A03_-_Simplified_Acquisition_Sole_Source_Justification_-_Elsevier_Signed_Final_Redacted_draft_3_Redacted.pdf

Control No: JA-Adel-17-101 Contractor Elsevier B.V.

Supply/Service: SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription

FAR SUBPART 13.5 Simplified acquisition procedures for Certain Commercial Items-Sole Source Justification and approval

Supply/Service: One (1) year Elsevier SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription which provides online/electronic access to a full-text scientific database with four (4) one

(1) year options.

Authority: Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, 41 USC 1901 as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.5.

Amount: $4,647,576.53

Prepared by: DSN:

Branch Chief Date: 11/7/2016 Email:

Contracting Officer: Mr. Benjamin J. Shelton DSN: 306-0752 Contracting Officer Date: 11/17/2016 Email: benjamin.j.shelton6.civ@mail.mil

Technical: DSN:

Branch Chief Date: 11/7/2016 Email:

Requirements: DSN:

Branch Chief Date: 11/7/2016 Email:

Reviews: I have reviewed this justification and find it adequate to support other than full and open competition.

Program Manager:

12/22/2016

X Program Manager Signed by:

Supply/Service: SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription

Legal Counsel:

12/22/2016

X Legal Counsel Signed by:

FAR Subpart 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items – Sole Source Justification and Approval

1. Contracting Activity: Adelphi Contracting Division, Army Contracting Command- Aberdeen Proving Ground (Soldier, Chemical, Research & Test), ACC-APG (SCRT), 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, Maryland 20783-1138

2. Description of Action: The United States (U.S.) Army Research Laboratory (ARL), requests a Firm-Fixed-Price

(FFP) contract with Elsevier B.V., Radarweg 29. Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, 1043, NX, NLD. The Government projects award for December 2016 and fiscal year 2016, Research, Development, Test, & Evaluation (RDT&E) funds will be used.

_X_ An acquisition plan is not required because this procurement does not meet the threshold at Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 207.103(d)(I)(B) and is not a cost reimbursement type contract (FAR 16.301- 3(a)(2)).

3. Description of Supplies/Services: This contract action will result in continued access to the online database named Elsevier SciVerse ScienceDirect in support of the ARLs Technical Library, RDRL-CIO LA, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005. The action continues providing electronic information at the desktops of authorized ARL employees, including independent contractors, regardless of location and authorized individuals inside the libraries. It will provide ARL with state of the art search and retrieval capabilities of articles indexed in Science Direct. Full-text access to ARL Technical Library subscribed journals published by Elsevier and Elsevier subsidiaries will be made available online, to include the current year and all available back files: as well as indexing and abstracting of non-subscribed titles.

CLIN ITEM PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE QUOTED

AMOUNT

CLIN 0001 Base Period January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017 CLIN 0002 Option Period 1 January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 CLIN 0003 Option Period 2 January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 CLIN 0004 Option Period 3 January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020 CLIN 0005 Option Period 4 January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021

TOTAL $4,647,576.53

Supply/Service: SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription

4. Authority Cited: Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items, 41 USC 1901 as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.5.

5. Reason for Authority Cited: The Government requires One (1) ARL-wide subscription for access to the Science Direct platform in support of ARL’s Technical Library. The Technical Library’s mission is to support the ARL research mission by acquiring, organizing, and preserving information collections, and providing access to knowledge and educational information resources in the most efficient and effective manner. The ARL Technical Library program and its knowledgeable professionals’ foster information and knowledge management by providing mission critical support to meet researcher information requirements. ARL researchers require access to peer-reviewed integrated full-text publications with references specifically directed to meeting the needs of the distinct specialties found within ARL's mission, namely, science, engineering, and medicine.

