D--CPS UTILITY SERVICES

The Bureau of the Census plans to enter into a sole source simplified acquisition contract with Unicon Research Corporation, located in College Station, TX, to subscribe to their CPS utility services. Unicon is the proprietary creator of the CPS Utilities, a specialized suite of data and software designed to assist researchers in accessing and extracting data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey. Due to Unicon's unique provision of value-added CPS file information, the Census Bureau believes that only this company can fulfill the requirement, making this a non-competitive solicitation. Although the notice is not a request for competitive proposals, the Bureau will review and evaluate any capability statements and cost information submitted by interested companies, solely to determine if an alternative provider might be available and more beneficial to the government. Should no such responses be received, the Bureau intends to proceed with awarding a sole source contract to Unicon without issuing further notices. The contract is identified under solicitation number 06-45680 and is associated with the NAICS code 519190, which covers data processing and other information services. The contracting office is located in Suitland, Maryland, under the Department of Commerce Census agency. The supervisory purchasing agent handling this acquisition is Linda A. Vance, who can be contacted via email or phone for submissions or inquiries. While the opportunity is not open for competitive bidding, suppliers capable of offering comparable CPS utility services are encouraged to submit their capabilities and cost proposals promptly. The primary purpose of this action is to ensure uninterrupted access to the CPS Utilities critical to the Census Bureau’s population data research efforts.