IEEE_J A_Redacted.pdf

Justification and Approval (J&A) for Other Than Full and Open Competition

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

NOTE: If a Justification and Approval was approved for the preceding acquisition, a copy of the approved J&A for the predecessor action must be included in the staff package for approval of the instant J&A. This applies to J&A staff packages that are submitted for review and approval at a level above the contracting officer. The predecessor J&A will be used as a reference document by the approving official.

Choose the funding level for this J&A Document:

< $700K > $700K and < $13.5M > $13.5M and < $93M > $93M

Contracting Activity: AFLCMC/PZIEC

Purchase Request / Local ID Number: F4F5AH5302A101

Program / Project (and PE, if applicable): IEEE Digital Library

Program Type (PEO or Other Contracting): AFIT/ENWL (AFIT Library)

Authority (include full title): FAR 13.106-1(b) Soliciting from a single source & 13.501(a) Sole Source Acquisitions

Estimated Contract Cost (including options): J&A Type: Class Individual

COORDINATION (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

Date Contracting Officer

AFLCMC/PZIE

Signature

Date

03 Nov 2015

Project Lead / Program Mgr / Requiring Activity

AFIT/ENWL COMM: 937-255-6565x4214

APPROVAL (AFFARS 5306.304(a) )

Date Contracting Officer

AFLCMC/PZIE

Date: 2015.12.11 09:51:47 -05'00'

Date: 2015.12.14 08:36:06 -05'00'

Date: 2015.12.11 09:52:03 -05'00'

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

I. Contracting Activity.

This justification and approval to request authority for Other Than Full and Open Competition supports requirements generated for the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) D'Azzo Library. The contracting activity for this requirement is the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Enterprise Contracting Division

(AFLCMC/PZIE).

II. Nature and/or description of the action being processed.

Due to the circumstances described herein, the activity requests authority to acquire electronic access to the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Digital Library Electronic Journal database using Other Than Full and Open Competition as prescribed by FAR 13.106(b) and 13.501(a). This individual action will result in the award of a new Firm Fixed Price Purchase Order. The period of performance for this effort is a twelve (12) month basic effort with three (3) options of twelve (12) months each. This sole source requirement will be acquired from the following company:

Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers 445 Hoes Lane Piscataway, NJ 08854 (732)981-0060

III. Description of supplies/services required to meet agency needs.

IEEE is the world's largest professional association for the advancement of technology. IEEE provides a wide range of quality publications and standards that make the exchange of technical knowledge and information possible among technology professionals. This essential content is delivered through the IEEE Xplore® Digital Library. The IEEE Xplore Digital Library provides access to nearly four million documents including research articles, transactions and conference publications. IEEE also includes the journals, and industry standards published by the Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers along with Peer-edited full-text online journals and peer-edited digital editions of IEEE and IET conference proceedings. IEEE publications and authors specialize in advance theory and practice in key technology areas. IEEE articles and standards are the most highly cited in US and European patents. IEEE journals continue to maintain rankings at the top of their fields.

IEEE Xplore® Digital Library is utilized heavily within the Air Force Institute of Technology education and training programs. This Digital Library is utilized by students, enlisted forces, engineers and civilian training participants.

Titles within the IEEE subscription are crucial to the IT education and training programs and ensure the use of up-to-date, real time information.

Total value: for the entire requirement Anticipated period of performance: 01 January 2016 to 31 December 2016.

This subscription consists of electronic journals, electronic conference proceedings, and standards published and hosted by IEEE Xplore Digital Library on their web-based digital content site (http://ieeexplore.ieee.org). It will be made available to AFIT by IP recognition as a 12-month subscription during 2016.

IV. Statutory authority permitting Other than Full and Open Competition.

13.106(b), Soliciting from a single source 13.501(a), Sole Source acquisitions

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

V. Demonstration that the contractor's unique qualifications or nature of the acquisition requires the use of the authority cited above (applicability of authority).

AFIT has determined that IEEE is the only source capable of satisfying the requirement. No other source has the capability to provide the journals, conference proceedings, articles and data tables copy written by IEEE. IEEE Xplore® Digital Library is utilized heavily within the Air Force Institute of Technology education and training programs. This Digital Library is utilized by students, enlisted forces, engineers and civilian training participants.

Titles within the ACM DL subscription are crucial to the IT education and training programs and ensure the use of up-to-date, real time information. ACM DL improves research time efficiency and prevents wasteful duplication of processes.

Additionally, the journals and conference proceeding coverage comes with unlimited digital access terms and can be exported into multiple formats as required by AFIT e-journal users. Furthermore, no vendors replied to the pre-solicitation Intent to Award Sole Source notice posted on FBO.

VI. Description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as practicable.

The proposed acquisition contains brand name product descriptions. 16.505(a)(4). The required products are available from only one responsible source, IEEE, and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

VII. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable.

In accordance with FAR 13.103-3(a), the Contacting Officer shall determine that the proposed price is fair and reasonable. The basis of this determination is anticipated to be based on FAR 13.103-3(ii) and FAR 13.103-3(iii).

This has been previously procured by AFLCMC/PZI for the AFIT Library and the price shall be verified against current price lists, catalogs, or advertisements.

VIII. Description of the market research conducted and the results, or a statement of the reasons market research was not conducted.

AFIT performed market research to unveil any potential alternative sources for the journals. No such vendors exist for the journals described, without an embargo of the last several years of research. Citation analysis of AFIT-published research indicates that the titles described cannot be substituted by other journals from other publishers without negative impact to research quality, and costly delays.

IX. Any other facts supporting the use of Other Than Full and Open Competition.

No other vendor or platform provides the IEEE conference proceedings and analysis online. Alternate vendors would charge fee-per-standard for the IEEE standards, incurring delays and costs from purchasing standards one-by-one elsewhere.

X. List of sources, if any, that expressed interest in the acquisition.

Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers 445 Hoes Lane Piscataway, NJ 08854 (732)981-0060

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

XI. A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required.

Steps that will be taken to remove barriers to competition include encouraging scientists and engineers to publish in other than IEEE databases and publications; supporting Open Access (allowing anyone in the world access to articles for free) initiatives and developing institutional repositories where scientists would self-archive and make their research more widely available.

XII. Certification by the Contracting Officer.

The contracting officer's signature on the Coordination and Approval Document evidences that he/she has determined this document to be both accurate and complete to the best of his/her knowledge and belief in accordance with FAR 13.501(a)(1)(ii).

XIII. Certification by the technical/requirements personnel.

As evidenced by my (our) signature(s) above, I (we) certify that any supporting data contained herein, which is my (our) responsibility, is both accurate and complete.