Provision of Online Clinical Information Resources to the WA Health System

Health Support Services (HSS) is seeking to establish a panel of contractors for the procurement of online clinical information resources and products (medications information and point of care resources, databases, online books, online journals and other such products including resource delivery infrastructure) for the WA health system, via the WA Health Libraries Network (WAHLiN).

WAHLiN seeks whole of WA Health access wherever pricing allows, but also uses a mix of individual and consortium acquisitions as needed.

As a minimum, the Customer requires:

• resources to be available through the native publisher interface when access to a resource is provided by a third party or agent. That is, access to all resources over and above aggregated collections should be via the publisher’s platform, not that of the third party or agent;
• that established archival access rights from previous procurements be recognised and continued throughout the duration of the contract in line with established agreements;
• WAHLiN libraries to be provided with an administrator account so that the Customer may access it for maintenance purposes;
• where resources are offered via alternative platforms, trial access must be provided if requested in order for librarians and clinicians to thoroughly evaluate each platform prior to selection of the preferred interface;
• WAHLiN Libraries’ start dates for collections to be preserved and post-cancellation arrangements to be transparent; and
• eJournal publishers to be participants in a preservation system – Portico / Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (LOCKSS) / Controlled Lots of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe (CLOCKSS).

The proposed arrangement will operate as a standing offer arrangement (Head Agreement), with orders (Customer Contracts) placed on an ‘as required’ basis during the term of the arrangement. It will be mandatory for all WA Health Service Providers and the Department of Health, WA to the extent that the supplier(s) can provide a resource that the WA health system is requesting and where suppliers on the tender can provide competitive pricing.