THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT, NOT A SOLICITATION FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS.  A SOLICITATION DOCUMENT WILL NOT BE ISSUED AND PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE REQUESTED.

The National Institutes of Health intends to negotiate on a sole source basis with Clarivate Analytics, 1500 Spring Garden Street, 4th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19130 for online access to the Clarivate Analytics Online Database. This service will provide access to citation indices including the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), the Conference Proceedings Citation Index, and the Book Citation Index. This is a critical information source for the researchers, clinicians and administrative staff of NIH and other HHS agencies who use the service. 

No solicitation exists for this requirement. The proposed contract action is for services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 6.302. The product is a commercial item as defined in FAR Part 2.101. The period of performance shall be for one twelve (12) months base period, with options to renew for four (4) successive twelve-month periods. It is believed that Clarivate Analytics is the sole source for this requirement under the authority of U.S.C. 253(c)(1) as set forth in the Federal Acquisitions Regulation (FAR) 6.302-1 “Only one responsible source and no other supplies and services will satisfy agency requirements” because of the following:

Clarivate Analytics is the sole source provider of the Web of Science- Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI).  In addition, it is also the sole source provider of Journal Citation Reports.  These products are accessed via the Web of Knowledge Platform, a proprietary database platform only available from Clarivate Analytics and they own the exclusive rights to sell, distribute or provide these services. Consequently, to provide access to the titles to NIH and other HHS agencies, Clarivate Analytics is the only known source.

Below is the Draft Statement of Work. This is NOT A SOLICITATION FOR COMPETIVE PROPOSALS. Interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit proposals which demonstrates their ability to supply the services described above or provide a capability statement that demonstrate how other potential databases can meet the requirement described above. The capability statement and any other information furnished must be in writing and must contain material in sufficient detail to allow the Government to determine if the party can meet all of the requirements of the Statement of Work. Capability Statements and related materials must be received by the Contract Specialist, no later than November 8, 2021 at 11:00 A.M. Eastern Time. Written responses received after this date and time will not be accepted. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract based on the responses received is solely within the discretion of the government. The information received will be considered solely for the purpose of whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Address responses via email only to the attention of:  O. Joy Ajao, The National Institutes of Health, OLAO, Office of Acquisitions, email address: [email protected]

STATEMENT OF WORK

PROJECT TITLE:               Access to Web of Science, EndNote and InCites

1. Statement of Work
   1. Background Information

Clarivate provides access to citation indices including the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), the Conference Proceedings Citation Index, and the Book Citation Index to NIH and HHS research staff through their web-based product Web of Science Core collection. Each year more than a million searches are performed in Web of Science by NIH and HHS users. Incites Journal Citation Reports (JCR) is also available through the Web of Science platform. Citations retrieved in Web of Science are linked to the electronic journal holdings of the NIH Library. Web of Science has allowed the NIH Library to provide enhanced and timely access to information NIH and HHS staff need to perform their work whether they are intramural researchers or extramural program administrators.

In addition to Web of Science, Clarivate also provides enterprise-wide access to EndNote, a robust bibliographic citation management tool, to NIH and HHS research staff. Having an enterprise-wide license reduces cost and administrative effort for NIH. They also provide access to InCites Benchmarking and Analytics, a web-based research evaluation tool that assists staff in measuring the impact of NIH and HHS research.

B.        Objectives

The specific objective of this requirement is to assure continued access to the citation indices on the Web of Science platform, EndNote and InCites. The databases shall include cited references and available author abstracts. Access will be for all staff of NIH, CMS and other HHS agencies served by the HHS digital library. Access to Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and InCites Benchmarking and Analytics shall also be included. The contractor shall also include the option of adding Clarivate research and discovery products.

1. Services to be performed

A.        General Requirements

1.         Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all the necessary services, qualified personnel, materials, equipment, and facilities needed to perform the Statement of Work below.

