DOCUMENT
76 -- Medical Journals Subscription - Attachment
- Notice Date
- 11/2/2017
- Notice Type
- Attachment
- NAICS
- 511120
— Periodical Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Veterans Affairs;Network Contracting Office (NCO) 15;3450 S 4th Street Trafficway;Leavenworth KS 66048
- ZIP Code
- 66048
- Solicitation Number
- 9066
- Response Due
- 11/7/2017
- Archive Date
- 1/6/2018
- Point of Contact
- Emilio Ballentos
- E-Mail Address
-
.ballentos@va.gov<br
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Department of Veterans Affairs, Network Contracting Office - NCO 15, is conducting a Sources Sought on procuring - Medical Journal Subscription with potential Option Years Contract for the St. Louis VA Medical Center System. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code for this Sources Sought is 511120 - Periodical Publishers, with a business size standard of 1000 Employees. This is a Sources Sought announcement only. It is neither a solicitation announcement nor a request for proposal or quote and does not obligate the Government to award a contract. Responses to this Sources Sought must be in writing. The purpose of this Sources Sought Announcement is for market research, to make appropriate acquisition decisions, and to gain knowledge of potential qualified businesses capable of providing the following: Medical Journal Subscription with potential Option Years Interested firms must response with the following information: Company Name Address Point of Contact Phone, Fax, and Email DUNS number Vendor must be an AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR of the product. *** See Attached Statement of Requirement (SOR) *** Actual quote is not required. Please respond no later than 11/07/2017 at 11:00 EST. to emilio.ballentos@va.gov with Sources Sought - RFI 9061 in the subject line. Interested firms are reminded that in accordance with FAR 4.12, prospective contractors shall complete electronic annual representations and certifications to be considered for award. In addition, FAR 4.11 states that prospective contractors shall be registered in the System for Award Management (www.SAM.gov) database prior to award of a contract. All Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) shall be verified in VetBiz at www.vip.vetbiz.gov. Firm / Vendor must an authorized distributor of the product they are offering. Point of Contact for this Sources Sought: Emilio Ballentos (913) 946 - 1985 Department of Veterans Affairs Network Contracting Office -15 3450 S. 4th Street Trafficway Leavenworth, KS. 66048. 2.4 STATEMENT OF REQUIREMENT 2.4.1 SCOPE OF REQUIREMENT The Contractor shall be responsible for the management, labor and equipment necessary to provide access to (1) serial publication subscriptions (both in print and online), (2) point of care database subscriptions, and (3) related subscription requirements to St. Louis VA Healthcare System and related institutions. Related subscription requirements include paying publishers, handling claims for non-receipt, processing changes in subscriptions status (renewals, new and cancelled subscriptions), facilitating the activation of online access, and submission of required reports and other service problems. 2.4.2. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS 2.4.2.1 Subscription Services. The solicitation is divided into Two parts. Contractor(s) must qualify under Part 1 in order to provide services under Part 2. Part 1 - Basic Subscription Service. Part 2 - Required Support Services. 2.4.2.1.1 Part 1 - Basic Subscription Service. Contractor shall provide basic subscription services that would include all of the tasks necessary to execute and manage orders for new and renewal subscriptions to serial publication subscriptions and point of care database subscriptions. These tasks fall into the following four critical areas, described in detail elsewhere in the solicitation: (a) Ordering subscriptions; (b) Serving as the fiscal agent with publishers, including making timely prepayments, processing refunds, claims, supplemental and bill-later charges; (c) Ensuring timely and complete delivery of ordered subscriptions; and, (d) Providing reports and other administrative support for subscriptions management. 2.4.2.1.2 Part 2 - Required Support Services. Contractor shall provide support to cover a range of subscription-related products and services to the libraries, in addition to basic subscription order and renewal services described under Part 1. 2.4.2.1.3 Part 3 - Optional Specialized Electronic Access Service. Contractors who offer access to e-journal subscriptions may offer related systems for managing access to electronic subscriptions and articles via the Web. (For subscriptions to journals in electronic and all other formats are a basic subscription service required by Part 1). 2.4.3 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS 2.4.3.1 Part One - Basic Subscription Order and Renewal Services. Contractor shall provide subscription services for all subscriptions in all media generally available via agents from foreign and domestic publishers, if the ordering customer can supply sufficient publication information. 