Science Direct is a web-based platform offered exclusively by Elsevier B.V. Science Direct offers over 14 million publications from over 3800 journals and more than 35,000 books, covering 24 major disciplines across science, technology and health, with an average citation share of 25.3%. Science direct offers over 400 papers by 74 Nobel Laureates. Furthermore, this subscription provides access to developments in each field dating back to the 1880’s as well as current publications providing researchers a wealth of knowledge in a research area. The Science Direct platform also offers a unique tool to the ARL research community which provides the user the ability to quickly filter down the specific information by topic, journal title, author, key words, etc., as well as indexing and abstracting non-subscribed titles. The subscription also offers the capability to search in-press articles not yet published, and to limit search results to subscribed journals’ issues/volumes. The Science direct database allows end-users to search field’s using natural language and or Boolean operators with the ability to select basic or advanced searches and to limit by year(s) published, general subject areas and/or English language documents. The general searchable fields will include abstract, title, author, author affiliation, international Standard Serial Number (ISSN), Reference, aid the full-text of Elsevier published articles. The database also allows the end-user to save citations as an alert, email the record, or export to reference manager program or in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format. The end-user will also be able to create individual profiles, which allow the end-user to identify favorite journals, and set up alerts that will be emailed notifying the end-user of articles to be published in their area(s) of interest.

If a new contract is not awarded, ARL Researchers would be unable to access the full-text of Elsevier published journals. The entire ARL research community would not have access to a valuable automated research tool that leads to essential information on ongoing and planned research. Without the Elsevier subscription, ARL's personnel will have to research a variety of non-peer-reviewed, web-based sources for substitute publications. Further, research by use of multiple sources will lead to significant program and mission delays as ARL's scientists and engineers will require additional time to fact-check and validate sources of information and it is anticipated that no cost-savings will be realized. Elsevier's Science Direct platform provides the integration of trusted resources and the ability to simultaneously search these resources which no other

Supply/Service: SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription source can provide. This is vital to the users at ARL because any downtime or limitations to access of information can cause serious setbacks to ongoing research projects in the user community across all directorates.

Elsevier's Science Direct published journals are proprietary in nature - only Elsevier is able to provide the content to the journals, and as such is the only vendor who is able to provide the subscription as required. The content of these journals and the information indexed in the databases is essential to ARL personnel performing research to fulfill ARL's mission and cannot be obtained elsewhere other than thru subscription from Elsevier. There is no other source available that can grant access rights to Elsevier’s Science Direct, or its content. Historically, Elsevier has not allowed the data rights to be purchased by another source. All title rights to the subscribed products remain with Elsevier who is the only vendor capable of satisfying the Government’s requirements.

6. Efforts to Obtain Competition: Based on the market research performed by the Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) (See Section 8), no other vendor other than Elsevier were found to fulfill the Government’s requirement. ARL researchers have not identified alternate sources for services either of the breadth or depth of those offered under Elsevier’s Science Direct. The commercial market will continued to be surveyed for resources that enhance the technical research missions of ARL and this action will be conducted competitively should an alternated commercial source be identified offering similar services and access.

A sources sought synopsis was posted to FBO on 11/16/2016 with a closing date of 11/22/2016. No vendors expressed interest or replied. In accordance with FAR 5.201, a synopsis was posted on 11/23/2016 with a closing date of 12/07/2016, and, to date, there have been no responses. This in of itself provides potential for future competition as other sources may commercially develop competing databases in order to fulfil future needs of the Army Research Laboratory. Furthermore, in accordance with FAR 13.501(a)(1)(iii) the approved J&A will be posted within 14 days after contract award.

7. Actions to Increase Competition: ARL will continue to pursue web searches and hold discussions amongst the library community to help locate other sources that can provide online full-text access to Elsevier published journals, but until that is known ARL requests approval to continue to use the existing source: Elsevier Science Direct. Any known sources that can provide similar online accessibility will be sought for competitive interest.

8. Market Research: Market research was conducted from 1 October 2016 to 31 October 2016 by the Supervisory Librarian with 37 years of professional experience. Research included internet searches, conference and symposia attendance and review of library literature such as Library Journal, Information Technology & Libraries, and Informed Librarian. Also, discussions with personnel in the research library community were conducted on a regular basis throughout the 2016 calendar year by ARL Technical Library staff, Librarians, Technical Information Specialists, and Technical Information Specialists. The ARL Technical Library staff is comprised of certified librarians, holding master degrees in library science fields, and

Supply/Service: SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription experienced technical information specialists who provide expert guidance to ARL's researchers and scientists. ARL's librarians have identified Elsevier’s Science Direct as a unique journal subscription, which fulfills ARL's requirements with regard to content and capabilities.

