36C77626Q0128.docx

Sources Sought Notice: 36C776-26-AP-1112

EBSCO Consolidated CINAHL Medline PBSC

GENERAL INFORMATION

SET-ASIDE

Program Contracting Activity Central

6100 Oak Tree Blvd, Suite 490 Independence OH 44131

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist Andrew Allen Andrew.Allen6@va.gov 216-447-9321

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

ADDRESS

POSTAL CODE

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Sources Sought Notice Sources Sought Notice

DESCRIPTION

Sources Sought Notice

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC) is in the process of planning a requirement in which a contractor will be required to provide EBSCO Consolidated CINAHL, Medline and PBSC. Please see Statement of Work document.

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.215-3, “Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes” This Sources Sought/Request for Information (SS/RFI) 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/RFI, any response will be treated as information only.

Complete responses to this notice will assist the VA in determining any potential set-aside for the requirement. Not providing all information requested in response to this notice may result in the VA being unable to determine a vendor potentially capable of satisfying the requirement and, subsequently, if the “rule of two” criteria is not met, a specific set-aside category may not be decided by the Contracting Officer. To qualify as a small business under a small business set-aside contract, the offeror must be considered a small business under the NAICS code assigned to the procurement.

Requirements:

See attached Draft Statement of Work (SOW) and list of journals requesting.

The Government anticipates soliciting a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP), single award, contract with a base period of performance of 12 months and four (4) twelve (12) months option periods.

Submittal Information:

Contractors having ability to provide the listed titles in its entirety, shall provide the following:

· Company Name and Address:

· Point of Contact (POC)

· Name:

· Email Address:

· Phone Number:

· UEI Number:

Mark if your firm is eligible for participation in one of the following small business programs. If so, please indicate the program:

[ ] yes [ ] no - Small Business (SB) [ ] yes [ ] no - HUBZone [ ] yes [ ] no - Small Business 8(a) [ ] yes [ ] no - Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) [ ] yes [ ] no - Women-Owned (WO) Small Business [ ] yes [ ] no - Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) [ ] yes [ ] no - Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) [ ] yes [ ] no - Large Business [ ] yes [ ] no - Other (please specify)

Please answer the following questions:

· Are you an authorized reseller of EBSCO Consolidated CINAHL, Medline and PBSC?

· If yes, you must provide signed documentation supporting your authorization such as a notice from EBSCO stating your company is an authorized reseller. The documentation shall be no more than two years old.

· Does your company offer this service via a General Service Administration (GSA) contract?

· If yes, provide the contract number or attach the contract to the response.

· Is your company able to comply with Limitation on Subcontracting requirements, such as VAAR 852.219-75 for an SDVOSB set aside or FAR 52.219-14 for small business set aside? Please explain.

Note: Do not include Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information in responses.

In addition to providing the information requested above, responding companies are encouraged to include any relevant information to confirm the company’s ability to meet the requirements outlined in this request.

It is requested that the above information be provided no later than Thursday, March 19, 2026, 10:00AM EST. Responses should be emailed to Andrew Allen at Andrew.Allen6@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: Sources

Sought Notice: 36C776-23-AP-2477 Various eJournals . No phone calls will be accepted.

RESULTS INFORMATION: Sources Sought responses will not be returned, nor will respondents be notified of the Government's evaluation of the information received. 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.

STATEMENT OF WORK

EBSCO Resources (Brand Name or Equal)

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) requires “Brand Name or Equal” for the following commercial off the shelf web-based resources: Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) which is a database containing nursing and allied health bibliographic information and access to full-text journals, Medline Complete which is a bibliographic information and full-text journal resource of journals focused on medicine, and a journal package focused on psychology and behavioral sciences; Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Collection (PBSC). All three products will be made available throughout the VHA healthcare system.

Performance Period: One year award plus four option years

1.1 Objectives

The desired goals of the nationwide provision of commercial medicine, nursing and allied health care knowledge-based resources are as follows:

0. Providing access nationwide to standard knowledge-based medicine, nursing, allied health, psychology and behavioral sciences care information resources.

0. Initiating a nationwide, centralized purchase to capitalize on the economies of scale offered by vendors.

0. Negotiating one license/contract to decrease the current contracting and reviewing efforts that are required at the facility and/or VISN level and thereby avoid the costs and workload associated with multiple procurements.

0. Making the products mentioned above available to VA staff nationwide to ensure consistent access to current, high quality scientific information at the bedside for all VHA health professionals and staff.

2.0 Scope of Work:

2.0.1 The vendor will provide all sites on the VHA network with access to the three online, web-based products named above. Authentication will either be through IP address validation on an enterprise basis, eliminating the need for users to enter identification, username and/or password, or through Single Sign On in collaboration with the LibLynx platform established to serve VA staff.

0. An unrestricted number of simultaneous users are to have immediate access from any web-enabled computer within VHA. It is required that all authorized remote users with VPN access have access to the product.

0. Products must have technical capability to include LibLynx authentication for remote users.

0. Information Scope

The products should include:

2.1.1 Knowledge-based information covering the journal literature in the fields of medicine, nursing, allied health care, and psychology and behavioral sciences. Must include indexing and abstracting plus full text access when possible.

2.1.2 Information that reflects current practice issues and supports clinical decision making.

2.1.3 Related health care books, dissertations, and conference proceedings.

2.1.4 Content issues are updated on a continuous, incremental cycle rather than on a single anniversary date for the products.

2.2 Information Quality

2.2.1 Information is accurate, authoritative, and relevant.

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

2.2.3 “Best practice”, evidence-based information, or treatment practice guideline information is included.

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

2.3 Usability

2.3.1 Navigation within the system is logical and is easy to use.

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

2.4 Currency

2.4.1 Journals issues will be added at least monthly.

2.5 Access, content, support

2.5.1 Products should be 508 compliant. (http://www.section508.gov/)

2.5.1.1 If products are not 508 compliant, vendor must describe measures being taken to bring products into compliance and date, within 12 months of contract award, that products will be 508 compliant. OR

2.5.1.2. If products are not 508 compliant the vendor must describe why no work is being done to make it 508 compliant.

2.5.2 Access to be granted through IP address validation on an enterprise basis, eliminating the need for users to enter identification, username and/or password. Alternatively, access can be granted via single sign on through LibLynx federated authentication.

2.5.3 An unrestricted number of simultaneous users are to have immediate access from any web-enabled computer throughout VHA. It is required that all authorized remote users (with VPN, dial-up, wireless, etc. access) have access to the product through any VA networked computer and/or CPRS. Remote access via LibLynx must be allowed.

2.5.4 The product is compatible with most standard web browsers, which have cookies enabled. To ensure privacy, the product uses session cookies rather than persistent cookies.

2.5.5 The product is compatible with the Windows environment.

2.5.6 All site content and support of the web site is the responsibility of the contractor. This includes tech support to VHA users nationwide.

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

2.5.8 Information is easily printed.

2.5.9 The product’s licensing agreement must permit free use for educational purposes of all pictures and graphics.

2.5.10 Single point of contact for customer service issues is assigned to VA

2.5.12 Usage statistics are available to the system administrator on an enterprise level.

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

2.5.14 The contractor should offer training services. On an as requested basis, training session (web-based or live) will be set up to train VHA staff in the use of the products. Specialized training sessions may be requested for VA library staff.

2.5.15 Availability of usage statistics at an IP level is highly desirable.

2.5.16 Information or text can be emailed among VHA colleagues.

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