537-11-4-107-0163, 578-11-4-023-0238 & 695-11-4-053-0100. The Great Lakes Acquisition Center (GLAC) in Milwaukee, WI intends to negotiate on a sole source basis (IAW FAR 13) with Ovid Technologies as the only source that is capable of meeting the VA needs. Specifically, the contractor shall provide the following: - An HSLI-OVID Consortia Commitment, whereas the contractor shall furnish access to their online subscription service providing unlimited usage for Jesse Brown, Hines and Milwaukee VA Medical Centers. This acquisition is being conducted under simplified acquisition procedures (IAW FAR 13). There are no set-aside restrictions for this requirement. The intended procurement will be classified under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 511130 with a Small Business Size Standard of 500 employees. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals and no solicitation document exists for this requirement. However, parties interested in responding to this notice will need to submit technical data sufficient to determine capability in providing the same product. All capability statements received within 5 days after publication of this synopsis will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete based on responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Capability statements shall be submitted by email only as a MS Word or Adobe PDF attachment to Scott Ivy at
[email protected] Statements are due by 12:00 CST 13 September 2011. No phone calls accepted. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Justification and Approval For Other Than Full and Open Competition 1. Contracting Activity: Department of Veterans Affairs, VISN 12, Jesse Brown (537), Hines (578) & Milwaukee (695) Medical Centers, Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition: PR#s 537-11-4-107-0163, 578-11-4-023-0238 & 695-11-4-053-0100. 2. Nature and/or Description of the Action Being Processed: Justification and approval for other than full and open competition for a requirement for station numbers 537, 578 & 695. This procurement will proceed on a sole source basis. 3. Description of Supplies/Services Required to Meet the Agency's Needs: The above VA Medical Centers have need of an annual subscription to online databases provided by Ovid Technologies. This is an HSLI-OVID Consortia Commitment, whereas the contractor shall furnish access to their online subscription service providing unlimited usage for Jesse Brown, Hines and Milwaukee VA Medical Centers. 4. Statutory Authority Permitting Other than Full and Open Competition: 41 USC §253(g), as implemented by FAR 6.302. (X) (1) Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements per FAR 6.302-1; 5. Demonstration that the Contractor's Unique Qualifications or Nature of the Acquisition Requires the Use of the Authority Cited Above (applicability of authority): This product, Ovid Technologies database and journal aggregator is the only aggregator that has the HSLI Ovid Premier Collection and the Basic Package, which includes the Ovid User License, Medline, Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews, and Annals of Internal Medicine, as one exclusive collection. HSLI Ovid Premier Collection consists of more than 60 journals with core titles like Anesthesiology, Annals of Surgery, Chest, Diabetes, Rheumatology, and Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery. Ovid is the only aggregator distributing most of Blackwell medical and nursing content without an embargo period. Access to the full-text includes bibliographic citations (abstract or complete reference), tables of contents for individual issues, reference sections that appear in both the full-text and complete reference, articles with formatted text, and graphics. Ovid is the only company from whom you can get the Ovid platform. This platform is not sold through resellers or distributors. Ovid has a single interface for journals and databases. Both databases and full-text journals use the same Ovid Web Gateway interface. This means less user training and a seamless, efficient search and retrieval that is unavailable on platforms that use different interfaces for each. This also allows cross-database searching and/or the ability to change to another Ovid database and re-execute the same search. Ovid's linking & full-text features and Ovid's uniform content formats for citation and abstract databases and full-text journals provides access to aggregated resources under a single interface and search engine. There is access to complete text and images for licensed journal titles in SGML-based, 100% fielded and searchable format, linked to and from Ovid bibliographic databases. Each Ovid full-text article has an outline consisting of anchor links that take the user to certain points in an article. Context links in the references take the user to the exact place in the article where the reference is used. Ovid has the Advanced Mapping feature, which provides accurate matching to or suggestions of the most appropriate Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) or Index Term. Mapping is a feature where the software automatically figures out the appropriate term for what the user types in. The user sees what other terms are available to help in refining their search. The user has more control over what they are going to search and enables them to do a better search. 6. Description of Efforts Made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as deemed practicable: The requesting office has conducted Market research of other providers such as ProQuest and Gale and found that the Ovid Technologies bundle, which includes the HSLI Ovid Premier Collection and the Basic Package, is the only package that contains this selection of unique journal titles in full-text and from a single point of entry. My conclusion is based on the requesting office reviewing other journal and database aggregator's products and their full-text journal lists. They do not have the HSLI Ovid Premier Collection available, nor Medline, Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews, and Annals of Internal Medicine as one exclusive collection of online full text journals and books. We have looked at the primary publisher of the journals and they do have the unique cross-searching capabilities needed by VA staff to deliver patient care. 7. Determination by the Contracting Officer that the Anticipated Cost to the Government will be Fair and Reasonable: Pricing for this service($14,784, $27,794 & $31,889 for Milwaukee, Jesse Brown and Hines VAMCs,respectively, is comparable to pricing we have received in the past for similar services, such as 537-C10383 for $21,052 for Ebsco Online Subscription services. 8. Description of the Market Research Conducted and the Results, or a Statement of the Reasons Market Research Was Not Conducted: See item 6 above. 9. Any Other Facts Supporting the Use of Other than Full and Open Competition: The VA , as a definite part of its mission, needs to be able to give easy access to full-text medical journals and knowledge-based databases to our physicians and other health care workers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so that our patients receive the best up-to-date treatment and information available. VA staff also needs to be able to cross-search databases, thus saving medical staff time and assisting them in providing quality patient care. 10. Listing of Sources that Expressed, in Writing, an Interest in the Acquisition: See answer to paragraph 5. 11. A Statement of the Actions, if any, the Agency May Take to Remove or Overcome any Barriers to Competition before Making subsequent acquisitions for the supplies or services required: . No action was taken to overcome barriers since there is not another source that currently can supply this level of service and array of information. 12. Requirements Certification: I certify that the requirement outlined in this justification is a Bona Fide Need of the Department of Veterans Affairs and 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. ORIGINALS SIGNED BY COTR OF EACH FACILITY 13. Approvals in accordance with FAR 6.304 a. Contracting Officer's Certification: (required) I certify that the foregoing justification is accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. ORIGINAL SIGNED 9-8-2011 SCOTT IVY Date Title: CONTRACTING OFFICER VISN 12 b. NCM/PCM: I certify the justification meets requirements for other than full and open competition. ORIGINAL SIGNED 9-8-2011 Diane Brazale Date Deputy Network Contract Manager VISN 12