Notice of Intent to Sole Source to CAS - SciFinder

In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, the Department of Energy (DOE), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) intends to award a purchase order on a sole source basis to CAS, which is a division of the American Chemical Society, for the annual subscription renewal of the SciFinder Discovery Platform, including PatentPak.  This is an annual renewal with a base period of performance of 06/01/2021 – 05/31/2022 and four one-year option periods through 05/31/2026.  NETL requires institutional access at the Albany, Morgantown, and Pittsburgh sites to this comprehensive collection of chemistry and scientific information included in the SciFinder database.  Unlimited searching access is also required to chemical information content that includes the following databases contained in SciFinder: Chemical Abstracts Registry (organic and inorganic chemical substances), Chemical Abstracts Plus (references), Chemical Abstracts React (reactions), ChemList (information on regulated chemicals), ChemCats (information source on chemical suppliers), Chemical Industry trade publications, and patents. The SciFinder database offers sophisticated search tools and an integrated digital workspace to manage, organize, and share search results.  PatentPak brings together 10 million searchable, full-text patents from 31 major patent offices across the globe, including annotations by top CAS scientists in their fields.  SciFinder is a critical information source which allows NETL researchers to stay up-to-date on today's most recent scientific and regulatory developments and to have access to historical information.  This is considered a sole source to CAS because, to the best of the NETL’s knowledge, based on market research conducted CAS is the only known source that can provide the SciFinder Discovery Platform subscription renewal.  No known potential alternate sources exist which could satisfy NETL's requirement. 

This notice of intent is not a request for quote/proposal.  Any interested party that believes it is capable of meeting the NETL requirement described herein may identify themselves and must provide evidence of their capability to fulfill the requirement being requested by 4:00 PM EDT on May 20, 2021.   Responses must be submitted in writing to the purchasing agent, Lora Stumpf, via email at stumpf@netl.doe.gov no later than the time and date noted above. Telephone responses and requests will not be received.

A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.  Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.