ESBD_444203_1754669203805_580-25-RFO-0018_Northbridge Justification Document.pdf

319 Littleton Road Suite 108 Westford, Massachusetts 01886 Tel: (978) 392-9665 Fax: (978) 392-9725

April 14, 2025

Ms. Patricia Avitia

Director & CIO of Information Technology

Texas Water Development Board

P.O. Box 13231

Austin, TX 78711-3231

Dear Ms. Avitia:

For the past twenty-five years, Northbridge has developed, implemented and supported its own proprietary software system for State Revolving Fund program management and accounting operations (Loans and Grants Tracking System). This software was developed and is maintained by Northbridge (through our certified staff) and we are the only vendor capable of supporting this system. In Texas, we implemented this software (TxWISE) with the Texas Water

Development Board starting twelve years ago and seven years ago completed the web installation, customization, and data migration.

Northbridge has developed the Loans and Grants Tracking Software (aka TxWISE in Texas) as an adjunct to thirty years of experience as the primary provider of state revolving fund management consulting services to the US EPA and many of the states around the country, to assist in effectively managing these programs. In addition to Texas, Northbridge has installed our software and provides support to this software for sixteen other state programs. As a result, Northbridge is the sole provider of this comprehensive software for implementation, customization, ongoing maintenance, and all other aspects of this software. To our knowledge, there is no other software package that compares to the Northbridge Loans and Grants Tracking

System (TXWISE) in scope or function.

We look forward to providing additional support to the Texas Water Development Board.

Sincerely, Rao Mulpuri

Principal and Technology Director

Docusign Envelope ID: B5F1094F-6C64-4508-87A9-C3067EABF019

Proprietary Purchase Justification

1-2023 Page 1 of 2

This form, or a formal justification on agency letterhead, may be used to document the Proprietary Purchase Justification.

A proprietary purchase is one where the specifications or conditions of the proposed purchase are proprietary to one vendor and do not permit an equivalent product or service to be supplied. The term “proprietary” refers to a product or service that has a distinctive feature or characteristic which is not shared or provided by competing or similar products or services.

When a specification for a proposed purchase is drafted so narrowly that there is only one viable product or one vendor eligible for contract award, the agency must document the rationale for the restrictive specification by placing a written Proprietary Purchase Justification in the procurement file.

For more information, reference the Texas Procurement and Contract Management Guide, Texas Government Code §2155.067, 34 TAC §20.209, and 34 TAC §20.25(b)(45)

Contact Information

Agency Program/Dept/Division

Contact Name Email Phone #

Purchase Information

Competitive The specified product or service is available for purchase through more than one vendor e.g., dealers, distributors, resellers, authorized service providers. Examples of competitive proprietary purchases include brand-specific replacement parts for equipment available through multiple Original Equipment Manufacturer authorized dealers and software that a software publisher makes available to the public through several resellers.

Sole Source

The specified product or service is only available for purchase through a single vendor e.g., manufacturer, publisher, service provider. Examples of sole source proprietary purchases include a back issue of a magazine available from only the publisher and an educational conference available from only the conference sponsor.

Proprietary Purchase Justification

Vendor Name

Requisition Number (if known) Purchase Amount NOTE: Purchase amount includes ALL anticipated renewals and extensions

A. Describe the product or service the agency proposes to purchase, and provide a statement regarding the agency's business need and planned use.

x

Texas Water Development Board O&A/IT/Project management

Patricia Avitia patricia.avitia@twdb.texas.gov 512 463 8096

Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants

580-25-RFO-0018 $600,000.00

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) is seeking a contractor to maintain the Texas Water Information System Expansion (TxWISE) and the Contract Administration System (CAS). TxWISE is a modified version of the Loan and Grant Tracking System (LGTS), and CAS is a comprehensive contract management system.

TxWISE and CAS are designed to:

• Provide accurate and timely data and information collection, analysis, and accessibility;

• Maximize demand for the financial assistance programs; thereby increasing loan volume and related origination fee revenue;

• Improve financial and budgetary information and related decisions;

• Improve reporting capabilities (both internal and external, with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and others); and

• Streamline the overall loan, grant, and contract project financing business processes.

Proprietary Purchase Justification

1-2023 Page 2 of 2

B. Explain why the agency specifications for the product or service are written as they are, and why those specifications are necessary to accomplish the agency's goal for the procurement.

C. State the reason that no other competing products or services will satisfy the need of the agency and provide examples of the technical, practical, or operational risks that would occur if competing products or services are selected. (See Examples of Non- Compliant Proposed Proprietary Purchase Justifications below)

Examples of Non-Compliant Proprietary Purchase Justifications

● “Our professionals have identified [vendor's product] as the most durable, safe, and efficient system of its kind.”

● “[The vendor] has claimed their technology is proprietary and we agree.”

● “[Vendor] is the exclusive patent holder of US Patents [X, Y, and Z]. No other manufacturer can legally produce [the product] with the same properties.”

● “Our agency has performed research [on these products]. The manufacturer can provide [a range of products] that will enable [our agency] to [meet our statutory requirement]."

● This vendor is our incumbent and only their products will work with the equipment we already have.

● “Our staff tested [these products] against others, and only [the identified products] that passed our rigorous qualification process were placed on the agency's approved products list. We can only buy products on our approved products list; therefore, these products are proprietary.”

● “The [brand] furniture purchased will be used to provide a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing work environment for employees' working in the office so they may provide customers frequenting the building excellent customer service in a welcoming atmosphere.”

Agency Approval – Signature of an individual to whom signature authority has been properly delegated in the Agency Procurement Plan on file with the Statewide Procurement Division

Agency Approver Signature (REQUIRED) Date (MM/DD/YYYY) Printed Name

TxWISE and CAS were both developed by Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants.

Since 2007, the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has contracted with Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants (Northbridge) to develop, deploy, enhance, maintain, and train staff on the TxWISE and CAS systems. The TxWISE and CAS systems are considered to be agency mission critical applications.

Northbridge is the sole provider of this comprehensive software for implementation, customization, ongoing enhancements & reports, and all other aspects of this software. To our knowledge, there is no other software package that compares to the Northbridge Loans and Grants Tracking System (TXWISE) in scope or function. To maintain the integrity of TxWISE and CAS, Northbridge is the only vendor who has the exclusive knowledge of how the systems operate and the expertise needed to provide ongoing enhancements for these mission critical systems.

5/13/2025 Bryan McMath