JOFOC-GFA OSAMS Signed.pdf

OFFICE OF ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT

ICE Acquisition Manual 3006.301-90

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 USC 3304 (a): USE OF NONCOMPETITIVE PROCEDURES

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J&A-26-0390

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.103 (FAR Class Deviation 25-111) and in accordance with the requirements of RFO 6.104, the justification for the use of the statutory authority under RFO 6.103 is justified by the following facts and rationale required under RFO 6.104-1 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Acquisition Management, entered into a contract on behalf of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) 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 is a post-award justification for ICE’s decision to limit sources and award Contract No.

70CDCR26C00000021 to Eastern Air Express for comprehensive operational, maintenance, logistics, dispatch, airworthiness, security, compliance, and mission-readiness support services for Government-furnished Aircraft (GFA). These services enable safe, reliable, and secure air operations in support of DHS, ICE, and other DHS component mission requirements. This requirement encompasses up to eight aircraft within the 12-month period based on aircraft availability, condition, and mission needs.

(b) Name and address of the Contractor Eastern Air Express LLC 11500 N Ambassador Dr. Ste. 510 Kansas City, MO 64153

(c) Contract Type: Hybrid, Firm Fixed Price with Cost-Reimbursable Other Direct

Costs/Stand-alone Contract

(d) Estimated Total Value (including options). Provide breakdown as shown below:

(e) Type of funding: Operations and Support Funds

1 FAR Class Deviation 25-11 is implemented as a result of Revolutionary FAR Overhaul, referred as RFO, following Executive Order 14275, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement. All citations in this document follow applicable DHS RFO Deviations therefore are referred as RFO.

Period Unit Price Total Base Period 12 mo $17,960,388.67 $215,524,664.00

Total $215,524,664.00 https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title41-section3304&num=0&edition=prelim

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(f) Year of funding: Fiscal Year 2026

(g) Solicitation Number: 70CDCR26R00000022

(h) Background information about the requirement

ICE ERO is responsible for arresting, detaining, transporting, and removing noncitizens who lack lawful immigration status or are otherwise removable from the United States. ICE ERO has 24 field offices throughout the United States, headquarters offices in Washington, D.C., and attachés in international locations. These offices conduct interconnected operations to arrest noncitizens present in violation of immigration law, detain and house noncitizens awaiting proceedings or review of final removal orders, manage bonds and alternatives to detention, transport noncitizens under safeguard, and remove noncitizens subject to final removal orders to more than 170 countries.

ICE Air Operations supports ERO by arranging air transportation services for ERO’s field offices. ICE Air Operations facilitates the movement of detained noncitizens within the United States and the removal of noncitizens to destinations worldwide. ICE Air Operations also supports mission requirements requiring rapid, secure, and reliable air transportation capability, including staging, transfer, removal, medical, continuity, and time-sensitive operational support.

ICE ERO has a finite number of detention beds spread across the United States. ICE Air Operations enables ERO to move noncitizens between arrest, processing, staging, detention, and removal locations in a manner that maximizes ICE ERO’s ability to use its national detention bed inventory and ensure timely and efficient processing of cases. If ICE ERO is unable to efficiently transport noncitizens between detention sites and remove individuals from the United States after due process, operational capabilities will slow or cease and ICE ERO facilities may reach capacity quickly.

During Fiscal Year 2026, through August 24, 2026, ERO removed approximately 421,182 aliens from the United States and averaged approximately 9,017 removals per week. Approximately 22.7% of removals to date this fiscal year were accomplished by ground or other transportation;

approximately 9.3% were individuals who self-deported; approximately 5.1% were accomplished by commercial airlines; and approximately 62.9% were accomplished through contracted charter air services.

Over the period from January 1, 2026, to August 18, 2026, ICE conducted 712 international missions and 1,051 domestic missions. Use of Government-owned aircraft is expected to increase ICE ERO’s operational capacity and flexibility, including missions to Central and South America.

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3. Description of Supplies/Services.

ICE requires operational support for aircraft and maintenance services, referred to as OSAMS.

This requirement uses GFA under a Government-owned, contractor-operated construct. The contractor is required to mobilize and operate a comprehensive aviation operations, maintenance, logistics, dispatch, compliance, and airworthiness support program aligned to DHS flight program requirements, ICE requirements, and other DHS component operational requirements.

The Government-owned aircraft will support removal operations, voluntary repatriation, high-risk charter operations, deployment of crisis response personnel, medical evacuations, senior official movement, continuity directives, diplomatic engagement, and other DHS and ICE aviation-supported missions. The contractor is required to deliver and maintain a safe, compliant, mission-ready aviation and maintenance enterprise.

