SPECIAL NOTICE
76 -- acquires and preserves West African intellectual content
- Notice Date
- 8/20/2012
- Notice Type
- Special Notice
- NAICS
- 323117
— Books Printing
- Contracting Office
- Library of Congress, Contracts Services, Contracts Section, 101 Independence Ave SE, LA-325, Washington, District of Columbia, 20540-9411
- ZIP Code
- 20540-9411
- Solicitation Number
- LCLSM12R0051
- Point of Contact
- Rashid Behi, Phone: 202-707-0498
- E-Mail Address
-
rbeh@loc.gov
(rbeh@loc.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a special notification for a sole source award. Attached is the draft SOW (subject to change). The Library of Congress is planning to award this as a sole source. C.1. BACKGROUND The Library of Congress (LC) acquires and preserves intellectual content from throughout the world in all formats and languages. LC's effort to acquire this content overseas is assisted by six regional offices that collect in parts of the world in which remote acquisitions are not feasible. LC seeks to augment the work of these offices with new models that provide greater flexibility and build on the collaborative efforts of major U.S. research institutions. C.2. SCOPE A. Purpose LC needs assistance acquiring and processing materials in regions of the world for which standard acquisition methods do not work or are impracticable. This assistance includes acquiring materials for the Library's collections, providing bibliographic descriptions of that material, and shipping that material to LC-Washington. LC also needs a local representative in these regions to help expand LC's access to digital content. Efforts to expand access might include working with local publishers to arrange access to digital content and facilitating publisher/private sector partnerships to make digital content available to U.S. research institutions. In addition, LC wants to create a mechanism that other U.S. Government entities and U.S. research institutions can use to meet their needs to acquire and process materials in regions of the world for which standard acquisition methods are not fully satisfactory or are impracticable. This mechanism should enable U.S. interests to work directly with the contractor to meet their needs. B. The primary objective of this project is to acquire materials to meet the Library's mission of serving the Congress and nation. C.3. CONTRACTOR REQUIREMENTS A. Specific tasks to be performed i. Establish operations a. After the initial award of the contract, existing networks and infrastructure will need to be prepared to provide services to LC in the countries of coverage: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone,and Togo. b. Key individuals who participate directly in this project, including contractor staff dedicated to this work and key individuals in any network, must possess requisite skills, as described in section C.3.D, for each function that they serve. The contractor shall coordinate and host a regional workshop within the startup period so that LC staff can provide required training to these key individuals. ii. Acquire and ship tangible publications a. LC will provide general guidelines, referred to as LC's profile, that specify publications to be acquired in the countries of coverage: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone,and Togo). 1. The profile will include guidance on content subject areas, content languages, depth and breadth of coverage, and preferred format. 2. The profile will also include guidance on necessary steps to verify that LC does not already own an item that the contractor might acquire. b. The contractor shall acquire, ship, and provide invoices of tangible publications. 1. Acquiring tangible publications. The contractor shall acquire tangible publications that are not held by the Library of Congress and meet specifications established by the LC profile (as indicated, C.3.A.ii.a). 2. Shipping tangible publications. The contractor shall pack and ship tangible publications in strong, protective, waterproof containers that have been secured with strong tape or strapping and that weigh 50 pounds or less. Legal materials should be invoiced and shipped separately from other materials. The contractor shall use the most cost effective method to ship materials. iii. Invoices a. For acquired tangible publications, the contractor shall prepare an itemized invoice listing each item in the shipment. For each item, the contractor shall complete appropriate fields in an LC-supplied template. The contractor shall indicate gifts to LC on the invoice and shall supply gift items to LC without charge. The contractor shall add regular shipping charges, for purchased and gift publications in tangible form, to the bottom of each invoice. To facilitate the processing of invoices for payment, the contractor shall invoice and ship legal materials separately from all other materials. The contractor shall send the original of each invoice by airmail to: Library of Congress Acquisitions Fiscal Office Mail Stop: 4208 101 Independence Ave., S.E. Washington, DC 20540-4102 The contractor shall include a copy of the invoice in the shipment containing the tangible publications listed on the invoice. An electronic copy shall be emailed to the LC COTR. The contractor shall retain a copy of each invoice for two years from date of issuance. a. Each invoice must have its own unique number. The numbering system used will contain the following elements: region, WA (for West Africa) four digit year, e.g., 2010 two digit month, e.g. 07 two digit number starting with 01 and restarting with 01 should the month or year change Example: WA20100701. For materials being shipped, the contractor will assign the invoice number to each shipment and indicate the invoice number on the shipping label. b. The contractor shall maintain acquisition records for all materials for which LC has been