36C10B26Q0260.docx

SUBJECT*

IBM Middleware Recompete VA-26-00039630 (SSI6 O2509-036-036-123912) (VA-26-00039630)

GENERAL INFORMATION

SET-ASIDE

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

POSTAL CODE

COUNTRY

CONTACT INFORMATION

Technology Acquisition Center

23 Christopher Way Eatontown NJ 07724

POINT OF CONTACT*

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

Presolicitation Notice Presolicitation Notice Please see attached documents.

Presolicitation Notice

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)

ENTERPRISE MIDDLEWARE SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT

Department of Veterans Affairs Financial Services Center

1.0 PURPOSE

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for market research purposes in accordance with Revolutionary Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Overhaul (RFO) Part 10.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Financial Services Center is seeking information from industry regarding the availability and capability of industry to provide software licensing, maintenance, and technical support services necessary to sustain the VA enterprise middleware transaction processing environment.

The Government is conducting this RFI to:

• Identify capable vendors

• Assess available contract vehicles

• Obtain rough order of magnitude (ROM) pricing

• Validate industry capability to support the requirement

• Obtain feedback regarding the technical requirements This RFI does not constitute a solicitation and does not represent a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or award a contract.

The Government will not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with responding to this RFI.

2.0 BACKGROUND

The Department of Veterans Affairs Financial Services Center operates an enterprise electronic commerce middleware platform used to support system-to-system transaction exchange between internal VA enterprise applications and external trading partners.

The platform supports structured electronic transactions including financial, supply chain, healthcare, and other enterprise electronic commerce transactions.

The Government currently operates the environment under a Processor Value Unit (PVU) licensing model supporting both production and non-production environments.

The current licensed capacity for the VA enterprise middleware environment is as follows:

The environment includes the following core components:

• Enterprise middleware integration platform

• Transformation capabilities supporting multiple electronic transaction domains

• Secure proxy gateway licensing supporting controlled inbound connectivity

• Technical advisory and middleware health-check services The Department of Veterans Affairs anticipates up to thirty percent (30%) growth in the middleware environment during the period of performance as additional enterprise systems, integrations, and external trading partners are on-boarded.

To support this anticipated growth, the Government may acquire additional middleware licenses of the same type currently deployed within the environment.

Additional licensing capacity may be acquired in increments of 100 PVU.

3.0 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Technical requirements associated with this environment are provided in:

Attachment A – Enterprise Middleware Software Maintenance and Support Technical Requirements

ENTERPRISE MIDDLEWARE SOFTWARE

Respondents shall review Attachment A when preparing responses.

4.0 CONTRACT VEHICLE INFORMATION

The Government is interested in understanding which existing contract vehicles are available to support this requirement.

Respondents should identify whether the capability can be provided through:

• NASA SEWP

• GSA Multiple Award Schedule

• Other Government-Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) If responding under NASA SEWP, vendors should identify the applicable SEWP contract number and category. Vendors should identify in their response if they are on a GSA MAS Schedule and have a GSA contract number.

5.0 INFORMATION REQUESTED FROM INDUSTRY

Respondents are requested to provide the following information.

5.1 Company Information

Company Name Company Address Point of Contact Phone Number Email Address Applicable Contract Vehicles Business Size/Socioeconomic Category

5.2 Capability Statement

Provide a summary describing the organization's capability to provide the software licensing, maintenance, and technical support services described in Attachment A.

5.3 Technical Capability and Relevant Experience

Describe your experience supporting enterprise middleware environments, specifically those involving:

• enterprise electronic commerce transaction processing

• enterprise system integration

• electronic data interchange (EDI) transformation capabilities

• secure external transaction connectivity

• middleware platform operational support

5.4 Contract Vehicle Availability

Identify any applicable existing contract vehicles through which the vendor can provide the required licensing, maintenance, and support services.

5.5 Technical Feedback (Optional)

Respondents may provide feedback regarding the technical requirements described in Attachment A including:

• recommended clarifications

• industry best practices

• considerations for projected middleware platform growth Feedback should be constructive and based on current industry practices, standards, or emerging technologies.

