P03 JA SPSS_Redacted.pdf

SPSS Software Maintenance Support Services Control Number: VA-26-00032439

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, NJ 07724

2. Description of Action: The proposed action is for a firm-fixed-price (FFP) delivery order (DO) to be issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) to acquire brand name International Business Machines (IBM) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software maintenance support services.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) End Users Operations (EUO) has a requirement for the purchase of continued support and maintenance of existing licenses of brand name IBM SPSS, and acquisition of additional software license subscriptions, support and maintenance, as well as optional tasks for additional quantities of licenses, maintenance, and technical support. SPSS Statistics is a comprehensive statistical analysis software used for data management, advanced analytics, and predictive modeling. It supports a wide range of statistical procedures and is commonly used in research, healthcare, and policy analysis to inform data-driven decision-making. This Enterprise Agreement (EA) will establish a single contract vehicle that will consolidate existing SPSS software licenses currently in use at VA while at the same time providing a means for VA to acquire additional software subscriptions to fulfill customer demand.

This contract represents the continuation of software licenses and support services for SPSS software products identified herein, that have been acquired or will be acquired by VA during the contract period of performance. This requirement shall include software upgrades throughout the life of the order and will be compliant with the VA Technical Reference Model (TRM).

Performance shall be a 12-month base period. The total estimated value of the proposed action is $619,307.54.

4. Statutory Authority: The following brand name requirement is being justified and approved as an exception to fair opportunity under the statutory authority of Section 41 U.S.C. 4106(c)(2) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation Overhaul VA Deviation 16.507-6(b)(2), entitled “Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized.”

5. Rationale Supporting Use of Authority Cited Above:

Based on market research, as described in Section 8 of this justification, it was determined that limited competition is viable among resellers for brand name IBM SPSS software maintenance support services. VA requires continued annual maintenance for its existing IBM SPSS software, and only IBM or its authorized resellers can provide the necessary updates, patches, technical assistance, and support due to the proprietary nature of SPSS’s source code. These services are critical to maintaining data accessibility, security, and operational continuity. SPSS is the only software capable of interfacing with VA databases that were created using its proprietary file format. These databases contain years of clinical, demographic, and administrative data essential for research, reporting, and healthcare delivery. Without SPSS maintenance, this data would become inaccessible or at risk of corruption, disrupting operations across multiple VA departments and compromising analytical capabilities vital to patient care and Veteran services.

Transitioning to an alternative platform would require a complete rebuild of VA’s infrastructure, including migrating datasets, recreating proprietary databases, and redesigning reports and workflows. Current industry estimates for enterprise-level data migration projects range from $75,000 to $250,000, but given VA’s scale and complexity, moving VA’s SPSS-based infrastructure to a different platform would likely exceed $500,000. IBM SPSS maintenance pricing remains competitive and predictable, with annual subscriptions for each user ranging from $1,188 to $1,524, plus optional module fees. Considering these costs, lack of interoperability, and the operational risk associated with migration, IBM SPSS software continues to be the only practical and viable solution that aligns with VA’s technical, operational, and financial requirements.

Additionally, migration timelines for systems of this size typically require at least 12 months of dedicated effort. During this period, VA would lack OEM support for SPSS, risking data integrity and causing significant operational delays.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Market research was conducted, details of which are in section 8 of this justification. This effort did not yield any additional sources that could meet the Government’s requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name IBM SPSS Software, as well as software maintenance and support. In accordance with FAR 16.505(a)(4)(iii)(A)(1), this justification will be provided with the solicitation to all appropriate NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 5.301, 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(D), and 16.505(a)(4)(iii), the award notice for this action will be synopsized on the Contract Opportunities website and this justification will be made publicly available within 14 days of award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: The Government will continue to conduct market research to ascertain if there are changes in the marketplace that would enable future actions to be competed. Specifically, the Government will continue to monitor the marketplace to determine whether other brand software could integrate into VA’s existing suite of SPSS applications. Furthermore, it is planned that the Government will recompete this requirement in Fiscal Year 2027 and alternative products will be considered.

8. Market Research: Market research efforts were conducted by VA subject matter experts between November 2025 – February 2026. The Government’s technical experts reviewed alternate software products but none of the products reviewed could meet all the requirements of the VA which is explained in greater detail below.

Open-source tools such as GNU PSPP and commercial platforms like AddMaple, R with the Haven package, and Python libraries can import .sav files, but cannot reliably read all metadata, variable labels, value labels, or transformation rules embedded in the datasets. These tools also cannot read or recreate SPSS syntax files, macros, or proprietary statistical procedures used extensively in VA studies. Attempting to use these tools on VA systems would result in inconsistent data interpretation, broken workflows, loss of data fidelity, and a high risk of corrupting historical datasets. While theoretical workarounds exist, such as manually reconstructing variable definitions or converting datasets to non‑SPSS formats, these would require significant time, technical expertise, and quality validation for each dataset. This is impractical for VA’s large research portfolio and would introduce unacceptable risks to the accuracy and reproducibility of Veteran‑related analyses.

Further, other commercial products such as SAS, Stata, Dataiku, Alteryx, DataRobot, and SageMaker, offer robust analytical capabilities; however, none of these products natively support SPSS’s proprietary formats or integrate with SPSS authored databases. Using these products would require converting or rebuilding all existing datasets and analytic pipelines. Such conversions introduce substantial data loss risk because variable properties, value labels, missing value structures, statistical procedures, and custom SPSS logic do not translate directly into other platforms. Even partial workarounds, such as exporting data to CSV or flat files, would strip essential metadata, require extensive manual reconstruction, and undermine the integrity of longitudinal Veteran studies that rely on consistent definitions over time. The required level of reengineering would also place a heavy burden on VA researchers, statisticians, and IT staff while jeopardizing data accuracy for mission‑critical healthcare, administrative, and research operations.

Based on the Government’s market research, IBM SPSS software and maintenance support is the only product that meets all the Government’s requirements.

Additional market research was conducted in March 2026 through a Request for Information (RFI) posted on the NASA SEWP V GWAC website to assess competition among resellers of IBM SPSS. The RFI response yielded no alternative solutions proposed but identified multiple Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB’s). The Government’s technical experts reviewed all responses and found that three (3) vendors including two (2) SDVOSBs and one (1) WOSB who appeared capable of meeting this requirement. Based on the results of the market research, there is reasonable expectation that limited competition exists among verified SDVOSB contract holders on the NASA SEWP GWAC.

9. Other Facts: N/A

AMANDA

MORALES

Digitally signed by AMANDA

MORALES

Date: 2026.04.27 09:21:57 -05'00'

10. Technical/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.

Amanda Morales

IT Specialist

Office of Information and Technology (OIT) U.S Department of Veterans Affairs

11. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated price to the Government for this action will be fair and reasonable based on competition.

Additionally, NASA SEWP V GWAC prices have previously been determined fair and reasonable. Finally, the successful quote will be compared to the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

John Fields Contracting Officer Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Department of Veterans Affairs

12. Contracting Officer Certification/Approval: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. This contract action exceeds the simplified acquisition threshold, but does not exceed $900,000, therefore, the certification required by FAR 16.505(b)(2)(ii)(A) serves as the Contracting Officer’s approval.

John Fields Contracting Officer Technology Acquisition Center Office of Procurement, Acquisition, and Logistics Department of Veterans Affairs

JOHN FIELDS Digitally signed by JOHN FIELDS

Date: 2026.04.27 10:58:38 -04'00'

JOHN FIELDS Date: 2026.04.27 10:59:09

Digitally signed by JOHN FIELDS

-04'00'