REDACTED JA for TIBCO Foresight_01.pdf

TIBCO Foresight Software Maintenance CONTROL NUMBER VA-25-00076705

JUSTIFICATIONFOR 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 task order issued under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC), to acquire brand name TIBCO Foresight Instream Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Validator Tool software maintenance support.

3. Description of the Supplies or Services: VA Financial Services Center (FSC) requires brand name TIBCO Foresight Instream HIPAA Validator tool software maintenance support services. The brand name TIBCO Foresight Instream HIPAA Validator tool ensures that incoming transaction data is compliant with various HIPAA rules, standards, and guidelines; plus provides for data correction as needed. The FSC is currently using a previous version of the TIBCO software to ensure data compliance with HIPAA guidelines. The period of performance for this procurement is 12 months from date of award with two (2) 12-month option periods. The total estimated value of the proposed action is XXXXXXXXXXX (inclusive of options).

4. Statutory Authority: Pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 16.505(a)(4), 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 FAR 16.505(b)(2)(i)(B), 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: This is a brand name justification in support of FAR 11.105, Items Peculiar to One Manufacturer. Based on extensive market research as described in paragraph eight of this document, it was determined that limited competition is viable among the NASA SEWP resellers for this brand name requirement. TIBCO’s maintenance services are the only software maintenance services that meet VA’s requirement. TIBCO software support is required to maintain compatibility with existing IT infrastructure currently installed and operating within the VA-FSC’s environment. The-FSC has a substantial investment in its current network and IT infrastructure. The TIBCO Foresight application directly supports the VA Mission which includes providing health care services, benefits programs, and access to national cemeteries to former military personnel and their dependents. This software is currently being used to process millions of claims and to directly adjudicate medical claims that generates over $4.1 billion in revenue for the VA that is used to provide care and services for Veterans per the mission. The source code for the software is not available for purchase and without the source code the FSC cannot maintain the software themselves. If maintenance is not continued for the Foresight software, the software could stop functioning and could cause security vulnerabilities that could expose Veteran private information. If the TIBCO software maintenance is not procured VA would not generate revenue from medical claims being processed. Medical Centers and Clinics would not be re-imbursed for services provided and thus operating budgets for said medical center and clinics would be impacted, potentially impacting the care Veterans receive. The purchase of a different software product would cause both software and hardware incompatibility issues with the VA-FSC’s IT services.

Subsequent changes to the IT infrastructure to resolve any of these incompatibilities would be financially detrimental and would overly complicate VA-FSC’s network and IT infrastructure.

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 can meet the Government’s requirements. However, the undersigned VA technical representative determined that limited competition is available among authorized resellers for brand name TIBCO 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.

8. Market Research: VA’s technical experts conducted market research on TIBCO’s software maintenance in May 2025 to ascertain if other products would satisfy VA’s requirements. Market research was conducted via the NASA SEWP V GWAC website, General Services Administration Advantage, and independent website search using the Google search engine. VA technical experts reviewed software maintenance services offered by other manufacturers who produce similar products and offer similar maintenance support services such as Microsoft and Diagnostic Related Group grouper. Based on reviews of these products, the Government’s technical experts determined that none of these products can meet the Government’s interoperability and compatibility requirements previously discussed.

The Government conducted additional market research in May/June 2025 by using the NASA SEWP V GWAC Market Research Tool and the NASA SEWP Provider Lookup to determine whether this brand name requirement is available from NASA SEWP V GWAC holders. VA determined that there are several SDVOSB Contract Holders that are resellers of this brand name requirement. As a result, there is a reasonable expectation that limited competition exists among SDVOSB Contract Holders on the NASA SEWP V GWAC for this brand name requirement.

9. Other Facts: None

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.

Nothing to see Date Mgmt. & Program Analyst

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 based on anticipation of competition and discounts among NASA SEWP V GWAC authorized resellers of this brand name requirement. Additionally, catalog pricing for SEWP V GWAC holders has already been determined by NASA to be fair and reasonable.

Finally, price analysis shall be conducted by comparing the successful quotation with the Independent Government Cost Estimate.

Cheater Date Procuring Contracting Officer

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

Cheater Date Procuring Contracting Officer