2.4.3.1.1 The Contractor shall supply materials from a wide range of publishers, to include: (a) Medical publishers. (b) General circulation periodical publishers. (c) Trade publishers. (d) University presses. (e) Societies and Associations, Scientific. (f) Societies and Associations, Non-Scientific. (g) Small Presses. (h) Non-paper format publishers. (i) Government agencies. (j) Quasi-governmental organizations (e.g., United Nations, World Health Organization, etc.). List of requested journal titles are below: Title Media Type Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News Print + Digital + Online Includes: Air Conditioning Heating & Refrigeration News Directory & Source Guide(Print) AJR: American Journal of Roentgenology Print American Journal of Epidemiology Print Includes: Epidemiologic Reviews(Print) American Journal of Occupational Therapy (AJOT) Print + Online Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (FDA) Print + Online Cleaning & Maintenance Management (CM) Print + Online Clinical Nephrology Print + Online Environmental Nutrition Print Federal EEO Advisor Print Federal Times Print + Digital Foot & Ankle International Print Health Devices Gold Membership (Single Site) Online Healthcare Salary Survey & Career Guide (Single Site) Online Hospital Peer Review Print + Online Includes: Discharge Planning Advisor(Print) Hypertension Print International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Implants Print + Online JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Print Journal of Clinical Oncology Print + Online Includes: ASCO Annual Meeting Abstracts(Online) Clinical Guidelines(Print + Online) Meeting Proceedings American Society of Clinical Oncology(Print) Journal of Foot & Ankle Surgery, The Print Journal of Neurosurgery Combo Print + Online Includes: Gamma Knife(Online) Journal of Neurosurgery(Print + Online) Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics(Print + Online) Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine(Print + Online) Neurosurgical Focus(Online) Journal of Nuclear Medicine Print + Online Journal of Rheumatology (IP Address) Print + Online Includes: Journal of Rheumatology Supplement(Print) Kidney International Print Includes: Kidney International Supplement(Print) Lancet, The (North American Edition) Print Managing Today's Federal Employees Print Medical Letter on Drugs & Therapeutics (English Edition) Online Includes: Adverse Drug Interactions Program(Online) Handbook of Antimicrobial Therapy(Online) New England Journal of Medicine Print PM&R Print Prescriber's Letter (Site License) Print + Online Talent Development (TD) Print + Digital + Online Treatment Guidelines from the Medical Letter Online Archives Ship To Address for all titles VA St. Louis Health Care System John Cochran Division Library 142D 915 N. Grand Blvd. The following Stations will be required to access the information site. St. Louis, MO 63106 VA St. Louis Health Care System consists of the following locations: John Cochran Division Medical Center 915 North Grand Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63106 St. Charles County MO Outpatient Clinic 844 Waterbury Falls Drive O'Fallon, MO 63368 Jefferson Barracks Division Medical Center 1 Jefferson Barracks Drive St. Louis, MO 63125 Belleville IL Outpatient Clinic Arcade Center / 6500 W. Main Street Belleville, IL 62223 Hope Recovery Center 515 North Jefferson Ave St. Louis, MO 63103 St. Louis County Outpatient Clinic 6858 Parker Road Florissant, MO 63033 Primary Care Team 1 4974 Manchester Avenue St. Louis, MO 63110 Primary Care Team 2 2727 Washington Avenue St. Louis, MO 63103 Washington MO Outpatient Clinic 1627 A Roy Drive Washington, MO 63090 2.4.3.1.2 Subscription subjects shall include materials in the following listing of subject categories: (Not intended to be all inclusive) (a) Health Sciences. (b) Allied Health Sciences. (c) Social and Behavioral Sciences. (d) Science and Technology. (e) Management. (f) Business and Administration. (g) Marketing. (h) General Interest. 2.4.3.1.3 Subscription Periods. (a) Publisher permitting, the Contractor shall be required to place subscriptions at any time during the year, to provide common expiration dates for initial subscription and renewals whenever possible, and to assist in prorating for common expiration dates, as required by individual stations. (b) The Contractor shall provide administrative and other services for each subscription placed until three months after its expiration or for the life of the subscription. 2.4.3.1.4 Additional materials (a) Not included in the basic subscription price. As the Contractor is responsible for providing all material published within a given subscription year, within one month of their identification the Contractor shall notify each subscriber of special issues, indexes, and unnumbered supplements not included in the basic subscription price. These items shall be made available to the subscribers by special order under this contract at the publisher's price, with no additional charges, other than any handling and transportation costs charged to the Contractor by the publisher. (b) No charge. Title pages, tables of contents, annual or other indexes, and other materials normally supplied by the publisher at no added charge to a requesting subscriber, are to be supplied automatically by the Contractor at no additional charge. 2.4.3.1. 