LSJ Archive Message Retention_Redacted.pdf

Attachment 4 U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Limited-Sources Justification (LSJ) - FAR 8.405-6 For orders or BPAs exceeding the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT)

Version 2.0 November 2020

Date: _03/17/2023_ PR Number: 20135124

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program, 41 U.S.C.

152(3), Competitive Procedures, and 40 U.S.C. 501, Services for Executive Agencies.

1. Agency and Contracting Activity. Identification of the agency, contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Limited-Sources Justification.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States (U.S.) Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Information & Technology (OIT), Enterprise Infrastructure and Operations Directorate (EIOD), and the CBP Office of Acquisition’s Procurement Directorate (PD), proposes to award a task order pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a), Limiting Sources.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. Describe the action being approved, and include the name and address of the proposed contractor(s).

CBP proposes to award a task order to 3rd Eye Technologies and intends to limit the number of sources solicited pursuant to FAR Part 8.405-6(a) for the procurement of Mystic Message short message service (SMS) and multimedia messaging service (MMS) message archival and retention services in response to DHS CIO mandate to comply by May 1, 2023.

Contractor: 3rd Eye Technologies 13800 Coppermine Road, Suite 149 Herndon, VA 20171

3. Description of Supplies/Services. Describe the supplies or services to be acquired. Provide the estimated total value (including options, if any).

CBP has a requirement for services utilizing an archiving and retention tool for SMS and MMS text messages sent from and received by Agency devices (Government-Furnished Equipment (GFE).

The Mystic Message Archival tool will securely collect, ingest and preserve text message records without the need for installation of additional software on each GFE mobile device.

The Government’s cost estimate is $1,444,080.00/per year. This is based on $4.00/line per month for 20,833 Verizon lines and $2.00/line per month for 18,504 AT&T FirstNet lines for one year with a one year Option Period for Verizon and 2.5 Months Option Period for AT&T as well as Optional CLINs in the Option Period to have additional quantities if needs arise. This task order will be for a base + up to one year, with the expected task order value of $2,569,709.00.

4. Authority and supporting rationale. Select one of the circumstances justifying limiting sources pursuant to FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i) below and demonstrate the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service.

FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B) Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.

In response to a DHS CIO mandate that effective May 1, 2023, CBP is to comply with direction to archive and retain all electronic messages sent from or received by any Agency-operated device (GFE) and adopt the posture that retention and preservation of electronic message or text messages will be treated in the same manner as electronic mail is currently treated. While other sources might provide similar services for one or more of the carriers and/or devices, CBP requires a single tool that covers all of the wireless carriers and devices in use by CBP to meet CBP's mission need.

3rd Eye Technologies’ Mystic Message Archival tool will help CBP satisfy the DHS CIO mandated requirement to archive and retain all text messages sent from or received by CBP-issued (GFE) mobile devices (cellular phones). This solution is currently in use by other Federal Law Enforcement agencies within DHS, DoD (DLA, OIG) and DOJ (FBI). 3rd Eye Technologies’ Mystic Message Archival tool will collect the text messages directly and in partnership with the wireless carriers (AT&T FirstNet, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless) used by CBP and will store them into an approved, secured cloud-based storage system. CBP (and only CBP) will have access to inspect, retrieve and download the messages with access only through multi-factor authentication methods.

3rd Eye Technologies is the only vendor with the described message archiving and retention capabilities that does not require the installation of an application on every mobile device (endpoint) and works directly with all three major wireless carriers (AT&T FirstNet, Verizon Wireless and T- Mobile) for all three major smartphone manufacturers (Apple, Samsung and Google). As stated prior, the solution does not require the installation of an additional application or other software on each mobile device, thus allowing CBP to have the flexibility to leverage this solution for devices that are non-smartphones. While basic cellphones (non-smartphones) do have the ability to send and receive text messages, they do not have the ability to have applications installed. In addition, the use of this tool will not affect the enrollment or management process within CBP’s mobile device management system for the types of mobile devices used.

5. Determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the anticipated order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

The Contracting Officer has determined that issuing the proposed task order to 3rd Eye Technologies for Mystic Message SMS and MMS message archival and retention represents the best value and will result in the lowest overall cost, considering price and administrative costs, to meet the Government’s needs. This order will be placed in accordance with FAR 8.404, “Use of Federal Supply Schedules.” The General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) has already negotiated fair and reasonable pricing rates. Discounts to these GSA MAS schedule rates will be requested. Additionally, prior to issuance of the task order, the ordering activity will consider the number of bulk lines being serviced/proposed to perform the specific task that will result in further line discounts. This task order will be Firm Fixed Price, and will also be compared to the Government’s cost estimate.

6. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results, or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

Market research was conducted with Telemessage/Smarsh and the commercial wireless carriers however, none of the vendors provided the same archival and retention capabilities without the need for an additional application or software installed on each mobile device. Majority of other vendors, based on Market Research, required an additional application be deployed to each mobile device and that software would need to be managed by CBP’s mobile device management system. In addition, because the 3rd Eye Technologies solution works directly with the wireless carriers, it is also compatible with basic mobile devices (non-smartphones) that cannot have applications installed.

The other solutions evaluated also presented a greater cost per device and/or did not offer a solution that did not require additional application be installed on the mobile device. These other solutions would not be compatible with CBP’s basic cell phones (non-smartphones) and not allow for us to satisfy message archiving mandates.

7. Any other facts supporting the limited-sources justification. Additional facts may be stated in this section. If there are no additional facts, you must state that here.

This LSJ is in response to DHS CIO Mandate for all DHS components to comply for archival messages on all DHS component mobile devices.

DHS has an existing Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) with WidePoint Integrated

Solutions Corp (WidePoint) for cellular wireless managed services (CWMS) with the option to have SMS and MMS archive and retention capabilities. Originally, the CWMS IDIQ was only available to those DHS Components that leveraged the CORE services of the contract, but DHS Contracting Office has since modified that contract to allow DHS Components to leverage the OPTIONAL services without having the CORE services. However, the cost per license per month for the 3rd Eye archiving solution via the CWMS BPA is ~$5.25/license per month. Under this sole source, CBP is able to obtain a bulk order discount. The sole-source pricing (with bulk order discount) is $4.00/license per month for Verizon and $2.00/license per month for AT&T. For the approximately 39,000 cellular lines of service currently in-use by CBP, this increased price would equate to more than $1,000,000.00 in additional cost if procured under the CWMS BPA.

8. A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to restricted consideration (i.e., limited-sources) before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made. Include a statement of actions taken or that will be taken to increase competition for future acquisitions of the same item/service (e.g., the government intends to revise overly restrictive technical specifications, acquire data rights, or pursue some other means to increase future competition). Posting requirements may also be addressed here or in #9 below.

Prior to the end of the Period of Performance, CBP will conduct market research to review service offerings and vendor capabilities.