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M -- PERSONAL SERVICES FOR INVESTIGATING OF CONCEPT-BASED INDEXING METHODS DUE 062797 POC Liem T. Nguyen, 301-496-6546 The National Library of Medicine (NLM) intends to negotiate on a sole-source basis with Carol A. Bean, 3794 Angelton Ct., Burtonsville, MD 20866, under the authority 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(1) and FAR 6.302-1(b)(1) to acquire investigating service for the Next Generation Indexing (NGI) project. The purpose of the NGI project is to investigate concept-based indexing methods that go well beyond conventional automatic word-based indexing. The NGI project involves the design and evaluation of experiments to test a range of hypotheses. The NGI project plan involves the identification and development of several sub-projects, including a sub-project that will design and implement evaluation metrics for the project and a sub-project that exploits the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) knowledge sources. The NGI evaluation methods sub-project will develop an evaluation plan that will serve as a resource for other NGI technical projects. The evaluation component has two major objectives: 1) to prepare a report on evaluation metrics that may be used to measure the effectiveness of NGI research products; and 2) to design evaluation studies using the most promising metrics. Dr. Bean is an expert in Indexing methods and has published work in areas relevant to this project, including evaluation methods for information retrieval systems. She is already familiar with the UMLS project through work she has been conducting at NLM independently for the last seven months. This will enable her to begin and complete the required Statement of Work (SOW) on a full time basis with no delay in project momentum. The period of performance shall begin on or about July 1, 1997 and lasts 12 months. Dr. Bean is the only source with the necessity expertise and past experience who can successfully perform the effort within the time constraints. This notice of intention is not a Request for Quotation (RFQ) nor is an RFQ available. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by the National Library of Medicine. (0162)

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