Inactive

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Office of Acquisition and Agreements Management (OAAM), Acquisition Management Division (AMD) proposes to enter into a contract with Schwarz ... The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Office of Acquisition and Agreements Management (OAAM), Acquisition Management Division (AMD) proposes to enter into a contract with Schwarz Forensic Enterprises (SFE), of Ames, IA, on a basis of other than full and open competition under the authority of 41 U.S.C 3304(a)(1), for the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL), Information Access Divisions (IAD), Image Group. As part of the Intelligence Advance Research Project Activity (IARPA)’s Nail?to?Nail (N2N) Challenge, NIST acquired thousands of latent and exemplar friction ridge images. In turn, NIST released a portion of this data as an open dataset entitled “NIST Special Database 302.” In its current state, the data is only minimally useful to researchers. At a basic level, we know that a latent friction ridge image came from a particular individual, but not which finger or palm from that individual. NIST is seeking services to accurately match latent friction ridge images with exemplar images by means of extracting and correlating friction ridge features. SFE is the sole responsible source capable of performing the tasks outlined in the statement of work for the reasons detailed below: NIST was a co-investigator in the IARPA Nail to Nail (N2N) Challenge. The N2N Challenge was overseen by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) because it involved human subjects. The IRB for this Challenge approved the N2N Challenge with SFE as the source of the latent biometric data. SFE was the only approved source of biometric data listed in the IRB research protocol for the N2N Challenge. As SFE is the only source of the required data and the only source with IRB approval for the N2N Challenge, only SFE is capable of meeting the needs of this requirement. In addition, SFE is the only entity with authorized access to the physical items that were the source of the digitized latent fingerprints to be analyzed for this requirement. These items are the property of SFE, not NIST (note: the images of these objects are the property of NIST). Physical access allows SFE to re-inspect and re-image physical objects as necessary to ensure that proper correspondence is recorded, leaving little question when determining source finger positions as requested in the statement of work. No other source has authorized access to these materials. The required services involve access to biometric data that will be held internal to NIST for biometric technology evaluation testing. The latent fingerprints that need to be correlated to exemplar rolled fingerprints originally came from a photograph of a larger region. This larger region image contains potentially sensitive information, including several other fingerprint images that have not been released to the public and will be used for sequestered biometric testing in other applications in the USG. However, this larger region is important useful information during the correlation process. There will likely be fewer successful correlations (i.e., more "inconclusive" results) without this information. It is imperative that these larger region images not be spread to outside organizations where it has the potential to compromise the integrity and usefulness as sequestered data in future evaluations. As the certified latent print examiners and certified human subjects protection research experts responsible for collecting the latent biometric data in the first place, SFE is in a unique position in which they already have access to the derived and raw data and have been successfully trusted in keeping it sequestered. No other source is in possession of this data. A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. No solicitation package will be issued. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations. However, responses received by March 10, 2020 will be considered by the Government. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted via email to Lynda.Horton@nist.gov so that they are received no later than March 10, 2020 at 10:00 AM Eastern Time. Each response should include the following Business Information: a. Contractor Name, Address, b. Point of Contact Name, Phone Number, and Email address c. Contractor DUNS d. Contractor Business Classification (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, hubZone, veteran owned, etc.) as validated in System for Award Management (SAM). All offerors must register in the SAM located at http://www.sam.gov/portal/SAM/#1 e. Capability Statement