PRESOL | D | XML Documentation and On-Line Help Pilot

FBO DAILY ISSUE OF AUGUST 26, 2004 FBO #1004
SOLICITATION NOTICE

D -- XML Documentation and On-Line Help Pilot

Notice Date: 7/21/2004
Notice Type: Solicitation Notice
NAICS: 541611 — Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
Contracting Office: Department of Agriculture, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, National Finance Center/Contracting Support Team, 13800 Old Gentilly Road, Bldg. 350 P.O. Box 29900, New Orleans, LA, 70129
ZIP Code: 70129
Solicitation Number: GE-04-87
Response Due: 8/7/2004
Point of Contact: Freddie Moses, Contract Specialist, Phone 504-426-0278, Fax 504-253-5288,
E-Mail Address: freddie.moses@usda.gov
Description: The USDA – National Finance Center (NFC) has a requirement for support services to implement XML publishing extensions to the NFC Electronic Publishing System (EPS), as described in the section below. It is the intent of the government to negotiate on a sole source basis as a Simplified Acquisition in accordance with FAR Part 13 with The Systems Group, 5114 Balconies Wood Drive, Suite. 307-392, Austin, TX 78759. INTRODUCTION: A key service that the National Finance Center (NFC) provides to its internal and external customers is the development and maintenance of the numerous documentation web sites and the handling of the repositories for this documentation. Several areas at NFC play a major role in providing this service. These areas include the (1) Government Employees Services Division’s (GESD) Payroll/Personnel Services Branch, (2) GESD’s Government Employees Services Branch (GESB), (3) Facilities and Logisitics Staff’s Publishing and Visual Communications Team, and (4) Controller Operations’ Division, Quality Assurance and Accounting Directives Branch. These areas working together handle the following responsibilities: (1) analysis, design, publication, distribution, and retention of all NFC procedures, bulletins, and directives relating to NFC systems and services; (2) development, design, and maintenance of the NFC’s PUBS & FORMS internet site which hosts all procedural documents developed by DAB along with other reference documents needed by NFC customers and other Special Interest Group web sites; (3) development, design, and maintenance of the NFC’s “NFCnet” intranet web site for use by all NFC employees; (4) electronic forms design and management; (5) development and publication of online help text for NFC client-server and Web based applications; and (6) distribution of both hardcopy and electronic directives, memos, and other documentation throughout NFC and to our customer agencies. This Statement of Work (SOW) defines the requirements for contractor services in support of the NFC XML Documentation and On-Line Help Pilot, as described in this document. BACKGROUND: NFC’s EPS is an integral component in providing documentation services to NFC customers. The EPS is a highly complex system that encompasses hardware, software, and connectivity components from a wide range of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and as such, has required an extremely complex and detailed systems integration effort for its implementation. Specifically, the EPS environment includes the following: Hardware, System Software, and Connectivity EPS hardware includes IBM RS/6000 servers with IBM RAID subsystems; SUN UltraSPARC power user workstations; Windows 2000 Wintel Clients; and a wide range of general and task specific printing, plotting, and dedicated production equipment. EPS operating system environments include IBM AIX v5.L, Sun Solaris 8 (SPARC and x86), and Microsoft Windows 2000. All Wintel Clients support native Windows applications, client/server LAN applications, and host based UNIX and mainframe applications via X-Windows emulation and TN-3270, respectively. Networking equipment includes Cisco Level 3 switches, routers, and dedicated WAN connections. The departmental LAN is TCP/IP 100base-T based, with routed links to; the site wide Gigabit fiber backbone, the public Internet, and intranet WAN connections. The EPS networking environment supports connectivity with an IBM “Z” series mainframe system, Windows Active Directory based SMB servers, UNIX NFS based servers, and the NFC enterprise-wide Novell LAN infrastructure. Multi-Level authentication and authorization is a function of UNIX NIS, Windows Domain management, and Novell LDAP services. Hardcopy production equipment includes Xerox DocuTech high volume production printers with a wide-range of in-line finishing options, Xerox DigiPath and Epson scanning sub-systems, Canon high performance CLC color printers with PostScript RIPs and centralized production control workstations, Canon and ColorSpan large format color plotters, and mid-range black and white departmental printers from Hewlett-Packard, and Xerox. All printers support direct LAN connection via TCP/IP 100base-T Ethernet, and hostname resolution is accomplished via centralized DNS servers. Application Software EPS application software includes a wide-range of general and task specific software solutions running under IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, and/or Microsoft Windows 2000. Key applications are configured to interoperate across multiple hardware/software platforms. Specific application packages supported by the NFC EPS include: Broadvision/Interleaf Quicksilver technical publishing