Sole Source Justification.docx

United States Department of Agriculture Limited Source/Brand Name Justification FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) – Simplified Acquisitions Control No. (if applicable) ______________________

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity.

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Departmental Administration (DA), Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP), Procurement Operations Division (POD), 301 S. Howes Street, Suite 321, Fort Collins, CO 80521.

2. Description of supply or service required to meet the agency’s needs.

CPOC proposes the renewal of licenses and virtual cyber-Escape Room activities in support of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, through a specific vendor, Living Security.

This purchase would include licenses with content and support specific to the Cyber Escape Room exercises/activities, keynote speaker and video module access. All access to the fore-mentioned will be available to all cybersecurity registered participants throughout the entire year from date of award. Cybersecurity Awareness Month License for 1000 users, Cyber Escape Online Teams for 1000 users, One key-note speaker session: live, 45-60 minute presentation (choose 1 of 5 speaker options), One family-friendly event: Beat The Hacker (game-show style interactive event, hosted by Living Security), Self-led puzzles, CSAM Kick-off with a Living Security Immersive Training Series, CSAM marketing material and contact plan, and monthly “Campaign in a Box” focused on a central theme, to help promote your training, reinforce concepts, keep users engaged, and security top of mind.

3. The rationale or circumstances for limiting competition.

Living Security has provided all virtual Escape Room activities, licenses, and support for up to 1,000 users for OCIO CPOC since 2020. Due to the timing of this event, the stringent authorization, and the vetting and approval of vendors, it has been determined that Living Security is the only vendor capable of the delivering the necessary services to make this event a success. Living Security’s cybersecurity training is a unique, interactive, and hands-on way of educating and training employees on security awareness concepts during a team experience. It fosters team-building skills, critical thinking and problem solving that facilitate a deeper understanding and retention of training material that is presented.

Features:

· Access to the Living Security Training Platform for up to 1000 users for one year

· Living Security’s proprietary process of training development begins with an understanding of the cyber risks and threats that Customer’s cybersecurity personnel are most concerned about. These can range from phishing, or leaving sensitive documentation out, to espionage and the insider threat. The licenses will include puzzles and challenge questions that relate to these threats and risks identified through the process.

· The in-game training moments and challenge questions are customized to customers.

· IT/Security policies and messaging to provide consistency with security program,

· Living Security introduces security policy-related questions throughout the

· Gameplay, these questions will correlate against Customer’s policies and security response messaging.

· The timing of key-note speaker sessions will be presented in 45-60-minute timeframes.

· All activities are hosted virtually/online.

Living Security will provide all material and technology to operate the engagement on site, Customer is not responsible for the sourcing of anything required to host the engagement.

The event is portable and can be hosted virtually to any user per customer request.

4. A description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted.

In attempt to verify other possible vendors who could offer this level of support and licenses, Living Security is the only company to offer these specific products. While other companies have built their own in-house training simulations, they are not offered as a product for external customers.

There are companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Thales Group, and DevPost who offer cyber-Escape Room experiences, however the experience is individual only, whereas Living Security’s Escape Rooms provide opportunities for group or individual participation, a leader board to provide competition and enterprise gamification.

In addition, while other competitors have interactive features for their Escape Rooms, Living Security makes their Escape Rooms immersive and the production values of their Escape Rooms and other content is superlative.

The Escape Rooms are only one part of Living Security’s larger Cybersecurity Awareness Month campaign package, which includes videos, infographics, and articles aligned with the themes of the National Cyber Security Alliance and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Cyber Security Awareness Month campaign. It also includes an industry-renowned speaker, which we've used as a keynote speaker at the USDA Cybersecurity Expo since 2020.

Living Security has remained the vendor since 2020 and the quantity and quality of services has continued to increase and improve, allowing USDA to expand use of these materials from the Cybersecurity Expo and Cybersecurity Awareness Month alone to a year-round security awareness program, including monthly newsletters, community of interest meetings, blog posts, and infographics which are shared across USDA Mission Areas.