SOURCES SOUGHT
D -- Digitalizing Microfilm
- Notice Date
- 7/5/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 518210
— Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD), Division of Procurement, Avery 5F, 200 Third Street, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-5312, United States
- ZIP Code
- 26106-5312
- Solicitation Number
- RFI-BPD-11-0059
- Archive Date
- 7/26/2012
- Point of Contact
- WP/MC,
- E-Mail Address
-
psb3@bpd.treas.gov
(psb3@bpd.treas.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Digitalizing Microfilm with Indexing Services Purpose The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is for market research to assess what services are available in the commercial marketplace to: • convert an inventory of microfilmed records into digitalized form; and • implement an indexing schema to facilitate efficient searching of these records once they are in digitalized form. The microfilmed records in question are maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD). Background The Bureau's Office of Retail Securities (ORS) is responsible for providing direct-access services to private individuals and organizations. The Direct-Access program enables these parties to purchase U.S. Treasury debt obligations directly from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and have these security holdings maintained and serviced by ORS. The most commonly known Direct-Access service provided by ORS is the U.S. Savings Bond program. Savings bonds were first introduced in March of 1935, and continue to be sold to this day. Over the life of the program, Retail has compiled an extensive inventory of records that document the issuance and retirement/redemption of savings bonds. In addition to these savings bond records, there is a smaller segment of records documenting transactions involving other Direct-Access products. These other products include U.S. Treasury marketable securities held in definitive (i.e. paper) form, Current Income Bonds (CIB) and other accrual type securities issued by the U.S. Treasury and held in definitive form. In the late 1940s, the Bureau started microfilming its transactional records. All existing and subsequent paper records were retained on microfilm and the paper records were destroyed. BPD continued this practice until: • 1993 for issuance records; and • 2003 for retirement/redemption records. The existing inventory of records that pre-date the 1993/2003 cut-over to electronic form are retained in microfilm form, and these records were not converted to electronic form. In a very general sense, BPD's microfilmed records break down into four broad categories. • Numerical Registers which were summary-level ledgers used to record the disposition of a specific bond. These registers were updated manually as transactions were processed. BPD stopped using these ledgers in 1964 when office automation provided a more efficient and viable alternative. • Registration Stubs/Carbons which were used to record the bond's ownership information when it was issued by an agent. In 1964 BPD began accepting this information from agent via computer output, and in 1993 stop accepting paper-based submissions from agents. • Computer Output to Microfilm (COM) which was the permanent record of the issuance information transmitted by agents to BPD via computer output. At the time COM was in use, the level of information technology was not sufficiently mature to provide a method of permanently retaining this data electronically, so the output was maintained in microfilm format. In 1993, BPD implemented an IT solution to address this issue, and stopped using COM. • Bonds redeemed or retired were microfilmed as a permanent record. In 2003, BPD implemented an IT solution to receive and store this data electronically, and stopped using microfilm to document these transactions. BPD maintains two separate sets of microfilm within its library. One set is the original microfilm that is retained as the archival master. The other set is a diazo duplicate of the archival master, which is used by Bureau personnel to perform their official duties. The library consists of almost 1.3 million rolls of 16 millimeter (mm) microfilm. On average each roll contains 9,000 images, and the overall library is estimated to contain approximately 9.9 billion unique images. The microfilmed images were produced using grayscale with reduction ratios of 1:25 to 1:50. Each microfilm roll is either 100 or 250 feet in length. The microfilm's thickness ranges from 2.50 to 6.00 mm. In general, the film in the Retail microfilm library varies widely in legibility, clarity, density, and so forth, according to the technology available at the time of its creation. Likewise, the size, color, and composition of the source documents varied significantly, and filming procedures over the years were revised and adjusted to accommodate changing program needs. As a result, film images may be simplex or duplex, comic or cine, and still other films contain images on the left side down their length and on the right side up their length. The library, especially the archival master set, is maintained in a protected environment to preserve its integrity. Obviously, though, microfilm degrades over time despite the best preservation practices. As a result, the overall quality of the microfilm has been compromised to a degree. BPD generally rates the legibility quality of most of the microfilm images to be poor to below average. Specifics on Market Information Requested As indicated above, BPD is assessing the feasibility of converting either its entire microfilm library or a portion of it into digital form. This conversion would also implement an indexing schema to facilitate efficient searching of the records. BPD is soliciting information from private firms in order to perform this assessment and to decide on the appropriate course of action. The following items identify the specific issues BPD would want a response to this RFI to address: Reproduction Standard: The interested vendor should include the reproduction standard (whether a set value or range) usually provided for this service. Quality Control: BPD needs to ensure that the microfilmed information is accurately and correctly converted to a digital format. The response to