software; Quicksilver, Microsoft Word 2003, ArborText, and XMLSpy XML authoring applications; XMLSpy and XML Authority XML Schema Design tools; Broadvision/Interleaf DemandPrint 2 demand print management Software; SunONE Web Server Enterprise Edition 6; Communigate Pro e-mail server; Adobe Illustrator, Adobe PhotoShop, and Paint Shop Pro graphic design applications; Elixir and Formatta forms development solutions; Macromedia DreamWeaver and Adobe Acrobat web publishing applications; Crunchy Technologies Page Screamer, Cast Bobby, and IBM Page Reader Section 508 compliance tools; FH Premier context sensitive help authoring tools; TechSmith SnagIt screen capture facility; and Microsoft Office 2000 and Office 2003 desktop productivity suites. OBJECTIVE: NFC requires contractor support services to implement XML publishing extensions to the NFC Electronic Publishing System (EPS), as described in the section below, titled XML Document Publishing Architecture, and create a mechanism for converting existing document based information to non-proprietary XML formats. XML specific EPS functionality will include: XML document Authoring with an XML compliant COTS authoring tool, XML document management, Bill-of-Materials based document assembly, and dynamic re-purposing of XML based content, to generate all required document information deliverables. Document deliverables supported by the XML pilot will include: HTML documents, PDF documents, and web based on-line help for NFC developed applications. SCOPE: This SOW is to acquire the required contractor support services to implement enhancements to the NFC EPS and complete the XML Pilot on or before September 30, 2004. The contractor will provide on-site support at NFC’s facility located in New Orleans, Louisiana. XML DOCUMENT PUBLISHING ARCHITECTURE: The EPS XML Document Publishing Architecture (XDPA) will consist of a combination of existing NFC IT resources, COTS applications, and open source document processing technologies. The solution will be platformed on, and implemented as an extension of, the NFC Electronic Publishing System (EPS) and GESB web publishing infrastructure. Specific solution components will include: Document Content Authoring All GESB document content will be authored and managed in XML using XML enabled desktop authoring applications. Specific authoring tools will be selected after a thorough review of available COTS products. Leading contenders include Microsoft Word 2003, Broadvision Quicksilver, and XMLSpy Authentic. Document Content Management GESB's XML solution will store XML instance documents in a managed document repository integrated with the XML authoring tool. The planned solution will support two types of XML formatted documents: � Documentation Topic documents that contain help content and supporting metadata for a single NFC application screen or lower level Unit of Work (UOW), and � Publication Bill-of-Materials documents that define Documentation Topic assembly criteria for the generation of serialized documentation deliverables. Help content stored in each Documentation Topic document will include field level roll-over help, field level stick-up help, and Unit of Work level help for the associated application screen or lower level UOW. Document Deliverable Generation Document deliverables will be dynamically assembled, transformed, and formatted from stored XML document content using open source document processing technologies, including XSLT (eXtensible Style Language Transform), XSL-FO (eXtensible Style Language Formatting Objects), and Apache FOP (Formatting Objects Processor). XSLT, XSL-FO, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) transformation and formatting definitions will be authored and tested by GESB publishing specialists using desktop XML design and prototyping tools such as XMLSpy. Supported documentation deliverables will include: single topic HTML and PDF web site content, serialized publication PDF data, and web based help collection HTML formatted content. DESCRIPTION OF WORK Contractor services for the XML Documentation and On-line help Pilot will fall into five categories: Document Reengineering Assist GESB personnel in analyzing and re-engineering one or two existing publications for non-serialized authoring and XML production. The analysis and reengineering process will include the identification of addressable document structures and the designation of an appropriate XML Unit of Work (UOW). Revised authoring standards will be developed, as required. XML Schema Development Design, develop, and test XML document schemas for Document Topic and Publication Bill-of-Materials instance documents that support the non-serialized document standards defined during the document reengineering process. XML Document Publishing Architecture (XDPA) implementation Evaluate XML authoring tools including Microsoft Word 2003, Broadvision Quicksilver, and XMLspy Authentic. Design, develop, and test authoring tool based XML content check-in and check-out facility. Design, develop, and test XSLT, XSL-FO, and CSS style sheets to support XML document content repurposing. Documentation deliverables will include: single topic HTML and PDF web site content, serialized publication PDF data, and web based help collection HTML formatted content. Integrate the document repurposing and content delivery facility with the SunONE web server and existing GESB managed