SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- White box Lab Study
- Notice Date
- 9/2/2014
- Notice Type
- Justification and Approval (J&A)
- NAICS
- 541611
— Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Procurement Section, 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, District of Columbia, 20535, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20535
- Archive Date
- 9/19/2014
- Point of Contact
- Dawn Morgan,
- E-Mail Address
-
dawn.morgan@ic.fbi.gov
(dawn.morgan@ic.fbi.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Award Number
- DJF141200G0011247
- Award Date
- 8/20/2014
- Description
- LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION FOR FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULE PROGRAM FAR 8.405-6(c) Requisition Number: DJF-14-0700-PR-0002434 Date: July 25, 2014 Estimated Contract Dollar Value: $Deleted The following justification and approval for the use of sources limited to fewer than those required in FAR 8.405-1, prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) FAR 8.405-2 and 8.405-6 pursuant to the authority of 41 U.S.C. 251 FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(C). The new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order in that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures and the original order was not previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures. This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple-Award Schedule Program (41 U.S.C. 251, et seq, and 40 U.S.C. 501). 1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity. The U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Technology Support Contracts Unit, proposes to enter into a logical follow-on task order on a basis of other than full and open competition for latent print scientific and technical support services to support an ongoing research and development effort on behalf of the Counterterrorism and Forensic Science Research Unit (CRSRU), Laboratory Division. 2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved. CFSRU has a requirement to enter into a contract agreement with Noblis, Inc., a not-for-profit agency, at an estimated cost of $Deleted for a base plus two twelve month options. The total contract cost is expected to be $Deleted. This will be a logical follow contract against the General Services Administration MOBIS Schedule for services and will be Time and Materials. 3. A complete description of the supplies and/or services required to meet the agency's needs. The requirement is to provide latent print scientific and technical support services to support an ongoing research and development effort within the CFSRU. The FBI Laboratory Division (LD), with the support of the CJIS Division Biometrics Center of Excellence (BCOE), has been conducting research under contract with Noblis in support of understanding the scientific basis of latent print examiners' decisions and their associated error rates. This portfolio of research, which was first identified in response to the misidentification of a latent print to Brandon Mayfield in the Madrid bombing case, has been a cornerstone in addressing the recommendations of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in response to this highly publicized error. In addition, in 2009, the National Academy of Science National Research Council (NRC) report on forensic science recommended that this research was crucial to the continued acceptance of fingerprint evidence in court (and recommended similar research for other forensic science disciplines). Several highly regarded publications have resulted from our research efforts with Noblis to date; the FBI has been seen as a strong leader in this area, with a commitment to addressing the recommendations by the NRC and continuing to improve the science of fingerprints. The existing contract with Noblis covered several research projects within this portfolio of research. Currently, we are working on the White Box Latent Print Examiner Study, in which 170 latent print examiners detailed their analysis, comparison and evaluation of latent print comparisons, in an attempt to understand the basis for their decisions. This White Box project has generated a tremendous amount of data, which requires mining and further statistical analysis. The first research paper prepared from this data analysis has been submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. Further analysis of this wealth of data is planned, with 4 additional papers focused on key questions of significance to the latent fingerprint discipline. 4. The authority and supporting rationale (see 8.405-6(a)(1)(i) and (b)(1)) and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractor's unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service. The statutory authority for using other than full and open competition is FAR 8.405 6 (a) (1) (i) (C), Limited Sources. The new work is a logical follow-on to an original Federal Supply Schedule order in that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures and the original order or Blanket Purchase Agreement was not previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures. In order to complete the first manuscript through the journal publication process and to adequately mine the data and prepare additional manuscripts as originally planned, Noblis' participation is required. A logical follow on to the previous contract is requested so that we can complete the entire White Box study, related publications, and the Quantity Study (which is the next study in the research portfolio and is included in the current contract). Due to the nature of this research effort (i.e., analysis of data collected and writing of manuscripts), Noblis is the only contractor that can continue to support the FBI LD in this research. As part of this ongoing research effort, Noblis created and implemented one-of-a-kind software to collect and extract data from the White Box study. Noblis is the only company with the expertise with this customized software, data, and familiarity with the study design required to properly extract and interpret the data in accordance with the study design. The successful completion of the projects in a most expeditious and cost-effective manner for the FBI requires the Noblis' participation. Any other vendor would have an extremely steep learning curve (possibly 1 year or more than Noblis), and require a significant US Government (USG)-personnel effort to achieve successful training; this would not only significantly delay completion of this vital research but it would adversely impact other FBI Laboratory research projects by taking researchers' and subject matter experts' time away from those projects in order to train a new vendor. In addition, any other vendor would require Noblis' input on proper use the custom software and need to have the requisite knowledge to extract the data. A contract award to Noblis is the most cost-effective contracting solution for the government. The estimated cost savings in time and personnel costs by awarding the contract to Noblis rather than a new vendor is estimated to be between $Deleted and $Deleted (that is, it is estimated that awarding to a new vendor would cost the USG an additional $Deleted). More importantly, because this research has been consistently used in court to support fingerprint examinations, the societal impact of delaying this research is high; the cost of each admissibility hearing has been estimated by the FBI Biometrics Center of Excellence at $Deleted, based on input from attorneys and judges. 5. A determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d). The CO will evaluate the cost/price proposal for fair and reasonableness pursuant to FAR 8.405-2(d), ordering procedures for services requiring a statement of work. 6. A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders, and the results of the research. A statement must be made that the supplies and services are available from the FSS. Alternatives to this option have been considered. Market research conducted in past years was unable to identify a vendor who was capable of providing the services. Because the new work is follow-on to ongoing research, any change to the provider would significantly delay this vital research and would not be cost effective. Any new provider would have a large learning curve to become familiar with the studies' research objectives, design, data, software, etc. 7. Any other facts supporting the limited source justification. The estimated duplicative cost in time and personnel if the contract were awarded to a new vendor is estimated to be between $Deleted and $Deleted (that is, it is estimated that awarding to a new vendor would cost the USG an additional $Deleted). This conservative estimate is based on the assumption that the potential new vendor would have similar level of expertise in software design and statistics as Noblis, but without the same level of experience specifically applied to latent prints. It also assumes that it is permissible for the USG to share the developed software code with a potential new vendor. The methodology used to formulate this estimate is approximating the learning curve/level-of-effort (in man hours) for review of prior software, study design, statistics and limited training in latent prints and multiplying it by a contracting hourly rate for similar research. 8. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency will take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for supplies and services is made. For this follow-on order, the measures initiated to eliminate or reduce competitive barriers for subsequent acquisitions include use of performance-based work statements and limiting the contract scope to completing data analysis for the specific research that is ongoing. Future research in the area that does not rely on data acquired with this custom software and data mining and analysis of this study could then be pursued through full and open competition.
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