SOURCES SOUGHT
36 -- RFI for high speed banknote evaluation solution
- Notice Date
- 7/20/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 333293
— Printing Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), Office of Acquisition, 14th & C Streets, S.W., Washington, District of Columbia, 20228
- ZIP Code
- 20228
- Solicitation Number
- RFI-09-0006
- Point of Contact
- Thomas O'Linn, Phone: (202)874-3238
- E-Mail Address
-
thomas.olinn@bep.treas.gov
(thomas.olinn@bep.treas.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- I. Purpose: The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) is seeking information from interested parties on a system capable of high speed banknote evaluation that will provide information above and beyond accept/reject results. The BEP is interested in quantifying final product quality and verifying the effectiveness of continuous improvement efforts. To this end, the BEP is interested in solutions using current existing technologies (with possible minor modifications) that will enable quantification of final product characteristics and typical variations, analysis of defective product compared to the baseline, and evaluation of iterations of product development efforts. Specifically, the BEP is interested in solutions that can be used to meet the capabilities described in Section II entitled "Capability Information Sought" of this notice. Price is a major consideration; therefore, the Government is also interested in obtaining price information for the individual capabilities defined in Section II below. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes. It does not constitute a solicitation (Request for Proposal or Request for Quotations) or a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Responders are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI are solely at the responding party's expense. Responders are solely responsible for properly marking and clearly identifying any proprietary information or trade secrets contained within their response. The Government will not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for any proprietary information not properly marked and clearly identified. Proprietary information received in response to this RFI will be safeguarded and handled in accordance with applicable Government regulations. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or agreement. The BEP will not be obligated to pursue any particular acquisition alternative as a result of this RFI. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation, if one is issued. II. Capability Information Sought: The BEP is seeking information on a solution that is has the following capabilities: a. Transport and Sorting capability: Processing uncirculated notes with the possibility of occasionally processing circulated currency. Accepting current and future designs of U.S. Currency in straps of 100 notes and processing each individual note with a processing rate of 10 seconds per strap or faster. The flexibility to allow the accept/reject criteria to be set by the BEP and shall be capable of sorting notes as follows: a.1 Accept: Rebanding the notes into straps of 100 notes, and banding ten straps together into a bundle of 1,000 notes. a. 2 Reject: Having a separate area to accumulate rejected notes. b. Accountability: Keeping an accurate count of the number of notes processed. c. Processing capabilities of interest include: c.1 OCR reading of serial numbers. OCR reading of back plate numbers, face plate numbers, and note positions is preferred, but not required. c.2 Reflected Image Inspection: High resolution print inspection (face and back) featuring comparison of images of banknotes under inspection to a user definable golden image. Have the capability to store and change the golden image, and to designate regions of interest within the golden. Provide the BEP the ability to assign separate tolerances for each region of interest. Make accept/reject decisions based on the assigned tolerances for color differences and sizes of differences. c.3 Transmisstive Image Inspection: High resolution transmissive inspection for the presence, location, and quality of watermark(s) and security thread(s). Allow the BEP to assign locations and tolerances for these features, and make accept/reject decision based on user defined tolerances. c.4 IR Image Inspection: High resolution inspection of infrared (IR) images of the note. Allow comparison to a BEP-set golden image. Allow the BEP to assign tolerance for the location and appearance of the IR image, and make an accept/reject decision based on the assigned tolerances. c.5 Fluorescent Image Inspection: High resolution inspection of fluorescent images of the note. Allow comparison to a BEP-set golden image. Allow the BEP to assign tolerance for the location and appearance of the fluorescent image, and make an accept/reject decision based on the assigned tolerances. c.6 Additional Inspection of Specific Areas: High resolution inspection of all overprint features including serial numbers, bank designators, Treasury Seals, and Federal Reserve seals. Allow the BEP to assign location and appearance