Patent and Trademark Office, Office of Procurement, Box 6, Washington, DC 20231

76 -- PATENT STATUS FILE -- COPYRIGHTED CUMULATIVE PRINTED INDEX OF CHANGES TO U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS ISSUED SINCE 1973 SOL 52-PAPT-8-00032 POC Susan B. Messina, (703) 305-8448 E-MAIL: Click here to contact the contracting officer via, susan.messina@uspto.gov. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) intends to award a sole-source contract to Derwent North America, (Derwent) to procure their Patent Status File(PSF), and their copyrighted Annual Cumulative Index in printed form, of changes to U.S. patent documents issued since 1973. (See Numbered Note 22.) The PSF which will be provided on 16mm microfilm, and the copyrighted, printed Annual Cumulative Index, will be distributed to Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs) under federal statute (35 U.S.C. 13); International Patent Offices (IPOs) under international exchange agreements; and the USPTO for its own use in the public Patent Search Room. The Patent Status File, previously titled the CDR (Corrections, Disclaimers, and Reissues) File was started in 1973 by Research Publications. In 1995 all assets of RPI were transferred to Derwent North America. Since 1973, RPI and Derwent have exclusively compiled, maintained, and copyrighted the PSF. In the early 1980s the PTO began distributing all U.S. patent documents and all changes to those documents in microfilm format, in lieu of paper format, in order to reap significant annual savings. Procuring the PSF on microfilm was part of that effort and avoids the expense of distributing paper copies of changes to patents. This product is unique in that it identifies changes to U.S. patent documents and efficiently and effectively makes such information available to the public. Thus, the PTO began purchasing the Patent Status File from RPI and then Derwent for distribution to PTDLs, and to IPOs through 1986, along with other U.S. patent documents under various exchange agreements and contracts, and for the PTO itself. With the exception of the PSF, these other items have been procured since 1987 utilizing full and open competition under FAR, Part 6.1. The PSF was removed from that competition as being restrictive because it is believed that only one source -- RPI, and now Derwent -- could provide the requirement for this information in itspresent form. For an organization to acquire source documents, arrange, compile, and format the material; and film reference data from the last 25 years into a product that would meet the requirements for the PTDLs, IPOs, and the PTO is estimated to be very costly; the time it would take is thought to be insurmountable; and the potential for an expanding market is thought to be small. RP and later Derwent have been producing this item for 25 years, and no other organization has attempted to enter the market. The PTO is not the only customer of the PSF (it is classified as a commercial item in accordance with FAR Part 15.804-3 (c)(3)). Also, RPI had been producing this item for 10 years before the PTO began purchasing it for PTDLs and IPOs. Therefore, this item is not produced just for the PTO. This procurement is for a commercially available, off-the-shelf item, which is sold on a subscription basis: it is not for micrographic services. Therefore, for the above reasons, the intention is to purchase this product through other than full and open competition. The Patent Status File is based on reissues and changes to U.S. patent documents listed in the Official Gazette for a given year. The following items appear on microfilm: Adverse Decisions Certificates of Correction Dedications Disclaimers Disclaimers and Dedications Patents Substituted for Previously Withdrawn Patents Reissue Patents Reexamination Certificates Withdrawal Notices Withdrawals The copyrighted, cumulative, printed, paper index lists all of these items in numerical order of the U.S. patent document affected, with a PSF microfilm reel number for the item or for the changed given document. This index also lists the following in the same numerical order but with an Official Gazette citation for further detail: Adjudicated Patents Commissioner Ordered Reexaminations Delayed Payments of Maintenance Fees Expiration of Patents Due to Failure to Pay Required Maintenance Fees Lapsed Patents Patent Suits Previous Errors Corrected Reissue Applications Filed Requests for Reexamination Term of Patents Extended This notice sets forth the intent of the PTO to enter into a sole source contract for this product with Derwent North America (formerly RPI). However, parties who may also now be offering this product for sale and believe they can satisfy this requirement may identify in writing their interest and capability to respond to this requirement within 15 days from the date of this publication. Posted 07/13/98 (W-SN222187). (0194)

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