JOFOC 2023-20_Bloomberg Professional_FINAL_Redacted.pdf

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

100 F STREET, NE

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

OFFICE OF

ACQUISITIONS

JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION IN

ACCORDANCE WITH

FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) 6.3

Requisition Number: 33000-23-0050 Procurement Title: Bloomberg Professional Terminals Total Estimated Value:

Statutory Authority: 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) Justification Number: 2023-20

Upon the basis of the following justification, I, as the Head of Contracting Activity, hereby approve the use of a sole source proposed contractual action pursuant the authority of 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND THE CONTRACTING ACTIVITY, AND

SPECIFIC IDENTIFICATION OF THE DOCUMENT AS A “JUSTIFICATION FOR

OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION”

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Office of Acquisitions 100 F Street, NE Washington, DC 20549

This document serves as Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition.

2. NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to Bloomberg Finance L.P., 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York, 10022-1331 for access to Bloomberg Professional Terminal Open and Anywhere licenses.

This contract is for a base period of twelve (12) months and four (4) twelve (12) month option years. This award will be Firm Fixed Price (FFP).

3. A DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE

AGENCY’S NEEDS (INCLUDING THE ESTIMATED VALUE)

The SEC requires continuing services for an interactive financial information system for the SEC Headquarters and regional offices that delivers current and historical U.S. and international financial data, news, research, and analysis on a single integrated platform.

Minimum Requirements/Capabilities:

- Comprehensive coverage continuously, both real-time and delayed, of current and historical market data from markets globally for, at a minimum, equities, stock market indices, derivatives, mutual funds, fixed-income securities, commodities, treasuries, debt instruments, currencies, and money markets. Required data includes: last-sale price, net-change, bid and size, ask and size, open, high, low, volume, and last-sale time, daily evaluated pricing data on fixed income and derivatives instruments.

- Company-level operating, financial, and valuation information for active and inactive companies, including historical prices/yields from the date of the company's inception to the present, along with at least twenty years of fundamentals and earnings data.

- Coverage of corporate operations; corporate events; corporate insiders, executives, and directors; analysts' forecasts; corporate disclosures and earnings calls, including audio and transcripts; and news, data, and analytics on all major industry sectors.

- Comprehensive coverage of mutual and exchange-traded funds, including, at a minimum, holdings of securities data by fund, daily shares outstanding, net asset values, and portfolio composition analysis.

- Comprehensive coverage of fixed income securities, including, at minimum, descriptions, offerings, new issues, indices, swaps, rates, and credit ratings.

- Online access to news and legislative and regulatory developments, including original content and news aggregated from leading news wire services and local, national, and international news providers.

Indexed business news archive from at least 1992 to present, along with an historical archive of leading economic indicators, including consumer price index, producer price index, and information related to inventories and original content briefings and reports on key topics in the financial industry.

- Real-time and historical market data analytical programs.

- Adjustable (vertical and horizontal) display and analytical capabilities such as bar charts, point and figure charts, moving average charts, and multiple graphs displayed simultaneously.

Bloomberg Open and Anywhere licenses provide access to the Bloomberg Professional Terminal. The SEC requires an estimated 22 Bloomberg Open licenses and 114 Bloomberg Anywhere licenses. Additionally, Bloomberg provides the hardware and software (i.e. equipment, market data, communication lines, and Server API license) to support the Bloomberg Open and Anywhere licenses.

The estimated value for the base year is . The total estimated value for the contract (base year plus four (4) one (1) year options) is .

4. AN IDENTIFICATION OF STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITTING SOLE

SOURCE ACQUISITION

FAR Part 6.302-1 in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

5. A DEMONSTRATION OF CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OR THE

NATURE OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF THE AUTHORITY CITED

The SEC requires a comprehensive and interactive financial and news information system for the SEC Headquarters and regional offices that delivers current and historical U.S. and international financial data, news, research, and analysis. The service must provide a range of market, economic, and financial data, covering all market sectors worldwide. The Minimum Requirements/Capabilities are set forth in paragraph 3 above.

