Financial Planning and Investing Subscription - Combo.pdf

Title: Financial Planning / Investing Subscription Closing Response Date: 11 September 2026 at 4:00 PM CST

Solicitation Number: FA890326A068741

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial products and commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation. Quotes are being requested, and a written solicitation will not be issued.

The solicitation number is FA890326A068741 and is hereby issued as a Request for Quotation

(RFQ).

The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2026-01, effective 13 March 2026.

This acquisition is conducted using full and open competition. The applicable North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 516210, Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers. The corresponding small-business size standard is 1,000 employees. The applicable Product Service Code (PSC) is 7630, Newspapers and Periodicals.

The Department of the Air Force, Air Force Libraries, 772 Enterprise Sourcing Squadron (ESS), has a requirement for an Investment Research and Financial Education Database Subscription in accordance with Attachment 1, ATCH 1 – Product Description.

REQUIREMENT

Department of War libraries provide information resources and services necessary to support mission readiness, professional and voluntary education, financial literacy, quality of life, resiliency, and educational pursuits for authorized patrons.

The Government requires a commercially available, commercial off-the-shelf, web-based investment research and financial education database subscription that provides eligible patrons with globally accessible investment information, financial education, market research, financial planning resources, and online learning tools.

The Contractor shall provide all licenses, subscriptions, content, platform access, Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)-based single sign-on integration, technical support, customer support, usage reporting, administration, and other resources necessary to meet the requirements in Attachment 1.

The Contractor shall furnish the required subscription in accordance with ATCH 1 – Product Description.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The resulting contract will consist of one (1) 12-month base period and three (3) 12-month option periods:

Period Dates Base Period 30 September 2026 through 29 September 2027 Option Period 1 30 September 2027 through 29 September 2028 Option Period 2 30 September 2028 through 29 September 2029 Option Period 3 30 September 2029 through 29 September 2030

The Government may exercise option periods in accordance with the terms and conditions of the resulting contract.

CANCELLATION OF SOLICITATION

The Government reserves the right to cancel this solicitation either before or after the closing date. In the event the Government cancels this solicitation, the Government has no obligation to reimburse vendors for quote-preparation costs or any other costs associated with responding to this RFQ. Vendors submit quotations at their own risk and expense.

INSTRUCTIONS

The provision at FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors -- Commercial, applies to this acquisition. Addendum to this provision is as follows:

GENERAL INFORMATION: To ensure timely and equitable evaluation of quotations, all offerors shall comply with the instructions contained in this RFQ. Quotations shall be complete, sufficient, and directly responsive to all solicitation requirements. Failure to comply with these instructions may render a quotation ineligible for award.

PERIOD FOR ACCEPTANCE OF OFFERS: The offeror agrees to hold proposed prices firm for 60 calendar days from the date specified for receipt of offers.

Offerors shall submit quotations using the method identified above.

OFFER PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS: Offerors shall complete and submit two separate volumes; Volume 1 - Price; and Volume 2 – Technical Approach. There is no page limit for Volume 1. Volume 2 shall not exceed 10 pages. Page Structure: Pages shall be 8.5 x 11 inches.

Text shall be no less than 12 point, Times New Roman font.

Volume 1 - Price. The offeror shall submit the following:

Complete attachment 2 (ATCH 2 - Pricing Schedule), ensuring all company information is current, accurate and adequately filled out. Additionally, complete the table filling in the unit rate and extended pricing for CLINs 0001, 1001, 2001 & 3001 (base year and all option periods).

Volume 2 - Technical Approach. The offeror shall submit the following:

A detailed approach the offeror will implement to meet the Government's requirements.

At a minimum, the offeror shall address their specific approach to fulfilling the requirements outlined in attachment 1 (ATCH 1 - Product Description). Additionally, the offeror shall provide access to their commercially available, web-based system (trial credentials), allowing for the Contracting POC to evaluated the resources.

Offerors shall not merely restate the PWS requirements as a technical approach. The offeror shall demonstrate an adequate approach and understanding for how the required PWS objectives are to be met.

