THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. This notice is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. This procurement will be processed pursuant to FAR part 12, Acquisition of Commercial Items, and PART 13.5. No solicitation will be issued.

Potential sources who believe they can provide the services listed are invited to submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact. Information received will be considered solely for the purposes of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. A determination by the Government to compete this proposed contract based on responses to this notice is solely at the discretion of the Government. Responses are to be received within 10 days of this notice. No telephone calls are being accepted.
The United States Department Agriculture (USDA), Natural Agricultural Library (NAL), intends to negotiate and award on a Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) basis. Contract type will be a base year and four (4) one year Firm Fixed Price and awarded to Elsevier, B.V. This is for annual database subscription access to Scopus periodicals. NAICS Code is 511120. Annual period of performance is estimated to be July 1 - June 30.

The procurement is in accordance with both FAR 6.302-1 and 41 U.S.C. 3304(a)(1).

USDA/ARS/NAL requires access to the largest possible database of abstracts and citations to peer-reviewed literature including scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. This database must be renewable in the summer (July 1) of each calendar year to ensure funding is available to provide continuous and uninterrupted access to the most recent records added to the database.

The National Agricultural Library (NAL) is mandated (7 U.S.C. 3101) to serve as the primary agricultural information resource of the United States. One of its functions in that role is the identification and/or acquisition of information in all aspects of agriculture and allied sciences. In support of this function, the NAL acquires citation and abstracting databases from publishers and makes the databases accessible to USDA employees and library patrons via the internet.

In keeping with its charge to identify and guide users to agricultural and related information, NAL provides efficient cross-database searching on its own platform, DigiTop Navigator, and a search interface to its growing collection of as many citations and abstracts to as many publications in as many formats from as many publishers and sources as possible.

To continue to make this highly efficient and comprehensive search capability available to its users, NAL must acquire the content directly from each database's publisher, in a format that will lend itself to incorporation with Navigator. Access to the database to be acquired through this proposed contract is of vital importance to USDA researchers. USDA researchers have demonstrated its importance to their research by their heavy past use of this resource.

Bid Protests Not Available