7A--NR-WRD-231 AQUARIUS SUPPORT MAINT. FY26

The contract pertains to the annual renewal of support and maintenance services for the proprietary Aquarius software suite owned by Aquatic Informatics, covering key components including the Aquarius WebPortal Server, Time-Series Server, Public Access Option, Rating Tool, and related enhancements, along with 50 subscriptions to Aquatic Academy for user training. The acquisition is justified as a sole-source procurement under FAR 6.103-1(d) and 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1), due to the software’s unique, deeply integrated role in managing over 2.4 billion water data points from more than 4,000 monitoring locations across federal agencies including the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior. Substitution of the system is deemed impractical and cost-prohibitive, with replacement costs estimated at four to five times the renewal value, primarily due to irreversible investments in custom configurations, training, data protocols, and infrastructure. The period of performance is 12 months, with performance administered through the Washington Contracting Office in Lakewood, Colorado, and invoicing expected under standard DOI procurement procedures. Pricing is structured at 25% of the original software purchase price plus inflation adjustments, though actual dollar amounts are not disclosed. No formal FAR contract clauses, inspection standards, packaging requirements, or offeror certifications are included in the documentation. The contracting officer is Christina Gingras, with Dean Tucker serving as the contracting officer representative, and all obligations are tied to continued access to an ecosystem of proprietary tools that have no viable commercial alternatives.