Notice Number: AMD-SS-NB1350002500574
1. GENERAL
This is a Sources Sought Notice ONLY. Requests for copies of a solicitation will not receive a response. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding the availability and capability of qualified sources. This notice is strictly for market research and information purposes only. Responses will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible.
NIST is seeking responses from all responsible entities capable of fulfilling the requirement described herein. The applicable NAICS codes for this effort are 513120, Periodical Publishers with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees.
This Notice is for planning purposes only and is not a Request for Proposal or Request for Quotation or an obligation on the part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for conducting a follow-on activity. NIST does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this Notice, or otherwise pay for the information requested. No entitlement or payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by NIST will arise as a result of submission of responses to this Notice and NIST use of such information. Respondents should clearly mark restricted or proprietary components, interfaces and equipment, and clearly mark restricted or proprietary data and present it as an addendum to the non-restricted/non-proprietary information. In the absence of such identification, NIST will assume unlimited rights for all technical data in the information paper.
This notice is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract or other obligating agreement. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotes. No award will be made as a result of this notice. The Government will not be responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.
The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in response to this notice; however, NIST will recognize as restricted or proprietary data which is clearly marked such.
2. BACKGROUND
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Research Library and Museum is seeking a Contractor to provide comprehensive digital and physical subscription management services for print and electronic periodicals, renewals, publishers’ series, online databases, and other electronic and print resources.
3. REQUIREMENTS
NIST is seeking a contractor sources with the capability to acquire and manage the NIST Research Library’s journal collection in both print and electronic formats. Services include, but are not limited to, set-up, access maintenance, registration/activation, and license agreements including handling of transformative agreements. In addition, services should include management of IP ranges and related collection analysis tools. Collection analysis tools should include reports for collection development, usage statistics, visual analysis, and overlap analysis. All services are for the NIST Research Library’s locations on the Gaithersburg, Maryland and Boulder, Colorado campuses.
Number of Researchers (Users): 3,000
Number of Full Time Equivalents (FTE): 3,300
NIST is seeking sources that are capable of meeting (or exceeding) the series of requirement defined below.
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- Customer Service
3.1.1 The Contractor shall assign a dedicated, one-on-one Customer Service Team, specifically assigned to NIST that can proactively manage and resolve any issues and/or problem that arise. The dedicated team shall act as the main contact for handling issues involving access, orders, cancellations, claims, requests for reports, invoicing, questions, etc. The dedicated representative shall respond to all inquiries within one (1) business day through a variety of communication means, such as email, and virtual Teams meetings. Issues should be resolved, or a resolution communicated within one (1) business day.
3.1.2 The dedicated, one-on-one Customer Service Team shall be knowledgeable of the serials industry and have a minimum of three (3) years of experience providing serials subscription services to a federal library, for both print and electronic journals from domestic and foreign publishers.
3.1.3 The Contractor shall maintain accurate and current records of the NIST Research Library’s active orders in the Contractor’s online subscription management database system.
3.1.4 The Contractor will provide on demand, and at least three (3) years of historical serials subscription data to the NIST Research Library when requested to include past invoices, subscriptions, payment history, etc.
3.1.5 The Contractor shall handle correspondence with publishers regarding duplication, invoices, IP range verification, cancellations, claims, address changes, adjustments, and other service communications such as title migrations and publisher changes.
3.1.6 The Contractor shall provide accurate pricing estimates for the upcoming fiscal year, six months in advance of subscription renewals.
3.1.7 The Contractor will provide a dedicated, one-on-one Customer Service Team who shall visit the NIST Research Library, upon request and at intervals agreeable to both parties, to discuss service to the NIST Research Library’s account and other serials management issues. When in-person meetings are not feasible due to the NIST campus and visitor access status, the meetings shall take place through a NIST-approved online software collaboration tool.
3.1.8 The Contractor’s dedicated, one-on-one Customer Service Team shall include a professional librarian who will provide onsite and/or virtual training on the Contractor’s web interface and provide knowledge and training on specific enhancements to the Contractor’s portfolio of products and services. Training should also include online self-paced options and related documentation for staff to train on demand with features such as training videos that include aspects of the web interface.
