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 two – one year option periods: Option year 1 - 30 September 2027 – 29 September 2028 and Option year 2 – 30 September 2028 – 29 September 2029.

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: $47M

Subscription name: Multi-Topic Database

Description: The Department of the Air Force (DAF) Library Program requires a Multi-Topic Database package Subscription. Must include an academic research, a biography, a general reference, and a military and intelligence databases.

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

1. Must provide include a academic research database, a biography database, a general reference database, a military and intelligence database.

2. A biography database that offers authoritative reference content alongside magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, audio podcasts, and images. Covering a vast array of people from historically significant figures to present-day newsmakers, it’s continuously updated to ensure researchers have access to the very latest information.

3. The academic research database must include extensive coverage in key subject areas such as, biology, chemistry, criminal justice, economics, environmental science, history, marketing, political science, and psychology.

4. Academic research database must more than 11,000 peer-reviewed journals and more than 8,000 in full text articles from periodicals covered in major bibliographic resources such as CINAHL, BIOSIS, MLA, PsycINFO, ERIC, EconLit, RILM, and others.

5. The general reference database must include millions of articles from over 17,000 scholarly journals and other authoritative sources—including thousands of podcasts and transcripts from NPR and CNN as well as videos from BBC Worldwide Learning.

6. The general reference database must include the following topics: Agriculture, Business, Business Economics and Theory, Communication and Mass Media, Criminal Justice, Culinary Arts, Diversity Studies, Environmental Issues and Policy, Gardening, Landscape and Horticulture, Gender Studies, Home Improvement, Hospitality, Tourism, Leisure, Information Science, and Library Issues, Insurance and Liability, Nursing and Allied Health, Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine, Pop Culture, Popular Magazines, Professional, Psychology, Religion and Philosophy, U.S. History, Vocations and Careers, War and Terrorism.

7. The general reference database must include full-text with no embargo and recommended by Bowker's Magazines for Libraries.

8. The general reference database must include millions of articles with reference, newspaper, and audio content that complements the resource's robust collection of magazines and journals.

9. The biography database must provide access to key information on influential figures of more than 640,000 biographical entries, from all time periods and areas of study.

10. The biography database must be able to provide authoritative content of over 4,800 portal pages on contemporary and historical figures merging authoritative reference content with periodicals and multimedia.

11. The biography database must be able to provide search capability for people based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender, as well as by keyword and full text.

12. The military and intelligence database provides military personnel with access to scholarly journals, magazines, and reports covering all aspects of the past and present military affairs.

13. The military and intelligence library resource should contain content supporting key subject areas such as, governmental policies, the socioeconomic effects of war, the structure of the armed forces, and more.

14. Exclusive features, including a topic search tool, interconnects articles and topics between databases and other related resources, and a mobile-optimized interface, support and enhance the search experience.

15. Must include backfiles and unlimited simultaneous access to content by users.

16. Must be able to provide peer reviewed material and articles

17. Must be able to provide material on all subjects listed above and specific content provider/publisher with digital content/copyright agreements

18. Needs to be able to provide searches by all database or by individual databases

19. Needs to be able to browse by subject with visual topic map/finder graphic alternative to get regular search results

20. Needs to have notes and highlight feature to articles/topics that can be downloaded or printed by customer for later usage and work seamlessly with Google and Microsoft customer personal accounts for saving information for later usage.

21. Needs to have a mobile application that allows users to save articles, citations, and links

22. Must provide free staff training and complimentary marketing resources.

23. Must work with contract POC to establish authentication methods to provide optimal accessibility for all eligible patrons.

24. DoD Libraries is looking for an established vendor in the library commercial marketplace and not a custom built product/platform/subscription.

25. Must provide a single sign on login for all registered DoWL users - SSo methodology – SAML attributes are required for authentication

26. Security between the Website and server must be Transport Layer Security

(TLS) 1.3

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

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

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

30. 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: SSgt Christian Etner, christian.etner@us.af.mil and Contracting Officer: Gustavo Guadron, Gustavo.Guadron@us.af.mil no later than 17 August 2026, 4:00 PM CDT. Any questions should be directed to both SSgt Christian Etner and Gustavo Guadron through email.