SOURCES SOUGHT
58 -- Request for Information / Sources Sought for Two Way Speech to Speech (2WSTS) Capability, Communications Equipment.
- Notice Date
- 5/18/2007
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- Contracting Office
- US Army C-E LCMC Acquisition Center - DAAB07, ATTN: AMSEL-AC, Building 1208, Fort Monmouth, NJ 07703-5008
- ZIP Code
- 07703-5008
- Solicitation Number
- W15P7T07QM214
- Response Due
- 6/4/2007
- Archive Date
- 8/3/2007
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The U.S. Army, Sequoyah Transition Management Office (S-TMO), Fort Monmouth, NJ is conducting a Request For Information (RFI) Sources Sought (SS) for Two Way Speech to Speech (2WSTS) Capability. Solicitation number W15P7T-07-Q-M214. NOTE: The use o f a solicitation number in this RFI / SS is for tracking purposes only. This request for information is for planning purposes only; this is not a request for Quotations or Proposals. No solicitation document exists and formal solicitation may or may not be issued by the Government as a result of the responses to this RFI / SS. The Government will not be liable for payment of any response preparation expenses. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. All interested firms that possess the capabilities and facilities addressed herein are encouraged to respond to this RFI / SS by providing the information specified below, on or before 1700 hours 4 June 2007. Respo nses to this RFI / SS should be unclassified. Responses may be sent via email to Michael Hier at michael.hier@us.army.mil and Hobbie Negaran at hobbie.negaran@us.army.mil. Technical questions should be addressed to Mr. Negaran at above email. Include W15P7T-07-Q-M214 RFI / SS in the subject line. Al l requests for further information must be via email; telephonic requests for additional information will not be honored. You may forward request for additional information to Contract Specialist, Michael Hier at michael.hier@us.army.mil or Contracting Of ficer Kathleen Rizzo at kathleen.rizzo@us.army.mil. Vendors who meet the requirements below may be invited to discuss the contents of their White Papers (outlined below) with system demonstration during a one-on-one session where it is envisioned the parties will engage in an active information exchange. P roducts must comply with the Buy American Act and the Berry Amendment. S-TMO, under the Product Director Signal Warfare of Program Executive Officer (PEO) Intelligence and Electronics Warfare Systems (IEW&S) in Fort Monmouth, NJ are continuously seeking the means to satisfy the immediate need for production and deployment of FMMS in support of the Information Operations in the Operational Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). In support of military operations in the GWOT and OIF in the South West Asia (SWA) theater, a reliable 2WSTS capability that enables the warfighter to communicate with the local indigenous population is needed. The capability should support but not be lim ited to the following functional areas: Force Protection (FP), Public Affairs (PA), Civil military Operations (CMO), Military Police (MP) operations, disaster relief, peacekeeping, emergency and field medical care, crowd and mob control and other military/ non military operations. The 2WSTS system must: 1) provide an accurate and ready to use real-time capability to communicate with local population in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Iraqi Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish, Pashto, Dari and Farsi; 2) have a flexible, scalable design, and; 3) be a reliable, uncomplicated, user friendly, and easy to use system; 4) have a compact form factor, be lightweight and highly robust, and be easily modified or upgraded in the field; 5) support selected DOD Strategic published languages and ;6) be ruggedized to function reliably in harsh military operational en vironments. Interested parties responding to this RFI / SS should have a strong background and detailed knowledge and demonstrated proven record 1) in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Automated Speech Recognition; 2) of Automated bi-directional Machine Translatio n of Text to Text ; 3) of developing, integrating and prototyping diversified emerging NLP and Foreign Language Translation Systems (FLTS) technologies; 4) of transitioning product(s) from concept and laboratory phase to commerci al market and field; 5) of the DODs FLTS, particularly understanding the operational, tactical all-source intelligences needs for FLTS capability; 6)of demonstrated capability and experience to provide logistics in COCOM AORs, particularly in CENTCOM an d SOCOM, that can readily support detailed coordination with users, and installation, operation and support of the system; and 7) possess security clearances up to and including TS/SCI. The 2WSTS system will be needed in the theater of operation approximately 60 days after a decision is made by the Government to field it. It is anticipated that 650 1WSTS system will be fielded in under a