6_-_JA_OSA_Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLYUpdated: 15 Mar 16

NOTE: If a Justification and Approval was approved for the preceding acquisition, a copy of the approved J&A for the predecessor action must be included in the staff package for approval of the instant J&A. This applies to J&A staff packages that are submitted for review and approval at a level above the contracting officer. The predecessor J&A will be used as a reference document by the approving official.

Choose the funding level for this J&A Document:

> $700K and < $13.5M > $13.5M and < $93M > $93M

Con racting Activity: AFLCMC/PZIEC

Purchase Request / Local ID Number: TBD

Program / Project (and PE, if applicable): Optical Society of America (OSA) Digital Archive 1 & 2 (backfiles)

Program Type (PEO or Other Contracting): Other Contracting

Authority (include full title): FAR 13.106-1(b) Soliciting From a Single Source & FAR 13.501(a) Sole Source Acquisitions

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): J&A Type: Class Individual

COORDINATION (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

Date

Signature

APPROVAL (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

Date

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLYUpdated: 15 Mar 16

I. Contracting Activity.

This justification and approval to request authority for Other Than Full and Open Competition supports requirements generated for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Consortium. The contracting activity for this requirement is the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Specialized Contracting Section (AFLCMC/PZIEC).

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

Due to the circumstances described herein, the activity requests authority to acquire electronic access to the Optical Society of America (OSA Journal Archives 1 & 2 using Other Than Full and Open Competition as prescribed by FAR 13.106-1(b) (soliciting from a single source), and 13.501(a) (sole source acquisitions). This individual action will result in the award of a new Firm Fixed Price contract. This sole source requirement will be acquired from the following organization:

The Optical Society of America (OSA) 2010 Massachusetts Ave NW STE 10 Washington, DC 20036-1023

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

AFRL/DSO require access to the Optical Society of America (OSA) Digital Archive 1 & 2 (backfiles). OSA is one of the leading publishers of optics research and information. The OSA journals are highly respected and frequently cited within the scientific community. The journal backfiles required (OSA Digital Archive 1 (1917-2005) abd OSA Digital Archive 2 (2006-2015)) is essential to aerospace research. The titles made accessible via this backfile acquisition enhance the broad access to scientific research that is crucial to the work done at the Air Force Research Laboratory. The cost to AFRL Consortium for perpetual access to the OSA online journals backfile is based upon an official quote provided by the OSA representative.

IV. Statutory authority permitting Other than Full and Open Competition.

13.106-1(b), Soliciting from a single source 13.501(a), Sole Source acquisitions in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 1901

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

The OSA online journal backfiles are a unique resource for AFRL, not available from any other source, and they supplement AFRL's collection of optics research and information through electronic and physical journals for this subject area.

Sole source acquisition is justified because the Optical Society of America (OSA) has exclusive copyright to their data. They would not allow their data to be purchased from any other sources, nor do we have the option of going directly to other publishers.

Without this sole source acquisition, AFRL researchers will be forced to conduct time-consuming literature searches in print volumes from the library's existing collection, risking the use of dated information. For those items not currently held in the library's collection, staff must attempt to borrow the volumes from outside libraries. Having up to-date, real-time access to these electronic journals will ensure research and development dollars are not spent on wasteful, duplicative efforts. The information contained in these journals is one of a kind research critical to the overall AFRL mission. In addition, lack of access to the OSA online journal backfiles would slow the often time sensitive scientific research done by Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) scientists and engineers in support of the warfighter and the U.S. Air Force mission.

The information contained in these electronic journals is one of a kind research critical to the overall AFRL mission.

Accordingly, the Optical Society of America (OSA) is the only firm capable of providing the supplies described above without

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLYUpdated: 15 Mar 16 the U.S. Air Force experiencing substantial duplication of cost that could not be recouped through competition.

VI. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

An Intent to Award Sole Source Synopsis (FA8604-17-N-5043) was published from 6 December 2016 - 12 December 2016 (via FBO.gov) requesting any interested firms to submit a package indicating their capability, proposal, or quotation to provide these required publications. No responses to the posting on FBO were received. The market research (See Section VIII) and Synopsis confirms the electronic journal archives required by AFRL are only available from OSA.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

In accordance with FAR 13.106-3(a), the Contacting Officer shall determine that the proposed price is fair and reasonable.

The basis of this determination is anticipated to be based on FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(ii) and FAR 13.106-3(a)(2)(iii). This has been previously procured by AFLCMC/PZI for the AFRL Consortium and the price shall be verified against OSA's current price lists, catalogs, or advertisements and by comparison to prices previously paid.

VIII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

As described in Section VI above and in accordance with FAR Part 10, market research was conducted by synopsis of the proposed acquisition, advising industry of the pending acquisition, and soliciting inquiries from interested parties.

AFRL closely monitors other organizations whose goal is to foster competitive titles. AFRL monitors the impact of the journals from various publishers through http://www.journalprices.com/. Scientific journals are assigned an impact factor which gauges the impact of a particular journal based on how often it is cited by other scientists. This and other websites allow AFRL to gauge the ability of other publishers to provide the technical information contained in the copyrighted OSA digital archives. To date, the OSA digital archives provide the sole resource for the data contained in their database; however, AFRL continually monitors their performance as well as other publications' potential to provide scientific information.

IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

None

X. List of sources, if any, that expressed interest in the acquisition.

The Optical Society of America (OSA) 2010 Massachusetts Ave NW STE 10 Washington, DC 20036-1023

XI. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

Steps that will be taken to remove barriers to competition include encouraging scientists and engineers to publish in other than OSA's databases and publications; supporting Open Access (allowing anyone in the world access to articles for free) initiatives and developing institutional repositories where scientists would self-archive and make their research more widely available.

XII. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

The contracting officer's signature on the Coordination and Approval Document evidences that he has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief in accordance with FAR 13.501(a) (1)(ii) and FAR 6.303-2(b)(12).

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLYUpdated: 15 Mar 16

XIII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by their signatures on the Coordination and Approval Document, the technical and/or requirements personnel have certified that any supporting data contained herein which is their responsibility is both accurate and complete in accordance with FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii) and FAR 6.303-2(c).