TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 21, 2023
COMMITTEE ON PROCUREMENT
Mr. Brian Perkovich, Executive Director
Title
Issue purchase order and enter into agreements with West Publishing Corporation for online legal research and subscriptions to various legal publications for a three (3) year period, in an amount not to exceed $242,740.56, Account 101-30000-612490,623720, Requisition 1605014
Body
Dear Sir:
Authorization is requested to issue a purchase order and enter into agreements with West Publishing Corporation for online legal research and subscriptions to various legal publications. The agreements will be for a period of three (3) years, beginning December 1, 2023 and expiring on December 1, 2026.
West Publishing Corporation (“West Publishing”) currently supplies the Law Department with online legal research services and access to various legal publications. West Publishing has a copyrighted key number system, key cite system, head notes, annotations and commentary which are used by the Law Department daily for its legal research. Additionally, except for court decisions, the publications covered under this agreement are copyrighted by West Publishing. In accordance with Section 11.4 of the Purchasing Act, since West Publishing is the only source of supply for the services required, nothing would be gained by advertising for bids for these services.
West Publishing Corporation, as 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. Entering into an agreement for online legal research will allow the Law Department unlimited access to the most current legal material in numerous electronic databases for a discounted flat monthly fee.
West Publishing is registered and in good standing with the State of Illinois.
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 agreements with West Publishing Corporation; one for on-line legal research and another for subscriptions to various legal publications for a three-year period, in an amount not to exceed $242,740.56.
Funds for the 2023 expenditure, in the amount of $6,488.01, are available in Accounts 101-30000-612490, 623720. The estimated expenditure for 2024 is $78,134.32, 2025 is $80,494.97, and 2026 is $77,623.26. Funds for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 expenditures are contingent on the Board of Commissioners’ approval of the District’s budget for those years.
Requested, Susan Morakalis, General Counsel, STM:EMA:dt
Recommended, Darlene A. LoCascio, Director of Procurement and Materials Management
Respectfully Submitted, Marcelino Garcia, 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 September 21, 2023