JA-36C10B21Q0038.pdf

Control Number: VA-20-00077605

JUSTIFICATION FOR AN EXCEPTION TO FAIR OPPORTUNITY

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Technology Acquisition Center 23 Christopher Way Eatontown, New Jersey 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price task order to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement V (SEWP) Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for renewal of brand name International Business Machines (IBM) Maximo software license subscriptions and technical support.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA, Office of Information and Technology (Ol&T), Information Technology Operations and Services, Infrastructure Operations has a requirement to renew 1,200 IBM Maximo software license subscriptions and technical support for the IBM Maximo Enterprise Asset and Work Management (EAWM) program.

The EAWM program has been managing a multi-year development and transition project to replace aging legacy applications. VA's legacy asset management software capabilities are insufficient to satisfy VA's requirements. The EAWM program has been in operation since March of 2012. By the end of its pilot phase in October 2014, the project had successfully deployed IBM Maximo to three (3) sites and completed eight

(8) configuration releases each with incrementally greater capabilities. On May 18, 2015, IBM Maximo was hosted at the AITC, opening the door for deployment to new sites and continued configuration of IBM Maximo capabilities. As of May 15, 2019, EAWM IBM Maximo is currently operational in 38 VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) spread across seven (7) VISNs as well as VA Central Office, the Office of Inspector General, and the Office of Connected Health.

IBM Maximo software serves a critical function providing lifecycle support for more than 158,000 active users . Those users are reporting and solving on average 27,000 service requests a month and 85,000 work orders per month. Maximo is used by Biomedical Engineering, Facilities Management, and Environmental Management to manage work orders, schedule maintenance, safety recalls, and other functions necessary to provide a safe and effective environment of care. IBM Maximo is also used by Logistics and Ol&T, as well as the Office of Inspector General for property accountability.

The purpose of the IBM Maximo suite of products is to provide a modern, integrated, web-based software solution to the totality of the asset management lifecycle within VA.

As this multi-year project has progressed from the pilot phase to deployment, Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) were being added through a rolling deployment.

VA has an immediate need to renew, at a usage level, IBM Maximo Asset Management concurrent user software subscriptions for 600 users and IBM Maximo Asset Management Express concurrent software subscriptions for 600 users, inclusive of associated software technical support. The IBM Maximo software license subscription

Maximo Software Subscription Renewal and Control Number: VA-20-00077605 Technical Support architecture components and to issue updates to the existing software license subscriptions is proprietary. No other software license subscriptions and associated technical support can seamlessly integrate into the currently fielded IBM Maximo infrastructure. As such, the Government's technical experts have determined that only IBM Maximo brand name software license subscriptions and technical support can meet all VA's needs.

Additional market research was performed in November 2020 utilizing the NASA SEWP V GWAC Provider Lookup tool, which resulted in the identification of multiple resellers of the required IBM Maximo software subscription renewal and technical support. It was determined that there are 24 SDVOSBs resellers under NASA SEWP Group B (2). As a result, there is a reasonable expectation for limited competition on the NASA SEWP V

GWAC.

9. Other Facts: None.

10. Technical and Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable. Contracts awarded on NASA SEWP V GWAC have already been determined to be fair and reasonable. As there are multiple resellers on the NASA SEWP V GWAC capable of providing the brand name Maximo software subscription renewal and technical support described herein, price competition is anticipated. Finally, if only one quote is received price analysis shall be conducted by comparing the successful quote to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

12. Procuring Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Approval

In my role as procuring activity Advocate for Competition, based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the acquisition for renewal of brand name IBM Maximo software license subscriptions and technical support on an other than fair opportunity basis pursuant to the authority cited in Section 4 above, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the property and services herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.