Notice of Intent to Sole Source LexisNexis CourtLink

Notice of Intent to Sole Source - LexisNexis CourtLink

The Food and Drug Administration intends to award a Sole Source firm-fixed price contract to RELX, 1150 18th Street NW Suite 600, Washington, DC, 20036 in accordance with FAR part 13.106-1(b)(1)(i). This procurement is being conducted under simplified acquisitions procedures in accordance with FAR Parts 12 and 13. The NAICS code is 541990, All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services.

The purpose of this acquisition is to procure a LexisNexis Courtlink with LexisNexis. Courtlink has the largest dataset for historical District court for the District of Columbia, back to 1987. Many of our litigation actions relate to previous cases. Having access to the broadest coverage allows the Office of the Chief Counsel directly to support the agency without any delay in obtaining materials from the court. Courtlink also includes all materials that have been retrieved by their representatives directly from the courts into their database. Certain courts have not loaded historical materials in electronic format. A court runner from Courtlink is required to physically go to the Clerk of the Court office, retrieve and copy materials. Once the materials have been scanned into the Courtlink's proprietary database, they are available to all subscribers without additional cost. Courtlink also is the only service that connects to PACER every night and downloads all the filings for the federal courts into their proprietary database.

Missing a filing in a matter can be disastrous for active litigation. There can be no lapse in access to court dockets with automated alert features. Courtlink is the only service that contains the digital files from district court filings back to the 1980's. The Chief Counsel's office is unable to obtain the historical briefs from District Court of the District of Columbia from the Washington National Records Center paper files. The staff of the Chief Counsel's office are unable to physically travel to national federal courts to obtain copies of print filings to create a physical repository at the Food and Drug Administration. Clerk of the Courts offices do not maintain historical filings - normally only the past five or 10 years are available at the courthouse. Courtlink is the only database vendor that can provide 1980's District of Columbia filings. The Office of the Chief Counsel staff have to use Courtlink to research historical files. Chief Counsel's office relies on electronic docketing services to maintain the current status for ongoing litigation involving the Food and Drug Administration. Without current and timely access the litigation staff will be at a disadvantage in preparing for trial. For these reasons, the membership needs to be procured from RELX.

This notice is not a request for competitive quotes. However, any party that believes it is capable of meeting the requirements as stated herein may submit a written response, i.e. capability statement, which clearly supports and demonstrates its ability to perform the requirements. Any response shall be received by the response date and time of this notice. Any response shall undergo review to determine if it can meet the requirements. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based upon a response to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Response Date: 4:00 p.m. ET on August 22, 2016. Please email responses to Marty Nemec at marty.nemec@fda.hhs.gov.