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- Orders
3.2.1 For new orders in an online format, the Contractor will acknowledge new orders within two (2) business days and access permissions to the title shall be delivered to the NIST Research Library within ten (10) business days of the order submission to the publisher.
3.2.2 For new orders in print format, the first issue of a new order should be delivered to the NIST Research Library within eight (8) weeks for North American publishers and ten (10) weeks for other publishers, or when the NIST Research Library has designated that the next volume should begin.
3.2.3 The Contractor shall be able to prepay for subscriptions (to prevent interruption of service) not within the task order’s calendar year (should a multiyear contract option be selected). The contractor must have a demonstrated financial capability to prepay online, print, and digital subscriptions.
3.2.4 The Contractor shall serve as a fiscal agent with publishers, including prepayments, processing refunds, claims, site licenses, supplemental and bill-later charges immediately upon receipt of task order and serve as the fiscal pass-through agent for consortium and transformative agreement deals.
3.2.5 The Contractor shall provide, in the form of an attachment with the invoice, the required information listed on the Government-provided Excel spreadsheet template.
3.2.6 The Contractor shall have the capability to ingest/upload the NIST Research Library’s most recent three (3) year historical subscription data into the Contractor’s subscription management system within thirty (30) days of receipt of the Government-furnished report (GFR). The historical data contains subscription information about the NIST Research Library-owned resources i.e., publisher, title name, ISSN, electronic ISSN, format, term, subscription date, etc. The GFR will be provided in an Excel spreadsheet format.
3.2.7 The NIST Research Library’s most recent 3-year historical data from the Government-furnished report (GFR) will be available through the Contractor’s subscription management system and made accessible to the NIST Research Library through this system.
3.2.8 The Contractor must be able to manage the NIST Research Library’s negotiated package subscriptions, transformative agreements, and work with publishers within guidelines set by the NIST Research Library and the publisher. For publishers with whom the NIST Research Library has negotiated prior pricing, the Contractor will assist in fulfillment of the order and act as the liaison between the NIST Research Library and the publisher to ensure that packages and any changes within those packages are transitioned smoothly from year to year, without access interruption.
3.2.9 The Contractor must be able to process subscriptions as low as $50.00 and as high as $1,000,000.
3.2.10 The Contractor shall place orders (i.e. contact the publisher and renew subscriptions for the titles displayed in the attached Title List) with publishers within (15) fifteen business days post task order award.
3.2.11 The Contractor shall provide the NIST Research Library’s Internet Protocol (IP) address ranges to publishers to enable access to their e-journals and e-resources. The Contractor shall contact the publisher immediately with any access issues and shall ensure that the access issues are resolved within one (1) business day.
3.2.12 The Contractor shall order subscriptions in formats requested by the NIST Research Library and deliver titles in accordance with the subscription periods defined in the attached Title List.
3.2.13 For new orders in an online format, the Contractor will acknowledge new orders within two (2) business days and access permissions to the title shall be delivered to the NIST Research Library within ten (10) business days of the order submission to the publisher.
3.2.14 The Contractor shall process orders for hard copy titles, both foreign and domestic, within seventy-two (72) hours of receipt. The Contractor shall work with the publisher(s) in facilitating the delivery of domestic print subscriptions within fifteen (15) business days of order placement; foreign print subscriptions shall be delivered within thirty (30) business days of order placement. The Contractor shall provide consolidated shipments for print/hard copy material with expedited delivery (if required) and prepare materials for immediate shelving.
3.2.15 New orders and payments to publishers shall be released to publishers within ten (10) business days of receipt of a new order.
3.2.16 Renewal orders and payments to publishers shall be released to publishers sixty (60) days prior to the expiration date of renewed subscriptions.
3.2.17 The Contractor shall transfer renewals (including all electronic legacy back years) without gaps, delays or errors in receipt of issues at no cost to the government within fifteen (15) business days post task order award. The Contractor shall provide access to the NIST Research Library’s current subscription data within fifteen (15) business days after task order award.
3.2.18 The Contractor shall accept new orders from the NIST Research Library at any time during the year, and these orders shall be merged into the next main renewal invoice.
3.2.19 The Contractor shall regularly notify the NIST Research Library of the availability of supplementary materials related to subscriptions, i.e. supplements and special issues not included in the main subscription.