The Performance Work Statement requires the contractor to provide 24/7/365 operational support, aircrew, maintenance, logistics, security compliance, data management, and program management. Aircraft must be available for mission deployment within 18 hours of notification, with crew and equipment ready for operations.

Without continued operational service and maintenance support, the aircraft cannot be fully used for their intended mission purpose. If the aircraft are not operated and maintained regularly, work already conducted to return the aircraft to airworthy status may have to be repeated, creating additional costs and delay.

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:

☒ RFO 6.103-2: Unusual and compelling urgency.

NOTE: In accordance with RFO 6.103-2(d), this J&A was executed after contract award because making the determination before award would unreasonably delay the acquisition.

5. Identification of Exception to the Buy American Statute: N/A

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

Due to the unusual and compelling urgency, the agency determined to limit the capable sources to one for OSAMS support because it would otherwise be seriously injured, financially or otherwise. Eastern Air Express was assessed as one of the vendors most capable and likely to meet the requirements in the limited time available to the agency, based https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title41-section3304&num=0&edition=prelim

Page - 4 - of 10 in part on its response to the July 8, 2026, Request for Information and its demonstrated aviation capabilities.

(a) Rationale for using the authority cited in section 4.

The Government required the use of other than full and open competition because the services are of such unusual and compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured, unless ICE was permitted to limit the number of sources from which to solicit proposals. The operational requirements for GFA support could not be met through full and open competition without serious injury to ICE, to include, risk of mission delay, aircraft downtime, loss of airworthiness readiness, operational disruption, as well as serious financial loss to the Agency.

DHS acquired the GFA portfolio in December 2025 and awarded a contract for maintenance and airworthiness services at that time. DHS conducted the initial maintenance and airworthiness of the aircrafts. With the maintenance and airworthiness contract, each aircraft undergoes comprehensive safety checks, maintenance, and airworthiness certification. The process is rigorous and ensures that no aircraft is released for operational use until it is fully compliant with applicable Federal Aviation Regulations, DHS aviation policies, and ICE Air Operations requirements.

As the GFA are released from maintenance and airworthiness checks on a rolling basis, they require immediate operational, maintenance, dispatch, logistics, compliance, and mission-readiness support to remain available and avoid grounding or degradation of readiness.

On June 22, 2026, DHS transferred the operational support and responsibility for the GFA fleet to ICE and ICE was then required to obtain OSAMS support for seven Boeing 737-700 aircraft and one Gulfstream G650, to include the following requirements:

1. To mobilize and operate a 24/7/365 comprehensive program of aviation operations, maintenance, logistics, dispatch, aircrew, security compliance, data management and program management.

2. Compliance and airworthiness support program aligned to DHS flight program requirements, ICE requirements, and other DHS component operational requirements.

3. Support removal operations, voluntary repatriation, high-risk charter operations, deployment of crisis response personnel, medical evacuations, senior official movement, continuity directives, diplomatic engagement, and other DHS and ICE aviation-supported missions.

4. Deliver and maintain a safe, compliant, mission-ready aviation and maintenance enterprise.

5. Ensure aircraft must be available for mission deployment within 18 hours of notification, with crew and equipment ready for operations.

The unusual and compelling urgency arises from the operational need to transition aircraft from maintenance status to mission-ready status without a gap in operational control, maintenance oversight, or compliance support.

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On June 22, 2026, OAQ began acquisition planning. OAQ was advised that the current contract providing maintenance only, with no comprehensive operational support, was set to expire on July 27, 2026, and was not a viable solution to meet the operational requirements due to its limited scope.

At that time, market research efforts and knowledge were limited. OAQ had approximately one month to solicit and award a short-term contract to a provider with the capability to deliver comprehensive operational and maintenance services under emergent circumstances.

The technical requirements for this acquisition were not suitable for delay because the aircraft require immediate, integrated operational and maintenance support. To ensure that the aircraft were kept in an airworthy, compliant, and mission-ready posture, ICE had to issue a Request for Proposals without executing the required Justification and Approvals, as permitted by RFO 6.103(d) because the determination before award would unreasonably delay acquisition. Aircraft require continuing operational and maintenance support on short recurring intervals. For example, the Boeing 737-700 aircraft require recurring maintenance and readiness actions, including water fill and drain every three days, engine-related airworthiness directive actions and aircraft movement or engine ground runs on seven-day intervals, navigation database updates every thirty days, and lavatory service pre- and post-flight. The Gulfstream G650 requires recurring actions including fuel tank sumping, system chart updates, flight management system navigation database updates, and engine ground runs. Without an active maintenance contract in place, the aircraft would be seriously harmed.

