This is a public notice prepared in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.2—Synopsis of Proposed Contract Actions.

The Library of Congress, Contracts and Grants Directorate, intends to award a sole-source firm fixed price contract to the National Federation of the Blind (200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place, Baltimore, MD, 21230). The work to be performed under the contract will be performed at the Contractor's facility in Baltimore Maryland, and may also be performend in its many of its specific regional locations. 

The period of performance of the intended contract shall run for 5 years and is valued at an estimated amount of $3,250,00.00 for all 5 years of performance.

The Library of Congress (LC) requires periodical content services that provide newspapers and magazines that focus on news in audio format via telephone or the internet to blind and print disabled residents of the United States to be provided at no cost to the personal blind and print disabled subscribers.  This requirement is contracted for on an ongoing mission to support the LC’s National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) program.

The LC requires services that allow blind and print disabled individuals across the country to access daily newspapers and magazines. These services include a toll-free call-in center that provides newspaper and magazines on demand to NLS patrons and partner libraries (as well as a help-desk service). The service must enable those who cannot read conventional print to have access to the contents of newspapers and magazines when traveling throughout the United States twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, even when separated from other sources of NLS products and services.

The LC will contract with the National Federation of the Blind to gain access to its Newsline service, a service which offers all of the above, so that the LC may provide access to its blind and print disabled patrons.

This announcement constitutes the only public notice, proposals are not being requested from other parties and a written solicitation will not be issued. This public notice accomplishes the following:

1. Notice of the LC's intent to sole source to the National Federation of the Blind;

2. Synopsizing the requirements in accordance with the FAR; and,

3. Publically posting the approved Justification and Approval (J&A) to the public in advance of the contract award. As a result of this, a second posting of the J&A is not required after the award has been made, as the public posting is being accomplished via this public notice.

This public notice has the following attachments:

Attachment 1. Approved J&A for a sole source contract to the National Federation for the Blind; and,

Attachment 2. The Statement of Work that shall be incorprated into the contract (although the specifics may change slightly by the time of award).

No further public notices shall be pursued at this time in regards to this contracting action.