Justification_for_Bloomberg_Redacted.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL & OPEN COMPETITION

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND CONTRACTING AGENCY:

Contracting Activity: BAM Customer Agency: OPLC Department of Labor Department of Labor

BLS/BAM BLS/OPLC

2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20212 Washington, DC 20212

2. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED:

This request is for a firm-fixed-price Purchase Order for an annual subscription to the Bloomberg Terminal for the BLS Office of Prices and Living Conditions (OPLC). This Order will include a Base Year plus two one-year Option Periods.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE AGENCY’S

NEEDS

The Bloomberg Terminal provides real-time coverage of markets and securities with pricing and analytical information on every asset class, including commodities, equities, and derivatives.

Much of this data is needed in order to continue publishing or greatly improve the quality of current indexes. This renewal request will include two one-year option periods to save administrative costs in the future. The period of performance for this requirement is 12/14/2019 – 12/13/2020 and the Order will ultimately end on 12/13/2022 if all options are exercised.

BLS has been purchasing Bloomberg Terminal services since Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 and BLS currently has a Bloomberg Order in place. Order 1625DC-17-P-0035 was awarded to Bloomberg Finance L.P. on 9/4/2017 for one base year and four one-year option periods. BLS attempted to do a modification to add this second terminal to the Order, but Bloomberg only offers full year subscriptions which would exceed the period of performance on the current Order. Therefore, BLS will issue a new Order for this requirement.

4. AN IDENTIFICATION OF THE STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING

OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

6.302-1 Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements. The subscription and the software are proprietary to Bloomberg and they have no current resellers

5. A DEMONSTRATION THAT THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE

QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE OF THE ACQUSITION REQUIRES USE OF

THE AUTHORITY CITED:

The unique qualification of this contractor is that they provide a cost-effective and dependable solution to obtaining alternative data for several PPI indexes from a single source. Much of this data is needed in order to continue publishing or greatly improve the quality of current indexes.

If the PPI were to attempt to obtain the same data elsewhere, multiple sources would be needed at a cost of $150,000 or more. The data we are able to obtain from the Bloomberg Terminal would otherwise have to be purchased from several data sources and/or collected from respondents around the country:

- Data from one of the major equities exchanges requires a subscription fee which we are unable to pay because they refuse to register in the government purchasing system. This data is pricing data used directly in calculating indexes.

- Data on Barclay’s Bond Indexes has a subscription fee which we are unable to pay because they are unwilling to register in the government purchasing system. This data is used in production work.

- Data on municipal securities would have to be purchased from one of a handful of sources.

In addition, a Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures license would have to be purchased. This data is pricing data used directly in calculating indexes.

- Data on another one of the major equities exchanges has to be obtained from a respondent, requiring initiation and collection costs. This data is pricing data used directly in calculating indexes.

- Certain pricing data that is available in the terminal for various goods is currently collected from respondents across the country, requiring an initiation and collection cost.

- A variety of additional data from the terminal is used for production work, analysis, and research.

- The Bloomberg Terminal also provides proprietary research that is not available anywhere else and is used for industry analysis.

6. A DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS TO OBTAIN COMPETITION TO ENSURE THAT

OFFERS ARE SOLICITED FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS

PRACTICABLE, INCLUDING WHETHER A NOTICE WAS OR WILL BE

PUBLICIZED AS REQUIRED BY SUBPART 5.2 AND IF NOT, WHICH EXCEPTION

UNDER 5.202 APPLIES:

This requirement will be awarded to Bloomberg as a sole source award under NAICS 541519 – Other Computer Related Services. In accordance with FAR 5.203, synopses must be published 15 days before the issuance of a solicitation or negotiations with a sole source. Exception – for commercial items acquisitions, the Contracting Officer (CO) may (1) establish a shorter period for issuance of the solicitation; or (2) use the combined synopsis and solicitation procedure (see

12.603). Since this requirement is a reoccurring BLS purchase and since we have not received interest from other capable vendors, the CO has decided to post a synopsis to FBO for 10 days before entering into negotiations for sole source.

7. A DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE ANTICIPATED

COST TO THE GOVERNEMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE:

Price is uniform for all subscriptions regardless of customer. The current price includes a one year subscription. The cost of obtaining portions of this data from other (multiple) sources would be approximately $150,000 or more.

8. A DESCRIPTION OF MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED (PART 10) AND THE

RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT

CONDUCTED:

An OPLC analyst searched the internet and other publications and was unable to find an alternative source. See Section 5 for more detail. This justification will be posted to FBO and allow for possible vendors to submit capability statements.

9. ANY OTHER SUPPORTING FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION: N/A

10. A LISTING OF SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED, IN WRITING, AN INTEREST

IN THE ACQUISITION:

Bloomberg expressed an interest in this acquisition by submitting a market research quote dated 10/24/2019.

11. A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO

REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE ANY

SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED:

Before exercising the next Option Period, BLS will conduct market research prior to the renewal of this subscription one year from now to see if any new competing subscriptions or databases are available for this procurement.

12. SIGNATURE BLOCKS:

The program/technical official further certifies that no conflict of interest exists in awarding a sole source contract to the contractor identified herein.

TECHNICAL CERTIFICATION:

I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance, which are included in the justification, are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signature: _________________________ Date: _____________________________

Dinis Leal, Contracting Officer’s Representative

CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION:

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signature: _________________________ Date: _____________________________

Michael DeAngelis