Notice of Intent to Sole Source Elsevier Pure Platform Licenses

The National Science Foundation issued a Notice of Intent to Sole Source on February 6, 2026, announcing its plan to award a sole source contract to Elsevier Inc. for research information management platform licenses. The contract, valued at $824,148.80, covers a 14-month performance period from March 1, 2026 through April 6, 2027. The NSF's Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) Directorate requires the Elsevier Pure Platform and its associated services to support its research information management operations. The contracting office is located in Alexandria, Virginia, with Christine Beinhacker serving as the point of contact. This procurement does not include a small business set-aside, and no competitive bidding process will take place.

The primary objective of this sole source award is to maintain uninterrupted access to the Pure Platform, which NSF has customized for its operations and which houses critical research data management capabilities. Although this is a sole source procurement, all responsible sources are invited to submit capability statements by the February 23, 2026 deadline, demonstrating their ability to meet the stated requirements. The contract requires specific licenses including Pure Core and Pure Portal (each for 14,999 profiles), Pure Cloud Hosting Dedicated, Pure Profile Refinement Service (9,500 profiles), and Integration Delivery Services for both NSF standard data and patent data. NSF justified the sole source award under FAR 6.302-1(a)(2), asserting that Elsevier is the only reasonably available source capable of providing the specialized combination of platform licenses with existing NSF customizations necessary for the TIP Directorate's daily operations. The anticipated contract award date is March 1, 2026.