Description
NOTICE OF INTENT TO PROCURE ITEM PECULIAR TO ONE MANUFACTURER (See FAR 11.105(a)(3)). The U.S. Department of Education, Office of the General Counsel (OGC) intends to renew its annual subscription license for West LegalEDcenter from West Publishing Corporation, (West LegalEdcenter Headquarters, 610 Opperman Dr., Eagan MN 55123), on a sole source basis in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.106-1(b). The period of performance is a 12-month base period and two 12-month option periods. The service provided by West is unique in its comprehensiveness in course offerings and other services. OGC serves as the principal adviser to the Secretary on all legal matters affecting Departmental programs and activities. OGC requires an online legal education capability to meet the training and professional development needs of its attorneys and non-attorney staff. The West LegalEDcenter has been used in the past and has been a critical tool for meeting OGC's training and professional development needs. West, a Thomson Reuters company, provides integrated information resources to the U.S. legal market. The West LegalEdcenter is a subscription-based online platform that offers the most comprehensive and current online catalog of legal and professional development content. This service will uniquely meet the training and professional development needs of OGC. First, the LegalEdcenter library contains over 7000 programs and more than 17,000 hours of content, available as audio, on-demand video, and live webcasts. This extensive library covers both substantive and practice-skills topics that would provide current updates and legal information supporting the duties and responsibilities of OGC's attorneys, such as: legal and policy developments in education law, government contracting, the False Claims Act, legal research and writing, deposition skills, motion practice skills, legal ethics, employment law updates, Supreme Court term-in-review and term previews, privacy and data security law, FOIA, intellectual property, and other areas of significance to our staff, across multiple levels of experience. The LegalEdcenter also includes a paralegal training program that would support the training needs of our non-attorney professionals, such as courses on case management, business skills, and legal writing. Second, the LegalEdcenter is a cost-effective and flexible resource for supporting OGC's training needs. For a flat fee per user, OGC staff will have access to thousands of hours of training that is updated frequently. OGC will also have an opportunity to host our own internally produced online trainings, led by OGC staff, which would be available 24/7 through a secured portal on the LegalEdcenter platform. This unique feature would allow OGC experts to diffuse important in-house training and skills across a wide cross-section of our staff, in a way that would promote streamlined and flexible knowledge sharing. After thorough market research that included surveying product catalogs, GSA schedule offerings, and vendor websites, the Contracting Officer concluded that, while numerous entities may be able to develop a solution, only the West solution described above is currently available in the commercial marketplace and is capable of immediately meeting the Department's needs without further development. Accordingly, the Department intends to solicit only West and to renew its annual license subscription to West LegelEDcenter. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to meet the requirement in writing to the identified point of contact not later than September 3, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. EST. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely to determine whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Department not to compete this proposed action on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Department. This notice of intent is NOT a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for competitive quotes. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.