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--- 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 <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Reply-To: [log in to unmask] Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> ********************************************************* Please post widely in UK Further and Higher Education ********************************************************* 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 [log in to unmask] *********************************** --- 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