Attachment J4-030ADV25R0036 Questions Answers 7-1-25 FINAL.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 19 KB Posted
- Attached to
- Synthetic DNA Data Storage- Library of Congress
- Solicitation number
- 030ADV25R0036
- Issued by
-
Library of Congress
About this file
The document is a Questions and Answers file for the Library of Congress (LOC) Synthetic DNA Data Storage solicitation (030ADV25R0036), providing clarifications on various aspects of the contract opportunity. Key details include the LOC seeking to explore DNA data storage for digital preservation, with specific requirements to encode 1.5GB of diverse digital data (video, audio, text, images) onto synthetic DNA, validate the writing process, document technical findings, and demonstrate data recall capabilities. The project will include a ceremonial storage component in connection with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The solicitation follows a two-step evaluation process, with Phase 1 focusing on corporate experience and understanding of requirements, due by June 20, 2025, at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. It is a firm-fixed-price contract with no incumbent, and the LOC will select a single awardee who can fulfill all requirements, potentially using subcontractors. The government retains all rights to data and intellectual property produced during the contract. Offerors must submit two completed projects similar in scope from the past five years, and the LOC will only pay for deliverables upon receipt and acceptance. Importantly, the contract is classified as a commercial product/service under FAR 13.5 and is not considered a research project.
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Other files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| 030ADV25R0036 0002.pdf | ||
| RFQ 030ADV25R0036 0001.pdf | ||
| Attachment J4-030ADV25R0036 Questions Answers 6-17-25.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attachment J1- Example Project Management Plan Template.doc | DOC document | |
| RFP 030ADV25R0036 FINAL.pdf | ||
| Attachment J2- Example Ceremonial Storage Vessels.docx | DOCX document | |
| Attachment J4 - 030ADV25R0036 Questions Template.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attachment J3- Example Price Proposal.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet |
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Questions
| Catalog Technologies Inc. - Questions and Clarifications for 030ADV25R0036 - LOC Synthetic DNA Data Storage | |||||
| Question # | Page # | Section Number | Reference Text | Questions or Other Observations | Library of Congress Response |
| 1 | N/A | N/A | General | Is there an incumbent? | No, this is the first time the Library is seeking these requirements. |
| 2 | N/A | N/A | General | Can the LOC share their budget for this requirement? | No, the LOC is unable to share their budget for this requirements. |
| 3 | 6 | 4.2.2.2 | The contractor must validate that the DNA containing the Library’s data is stored within the permanent storage solution. The LOC staff must be able to confirm validation for acceptance purposes. | What form of validation, as described here, is acceptable to the Library? | The LOC must be reasonably assured that the contents within the storage solution are what has been described by the contractor. The contractor may be creative about forming this solution. For example, a duplicate dataset stored within a permanent solution may be sequenced and processed with observation from the LOC point of contact. |
| 4 | 9 | 4.2.6.2 | Retrieve the requested data from the dataset in its entirety at least once per phase. | What phases are this point referring to? | This is referring to the option described in Section L.2.3 "Solicitation Note", which gives offerers the option to use a phased approach to complete the processesing of the 1.5GB dataset. There could feasibly be one "phase," depending on the offerer's project plan. The central goal of this objective is to retrieve 100% of the 1.5GB dataset that is sequenced, report on any/all errors that occur, and provide the data back to the LOC. |
| 5 | 11 | C.7, 7.1.1 | The Government retains the rights to all data provided, synthesized and created from this contract. Such rights include, but are not limited to, copyright and all other intellectual property rights in the synthetic DNA sequence The Government reserves the right to publish and distribute data to outside entities following the conclusion of this contract. The Contractor shall forfeit all ability to claim any copyright data from this contract. | Please clarify in this paragraph: |
a) What is the term "data" referring to?
b) What is meant when referring to "the synthetic DNA sequence"?
We expect vendors will consider parts of the sequences produced to be proprietary. Whilst the LOC would own the full DNA sample produced, "owning" the sequence itself - including the copyright and IP within it - is confusing terminology.
a) "Data" refers not only to the dataset that is stored on the synthetic DNA, but also the data provided in any reports that were delivered to the LOC as part of this contract.
b) The intent of this language was to ensure that the contractor understands that once any synthetic DNA or formal reports have been transferred to the LOC, the LOC has the right to provide this to any other entity in the future for processing. A critical aspect of this feasibility study is analyzing the future-proofing, and this includes readdressing this 1.5GB dataset outside of the period of performance of this initial contract. It is crucial in LOC's analysis of DNA data storage's feasibility that the data is universally recoverable, and the LOC may decide to test this in the future.