5.6 Past Performance Supporting Middleware Platforms

Provide examples of relevant middleware environments your organization has supported, including:

• enterprise electronic commerce transaction processing

• enterprise application integration

• electronic data interchange (EDI) transformation

• secure proxy gateway connectivity supporting external trading partners Responses should include examples of similar environments supported by the respondent.

5.7 Platform Licensing and Architecture Knowledge

Respondents shall describe their experience providing software licensing, maintenance, and support services for middleware platforms operating under processor-based licensing models (e.g., Processor Value Unite (PVU)-based models).

Respondents should address:

• experience supporting production and non-production middleware environments

• experience managing license capacity growth

• experience performing platform architecture assessments or health checks

6.0 PRICING INFORMATION REQUESTED (ROM)

The Government requests rough order of magnitude (ROM) pricing for the licensing, maintenance, and technical support services described in Attachment A.

All pricing shall clearly identify underlying assumptions. ROM pricing may be provided in ranges if appropriate for early-stage estimation.

Pricing information provided in response to this RFI is for market research purposes only and will be used to support acquisition planning and budgeting.

Pricing provided shall not be considered binding and will not be used as the basis for a contract award.

7.0 PRICING TABLE

Respondents should complete the following table for existing software products currently in use. Respondents are encouraged to provide their own pricing table (following the format below) for equivalent products if applicable.

8.0 CAPABILITY MATRIX

Respondents should complete the following matrix.

Middleware platform licensing support

Middleware maintenance and subscription support

EDI transformation capability support

Secure proxy gateway support

Middleware architecture health check services

Support for PVU-licensed environments

9.0 RESPONSE FORMAT

Responses shall include the following sections, in order:

1. Company Information

2. Capability Statement

3. Technical Capability

4. Contract Vehicle Availability

5. Capability Matrix

6. Estimated ROM Pricing Responses should be limited to ten (10) pages, excluding pricing tables and marketing materials.

Responses should be submitted in PDF format.

10.0 SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Responses shall be submitted electronically via email to:

Sandra Vargo Contract Specialist Department of Veterans Affairs email: sandra.vargo@va.gov Responses are requested no later than:

March 18, 2026 @ 10am EST.

11.0 DISCLAIMER

This RFI is issued for market research purposes only.

This RFI:

• does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP)

• does not obligate the Government to issue a solicitation

• does not obligate the Government to award a contract The Government may use information received in response to this RFI to support acquisition planning and strategy development.

ATTACHMENTS

Attachment A Enterprise Middleware Software Maintenance and Support Technical Requirements

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

ENTERPRISE MIDDLEWARE SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT

1.0 EXISTING MIDDLEWARE ENVIRONMENT

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Financial Services Center operates an enterprise electronic commerce middleware environment used to support system-to-system transaction exchange between internal enterprise applications and external partner organizations.

The current environment is implemented using the IBM B2B Gateway middleware platform and associated transformation components, which provide transaction routing, data transformation, and secure external connectivity capabilities used to support enterprise electronic commerce operations.

The environment enables the exchange of financial, supply chain, and other structured electronic transactions between VA enterprise systems and authorized external trading partners.

The Government requires continued software licensing, maintenance, and technical support services necessary to sustain operation of this middleware environment and maintain compatibility with existing transaction mappings, system integrations, and operational workflows.

2.0 CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS AND PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY

The Contractor shall provide software licensing, maintenance, and technical support services necessary to maintain the operational capability of the Government’s existing middleware transaction processing environment.

The solution shall support compatibility with the Government’s current middleware architecture, transaction mappings, integration interfaces, and operational workflows currently operating within the IBM B2B Gateway middleware environment.

The Contractor shall ensure that maintenance and support services enable uninterrupted operation of the enterprise middleware platform supporting electronic commerce operations.

3.0 SECURE ELECTRONIC TRANSACTION GATEWAY

The middleware platform shall support secure electronic transaction exchange between internal enterprise systems and authorized external partner organizations.

The platform shall provide controlled connectivity mechanisms that enable inbound and outbound transaction processing while preventing direct external access to internal enterprise systems.

The solution shall support authenticated and encrypted communication channels for the exchange of structured electronic transactions with external entities.

4.0 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS TRANSACTION PROCESSING

The middleware platform shall support the receipt, validation, processing, and delivery of electronic business transactions exchanged between the Government and external partner organizations.

