U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Division of Contracts and Property Management, Mail Stop T-7-I-2, Washington, D.C. 20555

D -- BROADCASTING NRC COMMISSION MEETINGS ON THE INTERNET SOL RFP-ADM-00-009 DUE 112499 POC Contract Specialist, Donald A. King, 301/415-6731,Fax number, 301/415-8157 This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. Proposals are due on 11/ 24/99 by 3:30 p.m. at the U.S.N.R.C., Division of Contracts and Property Management, M/S T-7-I-2, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001. Solicitation number RFP-ADM-00-009 herein is a request for proposal (RFP). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 97-14. This RFP is for full and open competition. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code for this solicitation is 54151. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission intends to issue a Commercial Item, Firm Fixed Price, Delivery Order Contract for providing high-quality, live or previously recorded multi-media events broadcast over theInternet. The period of performance will be one (1) year with three (1) one year optional periods. The contractor shall provide all personnel, hardware, software, and telecommunication services to achieve complete and clear streaming of NRC meetings via the Internet. Line items for the base contract period are as follows: 001-Telecommunications cable and equipment installation, $___; 002-Telecommunications and Media Streaming equipment, $___; 003-Telecommunications between NRC headquarters and Contractor's communication center (12 x), $___; 004-Webcast and Archival Access estimated 50 Commission meeting (50 x ) -- 30 (2 hour meetings), -- 10 (1 hour meetings), -- 10 (half hour meetings), and estimated 10 Other Meetings, -- 5 (2 hour meetings), -- 3 (1 hour meetings ), -- 2 (half hour meetings), $___; and 005 -On-Request One Time Webcast Services: ISDN Phone line; E-Mail and phone hookup; and simultaneously translated into a language other than English; Total base period $___. Line items forthe contract's first optional period are as follows: 006-Telecommunications between NRC headquarters and Contractor's communication center (12 x), $___; 007-Webcast and Archival Access estimated 70 Commission meeting (70 x ) -- 35 (2 hour meetings), -- 23 (1 hour meetings), -- 12 (half hour meetings). Total option period number one $___. Line items for the contract's second optional period are as follows: 008-Telecommunications between NRC headquarters and Contractor's communication center (12 x), $___; 009-Webcast and Archival Access estimated 75 Commission meeting (75 x ) -- 35 (2 hour meetings), -- 28 (1 hour meetings), -- 12 (half hour meetings). Total option period number two $___. Line items for the contract's third optional period are as follows: 010-Telecommunications between NRC headquarters and Contractor's communication center (12 x), $___; 011-Webcast and Archival Access estimated 75 Commission meeting (75 x ) -- 35 (2 hour meetings), -- 28 (1 hour meetings), -- 12 (half hour meetings). Total option period number three $___. TOTAL ESTIMATED COST (Base plus Option 1, 2, and 3) $_____. DESCRIPTION (SO W): 1. BACKGROUND -- One of the primary goals of the NRC is to make available to the public full and complete information on NRC activities to assist in making informed judgements regarding NRC activities. The primary means of keeping the public informed about the regulatory activities and programs of the NRC is through the news media. The NRC informs the media by: issuing and posting on the Web news releases, speeches and fact sheets; distributing reports, decisions and other documents reflecting NRC actions; arranging for NRC officials to give press conferences and talk with editorial boards of major newspapers around the country; having NRC officials respond to media questions after Commission meetings, staff meetings with licensees, plant visits, special inspections and other significant meetings; and talking to the media in person or by telephone. The NRC intends to expand its methods of effectively and efficiently presenting its regulatory programs to the public, industry, and other NRC stakeholders by putting in place a program that permits the public to view Commission meetings using the Internet. Establishing equal access to NRC Commission meetings is one of NRC's primary goals in improving communications with the nuclear industry and the public, and offers a better opportunity to participate in the risk-informed regulatory changes that are underway at the NRC. When combined with the Internet and Web-based technologies, Media Streaming Technology gives NRC the opportunity to strengthen both internal and external communications. For those who reside outside the NRC's main facilities and wish to attend Commission meetings, the need to travel is a constant requirement. With the employment of this technology, meetings and events can be presented over the Internet. This means that regional offices, commercial media, nuclear industry, NRC stakeholders, policymakers, community organizations, and the general public will have immediate and easy access to NRC meetings and other NRC events. Accordingly, the technology provides efficient alternatives in the way NRC accomplishes its mission. 