Notification of the SEC's Intent to Award a Sole Source Purchase Order to A.M. Best Company

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) intends to award a fixed-price purchase order on a sole source basis to A.M. Best for data on insurance company portfolio holdings and trades as disclosed in the annual and quarterly Schedule D statements of insurers in the U.S. Property/Casualty and Life/Health markets. The contracting officer has determined that A.M. Best is the only source that can reasonably meet the SEC's requirement in accordance with FAR Part 13.106-1(b). No other source has been identified that enables download of the entire universe of firms, identifies and filters out data errors, and matches Schedule D information to each firm's financial statements, which allows for linking together the individual firms belonging to the same parent company. Therefore, A.M. Best is the only source for data compiled in the format necessary for the SEC's economic analysis. The period of performance for the purchase order is anticipated to be one year. The total estimated value of this purchase order is less than the Simplified Acquisition Threshold. The SEC intends to award a purchase order to A.M. Best on or about May 5, 2016. This notice is not a competitive request for proposals. A competitive solicitation will not be issued. However, the government will give consideration to interested parties that identify their interest and capability to respond to the requirement or submit proposals by the response date of this notice.