U.S. Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/OFA/AGFS/AMD -- OFA51, 1305 East West Highway -- Station 7604, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910

D -- TECHNICAL MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT SOL 52-DKBA-0-90100 POC Joel Perlroth, Contract Specialist, 301-713-0809 E-MAIL: Point of Contact, Joel.Perlroth@AGF.NOAA.GOV. The U.S. Department of Commerce intends to award a sole source contract to Internet Programming and Consulting, Inc.(IPCI), of Glen Echo, M.D., under the authority of 41 U.S.C.253 (c)(1) "Only one responsible source", for the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) for the following: BEA has an immediate requirement for technical maintenance and support during the production implementation of an electronic survey data collection system called Automatic Survey Transmission and Retrieval (ASTAR). The production-ready version of this system was designed, developed, and implemented by an IPCI senior developer. BEA has additional requirements to extend and implement the ASTAR system during the contract period for other BEA surveys, beginning with the BE-605. As the first production cycle of the 1st Quarter, 2000, BE-577 has already begun under ASTAR, timing is of a critical essence and continuity of the technical support must be maintained. Furthermore, it is essential that the contractor have demonstrated capabilities in maintaining and enhancing the ASTAR software and BEA's related infrastructure components, as well as have extensive knowledge of the BE-577, BE-605 and other international investment statistical surveys. BEA regularly conducts several mandatory surveys to collect data that are used in compiling statistics on U.S. multinational companies (MNC's) which provide a comprehensive and integrated data set for empirical analysis of MNC's and of the effects of MNC's on the economies of home and host countries. The statistics on U.S. MNC's support numerous activities by the government and the private sector, including the following: Compilation of the U.S. economic accounts by BEA; Conduct of bilateral and multilateral negotiations to reduce barriers to investment and trade; Studies by academic and government researchers to assess the impact of U.S. investment abroad on the U.S. and foreign economies; and Strategic planning by U.S. businesses. Survey reporting is mostly conducted on paper forms, which are keypunched by BEA's data conversion contractor and entered into a database system for further analysis. The paper-based systems are slow, prone to error, expensive, and do not comply with Executive Orders requiring expanded use of electronic commerce where feasible. Therefore, in the last year BEA completed several pilot projects to design, develop, and enhance an electronic data collection system called the Automatic Survey Transmission and Retrieval (ASTAR) System. The system automates the BE-577 survey form and the concept of operations can easily be extended for all of BEA's survey forms. The ASTAR system employs a Java applet which runs in a standard web browser and displays an electronic form that is pre-filled with data from prior submissions by the reporting organization. The pre-filled form is encrypted to protect the sensitive information being transmitted and then placed on a BEA Web server for retrieval by the reporting organizations. The organizations are notified of the availability of the form and given individualized passwords to be used during the encryption processes. Once the reporting organizations have retrieved the electronic form and decrypted its contents, they are led through a series of prompts and edits to complete the form. After completing the form, the system re-encrypts the data and transmits it back to BEA for processing by BEA's SQL Server database. Vendors who believe they can meet this requirement are required to submit in writing an affirmative response demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of BEA's electronic survey data collection requirements, as well as demonstrated capabilities in developing electronic survey data collection systems using and integrating the following technologies: Java, Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) 1.2, SQL Server v6.5, SQL Mail processing, Active Server Pages, ColdFusion 4.5, HTML, code authentication and digital signatures, and Java scripting. All written responses must include a written narrative statement of capability, including detailed technical information demonstrating your ability to meet the above requirements. The response must be sufficient to permit agency analysis to establish a bona fide capability to meet the requirements. Failure to submit such documentation will result in the Government proceeding as stated above. A determination by the Government not to open the requirement to competition based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Affirmative written responses must be received no later than 15 days after publication of this synopsis. All information in response to this notification must be submitted in writing to the address contained at the header or faxed to 301-713-0809 to the attention of Joel Perlroth, Contract Specialist. Posted 06/30/00 (W-SN470740). (0182)

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