Background
In April 2023, the Office of Commonwealth Libraries requested that HSLC manage the e-resource procurement for FY 2023 - FY 2027, since the Gale 5-year contract was due to expire on July 31, 2023. HSLC produced and issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) on May 1, 2023, with responses due by May 31, 2023. The RFP sought proposals for products that matched particular subject needs within the following target audiences: elementary school-age students; middle/high school students, and the general public.
The subject focus for elementary school students included Ready to Research and STEAM; the subject focus for middle/high school students included Research and STEAM; and the subject focus for the general public included Genealogy and Language learning.
Vendors were invited to offer pricing for individual products for any audience and to bundle pricing for products. HSLC’s goal was to identify the products that best met the identified subject needs within the budget parameters, while focusing on elementary school and public library products. This is the opposite of the prior procurement’s results in 2018, which selected one vendor to offer all of the new products or subscriptions.
Responses and Evaluation
Twenty-nine (29) vendors were notified of the RFP, which was also posted on the HSLC website. HSLC received ten (10) proposals offering pricing on products as follows:
- 21 elementary school products were proposed
- 45 middle school products were proposed
- 37 general public products were proposed
Fifteen (15) demos were scheduled, and trial accounts were obtained for all new subscription products. The total cost of the proposed products exceeded $2,000,000, and individual product costs ranged from $75,000 - $500,000+ per year.
HSLC formed an Evaluation Team that included HSLC staff; a representative from the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, elementary, middle, and high school librarians, and public librarians. Our thanks go out to the following librarians who served on the Product Evaluation Team: Brooke Carpenter, Tom Cook, Danielle Corrao, Jennifer Dillon, Terri Foster, Christy Hay, Graig Henshaw, Gary Ingraham, Alison Jacobine, Katherine Kauffman Roth, Renee Link, Sydney Mason, Marycatherine McGarvey, Amy Pickett, and Amanda Sabers!
Scoring Process
HSLC reviewed the proposals, and those that offered products most closely aligned with the goals of the RFP were identified for further evaluation.
Best and Final Offers were requested from seven of the ten responding vendors, and contracts were awarded as follows, with an effective start date of August 1, 2023, through June 30, 2028.
Awards
The following Gale e-resource subscriptions have been renewed in POWER Library:
- Gale In Context: Elementary (for elementary school students)
- Gale In Context: Middle School (for middle school students)
- Gale OneFile: High School (for high school students)
The following e-resource subscriptions will be added to POWER Library:
- Encyclopedia Britannica School Edition (for elementary school students)
- EBSCO Cricket Media Collection (for elementary school students)
- EBSCO MyHeritage Library Edition (general public + PASSHE and Community College institutions)
- ProQuest SIRS Discoverer (for middle school students)
- Transparent Language Online (general public + PASSHE and Community College institutions)
