36C77619Q0170-000.docx

FedBizOpps Sources Sought Notice

CLASSIFICATION CODE

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CONTRACTING OFFICE'S

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SOLICITATION NUMBER

RESPONSE DATE (MM-DD-YYYY)

ARCHIVE

DAYS AFTER THE RESPONSE DATE

RECOVERY ACT FUNDS

SET-ASIDE

NAICS CODE

CONTRACTING OFFICE

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(POC Information Automatically Filled from User Profile Unless Entered)

DESCRIPTION

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AGENCY'S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT'S EMAIL

ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

ADDRESS

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

GENERAL INFORMATION

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

* = Required Field FedBizOpps Sources Sought Notice Rev. March 2010 R HIGVACOLib19-X Embase Research Database Subscription

(VA-19-00067114)

44131 36C77619Q0170 07-17-2019 N 519130 Department of Veterans Affairs Program Contracting Activity Central 6150 Oak Tree Blvd, Suite 300 Independence OH 44131 Charles E. Holmes, Jr.

Contracting Officer charles.holmes@va.gov http://www.va.gov/ Department of Veterans Affairs Homepage charles.holmes@va.gov charles.holmes@va.gov

SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE

Annual License Subscription to EMBASE Brand name or equal 36C77619Q0170

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Central Office (VACO) Library requires an Annual License subscription to EMBASE (brand name or equal) which will be made available to all VACO Library staff and employees.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.215-3, “Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes” This Sources Sought (SS) is for information and planning purposes only at this time and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Although the terms "proposal" and/or "Offeror" may be used in this SS, any response will be treated as information only.

Requirements:

See attached Draft Statement of Work (SOW) (ATTACHMENT).

The Government anticipates soliciting a one-year contract.

Submittal Information:

Contractors having ability to perform the stated requirements should submit a single spaced, 12-point font minimum, response to the information identified in the Sources Sought Notice. Please also submit a cover page which includes, at a minimum, the company’s name, address, Dunn & Bradstreet (DUNS) number, General Service Administration (GSA) contract number (if applicable), point-of-contact name, phone number, and e-mail address.

Companies shall provide clear and unambiguous evidence to substantiate their capability to fulfill the requirements outlined in this Sources Sought Notice.

Please provide Company business size and status - (i.e., Large Business, Small Business, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business, Women-Owned Small Business, etc.) Any affiliate information (parent company, joint venture partners, potential teaming partners, and VA Mentor Protégé Program membership status), as well as the number of years in business should also be provided.

It is requested that the above information be provided no later than Wednesday July 17th, 2019, 9:00AM EST. Responses should be emailed to Charles E. Holmes, Jr., at Charles.holmes@va.gov. All Email Correspondence for this project must reference the Sources Sought Number, Project Identifier and Project Title in the subject line of the email. Example: 36C77619Q0170 – Annual Licence Subscription. No phone calls will be accepted.

RESULTS INFORMATION: Sources Sought responses will not be returned; neither will Respondents be notified of the Government's evaluation of the information received. The Government may incorporate into the final version of the SOW any information or comment resulting from this request that is determined to be useful. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this Sources Sought.

DISCLAIMER:

This Sources Sought Notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this Sources Sought that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Sources Sought Notice.

Point of Contact:

Charles E. Holmes, Jr., Contracting Officer Department of Veterans Affairs Department of Veterans Affairs Program Contracting Activity Central Independence, OH 44131

E-Mail: charles.holmes@va.gov Statement of Work Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration

VACOLib19 EMBASE Annual License Brand name or equal

July 2019

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Central Office (VACO) Library requires an Annual License subscription to EMBASE which will be made available to all VACO Library staff and employees.

2.0 Background:

EMBASE is a highly versatile, multipurpose and up-to-date biomedical research database. It covers the most important international biomedical literature from 1947 to the present day and all articles are indexed in depth using Elsevier's Life Science thesaurus. The entire database is also conveniently available on multiple platforms.

3.0 Required Salient Characteristics:

Capabilities of the biomedical research database shall include:

Adverse drug events.

Drug-disease relationships.

Drug-drug interactions.

Drug efficacy studies.

Medical device information.

Disease-related biomedical research information.

Intuitive search, triage, and review tools.

Biomedical literature.

Journal coverage of at least 8,500 journals, from at least 95 countries, including MEDLINE titles, from 1947 to the present.

At least 2,900 indexed journals.

Over 1.5 million records added annually, with an average of 6,000 each day.

At least 2.4 million conference abstracts indexed from more than 7,000 conferences dating from 2009.

4.0 Scope of Work:

The contractor shall provide all VACO employees with online access to a single online, web-based subscription to EMBASE or brand name or equal. Authentication shall be through user/password only.

a. The contractor shall provide an unrestricted number of simultaneous users with immediate access from any web-enabled computer within VACO. OpenAthens access is preferred as a supplement.

b. The contractor shall assure the requirements listed in paragraphs 6, Information Quality, 7, Usability, 8, Currency, and 9, Access, Content, Support, are addressed.

5.0 Performance Period: One (1) year plus two (2) one (1) year option periods to be exercised at the discretion of the Government.

6.0 Information Quality:

The contractor shall assure:

a. Information is accurate, authoritative, and relevant.

b. Authors and sources are well recognized subject matter experts in their fields.

c. Policies for determining validity and standards for inclusion of material are well described.

d. Guidelines and summaries include references or sources.

7.0 Usability:

The contractor shall assure:

a. Navigation within the system is logical and is easy to use. There is fast access to topics and subtopics. Topic linking or indexing retrieves material of high relevance quickly.

b. The product has “user friendly” help and direction aids.

c. Users can quickly and easily locate information by browsing by topic or category, or searching for a specific subject

8.0 Currency:

The contractor shall assure content areas are updated on a continuous, incremental cycle rather than on a single anniversary date for the entire product.

9.0 Access, Content, Support:

The contractor shall assure:

a. Product is 508 compliant (http://www.section508.gov/). If product is not 508 compliant, the contractor shall describe measures being taken to bring product into compliance and date, within 12 months of contract award, that product will be 508 compliant. Or, if product is not 508 compliant, the contractor shall describe why no work is being done to make it 508 compliant.

b. All site content and support of the web site is the responsibility of the contractor.

c. System downtime is minimal and VA project manager is notified when such occurs.

d. Information is easily printed.

e. Customer service is available 24/7/365 via toll free number.

f. Usage statistics are available to the system administrator on an enterprise and IP level.

g. The product is accessible via a variety of personal mobile devices including Apple and Android devices.

h. The product’s licensing agreement permits free use for educational purposes of all pictures and graphics.

i. Graphics, pictures, and/or images that are searchable are highly desirable.

j. Onsite and telephonic instruction and training materials are available and designed to integrate solutions with maximum efficiency and effectiveness into the VA Central Office Library’s environment.

B. Price/Cost Schedule:

Base Period of Performance

TBD

Option Year One (1) of Two (2)

TBD

Option Year Two (2) of Two (2)

TBD

Total