Notice of Intent to Sole Source to RBN Energy, LLC

This notice is being published in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) section 5.101 requiring dissemination of information for proposed contract actions. This is a notice of intent to award a sole source purchase order, and is not a request for competitive quotes/proposals

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) intends to make an award to RBN Energy, LLC, on a sole source basis, for renewal of subscriptions of Crude Gusher, NATGAS Billboard, NGL Voyager, and Backstage Pass with History. The RBN subscription provides the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight’s (DMO) access to a compilation of data for oil and natural gas markets that includes the following:

• NATGAS Billboard - a daily analysis of the natural gas market including storage injections/withdrawals and price which includes a monthly price forecast going forward seven (7) months;
• Crude Oil GUSHER - a weekly report that provides data and analysis of the crude oil market, including prices, production, demand, storage, and imports/exports;
• NGL Voyager - analysis of the natural gas liquids market covering exports, price trends, petrochemical feedstock preferences, and assessment of major market developments. The report covers pricing relationships such as the propane-to-crude oil differential and the ethane-to-natural gas ratio; and,
• RBN Backstage Pass - a combination of several products that offer analysis of major shifts in energy markets, full access to archives of the RBN Daily Blog that has articles covering crude oil prices, natural gas supply demand, and ethane rejection, (the subscription allows users to sort and filter to find specific articles or to get a list of blog articles for a particular theme or date range); analyzes the relationships between crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, (allowing the user to follow these relationships on a daily basis); and, provides access to webcasts presented by senior analysts covering important developments in the energy markets.

This requirement includes a 12-month base period and four (4) 12-month option periods. The base period of performance of the order will be August 1, 2024 through July 31, 2025.

RBN Energy, LLC is the only known source for these services and the CFTC is unaware of any alternative solutions. The Government intends to procure this requirement under FAR 13.106-1(b)(1) and 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1) – “the property or services needed by the executive agency are available from only one responsible source and no other type of property or services will satisfy the needs of the executive agency.” THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS nor a solicitation of offers. However, the Government will consider written responses from all responsible sources received by 10:00am ET, June 6, 2024. Written responses must include sufficient information to establish capability to fulfill the requirement. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of Market Research. A determination not to compete this requirement is solely at the discretion of the Government. No formal solicitation package is available. The Government will not be responsible for any costs of preparation in response to this announcement.