REQUEST FOR JOINT VENTURE PARTNER U.S. Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service located at 5285 Port Royal Road, Room 1006, Springfield, VA 22161. REQUEST FOR JOINT VENTURE PARTNER. POC Mr. Walter L. Finch, Associate Director for Business Development. The National Technical Information Service (NTIS), an agency at the Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, seeks to enter into a joint venture with one or more partners to produce the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) of the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The SOC is a system to classify all occupations in the economy, including private, public, and military occupations. It will be used by all federal agencies collecting occupational data; similarly, its use is being strongly encouraged in state and local government agencies, to promote a common language for categorizing job occupations. NTIS will enter into joint venture partnerships in accordance with the authority granted to NTIS in the National Technical Information Actof 1988 (15 U.S.C. 3704b) and in accordance with the guidelines published in the June 13, 1989 Federal Register. Joint ventures do not involve procurements using government funds. Background The SOC is being revised for the first time since 1980. NTIS seeks to provide the SOC as a classification tool to its current audiences and to extend its reach to new audiences by publishing the SOC in a combination of media, which will include both paper and electronic formats. The primary medium will be print, with a CD-ROM also offered. Like its predecessor, the SOC is a single reference source for classification information on occupations throughout the United States. Government analysts/economists have written most of the chapters, and have developed the classification scheme. Based on the 2000 Census and other sources, new occupations will be added to the index of occupations as they are identified. The SOC is now scheduled for revision every 10 years. For this reason, and because industries and their related occupations continue to develop, the SOC will be a two-volume manual. Volume I lists all occupations and definitions within the structure of the SOC and provides examples to illustrate some specific jobs and associated titles that are included in each occupation. Volume I contains approximately 170 pages, unformatted. Volume I will not be revised for 10 years. It is expected that Volume I will be printed and ready for distribution by late summer/early fall. Volume II is expected to be produced after the first volume and includes a comprehensive list of all job titles in each occupation and the industries in which they are located. Information in the second volume will be revised by BLS as new occupations are identified. Both volumes will be in hard cover and sold as a single unit. Distribution of the printed version alone is expected to be at least 8,000 copies. Of these, about 3,000 copies will be offered at discount to federal agencies. Another 1,400 copies will be distributed to requesting Depository Libraries, at no cost to the libraries. Terms of the joint venture: 1) NTIS will provide the joint venture partner (JVP) with unformatted word processing documents, logos, art, etc. in electronic format. 2) The JVP will publish at least 8,000 copies of the two volume set of the SOC, editing, formatting, and designing the publication, and writing any introductory chapters that would add value to the government information. 3) The JVP will publish updates to Volume II, format and price to be negotiated as part of a joint venture agreement. 4) The JVP is responsible for the costs of editing, design, composition, and production of any printed copies, and would share the resultant electronic files with NTIS for the development of the CD-ROM. 5) The JVP is responsible for the cost of producing and disseminating approximately 1,400 copies to the Depository Libraries. 6) NTIS will be responsible for any free copies of the print and CD-ROM versions to BLS. 7) Sharing of revenue between NTIS and the JVP, and/or the cost of purchasing print copies from the JVP by NTIS and of CD-ROM copies from NTIS by the JVP, will be negotiated as part of a joint venture agreement. Response Requirements 1) Please prepare a description of your company's capabilities and experience in publishing, both in paper and electronic formats, and in promoting and selling business, educational, and/or scientific publications to national wholesale and retail distributors, and otherwise providing additional value to unformatted manuscripts. 2) Please provide an estimated sales price for the print copies. Include the price, if any, you would charge NTIS for its copies. NTIS expects the retail price for the printed version to be between $30 and $40, and that of the CD-ROM between $50 and $60. 3) Please provide suggested terms for revenue sharing and/or discounted costs to joint venture partners for the purchase of print and CD-ROM versions. 4) Please submit the number of weeks you would need to complete the project, from the time you receive the unformatted files. Remember to include in the estimate time needed to make changes submitted by NTIS. Responses will be used in the decision as to which respondent will be offered the joint venture. Please send your response within 15 days of the date of this announcement to the attention of Walter L. Finch. NTIS has for more than fifty years fulfilled its mission of acquiring and disseminating information obtained from both government and private sector sources worldwide in response to the needs of government agencies, authorized agents and subcontractors and the general public. As a self-supporting government agency, NTIS operates a clearinghouse for the information it collects, delivering bibliographic databases, and content selected by consumers in paper and electronic format, and also able to support the fulfillment needs of users for the delivery of historic or archived materials produced in print-on-demand paper, demand microform or CD-ROM, or via on-line electronic access. If you have any questions, please send them via an e-mail to dthomas@ntis.fedworld.gov, or by telephone at (703) 605-6654, FAX (703) 605-6840. WEB: NIST Contracts Homepage, http://www.nist.gov/admin/od/contract/contract.htm. E-MAIL: David Thomas, Product Management and Marketing Specialist, dthomas@ntis.fedworld.gov. Posted 06/02/00 (W-SN460943).

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