Sole Source WEBS Notice .docx

STATE OF WASHINGTON

Department of Social & Health Services

SOLE SOURCE POSTING

The Department of Social & Health Services (DSHS) contemplates awarding a sole source contract to Touch Sonic Technologies to provide a lease of 10 secure kiosks and one server to implement a subscription of a Lexis-Nexis offline electronic legal library at the Special Commitment Center, Total Confinement Facility.

Functionality features have been developed by this company that make it easier for incarcerated or civilly committed populations to do legal research. This includes Natural Language searching, phrase searching, table of content displays at all times, customizable tabs for frequent view menus, ability to open multiple views and publications, accurate results, forward/back buttons, and specialized search forms for cases and codes.

This solution provides Shepard’s Citations Service which was unavailable in a non-internet format from other vendors. Shepard’s assesses the precedential value of an authority and generates a comprehensive list of materials citing to it. It looks across courts and jurisdictions to provide lists of documents that have cited to an authority. Shepard’s has been used by legal researchers and provides a thorough detailed method for determining good law.

This product is able to be continuously updated, while not allowing internet access that is prohibited for the Special Commitment Center population.

Additionally the kiosks that have been developed are durably built to withstand abuse and provide ease of use to 7th grade levels and up. Previously SCC IT staff were having to image older surplus staff workstations for legal research, the option to have new kiosks at less cost than the previous subscription we paid for is a benefit to the civilly committed residents and also will reduce IT staff time spent supporting this service.

The contract will be issued on or about 11/20/2023 for 60 months with option for up to 5-year renewal. The dollar value is estimated at $209550.00 pretax.

Vendors contemplating the above requirements are required to submit capability statements detailing their ability to meet the state’s requirements by November 09,2023.

The following information should be included in the capability statements:

· Price and description of lease for 10 standalone kiosks.

· Lease of hot swap capable server to host legal reference library.

· Provide a subscription service for a frequently updated legal library.

In the absence of other qualified sources, it is the state’s intent to make a sole source award of the contract.

To submit capability statements or for questions, contact:

Contact Name: Chelsea Petrino E-mail: Chelsea.petrino@dshs.wa.gov