TAB 1. Sole Source Justification - Ancestry Library REDACTED.pdf

Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE

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773 Enterprise Sourcing Squadron 1517 Billy Mitchell Blvd, Bldg 954 San Antonio, TX 78236-1865

Due to circumstances described herein, the activity requests authority to purchase electronic access from Ancestry Fold 3 Library Edition using Other Than Full and Open Competition as prescribed by FAR 13.106-1(b)(soliciting from a single source), and 13.501(a)(Sole source acquisitions). This individual action will result in the award of a new Firm Fixed Price Contract. This sole source requirement will be acquired from the following vendor: ProQuest

The mission of DAF/DoD Libraries is outlined in DoDI 1015.10 stating DoD Libraries will provide information resources and services required to accomplish the mission. The DAF/DoD libraries support military personnel assigned to contingency operations, remote sites, and military missions IAW DoDI 1015.10, Military Morale, Welfare, and Recreation Programs. The program provides professional military and voluntary education programs materials and services. Libraries also provide facilities, resources, and services to enhance the quality of life, regeneration, and resiliency for authorized customers. These resources relate to various overarching goals of the DAF/DoD such as recreation, physical wellness, emotional resiliency, and educational pursuits.

To meet these needs, the DAF/DoD libraries must procure resources that can be accessed globally, including in areas with low or no internet access, and provide the below stated requirements. These resources need to include access to quality of life resources. The ProQuest Fold3 is a vital leisure tool for DoD personnel. Fold3 is important to service personnel and library staff for having the ability to provide instantly accessible digital information in multiple platforms that can be streamed or downloading with no waiting. This subscription must be firm-fixed pricing so there is no increase when new titles are accessed. It should also not limit the number of titles or electronic checkouts per title. This ebook/audiobook collection provides information that supports professional, education and enhances quality of life for DoD personnel. The DoD Libraries also require a resource that provides research for personnel development that meet the quality of life, regeneration, and resiliency as stipulated by DoDI 1015.10.

The proposed effort covered by this individual J&A is for a 12-month subscription to additional ProQuest Fold3 for DAF/DoD Libraries. The requirement is for a subscription database that provides convenient access to US Military records from world-class archives, many of which are exclusively available on Fold3. Must provide records from at least National Archives & Records Administration (NARA), Allen County Public Library, Harris County Archives, Cuyahoga County Archives, South Carolina Archives, Pennsylvania Archives, Center for Research Libraries, FamilySearch Archives. Must provide detailed statistics for the 4 service branches and military one source/other.

Must be able to interface with all 4 service branch library and Military OneSource websites using industry standard authentication methods to ensure only eligible patrons can access resources from any internet connected computer browsers and mobile devices. Security between the Website and server must be Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3.

Must be able to supply or allow retrieval of database usage statistics by Branch of Service (Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Military OneSource/Other, and Navy). Must have HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) with long duration deployed on the servers to mitigate/prevent man-in-the-middle attacks. Website certificates should be RSA 2048-bits (SHA256withRSA).

ProQuest Fold3 is a proprietary platform that DAF/DoD Libraries programs already maintains collections of

Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

March 2023 SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE Page 3 of 5 historical articles and archives the platform. The established collection cannot be moved to another platform.

DAF/DoD Libraries Program wants to add more content to the established collection.

FAR 13.106-1(b)(2), Soliciting from a Single Source

FAR 13.501(a), Sole Source acquisitions

This acquisition uses Simplified Acquisition Procedures because it falls within the authority of Commercial Items.

Since this acquisition is less than $7.5M, Simplified Acquisition Procedures may be used in accordance with FAR 12.203.

ProQuest has exclusive legal copyright and is a "must order direct" company. The publisher does not market their web products through distributors so they are not available from any other source. The proposed sole source is the only known source for this requirement. Ancestry Fold 3 is invaluable for historians, genealogists, researchers, military enthusiasts, veterans and their families, teachers and battle reenactors. From scholars and historians to genealogists and families, has a vast population of researchers interested in military history. This is a premier collection of primary and secondary sources suitable for scholarly and personal study. Without this sole source acquisition, the DoD Library's mission to provide military members with safe educational and recreational support would be seriously harmed or delayed without the latest, up-to-the-minute information available from this subscription.

The incumbent to the current contract, ProQuest, is the only viable and reliable vendor with an already established platform and meets both the DAF and DoD base library mission requirements. Therefore, it has been determined that this requirement will be a sole source.

Market research confirms that ProQuest, Inc is the only known source that can satisfy the Government's requirements and is intended to support the DoD Libraries Program.