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- The Contractor shall provide special and priority handling of rush orders.
3.2.21 If part of the paid subscription, all indexes, supplementary numbers, and added volumes shall be serviced automatically as part of the subscription. The Contractor should notify the NIST Research Library of supplementary items not included as part of the subscription and indicate handling procedures for the same.
3.2.22 If unable to supply a title, the Contractor shall notify the NIST Research Library within thirty (30) days for North American publishers and forty-five (45) days for other publishers.
3.2.23 Order substitutions or additions of titles shall not be permitted unless expressly authorized by the NIST Research Library on a title-by-title basis.
3.2.24 The Contractor shall alert the NIST Research Library of the presence of any license agreements before placing the order with the publisher and provide a copy of the license to the NIST Research Library within fourteen (14) days prior to placing the order.
3.2.25 The Contractor shall alert the NIST Research Library to the possibility of online availability, any changes in the current online availability, and changes made to pricing models.
3.2.26 The Contractor shall maintain up to three (3) years of complete records of all financial transactions processed.
3.4 Subscription Renewals
3.4.1 The Contractor shall notify the NIST Research Library of excess price increases from the base price on the last renewal invoice before the order is placed with the publisher at benchmarks set by the NIST Research Library (e.g. over $500 or 100% price increases).
3.4.2 The Contractor shall supply a list of all subscribed titles for renewal to include order number, renewal date, the NIST Research Library’s purchase order number, title format, and estimated price. Contractor shall provide the renewal list in the format(s) designated by the NIST Research Library, (e.g. printed, PDF, spreadsheet, etc.).
3.4.3 The NIST Research Library reserves the right to not renew orders. The NIST Research Library may indicate by striking through the annual renewal notice, selecting ‘No’ in the Contractor’s online renewal module, or contacting the Contractor’s representative to prevent renewal for the subsequent periods.
3.4.4 On the renewal list, the Contractor shall alert the NIST Research Library to any changes in a title’s format that may impact availability.
3.4.5 The Contractor shall be able to integrate with the NIST Library’s platform, ALMA by having the ability to configure a fully customizable integration profile and deliver automatic updates to ExLibris ALMA purchase order lines as they renew orders via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) which allows for automated communication and data transfer between the two systems.
3.5 Claims
3.5.1 The Contractor shall provide a flexible, fast, and effective online claims service with reporting and reclaiming assistance features, including bibliographic and financial information. The NIST Research Library may claim missing issues through the Contractor or directly from the publisher.
3.5.2 The Contractor will offer an online claiming system that tracks the status in real time of current and outstanding claims. The system will have the ability to display the claim history of a title, search for claims and produce claim reports.
3.5.3 The Contractor shall submit claims to the publishers within twenty-four (24) hours of receipt. Domestic claims should be resolved within seven (7) business days and foreign claims should be resolved within thirty (30) business days.
3.5.4 The Contractor shall notify the NIST Research Library of the status of all outstanding claims via a monthly report. The Contractor’s Customer Service Team shall also respond to individual requests for claims status.
3.5.5 The Contractor will provide a copy bank or repository that offers replacement issues, is updated in real time, and offers replacement issues at no cost to the NIST Research Library.
3.5.6 On claims for missing issues submitted by the NIST Research Library within the publisher’s specified time period, the Contractor shall secure replacements free of charge or provide a credit to cover the cost of purchasing the missing issues.
3.6 Cancellations
3.6.1 The Contractor shall cancel individual titles at any time during the subscription year when notified by the NIST Research Library.
3.6.2 The effective date of cancellation will be determined by the NIST Research Library, except in the case of publishers’ restrictions.
3.6.3 The Contractor shall acknowledge receipt of the NIST Research Library’s cancellation notice in electronic format through e-mail, letter, or regular report, delivered in electronic format. Cancelled titles shall be deleted from further renewal lists and invoices.
3.6.4 The Contractor shall request refunds of any unexpired portions of orders. Refund credits for the full amounts refunded by the publishers shall be refunded to the NIST Research Library.
3.6.5 The NIST Research Library reserves the right to cancel any renewal that has increased from the base price on the last renewal invoice over the benchmark established by the NIST Research Library (e.g. over $500 or 100% price increase) even if not advised of price increase before the renewal is placed with the publisher.