one year period after award. Fielding rates will r ange from 25 per month initially for the first two months then increasing 50 for four months, 75 in the following four months and 100 per month for the remaining month. Interested parties possessing the qualifications outlined above are requested to provide an unclassified white paper describing at a minimum: 1- Corporate capabilities, past and current relevant performance information, available facilities and assets capable of 2WSTS production to include: current production rate for a system; current methodology for subcontractor/vendor management; identifica tion of risks for production and associated risk mitigation plans; production and test plans and procedures currently in use; production management initiatives, specifically those related to product quality. 2- Minimum technical documentation of 2WSTS is to include detailed design and architecture documentations to address the following features and specifications: a- Input Modes: Discuss briefly systems input modes - Typing as an input mode ? - Speech as an input? - Text verification? - Speech verification? - Ability to correct mis-recognized audio input via voice commands - Touch Screen b- Speech Input: Describe Speech Input specifications - Audio input level - The signal-to-noise ratios - Built in microphone? - Is the system speaker independent continuous speech voice recognition? c- Components description Describe Characteristics and identification of developers and manufacturers- Automatic Speech Recognizer (ASR), Machine Translation engine, translation memory, electronic dictionary, etc. d- Languages Supported List of languages 2WSTS can support - Various dialects - Ability to upload new languages from DOD strategic languages list ? - Can the system allow new vocabulary update in the field ? - Can the updates be easily shared with other user/systems ? - - Dictionary and vocabulary size for both the warfighter and the target language/the non-English speaker, size of terminology; subject coverage (e.g. general-purpose or a list of special domains); user dictionary and any limitation e- Translation: Discuss briefly translation features - Speed, accuracy and throughput ? - Manual or automatic translation? - Delay time to translate in either direction f- Hardware functionality Describe Hardware functionalities - Processing capability - Memory, hard disk space, etc. - Upgradeability/ interoperability of heterogeneous computing components g- Spoken audi o Output: Describe Spoken Audio output - Is there Voice synthesis ? - Is voice synthesis easily understood - Voice syntheses options? h- Output Modes: 2WSTS output - Are there both spoken and text output? - Are there transcript of any conversation? i- Text Output: Describe the system text output - Is there a transcription of the conversation? - Is there a textual translation of any input ? - Search modes verbal, text? - Text verification? j- Handfree Operation: Operational mode to include hands free operation - Does the system have the ability to verify and edit/correct speech input ? k- Display - Size - Resolution - Conical viewing angles - Sunlight readability - Non illuminant type - Can display brightness be adjusted? l- Microphone- Describe the type of microphone - Directional - Planer Array - Embedded, Jack/USB? m- Audio Output: Discuss briefly the audio power output - Audio sound pressure measured at one meter - Wireless connectivity to amplified speakers, etc - Audio verification - Adjust speaker volume? n- IO Connector - USB/External power jack, VGA output, etc o- Operating System: - Software operating system, i.e. Microsoft Window XP or compatible version p- Storage: Discuss briefly system storage specifications - RAM size, Hard Disk space, Flash Disk option - Does the system have the ability to rapidly remove without requiring any tools ? q- Device Specifications and Operational Parameters Provide operational parameters and device specifications to include: - Size - Weight - Processor - Operational temperature range. - Footprint, and portability - Product ruggedization: water, weather, dust, drop, other. - List environments and specifications met by the product. - Screen protection. - Gloved hands operation r- Battery and Power Requirements - Rechargeable? Time to fully recharge. - Battery life on one charge; normal use and standby. - Battery charge indicator? Smart battery? - Battery charger input voltages and current; worldwide capable? - 12V DC charger? s- Training Options How is training provided to the user? - Courses offered: basic user training advanced training, etc. - Training materials - Types of training available: computer-based, web-based, audio/visual. - Available of instructor led training: local, regional, world-wide. - Is training available on the device? t- Technical Support and Documentation Discuss briefly your technical support and maintenance policies and procedures, include - Web-based support. - Phone support. Business hours or 24 hours seven days/week? Toll-free? - E-mail support. - Remote