This Sources Sought Notice is being issued for informational purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

ARS is conducting a Market Survey to identify the availability and interest of firms as potential sources for online subscription access for the National Agricultural Library (NAL), located in Beltsville, Maryland

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this project is 513210 (Software Publishers) with a Size Standard of $47 million.

Background:

The National Agricultural Library (NAL) requires an online plagiarism checking software tool to ensure that ARS is original and sufficiently cited. Requirements include that the service be hosted, provide a service level for professional scientific researchers, compare texts to a corpus of scholarly, STEM, peer reviewed as published, journal literature.

Project Scope:

USDA requires a system capable of analyzing scientific articles and documents being submitted for publication in professional books and journals.  The plagiarism detection software shall provide Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) literature coverage to meet the needs of the ARS scientific research output.  The system must be compatible with CrossRef Similarity Check Services.

iThenticate offers a subscription-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. The service bundle known as plagiarism detection service, incorporates all aspects of the requirement.

The anticipated Period of Performance is for one base year and four, one-year option periods.

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. Interested firms are invited to respond to this announcement by providing the following information:

1. Firm’s name, address, point of contact, phone number, and e-mail address.

2. Firm’s level of interest in competing on the solicitation when it is issued.

3. Firm’s Business Size.

NO SOLICITATION EXISTS. THIS REQUEST IS INTENDED ONLY TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL SOURCES. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this sources sought announcement. The deadline to respond to this notice is May 17, 2024.  Requested information shall be limited to no more than 2 pages. Interested firms are instructed to submit written responses by e-mail to [email protected].  NO HARD COPY OR FACSIMILE SUBMISSION WILL BE ACCEPTED. Cover letters and extraneous materials (brochures, etc.) will not be considered. No reimbursement will be made for any cost associated with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information provided. All interested sources must respond to future solicitation announcements separately from responses to this market survey.