Special Notice- Notice of Intent to Sole Source

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) intends to issue a firm-fixed award to a single source under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.106-1(b) and FAR 6.302-1(a)(2)(i)(ii), Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services will Satisfy Agency Requirements, to Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID).

This requirement is for the renewal of the ORCID API (Application Programming Interface) contract. Based on market research, only ORCID can provide access to the required identifier used to assist researchers in DOE information systems. The membership period is 4/1/26-3/31/27. DOE intends to award this requirement as a sole source to ORCID for a one-year period.

ORCID is a non-profit organization supported by a global community of organizational members, including research organizations, publishers, funders, professional associations, and other stakeholders in the research ecosystem. ORCID provides an identifier for individuals to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. The tools ORCID provides enables transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their contributions, and affiliations. With an ORCID membership, OSTI will be able to participate in working groups, have full voting rights on ORCID policy and technical decisions, and gain access to the ORCID database for purpose of adding and retrieving author records and integrating ORCID data, linkage, and tools into our information systems.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this requirement is 541990 - All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. This notice of intent is not a request for proposals or quotes.

Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via e-mail to the point of contact or alternate point of contact.
THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE QUOTES. However, any interested party that believes it is capable of meeting the requirements stated herein may submit a response, which will be considered only if received by March 20, 2026, by 5:00 p.m. EST. Responses to this posting must be in writing and submitted to barnettn@osti.gov by 5:00 p.m. local time. A determination not to compete the proposed order based upon the responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government. Please note that any prospective offeror must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at www.sam.gov prior to award in accordance with FAR part 4.11.

Contracting Office Address:
US Department of Energy, Office of Scientific and Technical Information
P.O. Box 62
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Government Point of Contact: Natalie Barnett
Phone: (865) 241-3526
Email: barnettn@osti.gov