This Request for Information (RFI) is issued to survey the commercial market for potential "commercial-off-the-shelf" (COTS) solutions to provide subscription services to obtain legislative news, analysis and information daily and in real time on every step of the legislative process as well as trends in politics, policy and government. The US Department of Commerce is seeking sources, product capability information and pricing information to support a business case and budget for this subscription service. Contracting Office Address: US Department of Commerce (DoC) Office of Acquisition management (OAM) Commerce Acquisition Systems Division (CASD) 1401 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20230 THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION FOR PROPOSALS! Solicitations are not available at this time. Requests for a solicitation shall not receive a response. This notice DOES NOT constitute a commitment by the United States Government. All responses and response content to this RFI will be considered "INFORMATION ONLY" and will not be binding to the parties. Contractors responding to this request will not be obligated to provide the services described herein and it is understood by the US Government that the costs provided as a result of this request are "best" estimates only. All information submitted in response to this announcement is voluntary; the US Government will not pay for information requested nor will it compensate any respondent for any cost incurred in developing information provided to the US Government. Overall Goal: Obtain the subscription service to provide political information to the DoC Office of Budget for its work. The subscription service will include, but is not limited to, the following services: Amendment text, archives, bill comparison, bill text, bill track, bill analysis, budget tracker, budget tracker newsletter, CRS bill digest, committee coverage, committee reports, committee testimony, congressional record, congressional transcripts, custom alerts, custom vote analysis, document manager, floor votes, hot docs, house action reports, house action reports email, law track, member profiles, newsmaker transcripts, public laws, schedules, senate watch, today, today extra, U.S. code, weekly reports. Objectives: 1.) News and Analysis: provides nonpartisan news and in-depth analysis on Congress and the policy-making process. 2.) Legislative Tracking: at a minimum, provides users with all the action on every bill, from introduction to final outcome. Provide the full chronology of bill actions with detailed analysis; easy-to-read bill summaries; detailed information on floor speeches; summaries of votes in subcommittees, full committees and on the House and Senate floor. 3.) Tools: ability to allow users to search across all services with one simple search. Enable users to create custom e-mail alerts that deliver results from all services in real time. Alerts should be easy to create and modify and can be optimized for desktop or handheld delivery. 4.) Customer Support: provide client training, help with setting up alerts and assisting with research. Contact should be provided by phone or e-mail. 5.) Legislative Tracking: provide ways to access, analyze and understand a bill's content and prospects for passage. User should be able to compare the text of two bills simultaneously, track where a bill stands, read member's statements about the bill and see how each member voted on it. Should also provide detailed coverage on each bill from introduction to final outcome. 6.) Budget Tracker: real-time intelligence on the federal budget and appropriation process. Provide budget information on federal agencies and programs, including the president's budget request and the agencies' response; appropriations news, information and analysis; and coverage of congressional hearings and conference committee markups. The service should be updates as each bill moves through the legislative process. Should also post draft bills and reports as each appropriations bill gets approved by the committee, prior to GPO printing the introduced version. 7.) Custom E-Mail Alerts: users can create custom e-mail alerts to notify them when there is action on an important issue. 8.) Personal List: users can create unlimited lists, made up of bill numbers, words and phrases, public laws and members and votes. 9.) Advanced Searches: subscription should provide additional search options to help user narrow their search results and search across congressional sessions. 10.) In-Line Linking: Allow users to link to a specified format of information on bills and public laws from news, committee coverage, schedules, committee vote descriptions and bill analysis documents. 11.) Reference Files: Available and updated when necessary, reference files should include: the status of major legislation; past appropriations and authorization bills; the recess schedule for the current Congress; lists of governors, Cabinet members, Supreme Court Justices, Congress by the session and years; links to the Code of Federal Regulations and the latest bills introduced. Requested Information: You are asked to provide the following information: 1.) Narrative descriptions to each "Objective". Please include the number of each "Objective" you are responding to. 2.) A completed subscription pricing with more detailed explanations of the objectives where needed. 3.) A narrative explaining any qualifying remarks to the pricing. This is open-ended as far as any qualifying information 4.) Your GSA schedule and identify the SIN, if applicable. Pricing Information request: Please provide estimated pricing information for annual subscription cost. Procedures for Responding: Responses to this RFI are due via e-mail to
[email protected] NO LATER THAN 4:00 PM, EST, April 22, 2011. Provide all responses in WS Word 2003 or later version or adobe (.pdf extension). If you have correspondence that cannot be e-mailed, please mail to the attention of Raymond Staniewski at the contracting office address specified at the beginning of this announcement. All questions and inquiries shall be in writing via e-mail. Telephonic requests or questions will not be accepted.