The Government published a Sources Sought Notice on SAM.gov, Notice ID FA8052PRE0752 on 25 June 2024 with a response due date/time of 4:00 PM CDT on 8 July 2024. Additionally, the posting outlined the minimum characteristics that a similar service would have to meet to fulfill the requirement and requested that any interested firms submit a capabilities package indicating their interest and capacity to fulfill the requirement.

Please refer to section VIII for market research details.

A combination of price analysis techniques found in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-3 will be used to determine the price to be fair and reasonable. Additionally, the contracting officer has the right to conduct

Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

March 2023 SOURCE SELECTION SENSITIVE Page 4 of 5 discussions regarding the proposed prices to ensure a determination of a fair and reasonable price prior to award.In accordance with FAR 13.106-3(a), the Contracting Officer shall determine that the proposed price is fair and reasonable. The basis of this determination is anticipated to be based on FAR 13.106-3(ii) and FAR 13.106-3(iii). Price shall be verified against ProQuest current price lists, catalogs, http://www.fold3.com or advertisements and by comparison to prices paid from previous and current subscription/contracts with other customers that are similar.

The 773 ESS has relied upon the Air Force Libraries' surveillance of the market for contractors to determine if competition is available for this requirement. The library used publishers' advertisements, professional conferences, vendor demonstrations, customer suggestions, and new publication reviews to conduct market research. Market research indicates no other capable vendor sources have been identified.

Each year librarians/product owners attend numerous conferences hosted by entities such as the Texas Library Association, Public Library Association and American Library Association. These conferences host hundreds of vendors that serve the library community. Over the course of several days, the librarians conduct market research by conversing with the vendors and experiencing products first-hand.

Continuous market research is also completed by staying up to date on current and new product offerings and updates via various mailing lists as well as Internet searches completed by the product owners.

The Government published a Sources Sought Notice on SAM.gov, Notice ID FA8052PRE0752 on 25 June 2024 with a response due date/time of 12:00 PM CST on 8 July 2024. Additionally, the posting outlined the minimum characteristics that a similar service would have to meet to fulfill the requirement and requested that any interested firms submit a capabilities package indicating their interest and capacity to fulfill the requirement.

The results from the Sources Sought produced 2 interested vendors which included the incumbent. After reviewing the submitted capability statements and researching the company websites, ProQuest LLC. is the only vendor capable of fulfilling this requirement.

- Irongrove LLC (Small) UEI: P4WZBUUZ9K27 CAGE: 9DAA8: IT solutions company with over 20 years of experience providing IT services to both small and large corporations. Due to ProQuest LLC. have sole proprietary rights to the Ancestry Fold3 Library edition, Irongrove LLC is not capable of providing the

- ProQuest LLC (Large), J1RFEVPBPU43; CAGE: 3E922: Ancestry Fold3 Library Edition provides access to over 20 billion records primarily intended for genealogical research. These records include Census records; birth, marriage, and death notices; immigration and travel records; and military records. Additionally there are special collections that include books, newspapers, and pictures. The collection of records is continuously expanded and improved as new collections are digitized and licensed from key sources including, but not limited to National Archives & Records Administration (NARA), Allen County Public Library, Harris County Archives, Cuyahoga County Archives, South Carolina Archives, Pennsylvania Archives, Center for Research Libraries, FamilySearch Archives. Military records are available for all 4 branches of the U.S. Military, as well as foreign militaries.

Due to only one qualified responses on the source sought, it is determined that it is in the best interest of the Government to do a sole source acquisition. There is not a reasonable expectation of obtaining any offers from small business. ProQuest LLC. Cage: 3E922 UEI: J1RFEVPBPU43 is the only capable vendor being that the government.

Ancestry Library Edition is a proprietary platform that DAF/DoD Libraries programs already maintains collections of e-books and e-audiobooks of over $20 million on the platform. The established collection cannot be moved to another platform. DAF/DoD Libraries Program wants to add more content to the established collection.

Sole Source (Including Brand Name) Justification - Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items

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ProQuest is the only known source capable of providing the item described above for the Department of Defense to accomplish the libraries' mission.

AFSVC/VCL will attempt to obtain competition whenever possible by use of professional journals and trade exhibits. AFSVC/VCL will continue to keep up-to-date and review new research databases to determine if another source will meet the needs of the students, faculty, and staff, in addition to keeping an open dialog with our patrons and usage statistics to determine the necessity for future purposes. The 773 ESS will continually canvass the market by posting sources sought notices to determine if their are viable sources to obtain competition.