INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE EBSCO Industries, Inc., SS-CFPB-13-0073 The Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD), on behalf of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), intends to contract with EBSCO Industries Inc., 10 Estes St, Ipswich, MA 01938, on a sole source basis, under authority of FAR 6.302-1, for a subscription to three of the EBSCOHost academic journal collections. EBSCO Publishing has been identified as the only source capable of providing the required content in an arrangement that suits the needs of the CFPB. The mission of the CFPB is to educate the consumer as a first line in defense against abusive practices; to enforce consumer financial laws via the supervision of banks, credit unions and other financial companies; and to gather and analyze available information to better understand consumers, financial service providers, and consumer financial markets. In order to meet the above listed missions, the CFPB is establishing a library to serve as a focal point for reference materials that not only show current events, but events through the course of history that have shaped the financial environment as we know it today. EBSCO Publishing provides index coverage dating back to 1886, comprised of searchable bibliographic databases, links to full-text subscriptions, full-text book reviews, full-text working papers, full-text journals, current full-text access and is an a la carte subscription that allows users to select which collections will be relevant to their specific needs. Since the CFPB conducts financial market research, it was found that the content contained in EBSCO's Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, and EconLit with Full Text collections is crucial to the successful completion of the CFPB mission. Access to all three databases will allow CFPB users to simultaneously search these databases which will result in thorough research of a wide range of disciplinary-specific literature critical to creating accurate and effective work products, thus enabling CFPB to make well-informed decisions in regards to marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance, and economics. Although EBSCO Publishing has an active agreement with the Library of Congress via their FEDLINK program, the required content for the CFPB does not fall within scope of the existing agreement. The identified contractor, EBSCO Publishing, is one of the leading database providers for libraries and other institutions. Their collection of over 375 full text research databases and their organization of these collections into smaller, a la carte collections that can be tailored to meet an individual organization's specific needs make them the only firm capable of providing the content required by the CFPB. No solicitation package will be issued. This notice is not a request for competitive quotations; however, the Government will consider responses received by June 27, 2013. Responses shall be submitted electronically to
[email protected], Attn: BBURNWORTH. A determination by the Government not to compete the proposed acquisition based upon 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.