This is an area where there is little information available.
Everyone seems to be either re-inventing the wheel or doing their
own thing. Please report back to the list with a summary of what
you find out.
I suspect that you might get into trouble by overtly
directing this contract to the college. Most federal contracts have
to be publicly and competitively bid, and to direct a federal contract
to one source or to write it in such a way as to affect only one
contractor can cause real problems if you do not clear it and justify
it with your contracting office first, and have their cooperation. You
will have to accept the lowest bid unless you have pretty good
reasons not to, and reasons that could stand up not only in court,
but before an interested congressman from another district who
gets campaign money from a losing contractor.
By the way, this would also make a good article for one of
the library professional journals. Please write up your experiences
and findings.
R. Lee Hadden (Standard disclaimers apply)
US Geological Survey Library
Mail Stop 950, National Center
Reston, VA 20192
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Date sent: Mon, 15 Nov 1999 08:57:47 -0600
Send reply to: "FEDLIB: Federal Librarians Discussion List" <[log in to unmask]>
From: Cheryl Martin <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Contracting Federal Libraries
To: Multiple recipients of list FEDLIB <[log in to unmask]>
The contract for the federal technical information center which I manage will
expire during the first quarter of Y2K. The current contractor is no longer
eligible to bid on the contract. A local college has expressed an interest in
bidding for the contract. I vaguely remember this subject being discussed some
time ago and would like to hear comments from any federal library or TIC that
is currently contracted by a college or university. If there are academic
librarians that are members of this site and have shared experiences, I'd like
to hear from you, too.
I am especially interested in the relationship between the federal TIC and the
college/university library. If the staff at the federal TIC is considered to be
a faculty member are they govern by the policies/procedures of the school? Is
the TIC staff ever called upon to substitute for the academic staff? Does the
TIC operate as a 'branch' library?
Please address your responses directly to me unless you feel others are
interested in this subject as well.
Cheryl Martin
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