RFI Attachment 2 - SOW Library Subscription Services.docx

1. Requirement Title:

Library Subscription Management and Monograph Services

2. Background

The mission of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is to foster innovation, competitiveness and job growth in the United States by conducting high quality and timely patent and trademark examination and review proceedings in order to produce reliable and predictable intellectual property rights; guiding intellectual property policy, and improving intellectual property rights protection; and delivering intellectual property information and education worldwide.

3. Purpose

The purpose of this contract is to provide Library Subscription Management and Monograph Services. The Contractor shall provide subscription management services for print and electronic serial subscriptions in various languages from worldwide publishers, monographic purchase management of electronic and print books, and subscriptions to electronic databases and collections.

The Contractor shall provide services for the following USPTO business units:

Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC) The mission of the Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC) is to enhance patent quality and examiner effectiveness through search, information services, and training. STIC provides prior art and bibliographic searches, document and foreign patents retrieval, translations, prior art resources including e-books, e-journals, commercial and subscription databases, and training on the use of online resources and search effectiveness.

Trademark Law Library (TMLL) Trademark Examining Attorneys review trademark applications and register or refuse marks for use in commerce spanning the spectrum of goods and services available for purchase in the United States. To appropriately perform the process of examination of trademark applications, Trademark Examining Attorneys review applications to determine whether they comply with all applicable rules and statutes. Trademark Legal Policy attorneys operationalize the law and investigate current and emerging policy issues. To assist Trademark Attorneys, the Trademark Law Library (TMLL) collects and provides legal, marketplace, and authoritative published information.

Office of the Chief Communications Officer (OCCO) The Office of the Chief Communications Officer (OCCO) manages the USPTO's public affairs function and facilitates media interviews with senior agency officials and writes and distributes press releases and media advisories. It also ensures broad distribution of up-to-date and accurate information about the USPTO and intellectual property protection by proactively pitching news stories, profiles, and opinion editorial pieces to media outlets throughout the country and through common social media channels.

Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) The Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) assists the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in advising the President (through the Secretary of Commerce) and federal agencies on domestic and international intellectual property (IP) issues as well as on U.S. treaty obligations.

4. Requirements

The Contractor shall provide the personnel, resources, and/or facilities, as appropriate, to provide efficient and cost-effective Library Subscription Management and Monograph Services for the requirements defined below:

4.1 Task 1 – Subscription Management: The Contractor shall serve as the serials agent by executing and managing orders for new and renewal subscriptions for the USPTO-selected publisher-provided non-patent literature (NPL) serial content in print and/or digital formats. The Contractor shall serve as the fiscal agent with publishers, including making timely prepayments, processing refunds, claims, supplemental and bill-later charges.

a) The Contractor shall provide a subscription management system that allows for searching of existing content as well as future potential content, including associated metadata such as title, author, ISSN/ISBN, invoice number, format, and order start date. This system shall archive historical purchase data up to seven (7) years, and shall include reporting features that allow for the creation of reports related to archival and existing titles.

b) The Contractor shall provide subscription services, via electronic access, for all of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) titles and World Trademark Review and at least 80% of additional currently subscribed titles as indicated in Attachment 1 “Title List” from foreign and domestic publishers. In the rare event that an electronic format is not available, the Contractor shall provide a print subscription until the electronic version is available. Any annual publisher platform hosting fees shall be added to the title list, as well.

c) The Contractor shall also provide access to the following digital magazines included on Attachment 1 “Title List”:

1.1.c.1 Bicycling 1.1.c.2 Dwell Magazine 1.1.c.3 Guitar Player 1.1.c.4 Motor Trend

d) The Contractor shall renew an online or print subscription within five (5) business days after the receipt of the contract, contract option exercise or the receipt of the order title list or annual renewal title list.

e) The Contractor shall provide a catalog of potential subscriptions, including frontfiles and backfiles, from a variety of known scholarly, educational, and trade publishers to include, but not limited to, Wolters Kluwer, Sage, Mary Ann Liebert, Oxford University Press, and Taylor and Francis.

f) The Contractor shall assist the USPTO in obtaining Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) records and Knowledge Base (KB) and Related Tools (KBART) files from publishers for subscriptions.

g) The Contractor shall accommodate additions and cancellations of serials throughout the contract period, subject to publisher restrictions, upon the government’s request and contingent on available funding.

h) The Contractor shall provide notification of any changes in content within 30 calendar days of publication change and any notice of cancellation or discontinuation of content within 30 calendar days. Cancellations of subscriptions initiated by a publisher shall result in a prompt refund or credit for the pro-rated amount of the content. Any outstanding credits shall be refunded upon annual expiration of the base or option year of the contract.

i) Order Title List - The Contractor shall provide an updated complete, comprehensive list of all contract titles to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), Alternate COR, Contracting Officer (CO), and USPTO Point of Contact (POC) per USPTO’s request and/or if there are any changes to the titles, pricing, format (e.g. print, digital, online), etc. during the contract performance. The list shall accurately match the most recent order modification and include reasons noted for any resources that changed or can no longer be provided. The Contractor shall notify the USPTO of any associated annual platform hosting fees, for new serials titles, prior to subscription. The order title list shall be provided in Microsoft Excel.

j) Annual Renewal Title List - Unless otherwise agreed to in writing between the Contractor and CO, the Contractor shall provide a complete, comprehensive list of all contract titles and pricing to the COR, ACOR, CO, and USPTO POC within 120 calendar days prior to option period expirations. The list shall accurately match the most recent order modification and include reasons noted for any resources that change or can no longer be provided. The annual renewal title list shall be provided in Microsoft Excel.

