DRAFT Subscription Management SOW.pdf

Statement of Work (SOW)

U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)

Project Title: Subscription Management Service

1.0 GENERAL INFORMATION

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is financing solutions to the most critical challenges facing today's developing world. Working with businesses, DFC mobilizes private capital to invest in projects that create jobs and opportunities in emerging markets, including building critical infrastructure, expanding access to telecommunications, and providing small business financing for women entrepreneurs. Launched in 2019, DFC helps to advance America's foreign policy by partnering with projects that create economic stability, protect sovereignty, and ensure transparency. DFC investments adhere to high U.S. business standards and respect the environment, human rights, and worker rights.

2.0 BACKGROUND

As the U.S. Government's development finance agency, the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) mobilizes U.S. private capital to help solve critical development challenges while advancing U.S. foreign policy interests. DFC works with the U.S. private sector to help gain footholds in emerging markets, catalyzing revenues, jobs, and growth opportunities at home and abroad.

DFC achieves its mission by providing investors with financing, loan guarantees, political risk insurance, support for private equity investment funds, and direct equity investments.

3.0 SCOPE

DFC’s Office of Strategic Information (OSI) requires the services of a professional subscription management agent to acquire and manage DFC’s collection of subscriptions to serials and databases in all formats from a variety of foreign and domestic publishers of varied sizes and sophistication. The collection managed by the Agent is expected to start at roughly 25 titles and expand titles over the course of the contract. Expansion and contraction due to changes in agency needs is expected.

The following are examples of current subscription titles; however, this list is not exhaustive and may include additional titles as required:

*Please Note: Some subscriptions listed below may be for agency-wide access, while others may be for a limited number of users. *

Subscription Publisher AVCJ (Asian Venture Capital Journal) - new sub Mergermarket Transnational Dispute Management MARIS B.V SSIR (Stanford Social Innovation Review) SSIR RMA membership Risk Management

Association DevexPro Devex TradeMap International Trade Centre Foreign Policy Graham Holdings Company

Convergence Convergence Blended Finance

Africa Capital Digest Rowayton Press, LLC ImpactAlpha ImpactAlpha Inc.

Journal of International Arbitration online Kluwer Law Global Water Intelligence Media Analytics Ltd Latin American Economy and Business Intelligence Research Ltd Africa Confidential Asempa Limited African Energy Cross-Border Information Private Equity Africa Frontier Capital Media Investment Arbitration Reporter IAReporter LLC Access Reports Access Reports Budget and Program Newsletter Budget & Program

Newsletter Economist.com EIU WashingtonPost.com Washington Post Capital IQ - new sub S&P Global Bloomberg (terminals/Anywheres) Bloomberg Finance LP Bridge to India (existing DFC package*) Crisil Limited *Bridge to India - current DFC package --India Renewable Weekly --India Solar Compass --India Renewable Market Briefs

ACAMS membership - new Association of Certified Money-Laundering Specialists

IJGlobal (DFC news and data package) Delinian (IJGlobal) Limited World-Check LSEG E&E News (E&E Greenwire, E&E Daily, E&E Climatewire, E&E News PM) Politico CyberFEDS LRP Press Business News Americas Business News Americas EMIS ISI Emerging Markets ATLAS Data Base (DFI pricing) Microfinanza Rating S.R.L.

Fitch Ratings Ritch Solutions S&P RatingsDirect S&P Global Pitchbook Pitchbook Data Inc Leadership Connect Leadership Connect Universe Data & Analytics MSCI Wall Street Journal Digital Dow Jones & Company Financial Times Digital Financial Times

The selected Agent will be required to furnish all qualified personnel, facilities, and supplies for the placement of new and renewal subscriptions. Services expected from the Agent include, but are not limited to:

1) Acquisition and account set-up, access maintenance.

2) Timely renewals, communication of license requirements.

3) Coordination of technical issues between DFC information technology staff and the publisher.

The Agent must be able to add new subscription titles or add users to existing titles during the year, working with the publisher to pro-rate access, dependent upon fluctuating agency need.

