Social Security Administration, Deputy Commissioner for Finance, Assessment and Management, Office of Acquisition and Grants, 1710 Gwynn Oak Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21207-5279

70 -- INTERNET/INTRANET SEARCH ENGINE SOFTWARE SOL Reference-Number-072600 DUE 080800 POC Jerry Burton, Contract Specialist, Phone 4109659487, Fax 4109659560, Email jerry.burton@ssa.gov -- Jerry Burton, Contract Specialist, Phone 4109659487, Fax 4109659560, Email jerry.burton@ssa.gov WEB: Visit this URL for the latest information about this, http://www2.eps.gov/cgi-bin/WebObjects/EPS?ACode=R&ProjID=Reference-Number-072600&LocID=2422. E-MAIL: Jerry Burton, jerry.burton@ssa.gov. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is interested in obtaining information from vendors who can provide Internet/Intranet Search Engine Software, Maintenance and Support. The software will reside on a Sun Enterprise 450 Ultra server, which will be provided as Government Furnished Equipment (GFE). At a minimum, the portal/search engine must provide the Results, Search, Index, Security, and Administration/Configuration functionality described below: RESULTS -- obtain precise results in a timely manner; a search across gigabytes of data should produce results within seconds even when searching across disparate sources and disparate formats -- allow search navigation facilities including clustering, relevancy ranking, automated document summarization and query by example -- allow user to customize the display of search results by using a variety of ranking options such as date or relevancy -- allow user to customize the results as to sort order, number of records returned per page, etc.—automatically monitor documents and alert users of changes in or updates to predefined profiles -- provide automatic delivery of content for user notification when new information from a specific source becomes available -- provide knowledge application tools that enable users to identify most frequently sought references for a given source -- results should be returned in a format that maximizes the ability to cut and paste into MS Word and Word Perfect documents so that quotation marks, section symbols, footnotes, and formatting such as underlining, bold, and centering are retained. -- provide clear, meaningful end-user _help_, error messages, and an on-line tutorial -- provide automatic highlighting of search terms and linguistic and thesaurus equivalents -- results should contain the document title or file name, date and byte size, an extract of the document, a link to the document, and where that document resides SEARCH -- provide various search and query capabilities including key word, query by example, natural language query, and spelling error override -- use a combination of natural language in various tense and form, Boolean commands or proximity operators within a single query -- search against multiple formats across many servers, including CD-ROM_s simultaneously (ability to operate in a distributed, multi-host environment) and merge the results into a single list that provides the best matches first -- allow the user to selectively search either all or specific repositories of information -- provide field search capabilities to navigate quickly through pre-defined document attributes -- allow advanced query expansion and thesaurus expansion -- allow custom thesaurus creation -- must have a search interface that is fully customizable to allow various groups the searching options that best fit their needs -- provide Alpha/Numeric type search of instructional sets -- span multiple servers, both NT and Unix, with one key word search -- search a collection of complex research material -- consolidate information repositories (both multiple repositories and/or the repositories themselves) to enable searches across a broad range of enterprise data and maintain its own index stored apart from the documents -- search products index user-definable fields (i.e., author, title, and date) -- support the Bayesian inferencing network that combines multiple source calculations involving the frequency of the appearance of specific terms within a specific context to determine a relevancy score -- ability to capture queries and search results to create a subset of information to be searched -- allow fuzzy search capability -- allow browsing on any platform-specific documents without the original application INDEX -- update indexes automatically with an option for manual indexing -- allow document indexing, classification and retrieval to make simultaneous use of full text and metadata search -- understand and correctly index a large variety of formats including but not limited to html, sgml, gif, tiff, bmp, cgm, jpeg, pdf, xml, Lotus notes, Lotus 1-2-3, e-mail formats, Microsoft Office, news feeds, ODBC databases, Word Perfect, various graphic and video files, as well as other industry standard formats -- establish personal and/or group user indexing so user can search his or her hard drive or local server and index their own work product -- automatically index any website into a searchable collection or index to provide SSA_s public users with an information domain of related information located at other websites across the Internet and Intranet -- allow indexing on multiple domains, run multiple indexing jobs against different collections, schedule automatic indexing tasks on a regular basis, and provide user authentication during indexing -- provide online incremental indexing so only new, updated or deleted documents require index changes -- provide knowledge application tools and enhancement navigation -- provide spidering capability to at least 20 servers SECURITY -- provide assurance that documents can be kept secure, not accessible by other components -- limit access to certain documents to certain employees ADMINISTRATION/CONFIGURATION -- allow easy configuration with Netscape Enterprise Server (Internet Web Server software) and Microsoft Internet Information Server (Intranet Web Server software), and Lotus Domino Enterprise Server (Web Collaboration Server software) -- have plug-and-play designed to allow additional functions and components to be added at any time. -- administration must be relatively simple and allow organization and integration of documents contained within the Agency_s Internet and Intranet web servers -- run centrally on the SUN Solaris Operating System and not need a client workstation piece -- include full documentation and technical support which includes documentation for specifying results and document presentation -- provide a User friendly interface that is both flexible and powerful -- be fully scalable -- allow administration from any browser -- provide plain English interface -- fully compatible with the NT 4.0 platform, all popular UNIX platforms, and Microsoft and Netscape browsers -- provide support for Microsoft_s ODBC and Solaris_ Intersolv DataDirect Connect -- Web servers support must include Netscape, Lotus Domino and Microsoft IIS -- wizard driven installation to ensure quick and easy implementation -- adhere to Accessibility Compliance with American Disabilities Act -- ability to complete all search functions in Spanish provide a platform to easily manage large and complex information environments on the Intranet/Internet The contractor must also provide installation and integration support to incorporate the software into SSA_s internet/intranet environment and must also provide on-site (Baltimore, MD) support for a minimum of 120 days while SSA personnel become familiar with the software provided. Since SSA_s environment is highly volatile, we anticipate expanding our use of the designated product as more new applications are developed. Since the number of servers, as well as the number of processors on each server, may vary widely, SSA is intends to pursue an enterprise (SSA-Wide) license once the product has proven itself satisfactory to our growing needs. Any vendor possessing the requisite expertise and resources is invited to submit information concerning their capabilities, experience (including current customer contact names and phone numbers), and other pertinent data (including GSA contract and enterprise license information) within 15 calendar days from the date of this publication. Any literature, or information submitted as a response to this notice, must contain enough information attesting to the capability of a product to meet SSA's requirements. This is not a request for proposal and the Government does not intend to pay for any information provided. While receipt of responses will not be acknowledged, information submitted will be used to broaden SSA's awareness of available products/solutions. When responding (by hand delivery or electronic delivery) to this announcement, respondents should refer to Search Engine Software. Posted 07/26/00 (D-SN479058). (0208)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0308 20000728\70-0012.SOL)

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