Notice of Intent to Sole Source: VA701-17-N-0079 ProQuest Database Subscriptions Introduction: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC) intends to issue a sole source contract to ProQuest LLC for subscriptions to the ProQuest National Newspapers Expanded database and ProQuest Research Library database. Justification: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) requires continuation of two (2) identified ProQuest databases currently being used as resources to answer research-related questions received by VACO library staff. These databases also serve as a resource to VACO employees conducting independent VA related research. These databases have the ability and authority to aggregate source material (content) from third-party publishers to create copyrighted, derivative, and researchable databases with associated abstracts and indexes, which are vital to VACO staff in compiling data for answering inquiries as well as conducting research. At this time, there is no solicitation. If your company feels it can provide the requirements of the online subscription, please review the requirements below and provide a capability statement. Background: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA) requires existing commercial off the shelf (COTS) based, ProQuest subscription products that will be made available throughout the VHA healthcare system. These products support research and learning, publishing and dissemination, and the acquisition, management and discovery of library collections. Currently, VHA utilizes these ProQuest Databases on an institution wide basis. VHA s goal is to maintain uniform availability of a high quality resource across the VHA system for research support. Requirements: Performance Period: One twelve (12) month Base Period with four (4) Options Year periods to be exercised. Objectives To provide access to resources in support of ongoing VHA research and general inquiries. 2.0 Database Capability 2.1 The contractor shall provide a database which includes, but is not limited to, newspaper content from the following U.S. titles: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post and USA Today. Coverage shall be from 1985 (or prior) to current. 2.2 The contractor shall provide one-stop access to thousands of full-text periodicals via a broad, inclusive general reference database which allows the user to search from a highly-respected, diversified mix of scholarly journals, professional and trade publications, and magazines covering over 150 subjects and topics, including: health and medicine, history, literature and language, science and technology, social sciences, and the arts. 3.0 Access, content, support 3.1 Product is 508 compliant. (http://www.section508.gov/) 3.1.1 If product is not 508 compliant, vendor must describe measures being taken to bring product into compliance and date, within 12 months of contract award, that product will be 508 compliant. OR 3.1.2. If product is not 508 compliant, vendor must describe why no work is being done to make it 508 compliant. 3.1.3. An unrestricted number of simultaneous users shall have immediate access from any web-enabled computer within VA Central Office. It is required that all authorized remote users with VPN access have access to the product. 3.2. The product is must be compatible with Internet Explorer and most standard web browsers, which have cookies enabled. To insure privacy, the product uses session cookies rather than persistent cookies. 3.3. The product is compatible with the Windows environment. 3.4. All site content and support of the web site is the responsibility of the contractor. This includes tech support to VA users nationwide. 3.5. System downtime is minimal and VA project manager is notified when such occurs. 3.6. Topics are easily printed. 3.7. The vendor must permit free use for educational purposes of all pictures and graphics. 3.8. Single point of contact for customer service issues is assigned to VA. 3.9. Questions are responded to on the same business day. 3.10. Usage statistics are available to the system administrator on an enterprise level. 3.11. The product shall be accessible via a variety of personal mobile devices including Blackberry, Apple and Android devices. 3.12. Graphics, pictures, and/or images that are searchable are highly desirable. 3.13. The contractor must offer training services. On an as requested basis, training session (web-based or live) will be set up to train VHA staff on use of the product. Specialized training sessions may be requested for VA library staff. 3.14. Availability of usage statistics at an IP level is highly desirable. 3.15. Topics can be emailed among VHA colleagues. Submittal Information: As stated above, this is an Intent to Sole Source. However, any responsible source who believes it is capable of meeting the requirement may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which shall be considered by the agency, only if received by the closing date and time of this notice. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government. Responses to this notice are due on or before March 12, 2017 to Clayton Smith via email at
[email protected], Roberto De Jesus at
[email protected], and Anthony Wilson at
[email protected]. All responses must include the following information: Company name, Cage code, CCR number, Dun & Bradstreet number, Company address, Point of contact name, Phone number, Fax number, GSA contract (if applicable) and email. The subject line for correspondence should clearly display: VA701-17-N-0079.