U.S. Information Agency, Office of Contracts, Room 1611, 330 C Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20547

69 -- PLATO 2000 SKILL BUILDING EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE POC David W. Lum, Contract Specialist, 202-205-5488 U012- The U.S. Information Agency (USIA) intends to expand and upgrade its existing ''PLATO 2000'' computer-based academic and workplace-based training system with the acquistion of an Agencywide site license. This acquisition will satisfy alignment with the Department of Labor Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) foundation skill profile and accomplish USIA's job task analysis and workforce training initiatives. The PLATO educational system is the proprietary product of TRO Learning, Inc. of Edina, Minnesota and is a comprehensive, integrated learning system that provides both functional skill and academic skill courses specifically developed for the adult learner utilizing an interactive computer courseware mode that is based upon both academic and workskills curriculum being tailored to the individual needs of each worker based upon job requirements. It provides workplace basics curriculum in key skills necessary to succeed within the workplace environment whereby PLATO products dealing with quality fundamentals, communications, data skills and applied mathematics are totally integrated with the PLATO academic library consisting of foundation skills in reading, writing, mathematics and language arts. Additionally, computer technical training courses in subjects as MS-DOS, Windows, Lotus 1-2-3, dBase, database management and computer operations also have been integrated with the PLATO curriculum. The U.S. Information Agency intends to issue a non-competitive contract to TRO Learning, Inc., which will include requirements for multi-user licenses, software enhancements, implementation, maintenance, and training. Other commercial sources which have an equivalent commercial off-the-shelf software, and which can successfully demonstrate that cost effective changes, including conversion and retraining to its equivalent COTS software, will be considered if it is able to successfully demonstrate that integration and emulation of the existing PLATO database, allow access from remote sites as well as perform all required training functions and reporting procedures efficiently. Only responses from responsible sources which are prepared to demonstrate the above required capabilities and technical knowledge for an Agencywide automated training system will be considered for a technical interview. See Numbered Note 22. (0157)

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