AMENDMENTS: Acknowledgment of all solicitation amendments must be submitted to the Contracting Officer, if issued.

QUESTIONS: All questions are due no later than 8 September 2026 at 12:00 PM CST.

Questions received after this date may not be answered. All answers will be consolidated and posted to https://sam.gov/.

SUBMISSION OF OFFERS: All offers shall be submitted via email no later than 11 September 2026 at 3:00 PM CST to TSgt Vaughn Swinton at vaughn.swinton@us.af.mil AND SSgt Christian Etner at christian.etner@us.af.mil.

Incomplete and/or late offers will not be considered for evaluation. Vendors are solely responsible for ensuring the Government receives any submission prior to the established response deadline.

SYSTEM FOR AWARD MANAGEMENT: All offerors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database at (www.sam.gov) in order to be considered for award.

Prospective awardees shall be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) prior to award, during performance, and through final payment of a contract agreement pursuant to FAR 52.204-7, System for Award Management. Also, IAW FAR 52.204-13, System for Award Management Maintenance; a contractor is responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the data within the SAM database and is required to review and update their SAM registration on an annual basis.

EVALUATION

The provision at FAR 52.212-2, Evaluation -- Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. In accordance with FAR 52.212-2(a), The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered.

BASIS FOR CONTRACT AWARD: This acquisition utilizes the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection procedures in accordance with FAR 52.212-1. Technical tradeoffs will not be made and no additional credit will be given for exceeding acceptability. One Firm-Fixed Priced contract shall be awarded to the offeror whose offer conforms to the specified requirements and is the lowest evaluated price. The specified requirements include all stated terms, conditions, representations and certifications. The Government shall make contract awards to responsible offerors, in accordance with FAR 9.104-1.

EVALUATION FACTORS: The following factors shall be used to evaluate offers:

a. Technical Approach

b. Price

PRICING EVALUATION:

The vendor's Price volume will be evaluated based on the Total Evaluated Price (TEP), which will be calculated as the sum of the following Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) extended prices:

a. CLINs 0001, 1001, 2001 & 3001 (base year and all option periods)

Additionally, for the purposes of calculating the TEP only, the Government will take the offeror's highest proposed unit price for CLINs 0001-3001 and multiply it by six (6) to evaluate pricing for the six (6) months of extended services authorized under FAR Clause 52.217-8 Option to Extend Services. In the event of an extension under this clause, it will be exercised using the pricing of the most recent contract year. This six (6) month extension will not be included in the initial awarded contract or the total contract value.

Quotes will be reviewed for price reasonableness. The Government may use any of the price analysis techniques IAW RFO 12.204 to determine price reasonableness. A price is reasonable if, in its nature and amount does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person in the conduct of competitive business.

TECHNICAL EVALUATION:

The purpose of evaluating the offeror’s proposed Technical Approach is to assess the quality of the offeror’s proposed solution for fulfilling Government’s requirement. To be eligible for award, at a minimum, the offeror’s proposed Technical Approach shall be determined to be “acceptable”.

An offeror’s Technical Approach will be rated “acceptable” if it demonstrates an adequate approach for meeting the requirements outlined in attachment 1 (ATCH 1 - Product Description).

An offeror’s Technical Approach will be rated “unacceptable” if it does not demonstrate an adequate approach for meeting ALL requirements outlined in attachment 1 (ATCH 1 - Product Description).

Offerors are cautioned that failure to demonstrate an adequate approach for any of the aforementioned bullet points in attachment 1 (ATCH 1 - Product Description) will render the entire Technical Approach unacceptable. The burden is on the offeror to demonstrate an adequate approach and understanding for how the required objectives are to be met.

Contracting Point of Contacts (POC):

Contract Specialist: SSgt Christian Etner (christian.etner@us.af.mil) Contracting Officer: TSgt Vaughn Swinton (vaughn.swinton@us.af.mil)

List of Attachments:

1) ATCH 1 - Product Description

2) ATCH 2 - Pricing Schedule

3) ATCH 3 - Provisions and Clauses