Tips on Preparing Your Technical Specifications for the RFQ Process

1. See also the instructions in the Serials supplement to the FEDLINK Member Handbook regarding how to format your list of serial titles. The most important points to remember are:

A. Ask your current FEDLINK vendor for a title list "for quote purposes." It will not have prices on it. This is best, assuming the list they supply is reasonably representative of your upcoming needs. They can supply it on paper and/or electronically.

B. If you prefer to create the list locally, please include ISSNs. If an ISSN is not available for any individual title, please add publisher information instead. Put at least the name of the publisher or a city and state (or country for non-US publications); if you can, add an address or phone number. The aim is to provide a level playing field for competition purposes, not to give the advantage to your incumbent vendor. Once your vendor is selected, they can routinely provide the service of helping you get information about new titles and publishers.

C. Provide a list of all ship-to addresses. If there are more than five, state the number of ship-to's either at the top of the list, or in your special technical requirements.

D. Subscription periods. Note especially if some need to be regularized.

E. Number of copies of any title needing more than one; ship-to's may be linked to copies.

F. The title list may be in one alphabet, or, if it is more convenient, separate alphabets, e.g. one for each ship-to. If there is more than one alphabetical listing included, note this on a cover sheet and explain the relationship between the lists.

G. The title list can include serials in any format, including electronic journals which are routinely provided under this agreement. See information on Lot 3 regarding special assistance in managing electronic journals.

2. Indicate pricing terms on the Intent to Compete Serials form (Transfer Pay), or, for Direct Pay, on the RFQ. Estimated price with firm fixed service fee is the standard and is highly recommended. Firm fixed funding is an option, but requires recompeting each year and, it is believed, costs the government more than the standard pricing option. For more information on pricing terms, consult the Serials supplement to the FEDLINK Member Handbook. It also contains a sample CBD notice and samples of RFQ forms, so that Direct Pay customers can see text used by LC C&L for Transfer Pay RFQs.

Most libraries can stop here.

3. Do not re-compete standard terms of the FEDLINK agreements. This negates the streamlining advantages and wastes everyone's time. All vendors selected to participate in the FEDLINK program have agreed to and been found able to perform all requirements listed in Lot 1 of the Statement of Work (SOW). Tips:

A. Read the SOW before you write your special local requirements. Note especially if you need anything from Lot 2, Optional Services, or if all your needs are covered in Lot 1.

B. Most requirements are simply variations among the ways standard things can be done. Therefore, you and your vendor can agree to how your account will be serviced for most of Lot 1 after the RFQ process. Do, however, state requirements in your technical specs if you have special concerns, have invested in particular ways of doing business such as using a local automated system, and/or recognize that the cost of doing business with you could be affected by your local requirements. (See also item d, below.)

C. If you have had a bad experience in the past with something that is a standard part of the SOW and want to alert vendors during the RFQ process that you care particularly about that area of service, you have some choices: (1) Do not state simply that you require something, but describe how you want it executed, if it is something where there could be variations in how the service is provided or communicated. (2) Include Past Performance as an evaluation criteria, and weight the evaluation criteria. (We do not recommend weighted evaluations in the majority of cases. Please consult with FEDLINK before you create weighted criteria.)

For example, the SOW says in C.3.4. (a) Personal Representative, "At no additional cost, the Vendor shall assign a representative by name to provide personalized in-house assistance (via telephone) for each account." 99% of the time, this works beautifully, so you should not simply state that you want a service rep assigned to your account: one will be assigned. In extreme cases, specs have stated that a particular person or position should receive notice within a set time period and in a particular way (e.g. phone or email) if the service rep changes, and to whom in the company's reporting structure you should turn if problems are not resolved to your satisfaction.

Do NOT, however, make the requirement too specific, or you can create problems, and raise the vendor's and your costs. You might also invite the vendor to describe any alternative method for meeting your goal, e.g. for notifying you of changes in representatives in a timely fashion. Then, if they suggest something that will accomplish the task -- keeping you informed of changes in personnel -- and works better than what you described, you would have the option of accepting their alternative. (In a weighted evaluation, you would give full points to all vendors who agreed to meet your requirements or provided an acceptable alternative; do not give extra points to a better solution, even if you accept it.)

