Notice of Intent to Award Sole Source with Justification Redacted.pdf

Combined Notice Notice of Intent To Award A Sole Source Contract To Cobwebs America Inc

Brand Name Justification For An Exception To Fair Opportunity

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Midstate’s Procurement Branch, hereby gives notice of its intent to award a firm-fixed price contract to COBWEBS AMERICA, INC. located at 1441 Broadway, Floor 5, New York, New York 10018-1905 on a sole source basis in accordance with FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

This is not a request for competitive proposals. Potential sources who believe they can provide the service listed above are invited to submit a capability package in writing to Rownak.B.Iqbal@irs.gov and Cathy.S.Collier@irs.gov no later than 12:00pm EST on Tuesday, July 9, 2024.

Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Please note: A SOLICITATION DOES NOT EXIST. The Government will not cover any costs for any information or inquiry submitted as a result of this notice.

The North American Industry Classification System Code (NAICS) for this acquisition is:

519290, Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services. The small business size standard is 1000 employees. The PSC Code is DE10

Contractors are required to register with the System for Award Management (SAM) at http://www.sam.gov.

Responses shall include, at a minimum, the following information:

1. The name of your company;

2. Company DUNS and UEI.;

3. POC name and contact information;

4. The specific product(s) that your company offers that fulfills the same functions the items to be included on this order; and,

5. A description of that product(s) and its overall capabilities.

This Procurement Is Law Enforcement Sensitive

The Competition in Contracting Act OF 1984 (P.L. 98-369)

41 U.S.C. § 3304(a)(1), FAR 6.302-1 Only one responsible source; or brand name specification.

This is a highly sensitive, law enforcement request for a base plus one (1) option year contract

Notice of Intent To Award A Sole Source Contract To Cobwebs America Inc

Brand Name Justification For An Exception To Fair Opportunity for web-based cryptocurrency tools. This requirement should not be publicized or advertised in the interest of national security and agent safety.

This is a Law Enforcement Sensitive requirement and should not be advertised or publicized.

(FAR 6.305(e)/ 5 U.S.C. 552). In accordance with FAR 5.202(a)(1), parts of this requirement should not be synopsized, as these software as a service will be used in the most sensitive and high-risk cases.

Brand Name Justification

The mission of IRS-CI’s Cyber Crime Section (CCS) is to support large-scale criminal investigations of a financial nature involving cyber components. Specifically, the CCS supports investigations that involve the that enable criminals to engage in illegal activity with anonymity and cross international borders without a defined physical presence.

In August 2023, IRS-CI Personnel identified the need to renew the above-referenced annual web-based subscription to assist CI in meeting its mission. Once this was determined, CI reviewed the previous IRS contract history with Cobwebs Technologies . CI Cyber Crime Section (CCS) has conducted extensive market research and a survey of the available products in this space. As such, CCS personnel have determined that deploying a variety of tools give CI specific capabilities and features that are not offered by any single company, which is primarily due to the

CCS has tested and piloted different solutions and currently has multiple web-based subscriptions with other vendors which provide similar, but distinctly different . These include competing products many of which are part of the CI portfolio. These include

Market research was conducted by CI Cyber Crime Section (CCS) and a survey of the available products in this space. The results of the market research supported the government’s decision to obtain these services under a sole source basis.

Brand Name Justification For An Exception To Fair Opportunity

The proposed contractor’s unique qualifications and the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited as follows:

i.

The current CI portfolio consist of the following web-based solutions:

Brand Name Justification For An Exception To Fair Opportunity ii.

iii.

Subscription to Cobwebs web-based tools is not resold by any government reseller-vendors and is only offered through a direct contract with Cobwebs Technologies. Thereby the proposed source has the sole unique technical and other resources required for this acquisition.

Market Research conducted by Contract Specialist Rownak Iqbal reviewed Mandatory Government Sources (FAR 8.002 and FAR 8.0003) in order determine if this requirement can be satisfied using one of these sources. It was determined that there are no mandatory sources under FAR 8.002 and 8.003 that can be utilized to satisfy this requirement. Further market research was conducted by reviewing NASA SEWP, GSA, Acquisition Gateway, and Treasury Mandatory sources to any identify potential sources. However, no other sources or resellers of Cobwebs web-based tools were identified.

Based on the information gathered during market research, it has been determined by Contracting Officer Cathy Collier that this requirement is to be awarded as a Firm Fixed Price sole source contract to COBWEBS AMERICA, INC.