SSJ - Touch Sonic Technologies (SCC).doc

DES Sole Source Filing Justification

Central Purchasing Unit

(For Purchase Requests/Purchase Orders)

DES SOLE SOURCE FILING JUSTIFICATION

Purchase Requests/Purchase Orders NOTE: Every question must be answered or the Sole Source Contract Database (SSCD) will reject the filing.

Please refer to the CPU SharePoint page for Sole Source filing information.

For information on sole source contracts, please review the following Department of Enterprise Services (DES) policy: Policy #DES-140-00, Sole Source Contracts (RCW 39.26.140)

After electronically completing this form, please send to the Central Purchasing Unit.

SECTION 1 – Purchase Request/Purchase Order Information

1.

Administration/Program and Contact Person: Mary Justin-Valencia, CFO (SCC) & Monica Seeley, Sales Director

2.

Proposed Purchase Date: 9/1/2023 3.

Proposed Delivery Date: 9/1/2023 4.

Vendor Name & Address: Touch Legal dba Touch Sonic Technologies 5.

Vendor’s TIN or SSN:

68-00588682

6.

Purchase Request (PR) Number: and/or Purchase Order (PO) Number (if known):

7.

Purpose of Purchase: To renew access to adequate legal materials to persons that have been civilly committed to the Special Commitment Center, as required by Washington State Law. This protects the rights of persons to have the opportunity for self-representation (Pro SE) as opposed to being represented by legal counsel. Touch Legal is supplying 10 electronic law library kiosks plus 1 server; configured with a hot swappable bay drive designed exclusively for delivery of offline LexisNexis Legal content.

8.

Funding Source:

Federal:

$0

State:

$209,550.00

Other:

$0

Total:

$209,550.00 SECTION 2 – Ethics Questions

Are any of the Vendor’s staff CURRENT state employees?

YES

FORMCHECKBOX

NO

FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, please provide the following information for EACH current state employee (use a separate sheet of paper, if necessary):

Employee’s Name:

State Agency Where Employed:

Position Title:

Has employee received Ethics Board approval?

YES

FORMCHECKBOX

NO

If Board approval NOT granted, explain why:

Are any of the Vendor’s staff FORMER state employees within two (2) years of the purchase date?

YES

FORMCHECKBOX

NO

FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, please provide the following information for EACH former state employee (use a separate sheet of paper, if necessary):

Employee’s Name:

State Agency Where Last Employed:

Position Title:

Termination Date:

SECTION 3 – Purchase Order Justification Questions

What is the business need or problem that requires this purchase?

For the Residents of the SCC to be able to access the law library.

Adequate resources to do legal independent research must be provided to the persons that have been civilly committed to the Special Commitment Center. Because the population is not allowed to have internet access, Secure Research Applications that provide up to date court decisions are very limited.

Describe the unique features, qualifications, abilities or expertise of the vendor proposed for this sole source purchase.

Electronic law library kiosks configured with a hot swappable bay drive designed exclusively for delivery of offline LexisNexis Legal content. 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 viewed menus, ability to open multiple views and publications, accurate results, forward and back buttons, and specialized search forms for cases and codes. This product is able to be continuously updated, while not allowing internet access that is prohibited for the Special Commitment Center (SCC) 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 Special Commitment Center has previously provided the required legal materials through a contract with Thompson Reuters, but was notified on or about 10/23/2019 that the legal court updates provided on CD-ROM that ran on their standalone Westlaw Application (server at SCC) will be discontinued. The only available non-internet legal resources would be in paper format. The Attorney General required SCC to provide electronic search capability for these legal materials so switching to only paper/book law materials will not work for the SCC.

3.

What kind of market research did the agency conduct to conclude that alternative sources were inappropriate or unavailable? Provide a narrative description of the agency’s due diligence in determining the basis for the sole source contract, including methods used by the agency to conduct a review of available sources such as researching trade publications, industry newsletters and the internet; contacting similar service providers; and reviewing statewide pricing trends and/or agreements. Include a list of businesses contacted (if you state that no other businesses were contacted, explain why not), date of contact, method of contact (telephone, mail, e-mail, other), and documentation demonstrating an explanation of why those businesses could not or would not, under any circumstances, perform the contract; or an explanation of why the agency has determined that no businesses other than the prospective contractor can perform the contract.

Internet research for legal research options was done by both BHA contracts department and the SCC IT department and legal coordinator at SCC. The Lexis-Nexis solution was the most cost efficient and also provided good legal research materials and kiosk solutions.

4.

Provide a detailed and compelling description of the costs and risks mitigated by purchasing from this vendor (i.e. learning curve, follow-up nature).

We've already purchased from this vendor and are accustomed to their system and processes. 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 viewed menus, ability to open multiple views and publications, accurate results, forward and back buttons, and specialized search forms for cases and codes.

5.

Is the agency proposing this sole source vendor because of special circumstances, such as confidential investigations, copyright restrictions, etc.? Yes FORMCHECKBOX

No FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, please describe:

LexisNexis Content will provide the subscription and resources. The current contracted provider for legal resources Thompson Reuters can no longer provide an electronic solution that is not internet based, their standalone legal server solution is no longer available per their letter dated October 23, 2019.

6.

Is the agency proposing this sole source vendor because of unavoidable, critical time delays or issues that prevented the agency from completing this acquisition using a competitive process?

Yes FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, please describe. (For example, if time constraints are applicable, identify when the agency was on notice of the need for the goods and/or service, the entity that imposed the constraints, explain the authority of that entity to impose them, and provide the timelines which work must be accomplished.)

7.

Is the agency proposing this sole source vendor because of a geographic limitation?

Yes FORMCHECKBOX

If YES, state the basis for this conclusion and the rationale for limiting the size of the geographical area selected.

8.

What are the consequences of not having this sole source filing approved? (Describe in detail the impact to the agency and to services it provides if this sole source filing is not approved.)

Losing access to the already existing law library provided by this company. Resident lawsuits will occur due to us not providing all the required legal research resources.

9.

What considerations were given to providing opportunities to this vendor or other small business (e.g., unbundling the goods and/or services acquired)?

We searched for small business legal resources and did not find any options available. We also asked other state agencies with clientele what they utilizing for legal research. We found that the Department of Corrections is using Lexis-Nexis standalone solution also. The DOC contract number is K11002, contact is Tracy Schneider, Correctional Manager. The Lexis-Nexis product provides not only court subscriptions but provides Shepard’s Citations Service which is the only true citator available in non-internet format. The term Shepardize® has become commonplace in the legal industry because it’s the most trusted, in-depth and reliable method for determining whether an authority is still good law.

10.

Since competition was not used as the means for procurement, how did the agency conclude that the costs, fees, or rates negotiated are fair and reasonable? (Please make comparison with comparable vendors, use the results of a market survey, or employ other appropriate means calculated to make such a determination.)

We asked for quotes from solution providers and determined that the most cost effective solution also provided an easier to use product with more functionality for searching case law.

SECTION 4 – Processing (to be completed by the Central Purchasing Unit)

1. Is this purchase exempt from Sole Source Filing?

Yes

The following exemption applies: ___________________________ This purchase order does not need to be filed as a sole source.

Completed by:

Date:

No This purchase order must be filed as a sole source purchase.

Completed by:

Date:

WEBS Notice:

Posted on _______________________ DSHS CCLS Website:

Posted on _______________________ SSCD Filing:

Filed on _________________________

Last Updated: 03/2022