Final_JA_Redacted.pdf

Single Source Justification (Simplified Acquisition)

Security Marking (select from the drop-down list)

March 2018 Security Marking (select from the drop-down list) Page 1 of 2

Section A: General Contract Information

Is this a Bridge Action as defined in the AF Bridge Action Reduction Plan? Yes No

Contracting Activity: AFLCMC/PZIEC

Project/Program Name: Safari Books Online

Purchase Request/Identification Number:

Estimated Contract Cost (including Options):

Section B: Description of the Supplies/Services Required

In accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b) and AFFARS 5313.106-1(b) this is a justification for other than full and open competition for a sole source acquisition.

The Air Force Institute of Technolgy (AFIT) library requires access to the on- demand, fully searchable digital library that provides access to over 40,000 books, videos, pre-publication manuscripts, and short form content in the fields of technology, business, and related creative services, professional development, and personal enrichment topics, as well as to tutorials and live training courses. This material would include the O'Reilly guides that are crucial for IT training and the industry standard for IT learning. The portal must provide searching, online content formatting, a modern interface that is compatible with browsers on mobile devices. It must also allow users offline content availability to parts of the collection. The technical e-books and supplemental material (videos, files) included in the requested subscription are necessary to allow the AFIT Library to support their mission to engage AFIT personnel with learning tools and instructional services to accomplish academic and research missions. Access to the required technical e-books will enhance the broad access to technical skill knowledge in IT, crucial to the work done at the Air Force Institute of Technology. That knowledge and skill will be brought into the Air Force, as AFIT graduates.

The vendor quote provided by Safari for the collection of technical e-books and supplemental material (videos, files) satisfies AFIT's requirement.

SAFARI BOOKS ONLINE, LLC

Section C: Justification for Soliciting from a Single Source or Brand Name

The technical e-books and supplemental material (videos, files) included in the requested subscription are vital to the ongoing mission, outlined in detail in Section B, of AFIT. There is no other collection of academic literature covering the fields of technology, business, and related creative services, professional development, and personal enrichment topics comparable to the licensed content of these publications provided by Safari. Safari Books Online, a subsidiary of O'Reilly Publications, is the only product and vendor that can satisfy this requirement. Safari is the only online portal licensed to carry the O'Reilly books as digital material, a core IT learning collection of books. Safari Books Online is the only portal that provides a centralized learning space for IT topics, complementing the collection's ebooks with interactive features such as video tutorials and supplemental media. Safari is the only vendor with exclusive access to the appropriate materials. A majority of the content in this collection is published by Pearson Education, Inc. and is not available elsewhere as a set. Without this purchase, AFIT would be forced to purchase access to each Pearson e-book individually which is cost prohibitive. In addition to Pearson, content providers including Packt, Taylor & Francis and John Wiley & Sons, also provide published ebooks via Safari exclusively. The depth and breadth of their collection is an essential quality to the AFIT library's requirements. The subscription must offer the collection and services to meet the needs of a broad user base, provide high quality resources, and be accessible in all locations.

The DOD MWR has invested in an account for Safari Books Online, but that enterprise subscription is constantly facing the limit of licensed seats (user accounts), and that condition causes waiting lists, as researchers who need Safari wait for some inactive

Single Source Justification (Simplified Acquisition)

Security Marking (select from the drop-down list)

March 2018 Security Marking (select from the drop-down list) Page 2 of 2 accounts under the DOD MWR Safari license to expire and deactivate, allowing room for the equal amount of new accounts from the waiting list. Waits for activation can last months. That waiting list process does not suit the learning and research requirements at AFIT, so the DOD MWR investment in Safari Books is not suitable, and does not represent a duplicate purchase.

User accounts under this requirement would be limited to 200 AFIT resident personnel.

There are not comparable resources in the market that would cover all of these aspects of the required fields in one place with the same functionality and access.

Section D: Efforts to Obtain Competition

AFIT surveyed the market for vendors to determine if competition was available for the requirement. The library used publishers' advertisements, professional conferences, vendor demonstrations, customer suggestions and new publication reviews to conduct its surveys. AFIT librarians communicated with other agencies to confirm there were no feasible competitors for this product or similar products available. No viable vendors were found.

An intent to award sole source was posted on FBO from 12 APR 2019 - 19 APR 2019 advising industry of the intent of the government to award sole source and requesting any interested firms to submit a capabilities package indicating their capability to provide the requirement. The synopsis outlined minimum characteristics a similar product would have to meet to fulfill the requirement as described in section B above. No viable responses were received.

Section E: Steps to Preclude Future Single Source or Brand Name Awards

The contracting activity will post an Intent to Award Sole Source on FedBizOpps, as described in Section D above, in order to obtain competition. If acceptable responses are received, the contracting activity will modify its strategy accordingly.

AFIT will keep an open dialog with the users/patrons and evaluate statistics to determine the necessity to use this resource to supplement its collection of research databases. AFIT will continue to survey the market for vendors to obtain competition in databases. The library will use publishers' advertisements, professional conferences, vendor demonstrations, customer suggestions and new publication reviews in conducting its surveys.

Section F: Contracting Officer's Determination

I have determined, in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), that the circumstances of this contract action deem only a single source is reasonably available.

Date

18-Apr-2019

Typed Name and Rank/Grade of Contracting Officer Signature of Contracting Officer