National Interagency Fire Center, Bureau of Land Management, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354

58 -- DIGITAL VOICE RECORDERS SOL R220Q970009 POC Contact Point, John Gebhard, (208) 387-5164, Contracting Officer, Kay Ryan, (208) 387-5717 The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering use of voice recording systems in fire dispatch offices to record radio and telephone conversations. Quick location and retrieval of accurately recorded calls is needed to verify actions taken, positive or negative depending on the situation. Procurement of a system or equipment is not intended at this point. BLM is looking for sources and gathering information such as catalogs, brochures, and product literature explaining types of systems, system features, and warranty and maintenance issues offered. Interested sources are also requested to provide a list of five references, three of which are public safety agencies. A review of all information gathered will be made to select possible sources meeting the requirement. The BLM would like to evaluate, at no cost to the Government, two systems from the selected company or companies. Companies would be invited to place equipment at two fire dispatch offices for a minimum one week evaluation period. The twooffices are located in Billings, Montana, and St. George, Utah. Those interested in submitting catalogs, brochures, and product literature should do so by April 4, 1997, to National Interagency Fire Center, Bureau of Land Management, ATTN: John Gebhard, 3833 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83705-5354. The BLM does not guarantee that a procurement action will result from the evaluation. Product literature will be screened by the following requirements that will also be used to evaluate any equipment placed in offices. A multichannel, digital voice logging system that will record both analog and digital inputs is required. It should be of a size to mount in a standard 19" equipment rack. The configuration should allow access to the equipment to remove the digital audio tapes (DAT) without disrupting the record function. The system should operate on 110-120 VAC power, interface with various telephone systems, and comply with FCC Part 68 requirements for terminating directly with telephone lines. Volume control should be located on the master unit and the unit should be equipped with supervisor headphone jacks, have an audio line out, and an internal audio speaker. The system should accommodate a parallel printer I/O interface. Optional features that will also be considered include a remote playback workstation and a built-in battery backup. Generally, the system should be user friendly and display information such as configurations, passwords, search strings, and current recorder component status. For security purposes, there should be a locking mechanism to disable the front panel functions. No additional external equipment should be required to show this information. A multi level security password system should be required to access the system. Users should be able to keep an audit trail for system configuration, access authority, and a database of individual call files on the system. It should have a time clock synchronization capability to an external source. Recordings should be made in continuous real-timemode and it is likely there will be multiple users recording simultaneously on individual channels while others are being monitored or played back. During recording, individual line activity is logged, internal signal pathways are verified and circuits and tape heads are checked to ensure recording integrity. Automatic tape-over-record protection is required and automatic gain control is desired. The system should record to DAT tape with a minimum 500 hours of recorded data capacity or to a hard drive buffer with a minimum 50 hours capacity. In the event there is an absence of power for an extended period, the recording unit should return automatically to the system configuration that was active prior to the power outage and should continue to record without manual intervention. In case of tape drive failure, recordings should switch automatically to the buffer or hard drive and visual and audio alarms should be emitted to notify personnel of the failure. Units with dual tapes should record in parallel or series and should switch to the second drive automatically in case of a primary drive failure. During tape replacement, buffers should be able to be downloaded. The system should simultaneously record and playback, be voice activated (VOX), have a "sensed" on/off hook, and be selectable on a per channel basis. The system should offer instant search and playback without disrupting the ongoing record function. It should be equipped with at least 4 channels for simultaneous playback. The recorder should position itself to the exact beginning of the selected recorded file when any search parameter is selected. Records may be searched on any channel by the time, date, channel, console, activity, or marks made by an operator. Warranty and maintenance service programs will be considered. A minimum one year warranty on all parts and labor is required and replacement parts should be available for at least a ten year period. Twenty-four hour, seven days per week full service maintenance is desired because of the emergency nature of fire dispatch. A 30-minute technical response time from the time a repair request is initiated with service performed within four hours of an emergency repair request is desired. While factory certified technicians would be preferred to perform maintenance on the equipment, warranty and maintenance could be subcontracted to a local entity. That service provider would be accountable for the proper performance of the equipment. The company's name, address, and toll free phone number should be available. Software upgrades and enhancements should be provided free of charge during the warranty period or if a maintenance program is initiated. (0058)

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