4.0 REQUIREMENTS

The Agent shall provide subscription services that would include all the tasks necessary to execute and manage orders for new and renewal subscriptions to serials and databases, both print and electronic. The Agent must be able to provide subscription services for all subscriptions in all media generally available via agents from foreign and domestic (U.S.) publishers. The tasks fall into the following four critical areas:

1) Ordering and renewing subscriptions:

A. Place a new online or print subscription within five (5) working days after receipt of the Delivery/Purchase Order from the Library.

B. Renew an online or print subscription within five (5) working days after the receipt of the Delivery/Purchase Order from the Library, or the receipt of the renewal list.

C. Place orders for Memberships to academic and professional organizations that supply publications.

D. Accommodate late subscription renewal order.

E. Accommodate rush order requests and transmit the order to the publisher within twenty-four

(24) hours of receipt of Delivery/Purchase Order.

F. Accommodate added users/licenses in an existing subscription period of service.

G. Order delays are allowed only by prior written agreement.

H. Agent is required to place subscription orders at any time during the year, unless prohibited by the publisher.

I. Process all subscription cancellations within five (5) business days upon appropriate notification from DFC.

J. Upon request, Agent shall request pricing, licensing terms, and IT related information from publishers prior to receiving an order from DFC when that information is not already available in the Agent’s database.

2) Serving as the Customer’s fiscal agent with publishers, including making timely prepayments and payments, processing refunds, and handling supplemental or bill-later charges:

A. Provide pricing and publication information that relate to price.

B. Research/verify government discounts: DFC may be eligible for certain discounts offered by the publishers to Government Customers. If so, Agent shall ensure DFC receives the lowest price available. The service fee or discount offered by the Agent shall be applied to this actual publisher subscription price paid by DFC.

C. Before providing renewal pricing, Agent shall verify with the publisher that the subscribed package is still offering the best price available and notify DFC promptly if the publisher has added new options which would affect DFC’s price and/or level of access.

D. If DFC requests a specific subscription time period, the Agent shall assist in pro-rating the price to match the requested specified subscription period, whenever allowed by the publisher.

E. If publications are only available through a direct order arrangement, or become discontinued, suspended, or otherwise unavailable, the Agent shall notify DFC promptly upon learning of the impediment and before invoicing.

F. Agent must have the financial capability to pre-pay publishers for subscriptions and to then invoice DFC.

G. Failure to maintain adequate financial responsibility may disqualify the Agent for placement of orders under this contract.

H. Agent shall make additional payments as necessary and will be required to adjust for unforeseen contingencies, such as currency fluctuations, and additional volumes.

I. Agent shall provide support to DFC in tracking funds obligated and items ordered.

J. Agent shall provide a report of estimated outstanding charges prior to the end of the fiscal year if requested by DFC.

K. If no subscription refunds will be recovered under a cancellation, the Agent will notify DFC prior to executing the cancellation.

L. If subscription refunds are recovered, they must be promptly credited to DFC and no administrative fee shall be charged.

M. In those instances in which a refund has been requested due to timely cancellation of a subscription, the Agent shall provide written evidence of their attempts to secure the refund for the Government.

3) Providing reports and other administrative support for subscription management:

A. Agent shall be responsible for ensuring that all orders are completed, and invoices issued.

B. Provide administrative services for each subscription until the subscription expiration.

C. Provide administrative and customer services for starting and stopping periodical subscriptions.

D. Promptly notify DFC of any changes to the subscription’s title, content, or access options.

E. If a title is not explicitly renewed, the Agent shall not automatically renew a title without prior authorization from DFC.

F. Provide an electronic system for self-service information regarding prospective, new, renewal, and previously ordered subscription information. System should include:

1. Full information on currently ordered titles, including price paid and subscription expiration date.

2. Downloadable invoices and credit statements, in PDF and/or Excel format, available on demand. Invoice and credit statements must be searchable and sortable, with the ability to sort by date, document type, and amount (in USD).

3. Downloadable monthly statements showing account information, balance information, payment information, invoice information, and credit information.

