Notice of Intent to Award to IBISWorld Inc for ProcurementIQ Subscription.pdf

Intent to Sole-Source: The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) intends to restrict competition and award a firm-fixed-price contract to IBISWORLD, Inc. for one 12-month ProcurementIQ Procurement Team Subscription with two 12-month option periods.

Intended Awardee: IBISWORLD, Inc., 1251-55 Electric AVE, Venice, California 90291-3396

Description of Requirement: FRA requires a commercial enterprise subscription to a web-based market intelligence platform that delivers category-specific procurement research across 1,000+ products and services. The subscription must provide price benchmarks, total cost of ownership (TCO) drivers, purchase recommendations, negotiation levers, supplier risk and competition analyses, and Statement of Work (SOW) & Request for Proposal (RFP) templates, with reports that are updated on a recurring basis. The subscription must also include supplier profiles, financial data, custom reports, and analyst support that can turn around tailored research on-demand in as little as five business days. The subscription must be cloud-hosted, require no IT development or sustainment, and include a dedicated client relationship manager for onboarding, training, and product adoption.

Basis of decision: IBISWORLD, Inc’s ProcurementIQ is the only commercial product capable of fully meeting the specialized market research and procurement intelligence needs of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). ProcurementIQ offers a unique combination of capabilities:

• Breadth and structure at scale: a consistent, actionable library covering 1,000+ categories aligned to common spending and strategic sourcing data, enabling standardized market research and faster stakeholder turnaround

• Direct procurement applicability: each report provides benchmarks, TCO inputs, supplier risk, buyer vs supplier leverage, and negotiation guidance plus ready-to-use SOW/RFP templated to accelerate acquisition package development and improve consistency.

• Supplier intelligence and custom research: The SupplierIQ module consolidates supplier profiles, financial data, and SWOT-style insights; the CustomIQ module extends coverage with analyst research that typically turns around within five business days.

• Low-friction adoption: web-based access, no IT implementation, and a dedicated client manager

These capabilities are essential for supporting informed decision-making and acquisition planning within FRA. Comparable offerings identified can only provide reports for a limited number of categories needed for FRA’s mission essential work with limited benchmark data and contract structure recommendations. No other offering provides the breadth, procurement-ready structure, supplier intelligence, custom reporting, dedicated client management, or templated SOW/RFP content in a single, enterprise subscription suitable for FRA’s scale and mission.

Therefore, IBISWorld, Inc. is the only reasonable source that can meet the Government’s needs.

The requirement will be procured in accordance with the procedures of FAR 12 – Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services.

This is NOT a request for quotes.

All responsible sources may submit a capability statement, proposal, or quotation, which will be considered by the agency. The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by responding to this notice.

Any responses should be submitted via email at jennifer.wilsnack@dot.gov.