2. CONTRACT OBJECTIVE -- The contractor shall provide all personnel, hardware, software, and telecommunication services to achieve complete and clear streaming of these meetings via the Internet. 3. SCOPE OF WORK -- The contractor shall capture audio and video content of Commission meetings from its hearing room, encode the content, and transmit the content to the contractor's technical infrastructure from which it will be made available to the public free of charge. The contractor shall provide all personnel, hardware, software, and telecommunication services to achieve complete and clear streaming of these meetings via the Internet. The contractor shall have a commitment to quality, customer service and give the greatest number of viewers the fastest access possible to information about agency initiatives and activities via the Internet. 4. SPECIFIC TASKS -- The contractor shall provide the following tasks which are essential in broadcasting NRC meetings over the Internet. 4.1 The contractor shall provide Internet webcast services (streaming audio/video) from the meeting location in Rockville, Maryland to the contractor's servers. The meetings are to be made available to a worldwide audience of Internet users from the contractor's servers. 4.2 The contractor shall stream audio/video over the Internet to a worldwide audience of a minimum of 1,000 simultaneous users for live, delayed webcasts and archived webcasts. The contractor shall support more than 3,000 simultaneous live Internet video viewers using all technology formats (e.g. RealMedia G2, Windows Media 4.0, QuickTime 4.0). The contractor shall not establish a preset limit of the number of viewers accessing NRC's webcast site at one time. The contractor shall also own and operate 100% of their own servers for archival of material in all of the above formats. 4.3 The contractor shall provide all communication lines and related hardware at all venue sites, unless the lines are already installed. 4.4 The NRC retains nonexclusive ownership and rights of all webcasts and their contents. 4.5 The contractor shall record Commission meetings as they take place and simultaneously broadcast the meetings LIVE over the Internet. The webcasts shall be encoded for delivery at 28.8kbps and 100kbps access speeds. The agency reserves the right to change the transmission (e.g. 28.8kbps to 56kbps) rates. The NRC home page will be used to identify each event to be webcast and will, give at least a one-week notice of meetings to be webcast by the contractor. The date and time in which NRC will broadcast Commission meetings will be made available via its home page www.nrc.gov/NRC/PUBLIC/Meet.html#COMMISSION). 4.6 The contractor shall conduct a large-scale promotion of NRC to maximize the size of the audience. The contractor shall provide a promotion plan 7 days after the contract effective date. The promotion plan shall have the ability to reach the national news media and a wide variety of search engines for audio/video meetings at a minimum. The contractor shall have written agreements to list meetings with these portal sites (i.e. YAHOO, CNN, MSNBC) or have direct control over editing portal sites to list meetings. Simply registering meetings using online forms at portal sites without having a written alliance with them is not a sufficient marketing strategy for this contract. 4.7 The contractor is to provide maximum network security for NRC's webcast site. The contractor shall submit a webcast security plan with the contractor's proposal. As part of the contractor's security plan, the contractor shall provide the NRC Project Officer (PO) written details about its network security, network reliability and backup services. 4.8 The contractor shall perform the following assignments as directed by the NRC PO: a) The contractor may be directed up to four times a year to arrange for a temporary ISDN phone line hookup at a live webcast site. Note: NRC will notify the contractor of the need for an ISDN line six weeks before the event. NRC recognizes that for optimal quality, ISDN is recognized as superior to standard telephone lines for webcast transmission from an event venue to video servers. b) The contractor may be directed in no more than one instance per year to arrange for a separate email and phone hookup at a live webcast site, so that NRC personnel involved in the webcast event may receive messages from viewers watching the webcast. c) The contractor may be directed to provide in no more than one instance per year, an archival webcast to be translated into a language other than English to meet the needs of special audiences. This webcast may also require open captioning in the English language. 