PR_20090139__DF_for_Sole_Source.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

DETERMINATION AND FINDINGS

FOR SOLE SOURCE AWARD

UNDER THE SIMPLIFIED ACQUSITION THRESHOLD

PR 20090139

Note: A J&A is not required for sole source acquisitions under the SAT, but rather a

Contracting Officer D&F is required.

DETERMINATION AND FINDINGS (D&F)

BACKGROUND

The following Determinations and Findings are made pursuant to the provisions of Section 6.302- l (a)(2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations (OFO) is the frontline of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

(CBP) protecting the United States from terrorists and instruments of terror while enforcing the laws of the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of

Field Operations, Tactical Operations Division, Headquarters, Washington, DC, desires to purchase a software license subscription renewal of the Cellebrite ADF Triage G2 computer tool for the examination of hard drives, USB drives, and multimedia cards.

CBPOs, under border search authority, examine electronic media enforcing laws that protect trademark and copyright laws or prohibit importation of illegal materials such as child pornography. To facilitate international trade and travel, OFO requires a tool that efficiently screens electronic media for illicit material and/or activity. The Cellebrite

ADF Triage G2 requires an annual software license subscription renewal that encompasses warranty, support, maintenance, and upgrades.

Upon expiration of the warranty update, the Cellebrite ADF Triage G2, the license dongle used to run the tool no longer can be validated. This means that the tool cannot be used to triage computers and other digital media without a valid license/warranty.

Additionally, OFO is missing software revision updates to support new features. So, OFO will be left without any capability of forensically triaging laptops for evidence of criminal activity.

Nature and/or description of the action being approved .

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of

Field Operations, Tactical Operations Division , Headquarters, Washington , DC, desires to purchase the Cellebrite ADF Triage G2 computer software licenses renewal , specifically the Triage-Examiner and Triage G2 Express 1 year subscription. OFO requires this software license update to 1) replace the existing software license subscription which has already lapsed 2) provides advance search and image analysis integration and 3) updates existing software license subscription and solves the biggest challenges facing exploitation of computers today. The value of this Cellebrite ADF

Triage G2 and Triage-Examiner computer software subscription renewal is approximately $102,588.52.

The award will be a sole source award due the facts below which support such action.

FINDINGS

Market Research

Cellebrite, a U.S. based company with headquarters in New Jersey, does not sell their hardware, software, or license renewals through any First Source, GSA, or other authorized reseller. Cellebrite only sells their products direct through their internal sales department. Past purchases of both equipment and license renewals by CBP have been made directly through Cellebrite.

OFO require the use of the Cellebrite UFED cell phone extraction equipment for the following reasons :

Market research has shown Cellebrite supports the largest amount of phones of any cell phone forensic tool vendor. Market research was done by comparing sales and support literature from the websites of the major competitors MicroSystemation XRY, AccessData MPE+, and Susteen SecureView. In addition, CBP-LSSD already owns and uses licenses of XRY, MPE+, and SecureView and has first-hand knowledge that the

Cellebrite UFED hardware and software better supports CBP case work.

Cellebrite Physical Analyzer (PA) software (as part of the UFED unit order) is the only software available on the market that parses physical phone binary data and correctly interprets system and application (app) data in a short amount of time. It is also the only cell phone forensic tool that can take an Android phone 's memory card and parse it correctly as part of the Android operating system. This has been confirmed by LSSD forensic analysts by conducting validation tests on all the major tools.

Cellebrite UFED is also used extensively by BP, OFO, and OAM offices with intelligence work. 0IT has built a custom interface in the ATS database system for these offices to read and interpret the proprietary XML output files from the Cellebrite UFED devices, and correlate the data against other CBP databases . LSSD analysts provide a

UFED XML output file to submitters which can be uploaded and analyzed in ATS. Re creating the ATS interface software to match the output file from a different vendor would be cost prohibitive for the government.

LSSD is an accredited crime lab through the American Society of Crime Laboratory

Directors (ASCLD). ASCLD requires that all forensic analysts be trained and certified on scientific equipment, and also that the scientific equipment be tested and validated prior to being put into service. CBP has trained and certified its analysts on the Cellebrite

UFED equipment , and changing vendors would incur significant additional training and certification costs for the analysts. LSSD has also validated the Cellebrite UFED equipment for lab use, and changing vendors would also cause LSSD to cease mission critical case work and re-validate a new product.

LSSD analysts conduct UFED tool training to BP, OFO, and OAM offices throughout the country . BP, OFO, and OAM offices already have the UFED equipment in the field, and request LSSD to assist their personnel by providing equipment training. This training is provided by the LSSD subject matter experts to field personnel at no cost to other CBP divisions. The LSSD analysts require the Cellebrite UFED equipment to conduct the training .

Estimate of the extent/duration of Work to be performed

The proposed contractor will be able to provide the Cellebrite ADF Triage G2 and

Triage-Examiner software computer license subscriptions within 30 days of award which can be integrated into current OFO procedures without the need for familiarization or training for existing Cellebrite UFED Touch and ADF Triage equipment users.

Value of Purchase Order I Determination of price reasonableness.

In accordance with the quotation provided by the vendor (quote #00001098), the firm fixed price total value of the product is $102,588.52.

The price has been determined fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR 15.404-

1(b)(2) by comparison of the proposed price with the Independent Government Cost

Estimate (IGCE).

Additional facts supporting the sole source action.

Purchase Requisition (PR) 20090139 was approved by the Deputy Assistant

Commissioner (DAC), on (insert date), 2015 . The funds, $102,558.52, are fully released and are deemed fully exempt.

Actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

Future requirements of this nature are not anticipated at this time. Therefore, the agency has not identified actions or barriers that led to the restricted consideration .

DETERMINATION

Based on the above findings, it is determined that a sole source acquisition will best be met by award of purchase order in the amount of $12,558 .52 to the following vendor:

ADF Solutions, Inc.

7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1103

Bethesda, MD 20814