JA for Axiell product maintenance Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval For Other than Full and Open Competition

Plan ID Number: 2026-LGR-0150

Form Updated 4/14/2023

Justification & Approval

As a legislative branch agency, the Library is subject to the competition and advertising requirements of 41 U.S.C. § 6101. Like the Competition in Contracting Act and the FAR, 41 U.S.C. § 6101 does not require competition when a contracting officer certifies that only one source or brand-name item is available, when dictated by public exigency, or when otherwise authorized by law.

This document sets forth the justification and approval for award of a contract or order by means providing for other than full and open competition per 41 U.S.C. § 6101, LCR 7-210, and, as applicable, FAR 6.302, FAR 13.106-1, FAR 8.405, and FAR 16.505. Contracting without competition shall not be justified on the basis of a lack of advance planning or concerns related to availability of funds.

This form shall be used to support instances where competition will be limited to a single source, a limited number of sources, including where a brand name product is required.

Part 1 – Identification

1. Contracting Agency and Activity: Library of Congress, LCSG/RCS/NAVCC/PSS.

2. Nature of Action Being Approved

Contract (or modification) LoC or Leg Branch Order (or modification) GSA Schedule or GWAC: Identify Schedule/Contract Other: Identify

AEON Plan ID Number: 2026-LGR-0150 Contractor (or Brand Name): AXIELL ALM CANADA INC Estimated Value (Base and all options):

Period of Performance: 09/19/2026 through 09/18/2028

3. Description of Supplies or Services Required to Meet Library Needs

Describe the supplies or services that are required to meet the Library’s minimum needs and the delivery schedule required to meet those needs. Do not focus on a description of the program.

The Library requires the following supplies or services:

The Library of Congress (Library), specifically its National Audiovisual Conservation Center (NAVCC), requires continued Axiell product support for the Audio Visual Collection Management System (AVCMS). This software serves as the authoritative repository for 13M+ metadata records and governs ingest and archival workflows for the American Folklife Center (AFC), the Veterans History Project (VHP), and the Music Division. Library staff uses AVCMS to manage all metadata and workflows for audiovisual and other collection materials; incorporate the LC's metadata schema for those collections within the system; and find, request, locate, and retrieve those collection materials for patrons and colleagues.

The core software platform for AVCMS are two commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software products from Axiell named Collections and Flow. The Library has been using this software and support as deliverables of contract LCLSC20C0014 with Axiell to license, configure, and migrate data since April 2020. The Axiell software has been extensively configured to support requirements of NAVCC to serve as the authoritative source of NAVCC's multimedia collections metadata which includes 13M+ content metadata records, workflows to manage processing tasks for three labs, and software integrations with LCSG digitization and discovery applications. The end of the current, last Option Year’s period of performance for product support in Axiell contract LCLSC20C0014 is September 18, 2026.

Plan ID Number: 2026-LGR-0150

Form Updated 4/14/2023

Part 2 – Program Office Justification & Approval

4. Authority for Contracting Without Competition Over $250,000 For this requirement over $250,000, under FAR part 6, the basis for contracting without providing for full and open competition is:

There is only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy Library requirements.

41 U.S.C. § 6101(b)(2)(C); FAR 6.302-1.

Library’s minimum needs can only be satisfied by contractor’s unique capabilities or products. FAR 6.302-1(b)(1).

Source controls copyrights, patents, raw materials, or secret processes cannot be acquired otherwise, or similar circumstances. FAR 6.302- 1(b)(2).

Other exception identified in FAR 6.302-1: Identify the exception

There is such unusual & compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured if competition is not limited.

41 U.S.C. § 6101(b)(2)(B); FAR 6.302-2. Option years are not permitted.

Source is expressly authorized or required by statute (e.g., AbilityOne, UNICOR, GPO, GSA Public Buildings Service, Appropriations Act, etc.) per 41 U.S.C. § 6101(b)(1) and FAR 6.302-5: Identify the authority Other basis authorized in 41 U.S.C. § 6101(b) or FAR part 6.302: Identify the exception

Library’s needs can only be satisfied by a brand-name product or item which is essential to the Government’s requirement. FAR 6.302-1(c).

The Product is listed on the Library of Congress Enterprise Architecture Repository (LCEAR) database (Attach applicable IT Standard Data Sheet)

5. Rationale for Contracting Without Competition

We are authorized to limit competition on the basis of the citation in section 4 because:

The Axiell software platform fills a critical role to meet the Library Collections & Services Group (LCSG) and NAVCC unique requirements with respect to multimedia collection management on behalf of the Library. The AVCMS is deeply embedded in the Library’s broader technical ecosystem. It currently maintains proprietary software integrations with LCSG digitization and discovery applications. Procuring a different COTS product would necessitate a complete re-engineering of these bridge applications, introducing high technical risk, potential data corruption of the 13M+ records during migration, and significant additional costs for custom development that have already been resolved within the Axiell framework. Since 2020, the Library has performed extensive custom configuration of Axiell to meet LC-specific metadata schemas and lab requirements. A new system would require a multi-year re-configuration phase, nullifying six years of institutional investment.

