--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2001 17:40:48 +0100
From: Alicia L Wise <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: DNER Collections:  tender for negotiation &
subscription service
Sender: This list's aims are to encourage and develop the
use of the              Internet to FE
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Please post widely in UK Further and Higher Education
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Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the JISC, I am writing to let you know the
outcome of the European procurement exercise for provision
of a national investigation, negotiation, and subscription
agent.  The JISC must report that efforts to secure such a
national service through this procurement have been
unsuccessful.

The JISC Secretariat received only one proposal (from a
consortium led by Swets Blackwells and including CHEST
(EduServ), and the University of Manchester)
in response to the OJEC procurement. Due to the absence of
competition, and serious concern over high prices and a
lack of detail re the nature of the service offered,
advice was taken from HEFCE's Procurement Office.

The options open to the JISC under OJEC rules were:

* Negotiate with the bidding consortium to reduce the price
and get a solution which better addressed the requirements
in the Invitation to Tender

or

* Abort the current procurement process and pursue other
options to meet requirements.

A decision -- agreed after consultation with key members of
the JISC's Committee for Electronic Information (JCEI), its
Content Working Group (CWG), the NESLI Steering Group, and
JISC officers -- was taken to abort the current procurement
process and pursue other avenues.

It was considered that the negotiated procedure route would
involve a great deal of time and effort and would be
unlikely to yield a successful outcome at an affordable
price. It was therefore agreed that time would be better
spent moving in other ways to see that the service we want,
and specified in the ITT, is established.

JCEI has established a taskforce to actively pursue
contingency arrangements for stable service provision and
the options open to us for providing the desired service in
the longer term.  Members of this JCEI taskforce are Allan
Foster (Director of Information Services at Keele
University and Chair of CWG); Clare Jenkins (Director of
Library Services at Imperial College, Member of CWG and
Member of the NESLI Steering Group); Hazel Woodward
(Librarian at Cranfield University and Member of the NESLI
Steering Group); Alice Colban, Dave Cook, Joanna Harrison,
and Rachel Merrett (all of the JISC Secretariat); and
Alicia Wise (Asst. DNER Director).

There are three issues of particular urgency which are
actively being considered by this taskforce:

The first is SUBSCRIPTION COLLECTION for database and image
agreements launched in the last six months.  We are well
aware that sites will need to pay for these agreements from
their budgets for the current financial year, and are
actively considering options for ensuring this happens.

The second is renewal negotiations for 2002 JOURNAL
AGREEMENTS.  Our favoured interim measure on the journals
side is to negotiate a one-year extension of the current
NESLI Managing Agent's contract, and this they have agreed
to in principle.  Further information will be circulated
when the outcome of more detailed discussion is clear.

The third is negotiations for OTHER TYPES OF DNER
COLLECTIONS.  Existing agreements, signed by CHEST, will
continue to be managed by CHEST.  New negotiations, and
renewal negotiations (with the exception of the
Crossfireplus renewal) will continue to be handled by the
DNER Collections Team.  Strategies for securing appropriate
effort in the Collections Team to ensure stability during
this difficult period are also under active investigation.

We will provide update information to the community by
email (particularly through the JIBS, RESCOLINC, and SCONUL
lists) and through the DNER collection webpages at:

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/collections/additions.html

Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have any
additional questions or concerns.




***********************************
Dr. Alicia Wise
Assistant DNER Director
Joint Information Systems Committee
138-142 Strand
London WC2R 1HH
(020) 7848 2556 office
(020) 7848 2939 fax
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--- End Forwarded Message ---


----------------------
Susan Eales
DNER Collections Manager - FE
JISC
Strand Bridge House
138-142 The Strand
LONDON.
WC2R 1HH
Email: [log in to unmask]
Tel: 020 7848 2495
Fax: 020 7848 2939