance period, would render the next six (6) months as valueless in terms of development, testing and deployment progress.

The Government performed market research through June 2025 using techniques including surveying industry and Government experts and surveying similar requirements. The conclusions pertaining to economy and efficiency described above are supported by that market research. The market research conclusions remain unchanged in supporting that only the current contractor is capable of providing these highly specialized services at the quality level required. It is concluded that only Alethix is capable of providing the supplies or services required.

Should this task order not be extended, the following forms and tools which are critical to the USCIS mission will not be supported:

• H1-B selection notices are available exclusively through myUSCIS and are not mailed.

Responses are time sensitive, and the website will become nonfunctional at the first security vulnerability or code error. If recipients cannot respond to notices, their notices will become invalid, making the selection process inoperable.

• Visa fee payments, which occur exclusively through myUSCIS. This will cause a lapse in visas.

• I-134A and I-131 form, which supports parole programs not limited to Uniting for Ukraine, Family Reunification, and Humanitarian Parole, which is processed exclusively through myUSCIS. Without support, parole programs will not function.

• I-134A and I-131 beneficiary account attestations, which are exclusively electronic through myUSCIS. Without support, recipients will not receive benefits for family members.

• Time sensitive Requests for Evidence and appointment notices and distributions, which will cripple the biometrics and interview processes for electronic filing. Without these notices, file adjudication will be halted before the fingerprinting process.

5. 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. The Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) for this work was based on two factors. One, four years of acquisition history for the SPEED procurement which shows that the contractor did not require additional funding to complete the scheduled requirements outlined in the PWS. Two, the original task order award was made on a competitive basis and determined to be the best value to the Government. The labor rates awarded on the CIO-SP3 SB GWAC were determined fair and reasonable by the awarding Contracting Officer. Further, the labor rates resulting from the SPEED competition were determined fair and reasonable by the ordering Contracting Officer. The Government will use any price analysis technique(s) found within FAR 15.404-1(b) to evaluate the extension proposal and may conduct negotiations as necessary to ensure that the price is fair and reasonable.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

The recompete for this work, RIVER, has been competitively solicited and is scheduled to be awarded in August 2025. The requirement for myUSCIS, RAPID, is also scheduled to be awarded in August 2025. The Government has faced numerous delays in awarding these two task orders that further necessitates this sole-source extension. The Government will continue to prioritize the competitive recompete award. The Government has determined that a non-competitive extension to the current award is the most efficient method to continue system maintenance and the current iteration of SPEED requirements under the Alethix task order.

The Government initiated the integrated product team (IPT) meeting for the RAPID requirement in FY23 Q1. Following extensive examination of competition requirements, the acquisition history of the requirements housed under SPEED, particularly myUSCIS, necessitated that the RAPID requirement be split into RAPID and RIVER, whereby only RIVER would be set aside for small businesses. The customer realized organizational benefit from code challenges for DevSecOps acquisitions and worked with OCON to revisit acquisition strategy for RAPID and RIVER, finalizing the acquisition plan in August 2024. The RIVER requirement services two customers and as such, there were several delays in building out a coding challenge. The above listed delays, combined with system delays outside of the control of OCON and OIT, contributed to the current need for an exception to fair opportunity.

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

The Government will continue to work expeditiously towards the competitive award of the SPEED recompete, solicited as RIVER under Request for Quotations (RFQ) Number 70SBUR24Q00000106, and for myUSCIS work, RAPID solicited under RFQ Number

70SBUR24Q00000105.