billed. The records should include the following details for each acquisition: title of acquisition, date of acquisition, place of acquisition, source of acquisition, cost of acquisition, and invoice number. iv. Bibliographic description of acquired publications a. For each item acquired, the contractor will create bibliographic records using a template supplied by LC. The bibliographic records for foreign language materials will be in Romanized form. Romanization will follow ALA/LC Romanization guidelines. b. Beginning with six months of the initial contract award, the contractor shall send an electronic file containing the bibliographic records to the COTR on a monthly basis. v. Monitor publishing trends a. The contractor shall maintain an up-to-date inventory of all major publishers in the countries covered by the contract. b. The publisher inventory should be categorized by type of publisher: commercial, governmental, academic, or non-governmental organizations (NGO's). vi. Manage regional network a. The contractor shall maintain a regional network that includes key individuals, preferably university librarians, and representatives of major publishers throughout in the following West African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone,and Togo. The publishers should be representative of the publishing sector and include, to the extent possible, the following publishing sectors: commercial, governmental, academic, and non-governmental organizations (NGO's). b. With LC approval, the contractor shall convene an annual meeting of network members to provide training and educate the network about LC's needs and requirements. At least two months before the planned meeting, the contractor shall submit a written meeting plan as an email attachment to the LC COTR that includes date, time, location, agenda, and estimated cost. The LC COTR will notify the contractor by email or letter of any necessary changes to the plan and of LC's final approval of the plan. B. Priority of the tasks and time frames i. Establish operations. The contractor will spend not more than six months establishing operations. This is a one time task to be performed when the contract is first initiated. ii. Acquire and ship tangible materials (Ongoing) a. Tangible publications should be acquired and processed in a timely, regular manner. b. Tangible publications should be shipped to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. within 60 days of receipt. i. Bibliographic description of acquired publications (Ongoing) a. Prior to shipment of tangible publications, bibliographic description of the material (as defined in C.3.iv.a) must be complete. C. Definitions and Expectations i. The LC Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) is Stephen Short (sshort@loc.gov). ii. LC will provide general guidelines, referred to as LC's profile, that specify types of materials to be acquired and will include guidance on content and preferred format. The profile may be modified at any time to meet LC needs. LC will give the contractor four weeks from the date of notification of LC profile changes to implement the changes fully. iii. LC will provide the contractor with a materials acquisition budget at the beginning of each fiscal year. The materials acquisition budget will be established to reimburse the contractor for the actual cost of materials acquired plus shipping only. Full payment to the contractor from this budget will only occur when the contractor sends LC an invoice and provides all materials listed on the invoice. The contractor must follow the shipping and invoice instructions that appear under the tasks described in C.3.A. iv. Materials published in any physical format are collectively referred to as "tangible publications" v. There will be multiple roles required to complete this work. It is expected that one individual will serve multiple functions and, consequently, have multiple roles. a. The role of Regional Project Coordinator is responsible for overall oversight of the project in the region covered. This person shall have local authority over budgets, communications with regional partners, processing, acquisition, and staff management. c. The role of Materials Selector evaluates available materials and makes decisions about their appropriateness for selection. d. The role of Acquisitions Specialist acquires materials and manages all necessary payments to publishers and billing to the Library of Congress. e. The role of Cataloging Specialist creates or copies bibliographic records for materials acquired. f. The role of Materials Handler will receive materials, verify material condition, prepare materials for shipping, and ship materials. ii. Specific qualifications/skills for key personnel LC will provide initial training for all contractor staff who are directly involved in fulfilling the contract tasks. The contractor should make every effort to retain staff who possess the following requisite skills for each role that the staff person assumes. If staff do not possess the requisite skills and training beyond that provided by LC is necessary, the contractor shall be responsible for providing any supplemental training. a.The role of Regional Project Coordinator requires experience managing budgets, staff, and partner networks. In addition, the Regional Project Director should have expertise in regional politics and culture. Regional Directors with experience working in the United States are preferred. b.The role of Materials Selector(s) requires sufficient subject expertise to evaluate the quality and significance of material selected. c.The role of Acquisitions Specialist requires extensive knowledge of governmental, commercial, and not-for-profit publishers in the region. d.The role of Cataloging Specialist requires knowledge of the basic principles of bibliographic control. e.The role of Materials Handler