1333BJ19P00141002_SSF_CapIQ_.pdf

Form # USPTO-OP-026.v2.0 (9/17) 1

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION (SSJ)

(FAR 13.501; PTAG 6.1.1)

Program Office: Office of Chief Economist

Program Office

POC:

Julie Ables Chapin

Title of Procurement:

Captial IQ Database Subscription

Contracting Officer:

Claire Rotruck

Contracting Activity:

USPTO Office of Procurement

Contracting Officer Phone:

571-272-1638 PR Number: ACQ-19-2495

1. Description of the Action

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Office of Policy and International Affairs, Office of the Chief Economist (OCE), has a requirement for economic research. The OCE requires access to business, financial, economic, and marketing data through a self-managed service with centralized access, a high volume of cross-disciplinary data, flexibility of delivery including computing cloud access, and orientation toward academic research. In an effort to obtain access to this information, OCE is seeking to procure a subscription to a database that can provide these services. This is the sole source justification to procure the subscription to use the Capital IQ Database from S&P Global.

2. Description of the Supplies/Services

This subscription enables the OCE to obtain

• Financial Modeling application to quickly evaluate company performance , produce in-depth peer analysis, conduct backtest research with the ability to quickly generate models in desktop application built-in wizards and Excel

• Transparent and robust analytic datasets to assist in benchmarking, price validation, cost of capital calculation and transfer pricing

• Intelligence for public and private companies and industries globally with information including financials, transactions, professionals, board members, key events, ownership data and capital structure details

• and analyze information in Excel and PowerPoint linking directly back to the same database

• Compustat and Capital IQ standardized financials which look into MD&A and adjusting accordingly for non-recurring charges to enhance comparability in all accounting standards including the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Financial Accounting, Standards Board (FASB), Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) guidelines and principles

• Access to all forms of financial fillings including press releases, initial filings, restatements and appropriate pre and post adjusted financial statements to improve clarity, consistency and comparability

• Audit ability for each line item in a financial statement to arrive at the exact location of where a line item is stated in a company filing on both a web platform and through Excel

• Ability to search and screen based upon financial data, professional functions, board memberships, education, transaction details, security level data , credit ratings, key events, ownership data, equity and fixed income data

Form # USPTO-OP-026.v2.0 (9/17) 2

• Ability to monitor companies, regional economies, sectors, industries and their associated constituents with the capacity to customize dashboards to reflect this information

• Key events and market moving news on both public and private companies including transactions, corporate actions and announcements, transaction rumors, product announcements and potential red flags

• Provide detailed transaction data including M&A, private placements, spin/split offs, takeover defenses, share buybacks and public offerings.

• Provide transparency and categorized market pricing for debt funding through Corporate Yield Curves

• Ability to incorporate proprietary data with S&P Capital IQ data side on a by-side on the platform and through Excel

• Access to private company financial information to compare against public company financials

• Access to corporate hierarchies to look at all direct and indirect subsidiaries to understand the corporate tree, customers, suppliers, ownership and potential vulnerabilities

3. Statutory Authority

This action is being executed under the procedures in FAR subpart 13.501(a), used in accordance with [41 U.S.C. 1901 (Simplified Acquisition Procedures)]

4. Unique Vendor Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition

S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Capital IQ Platform was determined to be the only platform meeting all the stated requirements as discussed below Table 1 below compares the feature set of four web-based financial research platforms:

1. WRDS (Wharton Research Data Services) with subscriptions to CRSP and Compustat WRDS is OCE’s current web-based tool for economic research Research of this platform included an onsite demo with WRDS representatives

2. Bloomberg Terminal Service This source expressed interest in writing Research of this platform included an onsite demo with a Bloomberg representative

3. Bureau Van Dijk This source expressed interest in writing Research of BVD’s platforms included a webex demo with Bureau Van Dijk representatives

4. S&P Global Market Intelligence: Capital IQ Platform

Research of this platform included a webex demo with Capital IQ representatives

OCE has identified four requirements that must be present in any potential source:

1. The platform must have an end-user tool to search for a list of companies by a user-specified keyword or phrase (e.g. “Internet of Things”) The above feature enables OCE to more efficiently generate and analyze groups of companies all related to a user-specified keyword or phrase – wherein this keyword/phrase is often much more specific as compared to a company screening based solely on industry classifications

2. The platform must have an end-user tool to execute a batch company name search OCE utilizes various datasets of company information, which only reference companies by non-standardized name. A batch company name search tool enables

Form # USPTO-OP-026.v2.0 (9/17) 3

OCE researchers to efficiently integrate business and financial information related to each matched company

3. The platform must be able to return historical financial (and business) information for each company in a set of company screening search results on an annual basis for at least the last 20 years OCE performs historical data analysis and reviews economic research papers that often use historial data going back at least 20 years

4. The platform must either have in-browser-chat or phone support available at least 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday.

