Intent to Award Sole Source - iThenticate Pro Edition - National Agricultural Library

The United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), National Agricultural Library intends to issue an award to Turnitin, LLC. on a sole source basis. Award will be made pursuant to FAR In accordance with FAR 13.501 and 41 USC 3304 §(a)(l ), the property and service needed is available from only one responsible source and no other type of property or service will satisfy the needs of the agency.

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, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), peer reviewed as published, journal literature.

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 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. iThenticate®, including its associated components, is a single source product developed and sold by Turnitin, LLC. This product is a unique service that is not offered by any other vendor or reseller in a similar format. The anticipated Period of Performance is for one base year and four, one-year options. THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTES.

This notice is for informational purposes only and is not to be constructed as a commitment by the Government. Potential sources who believe they can provide the services listed above are invited to submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose 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 contact based on responses to this notice is solely at the discretion of the Government. The Point of Contact for this action is Angela Wingert and any response must be emailed to angela.wingert@usda.gov.