National Library of Medicine, Office of Acquisitions Management, Building 38A, Room B1N17, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894

R -- DIGITAL MANUSCRIPTS PROGRAM AT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE SOL NLM 97-080/VMS DUE 090197 POC Valerie M. Syed, Contract Specialist (301) 496-6546 It is the intent of the National Library of Medicine to negotiate e on a sole source basis with History Associates, Inc., 5 Choke Cherry Road, Suite 280, Rockville, MD 20850, under authority of FAR 6.302 to provide services for the period of September 25, 1997 through September 24, 1998. The NLM requires conversion of a variety of archival sources, including textual, photographic, and audio visual matter to electronic form. This will include converting printed, handwritten, or illustrated pages into scanned digital images of the original pages. The resulting digital image and text deliverables will be incorporated into the NLM system of online access as part of the Digital Manuscripts Collections Program. Work will proceed as small collection-level projects, involving archival arrangement, description and digitizing of individual manuscript collections. These collections vary in size, physical arrangement, and variety of documentation. Work within each collection-level project will be organized by types of materials to digitized, with variation in size, color, and physical condition determining the organization of work and handling of all materials. Current conservation standards, practiced nationally in the field of archives and manuscripts, will guide handling procedures for all materials throughout the length of the Purchase Order. Items in the collections are often unique, valuable, and fragile. Some items are bound and cannot be disbound for scanning. Therefore, all aspects of the workflow, include post scanning processing, editing of text conversion, and all other work will take place at NLM. Additionally, interview sessions with donors may require some travel, locally and outside the immediate geographical area. Examples of types of documentation to be digitized include, but are not limited to (1) typed and handwritten letters, (2) typed and handwritten research notes, (3) bound diaries, record books, and scrapbooks, (4) typescripts of unpublished writings, (5) photographs, (6) diplomas, certificates, and other ephemera, (7) audio tapes, and (8) audiovisual tapes. The contractor shall (1) arrangement and description of assigned manuscript collections according to archival standards of processing. Identification and tagging of documents for image capture and delivery, with guidelines for conservation handling during the scanning process. Creation of an SGML encoded archival guide to each collection. Outcome should result in fully arranged manuscripts collections, with documents tagged for conservation needs and identified for scanning purposes, and SGML archival guides for every collection assigned; (2) image capture and delivery, producing high-quality images and texts, with coherently and logically named and/or numbered files, placed in delivery directories. After the images are loaded into the Library's retrieval system, these filenames and directories will link the images to the collection level MARC AMC catalog records, as well as to SGML encoded archival guides. Post-processing editing and quality control of all digitization will be performed through a prescribed verification process. Outcome should result in online network access to digital manuscripts collections, their associated finding aids, and bibliographic records, in accordance with established national standards of quality and practice; (3) expansion of tasks I and II and application digital system to a selected category of specialized formats and/or particularly endangered manuscript materials (i.e. oral history volumes, architectural records, posters, or glass plate photographs). Outcome should result in a report on processing procedures, conservation handling, and access issues posed by the digitization of specialized categories of materials in the HMD collections; and (4) assist manuscripts curator with donor relations, including conducting interviews and life histories of prominent scientists, as a means to supplementing the textual record, as well as enhancing access to scientifically complex information represented in individual manuscripts collections. Outcome should result in acquisition of new manuscripts collections and enhanced access to complex scientific information represented in such collections. This notice of intent is not a request for competitive proposals. However, organizations may identify in writing their interest and capability in response to this requirement or submit a proposal. All responses will be considered by the Government. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed acquisition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. No solicitation document exists, therefore an analysis will be made on the basis of information received in response to this notice. Responses are required within fifteen (15) calendar days from the publication date of this notice to The National Library of Medicine, Office of Acquisitions Management, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bldg. 38A, Room B1N17, Bethesda, MD 20894, Attention: Valerie M. Syed. (0232)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0112 19970822\R-0016.SOL)