“Real-time” customer support will help enable OCE to more efficiently produce research report requests and meet time-sensitive deadlines

As shown in Table 1 below, the Capital IQ Platform is the only platform that satisfies all four of the above requirements

Additionally, the Capital IQ Platform is the only platform that satisfies all 13 features as listed in Table 1 below.

Platform: WRDS Platform*

Bloomberg Terminal Service

Bureau Van Dijk

S&P Global Market Intelligence:

Capital IQ Platform *based on subscriptions to CRSP and Compustat databases

Company Search Tools

Method to search companies by NAICs codes Yes No Yes Yes

Company Search by keyword (e.g. "Internet of Things") No No Yes Yes

Batch Company Name Lookup Tool No No Yes Yes

Excel Plugin with the ability to do batch company name matching inside Excel No No No Yes

Database Coverage

Database includes Private North American Companies No Yes Yes Yes

Database includes Public & Private International Companies No Yes Yes Yes

Using web-based company search tool:

Output historical financial information for companies in search results for at least the last 20 years

Yes Yes No Yes

Search Results

Tool to find out why company is not showing up in search results (using web-based search platform)

No No No Yes

Using web-based search platform: Export at least 10k search results at a time to Excel file format

Yes No No Yes

If searching for companies by a selected keywords, online search results include both a column with the text used, and also the selected keywords are highlighted

No No No Yes

Customer Support

Phone support available at least 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday No Yes No Yes

In-browser chat support available at least 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday No Yes No Yes

Support technician can directly access your saved company search query, generate a second company search query based on your

No No No Yes

Form # USPTO-OP-026.v2.0 (9/17) 4 support request, and share the generated second query directly via web platform

5. Efforts to solicit as many potential sources as possible

A Market survey was conducted, which included publishing a sources sought notice (Number:

4272018) on April 27, 2018 with a closing date of May 11, 2018. Two sources (Bureau Van Dijk and Bloomberg) submitted written capability statements.

In pursuit of gathering additional market research:

• A Bloomberg representative provided an onsite product demo

• Bureau Van Dijk representatives provided product demos via webex

• WRDS representatives provided an onsite demo

• Capital IQ representatives provided a demo via webex

6. Determination by the Contracting Officer that anticipated cost will be fair and reasonable

The Contracting Officer will determine that the price is fair and reasonable in accordance with FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(i-iv). Detailed documentation and justification of price reasonableness will be disclosed in the Acquisition Form Documentation (AFD) to be prepared upon completion of negotiations.

7. Market Research

Two sources (Bureau Van Dijk and Bloomberg) expressed interest in writing, and two others were identified through market research.

S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Capital IQ platform was the only platform that satisfied all identified requirements as discussed in section 2.0 of the attached USPTO Market Survey Memorandum.

8. Other Facts Supporting the Justification

In 2018, this SSJ went through the process for approval both through the small business office at the PTO and at DoC. It was intended to be an award with multiyear options. However the award was made in error for just one year. Therefore, this process is being revisited, again, with the same request for an award with option years. The current contract number is: 1333BJ18P00142008. The decision to move to this subscription platform was twofold. First, this database subscription satisfies all of the OCE requirements in one package. (see table evaluation in Section 4. Qualifications) Second, this database saves significant dollars for the Agency. Previous to this database (at an annual subscription price of around $70K) three subscription databases, totaling over $160K annually, were necessary to satisfy the same requirements. Earlier contracts included Compustat (DOC50PAPT1600041), CRSP (DOC50PAPT1600040), and WRDS (DOC50PAPT1600038).

9. Listing of sources that expressed interest in writing

• Bureau Van Dijk

• Bloomberg

10. Actions to remove or overcome barriers to competition

A sources sought advertisement in the FBO was issued and a thorough anaylses of the vendors who

Form # USPTO-OP-026.v2.0 (9/17) 5 expressed interest was conducted resulting in one vendor who could satisfy all requirements considered critical to the mission of the organization. Thorough market research will be conducted in accordance with FAR Part 10 when it comes time to renew the subscription and USPTO will seek other sources.

11. Contracting Officer’s certification

The contracting officer’s signature on the signature page evidences that he/she has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief.

12. Program Office certification of completeness and accuracy

As evidenced by their signatures on the signature page, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein which is their responsibility are both accurate and complete.

13. Approving Official determination

The approving official’s signature on the signature page evidences that he/she has determined that sufficient facts exist to support the justification.

Form # USPTO-OP-026.v2.0 (9/17) 6

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION (SSJ)

COORDINATION AND APPROVAL PAGE

(<$700,000)

Contracting Activity: USPTO Office of Procurement

Purchase Request Number:

ACQ-19-2495

Program Name:

Captial IQ Database Subscription Estimated Price of the Order (w/options):

$350,000

Authority:

[FAR 13.501; PTAG 6.1.1; PM 2016-02]

Type Determination:

Individual

Concurrence:

Program Office Representative: Julie Ables Chapin Aug 9, 2019

COR Date Signed

Approval:

Contracting Officer: Claire Rotruck ______________ Contracting Officer Date Signed