5 Rush Orders. Upon receipt of a rush order request from an authorized agent from the Station, the Contractor shall communicate that order to the publisher with 24-hours. If the publisher will not accept the order without prior payment, the Contractor shall send out such payment within that same 24-hour period. Contractor shall accept orders of any size, at any time, without adding a small order penalty fee. 2.4.3.1.6 Catalog. The Contractor shall provide an annual catalog of subscriptions available. The catalog shall be available to the customer electronically and in print format, e.g. via Internet, at no additional charge to the agency. The Station retains the right to request print copies of catalog information for cataloged subscriptions of interest. The catalogs shall have as a minimum the following information: (a) Titles (b) ISSN or ISBN (c) Cost (d) Frequency (e) Enumeration (f) Descriptive information, e.g., title changes, with cross references, memberships (if available), publisher (if available) (g) Documented constraints 2.4.3.1.7 Publishers' Prices. The Contractor shall supply, on demand, copies of publishers' invoices or other documentation acceptable to the VA to verify subscription costs charged the government. All prices of individual subscriptions which show an increase of 25%, or more, over the publisher's list price at the time the order is placed shall include a copy of the publisher's invoice demonstrating that fact included with the invoice submitted by the Contractor to the VA Station for payment. 2.4.3.1.8 Cancellations. Upon cancellation of an order between the Contractor and VA Station, the Contractor shall notify the Station concerning any cancellations of individual subscriptions, e.g., standing orders. The Station shall direct the Contractor to continue or cancel the individual subscriptions. The Contractor shall not cancel subscriptions for which a Station has already paid without direction from that VA Station. 2.4.3.1.9 Payment. (a) The Contractor shall pay all regular subscription orders in advance, prior to submission of first invoice. (b) The Contractor shall make additional payments as necessary and be required to adjust for unforeseen contingencies, such as currency fluctuations, additional volumes. (c) The Contractor shall maintain complete records of all bibliographic and financial transactions of each Station for up to three years. The Contractor shall provide to the VA immediate access to these records on demand. If required by the VA, the Contractor shall provide copies of these documents at no cost. The Contractor shall retain the original records on-site. The Station shall pay the Contractor through the Chief, Fiscal Service. Initial invoicing from the Contractor shall reach the Station no later than October 15 of each year. The Contractor shall provide prompt cancellation and return of all recovered funds to the Chief, Fiscal Service of each Station without any additional administrative charges. (e) In the event that supplemental invoicing is necessary the Contractor shall send supplemental invoices only in January, April, and July of the contract year, to arrive at the bill-to location no later than the 15th of the month. 2.4.3.10 Administrative Services the Contractor shall provide the following administrative services to support subscription ordering services: (a) Claims for missing, defective or mutilated issues. The Contractor shall be the contract liaison for all VA Stations in obtaining from the publisher replacement copies of periodicals found to be defective, mutilated, lost in transit, or otherwise missing, provided the loss is reported within sixty calendar days. Contractor shall provide back issue ordering if requested. Contractor shall respond to Stations' claims within ten (10) calendar days of the claim. The Contractor shall offer electronic claims services at no additional charge. The Contractor shall, upon request of the government, demonstrate or make available for review its electronic claims system prior to contract award. (i) The Contractor shall provide each Station with the necessary training and written documentation to enable each Station to effectively use the electronic claiming system. (ii) The Contractor shall supply the VA and all "ship-to" addressees with full service assistance in claiming missing issues.. The claim notice sent from the Contractor to the publisher shall include the following information: (a) Title being claimed (b) Specific issues (c) Date of Contractor s order to publishers (d) Order period (e) Amount paid (f) Proof of payment (g) Change of address, if any (iii) The Contractor shall handle claims for any subscription for up to three months after the life of the subscription. (b) Refunds for Lost Periodicals, Replacements, and Discontinuance of Publication. In the case where replacement is unavailable and refunds are offered instead, the Contractor shall make a refund in full of all amounts paid by the VA Station. The Contractor shall provide refunds or substitute materials from publishers for unexpired portions of subscriptions which discontinue publication during life of the subscription. (c) Refunds for Cancellations. When a refund has been requested due to timely cancellation (within 60 days of initial order) of a subscription, the