4.2 Task 2 – Monographic Purchase Management: The Contractor shall serve as a book agent for USPTO-selected publisher-provided Non-Patent Literature (NPL) monographic content in print and digital formats.

a) Books available for purchase should be from a variety of known scholarly, educational, and trade publishers, to include but not limited to: Springer, Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, IEEE, and Wiley.

b) The Contractor shall provide an online system that allows for research and selection of new titles in both print and electronic format. The system shall include faceted search to allow filtering of titles through elements such as title, author, binding, publication year, eBook supplier, language, content level, ISBN, availability, user options and price.

c) The Contractor shall provide standard MARC and KBART files for inclusion in the STIC library catalog and STIC discovery service.

d) Digital rights management requirements shall be provided prior to purchase. A preference shall be given to those materials that do not have digital rights management software included in the eBook file.

e) Items selected from this book agent shall be purchased on an as needed basis throughout the contract year, with a total potential spend that can vary per contract year. Unused funds shall be de-obligated at either contract termination or the expiration of the base or option period of the contract.

f) Electronic books shall be purchased with perpetual access rights. Contractor shall notify USPTO of any annual platform hosting fees associated with the purchase, prior to purchase.

4.3 Task 3 – Subject-Specific Databases: The Contractor shall provide aggregated and indexed subject-specific databases of NPL content that is brand name or equal to the existing NPL databases provided by EBSCO. A database identified as “equal to” will be evaluated based on 85% availability of the titles listed in the title lists for each of the databases described below.

· Academic Search Complete* (Database includes a required PCT Title)

· Applied Science & Technology Index

· Business Source Complete

· Computers & Applied Sciences Complete

· Econlit Index

· Energy & Power Source

· Engineering Source* (Database includes Required PCT Title)

· Environment Index

· Information Science & Technology Abstracts

· IT Source

· Science & Technology Collection

· Science Reference Center

· Science Reference Center eBook Subscription

*Required PCT title is listed in Attachment 1.

The Contractor shall provide training on the subject-specific databases as requested by the Government at no additional cost.

4.4 Task 4 – Usage Statistics: Usage data shall be provided for all content when available.

a) Usage data shall comply with the Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources (COUNTER) Release 5.1 Code of Practice compliant usage reports, when possible, with downloads available via SUSHI, administrative module, or email, and should be viewable in Microsoft Excel.

5. Administrative Requirements

5.1 The Contractor shall appoint an account representative to the USPTO within two (2) business days after award via email to the COR and ACOR. The account representative is expected to address questions or concerns on orders, pending and upcoming renewals and renewal lists, electronic access and access troubleshooting, claims, and delivery issues. The account representative shall respond to all inquiries within one (1) business day. The account representative shall participate in monthly meeting to address any outstanding or unresolved issues.

5.2 The Contractor shall notify the CO and COR immediately of any and all problems that will impact or may potentially impact the task area(s), deliverable(s), or delivery schedule. Such notifications shall be delivered via email at the known time of occurrence and followed-up by a written report detailing the issue(s) during normal work hours or at the beginning of the next USPTO workday. For each problem encountered, the written report should be submitted via email to the CO and a copy to the COR within 24 hours after the identification of the problem.

5.3 The Contractor shall provide administrative and other services for each subscription placed until three months after its expiration or for the life of the subscription (e.g., the publication of the last issue covered by that subscription period).

5.4 The Contractor shall provide customer and technical support during normal business hours Monday through Friday 8:00am-6:00pm, excluding federal holidays.

6. Deliverables

The Contractor shall provide all property and services necessary to perform the tasks specified in this contract to the Government’s satisfaction.

7. Place of Performance

All electronic content shall be available for use by USPTO employees and contractors located through the United States and Puerto Rico. Print subscriptions shall be provided when electronic versions are not available. The physical place of performance is provided for mailing reference and delivery of paper books should they be purchased.

US Patent and Trademark Office Scientific and Technical Information Center Library 600 Dulany Street MDE 00A89 (Madison Concourse) Alexandria, VA 22314

9. Special Requirements

9.1 End User License Agreements

The Contractor shall coordinate the issuance of the end user license agreement with the publisher, and to ensure that changes that have been previously ratified and signed are continued through the issuance of any new license agreements.

The Contractor shall be responsible for ensuring that the terms and conditions of any End Use License Agreements (EULAs) are not inconsistent with the terms and conditions of this contract. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between this contract and any EULAs, the terms and conditions of this contract shall take precedence.

10. Attachment

Attachment 1 – Title List

Form # USPTO-OP-020 (08/2020) Page 1 of 7 image1.png