S02 - Redacted JA - LWW Total Access Collection.pdf

Part 806.3 Other Than Full and Open Competition (OFOC) Attachment 7: Request for Sole Source Justification Format >SAT

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Justification and Approval (J&A) For

Other Than Full and Open Competition (>SAT)

Acquisition Plan Action ID: 36C776-22-AP-0704

1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, Program Contracting Activity Central (PCAC), 6100 Oak Tree Blvd., Independence, OH 44131.

2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed: This action is a brand name justification to support a new, standalone, firm-fixed-price contract.

Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency’s Needs: The VA requires subscription-based access to a comprehensive core collection of knowledge-based information (clinical journals, databases, medical information, and textbooks) that facilitates the practice of evidence-based medicine to ensure the highest quality of patient care. The services being purchased are access to the Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins (LWW) Total Access Collection and a selection of British Medical Journal (BMJ) titles. These titles are a specific list of authorized resellers.

The Library Network Office (LNO) maintains the National Core Collection of Online Resources on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs and makes those resources available for use at all medical centers, community out based clinics (CBOC), VISNs and Program Offices. The centralized purchase of these resources began in 2010 to guarantee that equal access to high quality clinical information resources was available to improve clinical decision making at the point of care by insuring the uniform availability of a core collection of knowledge-based information.

The scope of work shall consist of providing subscription services needs for two Office of Health Informatics (OHI) offices; LNO and VA Central Office (VACO) Library. Subscriptions for LNO consist of online books, journals and databases with access being provided to all department employees.

The VACO Library online and print subscriptions are made available to central office staff.

This effort falls in line with VA’s mission, goals and objectives in support of providing Veterans’ care.

Contractors shall be responsible for the management, labor and equipment necessary to provide subscriptions detailed above.

Overall estimated value for this contract is for a nine-month base period (9/23/22 – 6/23/23) and four 12-month options.

Statutory Authority Permitting Other than Full and Open Competition: Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements per 41 USC §3304(a)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1;This is a procurement for a brand name subscription that is unique to it’s publisher , Rev: 13 Effective Date: 02/01/22

Part 806.3 Other Than Full and Open Competition (OFOC) Attachment 7: Request for Sole Source Justification Format >SAT

Rev: 13 Effective Date: 02/01/22 Page 2 of 5

5. Demonstration that the Contractor’s Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above (applicability of authority): LNO continuously researches available products to find the most well rounded and complete products that encompass the needs of the VA. This brand-name subscription provides the most up-to-date, state-of-the-art research and peer reviewed medical articles by recognized experts in their field due to their proprietary nature, copyrighted material and intellectual property. The unique and highly specialized resources contained within are available from only one publisher.

Selection of specific resources is based upon a multitude of criteria:

a. Input from a select group of VA medical librarians

b. Recommendations from the Core Collection Advisory Committee (CCAG)

c. Reviews provided by librarians and clinical staff

d. Doody’s Review – an authoritative medical review service designed to assist medical librarians and institutions with their purchasing decisions. Resources are reviewed by medical librarians and content specialists.

e. Recommendations/support of authoritative medical organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association.

f. Impact factors and other bibliometric data

g. Annual review of usage of current resources

It is imperative to avoid predatory journals and publishers. These include those publishers that require authors to pay a fee to publish without providing peer review or editing services. These publishers do not follow the proper academic standards for publishing.

Although there are well rounded products in clinical medicine for medical physicians, there are only a few resources that match the needs of the VA. The information is proprietary and contributed to by recognized experts in all fields of healthcare. Library Network Office approves the selection of certain products based on relevancy and appropriateness by consulting with the field and confirming the needs are current and ongoing.

The content offered through LWW and BMJ is not offered by any other publishers. Titles in this collection are premier books and journals in many Health Sciences fields. The LWW and BMJ allows for the cross searching of resources, thus cannot be substituted with other products.

The LWW and BMJ titles, often cited as several of the world’s premier medical journals, ebooks and other knowledge based information by newspapers such as the Washington Post, is used heavily by VA librarians, clinicians, researchers, and educators.

In order to support the minimum essential requirement to provide support for the medical mission and in continuing operational support to VA clinicians and their supporting medical staff the previously available medical reference books and journals must continue to be available. The only product that currently supports this requirement is LWW and BMJ.

The online web-based version of the LWW Total Access Collection and BMJ Subscriptions provides unique access as stated above to books and journals.