Redacted JEFO 04C24F0413_Redacted.pdf

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity (JEFO)

Date: June 15, 2026 PR Number: 20153603

1. Agency and Contracting Activity.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Acquisition (OA), Information Technology Contracting Division (ITCD), on behalf of CBP’s Office of Information and Technology (OIT), Enterprise Cloud Services Directorate (ECSD), prepared this justification for an exception to fair opportunity1.

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

CBP intends to issue a modification to the firm, fixed-price (FFP) Delivery Order (DO) 70B04C24F00000413 for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Hosting and Marketplace Services in accordance with Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) 52.212-4 (d), Terms and Conditions – Commercial Products and Services – Changes, appearing at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.212-4(c), and RFO 16.507-6(b)(1). This modification action will bilaterally incorporate (RFO) 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, extending the DO’s period of performance (PoP).

A commercial brand-name Justification for Exception to Fair Opportunity (JEO) was previously approved to compete DO# 70B04C24F00000413 pursuant to FAR 16.505(a)(4) under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V, an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), amongst Groups B, C, and D small business contract awardees authorized to resell the proprietary brand-name services.

The modification to extend services under DO# 70B04C24F00000413 effectively increases the potential DO value and extends the PoP, inclusive of all options, from a 12-month base period and a 12-month option period to a 12-month base period, a 12-month option period, and a six (6) month option extension to provide for the continuity of AWS Cloud Hosting and Marketplace Services and time to adequately recompete the new requirement.

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value and the period of performance).

The required services outline the need for AWS Cloud Hosting and Marketplace Services through a certified direct reseller, Four Points Technology, LLC (“Four Points”). This includes the dynamic consumption of any available AWS service (e.g., computing, storage, databases, and analytics) referred to as "Units." The services are for utility computing to support CBP's financial tracking and forecasting purposes, and to innovate and modernize how software is built, deployed, and managed. The contractor must provide provisioning of Cloud Service Provider (CSP) resources, and this effort is solely for the use of cloud computing resources, not direct labor information technology (IT) services. The contractor must be an AWS Advanced or Premier Partner with an AWS Government Competency and have a direct buying relationship with AWS.

1 In this document, citations to RFO Part 16 are citations specifically to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Class Deviation 26-04 R1 for FAR Part 16, which was issued as part of the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO), which was implemented in response to Executive Order 14275, Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement, signed April 15, 2025.

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The total estimated value of the six (6) month extension is , as detailed below:

Period Units Unit Price Total

Option Extension Base Units

Optional Units (NTE) Marketplace Units (NTE)

Total

4. Identify the exception to fair opportunity and provide supporting rationale, including a demonstration that the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the exception cited.

X RFO 16.507-6(b)(1). The agency’s need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.

Rationale:

The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition is implemented by RFO 16.507-6(b)(2) entitled, “The agency need for the supplies or services is so urgent that providing a fair opportunity would result in unacceptable delays.”

The Contractor support for this requirement must begin July 01, 2026 without a break in service. CBP has an urgent need for uninterrupted AWS Cloud Hosting and Marketplace Services with minimum duplicative costs to the Government. Failure to award this modification extension and transitioning these complex services to any other provider at this critical juncture, while a longer-term contract is being competed, would introduce unacceptable delays, significant operational risks, such as outages of mission-critical applications affecting travel and trade during a period where the United States (U.S.) is hosting large international events, like FIFA 2026, and a high probability of service interruptions to CBP's existing AWS platform and mission-critical systems.

CBP is in the process of developing its future CSP methodology for a more cohesive and efficient procurement process resulting in the greatest discounts and ability to move at the speed of technology. Due to rapid growth in cloud technology demands, urgent White House taskings, funding and appropriations delays, and organizational restructuring, the large-scale procurement vehicle has experienced significant changes and challenges in finalizing the solicitation. The new vehicle has now been developed and is anticipated to be awarded prior to the end of this extension. It will be fairly competed, and the next order for these services is anticipated to be awarded under this vehicle, specifically designed for cloud service procurements.

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

The Contracting Officer (CO) determined the anticipated price will be fair and reasonable based on the price reasonableness determination completed at the initial award, and through use of one or all of the price analysis techniques detailed below, in accordance with RFO 15.404-1(b)(2), which include: (i) comparison of proposed prices to historical prices paid, whether by the Government or other than the Government, for the

- 3 -same or similar items; (ii) RFO 15.404-1(b)(4) comparison with competitive published price lists; and/or (iii) RFO 15.404-1(b)(5) comparison with the Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE).

Furthermore, incorporating RFO 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services, into this DO prior to its expiration will permit the extension of services within limits and at the rates specified at the DO, which was competed and resulted in adequate price competition. Therefore, the CO can mitigate escalation costs by using previously negotiated rates deemed fair and reasonable at the time of the initial award.

6. Any other facts supporting the justification.

Funding variances, including lapses in annual appropriations, have affected the ability to re-compete the new requirement for adequate competition. CBP must maintain the incumbent contractor in the interim to leverage the Government’s right to exercise competitively priced optional units under the existing DO to account for the fluctuation in AWS units consumed based on operational needs, minimize administrative burden, and to maximize available resources during the re-competition of this requirement.

7. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the exception to fair opportunity before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made.

As noted above, the tumultuous procurement environment of the last year resulted in many organizational restructurings, including changes to the funding and procurement processes from top agency leadership down to the program directorate levels. As a result, many actions, approvals, and processes were delayed.

Additionally, as the cloud program has grown exponentially in the last few years, the need for more functional cloud procurement vehicles has become increasingly necessary, prompting a change in the historical procurement direction of awarding separate orders on varying external vehicles. The creation of the OneGov agreement also changed the direction of the initial procurement planning and required documentation changes to ensure CBP can make the best use of the discounts negotiated under that agreement.

CBP’s Cloud Infrastructure already includes a diverse multi-cloud approach, enabling more than one CSP to provide cloud services to CBP. This also aligns with CBP’s future cloud strategy and the impending competitive multi-award multi-cloud CSP blanket purchase agreement (BPA), which exemplifies CBP’s commitment to achieve competition, to the maximum extent practicable, for this requirement.

Furthermore, CBP OIT and ITCD will continuously monitor the market, engage with industry to evaluate the feasibility of hosting a multi-cloud application that could enable dynamically provided hosting services: network infrastructure, diverse CSP skillsets, and the CSP’s operational sustainability profile (i.e., ability to provide highly available and secure services) for CBP’s mission and to prevent future reliance on exceptions to fair opportunity.

8. CBP intends to post this justification on www.sam.gov pursuant to RFO 16.507-6(f).

Pursuant to RFO 16.507-6(f), CBP intends to post this justification within 14 days after executing modification to exercise the option SAM.gov.

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9. Technical/Requirements Personnel Certification:

Pursuant to RFO 16.507-6(d)(2)(ix), I certify this requirement meets the Government’s minimum need and the supporting data, which form a basis for the justification, are accurate and complete.

10. Contracting Officer Certification and Approval:

Pursuant to RFO 16.507-6(e)(1), I certify this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief and hereby determine the circumstances for an exception to fair opportunity exist and legal review was obtained when required based on dollar value.

JEFO Approvals:

11.

Approved Disapproved

12.

Approved Disapproved