Update Access Key must be up to date (valid IBM maintenance contract), to be able to apply a new firmware level

You can check expiration with

# lscfg -vpl sysplanar0 |grep -p "System Firmware"    
Microcode Image.............NL1020_035 NL1020_033 NL1020_035        
Microcode Level.............FW1020.00 FW1020.00 FW1020.00        
Microcode Build Date........20220527 20220527 20220527        
Update Access Key Exp Date..20220515        
Hardware Location Code......U9105.42A.XXXXXXX-Y1      
Physical Location: U9105.42A.XXXXXXX-Y1

By default, newly delivered systems include an UAK that expires after three years. Thereafter, the UAK can be extended every six months, but only if a current hardware maintenance contract exists for that server. The contract can be verified on the

https://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess

As update access keys expire, they must be replaced by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC) or the ASMI on the eBMC.