Contractor shall provide refunds to the VA Station. The Contractor shall provide the Station with the option of receiving a refund or accepting a credit when refunds are due. (d) Duplicate Issues. The Contractor shall deal directly with the publisher to correct duplicate issue errors. (e) Bill to and Ship to Addresses. The Contractor shall support multiple shipping addresses, domestic and foreign, under one billing address. VA Station addresses shall have the capacity for up to five (5) lines, with each line up to 30 characters. (f) Change of Address. The Contractor shall notify the publisher of changes of address within 5 work days of notification by the consignee. (g) Membership Entitlements. The Contractor shall provide a written summary of all publications and/or material received through memberships, i.e., title, frequency, quantity of each publication, and special membership benefits. (h) Sample Copies. The Contractor shall request sample copies of a serial when requested to do so by the VA. The Contractor shall also provide pertinent information on new subscriptions. (i) Back Issues. Upon request from a VA Station, the Contractor shall acquire back issues of a title for up to one year prior to the date of the current volume. (j) Personal Representative. The Contractor shall assign a representative by name to provide personalized in-house assistance for each VA Station account. The personal representative shall provide assistance between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in each of the time zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific). (k) Toll-Free Telephone Number. The Contractor shall provide a toll- free telephone line for Stations to utilize in contacting their personal representative between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. in each of the time zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific.) The Contractor, shall respond to the CO, COTR or VA Station messages within 24 hours, or the next working day. (l) Information Bulletins. The Contractor shall provide monthly email information bulletins updating the latest known information on various serial titles, to minimally include: (i) Ceased publications (ii) Suspended publications (iii) Publication delays (iv) Publishing frequency changes (v) Title changes (vi) Title mergers or absorptions (vii) Title splits (viii) Price changes (m) Other Communication with VA Stations. The Contractor shall email all administrative information not covered in information bulletins (excluding claims) to the library staff and Contracting Officer responsible for each VA Station. All communication to groups of more than 5 consignee locations must be approved by the COTR prior to its distribution. (n) Library Management Reports (i) Specifications. At no additional charge and on demand, the Contractor shall provide listings containing all or part of the following information as specified by the VA and shall describe capability to provide listings and reports in desired MS Office format. (a) Title (b) Ship-to-address (c) Invoice-item number (d) Purchase order number (e) Subscription period (f) Quantity (g) Frequency (h) Price with adjustments and estimates (i) Volume (j) ISSN or ISBN (k) Station number (l) Publisher (ii) Sorting. In addition, the Contractor shall have the capability of sorting, subtotaling, and re-totaling the reports by any of the above included fields of information. Medium. The Contractor shall provide reports in the desired MS Office format, with optional print delivery of reports. The Customer retains the right to choose which format to receive. Minimum Required Reports. At a minimum, the Contractor shall provide the following reports at no charge: (a) Financial Summary Report. The contractor shall provide a listing at the Station s request, by Government fiscal year, of all Contractor instigated adjustments, e.g., credit or debit invoices to the stations for services provided. This report shall include invoice number, dollar amount, and service charge amount. (b) Claims Lists. The Contractor shall provide to the station a monthly listing of all outstanding claims and any responses received from the publishers. The report shall be cumulative, by title, for all unresolved claims. (c) Subscription Status Information. The Contractor shall notify the station in writing of any irregularity or change in subscription status, such as: bill later, non-cancelable, slow, irregular, discontinued, order direct, standing order, split title, not due for renewal at this time, period restricted, establishing contact with publisher, temporarily suspended publication, foreign title, estimated price, and price increases since last billing published price, etc., on a monthly basis. (d) Consolidated Reports. Individual station(s) shall monitor local deliverables; however, a degree of centralized monitoring will be performed by the COTR. The following cumulative (for all contract users) reports are required: (i) Consolidated monthly claims listing by ship-to address, by title to include cumulative claims histories (ii) Copies of letters, directions, other than routine responses to claims and ordering requests, prior to mailing to contract users (iii) Annual renewal materials, e.g., Contractor's catalog, forms, report formats, ordering