R -- INDEPENDENT STUDY OF DIGITAL ARCHIVING AND THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

Notice Date

November 6, 2001

Contracting Office

National Archives and Records Administration, NAA, Acquisition Center, 8601 Adelphi Road, Room 3360, College Park, MD, 20740-6001

ZIP Code

20740-6001

Solicitation Number

NAMA-02-R-0001

Response Due

November 26, 2001

Point of Contact

Brigette Stewart, Contract Specialist, Phone (301) 713-6755 xt 269, Fax (301) 713-6910, Email brigette.stewart@nara.gov

Description

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) intends to issue a sole source contract to the National Academy of Sciences to conduct an independent study of a mission critical need to acquire the capability to accession, manage, preserve and provide access to permanently valuable federal, presidential and congressional records created in electronic form. This required capability is beyond the state of the art of information technology and, in some respects, even beyond the state of computer and information science. Working with leading federal agencies in the area of information technology research and development, such as the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Army Research Laboratory, NARA has established research collaborations to address the shortfall between its mission needs and currently available technology and to delineate a pathway that will enable NARA to continue to respond to the evolving challenge of information technology and resultant electronic records indefinitely into the future. This research has produced some very promising results, specifically in proposed information management architecture for preservation of digital collections. This architecture promises to provide a durable foundation for digital preservation that not only can carry today?s electronic records forward into the future, but also is designed to adapt to continuously evolving information technology and to accommodate unpredictable forms of electronic records that will be created using future technologies. Before proceeding to develop solutions based on these research results, NARA needs a competent, unbiased evaluation of the technical merits of the proposed information architecture and of a range of critical questions that arise in the content of long-term planning for the Electronic Records Archives. NARA does not have internal capability to undertake such an evaluation of advanced, high-performance computational infrastructure. The value of such an unbiased review to NARA is, in a very important sense, inestimable. The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by Congress, under 36 U.S.C 253, as a noncompetitive source of scientific research and policy advice to the Government. This special status and relationship with the Government was amended by President Wilson in E.O. 2859, May 11, 1918, and reaffirmed by President Eisenhower in E.O. 10668. May 10, 1956, and by President Bush in E.O. 12832, January 19, 1993. The period of performance is from the date of contract award for one (1) base year and one (1) option year. All responsible sources able to provide this service are invited to identify their interest and ability to meet this requirement by submitting a response to include technical capability, pricing data and other information which shows a bona fide ability to meet this requirement within 15 calendar days of this notice. No contract award will be made on the basis of quotations/proposals or other information received in response to this notice. A request for solicitation document will not be considered an affirmative response to this notice. All responsible offerors will be considered.

Web Link

Visit this URL for the latest information about this (http://www.eps.gov/spg/NARA/NAA/AC/NAMA-02-R-0001/listing.html)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20011108/RSOL007.HTM (D-310 SN5124I3)