tolerances for features and make accept/reject decisions based on the assigned tolerances. c.7 Measurements: c.7.1 Measurement of physical note size. c.7.2 The sizes and geometric locations of the following: i. Face intaglio print ii. Back intaglio print iii. Face offset image elements iv. Back offset image elements v. Federal Reserve Seal vi. Treasury Seal vii. Bank Designator viii. Serial numbers ix. Margins x. Windowed threads and windowing patterns c.8 Additional Sensor Capabilities: Inspection of other features readable by dedicated sensors manufactured by the solution vendor or other vendors, including but not limited to sensors for measurement of magnetic signals or spectral information. Configurable to make an accept/reject decision based on tolerances or algorithms defined by the sensor vendor or another designated party. Configurable to allow BEP access to raw data from sensors provided by the vendor. The ability to access raw data from all sensors is preferred. Shall be able to catalogue sensor data by banknote serial number. c.9 Image capture and retrieval. Capture and retain images of any area on the surface of the banknote and be able to store images of notes according to user defined criteria catalogued by serial number. The BEP is interested in this capability in order to use the stored images for subsequent analysis. Saved images shall be saved and arranged in a fashion for easy export and analysis on a separate computer. c.10 Availability of Data for Additional Analysis: Store all data catalogued by note serial number. The data shall be able to be arranged in a fashion to be easily exported to computers for subsequent BEP processing. c.11 Interface with Legacy Sensors: Shall be able to interface with and obtain data from existing BPS 3000 sensors and sensors that will be adopted by the Federal Reserve banks in the future. c.12 Additional Sensors: Capable of expansion to include additional sensors and their output. c.13. Calibration/Verification: Include the means for user validation or calibration of all sensors that the vendor supplies. Sensors shall be verifiable against measurement standards traceable to international or national measurement standards; where no such standards exist, the basis used for calibration or verification shall be documented. d. Reporting: Provide the following reporting: d.1 Machine operation reports including, but not limited to; jams, machine status, diagnostics, calibration and/or validation, and sensor feedback. d.2 Summary statistics of inspection, acceptance, rejection, and measurements. d.3 Customizable reports All of the report types listed above shall include information on current running conditions including speed, sensors on/off, and software version. Information regarding the availability of user customizable reports is also sought. IMPORTANT NOTE Though the "Capability Information Sought" outlined above provides an overview of the capabilities being sought by the BEP, Respondents are encouraged to submit innovative alternatives that represent low risk and provide additional data or capabilities that significantly contributes to quantifying banknote manufacturing consistency. III. Submission Requirements: Responses to the RFI shall include the following: a. General: • Submitter's Name • Street Address, City, State, and Zip Code • Name of Point of Contact (POC) • POC Telephone number and Facsimile numbers. b. Areas of Discussion: In general, responses shall address in as much detail the solution itself and the technologies available to deliver the capabilities listed in Section II above. This may include providing copies of brochures, literature, specifications, drawings and/or any other information. Respondents should also provide price information and schedule assumptions associated with each technology addressed. Price information should be broken out to the lowest level possible. If multiple solutions as well as alternative technologies are presented, the pros, cons, and risks should also be presented. In addition, to the above Respondents are requested to respond to each of the following areas. • Availability (i.e. Commercial, Customizable and/or Prototype) • Standard Operational Capabilities • Optional Subsystems/Components and/or Operational Capabilities • Demonstration that the Standard and Optional Capabilities relate to the BEP's Capability Information Sought listed in Section II above • Estimated Delivery Time Frame • Typical Price for the Solution • Average Production Rate • Size and Weight of the solution and it's component parts • Utilities (electricity, compressed air, etc.) required for the solution and its component parts IV. POINT OF CONTACT AND ADDRESS INFORMATION: Interested parties shall send their response regarding this RFI to the attention of Thomas O'Linn, Contract Specialist via one of the following means: Post: Bureau of Engraving and Printing Office of Acquisition, Room 705-A 14th and C Streets SW Washington, DC 20228-0001 Fax: (202)-874-2200 E-mail: thomas.olinn@bep.treas.gov V: DUE DATE: RESPONSES TO THIS RFI ARE DUE BY 2:00 PM EST AUGUST 17, 2009.
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