This is a Small Business Sources Sought notice. This is NOT a solicitation for proposals, proposal abstracts, or quotations. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified small business sources; (2) whether they are small businesses; HUBZone small businesses; service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses; 8(a) small businesses; veteran-owned small businesses; woman-owned small businesses; or small disadvantaged businesses; and (3) their size classification relative to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. Your responses to the information requested will assist the Government in determining the appropriate acquisition method, including whether a set-aside is possible. An organization that is not considered a small business under the applicable NAICS code should not submit a response to this notice. All responsible sources may submit a capability statement which will be considered by the National Library of Medicine. This Sources Sought Notice is not a Request for Proposals (RFP), nor is an RFP available. Interested firms responding to this Sources Sought Notice must provide a capability statement that displays the following: (a) Microsoft Word or PDF file in 12 point font (b) DUNS number, organization name, address, point of contact, and size and type of business (e.g., 8(a), HUBZone, etc) pursuant to the applicable NAICS code) (c) Technical and administrative points of contact, including names, titles, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses (d) Staff expertise, including their availability, experience, and formal and other training; (e) Current in-house capability and capacity to perform the work; (f) Prior completed projects of similar nature; (g) Corporate experience and management capability; and (h) Examples of prior completed Government contracts, references, and other related information; The capability statement should contain enough sufficient detail for the Government to make an informed decision regarding your capabilities; however, the statement should not exceed 6 pages (excluding attachments.) All capability statements must be submitted electronically no later than 9:00am eastern time on March 20th, 2015 to Maryann Carroll, at
[email protected] with the email subject line including, "NIHLM2015415". Disclaimer and Important Notes: This notice does not obligate the Government to award a contract or otherwise pay for the information provided in response. The Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and legally appropriate. Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and sufficiently detailed to allow the Government to determine the organization's qualifications to perform the work. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. After a review of the responses received, a pre-solicitation synopsis and solicitation may be published in Federal Business Opportunities. However, responses to this notice will not be considered adequate responses to a solicitation. Confidentiality: No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s). DRAFT SCOPE OF WORK - AV DIGITIZATION CONSULTANT SERVICES OBJECTIVE National Library of Medicine (NLM), Preservation and Collection Management Section (PCM) seeks the services of a qualified consultant to provide advice and recommendations on all aspects of digitizing audiovisuals in NLM's collections, including the technical requirements for a new purchase order to produce preservation master and derivative files and internal workflows for inspecting and processing the newly created files. Background information Since 2001, NLM has been preserving films and videos by making Betacam SP analog videotape copies. In addition, NLM currently creates access files from DVD copies for a small number of selected titles. In 2015, NLM plans to begin digitizing films and ¾" U-Matic videocassettes for preservation and access on an ongoing basis. An estimated 2,300 films (mostly 16mm, but including a few 35mm) from the mid-1940s to mid-1970s and about 3,800 U-Matic tapes from about 1970 to 1988, will qualify for digitization based on NLM selection criteria. (A small number of other video formats may also be digitized, such as 1" open reel, VHS, Betacam SP, DVD, etc.) Initially, NLM will digitize only titles that are in the public domain, pending resolution of copyright issues. NLM plans to award a separate purchase order to a vendor to create preservation master and derivative files. In the first year, the plan is to digitize 100 titles, thereafter gradually increasing to about 400 titles per year. Transcripts, captions and audio descriptions are required for all digitized titles to meet Section 508 accessibility requirements (see http://www.section508.gov/). NLM has been unable to identify vendors that can both digitize and produce transcripts, captions and audio descriptions. If this is the case, NLM will inspect the digital files prior to sending them to a separate vendor(s) to create the files required by Section 508. The consultant should guide NLM decisions on formats. The current NLM plan is to make higher quality preservation master files for film originals than for video originals. For films, NLM is considering uncompressed, high definition files (10 bit in MOV wrappers), and for videos, standard definition FFV1 files (8 bit in Matroska wrappers). Derivative files needed for Web access will likely include MPEG2, .h264 and possibly other codecs currently in use on the Web. NLM is using an internal quality assurance system to automatically check the files currently created from DVDs for type and number of files and conformity to various technical metadata specifications, such as format, frame rate and bit rate. This system will be used for the preservation masters and derivatives. NLM has a digital repository that includes scanned print materials and the audiovisual access files created from DVDs. In the future, preservation master and derivative files will be added to the repository. The repository is responsible for the long-term preservation of digitized AVs. TOPICS TO BE ADDRESSED The consultant will provide advice and recommendations, including pros and cons of various options, in the following areas. 1. Outline the overall workflow from selection of titles for digitization to ingest of files in NLM's digital repository. 2. Make recommendations on file formats for films and videos. 3. If the FFV1format is recommended, assist NLM in obtaining sample uncompressed files, to be used to confirm that uncompressed files can be saved as FFV1 files and then be saved again as uncompressed files. 4. Provide advice on file naming structure. 5. Make recommendations on all types of metadata to be captured (including metadata to document information about the original) and what metadata should be captured by NLM versus the digitization vendor. Provide a detailed workflow for procedures related to metadata. 6. Review the pros and cons of having NLM or the vendor create some or all of the derivative files needed for the digital repository. 7. Assist with writing vendor technical requirements (Statement of Work) for digitization, especially for file creation and inspection. 8. Assist with the development of NLM inspection procedures, including a detailed workflow, recommended software and minimum PC requirements. Provide advice on the version of files to be used for inspection of visual and sound quality and completeness. Review and suggest possible changes to the current automated quality assurance system being used for access files. 9. Assist with writing vendor technical requirements (Statement of Work) for the creation and inspection of files for transcripts, closed captioning and audio descriptions, including associated metadata. 10. Provide advice for NLM inspection and processing procedures for transcripts, captions and audio descriptions. 11. Provide assistance as needed during the start-up period after contract awards. COMMUNICATION AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS The consultant shall make an initial site visit to meet with staff involved with AV digitization. An additional one to two site visits or Skype conferences will be held as needed during the project. The consultant shall discuss the topics listed above with NLM staff via phone calls, conference calls and email messages and provide references to sources of relevant information. Throughout the project, the consultant shall submit written recommendations for the topics being addressed. Based on NLM comments or questions, the consultant shall make revisions to the written recommendations for a given topic. The consultant shall submit a final report summarizing all recommendations. STAFFING REQUIREMENTS The consultant(s) shall have in-depth experience with projects of a similar scope and complexity and technical expertise with all aspects of AV digitization, including in particular workflows, file formats, inspection, and 508 accessibility requirements. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE The base term of the contract shall be one year from the time of award, with an option to extend the term for an additional year. NLM plans for the base year to begin sometime in May/June 2015. Most of the consulting work will be done in the base year in the months prior to the awarding of contracts to do digitization and to produce transcripts, captions and audio descriptions and during the start-up periods for these contracts.