TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF MARCH 1, 2018
COMMITTEE ON PROCUREMENT
Mr. David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Title
Issue purchase order and enter into an agreement with West Publishing Corporation for online legal research and subscriptions to various legal publications for a three-year period, in an amount not to exceed $256,915.76, Account 101-30000-612490,623720, Requisition 1488199
Body
Dear Sir:
Authorization is requested to issue a purchase order and enter into an agreement with West Publishing Corporation, for online legal research and subscriptions to various legal publications for a three-year period commencing April 1, 2018 and expiring March 31, 2021.
West Publishing Corporation currently supplies the Law Department with online legal research services and various legal publications utilized by the Law Department. With the exception of court decisions, all subscriptions covered under this agreement are copyrighted by West Publishing Corporation. Additionally, West Publishing Corporation has a copyrighted key number system, key cite system, head notes, annotations and commentary which are used by the Law Department on a daily basis. West Publishing Corporation, the sole service provider of online legal research containing the needed proprietary resources and subscriptions to various legal publications has submitted prices for the services required by the Law Department. Inasmuch as West Publishing Corporation is the only source of supply for the services required, nothing would be gained by advertising for bids (Section 11.4 of the Purchasing Act).
The agreement will grant the Law Department unlimited access to the most current legal material in numerous electronic databases for a flat monthly fee. In addition, by linking the Westlaw agreement and a number of legal publications that the Law Department receives in hard copy, the District will receive a fifty (50) percent discount off of the annual subscription upkeep amounts.
West Publishing Corporation is registered and in good standing with the State of Illinois.
The Multi-Project Labor Agreement (MPLA) is not applicable due to the fact that the specialized nature of the services are not within the scope of the MPLA.
In view of the foregoing, it is recommended that the Director of Procurement and Materials Management be authorized to issue a purchase order and enter into an agreement with West Publishing Corporation, in an amount not to exceed $256,915.76.
Funds for the 2018 expenditure, in the amount of $63,893.00, are available in Account 101-30000-612490, 623720. The estimated expenditure for 2019 is $84,635.61, 2020 is $86,610.33 and 2021 is $21,776.82. Funds for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 expenditures are contingent on the Board of Commissioners’ approval of the District’s budget for those years.
Requested, Susan T. Morakalis, General Counsel, STM:TN:GG
Recommended, Darlene A. LoCascio, Director of Procurement and Materials Management
Respectfully Submitted, Barbara J. McGowan, Chairman Committee on Procurement
Disposition of this agenda item will be documented in the official Regular Board Meeting Minutes of the Board of Commissioners for March 1, 2018