SOURCES SOUGHT
T -- Joint Venture Sources Sought in Science Collaborative Publishing
- Notice Date
- 3/28/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 519190
— All Other Information Services
- 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, Maryland, 20899-1640
- ZIP Code
- 20899-1640
- Solicitation Number
- NTIS-RFI4JV
- Archive Date
- 5/15/2011
- Point of Contact
- Donald Hagen, Phone: 7036056142, Wayne Strickland, Phone: 7036056543
- E-Mail Address
-
dhagen@ntis.gov, wstrickland@ntis.gov
(dhagen@ntis.gov, wstrickland@ntis.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- I. INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND: The business opportunities described in this notice are joint ventures, require investments by prospective organizations and provide a revenue-sharing opportunity. The National Technical Information Service (NTIS) basic authority to operate as a permanent clearinghouse of scientific and technical information is codified in chapter 23 of Title 15 of the United States Code (15 U.S.C. 1151-1157). This chapter also established NTIS' authority to charge fees for its products and services and to recover all costs through such fees "to the extent feasible." This authority was restated in the National Technical Information Act of 1988, codified at 15 U.S.C. 3704b. That Act gave NTIS the authority to enter into joint ventures and declared the Clearinghouse to be a permanent Federal function that could not be eliminated or privatized without Congressional approval. That Act was amended by the American Technology Preeminence Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-245) which: (1) required all costs associated with bibliographic control to be recovered by fees, (2) required agencies to make copies of their scientific and technical reports available to NTIS, and (3) directed NTIS to focus on developing new electronic methods and media for disseminating information. Another statute having a profound impact on NTIS is the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act for FY 1993 (Public Law 102-395) which established NTIS Revolving Fund and gave it the authority to use that Fund without further approval by Congress. In addition, section 1526 of Title 15 of the United States Code authorizes NTIS to accept payments in advance for services to be provided to other agencies. II. GENERAL SCOPE: The NTIS, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is seeking information for potential joint venture relationships that can support and contribute to a science collaborative publishing environment for books, reports and data set content produced by Federal Government entities. NTIS has extensive expertise in the content knowledge and dissemination of Government-sponsored scientific and technical information to the public but does not have the full complement of innovative print and online publishing capabilities. The proposed joint venture(s) would serve the public by making Federal Government science information more conveniently and economically accessible. As NTIS operates on a cost-recovery basis, responses should address proposed business terms for revenue sharing between NTIS and the joint venture candidate. A successful arrangement will demonstrate the benefits of collaboration between the private sector and NTIS. NTIS expects to provide personnel, the material to be published, program management, and product development support functions to each joint venture. The publishing technology provided by the candidate(s) will enable each joint venture to provide Federal Government scientific information to the public in book, e-book, and an array of mobile forms. Responses should address innovative commercial collaborative publishing abilities and experience and address one or more of the following categories:  Publish-on-demand capabilities  Print-on-demand capabilities  Online/electronic on-demand capabilities  Ability to push content to a wide range of devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and pocket PC's  Cross-platform capabilities  Utilization of advanced technologies  Paper printing volume capacity  Color printing capability and inks  Editorial support  Ability to accept manuscripts in a variety of formats (paper, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, Word document, Word Perfect; camera ready)  E-book capabilities  Design support: binding/ cover stock; fonts; layout; color; pedagogy  Marketing ability (trade; academic; professional; consumer markets)  Accessibility - Section 508 Compliance Joint ventures are not procurements. A participant is expected to fully participate in risk and obtain revenue from sales. NTIS envisions the participation of one or more companies. The end result of these joint ventures will be science publications reflecting innovative options for open discoverability and access. III. REQUESTED RESPONSE: Responses to this RFI must describe and reference the production capabilities of the candidate for the products proposed, describe the candidate's technical expertise, and provide a concise description of the candidate's existing experience and ability to publish. Responses to this RFI may include proposed teams of more than one firm. Any proposed arrangements should describe how they would function. Respondents to the RFI may be invited to make oral presentations. It is anticipated that each future joint venture will be a revenue sharing agreement which will provide returns to the successful party or parties. Anticipated revenue streams may be addressed in the response. Prospective candidates should limit their submissions to ten (10) pages, excluding graphic appendices. Responses must be in writing. Candidates must provide an electronic or hard-copy response to Donald H. Hagen, Associate Director, Office of Product Management and Acquisitions at the "Place of Performance" address below by the response date specified in this announcement. The Government reserves the right to choose which firms to contact based on the quality of the submissions and the current fit with NTIS organizational and customer needs. Interested parties may contact: Donald H. Hagen Associate Director, Office of Product Management and Acquisitions Phone (703) 605-6142 Fax (703) 605-6387 E-mail: dhagen@ntis.gov. Place of Performance: Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service 5301 Shawnee Road Alexandria, VA 22312
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/NTIS-RFI4JV/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service, 5301 Shawnee Road, Alexandria, Virginia, 22312, United States
- Zip Code: 22312
- Zip Code: 22312
- Record
- SN02411117-W 20110330/110328234637-b5395d5cebc06d14bd4b2434a9a4f581 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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