D -- JOINT VENTURE PARTNER(S) TO DEVELOP, HOST AND MAINTAIN NEXT GENERATION VERSION OF NTIS' ONLINE NEWS SERVICE, WORLD NEWS CONNECTION? (WNC)

Notice Date

June 25, 2001

Contracting Office

Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Acquisition and Logistics Division, 100 Bureau Drive, Building 301, Room B129, Mail Stop 3571, Gaithersburg, MD, 20899-3571

ZIP Code

20899-3571

Description

This is a Request for Information (RFI). The United States Department of Commerce, National Technical Information Service (NTIS) is looking for a joint venture partner(s) to develop, host and maintain the next generation version of NTIS' online news service, World News Connection (WNC). As a fee-recovery government agency, NTIS serves as the nation's largest central source and primary disseminator of scientific, technical, engineering and related business information produced by or for the U.S. government and worldwide sources. The business opportunities described in this notice will require investments by prospective partners and yield a revenue sharing opportunity. The revenue to be shared is derived from sales of subscriptions to the online service. NTIS enters into joint venture partnerships in accordance with the authority granted to NTIS (15 U.S.C. 3704b) and in accordance with the guidelines published in the June 13, 1989, Federal Register. The guiding principle of joint ventures is that they do not involve procurements using government funds, but all the partners share the risk and revenue. BACKGROUND: World News Connection is a full text, online news service compiled by intelligence experts from the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS). NTIS began offering online access to the commercial version in 1995. Prior to this date, NTIS distributed paper copy versions to subscribers. WNC is comprised of thousands of articles translated into English (unless they are already in English) from newspapers, speeches, TV and radio broadcasts, books, reports, and gray literature from foreign sources. This allows a customer to monitor economic, political, regulatory, and market conditions worldwide. New information is available within 24 to 72 hours from the time of original publication or broadcast. As of May 1, 2001, there are approximately 1,340,000 articles available to search. CURRENT PRODUCT DESCRIPTION: NTIS loads approximately 800 new articles into the database every government business day. WNC subscribers can conduct unlimited interactive searches on the database. For examples of these searches, see the WNC web site, http://wnc.fedworld.gov . For an additional fee, WNC subscribers have the ability to set up automated searches known as profiles. This service provides copies of articles via e-mail using the selection criteria set up by the customer. As NTIS enters into new copyright agreements with news organizations covered by FBIS, articles from these organizations are added to WNC. NTIS pays royalties quarterly to these organizations based on usage of their articles. See the above WNC web site for a list of sources. DISTRIBUTION AND SALES HISTORY: NTIS is the only commercial distributor of WNC and provides customers the option of subscribing to individual or networked accounts with access ranging from 1 to 25 simultaneous users. For examples of subscription plans, see the above WNC web site. WNC customers are primarily affiliated with universities around the world. In addition, information from WNC is subleased to five companies that make it available commercially. COMPANY PROFILE AND EXPERIENCE: NTIS is looking for a partner to re-launch the next generation of WNC who will enhance the search capabilities for WNC and broaden the base of subscribers. Please submit the following information: 1. A company profile describing the type of business you are in, your major products and/or services, the number of years in business, the type of company (i.e., public, private), the clientele served, and size of the company; 2. A description of your technical capabilities and experience with web-hosting full text databases; 3. A description of your experience and ability to provide a high degree of flexible and accurate searching across an entire information collection composed of varied file types. Include specifics on search engine capabilities and user interface; 4. A description of your ability to account for the usage of the contents through a royalty tracking system; 5. A description of your ability to maintain access to the contents once entered into the database. While it is required for the partner to address the aspects listed above, you may also wish to describe your capabilities in these areas: 1. Marketing; and 2. Customer Service. Interested parties should address capabilities as outlined above and send three copies of their response to Ms. Nancy Collins at: NTIS, 5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161. NTIS will accept responses reflecting individual or collaborative approaches. The responses will enable NTIS to determine the feasibility of entering into a joint venture. If you have any questions, please send them to Nancy Collins by e-mail at NCollins@ntis.gov or by fax at (703) 605-6742.

Web Link

Visit this URL for the latest information about this (http://www.eps.gov/spg/DOC/NIST/AcAsD/01-990-WNC/listing.html)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010627/SPMSC022.HTM (D-175 SN50P8X7)