Bloomberg is the only source that provides depth and breadth of financial market coverage on a single, integrated platform, including:

• Comprehensive coverage of non-exchange traded products and complex financial instruments

• Comprehensive coverage of municipal bonds than other systems

• Comprehensive coverage of portfolio companies than other systems

• Granular coverage of mutual funds, including daily shares outstanding and net asset values of funds

• Comprehensive coverage of world exchanges (250 domestic/foreign exchanges)

• Comprehensive coverage of foreign options trading

• Comprehensive coverage of M&A activity and announcements

• Integrated access to historical point-in-time data

• Integrated proprietary analytics, models and tools, including:

o Bloomberg Valuation Service o Bloomberg Risk Models and Scenario Tools o Portfolio Analytics o Bloomberg Pricing Models and Tools o Bloomberg Barclays Indices o Supply Chain Fundamentals

• Integrated proprietary content, including:

o Bloomberg Intelligence (Bl), combining financial data with original research by Bloomberg analysts, original news reporting, and coverage of litigation, legal, legislative, and regulatory developments.

o Bloomberg News and Media

The proprietary data offered by Bloomberg Finance L.P. is essential to the analysis, research and monitoring of securities markets. Bloomberg is the only service that provides the coverage, aggregation, and analytical tools required by SEC users on a single integrated platform. Losing access to this proprietary data and services would compromise SEC’s ability to comprehensively monitor securities markets.

6. A DESCRIPTION OF EFFORTS MADE TO ENSURE THAT OFFERS ARE

SOLICITED FROM AS MANY POTENTIAL SOURCES AS IS PRACTICABLE,

INCLUDING WHETHER A NOTICE WAS OR WILL BE PUBLICIZED AS REQUIRED

BY SUBPART 5.2 AND, IF NOT, WHICH EXCEPTION UNDER 5.202 APPLIES

The SEC Office of Acquisitions posted a synopsis on SAM.gov – Contract Opportunities on February 17, 2023 to provide notification that the SEC intends to award a sole source procurement to Bloomberg Finance L.P. in accordance with FAR 5.201. The SEC did not receive any responses to this synopsis.

7. A DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE

ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE

The Contracting Officer has determined that the anticipated price will be fair and reasonable in comparison with prices paid for similar specialized data.

8. A DESCRIPTION OF THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED (SEE PART 10)

AND THE RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET RESEARCH

WAS NOT CONDUCTED

Extensive outreach (staff survey) was made to knowledgeable individuals in the agency to determine their needs and learn what other sources they were aware of in their work for the SEC and in many cases their previous work in the industry. An industry literature review was conducted to obtain information on market capabilities. From these efforts, the SEC concluded that the items/services provided by Bloomberg are unavailable elsewhere in the market. Bloomberg is currently the only commercial service that provides the comprehensive financial market data combined with news and analytics on its proprietary integrated platform. Bloomberg is the only service that satisfies the SEC's minimum requirements for such a broad breadth service. Additionally, Bloomberg does not have authorized resellers of web-based terminal subscription.

9. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND

OPEN COMPETITION:

The SEC has access to data from known competitors: Refinitiv Workspace, IDC / FactSet Research System, and Capital lQ. None of these competitors are a substitute for Bloomberg. Bloomberg has unique capabilities that differentiate them from other vendors as follows:

Proprietary Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) research covers more than 130 industries with a comprehensive industry-specific data library, interactive charting and written analysis from a team of industry experts.

Federal Government Contract Intelligence-government contracts and grants that deal targets and acquirers have been involved with since 2000, with more than 300,000 contractors and subcontractor connections to programs and places of performance.

News from Bloomberg and 185,000 global sources with built-in translations, alerts, trend analysis, sentiment scoring, keyword/topic mention count, readership, and publication statistics.

Library of over 3 million professional profiles covering career histories business relationships, board affiliations and education.

Multi-level authentication protocol, including biometric authentication.

10. A LISTING OF THE SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED, IN WRITING, AN

INTEREST IN THE ACQUISITION:

If any sources express an interest in actions under this sole source justification, they will be maintained in the contract file. As noted, no source responded to the synopsis posted on SAM.gov – Contract Opportunities on February 17, 2023.

11. A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO

REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE ANY

SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED:

The SEC will continue to survey the capabilities of the marketplace to determine if similar products/services may be utilized to fulfill these requirements in the future.

Technical & Requirements Certifications I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, are complete and accurate.

Contracting Officer Certification I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

General Counsel Review Based upon the facts and rationale presented herein, this justification appears legally sufficient.

Competition Advocate Approved:

Head of Contracting Activity Approved: