ECON-23-0028 POS Data JOFOC 08092023_signed.pdf

ECON-23-0028

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION

In Accordance with FAR 6.3 & CAM 1306.70

Contract Title: Aggregated Retail Point-of-Sale/Scanner Transaction Data

Solicitation Number: ECON-23-0028

Contractor: Circana Group, L.P.

Period of Performance: 09/1/2023 through 08/31/2024 + four (4) one-year option periods through 08/31/2028

Place of Performance: U.S. Census Bureau, Suitland, MD

COR: Sean Morse

Contract Type: Fixed Firm Price (FFP)

1. Identification of the agency and the contracting activity, The United States Census Bureau, Acquisition Division proposes to procure without using full and open competition for Aggregated Retail Point-of-Sale/Scanner

Transaction Data.

2. Nature and/or description of the action being approved

This justification and approval identifies the facts and approval for the award of a sole source contract with the Circana Group, L.P. (Circana) to obtain real-time point-of-sale store and product-level data for individual retailers to improve the quality of Census

Bureau retail data products while also reducing the burden to respondents.

3. Description of the Supplies/Services Required

The purpose of this acquisition is to procure Aggregated Retail Point-of-Sale/Scanner

Transaction Data to produce high quality official economic statistics while making use of a third-party data source that is collecting data that is comparable to what retailers would be providing on Census Bureau data collection instruments. The procurement would allow for a continuous data flow to support the survey life cycles for the Census

Bureau’s indicator programs, annual survey programs, and Economic Census program.

The data must provide detailed and accurate retail data at the company, store, and product level in order to be used in a variety of economic reports.

The United States Census Bureau produces several data products for the retail economy. The Economic Census is conducted every five years and captures the most comprehensive store and product-level information of any of Census Bureau survey instruments. The Census collects data for each company at the store or location level.

The results of the Economic Census are also the core of the sampling frame that many of Census Bureau’s Economic Surveys are built upon. Census Bureau Annual Retail

Trade Survey is conducted every year and captures data at the company level and collects national sales, inventories, e-commerce, and expense data for sampled retailers. Census Bureau Advanced Monthly Retail Trade Survey and Census Bureau

Monthly Retail Trade Survey are subsamples of the Annual Survey and produce timely retail estimates. The information collected in these surveys has a much more limited scope with focus on the national sales figure for both brick and mortar and e-commerce retailers.

The retail economy is a dynamic one that is garnering great attention as it evolves to meet consumer’s changing needs and to adapt to emerging technologies. As a result, there is an increased interest in the Census Bureau’s retail data products. At the same time, however, response rates for Census Bureau surveys are declining due to respondent burden and increased protection of non-public company records. The Fiscal

Years 2022-2026 U.S. Census Bureau Strategic Plan makes a commitment to reducing the burden of responding to surveys and leveraging non-traditional data sources.

In order to make use of third-party data that is comparable to data that would be collected via traditional data collection instruments for retail surveys and the Economic

Census, the Census Bureau needs a consistent store-level and product-level data source that covers a wide variety of retailers across geographies, size, and kind of retail business. The Monthly Retail Trade Survey needs this data delivered within four weeks of month’s end. The product-level data must have detailed characteristics allowing it to be mapped to the North America Product Classification System in order to be used for

Economic Census product estimates. Additionally, in order to allow for precise matching against the Census Bureau Economic Census database, the data source must be able to provide the retailer-assigned store number for each store location. The e-commerce retail channel is currently an important and evolving piece of the retail sector and the data source must provide brick and mortar and e-commerce breakouts for each retailer.

In order to perform critical quality checks of the data against Census Bureau data, historical data for the retailers must be available.

When using a third-party data source, privacy and confidentiality are of utmost concern.

We require that third-party data source provides no information that would allow for the identification of individual purchasers or transactions.

The total estimated lifecycle value of this procurement is $8,500,000.00. The planned period of performance consists of one (1) one-year base period, four (4) one-year option periods for a total life span of 5 years. The table below provides the total estimated cost for each performance period anticipated.

Period: Estimated Cost:

Base Period $1,700,000

Option Period 1 $1,700,000

Option Period 2 $1,700,000

Option Period 3 $1,700,000

Option Period 4 $1,700,000

Total: $8,500,000

4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other Than Full and Open Competition

The statutory authority for this other than full and open competitive action is:

FAR 6.302-5(a)(2) (i) A statute expressly authorizes or requires that the acquisition be made through another agency or from a specified source.

Citation:13 U.S.C § 6 – Census Organic Act - Information from Other Federal

Departments and Agencies; Acquisition of Reports from Other Governmental and

Private Sources.

5. Demonstration of the Applicability of This Authority

FAR 6.302-5 authorizes sole source procurements when authorized by statute.

