This is a notice of intent to award a Firm Fixed Price (FFP), sole source purchase order to Marshall University, 1 John Marshall Dr., Huntington, WV 25755 pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 13.5, Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Division 4, Cyber Crimes Center has a requirement entitled "Combatting the Opioid Crisis". Market research was conducted by contacting various universities, yet only Marshall University expressed interest and capability to perform the requirement. The basic requirement is as follows: To address the Opioid Crisis, the HSI/ICE Cyber Crimes Center (C3) has a requirement to develop and implement a tool to aid HSI in investigating, disrupting and dismantling criminal activity related to the opioid epidemic in the United States. The Period of Performance for this requirement is one 12-month base period, two 12-month option periods and will include FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services. The estimated total dollar value of this contract is $3,000,000.00 to $4,500,000.00.

Contractor shall be located within 60 miles from West Virginia zip code 25302, a state that has been disproportionally impacted by the ongoing opioid epidemic. Contractor shall have access to a state-run law enforcement lab with computer forensics capabilities and a current working relationship with the local HSI office. In addition, the contractor must currently have, or otherwise be able to expand, the state-run law enforcement agency's computer forensics capabilities to support the current or expected creation of an HSI Border Enforcement Security Task (BEST) Force.

Contractor shall currently have, or the ability to establish, an internship program for both the graduate and undergraduate programs in support of computer forensics and/or other cyber programs that could assist the lab mission as determined by HSI in support of investigations and cyber related requirements for criminal prosecutions of individual/organizations perpetuating the opioid epidemic.

Contractor shall currently have, or the ability to establish, working relationships with other academic institutions and private industry as determined by HSI in support of this SOW to further the creation or establishment of investigative tools, curriculum, models or techniques as deemed appropriate by HSI and in order to provide HSI the ability to effectively combat the opioid epidemic.

The contractor shall have the ability to leverage ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, current criminal justice agency status and national partnerships to develop a forensic drug analysis laboratory to be a partner in the response to the national opioid epidemic. The goal for the drug analysis laboratory is to provide testing in a comprehensive and timely manner, research to address areas such as geographical origin/source attribution and methods to improve responsiveness based on community needs. The drug analysis laboratory will be modeled after a currently operational DNA laboratory and will be created as a resource for HSI, state and local criminal justice agencies in regions affected by the opioid epidemic.

Contractor shall provide a study and subsequent implementation in coordination with HSI for a tool, as specified in the Statement of Objectives (SOO) section 3.0 Tasks. The tool will aid HSI in investigating, disrupting and dismantling criminal activity on the Internet, particularly relating to the opioid epidemic in the United States. The tool will need to include a documented maintenance plan, complete with all hardware, software, personnel plans and lab area specifications needed for attainment.

Marshall University is the only university that is uniquely qualified to provide the required cyber and computer forensic services, as well as drug testing services, in the required area. If you are a possible interested party and would like additional information about this requirement, please contact the Contracting Officer, Tracy Riley at [email protected] or (214) 905-5319 no later than June 26, 2019, 1:00pm EST.