Jusification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity_OCLC_Final_KO Signed_Redacted.pdf

Justification for an Exception to Fair Opportunity

1. In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 16.505(b)(2)(ii), I hereby determine that the following product(s) / service(s) are available from only one source, and competition is precluded for the reasons indicated below. There are no substitutes available.

Product(s) / Service(s):

2. This acquisition is restricted to the following source:

Company:

Company Address:

Company Point of Contact (phone number and e-mail):

Indefinite-Delivery / Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) Contract Number:

3. Total Estimated Cost:

4. Required by Date:

5. Exception(s) to the Fair Opportunity Process:

Urgent and compelling need exists, following fair opportunity procedures would result in unacceptable delays.

Only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized.

Logical follow-on to an original order (original order must not have been previously procured under sole-source or limited-source procedures).

Authorized by statute for purchases over the Simplified Acquisition Threshold.

The following items are covered by the Fedlink Direct Express IDIQ LCFDL20D0223:

Item Code Description 3000030 Cataloging and Metadata Subscription (This subscription is part of the MOBAC group) 3000065 WorldShare ILL (This subscription is part of the MOBAC group) 2000036 ILLiad License 2000037 ILLiad Hosted Server 93000001 FirstSearch

The following item is not covered by the Fedlink IDIQ but is part of this order:

3000085 EZproxy

OCLC

6565 Kilgour Place, Dublin, Ohio USA 43017

LCFDL20D0223

07/30/2020

5.1 Urgent and Compelling Need:

5.2 Specific Characteristics of the Unique or Highly Specialized Item or Service:

N/A

The library currently subscribes to and uses the following products.

• Cataloging Subscription: provides high-quality metadata

• Discovery: provides searching and access to other libraries’ holdings

• EZProxy Software (2): provides robust access and authentication software

• ILL Subscription: annual subscription for resource sharing services

• ILLiad License: annual license for the ILL management system

• ILLiad Hosted Server: annual fee for hosting the ILL management system

As indicated through market research, vendors offering library resource services and interlibrary loan services develop their own proprietary software that is only compatible with specific software applications. NPS's existing library software and software program application interface solely communicates with OCLC's proprietary software EZProxy. EZProxy is an OCLC-owned software that NPS DKL installed, configured and maintains that provides print and online scholarly content relevant to NPS instructional and research needs. Another vendor's software would not be compatible with the current software infrastructure and would require a re-write of NPS software code.

Additionally, NPS would require significant additional labor resources (well in excess of the cost of the EZproxy software) to create a new software code that could be compatible with any other vendor software. It would also require significant staff training as well as potentially training of end users (students and faculty).

See Attachment A for additional details.

5.3 Logical Follow-On (describe why the relationship between the initial order and the follow-on is logical in terms of scope, period of performance, value):

5.4 Brand Name:

N/A

6. Actions Taken to Remove or Overcome Barriers to Fair Opportunity:

CERTIFICATION

I certify that statements checked and information provided above as the basis of this exception to fair opportunity are complete and accurate. In accordance with FAR 16.505. The circumstances documented in this limited sources justification preclude the use of competitive procurement procedures. The requested item(s) and/or service(s) represents the minimum requirements of the government.

NPS Technical Point of Contact or Contracting Officer's Representative:

Title:

Signature:

Date:

NPS Contracting Officer:

Signature:

Date:

OCLC Attachment A

ATTACHMENT A:

GENERAL: OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes cooperation among libraries worldwide. More than 54,000 libraries in 109 countries use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve print and electronic library materials.

ILL: Specific to ILL (Inter-Library Loan) services, the NPS Dudley Knox library (DKL) provides interlibrary loan (ILL) services to NPS faculty, staff, and students through OCLC. This is an integrated system and uses OCLC’s ILLiad (ILL management tool) to manage all requests from start to finish. OCLC is the platform used by federal, academic, and public libraries for both ILL borrowing and lending. If we do not use OCLC we will not be able to perform ILL with other libraries that use the software. This includes area libraries that are members of the Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Library System (MOBAC) which agree to loan materials to other libraries in the Monterey Bay region. MOBAC also offers Courier services so items do not need to be shipped via USPS, UPS, or FedEx. While there are some other services that offer ILL services their networks pale in comparison to the size and scope of OCLC’s network. For example, as of 8 July 2020, OCLC lists 14,762 members on their website while RapidILL only has 365 (and only 83 of them loan books). Loss of this service would negatively impact an efficient, high-demand and essential service that supports academic studies and research for the NPS students, faculty, and other community members.

OCLC has an international borrowing network with all DKL ILL activity managed through the ILLiad system. ILLiad was first implemented at DKL in 2005 and has provided continuously improved and efficient streamlined processes to enable us to keep up with increasing demand for service as staffing has been reduced. OCLC’s ILLiad provides the following essential services:

Vendor configured and maintained proprietary software Accurately managed Copyright Vendor-hosted server Electronic Delivery Fully automated e-mail throughout the life of the request Usage tracked daily per each individual transaction and detailed statistical reports provided

EZPROXY: As indicated in the market research summary, vendors offering library resource services and interlibrary loan services develop their own proprietary software that is only compatible with specific software applications. NPS's existing library software and software program application interface solely communicates with OCLC's proprietary software EZProxy. EZProxy is an OCLC-owned software that NPS DKL installed, configured and maintains that provides print and online scholarly content relevant to NPS instructional and research needs. Another vendor's software would not be compatible with the current software infrastructure and would require a re-write of NPS software code. Additionally, NPS would require significant additional labor resources (well in excess of the cost of the EZproxy software) to create a new software code that could be compatible with any other vendor software. Estimated programming time would be 1/2 FTE in a year or 1040 hours @ average rate of $108/hr (https://calc.gsa.gov/): $112,320. This would also cause a huge gap in offering this critical service. Also, we would continually need to pay a programmer for updates at a cost that exceeds the EZProxy license.

It would also require significant staff training as well as potentially training of end users (students and

OCLC Attachment A faculty). While there might not be a direct cost it is estimated that there would be approximately 100 hours in lost productivity which, in itself, far exceeds the cost of EZProxy.

GENERAL: OCLC maintains WorldCat, the largest online catalog in the world; this catalog contains bibliographic and holding information that informs discovery, cataloging, processing and inter-library loan services at DKL. WorldCat allows a user to look up books, dissertations, microform, journals and multimedia items in libraries around the world. The library's subscription to OCLC Discovery and Cataloging services provides access to WorldCat.

40+ million search requests are processed each day by OCLC systems, as noted above. No other existing system in the world provides such service to libraries. OCLC contains over 474,000,000 bibliographic records (as of February 2020) and over 2,884,000,000 holdings (as of February 2020); no other bibliographic entity exists of this size and scope in the world. The WorldCat bibliographic catalog includes everything that’s available to users in the library. Beyond books and print journals, the catalog of physical materials includes DVDs, historic photos, video games, musical scores, newspapers, webpages and many other standard items. It also includes unique items, such as 2,700-year-old jewelry, 18th century soup bowls and Soviet civilian medals.

OCLC membership brings:

• A connection to a global network of libraries for learning, communication, and collaboration

• Cost savings through shared and cloud-based solutions

• An invitation to help guide the cooperative through voting for your regional Global Council Delegates and participating in user groups

• Access to WorldCat—the most comprehensive global network of data about library collections and services with 2.8 billion holdings and growing

• Library-centered research, exposing members to important topics and trends, with access to OCLC Research reports

• Advancement of librarianship through scholarships and development programs such as internships, fellowships and collaborations with professional communities.