2.         All work under this contract shall be monitored by the Project Officer.

B.        Specific Requirements

Specifically, the contractor shall:

1. Provide the NIH and the HHS agency staff served by the NIH Library (DLS) access to the Web of Science product, which includes the Science Citation Index (SCI), the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), the Conference Proceedings Citation Index, the Book Citation Index, Current Chemical Reactions, Emerging Sources Citation Index, Index Chemicus, BIOSIS Citation Index, Current Contents Connect, Data Citation Index, Derwent Innovations Index, and the Zoological Record. Access to Journal Citation Reports (JCR) shall also be included. Options for including InCites Benchmarking for NIH Library staff only and NIH and HHS agency staff served by the NIH Library should be included.
2. Provide access to a desktop bibliographic management software that that includes 7000 citation styles, allows the creation of customized reference styles, allows users to provide read only access to their citation libraries, provides automatic reference and linking updates, allows users to view the activity of their collaborators in shared libraries and matches papers with relevant journals.
3. The contractor at a minimum shall update the contents of the databases weekly. Journal Citation Reports (JCR) shall be updated annually.
4. The contractor shall provide NIH with open-URL enabled software to allow third-party linking from the citations in the databases to electronic versions of NIH Library subscribed documents or to document delivery services using products such as Primo. Staff from NIH and HHS shall be taken to a view of the databases on Web of Science that includes only the link to their agency library.
5. The contractor also shall provide options for acquiring other Clarivate products, including but not limited to Converis, Cortellis, Cortellis Data Feeds and APIs, Drugs of Today, DRG Healthbase, Derwent Innovation, Derwent Datafeeds and APIs, Metabase, Web of Science Reviewer Locator, Web of Science Datafeeds and APIs, InCites Benchmarking and Analytics and Metacore Key Pathway advisor.
6. The contractor shall provide options for a process and outcome evaluation of the CPTAC program.
7. The contractor may also provide options to include all Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies with access to the same resources as identified in this contract. 
8. The contractor shall provide an option for DLS to add new resources as the contractor adds to its holdings through acquisition or publication of a new resource. The contractor also shall provide an option for DLS to cancel selected resources should its funding be reduced.
9. The contractor shall provide API access to the databases for NIH and HHS Digital Library users. The proposal should include detailed information on the type and terms of API access to be provided.
10. The contractor will upgrade the web platform as needed to enhance or improve the functionality of the platform at no additional cost.
11. Staff of NIH and HHS agencies shall be allowed to scan and search the database and print or download the results of their searches for their personal and work-related use. These searches may be either a repetitive scanning of all or portions of the database for regular updates using one or more terms, or may be one-time, non-repetitive, online interactive searches of all or part of the databases. Among the various search capabilities offered by the contractor, cited reference searching is required. The ability to create visualizations of author impact from cited references is also required.
12. The contractor shall provide maintenance service in the form of periodic software updates and technical help support as part of the base price for the database and interface. Technical help support shall be available Monday through Friday during normal business hours.
13. The contractor shall also provide documentation and training materials as appropriate. Training material may be modified to suit the needs of NIH and HHS agencies.

C.        Government Responsibilities

1. The Government will be responsible for providing an interface via web links for the NIH community to access the Web of Science website.
2. NIH will be responsible for creating a system to validate security for entrance into the website.
3. Upon signature by the Government, the contractor license agreement will be incorporated into the contract. A copy of the license shall be included in the proposal.

1. Reporting Requirements and Deliverables

1.         The contractor shall regularly provide the Project Officer with monthly aggregated use data for databases, complying with industry standards such as COUNTER and SUSHI. Reports shall be available within 30 days of the end of the month that is the subject of the report.

2.         Monthly usage data shall be broken out separately for NIH and for the individual HHS agencies served by the NIH Library/DLS. 

3.         The contractor shall provide download statistics for EndNote and other subscribed Clarivate software tools twice a year. An example of the report should be provided with the proposal.

4.         The contractor shall assure the web platform and databases are available 24 hours a day seven days a week 365 days a year with unscheduled downtime rate not to exceed 1%. Notification of scheduled downtime shall be provided one week in advance at a minimum and will be scheduled in low use periods—between midnight and 6:00 am EST Monday through Friday or 6:00 pm and 6:00 am EST on weekends.