D. The example above is an extreme, to illustrate a performance concern based on past experience. More examples are listed below, some of them more common. The list is not exhaustive, but illustrative. It provides some areas to consider if you have special needs. A simple statement usually will suffice:

• Special delivery methods for certain publications (air mail special delivery, courier, newspaper delivery, etc.)
• If you would like your subscription agent to assist you in identifying which of your print titles are available in electronic format, you may request this as a standard service any time after you begin work with the vendor. However, you may want to alert the vendors in your RFQ specifications if you are new to electronic journals and so will need information and assistance as early as possible, before your renewals are placed.
• Indicate how you need claims information reported if it is other than a quarterly claims report. For example, indicate if you need claims information delivered electronically or available electronically on the vendor's system, or paper claims reports more frequently than quarterly or sorted in a particular way such as by ship-to address. (Some subscription agents believe monthly claims reports are too frequent to be efficient. Claimed items and 2^nd or 3^rd claims often cross in the mail, they believe.)
• Indicate any special way you need to communicate orders, especially rush. Phone and fax are most common for rush, and need not be specified unless it is part of a larger description concerning orders or rush processes. You need not necessarily predetermine how you will place orders, but should if you want to be able to upload orders from your local system, or if your established work flow depends on an ability to order online on the vendor's system. You may need to clarify if orders should be accepted from multiple offices, or if one office/library is responsible for submitting orders for multiple offices.
• If orders are coordinated by the library or other central office for multiple locations, you may need to clarify how claims will be submitted. For example, all orders for new titles may need to come through the library, but claims might be submitted by individual offices or branch libraries.
• Indicate if you need special assistance with estimates or notices for cost increases. In preparing requirements related to account management, see the SOW, sections C.3.2.(f) (pages C-8 & 9); C.3.4.(f) (page C-13).
• Indicate anything you believe you will need more often than is standard, such as back or missing issues, or reports.
• Indicate special reports you will regularly need beyond those listed in C.3.5.(d) (Page C-14-15). If you will need reports that include local data, such as fund numbers, give a sample of the data.
• If you coordinate orders for multiple locations, you may need to indicate how invoices should be grouped, e.g. by ship-to or fund account number.

E. As you read through the SOW, note any places where there are multiple options or it says that requirements should be defined in the RFQ process, if applicable. For example, see C.3.2.(f), Costs in Excess of Authorized Funding Level (pages C-8 & 9). You will need to confirm how these situations will be handled, either through the RFQ process, or, if you change vendors, when you first begin to communicate once the vendor selection process is completed.

F. Always remember, your requirements should really be the minimum you need to continue doing business efficiently and effectively. NEVER list a requirement that you know you will not use. Putting in a requirement to try to affect the outcome of vendor selection rather than to meet a true need is not just cheating, it is illegal.

4. Optional Services must be described in your technical specs. They are listed in Lot 2 of the SOW, beginning on Page C-15. Read the descriptions in Lot 2 carefully, noting where you would need to clarify your local requirement.

• If you require check-in services, you must indicate how you want the issues processed (e.g., security strips, property stamps, labels, etc). If you need the vendor to check in on your local system, say which system you use and how they should access it (e.g. Internet or dial in). Be as specific as you can while remaining brief.
• If you need the vendor to interface with your local system, the SOW places this under C.4.6. "Electronic Data Exchange." State which system you use and what data you need to upload.
• If you need data supplied electronically in a standard or extremely common format, use section C.4.7., "Additional Reports and Electronic Data." For example, if you will be bringing up a local system soon, you may wish to purchase MARC records from your subscription agent. You may need report or invoice information supplied in an ASCII comma-delimited file, or in a spread sheet, etc.

5. Lot 3 provides for specialized electronic access to publications, such as access to electronic journals. Subscriptions to journals which are published electronically are routinely provided under Lot 1; Lot 3 relates to vendors who have interfaces to particular e-journals, and/or who may provide software or systems to help you manage electronic subscriptions, passwords, etc. At this time, you cannot base competition solely on these services. The world of electronic publishing is changing too rapidly, and still provides access to too limited a range of publications, to use it as the basis for choosing an agent to provide the majority of your serial publications, which will continue for some time to be published and received on paper. Furthermore, at this time no one source or commercial vendor interface provides access to the majority of the journals available electronically. You are allowed to use a vendor's interface, software or system if they provide such a service, without it having been part of the competitive criteria. If you are heavily invested in assistance with electronic journal access, you may include it with other requirements.

6. Evaluation criteria may be pass/fail or weighted. Pass/fail is simpler and works for most situations, e.g. when you simply want to alert the vendor that you will need them to interface with your (specified) local system, or that you will need reports for collection development purposes sorted in a particular way, or other factors described in items 2 and 3, above. Weighted evaluation criteria are used with the RFQ more infrequently, for exceptional situations such as when past performance is being evaluated. Weighting evaluation criteria makes the RFQ process longer, so you must allow sufficient time both for the vendor to respond and for the evaluation and review process. Please consult with FEDLINK serials specialists (202-707-4832 or [email protected]) or LC/C&L's serials contract administrator before using weighted evaluation criteria.