Mkt Research Analysis Veritone BPA Final.docx

Subject: Veritone BPA Video Transcript and Translation - Requirement for FedRAMP Certified Enterprise Solution

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Justice Management Division

Contracting Officer (CO)

Subject: Veritone BPA Video Transcript and Translation - Requirement for FedRAMP Certified Enterprise Solution

Currently, the subject services are offered via Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract IDIQ 15JA05-20-D-00000125 solely for the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA). A number of DOJ components have expressed interest in these services, and it is recommended that this requirement be an enterprise solution for use and availability across the Department of Justice (DOJ). The current pricing structure is not favorable to the Department as it does not leverage the DOJ’s buying power that would maximize discounts. The currently active IDIQ was issued on May 11, 2020, and is has expired on November 10, 2022. To date, only $210,000.00 of services have been ordered.

On May 24, 2021, the previous market research for the current IDIQ was re-validated. In addition, a commercial search was conducted to find comparable solutions and verified authorized resellers for these services. What was found is that Veritone is a proprietary suite of tools which are also commercially available and remains as the only artificial intelligence (AI) provider that can meet the DOJ’s detailed and stringent security requirements and support the DOJ mission.

· Veritone has built a secure, dedicated enclave in AWS GovCloud for use by government agencies, to include support to the USAOs.

· Veritone has satisfied relevant Federal Information Systems Modernization Act (FISMA) and DOJ security requirements.

· Veritone is FedRAMP authorized. Due to the highly unique nature of the Veritone’s services, Justice Management Division (JMD) sponsored Veritone through the FedRAMP certification process.

To ensure this information remained valid, a Request for Information’s (RFI) was released on the General Services Administration (GSA) eBuy RFQ1507161 and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) 202890 on July 19th, 2021. Market responses within these two available platforms were very limited. Responses were received from Carahsoft Technology Corporation (Large business) and CMA Technology, Inc. (Small business), as authorized resellers of Veritone aiWARE.

On October 14, 2021, the responses were finally analyzed. Since then, the recompete package has been revised to include components that did not initially express interest. EOUSA would also coordinate with DOJ OCIO to the transition from the current IDIQ to a vehicle as additional savings could be realized.

On October 29, 2021, all requirements that limit competition via a brand-name approach or is service specific, any justification will undergo critical scrutiny due to the sustained Microsoft protest. Since then, the Department will only allow a justification on a case-by-case basis. Since then, informal market research was conducted to determine there are similar services within the commercial industry that can satisfy this requirement. It was determined at this point to procure this requirement with a brand-name or equal strategy.

On May 2, 2022, the Information Technology Acquisitions Review Board (ITARB) expressed some concerns about the unrestricted procurement strategy by questioning if Veritone could be offered through other small business partnerships. Per Veritone, there are authorized resellers within NASA SEWP however, the pricing will not be lower than what is provided on Veritone’s GSA Schedule. If this requirement were solicited on NASA SEWP, the proposed pricing will be honored however, the likelihood of pass-through pricing provided at the lower cost presently in the existing IDIQ would be highly unlikely. For example, most of the components are doing a pre-paid package per the tiered pricing schedule to use across applications as they see fit throughout the year. This allows the components to be flexible in their usage and won’t be costly if the respective components add more and decreases their usage throughout the period.

On May 15, 2022, the Information Technology Acquisitions Review Board (ITARB) and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) approved this requirement for acquisition.

In order to capture the lower unit cost for a tiered pricing schedule, a flexibility that is not allowed in GSA, this requirement would need to be solicited via the open market among authorized resellers only (Brand Name Veritone). NASA SEWP does have this pricing flexibility however, there is no real expectation that the Agency would receive two (2) small business responses if solicited on this platform as a total small-business set-aside. The proposed contract type would be a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with a tiered fixed-pricing schedule as a direct sole source to Veritone. Additionally, to execute multiple Task Orders against any GWAC vehicle would increase performance risk considering there continues to be an unknown and growing number of requirements across the department and an administrative burden would result.

In this package, there are draft versions of the Statement of Work, Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE), and Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity (JOFOC).

image1.png