4. Database of titles available from a wide range of publishers which DFC can search with no expectation an order will be placed. Database should have pricing whenever available so that it can be used for future planning and market research.

G. Maintain complete records of all bibliographic and financial transactions of DFC for up to three years. When requested, the Agent shall provide immediate access to these records. The DFC reserves the right to audit the transaction records.

H. Provide an Accounts Receivable contact available via email and a direct, toll-free phone number to address concerns surrounding billing, payments, invoices, accounting, fiscal maintenance, and funds.

I. Agent must be capable of liaising directly with publishers for access issues, rate information, and orders; must maintain profile information for packages; and must verify the accuracy of pricing and estimates for title lists, including renewal lists.

4) Customer and Technical Support:

A. The library requires ongoing Customer support, both through an appointed account representative and through a Help Desk or Customer service team.

B. The Agent shall assign an account representative by name who is both familiar with the terms of this contract and the needs of federal libraries. The representative shall respond to all inquiries within three business days.

C. The appointed account representative is expected to address questions or concerns on orders, pending and upcoming renewals and renewal lists, electronic access and access troubleshooting, claims, and delivery issues.

D. Account representative shall acknowledge to all problems submitted via email, phone, or agent-provided ticketing system within 2 business days.

E. Customer and technical support must be provided during business hours, 8:30 AM EST - 5:00

PM EST Monday through Friday.

5) Optional features include:

A. A self-service functionality for the examination of usage statistics by the library for electronic resources, titles, and databases direct from the Agent’s electronic system.

B. Collection statistics should display key metrics such as cost per title, and cost per use, as well as data on the number of titles actively subscribed to, total cost, total usage, and sub-totals of items ordered by format.

5.0 DELIVERABLE:

Key Deliverables

Item Deliverable Item Title

Description Frequency Reference Delivery Format

Due By

1 Ordering and renewing subscriptions

Section 4, A

2 Serving as the Customer’s fiscal agent with publishers to include making timely prepayments and payments, processing refunds, and handling supplemental or bill-later charges

Section 4, B

3 Providing reports and other administrative support for subscription management

Section 4, C

4 Providing Customer & technical support

Section 4, D

6.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

The Period of Performance shall be for a base period of one (1) year from the award date, along with four (4) twelve-month option year.

The Government reserves the right to extend the term of this contract at the prices set forth in accordance with the terms and conditions contained in clause 52.217-9 entitled, “Option to Extend the Term of the Contact”.

7.0 TYPE OF ORDER:

The government anticipates award of a (Firm Fixed Price (FFP).

Please note that the recommended type for the government is FFP. Additional justification may be required to support any type other than FFP.

8.0 HOURS OF OPERATION/PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:

Customer and technical support must be provided during business hours, 8:30 AM EST - 5:00 PM EST Monday through Friday.

9.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED:

Not Application.

10.0 TRAVEL:

Not Applicable.

11.0 CONTRACTOR’S KEY PERSONNEL:

Not Applicable.

12.0 SECURITY REQUIREMENTS:

Not Applicable.

13.0 DATA RIGHTS:

In the performance of this contract, the contractor agrees to keep all information contained in source documents or other media furnished by the Government in the strictest confidence. The contractor also agrees not to publish or otherwise divulge such information in whole or in part, any manner or form, nor to authorize or permit others to do so, taking such reasonable measures as are necessary to restrict access to such information while in the contractor's possession, to those employees needing such information to perform the work provided herein, i.e., on a "need to know" basis. The contractor agrees to immediately notify the Contracting Officer, in writing, if the contractor determines or has reason to suspect a breach of this requirement.

The contractor agrees not to disclose any information concerning work under this contract to any persons or individuals unless prior written approval is obtained from the Contracting Officer. The contractor agrees to insert the substance of this clause in any consultant agreement or subcontract hereunder.

14.0 SECTION 508 – ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS:

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220), requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology (EIT), they must ensure that it is accessible to people with disabilities. Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities must have equal access to and use of information and data comparable to that of non-disabled Federal employees and members of the public.