requires knowledge of basic collection care principles as they relate to materials handling and packing procedures. C.4. OTHER REQUIREMENTS Intellectual Property Rights All original material produced with funding provided by this contract will be the property of the United States Government and is subject to the U.S. laws and regulations that govern intellectual rights of U.S. government. Safety and Security of Contractoring staff The Library of Congress' highest priority is the safety and security of its staff and contractors. If acquiring specific materials endangers or places contracting staff at risk, these materials should not be acquired. In general, all work to acquire materials on behalf of the Library of Congress or for other institutions as a result of this contract should comply fully with local and international laws. Situations or actions that place contracting staff at legal or personal risk should be avoided. Examples of materials that should not be acquired by contracting staff include, but are not limited to: -documents or materials that would be considered part of a nation's or people's patrimony; -official government documents not intended for public release, such as confidential reports; -proprietary materials produced by businesses, not-for-profit organizations, or other entities that have not been released for general public distribution. If the contractor is uncertain about the legal or political implications of acquiring specific materials, the contractor should submit in writing to the LC COTR a description of the material in question and an explanation of the potential legal or political issues. LC will indicate in writing whether the material should be acquired. C.5. DELIVERABLES A. The contractor shall provide monthly reports containing a summary of prior month activity on behalf of LC. The monthly reports should contain: i. a summary of prior month activities performed on behalf of LC; ii. a list of acquisitions made in the prior month, including date of acquisition, place of acquisition, source of acquisition, and cost of acquisition; iii. any staff changes or changes in the network established for the region; and iv. the identification of any issues that might impede work in the region covered. v. The contractor will participate in a monthly telephone conference call with the COTR and other LC representatives as appropriate to review the range of products and services called for in this contract. B. The contractor shall provide LC with an annual report summarizing publishing trends in the countries covered. i. The report shall contain a separate analysis of publishing trends for each of the countries covered. ii. The analysis should include identification of major governmental, not-for-profit, and commercial publishers. iii. For each publisher, the analysis should broad a brief summary of the topics and format of the materials published as well as the intended audience of the publications. C. LC will reimburse the contractor for the actual costs of each acquisition and actual shipping costs, if any. LC will only reimburse the contractor for the cost and shipping of materials for which LC will assume ownership. D. Delivery Instructions and Timetables i. One month after contract award, the contractor shall begin submitting monthly reports on prior month activity to LC electronically by the second Friday of each month. Files should be Microsoft Office compatible or in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. ii. The contractor shall submit annual publishing trends reports to LC electronically by the third Friday in January. iii. Within six months after contract award, the contractor shall begin delivery of tangible publications and bibliographic records. Delivery of bibliographic materials should occur each month. E. The Library of Congress will exercise a yearly option if it has the available funding and need. C.6. TESTING AND QUALITY ASSURANCE A. Acceptance Criteria i. For reports, LC acceptance will be contingent upon the reports compliance with the specifications detailed in C.5.A. ii. For acquisitions, LC will inspect each shipment of materials received in its Washington, D.C. facilities. The Library of Congress reserves the right to reject materials purchased or otherwise acquired through this program. Rejected materials will be returned to the regional office from which shipment was made. The Library of Congress will also not make any payment for rejected materials. Rejections of materials or shipping invoices will occur for any of the following reasons. a. The invoice for the shipment does not correspond to the materials in the shipment. b. The materials acquired do not meet the guidelines established in the Library of Congress profile provided to the regional office. c. The cost of the materials exceeds the budgetary allotments provided by the Library. d. Accepting the materials obligates the Library to provide in-kind services, e.g., a gift collection that is given on the condition that LC displays the materials. iii. For bibliographic records, LC will randomly select records to check for 80% compliance with LC bibliographic record specifications. C.7. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE & DELIVERY SCHEDULE A. The period of performance is from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2014 B. State delivery schedule or Due Dates for ALL deliverables: i. Bibliographic records - Due first Friday of each month after six month startup period. ii. Monthly Reports of Prior Month Activity - Due second Friday of each month iii. Annual Publishing Trends Report - Due third Friday in January
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/LOC/CS/CS1/LCLSM12R0051/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02846441-W 20120822/120820235321-9f925ba9f4f2cd43191dd453d772f12d (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |