SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Web-Based COTS for Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP)
- Notice Date
- 10/18/2005
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541519
— Other Computer Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), Office of Procurement, P. O. Box 1450 - Mail Stop 6 600 Dulany Street, MDE, 7th Floor, Alexandria, VA, 22313-1450
- ZIP Code
- 22313-1450
- Solicitation Number
- DOCSSPAPT0610001
- Response Due
- 12/5/2005
- Archive Date
- 12/20/2005
- Description
- The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Office of Chief Information Officer (OCIO), is conducting market research to determine potential sources/companies which can meet the USPTO?s requirements for a web-based COTS product for the electronic publication and distribution of, and improved customer access to, the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP). Background The Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) is used by patent examiners to help them make decisions about patentability of patent applications. Patent applicants, patent practitioners, and the general public also use MPEP data to learn about patent examination and prosecution. Currently, the MPEP data is published in three formats: a proprietary format used to search and view the data under a client/server environment, HTML for Internet and PTO intranet access, and Portable Data Format (PDF). Current Processing The MPEP is updated once or twice a year, as Congress passes laws affecting its content. Revisions arrive from various sources over a period of months and in various formats, including in MS Word files and even hand-written paper copies. These revisions are then formatted (into SGML) for input to FrameMaker. The FrameMaker document instances are extracted and converted into the three formats discussed above. Current Capabilities The current proprietary application provides an ?electronic book? capability for the MPEP. Some of the features that it provides are the following: Fast search response time Limited personal annotations, bookmarks, and highlighting Limited searching capability, such as user selection of the search to be performed within a particular section with a particular title (a.k.a. contextual searching) and proximity searching. Highlighting or underlining of search results within the document, with multiple capabilities provided to jump between hits (by page or section) Page display formatting, such as allowing for wide margins on which users can take notes after printing out the page Scalability to handle a steadily increasing number of concurrent users. Currently the MPEP user base includes 5,000 USPTO staff plus 40,000 public users. We expect these numbers to double over the next few years. Objectives for New Product Some overall goals for a new capability include the use of a single web-based publishing channel, an intuitive search capability, and a customizable user interface. Listed below are specific features: 1. The COTS product should be web-based and platform independent, allowing scalable access by both internal USPTO users and external customers. 2. The COTS product should provide for an intuitive, user-friendly interface and content display options, customizable by the user. These customizations should be retainable for use in future sessions and content updates. 3. The COTS product should provide intuitive, accurate, easy-to-use search capabilities, including flexible search options such as proximity searching, search by topic or category, search by chapter or section or all content, search archived versions, and search for similar or like concepts. 4. The COTS product should provide the users with the capabilities to add bookmarks, annotations, and highlighting. The bookmarks and annotations should be sharable, and retainable for use in future sessions and content updates. 5. The COTS product should provide for easy copying and pasting to other applications. 6. The COTS product should be capable of accepting different source formats for content updates such as MS Word, FrameMaker+ SGML, HTML, XML, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, and PDF. It also should be capable of handling special characters such as those on the Unicode Character Map. 7. The source data should be stored in a repository that allows updating and retrieval of data. Changes made to the data should be tracked and stored in an archive. 8. The COTS product should provide for hyperlinking between related elements within the documents (e.g., between related sections of the MPEP). There will also be a need to link to external sources. 9. The COTS product should provide intuitive, flexible output capabilities, including: The capability to mimic standard Windows-type Print selection features (by page, by range, by paragraph, by highlighted selection, etc.). The option to provide Portable Document Format (PDF) output, and The capability to preserve the current presentation format. 10. The COTS product should provide customizable online interactive testing capabilities to support the user?s preparation for USPTO certification exams. 11. The COTS product should include role-based access to enable USPTO to use a single product to deliver content and control the options available to different user communities, such as internal versus public users. 12. The COTS product should allow for frequent updating of the data by MPEP authors and editors through an intuitive and user-friendly interface that contains full editing and authoring functionality. The interface should use standard Windows-based editing software to make and save changes. COTS production environment must clearly show revisions during the editing process. COTS production environment must allow access to multiple reviewers. 13. The COTS product must be compliant with the appropriate Section 508 access and usability requirements. 14. An electronic user?s guide should be provided. 15. On-line training should be available, as well as assistance from the vendor for any problems encountered with the product. 16. Instructions on product setup, installation, and maintenance should be provided. 17. Another desired feature would be for the product to allow the data to be downloadable and searchable offline. Other information: 1. USPTO workstations currently operate under a Microsoft Windows XP operating system. 2. USPTO servers include Windows 2000 and Unix machines. 3. Current MPEP data is stored in several different formats, including FrameMaker7 (with SGML) and Oracle to support the existing production process. These activities and formats must be simplified and significantly reduced. 4. Although internal users generally work with Internet Explorer, external users are also using other available browsers such as Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox. 5. The MPEP currently contains approximately 3,100 pages. 6. An increasing number of USPTO employees will have the capability to work from home and hotel workspaces, as well as from their office location at the USPTO campus in Alexandria, Virginia. Interested companies which can meet the above requirements should respond no later than the specified response date of December 2, 2005 by 5:00 p.m. EST. Companies may include any pertinent product information with product brochures. Please indicate whether your product can be obtained through a GWAC or GSA contract schedule vehicle. This market research shall be conducted at NO COST TO THE GOVERNMENT. This announcement is for market research, not a solicitation for proposals, and accordingly, no contract will be awarded from this announcement. No reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information requests. Responses received in response to this announcement that are marked ?Proprietary? will be handled accordingly. No telephone calls or e-mails requesting a solicitation will be accepted or acknowledged. Please mail (U.S. Postal Service) responses to: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Attn: Sylvia Van Dyke, Contracting Officer, Office of Procurement, MDE Room 7B03, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, or if hand-delivered (i.e. courier services) to: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Attn: Sylvia Van Dyke, Contracting Officer, Office of Procurement, 600 Dulany Street, Madison East Bldg., Rm 7B03, Alexandria, VA 22314. Electronic responses are acceptable and may be e-mailed to: Sylvia.VanDyke@uspto.gov. PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY HYPERLINKS TO WEB PAGES IN YOUR ELECTRONIC RESPONSES.
- Place of Performance
- Address: Alexandria, VA
- Zip Code: 22313
- Zip Code: 22313
- Record
- SN00917113-W 20051020/051018211641 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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