and renewal instructions, etc. (iv) Semi-annual report (February, August) of all contract user's addresses, telephone numbers, number of titles ordered, and dollar value of orders (v) Information on economic factors affecting coming year prices, such as forested publisher price increases, exchange rates, and other information for both domestic and foreign medical publishers. (e) Quality Assurance Reports shall be prepared and submitted to the COTR during April and September of each year. These reports will include descriptions of problems or problem areas identified, how they were addressed, and an explanation of how the results were "globalized" to all VA locations; actions the Contractor has taken to improve publisher response to claims; programs developed to reduce costs to VA, etc. (f) Customer Satisfaction Survey. In April of each year, the Contractor shall distribute a Customer Satisfaction Survey to all VA consignees. By June 1st, the Contractor shall receipt, compile and analyze Survey results, submit a report to the VACO COTR explaining the results of the survey, and delineate what actions, if any, are recommended to resolve problems and improve customer satisfaction. 2.4.3.11 Licenses Contractor and publishers frequently have license agreements for their electronic publications, systems and software products. Licenses may be for the subscription agent s proprietary products, or publisher s proprietary products. All license agreements will be between the VA libraries and the Contractor/Publishers. Such individual licenses shall only pertain to the VA library for whom they were negotiated. License agreements will be reviewed, approved, signed and enforced by according to local procedures. Contractor s proposals must contain copies of all Contractor proprietary licenses for all items offered. 2.4.3.2 PART 2 - REQUIRED SUPPORT SERVICES Contractor shall offer, and customers may require, the following at an additional charge: 2.4.3.2.1 Journal Check-In. An electronic check-in system will be made available. The following functions shall be provided: (a) Complete bibliographic information (b) Check-in (new issue receipt) (c) Routing (journal issue and table of contents) (d) Claiming (e) Binding (f) Fund control (purchase/budget information) (g) Holdings records (h) MARC records, Z39.50 compliant (i) Reports: (i) Alphabetical journal list (ii) Journal list by vendor (iii) Journal holdings (iv) Serials receipt for specified date range (j) Prediction pattern 2.4.3.2.2 MARC Record Data. The Contractor shall provide electronic files of catalog data in MARC format, local or consortia holdings data, for loading into customer s local system. The Contractor shall have the ability to provide stable and accurate URLs either in title list format or included in the 856 field of the MARC record. 2.4.3.2.3 Additional Reports. The Contractor shall describe additional available reports, if any, that have not already been included in Part 1. Include data available in electronic format, in addition to MARC records, and the formats in which the data is available. 2.4.3.2.3 Optional specialized electronic access service. Contractor who offer subscription services under Part 1 may offer management of electronic publication subscriptions, licenses, links, user authorizations and usage data, customized access or file groupings for individual or consortium, customers, collection assessment and collection development reports. Pricing formulas shall be predefined where possible. Fair and reasonable customer specific offerings may be negotiated on an individual basis by VA either for individual customer or for consortia. CONTRACT DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS, OR ATTACHMENTS PACKAGING AND MARKING Packaging, marking and delivery of periodicals, magazines and books shall conform with industry standards. APPENDICES FROM THE STATEMENT OF WORK Appendices Table of Contents (Open ICONS to view Lists of Titles and Lists of Libraries) List of Titles for Technical Requirements: General Attachment 1 4 Pages List of Titles for Technical Requirements: Medical Attachment 2 7 Pages Representative List of Titles for Cost Proposal Attachment 3 118 Pages List of VA Libraries Attachment 4 6 Pages DISCLAIMER This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this RFI that is marked as proprietary will be handled accordingly. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI.
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- Document(s)
- Attachment
- File Name: 9066 9066.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=3887903&FileName=9066-000.docx)
- Link: https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=3887903&FileName=9066-000.docx
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- File Name: 9066 9066.docx (https://www.vendorportal.ecms.va.gov/FBODocumentServer/DocumentServer.aspx?DocumentId=3887903&FileName=9066-000.docx)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Department of Veterans Affairs;St. Louis VA Medical Center;915 North Grand Blvd.;St. Louis, MO.
- Zip Code: 63106-1621
- Zip Code: 63106-1621
- Record
- SN04729817-W 20171104/171102231200-d526a3da9c338e14f1a6851eaefeeecc (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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