Intent_to_Award_DOIGFBO260008_1.pdf

Intent to Award Notice – DOIGFBO260008

The US Geological Survey (USGS) Library seeks to award a sole source contract with Public Library of Science (PLOS). This contract establishes a flat fee, firm-fixed price agreement that allows USGS authors to publish an unlimited number of gold open access (OA) articles in PLOS journals.

The total anticipated period of performance will be 04/17/2026 - 04/16/2027.

The USGS is aware of no other source that can provide the above. Therefore, it intends to make an award to PLOS unless it is contacted by any vendor who believes they have similar technical expertise and can provide the same service(s). Vendors are invited to contact the Contracting Officer, Leah Williams via email at leah_williams@ios.doi.gov no later than 5:00 PM ES, Wednesday, April 15, 2026 with an affirmative answer.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) considers employee signatures to be Personal Protected Information, and therefore all employee signatures have been redacted. By posting this document, the Contracting Officer attests all appropriate signatures have been obtained.

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION (FAR 13.1)

The following information is provided to demonstrate the proposed contractor’s unique qualifications:

Nature of the Action Being Approved A One (1) Year Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract to support a Flat Fee Agreement with Public Library of Science (“PLOS

Description of Supplies and Services This procurement facilitates the establishment of a contract to assist USGS authors with publishing gold open access (OA) articles.

Under this contract, the Library requires an annual flat fee for eligible USGS scientists to publish OA articles. The publisher shall provide a flat fee, unlimited publishing arrangement that covers a coherent set of high impact journals in USGS mission areas; allows all accepted articles by eligible USGS authors in those journals to be published OA without individual Article Processing Charge (APC) payments; and consolidates invoicing and reporting so the Library can centrally track USGS publishing output and compliance with federal OA requirements.

Eligible USGS scientists must have the ability to publish OA articles in nine (9) PLOS journals. These titles include PLOS One, PLOS Complex Systems, PLOS Water, PLOS Climate, PLOS Pathogens, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Digital Health, and PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

There must be no limits on the number of articles that can be published and all article types shall be included. Furthermore, the publisher shall provide perpetual access to OA original research, peer reviewed articles in earth and environmental sciences, geosciences, water resources, and related public health and ecosystem impacts that align with USGS mission areas.

Participating journals shall be indexed by major services, including Crossref, Dimensions, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Google Scholar, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, and Web of Science.

Multiple users must be able to access all content simultaneously and from different locations both on or off the USGS network or VPN mailto:%20leah_williams@ios.doi.gov

Statutory Authority The proposed action may be awarded without full and open competition under FAR 13.106-1– only one source reasonably available.

Rationale Supporting Use of Citation PLOS is the sole publisher and authorized source of the required nine (9) journals. The content is proprietary and not available through alternate publishers, commercial aggregators, or subscription intermediaries.

PLOS provides perpetual access to OA original research, peer reviewed articles in earth and environmental sciences, geosciences, water resources, and related public health and ecosystem impacts through its fully OA portfolio, and uniquely does so across a single, fully OA portfolio that aligns with USGS mission areas.

While other publishers may offer OA options in some of these disciplines, they typically do so through hybrid journals or scattered titles with individual APCs, which does not meet USGS’ requirement for breadth of coverage, full OA access, or predictable costs needed for this flat fee model.

No other publisher can provide a flat fee, unlimited OA, perpetual access publishing arrangement that can meet all USGS’ requirements.

Market Research Market research included web searches of major scholarly publishers, review of open access and hybrid OA publishing models, and direct communication with multiple vendors to explore institution level open access agreements. These efforts focused on identifying publishers able to offer a flat fee, unlimited publishing arrangement in journals that align with USGS mission areas and that would allow the Library to centrally manage and report on publishing output and costs. This research did not identify any additional sources offering a fully open, flat fee model that meets the Government’s minimum needs for consolidated APC payments, predictable annual costs, and integrated reporting across the relevant disciplines, and no resellers or third party intermediaries were found that could provide such services on behalf of other publishers. Market research concluded that PLOS is the only digital publisher who can meet all of USGS’ requirements.

Future Plans to Permit Competition The USGS Library will continue to monitor the marketplace for the emergence of other competitive providers that can offer a fully open, flat fee publishing model meeting the Government’s minimum needs. At such time when additional sources become available, the USGS Library will vigorously compete the procurement of these services to the maximum extent practicable

(End of Justification)