Justification and Approval (JA) REDACTED.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVSUP FLEET LOGISTICS CENTER NORFOLK

700 ROBBINS AVENUE – BUILDING 2B

PHILADELPHIA, PA 19111-5083

J&A Number: 20-064

JUSTIFICATION FOR USE OF SOLE SOURCE

1. IDENTIFICATION OF AGENCY AND CONTRACTING ACTIVITY: The requiring activity is Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS); the contracting activity is Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Norfolk Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED: Award of a sole source (brand-name), firm, fixed price (FFP) purchase order for items manufactured by and proprietary to Creative Radicals LLC (CAGE: 6H6W5) and only available through the following authorized resellers:

Envistacom, L.L.C. (CAGE: 6DQ79) Far Ridgeline Engagements, Inc. (CAGE: 4XH46) ThunderCat Technology, LLC (CAGE: 50WM7)

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES: The proposed acquisition is to acquire OpeniO licenses and renewals – each of which are manufactured by and proprietary to Creative Radicals LLC. The product breakdown is as follows:

Item: License/Renewal: Quantity:

OpeniO 4.6 License with Advanced Commercial Telemetry Data (CTD) (Annual) – Includes the following Advanced CTD APIs:

- Explore API

- Resolve API

- Batch Device Search API

Renewal 17

OpeniO 4.6 License with Advanced Commercial Telemetry Data (CTD) (Annual) – Includes the following Advanced CTD APIs:

- Explore API

- Resolve API

- Batch Device Search API

License 3

OpeniO 4.6 Premium License (Annual) – Includes the following:

- Translation Services

- FlashPoint Chat Services

- FlashPoint Forum/RIO

- Advanced CTD APIs:

- Explore API

- Resolve API

- Batch Device Search API

License 1

The proposed acquisition will be funded with annual appropriations (FY20 – Operation and Maintenance

Navy – O&MN) The required delivery date is on or before 28 July 2020 (and coverage will extend through 28 May 2021)

4. STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING SOLE SOURCE: The statutory authority permitting this sole source action is 41 U.S.C. 1901, Simplified acquisition procedures – a sole source acquisition using simplified acquisition procedures for the acquisition of commercial items, as implemented by FAR 13.501(a).

5. RATIONALE JUSTIFYING USE OF CITED STATUTORY AUTHORITY: The proposed acquisition is to acquire the items identified in Section 3 above, which are commercially available. OpenIO is a software platform designed to search, extract, and organize information from multiple data sources. As information is discovered, OpenIO organizes the data into standardized data sets, populating an underlying ontology to help the analyst understand the information around people, groups, organizations, places, and events. This product was designed to make information discoverable, interoperable, and sharable with other technologies and adaptability and extendibility are at the heart of the OpenIO platform. As such, information can easily be exported to other systems and a number of direct system integrations can be supported application programming interface (API) based on RESTful web services. The features that make OpeniO unique from any other product on the marketplace are as follows:

Data: OpeniO has over sixty (60) open source data sources integrated and configured out of the box. This feature allows users to immediately start searching across open source, deep/dark web, and unique proprietary data sources within minutes and without the need for configuration. In addition, OpeniO also has a unique extendible approach to new data sources. This feature allows new data to be quickly integrated into the standardized data structures to expedite searching as new sources are brought online.

Entity Resolution: This feature is a core capability of OpeniO and is built upon an entity centric selector-based ontology. This feature allows OpeniO to rapidly search data sources for unique selectors, organize that data into profiles or digests, and re-search the new data. This creates a unique iterative search cycle that dramatically increases the effectiveness of analysts and investigators.

Enhanced Pattern-Of-Life Analysis: This feature is a key component of the new version 4 OpeniO interface and offers users “tracks” capability. OpeniO contains several proprietary analytics that rapidly deliver insight from massive amounts of device or social account observations. In turn, this new capability assists users in compiling together hundreds of thousands of data points into a human readable and actionable map.

The NCIS analytical staff uses OpeniO licenses to monitor current events in real time, support operations and investigations and monitor real time situational awareness of online activity while fleet movements and port visits are in process. NCIS analysts have been trained to use OpeniO and OpeniO’s unique combination of features are a critical component of NCIS Open Source Intelligence gathering capability. Failing to acquire the additional licenses and non-renewal of the existing licenses would cause great degradation on NCIS capabilities to perform its duties as the Law Enforcement (LE) Agency, as well as hinder its Counter-Intelligence (CI) and Counter-Terrorism (CT) investigations. Given these licenses and renewals are manufactured by and proprietary to Creative Radicals LLC – and no other source offers products that can satisfy the Government’s minimum requirement, the proposed acquisition can only be fulfilled by the items identified in Section 3.

6. DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO SOLICIT OFFERS FROM AN MANY OFFERORS AS

PRACTICABLE: The requiring activity, through their in-depth knowledge of the market, has determined that the only items that meet the Government’s minimum requirement are manufactured by and proprietary to Creative Radicals LLC. The requiring activity’s knowledge stems from first-hand knowledge of similar products available in the commercial marketplace, a thorough examination and testing of products currently being used throughout NCIS, on-line research, and attendance at various trade conferences. The contracting office’s market research resulted in the same conclusion that the only items that meet the Government’s minimum requirement are the items identified in Section 3 – all of which are manufactured by and proprietary to Creative Radicals LLC.

7. DETERMINATION OF FAIR AND REASONABLE COST: The NAVSUP FLC Norfolk Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO) has determined that the anticipated cost to the Government of the services covered by this J&A will be fair and reasonable.

8. ACTIONS TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO FUTURE COMPETITION: Since the items identified in Section 3 – more specifically, the original licenses to which now have to be renewed – were acquired using simplified acquisition procedures (SAP) in accordance with FAR Part 13, the special documentation requirements outlined in DFARS 213.501(a) do not apply to the proposed acquisition. More specifically – the current OpeniO licenses were acquired directly by the requiring activity and that acquisition was not supported by a justification for other than full and open competition citing the authority at FAR 6.302-1. As such, additional documentation – such as a Request for Information (RFI)/Source Sought (SS) synopsis – is not required for the proposed acquisition.

For reasons set forth in Section 5, NAVSUP FLC Norfolk Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office has no plans at this time to compete future requirements for the types of items covered by this document. However, NCIS is continually assessing the marketplace since technology continues to evolve and/or NCIS’s mission and operational requirements change, other brands/products may be considered viable for future acquisitions. If another potential source or product emerges, NAVSUP FLC Norfolk Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office will assess whether competition for future requirements is feasible. In addition, the contracting office and requiring activity will continue to exhaust all resources to determine if any of the services outlined in the proposed acquisition can be broken out for future requirements.

Potential sources for the proposed acquisition will have a chance to express their interest in the requirement via the following posting to both the BETA SAM website (https://beta.sam.gov/) and the Navy Electronic Commerce Online (NECO) website (https://www.neco.navy.mil):

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation (which will be made available after approval of the pre-solicitation clearance package – including this J&A) *** This J&A will be included as part of this posting. ***

9. CONTRACTING POINT OF CONTACT: The point of contact at NAVSUP FLC Norfolk Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office is Mr. Joseph Caltagirone (Code 280.2) who may be reached at 215-697-9687 or joseph.caltagirone@navy.mil.