The Axiell software cannot be replaced by a substitute vendor's product or an LC internally developed solution without significant interruption to the operations of the NAVCC collection management responsibilities and significant duplication of effort and cost to the Government (LC contract LCLSC20C0014: 5 year period of performance, ). Initially procured under contract with Axiell in 2020, Axiell contractors and numerous LC staff collaborated for 3 years to install, configure, and migrate data from its predecessor application MAVIS. This LC-tailored solution from Axiell includes 28 types of data objects modeled by LCSG, 13 Million catalog type records alone with approximately 1 Million supporting records which increased by over, 19 workflow definitions supplemented with 64 web forms that support 3 NAVCC media labs (audio, video, film), integrations with NAVCC’s Packard Campus Workflow Application (PCWA) ingest services and LCSG presentation and discovery tools including STACKS and PCWA faceted search. In Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25), the fine-tuned Axiell environment supported the ingestion of over 76,600 files (totaling 1.3 Petabytes) of digital audio-visual material. This throughput is a direct result of iterative workflow optimization that cannot be replicated "out of the box" by another vendor. Substituting the Axiell software implementing these AVCMS design and operational features with another vendor product or LC-internal solution would be estimated to take approximately 3+ years for implementation, full-integration and performance tuning.

Market research indicates that while other COTS collection management systems exist, none have been identified that can ingest the Library's existing 13M+ record database or maintain the 1.3PB annual throughput without significant custom development and substantial transition downtime. A transition to a new vendor at this stage would create a "performance gap," potentially resulting in a backlog of nearly 400 Terabytes of unprocessed national heritage material during the first year of a new system's implementation.

The Axiell software is registered in the LC Technical Reference Model (TRM), where the TRM catalog number for Axiell Collections is TRM0001226 and Axiell Flow is TRM0001227. The relevance of TRM documentation is reinforcement that the Axiell software is considered an IT Standard supporting the Library’s business needs. Axiell owns the source code for the Collections and Flow software products and is the only known source for licensing and product maintenance for their software.

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Plan ID Number: 2026-LGR-0150

Form Updated 4/14/2023

0BPART 3 – CONTRACTING OFFICER DETERMINATIONS & CERTIFICATION

8. Efforts to Solicit from As Many Potential Sources As Practicable Unless a justification is based on FAR 6.302-2, Unusual and compelling urgency, contracting officers shall post justifications for other than full and open competition, including brand name justifications, to the Contract Opportunities website on sam.gov (or eBuy for Brand Name Justifications under FAR Part 8) prior to requesting a proposal or otherwise entering into negotiations.

Advance notice will be published in sam.gov for 15 days before a contract is awarded. FAR 5.203(a).

Advance or concurrent notice will be published in sam.gov for a reasonable time for commercial items FAR 5.203(a) and 12.204(b).

Advance notice will not be published because the action meets the following FAR exception:

Notice would compromise national security. FAR 5.202(a)(1).

Unusual and compelling urgency; notice period would seriously injure Government. FAR 5.202(a)(2).

Expressly authorized or required to be made through another Government agency. FAR 5.202(a)(4).

Order will be placed against an IDIQ contract awarded under FAR 16.5. FAR 5.202(a)(6).

Order will be placed against GSA schedule or other competitively-awarded contract. FAR 5.202(a)(11).

Other:

Advance notice will not be published per 41 U.S.C. § 6101; see attached deviation from the FAR per LCR 7-210 § 3.A.

We made the following efforts to interest potential sources in this award:

9. Listing of Sources That Expressed Interest in Writing

The following sources expressed interest in this award: N/A

10. Additional Information

The following additional information is relevant to this justification and approval: N/A

11. Contracting Officer Determination that Price Is Fair and Reasonable As explained in detail below, I have determined that the prices for this contracting action are fair and reasonable based on comparison of the prices to the following (see FAR 15.404-1(b)(2)):

Historical prices paid by the Government Published competitive price lists Library’s Independent Government Estimate Prices obtained through market research Other: Prices obtained through competitive proposals

The following analysis (based on attached pricing information) supports my determination: This will be document in the Contracts Review Board (CRB) Memorandum.

12. Contracting Officer Determination of Responsibility Checked System for Award Management (or will check in the case of competitive proposals for a brand name product)

13. Contracting Officer Determination of Best Value I have determined that this action represents the best value to the Government because: Best Value will be determined before award within the CRB memo.

14. Contracting Officer Certification I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, this justification is accurate and complete. For those actions up to $750,000, I approve contracting without competition for this requirement.

___Cristina A Vega_______ Name

Date

5/11/2026