SOURCES SOUGHT
U -- SOURCES SOUGHT FOR PUBLISHING AND MARKETING OF SCHOLARLY HANDBOOKS
- Notice Date
- 7/3/2007
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 511130
— Book Publishers
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition Management Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 1640, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-1640, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-PRNB8910-7-0001
- Response Due
- 7/18/2007
- Archive Date
- 8/2/2007
- Description
- THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE TO ASSIST NIST IN COMPLETING MARKET RESEARCH FOR A PROCUREMENT THAT IS PLANNED FOR FY2008. NO SOLICITATION IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE, AND NO UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS WILL BE ENTERTAINED AS A RESULT OF THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE. The NIST Acquisition Management Division, on behalf of the Mathematical and Computational Sciences Division (MCSD) in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL), seeks information from potential sources with experience and current expertise in publication and marketing of scholarly handbooks (hardcover and potentially soft cover). It is NIST?s plan to have a mathematics handbook of approximately 1000 pages based on guidelines in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and supplemental agency regulations, policies and procedures to be published and marketed. The results of this sources sought notice will be analyzed in association with the Digital Library of Mathematical Functions (DLMF) Project. For information about the Project see http://dlmf.nist.gov/. ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The DLMF Project aims to prepare a successor to the highly successful Handbook of Mathematical Functions, National Bureau of Standards Applied Mathematics Series 55, 1964, edited by M. Abramowitz and I.A. Stegun. The DLMF Project began in 1999 and has been funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). A working group of approximately 12 NIST employees and 50 non-NIST authors and validators are contribute to the Project under the direction of 4 Editors. The Editors are assisted by an uncompensated board of associate editors who were selected due to their research accomplishments. The DLMF handbook covers an important field of applied mathematics in 37 chapters. Most of these chapters present the essential mathematical properties of special functions, such as Bessel and Legendre functions, together with 2D and 3D color graphics and computational information. Three chapters summarize mathematical topics (algebraic and analytical methods, asymptotic approximations, and numerical methods) that are essential in serious work with special functions. The style of the DLMF is that of the original Abramowitz and Stegun Handbook, in which coverage is maximized and exposition is minimized. This approach made the original Handbook immensely valuable to practicing researchers in physics, applied mathematics, and other scientific, technological, and engineering disciplines. It also found widespread acceptance among students in mathematics and the sciences. These are the same large group of individuals the DLMF is targeting today. The impressive success of the original Handbook can be attributed to its vast collection of formulas, which were selected with scientific applications in mind. On the other hand, it has never been revised, and so it is badly out of date with respect to the many developments in the theory, application, and computation of special functions that have occurred over the last 40+ years. For example, half its pages are obsolete tables of numerical values of functions. These were useful mainly for computation by interpolation, a method that has been replaced entirely by the availability of mathematical software. It is planned that by eliminating tables the DLMF will more than double the number of formulas without exceeding the size of the original Handbook (1045 pages). In addition to a printed volume, the DLMF project is planning to construct a free public Web site that will be maintained indefinitely by NIST. The Web site will present the same information as the published version, but in HTML and other Web-specific formats, and in addition will include a search engine, interactive visualizations, a formula downloading capability, as well as Web links to reviews, full text of articles, and sources of mathematical software. OBJECTIVE OF THE FORTHCOMING PROCUREMENT AFTER AN APPROPRIATE ACQUISITION STRATEGY IS ESTABLISHED: The overall objective is to disseminate the results created by the DLMF Project to scientific professionals and students worldwide in an attractive, reasonably priced, and professionally published print edition. The same results will also be disseminated from a free public Web site constructed and maintained by NIST. More specifically, the objective of this procurement is to select a publisher who will be granted an exclusive license to (1) print a high-quality long-lasting hardcover edition with the possibility of color on every page; and (2) market the edition(s) worldwide to the target audience. A typical chapter is available at http://dlmf.nist.gov/GA.pdf. NIST holds copyright to all DLMF content and, unlike the original Abramowitz and Stegun Handbook, the copyright will remain with NIST, together with custody of the original computer files, source code, and all rights to Web distribution and design. Camera-ready copies (pdf files) will be available for all editions. NIST plans to collect reports of errors and revise the Web site and the pdf (or equivalent) files accordingly. The revised files will be made available to the licensee for reprintings. NIST also intends to collect recommendations for added technical content and reserves the right to augment the Web site at any time. At appropriate times, to be negotiated with the licensee, NIST may develop subsequent editions for exclusive distribution by the licensee. Information about the licensed editions will be displayed on the NIST Web site. HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE: IF YOUR COMPANY HAS RECENT EXPERIENCE WITH PROJECTS THAT ARE SIMILAR IN SCOPE TO WHAT MAY BE REQUIRED FOR THE ENSUING PUBLISHING AND MARKETING PROCUREMENT, THEN PLEASE PROVIDE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION BY EMAIL TO CHERYL.COXEN@NIST.GOV NO LATER THAN JULY 18, 2007: 1. Description of each similar project completed by your company as a prime Contractor or as a significant subcontractor within the past three (3) years, including as much of the following information as possible: (a) dollar amount of the contract; (b) brief description of the technical requirements of that project; (c) specific information on your company?s previous experience in targeted marketing to scientists, engineers and mathematicians through vehicles such as (i) mass mailings and (ii) exhibits at scientific meetings; (d) contract type used on that project (e.g., firm-fixed-price, labor-hour, time-and-materials, cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-award-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, etc.); (e) indication of how long the project took to complete from start to finish; (f) how many Contractor and, if applicable, subcontractor full time equivalents were required to complete the job; and (g) name, address, point of contact and phone number of customer organization for which the work was done. 2. Current socioeconomic status of your company as it relates to NAICS 511130, Book Publishers, with a size standard of 500 employees (see NAICS table at http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/serv_sstd_tablepdf.pdf). 3. Indication of whether your company currently has an active registration in the Central Contractor Registration at www.ccr.gov. PLEASE DIRECT ALL QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE BY EMAIL TO CHERYL.COXEN@NIST.GOV. TELEPHONE REQUESTS WILL NOT BE HONORED.
- Place of Performance
- Address: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 1640, Bldg. 301, B129, Gaithersburg, MD
- Zip Code: 20899-1640
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 20899-1640
- Record
- SN01333643-W 20070705/070703220325 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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