3.7 Contractor’s Serials Management System
3.7.1 The Contractor must provide an online serials management system for maintaining serials subscriptions functions including ordering, claiming, invoicing, tracking of financial information, title/subscription verification, usage information, reporting capabilities, archive access rights, title variances and pricing.
3.7.2 Contractor shall maintain at least three (3) years of the NIST Research Library subscription data. If data is not in the online serials management system, then the Contractor must have the ability to load/ingest the NIST Research Library’s historical subscription data into their system.
3.7.3 The Contractor must provide an online serials management system that provides extensive tools to manage the NIST Research Library’s collection as well as provide current and accurate information regarding journals such as publisher information, title changes, journal package information, frequency, format, country, ISSN, status, open access, claims, archive rights, Library of Congress (LC) subject classifications, etc.
3.7.4 The Contractor must provide an online serials management system that includes tutorials on-demand for self-instruction for NIST Research Library staff on various reports and other features used in serials management.
3.7.5 The Contractor shall provide the NIST Research Library with the administrative and technical support to perform online subscription management operations including, but not limited to, direct transmission of online orders, electronic claiming, and report generation.
3.7.6 The Contractor shall provide the NIST Research Library with the ability to search the System to determine availability, price, and other variables prior to placement of an order. The Contractor should provide training on how to use the online serials management system at no additional charge to the NIST Research Library.
3.7.7 The online serials management system must provide a platform to track and submit questions about the status of billing and invoices and general subscription questions in real-time. The online serials management system will allow for direct communication to the dedicated Customer Service Team.
3.7.8 The online serials management system must provide a complete history of a subscribed journal title that includes format changes and order history so that the NIST Research Library will be able to track perpetual access at the package and title level.
3.7.9 The online serials management system must contain a comprehensive journal title database with ability to order publisher titles worldwide, including specialized titles. The online serials management system must provide a database that can be used as a point of reference for serial titles. This database should include all types of formats available, current foreign and domestic pricing, as well as other subscription information that can be used for ordering and collection decisions.
3.7.10 The online serials management system will provide:
- Alerts that contain updates and changes with serials such as publisher takeovers, title changes, platform migrations, partnerships, and open access alerts, as well as new enhancements to the System.
- An interface that is intuitive and easy to navigate between content.
- Accurate and reliable information on pricing and format options, bibliographic information for titles such as ISSN, frequency, publisher, language, and format.
- Access to the NIST Research Library’s order history (3 years) including format changes so that perpetual access information can be tracked.
- Ability to denote if a title is a current subscription or past subscription and link to the history of that title.
- Ability to review online orders and activation status.
- Publisher’s registration and identification number.
- Links to the URL for online access.
- Online title registration information for third party platforms
- Provide an online interface to track claims and provide the entire claim history including claim status, claim activity, and comments from the Contractor.
- Provide an online interface that provides the capability for NIST Research Library staff to add note fields and interface directly with the Contractor’s customer service representative for resolution of issues.
- Ability to view publishers’ access terms and authentication options, URLs and instructions for registering and activating online orders.
- Provide tools to register, activate, manage, and renew library e-journals and e-packages.
- Provide viewable terms and conditions in publisher license agreements.
- Provide information on permanent archival access, perpetual rights information, and coverage data for all titles regardless of source.
- Provide real-time, vendor-maintained title list of the NIST Research Library’s historical and current subscriptions with links to invoices.
- Provide titles, format options and coverage information for package collections.
- Provide NIST Research Library users with alerts/automatic notifications to the latest changes in journals, including publisher changes, title changes, platform migrations, partnerships, and open access alerts.
- Ability to control NIST Research Library staff access to the web interface by setting permission levels.
- Provide the ability to renew packages including viewing contract terms, title lists, format information, pricing by package and by title, manage consortia agreements and title lists.
- Provide a consolidated usage information tool that can provide reports on usage of titles and databases and includes cost per use analysis based on institutional subscriptions.
