Description
1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity. Mission Area USDA - APHIS - AC Western Regional Office 2150 Centre Ave. Ft. Collins CO 80526-8117 Contracting Activity USDA APHIS AAMD Contracting 250 Marquette Ave Suite 410 Minneapolis, MN 55401 2. The nature and/or description of the action being approved. The USDA APHIS proposes to enter into a firm fixed price contract on the basis other than full and open competition with IrisTrac. 3. Description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value). The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Animal Care (AC), Horse Protection (HP) program wished to purchase equine iris scanning equipment for use during HP inspections to properly identify horses presented for inspection under the Horse Protection Act (HPA). The HPA prohibits horses subjected to a cruel and abusive practice used to accentuate a horse’s gait called soring from participating in exhibitions, sales, shows, or auctions. To facilitate enforcement of the HPA, proper identification of horses is critical to ensure horses previously disqualified from participation in an event do not re-enter the competition. Items include 10 Iris scanner ( accessories and 5 year warrant), training (classroom and onsite) as well as on-call support. The Estimated Value: $220,000 - $250,000 4. The statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition. The following circumstance provides the justification for other than full and open competition under FAR 6.3: 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, titled "Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements." 5. A statement demonstrating the unique qualifications of the proposed contractor or the nature of the action requiring the use of the authority. Through market research, there seems to be no other companies that offers iris recognition technology for any species of animal. The Iristrac technology provides reliable identification of animals using biometric features contained in the iris of the eye. Borrowing from well-established technology for human iris recognition, but with novel enhancements that accommodate the ocular anatomy of the animal, the Iristrac algorithms embodied in the EyeD Scanner software automatically capture images of the eye, locate the parts of the image that contain the iris, and extract texture features expressed as a binary code. These binary features, or templates, are stored on the scanner along with other horse data, owner information, and body pictures, and can be uploaded via WiFi to the EyeD Cloud Server for storage. Identification of an animal is achieved by comparing the stored templates with newly generated templates from an animal to be identified using a simple, fast data comparison method. Compared to other methods of animal identification (RFID, ear tags, markings, and DNA), iris scanning is inexpensive, easy to use, fast, non-invasive, and accurate. The iris cannot be tampered with to alter its information and it cannot be lost or stolen. 6. Description of efforts made to ensure offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable. A sources sought was posted on sam,gov on 06/20/2021 with no response. Emails were sen out to two potiental sources who were not yet registered in SAM Iristrac (EyeD) Pivot International 7. Description of the market research conducted and the results or a statement of the reason Market Research was not conducted. Market Research on google found that there are not many companies that manufacture Iris scanners specifically for animal/equine use. There are companies that manufacture iris scanners for facility access/security purposes however that is not what is needed. Program and Contracting Officer found only two potential companies that make Equine Iris Scanners. Iristrac (EyeD) Pivot International Neither of the contractors above were registered in SAM at the time. = After reaching out to both companies, Iristrac was the only one to respond to USDA inquiry to say that that they could provide the product and work registering in SAM.gov. IrisTrac is now registered in SAM as small business. 8. Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition. Further research has shown that EyeD is a one-of-a-kind Iris Scanner. Their technology is patented and there are no other companies that manufacturer something similar. Please see their sole source letter to USDA APHIS. 9. Listing of the sources, if any, that expressed a written interest in the acquisition. None. 10. Statement of actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition if subsequent acquisitions are anticipated. Program and contracting will continue to perform market research to see if there are any new competitors in the market.