The platform shall support reliable transaction handling capabilities to ensure accurate delivery and processing of transactions between participating systems.

The system shall support enterprise electronic commerce operations involving multiple internal systems and external trading partners.

5.0 DATA TRANSFORMATION AND MESSAGE TRANSLATION

The middleware platform shall provide configurable capabilities to transform and translate structured data between differing transaction formats used by external partners and internal enterprise applications.

The solution shall support configurable data mapping and transformation rules necessary to enable interoperability between disparate systems and differing message structures.

6.0 INDUSTRY TRANSACTION STANDARD SUPPORT

The middleware platform shall support structured electronic transaction formats commonly used in financial, supply chain, and healthcare transaction exchanges.

The solution shall support industry-recognized electronic data interchange (EDI) standards and other structured messaging formats used to facilitate enterprise system integration and electronic commerce transactions.

7.0 TRANSACTION ROUTING AND PROCESSING RULES

The platform shall support configurable routing and processing of electronic transactions based upon defined business rules.

The system shall support directing transactions to appropriate internal applications, services, or external partner systems based upon defined routing criteria and transaction attributes.

8.0 SECURE COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL SUPPORT

The platform shall support secure communication protocols used to facilitate the exchange of electronic transactions between the Government and external organizations.

The solution shall support encrypted communications and secure data transport mechanisms consistent with Federal information security requirements.

9.0 ENTERPRISE SYSTEM INTEGRATION

The middleware platform shall integrate with enterprise information systems, including financial management systems and other internal enterprise applications, to enable automated exchange of structured transaction data.

The platform shall support integration with enterprise messaging frameworks, application interfaces, and other integration mechanisms required to support enterprise electronic commerce operations.

10.0 PRODUCTION AND NON-PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT SUPPORT

The middleware platform shall support deployment across multiple environments including production, development, testing, and staging environments.

The solution shall allow validation and testing of configuration changes, transaction mappings, and integration workflows prior to implementation within the production environment.

11.0 TRANSACTION MONITORING AND OPERATIONAL VISIBILITY

The middleware platform shall provide monitoring capabilities that enable operational personnel to observe transaction processing activities and identify transaction failures or system exceptions.

The system shall provide visibility into transaction status and processing activity necessary to support operational oversight and troubleshooting.

12.0 RELIABILITY AND AVAILABILITY

The middleware platform shall support reliable processing of enterprise electronic transactions and maintain operational availability sufficient to support enterprise electronic commerce operations.

The solution shall support mechanisms that protect transaction integrity and prevent loss or corruption of transaction data during processing operations.

13.0 TRANSACTION PROCESSING CAPACITY

The middleware platform shall support enterprise-scale electronic transaction processing and shall be capable of processing large volumes of structured transactions exchanged between internal enterprise systems and external trading partners.

The platform shall support scalable transaction processing capacity sufficient to support current enterprise electronic commerce operations and future growth in transaction volume.

14.0 EXTERNAL TRADING PARTNER CONNECTIVITY

The middleware platform shall support connectivity with multiple external trading partners participating in enterprise electronic commerce transactions.

The platform shall support secure onboarding, configuration, and management of external partner connections used for transaction exchange with Government systems.

15.0 SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide software maintenance and technical support services necessary to sustain operation of the middleware platform.

Maintenance services shall include access to software updates, security patches, and vendor technical support resources necessary to maintain the middleware environment.

Technical support services shall include assistance with troubleshooting, configuration support, and operational issues during standard support hours.

16.0 TECHNICAL ADVISORY AND ARCHITECTURE SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide technical advisory services, or health checks, to assist the Government in validating and optimizing the middleware platform architecture.

Advisory services may include architecture reviews, deployment reviews, configuration recommendations, integration guidance, and assistance with development of middleware integration capabilities.

17.0 ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE COMPLIANCE

The middleware platform shall comply with Department of Veterans Affairs enterprise architecture standards and the VA Technical Reference Model (TRM) to ensure compatibility with the broader enterprise information technology environment.

18.0 SECURITY AND ACCESS CONTROL

The middleware platform shall support compliance with applicable Federal and Department information security requirements.

The solution shall support integration with enterprise security and identity management mechanisms necessary to enforce appropriate access controls and protect sensitive transaction data.