P00002_JA 21-00148 Competition Advocate Signed_6.24.21_Redacted.pdf

OFFICE OF ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT

ICE Acquisition Manual 3006.301-90

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 U.S.C. 3304

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J&A-21-00148

Pursuant to the requirements of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in accordance with the requirements of FAR 6.303-1.

The justification for the use of the statutory authority under FAR Subpart 6.3 is based on the following facts and rationale required under FAR 6.303-2 as follows:

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Acquisition Management, proposes to execute a contract modification on behalf of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Division 5 on a basis of other than full and open competition.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

(a) Type of action: contract modification

(b) Amount of the current J&A: $4,750,899.00

(c) Brief Description: OAQ intends to procure, on a sole source basis, through contract modification, Justice Intelligence as an add-on service to contract number 70CMSD21C00000001 to meet agency requirements for jail booking data/arrest record and incarceration data utilizing our current Law Enforcement Investigative Database System (LEIDS), Tasks 1/1A, awarded on February 25, 2021 to the following vendor:

LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Inc.

1000 Alderman Dr.

Alpharetta, GA 30005-4101

3. Description of Supplies/Services.

This requirement is to provide nce, a database service that provides incarceration records and jail booking data for the remainder of the five-year contract at an estimated total cost of $4,750,899.00. These services are required to meet the Enforcement and Removals Office (ERO) mission of tracking real time incarceration information of suspected foreign-born nationals. ERO uses this information to search, track, and find persons of interest, locate ICE fugitives, and further investigative cases. In addition, ERO uses the information to verify an individu support the filing of federal charges or the execution of a Form I-247 ICE Detainer, Form I- 200 Warrant of Arrest, or Form I-205 Warrant of Removal.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 U.S.C. 3304

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Period of performance and pricing is detailed below:

Period Time Current Amount J&A Requested Amount

New Award Total

Base 8 mos.

Option Year 1 12 mos.

Option Year 2 12 mos.

Option Year 3 12 mos.

Option Year 4 12 mos.

Total Price $17,381,844.00 $4,750,899.00 $22,132,743.00

4. Identification of statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition.

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is 41 U.S.C. §3304 as implemented by:

FAR Subsection 6.302-1: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. Demonstration that the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited.

ERO has a requirement for Justice Intelligence, which is manufactured by Appriss Insights.

Justice Intelligence is a database service that provides incarceration records and jail booking data to Law Enforcement Agencies. Appriss Insights is uniquely situated in the United States criminal justice system as the only service provides with access to over 2,800 jails and correctional facilities. Justice Intelligence is accessible to their existing customers only, through a stand-alone system with a login and password. New customers of Justice Intelligence cannot logon to a stand-alone system, nor purchase Justice Intelligence individually, i.e., as a separate data service. New customers, such as ICE, must purchase purchase Justice Intelligence as an add-on to their larger base database system.

In this particular case, only one responsible source, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, and no other supplies or services can satisfy the agency requirements. On February 25, 2021, ICE competitively awarded a contract to LexisNexis for a law enforcement investigative database system that uses A . As such, LexisNexis can provide immediate access to Justice Intelligence data as an add on service through their current contract.

No other source can satisfy the agency requirements. ICE intended to promote competition by obtaining these services via a separate solicitation. However, when it competed and awarded the LEIDS requirement and after correspondence with the manufacturer, ICE was informed that it would not be able to procure access to incarceration records and jail bookings (Justice Intelligence) through full and open competition because Justice Intelligence only makes its software available through third party vendors. Because ICE expected to compete the Justice Intelligence requirement, ICE did not include Justice Intelligence in the LEIDS procurement. Three months into the LEIDS contract performance, JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 U.S.C. 3304

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OAQ was made aware by Appriss Insights that ICE is not eligible to procure the services directly from them. Moreover, ICE was informed that its requirement could only be met through an existing vendor system who is a partner to Appriss Insights. With the exception of Lexis Nexis, ICE does not have contracts wi would be able to provide the Justice Intelligence data. ICE does have a contract with LexisNexis, who is a partner with Appriss Insights and is eligible to provide the Justice Intelligence services as an add-on in their current contract.

Failure to award to LexisNexis would result in ICE either issuing a new solicitation and procuring a duplicative database system simply to add Justice Intelligence, an effort that would result in duplicative costs to the Government (approximately $21M for a second database, or $40M to for two database systems performing the same function) or requiring the termination of essential services to recompete the LEIDS procurement altogether. ICE does not have the funding to have duplicative services, which would also violate current procurement and fiscal regulations. Termination of the LEIDS procurement would have significant negative impact to the Government, which includes loss of access to the current investigative database (Virtual Crime Center). It would also result in a work stoppage situation for all ICE Special Agents currently using the database for investigations;

settlement costs owed to the terminated contractor, and ultimately and unacceptable delay to the agency as it would be required to repeat the entire procurement process to procure a duplicate system to that it already made competitive award for.

