ICE Awards $1.1B in Skip Tracing Contracts
12 companies were selected as "bounty hunters" to locate 1.5M people over the next two years
Yesterday, ICE issued awards to 12 companies for skip tracing services as the result of a solicitation first issued in November of this year. In those solicitation documents, the government announced its intent to award up to $180M over the life of the contract.
However, it appears that the new ceiling (maximum) value of all 12 contracts is now over $1B - a 450% increase from the original value. Regardless of whether or not ICE actually spends that much over the next two years, it’s clear that they have the funding to aggressively attempt to locate the 1.5M individuals they say are in their docket.
The 12 awardees, and the maximum value of their contracts, are listed below. It’s important to note that the government initially stated that no contract can have a total value of over $90M - four of the awardees far exceed that maximum.
AI Solutions 87 LLC - $48,491,250
B.I. Incorporated - $121,837,500
Bluehawk, LLC - $201,443,062
Capgemini - $365,821,218.75
Constellation, Inc. - $57,848,437.51
Enprovera Corp - $2,631,300
Fraud Inc - $25,578,000
Gravitas Professional Services - $32,062,500
Government Support Services (GSS) - $55,575,000
National Protective Services - $68,231,250
Response AI Solutions - $9,715,000
SOS International - $123,166,968
In addition to establishing these 12 contracts and their ceiling amounts, ICE has already issued $2M in task orders to begin the work of locating the homes and employers of their targets.
What is Skip Tracing?
Skip tracing is just a fancy term for the process of locating an individual. In this instance, ICE will be using support from the above 12 companies to locate non-citizens. According to the statement of work:
“The effort should include enhanced location research, which entails automated and manual real-time skip tracing, extensive research on Google and/or other search engines or applications, as determined in the vendor’s discretion; and the collection of photos and documents verifying the alien’s residence and/or place of employment. The vendor should prioritize the alien’s residence but failing that will attempt to verify place of employment.” - Skip Tracing Statement of Work
Once the vendor has located an individual, they are required to provide ICE with proof of identification and location, including photographs of their home, utility bills or other proof of residency, employment verification records, and any other supporting documents.
ICE anticipates a caseload of 50,000 individuals a month in order to hit their target of verifying the location of 1.5M people over the next two years.
About the Vendors
AI Solutions 87 LLC is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business headquartered in Wisconsin. Based on their website, it appears that skip tracing is a new capability area for the company and that they will be using AI agents to locate individuals for ICE.
B.I. Incorporated is owned by The Geo Group, one of the private prison operators where detainees are held. They boast location tracking on their website, including their participation in the DHS Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) which uses monitoring devices like ankle monitors to enforce immigration supervision and hearing attendance.
Bluehawk, LLC specializes in intelligence services. According to publicly available spending data, the majority of their work so far has been in support of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force.
Capgemini is a technology company with a history of supporting DHS, including ICE ERO. They have previously supported DHS in detention planning, transportation, and location tracking.
Constellation, Inc has supported CBP and ERO in the past, but mostly with systems engineering, program management, and strategy support. Skip tracing does not appear on their website or spending data. Of note, one of their Vice Presidents is a former ATF Special Agent.
Enprovera, Corp offers a wide range of services including intelligence and investigative services. One of their main clients is the Department of Justice, including the FBI.
Fraud Inc is a Texas-based company owned by Richard Leslie, a licensed private investigator. This appears to be the first Federal contract awarded to the company and based on publicly available data, Leslie is the sole employee of the company. Fraud Inc is one of several of awardees who have already been issued a task order, with theirs valued at $348,000 for 5,000 cases.
Gravitas Professional Services is a small investigations firm based in Ohio. The company is led by Adam Visnic who is a former special investigator for multiple Federal agencies, including ICE. According to spending data, this is Gravitas’ first Federal contract win.
Government Support Services (GSS) is a government contracting firm with a wide range of business offerings. Their website highlights their capabilities in logistics, import/export, janitorial services, grounds-keeping, property management, and security services. According to spending data, this is GSS’ first prime Federal contract.
National Protective Services is a training institute offering a wide range of security and investigative courses to military and law enforcement clients. Their instructors are former military and law enforcement personnel. Based on their website, they have not provided skip tracing services as a firm previously (or if they did, it is not publicly available). This is their first prime Federal contract.
Response AI Solutions provides “AI-powered” and “AI-enabled” logistics, case management, and financial management solutions. They have supported Department of Army in the past and earlier this year were one of the awardees of ICE’s Emergency Detention and Related Services contract, although they have yet to perform any task orders on it.
SOS International has been supporting DHS for decades. Earlier this year, they were awarded a $7M skip tracking contract by ICE. Their website boasts a full range of intelligence capabilities, including all source, open source, and identity intelligence.
Key Takeaways and Concerns
Skip tracing is not a new tactic for ICE. That said, these contract awards raise several red flags outside of the, perhaps obvious, criticisms of this type of program (e.g. lack of training for investigative personnel, the handling of private information by contractors, etc.).
Use of AI - Several of the contractors explicitly state their intention to use AI to identify and locate individuals. This brings up privacy concerns, the use of data without consent, and the risk of inaccuracy that comes with using AI. Additionally, many AI systems are opaque and are largely unregulated. Ensuring that contractors using AI to conduct research on civilians in an ethical way will be challenging, if not impossible.
Speed of acquisition - ICE released the solicitation on November 10, received responses on November 13 and made awards in a little over a month. That didn’t allow much time for the government to fully vet each of the 12 awardees. This is especially concerning for companies who previously haven’t done much work for the Federal government. By speeding up the award process, ICE has increased the likelihood of risks associated with inexperienced and/or non-vetted contractors.
Minimal oversight - According to the contract’s statement of work, all companies must “ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations governing data collection, privacy, and reporting.” However, nowhere does the government address how they will make sure this is happening. Given the sheer scale of this program and the amount of personal data these 12 companies will be sifting through, a more robust data privacy and reporting structure should be in place.
Given ICE’s caseload estimates, expect to see more task orders awarded to these 12 companies in the coming weeks and months. The scale and the speed at which the government was able to evaluate and award these contracts speaks to the broader trend we are seeing - this administration is moving full steam ahead to enact it’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.