4.9 NRC's home page will identify appropriate agency meetings to be webcast by the contractor. The contractor shall be required to webcast NRC meetings that take place at theNRC, Commission Hearing room located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville MD 20852-2738. 4.10 The contractor shall create and maintain a website to host NRC's live or delayed broadcast and archived webcasts of its meetings. 4.10.1 The contractor shall update their website within eight hours after being notified by the NRC PO that changes need to be made (e.g. webcast times are scheduled or changed) or within three hours after a meeting has been live webcast. 4.10.2 The meeting description provided by NRC on their web-page (www.nrc.gov/NRC/PUBLIC/Meet.html#COMMISSION) shall be used by the contractor as the source for describing NRC meetings on the contractor web-page. 4.10.3 It is important that NRC provide content to all commercial media and the public without prejudice or appearance of endorsement. Therefore, the contractor shall agree to present NRC content without "gateway" or other commercial advertisements on the contractor website. The contractor shall allow any other Web site to link to the NRC webcast page without charge. NOTE: Sites that could link to NRC's webcast page include those of CNN, ABC News, MSNBC and other major news organizations. 4.10.4 The contractor shall provide archival storage for viewing all prior recorded NRC meetings for a period not to exceed the contract end date. NRC archived meetings shall be available for public access 24 hours a day 7 days a week. 4.10.5 The video website hosted by the contractor for NRC shall contain archived copies of all NRC webcasts for a period of one year, and all optional years. 4.10.6 Archival copies of each webcast of 1 or 2 hours or shorter in length shall be made available on the website within three hours after the conclusion of the initial broadcast. NRC will provide guidance or necessary changes once the information is online. The NRC reserves the right to add briefing slides to the archived meeting. The contractor will be responsible for incorporating the slides into the archived meeting. NRC will be responsible for providing the contractor with copies of all slides following the meeting and the contractor shall have five days upon receiving the slides to include them in the NRC archive. Live webcasts longer than 2 hours shall be made available on the website within 8 hours after the meeting takes place. If telecommunications services between the contractor's facilities and NRC's headquarters are interrupted for any reason and the contractor is unable to acquire a complete capture the meeting, NRC will provide the contractor with a VHS tape of the meeting. It will be the responsibility of the contractor to archive the meeting for web viewing using the NRC VHS tape. 4.10.7 For permanent archival purposes, the contractor shall provide the NRC PO, at the end of the first year of the contract and all optional years of the contract, a copy of the archived files of NRC webcast meetings on CD-ROMs. 4.10.8 The contractor's servers shall have the capacity to support a minimum of seven million Web page hits per day. The contractor shall own and operate backup servers that are kept on line at all times to reduce technical difficulties to a minimum. 4.10.9 To ensure maximum service and response: a) The contractor shall own and operate a majority of servers used by the contractor to host the NRC live and/or delayed broadcast webcasts; and b) The contractor shall own and operate 100% of the servers used to host the NRC archived webcasts. 4.10.10 The contractor shall provide accurate delivery of NRC meetings, with minimal delay attributable to the contractor's servers and network connections. 4.10.11 Using NRC's home page, the agency will give the contractor a one-week notice of upcoming webcasts. The contractor shall have the capability to perform a webcast with a minimum of eight hours notice prior to the start of an event. 5. PERSONNEL QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS -- 5.1 The contractor shall use 100%in-house, full-time employees to support the creation and maintenance of the NRC website pages and management of the technical aspects of NRC's webcast meetings. 5.2 Thecontractor's staff, who support NRC webcasts, shall have prior experience in broadcasting live Internet webcast. 6. HOURS OF COVERAGE The contractor shall provide on call support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure the contractor service remains available. Response time during Monday -- Friday 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. shall be within one hour. Response time on weekends and on weekdays from 7:01 p.m. to 7:59 a.m. shall be within four hours. When an event is being webcast, response time shall also be within one hour starting from the time an event is live webcast to the time it is published online. 