FINAL_BrandNameJustification_CMS_02132026_Redacted.pdf

DE P A R TM E N T O F THE N A VY

HEADQUARTERS

NAVAL CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE

27130 TELEGRAPH ROAD

QUANTICO VA 22134- 2253

JUSTIFICATION AND APPROVAL

FOR USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

1. Contracting Activity. Naval Criminal Investigative Service-Headquarters (NCIS-HQ), Administration and Logistics Directorate, Acquisition Division

2. Description of the Action Being Approved.

Award of a contract on a sole source basis for supplies/services.

Award of a contract on a brand name basis for supplies/services.

Description of Supplies/Services: NCIS requires the Appian Starter Kit License Subscription to continue the mission critical modernization of NCIS’s Consolidated Law Enforcement Operations Center (CLEOC 2.0) using the Air Force Office of Special Investigations’ (AFOSI) ORION solution which is built on the Appian technology and requires an Appian license to operate. The Government will procure the Appian Starter Kit License Subscription competitively under the Department of Defense Enterprise Software Initiative (DoD ESI) Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for Appian.

This will be a Firm Fixed Price Task Order (TO).

Total Estimated Value of the Requirement:

FISCAL YEAR APPROPRIATION AMOUNT

2026 OM&N

Period of Performance: Total of 12 months described as below. (MVP deliverable in 8 weeks from date of award; Maintenance and Support shall be 10 months from date of delivery of final MVP.)

3. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition.

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(1), Only One responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(2), Unusual and compelling urgency.

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(3), Industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental, or research capability; or expert services.

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(4), International agreement.

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(5), Authorized or required by statute.

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(6), National Security.

10 U.S.C. 3204(a)(7), Public Interest.

4. Rationale Justifying Use of Cited Authority. The acquisition is being conducted under the procedures of FAR 8.405-6(b) – Limiting sources; Items peculiar to one manufacturer. The justification rationale for restricting competition is that the required software is manufactured by, and proprietary to, Appian Corp. This software is the only product that can meet the Government’s current investigative and case management requirement to use existing source code.

5. Specific characteristics of the supplies or services that limit the availability to this/these source(s), i.e., unique features, form-fit-function, etc.). State why the requested material or service represents the minimum requirement(s) of the Government. Describe in detail why only this/these suggested source(s) can furnish the requirement(s) to the exclusion of other sources.

NCIS conducted research and identified an existing Government solution that can be used to modernize CLEOC. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations’ (AFOSI) developed the ORION tool, which is a government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) solution for DoD Investigative Case Management.

As a parallel to CLEOC 2.0, ORION was determined by NCIS to satisfy the majority of all NCIS Requirements out-of-the box. As suggested by the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (40 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.), the Government should re-use existing, government-owned intellectual property (IP) when it will satisfy the mission and avoid significant duplication of cost. Through market research and consultation with AFOSI, NCIS determined that alternate approaches would take significant cost and delay to deploy another, equivalent solution.

This procurement must be done on a brand name basis due to the ORION application relying on a specific low-code application platform from Appian Corporation as the essential enabling capability and no other provider’s application platform is compatible for use. Moreover, without the Appian licenses the application cannot be accessed, utilized, or otherwise assessed, rendering it unusable.

Appian is a market leader for low code development, Business Process Management (BPM) and process automation software. Appian's low code platform allows users to develop and manage applications without needing to build the typical development infrastructure. The platform offers tools to facilitate deployment through cloud, on-premises, and self-managed environments, while using Application Programming Interface (API) integrations to external systems through web services (e.g., Salesforce, UiPath). It includes Artificial Intelligence (AI)/generative AI functions and a multi-source 'data fabric' that links supported enterprise data systems to build applications.

Appian's BPM include visual tools for creating screens such as process diagrams, data models, and forms with reporting capabilities for each of the process instances which are mainly focused on administrative and business applications. This ability to use process models to automate business workflows allows users to simplify and optimize processes.

Appian's Low-Code Enterprise Platform (LCAP) allows application development by abstracting common reusable software components and allocating developer effo1t to tasks closer to business outcomes. Appian's LCAP provides a platform that allows multiple developers (professional developers, end-users and business analysts) to collaborate and build a solution that supports individual and role-based permissions via a single-sign-on. The Appian LCAP supports the backend for frontend architecture style for building GUI front ends for automation of task and process mining and decision automation.

At this time, Appian has a range of security and privacy ce1tifications, including SOC 2, SOC 3, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP IL V. No other LCAP has FedRAMP IL V certification. Appian sells to enterprises in a variety of industries, including financial services, insurance, government, and life sciences companies worldwide. The platform is commercially available on a subscription-based model. Appian has been used by multiple DoD entities to develop contracting and acquisition solutions to increase automation in government acquisitions in a low code environment. Government focused pre-built solutions are also available.