Specifically, 13 U.S.C § 6 states:

(b) The Secretary may acquire, by purchase or otherwise, from States, counties, cities, or other units of government, or their instrumentalities, or from private persons and agencies, such copies of records, reports, and other material as may be required for the efficient and economical conduct of the censuses and surveys provided for in this title.

(c) To the maximum extent possible and consistent with the kind, timeliness, quality and scope of the statistics required, the Secretary shall acquire and use information available from any source referred to in subsection (a) or (b) of this section instead of conducting direct inquiries.

Circana can provide company-level datasets containing store-level and product level totals for 1,300 retailers covering at least 20 different kinds of retail businesses including department stores, automotive, sporting goods, apparel, and beauty. These datasets can be used to create national, store, and product level totals for use in surveys and in the Economic Census. The data are broken out by brick and mortar and e-commerce sales. Circana began tracking retail sales at the company and product level in 1984;

thus is able to provide a consistent and historical time series for its retailers. In a proof-of-concept project with Circana (as The NPD Group, L.P.), the quality of the Circana data was deemed excellent as Circana data was on average less than 2% different at the store level from what the retailers had reported to the 2017 Economic Census and monthly and annual data also tracked well with the Monthly and Annual Retail Trade

Surveys. The store location match rate between the NPD data and the 2017 Economic

Census data was 99.3%.

Because of the high degree of accuracy and detail across multiple levels of retail data, and because no other vendor expressed interest or the ability to meet the government’s requirements, the dataset from Circana is required for the efficient and economical conduct of the surveys provided for in title 13 of the U.S. Code. Section 6.

6. Effort to Solicit Potential Sources

The Census Bureau issued a Sources Sought Notice through the Government Point of

Entry, sam.gov, on May 16, 2023, with responses due June 01, 2023. Circana was the only contractor that demonstrated interest.

A Notice of Intent to Sole Source was issued on July 25, 2023 the Government Point of

Entry per FAR 5.2, with response due by August 09, 2023. No responses were received.

7. Fair and Reasonable Cost to the Government

Price analysis and price reasonableness will be conducted in accordance with FAR

15.404-1(b). Prior to award, the Contracting Officer will review the proposal and determine if the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable through a variety of methods, including comparison with prices of similar services in a related industry, and previous contracts, and the government cost estimate. The fixed prices will depend on the quantity of data delivered in each purchase.

8. Market Research

The Census Bureau issued a Sources Sought Notice through the Government Point of

Entry, sam.gov, on May 16, 2023, with responses due June 01, 2023. Circana was the only contractor that demonstrated interest, responded, and is capable of providing the required retailer transaction data at the individual company and location level.

The Economic Indicators Division (EID) also conducts ongoing market research for data sources through trade associations (International Council of Shopping Centers and

Digitally signed by Sean

Sean Morse Morse

Date: 2023.08.09 08:22:13 -04'00'

National Federation of Retailers), trade shows (Retails Big Show, Shop Talk, and

Grocery Expo) contact with vendors, and data pilot programs.

Based on the above market research activities, the Census Bureau has concluded that only Circana offers the required retailer transaction data to satisfy the requirements.

9. Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other Than Full and Open Competition

In accordance with 13 U.S.C. S 6 – Census Organic Act, the Census Bureau has the authority to acquire the retail data directly from a source that has the data rather than incurring the expense of recreating or duplicating the information for the efficient and economical conduct of the census and survey provided for in this title.

10. Interested Sources

Circana was the only source that expressed interest in the acquisition via the Sources

Sought Notice issued on May 16, 2023.

11. Subsequent Actions to Remove or Overcome Barriers to Competition

The data source that the Census Bureau requires is not available elsewhere. The

Census Bureau requires a data set containing individual retailer data on a monthly basis by store location, e-commerce vs. brick-and-mortar differentiation, and product category.

USCB will evaluate requirements and organizational directives as well as marketplace conditions, allowing for subsequent consideration and competition for other solution providers in this market segment.

12. Technical Certification

I certify that the data and information forming the basis for this justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Sean Morse

Program Analyst

Economic Indicators Division

U.S. Census Bureau

PAUL

BOESCH

Digitally signed by PAUL

BOESCH

Date: 2023.08.09

08:38:09 -04'00'

LESLIE

ANDRECS

Digitally signed by

LESLIE ANDRECS

Date: 2023.08.09

10:58:17 -04'00'

13. Contracting Officer Certification

I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Paul Boesch

Contracting Officer

Acquisition Division

14. Approval

Based on the above justification, I hereby approve accomplishment of this acquisition by means other than using full and open competition.

OU Competition Advocate:

Leslie A. Andrecs

U.S. Census Bureau Competition Advocate

Acquisition Division

Department of Commerce Competition Advocate:

Acting For: Molly A. Shea

Deputy Senior Procurement Executive and

Deputy for Procurement Management