Elsevier’s Science Direct is a commercially available, off-the-shelf service offered to special interest groups and libraries. It is in the best interest of the government to purchase this online reference service directly from Elsevier rather than attempt to develop an alternate source. Market survey efforts will continue to be conducted to determine if alternate sources to satisfy ARL’s requirement for these services have entered the commercial market place.

Elsevier is the owner of all rights, title and copyright to the material contained within its Science Direct database and is the only vendor with the legal rights to publish and distribute the material worldwide. Therefore, market research concluded that Elsevier is the only source able to provide the required renewal of the Science Direct subscription.

9. Interested Sources: In accordance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) 205.205-71, DFARS 206.302-1(d), and DFARS Procedures, Guidance and Information (PGI) 206.302-1(d) the Contracting Officer published a sources sought synopsis on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) on 11/16/2016 for 7 days and requested information from interested sources who could possibly be considered for competition. This sources sought resulted in no interested vendors responding. As required by FAR 5.201, a synopsis was posted to FBO with a closing date of 12/07/2016. To date, no other sources have written to express interest in the acquisition.

10. Other Facts:

a. Procurement History

Contract: W911QX-12-C-0027 Contractor: Elsevier B.V.

Award Date: 10 May 2012 Competitive Status: other than full and open competition Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1

Contract: W911QX-09-P-0117 Contractor: Elsevier B.V.

Award Date: 02 January 2009 Competitive Status: other than full and open competition Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1

Contract: W911QX-07-C-0057R Contractor: Elsevier B.V.

Award Date: 07 March 2007 Competitive Status: other than full and open competition

Supply/Service: SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription

Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1

Contract: W911QX-04-C-0080 Contractor: Elsevier B.V.

Award Date: 30 December 2003 Competitive Status: other than full and open competition Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1

Contract: DAAD17-03-P-0228 Contractor: Elsevier B.V.

Award Date: 01 January 2003 Competitive Status: other than full and open competition Authority: 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by FAR 6.302-1

11. Technical Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signer’s Title: , Branch Chief 12/22/2016

X Technical Certifier (Tech) Signed by:

12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the supporting data under my cognizance which are included in the justification are accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signer’s Title: , Branch Chief 12/22/2016

X Requirements Certifier Signed by:

13. Fair and Reasonable Cost Determination: I hereby determine that the anticipated cost or price to the Government for this contract action will be fair and reasonable.

This determination will be made using the following:

X Price analysis

Supply/Service: SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription

As a part of this basis, certified cost or pricing data is not required because the item and/or services being acquired are considered commercial.

Signer’s Title: Mr. Benjamin J. Shelton, Contracting Officer 12/23/2016

X Benjamin Shelton

Contracting Officer (KO) Signed by: S

14. Contracting Officer Certification: I certify that this justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief.

Signer’s Title: Mr. Benjamin J. Shelton, Contracting Officer 12/23/2016

X Benjamin Shelton

Contracting Officer (KO) Signed by:

Supply/Service: SciVerse Science Direct Library subscription

Approval Based on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of Five (5) year subscription to Elsevier’s ScienceDirect, which provides online/electronic access to a full-text scientific database under simplified acquisition procedures for Certain Commercial Items-Sole Source Justification and approval pursuant to the authority of 41 USC 1901 as implemented by FAR Subpart 13.5, subject to availability of funds, and provided that the services or supplies herein described have otherwise been authorized for acquisition.

If the proposed contract action is not completed within 180 days from the below date, this Justification shall be returned to the Special Competition for Advocate (SCA) for revalidation. Additionally, if any changes to the requirements, basis for the justification, market conditions, or increases in the estimated value of the proposed action occur at any time, the Contracting Officer shall document these changes in a memorandum and obtain review/concurrence from the Competition Advocate.

Special Advocate for Competition

DSN:

Signature: _ ________________ Date: