FOIAXpress Software and Maintenance

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Section 201 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C.501) Multiple Award Schedule Program FAR 8.401 and is justified by the following facts and rationale required under FAR 8.405-6 (b) (1) Agency and Contracting Activity. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Privacy Office 650 Massachusetts Ave, NW Washington, DC 20528-0075 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) (2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved. DHS, specifically CBP, has a requirement on a limited source basis to obtain FOIAXpress licenses and technical services to answer over 46,000 FOIA backlog requests. The estimated costs for this effort are $300,000. Proposed Contractor: AINS, Inc. 806 W. Diamond Avenue Suite 400 Gaithersburg, MD 20878 Contact: Mr. Deryck Weaver Director of Business Development 571-289-0266 (Cell) 301-670-2300 (Office) (3) Description of Supplies/Services. The Privacy Office has entered into an intra-agency agreement with the United States Customs and Border Patrol agency for the transfer of $300,000 to leverage existing contract vehicles in place for FOIAXpress licenses and maintenance. Under the intra-agency agreement the Privacy Office has a requirement to enter into a limited source task order contract with AINS, Inc. to provide the necessary FOIAXpress licenses and personnel to upload, redact, and package for government finalization 46,000 FOIA requests in backlog before January 15, 2015 in order to reduce the threat of further constructive denial litigation for unresponsiveness which could end up costing the Department and the American taxpayer's millions in court fees and other damages. (4) Identification of the justification and the rationale. AINS is the developer and sole provider of its' products and services. AINS has applied its extensive software development capabilities to the creation of numerous commercial, leading-edge document/workflow management applications. Our "Xpress" family of products speeds the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process; document redaction; and a correspondence and action tracking case management application. The Xpress family of products and services includes: - FOIAXpress - REDACTXpress - SCANXpress - eCASE - eDiscovery/ADR - ATIPXpress - Annual Maintenance and Support - Configuration - Training - Implementation - Installation - FOIA Backlog Reduction Services AINS has designed FOIAXpress specifically for use by US Government agencies in response to FOIA and PA requests and appeals and ATIPXpress specifically for use by Canadian Government agencies. FOIAXpress and ATIPXpress are commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) web-based applications that provide compliance with e-FOIA regulations with a powerful application that offers organizations a solution that will transform their FOIA experience from a cumbersome, manual process to an automated electronic one. REDACTXpress is a stand-alone redaction and declassification tool that compliments FOIAXpress and ATIPXpress and is used to withhold information from documents. It eliminates tedious manual labor, copying, tracking of documents, and filing. Unlike solutions that merely hide the information under black bars, REDACTXpress completely and securely removes information that you select for redaction. It parses the document, physically deletes the selected information, and generates a new redacted document. REDACTXpress includes built-in and customizable exemption codes for FOIA and the Privacy Act. AINS is the only company authorized to sell any AINS software product or solution or provide technical support services associated with our Xpress family of products, provide upgrades and enhancements to our products and provide FOIA Backlog Reduction Services combined with FOIAXpress trained personnel and FOAXpress software, IAW FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)(B). (5) Determination by the ordering activity Contracting Officer that the anticipated order represents the best value consistent with 8.404(d). The Contracting Officer has determined that issuing the proposed Task Order to AINS, Inc. to perform this effort represents the best value and will result in the lowest overall cost alternative, considering price and administrative costs, to meet the Government's needs. This order will be placed in accordance with FAR 8.404 - Use of Federal Supply Schedules. Fair and reasonable pricing has already been negotiated under GS-35F-4747G with AINS, Inc., as the basis for award of contract HSHQDC-12-F-00159. Prior to issuance of the task order, the ordering activity will consider the level of effort and the mix of labor proposed to perform the specific task being ordered, and for determining that the total price is reasonable. (6) A description of the market research conducted among schedule holders and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted. A search of the marketplace has revealed one manufacturer who is able to fulfill 100 percent of the requirements to eliminate the CBP FOIA backlog utilizing current Department FOIAXpress databases. Initial government market research was conducted using several sources from the GSA eLibrary, GSA Federal Acquisition Service Schedule 36, Category Description 51.508 for a wide range of services that aid attorneys and other professional and non-professional staff members in the tasks of obtaining, organizing, analyzing and presenting materials for matters not limited to: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, trials, judgments, lawsuits, Congressional subpoenas, or settlements. However, none of the vendors available under those contract vehicles have any experience in performing FOIA backlog reduction support by technically modifying FOIAXpress. Consequently, the Privacy Office conducted extensive market research and concluded the price and administrative costs associated with leveraging FOIAXpress to eliminate the CBP FOIA backlog was the best value to the government. (7) Any other facts supporting the justification. As a best practice, and by statutory and executive order, DHS deems it imperative to eliminate the CBP FOIA backlog before the end of the calendar year to prevent further litigation expenses due to constructive denial court cases for unresponsiveness pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act. (8) A statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that preclude the agency from meeting the requirements of 8.405-1 and 8.405-2 before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services is made. For the last three years, the United States Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agency within DHS has struggled to efficiently and effectively deal with an ever increasing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) backlog of requests. From 2011 to 2014 the CBP FOIA backlog has grown from approximately 3,000 to 46,000 cases. As a result, the Department is now subject to constructive denial litigation for not responding timely, is out of bounds within the context of the law to provide superior customer service to requesters, and will face additional adverse actions if immediate corrective action is not made in a sustainable way. In short, the Department must use whatever existing resources at its disposable to appropriately deal with the CBP FOIA backlog. (9) Contracting Officer's Certification. In accordance with FAR 8.405-6(g)(2)(ix), 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.