70 -- MULTI-LINE OPTICAL CHARACTER READER MAIL SORTER FOR HOUSE MAIL OPERATIONS

Notice Date

July 24, 2001

Contracting Office

Chief Administrative Office, Office of Procurement, Ford House Office Building, Room 359, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515

ZIP Code

20515

Solicitation Number

RHSS2001064

Response Due

August 22, 2001

Point of Contact

George Bath, Procurement Director, 202-226-2523

E-Mail Address

Click here to send questions via email to the CO (OPPS@mail.house.gov)

Description

The House of Representatives seeks to purchase a new Multi-Line Optical Character Reader (MLOCR) mail sorter with state-of-the-art functions and capabilities. The House has unique inbound mail sorting and outgoing mail postage tabulation requirements. As a minimum, any solution the House purchases must address the areas of advanced character recognition, multi-class mail processing (First, Standard, inbound), postage charge-back, and letter sorting. It also must be upgradable in order to remain up-to-date for the foreseeable future. Hardware, software, and training support must be available for the life of the equipment. The current MLOCR is a Bell & Howell Jetstar 3000 purchased in 1991 with a 1998 ATR camera upgrade. This model has been superseded and critical parts availability is difficult. This equipment is used to sort inbound letter mail, prepare outgoing official letter mail for discounts in conjunction with FASTforward, and tabulate postage expenses for Members of Congress. Equipment purchased under this procurement must process all the incoming and outgoing mail within the time constraints imposed by the House of Representatives' schedule and the existing mail delivery schedule. The House is seeking much improved character recognition capabilities over the current equipment. Even though the current mail sorter was fitted with an ATR camera enhancement, character recognition is difficult with inbound mail, due to the great variety of fonts used across the country. The House seeks equipment that correctly interprets current and future addressing "standards." The House is very interested in equipment with the capability to correctly handle/sort hand-written mail, so long as that function does not degrade the overall performance of the machine. About 20% of inbound letter mail is hand addressed. A proposal should include the cost of, as well as performance specifications for, the option to read and sort hand-written mail. In CY 2000, the House received 10.7 million letters from the U.S. Postal Service. Only 25% of the letters were processed on its MLOCR and of that, only 45% was actually sorted to delivery routes. The House wishes to greatly increase these percentages through better equipment, and shorten the processing time required for constituent mail to reach a congressional office. Constituents and other mailers often use an incorrect room number or zip+4. Unlike some institutions, the House does not employ, nor would it be able to introduce, a routing or office code to be used by its correspondents as an aid to sortation.

Web Link

Click here to go to the Office of Procurement site (http://www.house.gov/cao-opp/currentsol.htm)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20010726/70SOL006.HTM (W-205 SN50S7T3)