The Library of Congress, Contracts and Logistics Service, 1701 Brightseat Road, Landover, MD 20785

B -- MAGNETIC TAPE INSPECTION/SITE ANALYSIS SOL IN95-22 POC Kaye Klinker, Contracting Officer, (202) 707-8608. The Library of Congress intends to negotiate with the National Media Laboratory, St. Paul, MN to provide information on the state of deterioration of the Library's extensive analog and digital magnetic tape holdings (c. 600,000 hours of audio and video recordings and experiencing rapid growth). This survey will provide a frame of reference to evaluate the general estimates of life expectancy of magnetic tape made by NIST and the industry; will establish procedures and techniques for future deterioration inspections and risk assessment for other archival collections; provide a better understanding of the potential life expectancy of one of the most likely of carriers of digital data; provide information on the uniformity of output levels of tapes at specific frequencies over the length of the tapes; analysis of the ''sticky tape'' phenomenon with inclusion of chemical tests of the binder which would evaluate the level of binder degradation; analysis of the physical condition of the package/canister used to protect the tape, the reels/cassettes used to carry the tape, and the condition of the tape and tape pack; document the physical environment under which the tapes are and have been stored and draw conclusions on cause-and-effect of storage environment and condition of tape; and make specific recommendations on improvement on storage conditions to extend the projected life of the tape and the time between copying of tapes to prevent loss of information. Funds are not presently available for this contract. The Government's obligation under this contract is contingent upon the availability of appropriated funds from which payment for contract purposes can be made. No legal liability on the part of the Government for any payment may arise until funds are made available to the Contracting Officer for this contract and until the Contractor receives notice of such availability, to be confirmed in writing by the Contracting Officer. See Note 22. (0151)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0011 19950601\B-0001.SOL)