A38_JEFO_LSJ_GSA_FSS_Over_SAT_RFQ_140D0426Q0025_REDACTED_1.pdf

LIMITED-SOURCES JUSTIFICATION

AUTHORITY: FAR 8.405-6 and 40 U.S.C 501

RFQ 140D0426Q0025 Thunderhead NOW Software License and Subscription Services This acquisition is conducted under the authority of the Multiple Award Schedule Program.

1. Identification of the agency and contracting activity, and specific identification of the document as a “Limited-Sources Justification.”

Department of the Interior, Interior Business Center, Acquisition Services Directorate, Division I, Branch IV, on behalf of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), Information Technology Infrastructure Operations Department (ITIOD), Office of Benefits Administration (OBA), and Finance Operations Department (FOD).

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved.

This is a follow-on requirement to Task Order 140D0424F0165. The Government intends to award a limited source Task Order to ImmixTechnology, Inc. under General Services Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contract GS-35F- 0265X.

This renewal is for Thunderhead NOW software license ver.6.1.8.26.

Thunderhead NOW is a software enterprise platform that provides design tools for templates and the core engine for correspondence generation which supports PBGC Customer Correspondence System (CCS) in the Office of Benefits Administration (OBA) and other PBGC business units. Thunderhead server components are deployed on PBGC Oracle WebLogic infrastructure and can be leveraged by any PBGC business units. This product generates outgoing correspondence related to pension plans and participant benefit administration. CCS supports approximately 500 users with a peak load of approximately 150 concurrent users.

Thunderhead has been in production since December 2015; it is a web-based solution that enables users to quickly and easily develop new content and business rules for communications.

RFQ 140D0426Q0025

3. A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency’s needs (including the estimated value).

Base Year: 12/31/2025 – 12/30/2026

Part # Description Quantity

NOWPACKPLUS-

S-B

Unlimited development subscription license-B: fewer than 10,000 employees

PRODCORR-S-1M Production volume-subscription licenses for agencywide use (requires agency-wide unlimited development license) -Increments of 1M pieces of Standard Outbound Consumer Communications per year

The Contractor shall:

A. Provide software maintenance to include an annual Thunderhead Software audit which may contain recommendations on optimization, configuration modifications, identify issues and recommendations for resolution configuration management.

B. Provide problem analysis process as part of a support ticket that includes but is not limited to checking validity and if identified as a Thunderhead software issue, developing solutions; they will provide PBGC with patches or modifications.

The estimated total contract value is .

4. The authority and supporting rationale (see 8.405-6(a)(1)(i) and (b)(1)) and, if applicable, a demonstration of the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications to provide the required supply or service.

FAR 8.405-6(a)(1)(i)B - Only one source is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.

Thunderhead NOW is a software enterprise platform that offers configuration, management, and versioning of templates; mailing through fulfillment center, integration through webservice with other PBGC programs such as CCS, MyPBA, MyPAA & QuEST software; letter generation automation, and customer service friendly user interface. Other salient features of Thunderhead NOW include its ability to provide personalized customer communications, real-time customer journey tracking, omni-channel engagement, and advanced analytics for customer insights. If these licenses are not renewed, PBGC will not be able to send out mail correspondence to plan participants/administrators, which includes benefit information, participant applications, announcements, etc.

The current product capability posture is the result of several years’ worth of client agency use and feedback and cannot be immediately replaced with a similar product without extensive cost, effort, and time. Although there are similar products available in the commercial marketplace, they would all require extensive additional changes to bring them up to the current level of customization that has been achieved with Thunderhead NOW. Thunderhead NOW is the only product available that provides this functionality level, and there are no turnkey alternatives.

To implement a new system/product would not be cost- or time effective. Any new system/product would take at least six months to research, analyze and understand outcomes/effects on PBGC of said alternative system/product. Additionally, the Thunderhead NOW software is utilized collaboratively across four departments within PBGC. Any new system/product would thus cause significant disruption across PBGC and require extensive retraining of staff and at additional expenses. Lastly, the use of a new system/product would also require a reconfiguration of the existing PBGC system.

During this time period, PBGC’s overall capabilities would be negatively affected, reducing PBGC’s overall mission readiness and its ability to deliver correspondence related to pension plans and participant benefit administration to its clients.

5. A determination by the ordering activity contracting officer that the order represents the best value consistent with FAR 8.404(d).

The price of the software as a service (SaaS) products are based on existing line items that have been negotiated by GSA and determined to be fair and reasonable by the GSA Contracting Officer in accordance with FAR 8.404(d)) prior to award of the GSA MAS contract.

GSA schedule contracts are negotiated to achieve the Contractors' "most favored customer" pricing/discounts under similar conditions. To ensure that they receive the best value at the lowest overall cost when using Schedule contracts, agencies are always encouraged and empowered to seek price reductions at any time before placing an order. By seeking discounts on all orders, the Government can take advantage of flexible and dynamic pricing in the commercial marketplace. As such, additional discounts will be requested from the Offeror at time of solicitation.

In addition, this acquisition is for commercially available products with several years of historical data based on previous contracts that will help ensure the Government receives a fair and reasonable price. To better ensure fair and reasonable pricing, the AQD Contracting Officer (CO) will seek further discounts and make a separate determination as to the reasonableness of the awarded price.

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 Market Research Request was posted to NASA SEWP V on 10/14/2025 and closed on 10/21/2025, but there were no approved/authorized resellers of the Thunderhead NOW software products required. The NASA SEWP Agency Liaison stated the following:

Thunderhead is a privately held company out of the United Kingdom and is owned by Smart Communications LLC.

Smart Communications LLC was spun off from Thunderhead in 2016 as a separate company.

In 2022, Medallia, Inc. acquired Thunderhead, but these legacy products were not part of the acquisition.

Market research on GSA Advantage confirmed the part numbers required are from Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), SmartComms, LLC and the only authorized reseller of the part numbers is ImmixTechnology, Inc. through their GSA Contract number GS-35F-0265X.

7. Any other facts supporting the justification.

In accordance with posting requirements in FAR 8.405-6 Limiting sources, a redacted Justification will be posted through SAM.gov within 14 days after award for a minimum of 30 days.

8. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers that led to the restricted consideration before any subsequent acquisition for supplies and services is made.

The Government will continue to research emerging technology, which may be compatible with current systems, to enhance competition for future requirements.

Where cost effective, PBGC will test those technologies compatibility within their systems.

PBGC is in the process of conducting market research on comparable solutions to make plans to move to a different software product within the next two years.