Politico Pro - Sole Source Justification.pdf

JUSTIFICATION FOR SOLE SOURCE PROCUREMENT (OPEN

MARKET OR GSA) UNDER $150,000

Sole source acquisitions may be used on a limited basis and only when the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)/Program Official has provided sufficient justification and the Contracting Officer has determined that the circumstances warrant such action. The content for a justification must contain detailed facts and rationale to justify the sole source acquisition. Soliciting from a single source must be done in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b) or 8.405-6. At a minimum, the following information must be included:

Identification of Program Office, Contracting Activity, and Proposed Requirement, Justification and Program Office Certification:

A. Program Office:

Office of the Associate Director for Communication, Division of Public Affairs, News Media Branch Roybal Campus, Building 21

MS D-25

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, GA 30333

B. Contracting Activity:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of Financial Resources Acquisition Branch Click here to enter text.

C. Identification of Requirement:

1. Nature of Action to be Approved by Contracting Officer:

a. Sole source acquisition of: Policy and media analyses from Politico Pro service

b. Procurement Request (PR) Number (if available): Click here to enter text.

2. Proposed Vendor and Estimated Procurement Amount (if available):

a. Proposed Vendor: Politico Pro

b. Estimated Procurement Amount: $10,000 annually

3. Is the requirement on GSA Schedule? ☐ Yes ☒ No

If yes, provide schedule number: Click here to enter text.

Rev. 5/15/17

D. Justification:

1. The justification for this non-competitive action is:

☒ In accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), “only one source [is] reasonably available” which states that, “For purchases not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold. (i) Contracting officers may solicit from one source if the contracting officer determines that the circumstances of the contract action deem only one source reasonably available (e.g., urgency, exclusive licensing agreements, brand-name or industrial mobilization). (ii) Where a single source is identified to provide a portion of a purchase because that portion of the purchase specifies a particular brand-name item, the documentation in paragraph (b)(1)(i) of this section only applies to the portion of the purchase requiring brand-name item. The documentation should state it is covering only the portion of the acquisition which is brand- name.”

☐ Urgency

☒ Exclusive licensing agreements/Proprietary data

☐ Brand name required

☐ Industrial mobilization

☐ Other (e.g., compatibility, space issues, continuity, compatibility, etc.)

☐ In accordance with FAR 8.405-6 “Limiting Sources” which states that, “the only circumstances that may justify the action are – (A) An urgent and compelling need exists, and following the procedures would result in unacceptable delays; (B) Only one source 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; or (C) In the interest of economy and efficiency, the new work is a logical follow-up to an original Federal Supply Schedule order provided that the original order was placed in accordance with the applicable Federal Supply Schedule ordering procedures. The original BPA must not have been previously issued under sole-source or limited-sources procedures.”

☐ Urgency

☐ Only One Source

☐ Logical Follow Up

☐ Brand name required

2. Other facts supporting sole source procurement:

a. What can this product/service do that other products/services cannot do?

Politico Pro is the only monitoring and analytics service that provides CDC with access to policy-specific public health information and insights. These types of reports and analyses are not available publicly. Politico Pro uses proprietary data, analyses, algorithms, and technologies to provide tailored content that is only available with purchase of the service. The information that Politico Pro provides is targeted to identify, analyze, and translate into real-time information that allows the Agency to be credible, nimble, and informed in our response to public health issues.

The tool provides analyses of major trends and developments, looking forward, that could potentially impact the Agency’s work; having access to this information and data allows the Agency to be better prepared going forward versus being hamstrung by having access to only information that has occurred in the past.

b. What other products/services were considered and why did they not meet the need?

OADC conducted review and analysis of available monitoring services and tools to compare their capabilities to Politico Pro. The following tools have been reviewed by OADC public affairs staff: Bulletin Intelligence; CDC’s existing media clips service;

Sysmos; and Cision. All of these tools provide differing levels of monitoring, but none

Rev. 5/15/17 provide the tailored, policy-focused news and analyses that Politico Pro provides in real-time A major deficit of the other tools is that they provide scanning and collection of news, but there is no analysis provided; this severely limits the ability of the Agency to take information and make it applicable and relevant to making informed decisions about CDC’s public health priorities. Politico Pro is also one of the more cost effective methods of getting this information; our cost estimate is that the Politico Pro subscription will be $7,000 annually, while other monitoring tools cost in the range of $50,000 to more than $100,000, and don’t provide the level of analysis that is needed.

3. Program Office efforts to seek potential offerors:

The capabilities of each of the tools described above were reviewed as part of market research conducted by OADC staff. Online demos were held for some of the tools to determine if the policy analysis requirement could be achieved in a cost-effective manner.

OADC also reviewed existing tools to determine if the existing tools could be optimized to obtain the same requirement for policy-focused monitoring and analytics. None of the tools were able to provide the exact specifications needed or provide the niche-specific policy analyses, and would require a significant financial investment that is not cost-effective for OADC or the Agency.

E. Program Office Certification:

I have reviewed this sole source justification and certify the justification is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge and adequate to support other than full and open competition.

Center/Institute/Office COR/Program Official Name/Title: Rachel Beard

Center/Institute/Office COR/Program Official Signature:

Certification Date: May 19, 2021

F. Contracting Office Certification:

I have fully relied on the information provided herein and hereby certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief:

Contracting Officer Name:

Contracting Officer Signature:

Certification Date: