Digital Magazine Plan Sources Sought.pdf

This is a Sources Sought Synopsis published by the United States Air Force (the Government or USAF). There is no solicitation available at this time. Requests for a solicitation will not receive a response. The purpose of this sources sought notice is to conduct market research to determine whether there are businesses available capable of providing an alternative product that meets the characteristics below. The Air Force anticipates procuring this product as a FY26 base effort with a projected period of performance of 30 September 2026 – 29 September 2027. This effort will have three – one year option periods: Option year 1 - 30 September 2027 – 29 September 2028, Option year 2 - 30 September 2028 – 29 September 2029, and Option year 3 - 30 September 2029 – 29 September 2030.

Responses to this sources sought notice will assist in a determination of whether it is in the best interest of the Government to proceed with a competition.

FSC: 7630

NAICS: 516210

Size Standard: $47 Million

Subscription name: Digital Magazine Journal Platform Subscription

1. Description: The Department of the Air Force Library Program has the following requirement: needs a Digital Magazine Journal Platform Subscription

2. Product characteristics an equal item must meet to be considered:

1. Must be able to provide full-color digital magazines on the Overdrive Platform already under contract with DoD Libraries

2. Must be able to be accessed/read on desktops, mobile devices, or apps

3. Magazines must be downloadable on at least 90% of mobile devices including iOS (Apple®), Android™, and Kindle Fire™/HD/HDX

4. Database must contain a collection of popular digital magazines with both new and backlist titles

5. Magazine must be available without holds, checkout periods, no limits and provide full list of magazine titles in the Simultaneous Use

6. Must provide popular titles such as Us Weekly, Good Housekeeping, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone

7. Must provide special interest titles such as PC World, Bon Appetit, Minecraft World, and Women’s Fitness

8. Must provide titles in a variety of languages including Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, German, French, and more

9. Must provide a rolling 3 years of back issues, wherever available

10. Must be able to curated and weeded magazines available

11. Must provide marketing resources for DOD Libraries to promote the content to customers

12. Must be able to search and checkout collection by newest issue, keyword search, genre and language

13. Must provide the user a magazine in the collection, they can open it and start reading with one tap, generating a checkout for your library.

14. Must provide a streamlined access to magazines will have a new dedicated section. This will help users find their favorite magazines from the library in one convenient place.

15. Must provide text to speech function

16. Must distribute digitally overseas

17. Must work with a magazine publishers that sells to the

Government

18. Access to information needs to be seamless, minimal response time between query initiation and query results, and search results within 5-10 seconds.

19. Must be able to interface with all 4 service branch library single sign on an industry standard authentication method to ensure only eligible patrons can access resources from any internet connected computer browsers and mobile devices.

20. Must work with contract POC to establish authentication methods to provide optimal accessibility for all eligible patrons. Security between the Website and server must be Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3

21. Must be able to supply or allow retrieval of database usage statistics by Branch of Service (Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Other, and Navy)

22. Must have HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with long duration deployed on the servers to mitigate/prevent man-in-the-middle attacks

23. Website certificates should be RSA 2048-bits (SHA256withRSA)

24. VCL must be able to test the platform to evaluate if it meets requirements. Must provide username and password to view content on platform.

The Government will consider responses received within 10 days of issuance of this notice.

Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct a full and open competitive procurement or a small business set aside competitive procurement. The Government will not pay for any information received in response to this announcement. If the Government competes this requirement, a synopsis shall be issued utilizing the combined synopsis/solicitation procedure identified in FAR 12.603. If this effort becomes a Small Business Set-Aside, FAR 52.219-14, Limitation on Subcontracting, will apply. Therefore, small businesses that want to be considered for a small business set-aside should demonstrate how they intend to comply. A determination not to compete this requirement based upon responses to this notice is an administrative decision by the Government that is solely within its discretion.

Contractors should be aware of the following information:

1. Contractors must include the following information:

a. Points of contact, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers.

b. Identification as a large U.S. business, a small U.S. business, or a foreign business. Please note that size indicated should be based on the NAICS code for this effort listed above.

c. Identification of any other socioeconomic status including: Women-Owned Small Business, Economically Disadvantaged Small Business, 8(a), Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, Veteran Owned Small Business or HUBZone.

d. Company CAGE Code or UEI.

e. Capabilities Statement

2. This requirement is not intended for specific brand name products. Offerors are encouraged to suggest products other than those that may be specifically referenced by brand name. Responses must address how alternate product meet the product characteristics specified above.

3. Submitted information shall be UNCLASSIFIED.

Any information submitted by respondents to this sources sought synopsis is strictly voluntary. The Government will not reimburse the respondents for any costs associated with their response. This synopsis does not constitute a Request for Proposals nor does its issuance restrict the Government as to its ultimate acquisition approach. The Government reserves the right to contact the submitting parties, on an as required basis, for further clarification on material provided.

Respondents should not construe this notice as a commitment by the Air Force for any purpose.

Responses should be emailed to Contracting Specialist: SrA William Sasser, william.sasser.2@us.af.mil and Contracting Officer: Gustavo Guadron, Gustavo.Guadron@us.af.mil no later than 21 August 2026, 4:00 PM CDT. Any questions should be directed to both SrA Willliam Sasser and Gustavo Guadron through email.

mailto:william.sasser.2@us.af.mil