7. Meetings and Travel -- The contractor shall attend an initial meeting with the NRC staff within 10 days after the contract is awarded. The meeting will take place at NRC headquarters to provide clarification of any questions, concerns and expectations. 8. NRC Furnished Material and Equipment -- The NRC shall provide the contractor access to the Commission meeting control room for initial setup and shall provide space for the contractor equipment. The NRC shall provide the contractor with both audio and video communications from the meetings. The contractor shall be responsible for providing and maintaining all other hardware, software, telecommunications, backup power resources and related technical support. The contractor shall monitor all equipment remotely and shall not maintain a presence at NRC facilities. 9. REPORTING -- The contractor shall provide statistical summaries regarding viewership of a webcast within 48 hours after the end of its initial broadcast. Summaries of viewership of the entire website, broken down by individual webcasts shall be submitted to NRC every two months after the contract award or as requested by the NRC PO. Billing reports shall describe the services provided and the cost related to each service. For example: Cost for a webcast shall include the date of the webcast, what data transmission rates were used, the length of the webcast and its total cost. EVALUATION FACTORS- In accordance with FAR Clause 52.212-2 (a), the following factors shall be used to evaluate offerors: Cost-To be considered for an award, the proposed cost must be realistic and reasonable. Although cost is a factor in the evaluation of Proposals, technical merit in the evaluation criteria set forth below is a more significant factor in the selection of a contractor. The evaluation factors are: 1. CORPORATE EXPERIENCE: Extent to which the proposal demonstrates that the corporation has the related qualifications and experience to perform the scope of work in this contract (40 points). 2. TECHNICAL APPROACH: Extent to which the Offeror's understanding of the requirements set forth in this combined synopses/solicitation demonstrate soundness of the Offeror's approach to meeting the requirements, including as a minimum, methods used to design and develop Media Streaming technologies used in the broadcasting of meetings over the Internet (30 points). 3. PAST PERFORMANCE: Extent to which the Offeror has successfully performed on other contracts, currently or in the past of similar size and scope (30 points). For CORPORATE EXPERIENCE, the offeror shall: (a) clearly demonstrate to the NRC that the Offeror has the resident corporate experience to permit performing the same or similar work as required in the Description (SOW) section of this combined synopses/solicitation; and (b) describe, in general terms, corporate qualifications and experience in performing the same or similar work as required in the SOW of this combined synopses/solicitation for the firm and any of its proposed subcontractors have performed over the past five years. Include the number of years the firm has been in business and company growth history (personnel and dollars). For TECHNICAL APPROACH the Offeror shall: (a) Discuss the statement of work to substantiate the Offeror's understanding of the requirements; (b) Discuss the proposed method of approach to meet the contract objective for providing the services identified in the SOW; (c) Indicatepotential problem areas and the approach to be taken to resolve said areas; and (d) State any interpretations, requirements, or assumptions. For PAST PERFORMANCE the Offeror shall clearly demonstrate that the Offeror has successfully performed on other contracts currently or in the past of similar size and scope. This shall be done by describing current and past work of a similar or identical nature in such a manner that an evaluation can be made of the performance history and the relevance of this experience to the requirements of the combined synopses/solicitation. To this end, the Offeror shall list three previous/current contracts for the same or similar services. It is incumbent upon the Offeror to provide information which is accurate and current as the NRC will contact each reference to verify the information provided. This information will also assist the Contract Officer in his/her Determination of Responsibility. For each contract, provide the information requested using the format specified below.Each contract shall be one page in length only. (a) Contract No.:, (b) Name and Address of Government Agency or Commercial Entity:, (c) Point of Contact:, (d) Contracting Officer:, (e) Current Telephone Number and Facsimile Number:, (f) Technical Representative:, (g) Current Telephone Number:, (h) Date Contract awarded:, (i) Period of Performance of the Contract (including Posted 11/09/99 (W-SN399554). (0313)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0040 19991112\D-0005.SOL)