Furthermore, delays in operational support would require rework of recently completed return-to-service efforts and would prevent ICE from providing support for removal operations, voluntary repatriation, high-risk charter operations, deployment of crisis response personnel, medical evacuations, senior official movement, continuity directives, diplomatic engagement, and other aviation-supported missions, which would not only cause seriously harm the Agency’s mission.

For example, the nature of ICE Air Operations involves sensitive law enforcement operations, secure transport, aviation security, coordination with other government agencies, coordination with foreign governments, and real-time operational planning. Many operational details are sensitive and cannot be broadly disseminated without risk to mission integrity, safety, or security. The unique operational constraints, including rapid mobilization, secure transportation, aircraft maintenance and airworthiness requirements, mission coordination, and law enforcement support, require specialized capabilities that are not widely available in the commercial marketplace on the required schedule.

Additionally, failure to provide maintenance to the aircraft will cause serious financial harm to the Agency. If ICE must replace unavailable GFA capacity with chartered or other substitute airlift, the Government may incur significant additional costs. Based on preliminary program estimates, ICE may incur approximately $1.5M per 737-equivalent mission, or approximately $315M per month based on having seven 737- equivalent aircraft for planned https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title41-section3304&num=0&edition=prelim

Page - 6 - of 10 missions per month. The Government may also incur approximately $10,013,729.66 per month in fixed aircraft costs without corresponding mission benefit.

Delayed removals may create additional detention-related costs. If reduced airlift capacity delays the removal of approximately 520 individuals per month, and those individuals remain in custody an average of 30 additional days at an estimated daily detention cost of $165.00 per person, the resulting detention impact would be approximately $5,000.00 per month. Additional costs may also result from increased ground transportation, staging, escort, medical, security, administrative, and logistics requirements associated with delayed or rescheduled removals. For the Gulfstream G650, replacement of time-sensitive mission support through commercial travel, charter services, or other premium transportation could result in additional costs of approximately $225K per month, depending on mission tempo and availability of alternatives.

Therefore, preliminary estimates indicate that results in a serious financial harm of approximately $250K per month.

ICE is pursuing a future full and open competition for follow-on requirements. The urgent action addressed by this J&A is intended to provide needed support during the current urgent period and to avoid mission disruption while the Government continues planning for future competitive acquisition activity.

For the reasons stated above, the agency’s need for services is of such an usual and compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured, financially or otherwise, unless ICE/ERO is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits proposals.

(b) Details covering what events lead to the situation requiring use of other than full and open competition procedures

The Government’s unusual and compelling urgency resulted from the immediate operational and maintenance support needed to remain in mission-ready status and avoid rework, grounding, or degradation of readiness.

No portion of this GFA aircraft support services program can reasonably be segregated for competition without introducing unacceptable operational and flight safety risks. The program consists of aircraft operations, maintenance, airworthiness, dispatch, logistics, safety, security, compliance, and records support that form an integrated aviation support system. Separating these functions would fragment accountability, introduce multiple vendor handoffs in safety-of-flight and airworthiness processes, and increase risk to configuration control, maintenance tracking, operational readiness, regulatory compliance, and mission support. A single contractor must maintain end-to-end accountability for the fleet’s operational support, maintenance coordination, airworthiness support, and mission readiness.

(c) Summary of alternatives considered

The Government considered several alternatives.

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First, ICE considered relying on the existing maintenance and airworthiness contract. That contract is limited in scope and does not provide the comprehensive operations, maintenance, logistics, dispatch, compliance, and mission-readiness support required to operate the aircraft in support of ICE missions.

Second, ICE considered relying solely on existing charter services or other transportation arrangements. This is not an adequate alternative. ICE already relies heavily on contracted charter air services, which accounted for approximately 62.9% of removals to date in Fiscal Year 2026. The Government-owned aircraft supported by this contract were acquired and positioned to expand ICE’s airlift capacity and reduce reliance on less flexible and potentially more costly alternatives. Existing commercial air, charter, ground transportation, or other transportation methods cannot fully replace the planned capacity, flexibility, and mission-readiness benefits of Government-owned aircraft.

Third, ground transportation and commercial airlines are limited alternatives. Ground transportation is limited by distance, safety, security, routing, staffing, and destination constraints. Commercial airlines are limited by routes, availability, airline restrictions, security requirements, escort requirements, and other operational limitations. These alternatives cannot provide the scale, flexibility, or reliability needed for ICE’s removal mission.

Fourth, a new full and open competition would not meet the urgent need. Given the complexity of aviation operations, aircraft maintenance, airworthiness, logistics, security, and compliance requirements, a full and open competition would not provide immediate support.

