JA_Springer Redacted.pdf

This is a Justification and Approval (J&A) document for a sole source contract award by the Department of the Navy's Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). The contracting officer approves a sole source contract with Springer-Nature under simplified acquisition procedures for commercial items in accordance with FAR 13.5, with an estimated cost of $3,480,184.25.

The contract provides NRL researchers access to licensed scientific journal content and information from the Springer-Nature platform, enabling the scientific community to register, validate, edit, disseminate, preserve, and maximize discoverability of research. The contract term is five years, consisting of a base year (FY26) plus four option years (FY27-FY30), with each period of performance lasting 12 months and fully funded annually. The anticipated subscription costs are broken down by fiscal year, totaling $3,480,184.25. The statutory authority for the sole source procurement is 41 U.S.C. 1901(c)(2), implemented by FAR 13.501(a). The J&A justifies the sole source award based on Springer-Nature's unique intellectual property rights and copyright holdings for the required journal content, noting that no other supplier can license the same content to NRL. A Sources Sought Notice was posted to SAM.gov from September 18 to October 2, 2025, with no industry responses received. The contracting officer will determine that the proposed price is fair and reasonable through price analysis under FAR 13.106-3(a).