intranet web site. Legacy Content Conversion Convert existing document content of selected publications to XML. Develop required XML schema element mappings and translations for Quicksilver and Word 2003. Parse and enhance XML document content to create non-serialized Documentation Topics with required metadata and document content extensions. Design, develop, and test Publication Bill-of-Materials instance documents for selected publication(s). XML Pilot Validation Pilot and test dynamic HTML and PDF content generation on the NFC intranet web site. Pilot and test XML based help collection generation on the NFC intranet web site. ADDITIONAL TASKS REQUIRED FOR FISCAL YEARS 2005 and 2006 Additional tasks may be required under the contract during Fiscal Years 05 and 06 for contractor services to support the conversion of production content to XML, integration of XML document content with the NFC applications, and implementation of dynamic XML document generation on the NFC Internet web site. The NFC reserves the right to renegotiate the contract with the selected contractor for the tasks described below to be completed in FY 05 and 06. FY05 - Convert existing document library to XML � Design and implement XML translations for Quicksilver and MS Word formatted content � Segment documents into Unit-of-Work size Topics � Re-author document content to support non-serialized presentation � Add required metadata to existing document content � Develop and test publication Bill-of-Materials for re-serializing PDF and HTML help deliverables Integrate XML document content with NFC applications � Migrate XML repository to Oracle 9i or later XDB Database (this will also be required for production implementation) � Implement a document repository API (Application Programmatic Interface) that will allow NFC developers to programmatically access XML formatted help content � Add functionality that will support content access below the Topic (i.e., Unit-of-Work) level � Work with NFC developers to implement roll-over, stick-up, and field level help � Add additional re-purposing functionality to support NFC application requirements. Implement dynamic re-purposing on NFC Internet � Work with NFC security and the Systems Engineering Branch to establish requirements for dynamic XML document generation on the NFC Internet web site � Implement infrastructure, security, and procedural enhancements to support dynamic documentation assembly and rendering on DMZ based web servers � Initiate support of live production applications FY06 - Complete conversion to XML based document management model � Continue legacy document conversions activities � Add additional functionality, as required � Continue to work with NFC developers on help system integration Expand XML library facility to support additional deliverables � Knowledgebase � Training � Product Support � Etc. Contractor will work in coordination with the Primary NFC Technical Contact or the Alternate Technical Contact as a lead for the NFC organizations involved in publishing that are cited in the Introduction. Hours of Operation Contractor on-site activities will be performed at NFC as required during regular business hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.). The contractor may also perform some tasks for NFC off site as approved by GESB Branch Chief or designated alternate. The duration period for the services to be completed is from date of award to September 30, 2004. Location The majority of the contractor support will take place on the NFC facilities located at: National Finance Center Michoud Assembly Facility 13800 Old Gentilly Road, Building 350 New Orleans, Louisiana Interested firms able to meet these requirements are invited to submit responses within 10 working days after appearance of this notice but only in writing with clear and convincing documentation to address above, but to the attention of Freddie Moses. Supporting evidence must be furnished in sufficient detail, to demonstrate the ability to comply with the requirements. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotes. No solicitation document is available and telephone requests will not be accepted. Responses received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. However; a determination by the Government not to compete the proposed procurement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. If no responses are received, The National Finance Center will proceed with the sole source negotiation with The Systems Group. All USDA - NFC contractors are required to be registered in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database prior to receipt of award. NOTE: THIS NOTICE MAY HAVE POSTED ON WWW.FEDBIZOPPS.GOV ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (21-JUL-2004). IT ACTUALLY APPEARED OR REAPPEARED ON THE FEDBIZOPPS SYSTEM ON 24-AUG-2004, BUT REAPPEARED IN THE FTP FEED FOR THIS POSTING DATE. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
Web Link: Link to FedBizOpps document.
(http://www.eps.gov/spg/USDA/OCFO/NFC-CSG/GE-04-87/listing.html)
Place of Performance: Address: USDA - National Finance Center 13800 Old Gentilly Road Bldg 350, MAF New Orleans, LA; Zip Code: 70129
Record: SN00651073-F 20040826/040825044352 (fbodaily.com)
Source: FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
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D -- XML Documentation and On-Line Help Pilot