Sole Source Special Notice in PDF for Politico Pro as Reviewed and Edited by OGC on Jan 13 2022.pdf

SOLE SOURCE SPECIAL NOTICE NO. 693JK422Q700002

FOR SUBSCRIPTION TO POLITICO PRO

This Notice is NOT a Solicitation. This is INSTEAD a Sole Source Special Notice explaining why the purchase of a subscription to no publication OTHER than Politico Pro would satisfy the current need of the office of the U. S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Undersecretary for Policy.

Upon the basis of the following justification, DOT’s contemplated SOLE-SOURCE purchase of a subscription to Politico Pro would be made under the authority of the Federal Acquisition

Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1(a), which states that an executive agency may use procedures other than competitive procedures --- (2) “When the supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for.”

1. IDENTIFICATION OF THE REQUIRING ACTIVITY AND CONTRACTING

ACTIVITY:

AGENCY (REQUIRING ACTIVITY):

US DOT/OST/S3.6

OST Office of the Under Secretary for Transportation Policy

Resource Directorate

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Washington, DC 20590

Attn: Jennifer Jones-Everett, Room W84-125

CONTRACTING ACTIVITY:

U.S. Department of Transportation/OST

Acquisition Services Division, M-63

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Washington, DC 20590

2. NATURE/DESCRIPTION OF ACTION BEING APPROVED:

This acquisition is to purchase a firm-fixed-price five-year subscription to Politico Pro for the

Office of the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy. The contract would be for one base year and four option years.

3. DESCRIPTION OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET AGENCY’S

NEEDS AND ESTIMATED VALUE

DOT intends to purchase the Politico Pro Plus Plan in order to meet its needs. Specifically, DOT requires minute-by-minute as well as in depth news coverage on transportation, including daily budget and appropriations briefing and all associated documents, and legislative and regulatory tracking tools. The cost would be $37,380 for the base year.

4. IDENTIFICATION OF STATUTORY AUTHORITY PERMITING OTHER THAN

FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION:

Only one source can provide the supplies or services required at the level of quality required by DOT because the supplies or services are unique or highly specialized. The statutory authority for the proposed contract with Politico Pro is 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1) as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1(a), which states that an executive agency may use procedures other than competitive procedures --- (2) “When the supplies or services required by the agency are available from only one responsible source and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for.”

5. DEMONSTRATION OF CONTRACTOR’S UNIQUE CAPABILITIES:

PoliticoPro service is the only service that has both the minute-by-minute transportation updates, as well as the in-depth general transportation-related news and analysis that the Office of the

Secretary requires. The timeliness of the transportation-related reporting has proven to be valuable and unmatched by similar services. PoliticoPro provides access to daily budget and appropriations briefs, as well as the documents associated with the budget and appropriations process. It provides complete access to a congressional directory and related documents. It provides access to a morning newsletter providing important updates on transportation news and budget developments. It also provides access to calendar events, including events at which speakers address high profile transportation issues and related documents. These services have not been duplicated to the same extent elsewhere. Thus, PoliticoPro is unique in terms of the services it provides.

The contemplated sole-source Politico Pro contract will provide continuity in significant enhancements and changes:

Access to all POLITICO Pro policy areas: previously, the team’s plan included access to 14 policy areas. Users now have access to all 22 of POLITICO Pro’s policy areas on the platform and are no longer required to purchase access to additional policy areas if needed as would have been the case under our previous model

Subscription credit flexibility: with a Pro subscription, each user now has 14 subscription credits that they can attribute to any of Pro’s 22 policy areas to fully customize the news alerts receive they receive based on their individual needs and policy focus

Full access to legislative and regulatory tracking tools: the team’s subscription now includes full access to Pro’s state and federal legislative tracker along with a newly built out federal and state regulatory tracker for monitoring the federal and state rule making process

Pro’s re-designed policy intelligence platform: as of this month, the users now have access to a fully redesigned POLITICO Pro homepage dashboard that optimizes workflow by displaying team members’ customized news stories, bill and regulatory tracking, and calendar all in one place

Projects workflow tool: Pro now includes access to the Projects functionality that allows users to collaborate with one another by organizing and compiling content across the platform in one workflow tool, streamlining group work and further consolidating aspects of your team’s work that can be completed within the platform

The Politico Pro Plus Plan includes:

• Pro Edge platform with news content for all policy areas

• Tools including Directories, Document Drawer, Policy Calendar, Campaign Race

Dashboard, Legislative Compass, Regulatory Compass

• Customizable alerts for tools included in the platform

• Subscription credits to enable policy area push content including newsletters, news content, breaking news alerts

• Teleconferences

6. EFFORTS MADE TO OBTAIN COMPETITION, AND WHETHER A NOTICE WAS

OR WILL BE PUBLICIZED AS REQUIRED BY FAR SUBPART 5.2 AND, IF NOT,

WHICH EXCEPTION UNDER FAR 5.202 APPLIES:

This Sole Source Special Notice numbered 693JK422Q700002, as published by DOT contracting officer James Mowery in the SAM.gov website, constitutes the needed notice contemplated in FAR 5.202.

7. DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE

ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE:

DOT’s cognizant program officers have observed and concluded that Politico Pro has recently proposed—for DOT’s upcoming contemplated subscription to Politico Pro which is the subject of this Sole Source Special Notice—reasonable prices that are in line with HISTORICALLY-proposed prices to provide similar services. And DOT contracting officer James Mowery has reviewed Politico’s most-recently proposed prices and concurs in the conclusion that they are reasonable.

Moreover, each invoice submitted by the Politico during performance of the contemplated sole-source contract will be scrutinized for allowability, allocability and reasonableness of billed cost in accordance with FAR Part 31.

8. A DESCRIPTION OF MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AND THE RESULTS

OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON THAT MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT

CONDUCTED:

This published Sole Source Special Notice—and the opportunity which it provides for submission of competing Statements of Qualifications to DOT by entities other than Politico

Pro—constitutes this procurement’s needed Market Research.

9. ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND

OPEN COMPETITION:

Not applicable.

10. A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO

REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFOREANY

SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THESE SERVICES:

DOT knows of no barriers to competition and accordingly finds that none can be removed.

And it is the contracting officer’s and the Contracting Officer’s Representative’s belief and understanding that DOT, in processing any FUTURE similar procurement(s), would publish some kind of Sole Source Special Notice similar to this one.

11. CONTRACTING OFFICER CERTIFICATION THAT THE JUSTIFICATION IS

ACCURATE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF THE CONTRACTING OFFICER’S

KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF:

DOT’s cognizant contracting officer and Contracting Officer’s Representative hereby certify that the facts and representations included in this Sole Source Special Notice are accurate and complete to the best of their knowledge, information and belief.

OPPORTUNITY TO RESPOND

Any entity OTHER THAN Politico Pro—which believes that it is fully capable of meeting

DOT’s needs and requirements at the high level of thoroughness and quality indispensable to the

Department—may attempt to prove that point by e-mailing a Statement of Qualifications to james.mowery@dot.gov and to Tammi.Daniels@dot.gov and to Matthew.Ginsburg@dot.gov and to Marilyn.Shazor@dot.gov not later than 11:45 PM Eastern Time January 23rd, 2022.

mailto:james.mowery@dot.gov mailto:Tammi.Daniels@dot.gov mailto:Matthew.Ginsburg@dot.gov mailto:Marilyn.Shazor@dot.gov