Notice of Intent

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of General Counsel (GC) plans to issue a purchase order to Westlaw as the only responsible source to prevent a break in service while a competitive action is awarded for legal database access. The Government intends to award a sole source purchase order to Westlaw. The period of performance for this award will be three-months (3) months from April 1, 2025, through June 30, 2025, with three (3) subsequent one-month (1) option periods.

The Government intends to utilize this time period to continue the competitive procurement which is likely to result in multiple awards. It is not realistic to consider transition to another legal research services provider for the short period of time during which DOE is conducting the competitive procurement and then a potential second transition period after award of the competitive procurement.

Such a situation would create considerable disruption to the individuals utilizing the online legal research services, and this disruption would result in a critical impact with ongoing litigation and legal matters. The award will be issued via other than full and open competition, only one responsible source and no other supplies and services will satisfy agency requirements. This is a NOTICE OF INTENT; no solicitation is available for this requirement.

If a firm believes DOE should not pursue this sole source procurement with Westlaw for their proprietary analytics, then interested parties may submit a capability statement, which shall be considered by the agency NO LATER THAN 5 days from posting date via e-mail to Kelley Vandecoevering, kelley.vandecoevering@hq.doe.gov. The written response must include a general statement for services indicated in this announcement and past performance client information for a similar product.

A determination by the Government to compete this proposed purchase order based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct this requirement competitively in the future. No solicitation is available for this requirement. No telephone calls will be accepted.