ERIC Under Fire

All ERIC Clearinghouses are in the final year of their 5-year contracts. The U.S. Department of Education has released a draft RFP (request for proposals) that outlines the scope of work for the ERIC system beginning January 2004. According to the draft, all Clearinghouses will be eliminated, and their indexing and abstracting functions will be centralized.

This Clearinghouse’s website, publications program, and user-support services will cease to exist, and the new contractor will launch a new website with a bibliographic and full-text database search engine.

You may view the draft RFP during a public-comment period that ends May 9, 2003, at: http://www.eps.gov/spg/ED/OCFO/CPO/Reference%2DNumber%2DERIC2003/listing.html

You may address comments to:
Jeff Halsted, Contract Specialist
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: (202) 708-8283
Fax: (202) 708-9817
U.S. Mail: U.S. Department of Education
Contracts and Purchasing Operations
Regional Office Building, Room 3069
7th and D Streets, SW
Washington, DC, 20202

Also, please contact your congress person asking them to preserve ERIC.