Fifth, partial or segmented support would not adequately protect the Government’s interests. The OSAMS requirement is integrated. Aircraft operations, maintenance, airworthiness, logistics, personnel readiness, security, safety, dispatch, compliance, and reporting must be coordinated to establish safe and reliable mission operations. Suspending or separating portions of the requirement would delay overall readiness and create unacceptable operational risk. After considering these alternatives, ICE determined that limiting sources and awarding urgently was necessary to meet the Government’s immediate mission need.

(d) Impact to the mission that would result if the J&A is not approved

Any aircraft downtime directly impacts ICE’s ability to respond to emergent operational requirements, including removal operations, voluntary repatriation, high-risk transport operations, crisis response, medical evacuations, continuity support, senior leadership movement, and other time-sensitive DHS and ICE aviation-supported missions.

Unplanned or extended periods of inoperability can result in significant long-term costs, loss of mission capability, decreased operational flexibility, delayed removal operations, increased detention time, increased pressure on available detention bedspace, and risk to safety and regulatory compliance. The inability to secure necessary operational and maintenance support https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title41-section3304&num=0&edition=prelim

Page - 8 - of 10 would result in delays in processing and removal actions and could prevent future removals of individuals subject to removal.

Government-owned aircraft were acquired and positioned to increase ICE’s organic airlift capacity, improve scheduling flexibility, reduce reliance on less flexible and potentially more costly substitute airlift, and expand the Government’s ability to conduct removal operations and other aviation-supported missions. Without operational and maintenance support, the Government cannot realize the operational benefit of aircraft it already owns.

The Government also continues to incur fixed ownership and preservation costs even when aircraft are not being used to support removal operations or other mission requirements. These costs may include hangarage, insurance, recurring inspections, preservation maintenance, records management, and other aircraft support expenses. If ICE must replace unavailable Government-owned aircraft capacity with chartered or other substitute airlift, the Government may incur significant additional costs.

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

Due to the unusual and compelling urgency of this requirement (see RFO 5.101(b)(2)), the Government limited the number of sources to one vendor considered capable of responding within the required timeframe.

8. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The Government conducted an evaluation of the proposal received in accordance with the evaluation methodology in the solicitation. Price was determined fair and reasonable based on comparison with the independent government cost estimate, historical pricing and commercial prices for the same or similar services.

9. Description of Market Research.

Due to the unusual and compelling urgency of this requirement, the Government conducted limited market research focused on sources capable of meeting the immediate requirement. The Government considered existing aviation capabilities, current and recent aviation support arrangements, known industry sources, and vendors with experience supporting DHS and ICE aviation requirements.

On July 8, 2026, ICE posted a Request for Information (RFI) on SAM.gov to gather market research in support of a future full and open competition. Responses to the RFI were due on July 22, 2026. There were 16 respondents to the RFI that expressed interest in providing the required

GFA OSAMS.

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JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 USC 3304 (a): USE OF NONCOMPETITIVE PROCEDURES

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ICE reviewed RFI responses, existing agency knowledge, and available information regarding vendor capabilities.

Eastern Air Express was identified as one of the vendors most capable and likely to meet the requirements within the limited time available to the agency.

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

Addressed above.

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

Due to the unusual and compelling urgency, the agency determined to limit the capable sources to one to Eastern Air Express for OSAMS support because the agency would otherwise be seriously injured, financially or otherwise.

ICE initially issued a solicitation to CSI Aviation based on CSI’s known capabilities and experience supporting similar ICE Air mission requirements. After evaluating CSI’s proposal and price, the Government did not make award to CSI. ICE also issued a solicitation to Daedalus based on their capabilities, but after evaluating their proposal, ICE did not make an award to Daedalus.

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.

To promote competition in future acquisitions for GFA operational support, maintenance, logistics, airworthiness, and mission-readiness services, ICE will continue market research and industry outreach to identify potential vendors and assess evolving capabilities.

ICE intends to issue a competitive acquisition in Fiscal Year 2028. The Government is currently in the early stages of the full and open competition and anticipates it taking approximately 12 months.

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JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 USC 3304 (a): USE OF NONCOMPETITIVE PROCEDURES

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13. Contracting Officer’s Certification.

I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Digitally signed by NATASHA T NGUYEN Date: 2026.09.22 14:20:16 -07'00'

Contracting Officer Date

14. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and that the supporting data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate.

Digitally signed by STEPHEN W TAITANO Date: 2026.09.22 14:25:37 -07'00'

Technical Representative/COR Date

Digitally signed by SHAYLA B WRAY Date: 2026.09.22 19:02:09 -04'00'

Head of Contracting Activity (Acting) / Date Procuring Activity Advocate for Competition

15. Approval.

Chief Procurement Officer Date

NATASHA T NGUYEN

SHAYLA B WRAY

STEPHEN W TAITANO

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