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- Reports
3.8.1 The Contractor shall provide a web-based reporting interface that provides daily, on-demand reports for the purpose of evaluating the NIST Research Library’s collection. Reports should be comprehensive to aid in the analysis in the areas of collection development, serials management and analyzing expenditures (financial). This interface shall have the capabilities to view and print on demand and provide instruction (both written and video) on how to use various reports. Reports should be easily customizable by NIST Research Library staff.
3.8.2 The Contractor shall provide at-a-glance, analytic information, and collection statistics about the NIST Research Library’s collection and can display information in the form of visual graphics and charts.
3.8.3. The Contractor must provide custom requested fiscal and collection management reports in a timely manner within five (5) business days as requested by the NIST Research Library. Reports should be provided in spreadsheet format.
3.8.4. Reports that must be readily available through the contractor’s online serials management system will be in the following areas:
3.8.4.1 Collection Development:
- Collection assessment
- Abstract and Indexing
- E-Journal package changes
- Library of Congress Classification
- Journal package changes
- Online availability
- Ownership and access
- Publisher packages
- Subscription Data File
- Survey for customer titles
3.8.4.2 Serials Management:
- Claims
- Processed claims
- Combination memberships
- Current subscriptions
- E-journal access and registration
- Licensing details
- Titles with claiming restrictions
- Summary of publishers by country/language
- Summary of publications
- List of membership titles
- Standing orders, bill later summary
- Subscriber list
- Summary of invoices
- Summary of new titles ordered
3.8.4.3 Financial Reports:
- 3-year analysis by title
- Historical price analysis
3.8.5 The Contractor must provide a monthly, customized report based on the NIST Research Library’s subscriptions that includes updates to serials changes in the publishing landscape:
- Delivery Issues/Problems
- Frequency Changes
- Discontinued Titles
- Suspended Titles
- Split Titles
- Merged Titles (into/incorporated)
- Name/Title Changes
- Resumed Publication
- Miscellaneous Information
- New Titles
- Additional Volumes
- Title Number Changes
3.8.6 Report output shall provide results in various file formats (XML, HTML, text, tab delimited, CSV)
3.9 Pricing
3.9.1 The NIST Research Library reserves the right to obtain supporting documentation on pricing from the Contractor at any time during the contract period.
3.10 Shipments
3.10.1 Delivery of all materials shall be made FOB destination inside the NIST Research Library’s campus premises (Gaithersburg and Boulder) as specified by the NIST Research Library.
3.10.2 The NIST Research Library shall not be held responsible for shipments lost in transit or otherwise not received. The Contractor shall provide replacement copies at no charge for the defective, mutilated, or damaged issues, or for those that are not delivered within publisher policies.
3.11 Other
3.11.1 Upon request, the Contractor should provide the NIST Research Library with trial access to future serials management services, modules, and other peripheral services as they are developed.
- Government Responsibilities
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- The Government will provide:
- NIST IP addresses
- List of NIST Research Library subscriptions for renewals and legacy titles with applicable date ranges for the past three (3) years.
- Excel spreadsheet template for Contractor’s use to provide the following information as an attachment to the Contractor’s invoice: Title, Publisher, ISSN Number, Format (Print, Online), Cost, Subscription Range
- Report in an Excel spreadsheet format with historical subscription information
- Any pricing received from publishers regarding packages
- Period of Performance
5.1 The Period of Performance is as follows:
Calendar Year January 2026 through December 2026 (Base)
Calendar Year January 2027 through December 2027 (Option Year 1)
Calendar Year January 2028 through December 2028 (Option Year 2)
Calendar Year January 2029 through December 2029 (Option Year 3)
- Program Management and Control Requirements
6.1 The Contractor shall provide uninterrupted access to the periodicals listed by the Government, in all formats ordered, commencing on January 1, 2026.
- Inspection and Acceptance Criteria
7.1 The Contractor’s web portal shall include a reporting feature that displays all active print and online subscriptions. The NIST Research Library will review this report monthly to confirm that all print copy journals are being delivered on-time and that all e-journal titles are accessible.
HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE
In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response. Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.
- Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).
- Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements.
- Whether your company is an authorized reseller of the product or service being cited and evidence of such authorization.
- Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why. Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.
- Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business. See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.
- If you believe the NAICS code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement.
- If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for products or services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.
- Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section.
- Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.
- Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the products or services described in the Background section.
