SPECIAL NOTICE
76 -- Renewal of Politico Pro Service
- Notice Date
- 3/17/2021 11:32:18 AM
- Notice Type
- Justification
- NAICS
- 511110
— Newspaper Publishers
- Contracting Office
- RRB - ACQUISITION MGMT DIVISION CHICAGO IL 60611 USA
- ZIP Code
- 60611
- Solicitation Number
- 60RRBH21P0065
- Archive Date
- 04/16/2021
- Point of Contact
- Sarina Day, Stephen Schenk
- E-Mail Address
-
sarina.day@rrb.gov, stephen.schenk@rrb.gov
(sarina.day@rrb.gov, stephen.schenk@rrb.gov)
- Award Number
- 60RRBH21P0065
- Award Date
- 03/19/2021
- Description
- (1) IDENTIFICATION OF THE AGENCY AND THE CONTRACTING ACTIVITY. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), Acquisition Management - Procurement (2) NATURE AND/OR DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTION BEING APPROVED. This action is for the purchase of PoliticoPro, a subscription service that provides real-time policy and government news. The subscription would maintain an existing subscription for news and policy information. (3) A DESCRIPTION OF THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED TO MEET THE AGENCY'S NEEDS (INCLUDING THE ESTIMATED VALUE OF ACTION). The Library intends to purchase an eight-person subscription to PoliticoPro. PoliticoPro is an online news service that provides up-to-the minute news and analysis on matters affecting the RRB. Areas of interest include budgets and appropriations; cybersecurity; Medicare and Social Security, healthcare; labor and employment; the Presidential transition and tax. The estimated value of this procurement is $30,950 for a one-year subscription for eight users. The renewal includes three option years, priced at: � Option Year 1: $30,950 � Option Year 2: $32,500 � Option Year 3: $34,125 (4) A DEMONSTRATION OF THE PROPOSED CONTRACTOR'S UNIQUE QUALIFICATIONS OR THE NATURE OF THE ACQUISITION REQUIRES USE OF THE AUTHORITY CITED. The Library currently maintains a PoliticoPro subscription for the benefit of the Board Members, Executive Committee members, the Office of Legislative Affairs, and the Office of the Inspector General. The library�s subscriptions also include Law 360 and Lexis/Nexis. While each of these services provides news and information, PoliticoPro employs nearly 200 news reporters who cover specific areas of government that are not frequently reported on by other news outlets. The news reports are published several times daily and include updates within minutes or hours of events taking place. The other sources aggregate some of the same information, but they deliver it far less frequently or not at all. The Board Offices, EC members, Library, Office of Inspector General, and the Office of Legislative Affairs are dependent on up-to-the-minute information on critical issues affecting the agency. (5) A DETERMINATION BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER THAT THE ANTICIPATED COST TO THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE FAIR AND REASONABLE. A price analysis by the Contracting Officer determined that the competitive price offered by PoliticoPro is fair and reasonable when compared to the inferior product offered by Fiscal Note/CQ Roll Call referenced below. Further, the modest 5% escalation from the base year to each Option Period offered by PoliticoPro is reasonable when compared to industry standards for like procurements. (6) A DESCRIPTION OF THE MARKET RESEARCH CONDUCTED AND THE RESULTS OR A STATEMENT OF THE REASON MARKET RESEARCH WAS NOT CONDUCTED. The Office of Legislative Affairs has conducted two in-office demonstrations to assess to utility of various news services as follows: (A) Fiscal Note/CQ Roll Call�provided a demonstration to OLA and the library in March 2021. This is a relatively new information service and knowledge management system. However, it is more of a software, workflow tool than a news service. It does offer a few tools that RRB users require including bill text comparison, allowing users to highlight modifications to every bill between one version and the next as it passes through the legislative process. It also offers access to bills, votes, tweets, floor statements etc. from the U.S. Congress and news updates on a daily basis. The cost of a one-year, five-person license is $30,000 per year. This price reflects $6,000 per user license per year. (B) The agency has subscribed to PoliticoPro since 2016. The product is a news service that targets principally Congress and the executive branch. The difference between this service and others described is the frequent, targeted information provided by Politico�s nearly 200 reporters. The reports are generally concise and include updated information on critical areas, often long before other news outlets. A helpful tool has been its frequent reports on the transition to the new Administration. Daily�information about Cabinet prospects and picks, as well as other key staffing decisions are extremely helpful. PoliticoPro also provides information on movement within the Congressional staff arenas, which is generally not available in other outlets. It also provides tools to track legislation and regulations. The proposed contract provides eight user licenses for a total of $30,950 or $3,868.75 per person for a one-year license in the base year, $4,062.50 per person per license in the first option year and $4,265.63 in the second option year. It should also be noted with PolitcoPro�s recent tool upgrade, adding an agency and congressional directory, the library was able to cancel its Leadership Connect subscription, saving the agency around $5,000. (7) ANY OTHER FACTS SUPPORTING THE USE OF OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION. Each news subscription service described in this document offers some overlap in the basic services. However, they differ widely in the scope of information provided and available tools that would be beneficial to the Office of Legislative Affairs. It would be impossible to perform a feature-by-feature comparison of these services because of the wide variation of depth and scope of service offered by each. (8) A LISTING OF THE SOURCES, IF ANY, THAT EXPRESSED IN WRITING, AN INTEREST IN THE ACQUISITION. These companies have submitted quotes to RRB past requests for quotes for news subscription services � � �(A) Fiscal Note/CQ � � �(B) PoliticoPro (9) A STATEMENT OF THE ACTIONS, IF ANY, THE AGENCY MAY TAKE TO REMOVE OR OVERCOME ANY BARRIERS TO COMPETITION BEFORE ANY SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION FOR THE SUPPLIES OR SERVICES REQUIRED. RRB will continue to research and test similar products. As different capabilities are developed the Library will reevaluate its choice of this product to meet news and legislation tracking needs.
- Web Link
-
SAM.gov Permalink
(https://beta.sam.gov/opp/019b5a74bf1c4f839871057b7fa116ad/view)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Chicago, IL 60611, USA
- Zip Code: 60611
- Country: USA
- Zip Code: 60611
- Record
- SN05945267-F 20210319/210317230110 (samdaily.us)
- Source
-
SAM.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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