Immigration & Naturalization Service, Procurement Division, 425 I St., NW, Room 2208, Washington, DC 20536

R -- ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE TEST SOL HRA-9-R-00360 DUE 091399 POC POC: Janice V. Washington, (202) 305-4607 DESC: Immigration & Naturalization Service requires an expert in test construction to construct a new artificial language based on the structure of neo-Latin languages and develop two(2) new forms of the test. This test includes the development of two new forms of an artificial language test at forty(40) items per test based on a taxonomy of item types; development of a new artificial language and a supplemental test booklet containing the lexicon and grammatical/syntactical rules of the language; and development of a lexicon for the new artificial language strictly on the basis of Spanish language, French language, and Latin prefixes and suffixes. The subject matter of the test questions must be relevant to INS law enforcement work. Each question for each test must be followed by five(5) answer choices. Each grammatical/syntactical question should be defined as to the taxonomical dimension that it is intended to express as well as the rationale for each correct and incorrect answer choice. Two(2) sample questions must be submitted with the proposal. The contractor must adhere to strict security safeguards of test material and provide two(2) professional references from companies or individuals where similar work has been performed. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation, offers the best value and is most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. Four evaluation factors shall be used to evaluate offers; Past Performance, Price, Sample Questions, and Education & Experience. Past performance, Education & Experience, and Sample Questions are significantly more important than price. QUALIFICATION OF WRITER: Qualified item writers must have a higher degree, preferably a Masters or Doctorate; must have at least one(1) year of professional experience in writing test questions in an artificial language as well as three(3) years of experience in the field of developing test instruments; and demonstrate trustworthiness. DELIVERABLES: Shortly after award the contractor shall submit five(5) lexicon entries, five(5) grammatical rules, and five (5) questions for the new artificial language for the first product evaluation. The artificial language and supplemental test booklet must be delivered two(2) months after award. One form of the Artificial Language Test will be delivered five(5) months after award and the remaining form will be delivered ten(10) months after award. Questions must be submitted as camera-ready copies on a 3.5" floppy disk in Microsoft Word format. The solicitation package will be available August 13, 1999. Proposals must be received by September 13, 1999. Please fax all requests for solicitation package to (202) 616-7876, ATTN: Janice V. Washington. No telephone requests will be accepted. "See note(s) 1 & 26." Posted 07/30/99 (W-SN361571). (0211)

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