or offsite support. - RMA or return for maintenance procedures. - Field diagnostics procedures. - Field spares and support kit. u- Upgrade Path Discuss briefly future product upgrade path to include: - Software. - Hardware. - New language pairs. v Warranty Discuss briefly your warranty philosophy for your products - your warranty for your current commercial products(s) - Warranty Period - Warranty Procedures - Warranty Terms - Limitation of your warranty - Warranty Exclusions - Warranty for accessories associated with the product - Warranty for products or accessories that are Repaired or Replaced w- Demonstration At Governments request, the responders may be asked to present a demonstration of their product(s) full features and capabilities. All the costs and expenses associated with preparing and presenting any demonstration shall be at the expense of the responders and the Government shall not obliged to reimburse responders for incurred costs. x- Assessments- Provide any U.S. government, international, and/or industry-led quantitative and qualitative evaluation or assessment results on the system and its components - e.g. utility assessments from the operational customers, NIST/DARPA/R&D labs, and industry associations, etc. Desired quantitative results might be based upon the following metrics: ILR, WER, BLEU, METEOR, GTM, or TER. Example: ( Translation accuracy of the output phrases is mapped to the input phrases at 100% and is certified by & ) 1- A cost estimate on a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) to accomplish each of the notional capability requirements outlined under paragraph 2. (PLEASE CLARIFY REFERENCE TO PARA 5) Provide optimal economic order quantity for a price break. Provide a cost estimate to provide separate additional languages and domains. 2- Identification of any strategic partnering alliances that permit acceleration of component delivery or obtaining priority subcontracted support services 3- Identification of any commercial/industrial certifications or quality systems in use 4- Identification of existing customers for the system 5- Identification of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the system and its components 6- Corporate assessment of technology to include identification of system performance capabilities and limitations and associated technology roadmap 7- Name, telephone number, fax number, street address and e-mail address for Program, Technical, Cost points and the Security Point of Contact (POC) information Responder Assessment Guidance: Information Evaluation: For consideration, information on products shall meet a criterion set against the minimum quick reaction requirements to support OIF immediate needs. Languages of interest are one or more of the following: Modern Standard Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish, Turkish, Pashto, Farsi, Dari. The domain preference is for force protection and general translation in area of medical, contracting, civil affairs and incident investigation. For one way speech to speech, translation accuracy of the output phases shall be 100%(as adjudicated by a legally certified translator) for language of interest with speech recognition error of less than 10%(for speakers representative of the US ARMY). For two way speech to speech, in addition to speech recogn ition error benchmarks for recognition error of less than 10%, for Iraqi Arabic evaluation will be on the basis of achieving above .4 on the BLEU score. For other languages of interest, at Governments request, the responders may be required to provide additional information, specifications and metrics on performance functionalities necessary for Government to conduct testing and evaluation prior to fieldi ng. Evaluation shall include: Laboratory testing for translation accuracy subject to noise conditions, domain coverage, user and foreign language variations; output intelligibility and system reliability i.e. software stability. User evaluation in the form of operational assessment tha t measures usability, translation accuracy, suitability, speed( 10 seconds to audible translation.) and ease of training. With quick reaction deliverables within theatre (60 days from after award.), operating and available (government and commercial) off t he shelf translator and machine language solutions, will be the intended purchase. For the purpose of assessment, the Government may require 4 sample production units delivered at TBD Government/contractors facilities. Responders sample units as well as logistics and training support at no cost to Government shall be required. All HW/ SW loaned to Government shall be returned to responders at the end of Government evaluation.
- Place of Performance
- Address: US Army C-E LCMC Acquisition Center - ATTN: AMSEL-AC-CC-RT-A, Building 1208 Fort Monmouth NJ
- Zip Code: 07703-5008
- Country: US
- Zip Code: 07703-5008
- Record
- SN01298287-W 20070520/070518221447 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
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