For these reasons, the Government determines that LexisNexis is the only source capable of providing Justice Intelligence (Lex ime Center) as an add-on to the services it is currently providing. Failure to award to LexisNexis will impact the mission, the result would be the ongoing capability gap for a web-based law enforcement investigative platform to provide constant (24 hour, seven days per week, 365 days a year) accessibility to Justice Intelligence data for ICE law enforcement personnel. This information is essential in the execution of their official law enforcement duties. Due to policy or legislative changes, ERO has experienced an increase in the number of law enforcement agencies and state or local governments that do not share information about real time incarceration of foreign-born nationals with ICE. Therefore, it is critical to have access to Justice Intelligence se be a major operational impact on public safety without these screening tools. ICE will lose the ability to further the identification and removal of dangerous, often recidivist, criminals engaged in crimes such as murder, predatory sexual offenses, narcotics trafficking, noncitizen smuggling, and a host of other crimes that have a profoundly negative impact on our society. In addition, ICE would experience an exacerbated effect on its strategic planning and policies to arrest and remove such aliens from the United States while the subjects of investigation are within an incarceration facility. The inability to safely take custody of noncitizens directly from incarceration facilities would require the increase of At-large enforcement efforts in the general community, further increasing the risk to officer safety.

6. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable.

OAQ publicized this requirement, prior to award, as required by FAR subpart 5.2 by posting a notice on beta.SAM.gov on June 4, 2021.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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OAQ does not intend to publicize this requirement, prior to award, based on the following 5.202(a) exception: FAR 5.202(a)(11) The proposed contract action is made under the terms of an existing contract that was previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with the requirements of 5.207 with respect to the current proposed contract action.

7. Determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

The contracting officer determines that the anticipated price will be fair and reasonable based on review of the pricing from the competitively awarded contract for LEIDS Tasks 1/1A and the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE) to add Justice Intelligence to the contract. If the pricing for this modification to add Justice Intelligence, is added to each of current awardee falls within the competitive

Based on the above analysis, it is unlikely that a new competition that included the Justice Intelligence requirement would have resulted in a different award outcome.

8. Description of market research.

Market research was conducted upon discovery of the need for Justice Intelligence. Initial market research was conducted from March 10, 2021-March 23rd. Out of the seven interested parties from the competitive LEIDS procurement contacted, five responded and provided pricing for Justice Intelligence.

The table below summarizes the pricing received during the market research phase:

Vendor Number of Users Total Price for all periods Enformion Pricing based on searches but also listed for 3,500+ users.

Vendor Total price proposed on competitively awarded contract

Price to add Justice Intelligence

Price adjusted to include Justice Intelligence

Enformion $4,750,899.00

Exiger $4,750,899.00

LexisNexis $4,750,899.00 $22,132,743.00

TRSS $4,750,899.00

TransUnion $4,750,899.00

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

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Exiger Pricing based entirely on searches; no listed number of users.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions

3,626-7,500

TRSS 3,626-7,500

TransUnion 3,500+ Users

The contracting officer reviewed the market research information on Justice Intelligence and contacted the manufacturer. That manufacturer, Appriss Insights, confirmed that Justice Intelligence is not available for sale as a stand-alone service and although those vendors may be Appriss Insights partners, Appriss Insights only sells Justice Intelligence though their partners as an add-on to those part

9. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is uniquely positioned to providing these services as they hold the current contract for our database subscription services, LEIDS Tasks 1/1A, for which the agency uses their Accurint Virtual Crime Center for law enforcement. The required services are sold as an add on to Accurint Virtual Crime Center and cannot be procured independently as a stand-alone service, as confirmed by Mitch Lanham from Appriss Insights, the Justice Intelligence manufacturer. Issuing a new solicitation for these services is not possible as it would require the agency to procure and second LEIDS database, which is not needed. If the agency were to compete this effort and procure a second LEIDS database system from another vendor, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars as it would be a duplicative service for which the agency already pays for under the LEIDS Task 1/1A contract. As such, it is in the best interest of the Government to procure the Justice Intelligence services from Lexis Nexis as the only responsible source through a modification to the current contract.

10. A listing of the sources, if any that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition.

During the market research phase five vendors provided pricing for Justice Intelligence as detailed in section 8; however, that pricing is only offered as an add-on when an agency database offering. The companies who provided pricing are:

Enformion, Exiger, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, and Thomson Reuters Special Services

(TRSS).

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

41 U.S.C. 3304

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11. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for supplies or services required.

Once the current contract expires, ICE will recompete these services, which will be included as part of the larger LEIDS requirement and will eliminate the need for any subsequent sole source acquisition to this vendor.

After award of this action, DHS intends to post the approved/signed justification pursuant to 6.305.

After award of this action, DHS does not intend to post the approved/signed justification in accordance with 6.305(f).

12.

I certify that the data supporting the recommended use of other than full and open competition is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

TRACY D. RILEY

Contracting Officer

13. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification.

I certify this requirement meets the Govern data, which forms a basis for this justification, is complete and accurate.

CATHERINE S. BIVIANS

Technical Representative/COR

14. Approval.

WILLIAM FULLER

Competition Advocate Office of Acquisition Management (OAQ) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

For