the RFI should address what actions (both procedurally and process-wise) the vendor usually implements to ensure quality control. Indexing Schema: BPD has used a different indexing method based on the time-period that the microfilm was first created. As a result, there are several different indexing methodologies in place throughout the microfilm library. The response to the RFI should address whether the vendor's conversion process can address several different indexing methods. Optical Character Recognition (OCR): BPD is interested in soliciting information on whether the vendor can use OCR software to develop a more standardized indexing method to search the digitalized images. If the interested vendor's service provides this service, then the response to RFI should address this issue. Security: Most of the microfilmed records contain sensitive information that is classified as Personally Identifiable Information (PII). U.S. federal law and regulations require that BPD implement certain controls to protect the security of this information. These measures include restricting access to this information to only those individuals who have successfully passed an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) background investigation. The response to the RFI should address whether the vendor's staff includes members who have undergone a successful OPM background investigation and/or are capable of undergoing such an investigation. Furthermore, the response should indicate that the interested vendor is willing to cooperate in full and comply with all requirements placed by BPD to ensure that this information is properly secured. Coordination: BPD personnel will require access to the microfilm records during the conversion/indexing process. The response to the RFI should address the vendor's plan to accommodate this requirement. Logistical Issues: BPD will need to know whether the conversion/indexing process: • Must be performed at the vendor's site; • Can be performed at BPD's facilities; or • Either option can be selected. The response to the RFI should address what logistical arrangements would be necessary (transportation of the microfilm to the vendor's facility, set-up of the vendor's equipment at BPD's facilities, accommodations for the vendor's staff, etc.), and any additional charges for these activities. Capacity: BPD fully understands that a single vendor can process only so many microfilm records within a certain time-frame. The response to the RFI should address the vendor's maximum capacity for converting/indexing microfilmed images over a specified time-period. Responding to the RFI BPD believes that a written response to this RFI, although useful, would not adequately address the intended goal of this RFI. The market information needed to properly assess a project of this size and complexity would be more adequately acquired through a more interactive venue rather than a passive written response. Consequently, BPD is inviting interested parties wishing to respond to this RFI to make arrangements to discuss their capabilities in a face-to-face presentation with BPD business and technical staff. BPD will be holding discussions with interested respondents Monday, August 8, 2011 through Friday, August 12, 2011. Each appointment will be limited to a not-to-exceed time of two (2) hours. Interested parties should contact the procurement official via psb3@bpd.treas.gov Attn: RFI-BPD-11-0059 Site Visit WP/MC to make an appointment for the week of August 8, 2011. The presentations will be held at BPD's facilities in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Each respondent who makes a site visit appointment, may make arrangements to have a sample of BPD's microfilm records provided in advance of the appointment for analysis and assessment. This sample will consist of images of our microfilmed records that have been suitably redacted and sanitized to remove any Personally Identifiable Information (PII). If a respondent is interested in obtaining a sample, please inform the procurement official when making your site visit appointment. Qualified contractors must provide the following: 1. The name and location of your company, contact information, and identify your business size (Large Business, Small Business, Disadvantaged Business, 8(a), Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business, HubZone, etc.) based on NAICS Code 518210, size standard $25.0m. Please ensure contact information includes the name of the point of contact, email address, and telephone number should the Government have questions regarding individual responses. 2. Whether your services are available through an existing Government contract vehicle (please provide the contract number) or on the Open Market. 3. A brief capabilities statement that includes a description of your company's standard line of business and experience, the qualifications and certifications of available interpreters, and a list of customers (either public or private sector) your company currently provides these services for. 4. A General fee structure for the services provided 5. Contractors should provide their DUNS, if applicable. The following file extensions are not allowable and application materials/data submitted with these extensions cannot be considered:.bat,.cmd,.com,.exe,.pif,.rar,.scr,.vbs,.hta,.cpl, and.zip files. Microsoft Office compatible documents are acceptable. No other information regarding this Sources Sought Notice will be provided at this time. This notice does not restrict the Government to an ultimate acquisition approach. All firms responding to this notice are advised that their response is not an offer that will be considered for contract award. All interested parties will be required to respond to any resultant solicitation separately from their response to this notice. NO SOLICITATION IS AVAILABLE. A request for more information, or a copy of the solicitation, will not be considered an affirmative response to this Notice. Telephone responses to, or inquiries about, this Notice will NOT be accepted. Responses to this Notice must be submitted no later than 2:00 p.m. ET on July 29, 2011 and must be submitted electronically to PSB3@bpd.treas.gov, Attn: RFI-BPD-11-0059 WP/MC.
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