| 6 | 9 | 4.2.6.4 | Process data with a maximum retrieval size consistent with the size of the provided dataset. In this case, 1.5GB. Smaller scale retrieval, in the KB scale, will also be necessary to assess the capabilities of the technology (see 4.2.4.1.). | Please provide clarification on if the request is for the full 1.5 GB library to be sequenced in its entirety. We anticipate this being a major cost driver. | The LOC requires the full 1.5GB library to be sequenced, however all 1.5GB does not need to be sequenced all at once, offerors may proposed a phased approach to providing all 1.5GB of data required. The contractor will be provided a variety of file sizes and types, and the LOC must see the contractor's capabilities in processing these. The LOC must be provided any errored data that is retrieved in order to begin making determinations on the feasibility of DNA data storage for the LOC's use-case. Without seeing the end-to-end process on the full dataset, it will not be possible for the LOC to fully determine DNA data storage's feasibility. | |
| 7 | 14 | F2.2 / C.7, 7.2 | All work for this contract shall take place at the contractor’s facilities. All work on this contract shall be completed in a virtual environment. | |||
| The work under the contract will be performed at the Contractor’s Facility. | When specifying "at contractor's facilities" is this including any additional facilities belonging to subcontractors and/or partner organisations that may be involved in the execution of this contract? | |||||
| Please clarify meaning of "virtual environment". | Yes, this is inclusive of any subcontractor and/or partner organizations' facilities. No work will be completed in U.S. Government facilities. The "virtual environment" is referring to the means in which the contractor will be primarily interacting with the LOC. Meaning, the contractor must be capable of utilizing virtual tools while performing a majority of the reporting, meetings, etc. | |||||
| 8 | 50 | L.2.2 | When subcontracting arrangements are proposed, an additional minimum of two (2) corporate experience projects for each subcontractor proposed must be submitted. Subcontractor narratives for each corporate experience project shall not exceed two pages in length and the full subcontractor corporate experience examples for each subcontractor proposed shall not exceed four pages in length. Subcontractor Corporate Experience examples must contain the same information listed above for their examples. | How would the LOC classify a subcontractor in contrast to a supplier? | A supplier would not provide any processesing for the prime contractor. For example, if the prime contractor purchased a PCR system from a vendor and utilize it themselves, the vendor would be considered a supplier. In contrast, a subcontractor will do work to supplement any gaps the prime contractor may have in their organic capabilities. For example, if the prime contractor required PCR processing to replicate any DNA and paid a vendor to complete this process for them, that vendor would be considered a subcontractor. | |
| 9 | 8 | C.4.2.4.2 | Work with the Library to select appropriate vessels for the ceremonial storage of a small subset of the data. | What is the maximum amount of data that will be stored in the ceremonial vials? | 1.1GB maximum. | |
| 10 | N/A | N/A | General | Should offerors be proposing to address all objectives listed in the RFP, or would it be acceptable to address only portions? For example, would it be acceptable to propose solutions to only the search portion of the RFP, or just the synthesis portion of the RFP? | To clarify proposals provided in response to the subject opportunity need to address the fulfillment of all the RFP requirements/objectives. If offerors are unable to fulfill all requirements, they should not respond with only partial requirements/objectives fulfillment. Please note that Sub-Contracting arrangements are acceptable, and it is the responsibility of offerors to find partners to fulfill all requirements prior to submitting proposals. | |
| 11 | N/A | N/A | General | Will it be allowed to add new partners to an applicant team after the Phase I submission? | Yes, this is possible provided the offerer includes the requisite information describing the capabilities of any new additions. | |
| 12 | N/A | N/A | General | Is there a specific range for total budget/project cost that is acceptable? | The LOC is unable to share their budget for this requirements. | |
| 13 | N/A | N/A | General | Is the project considered commercial or research project? Question is formed due to some licences available for resarch purpose, not commercial. And in order to use them would need to use licensing for commercial purposes. | In Section L it is stated “This procurement is being sought under FAR 13.5 Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Products and Commercial Services.” These objectives listed in the opportunity are not considered research; rather, the LOC is looking to execute the objectives with encoding and decoding the data and the LOC will then examine the results internally as to long term feasibility of the usage of synthetic DNA as a storage mechanism for data. | |
| 14 | N/A | N/A | General | Will there be one award or multiple awards? If multiple how many? | This is not a multi-contractor award; one awardee will be chosen but the awardee may have subcontractors. | |
| 15 | N/A | N/A | General | Will LoC choose the lowest bidder or will there be other considerations? | Award consideration factors are listed in section L& M of the solicitation, it does not state that award will be given to the lowest priced offeror. | |
| 16 | 50 | L.2.2 | Offerors must submit descriptions of 2 completed and/or ongoing projects/contracts performed in the past five (5) years....Submitted projects/ contracts shall be similar in scope to the services required by the Statement of Objectives (SOO) as listed in Section C.3. | This requirement seems to preclude a new player, who has never done this before but is intending to do so, participating in this RFP, is this assumption correct. | Quotes must display a proven ability to provide the requirements of the SOO, this includes examples of work, please note that offerors may quote with subcontractors to fulfill all requirements. Meaning that experience and skillsets indicating the ability to fulfill objectives may be fulfilled by a contractor and subcontractors. | |
| 17 | N/A | N/A | General | How will funds be dispersed in this process? Is it possible that some funds can be dispersed in advance of, or in parallel with, development? | The government will only pay for deliverables upon reciept and acceptance. Offerors should propose a payment schedule and schedule for deliverables in a way to cover expenses,but advanced payments or parallel payments will not be made. | |
| 4 | B.1 | B.1 LC52.216-3 CONTRACT TYPE (JUN 2016) | ||||
| This is a Firm-Fixed-Price contract. | Would the LOC consider accepting a Cost Plus Fixed Fee proposal instead of Firm Fixed Price? | No, the government will only consider a firm fixed price contract. | ||||
| 5 | 11 | "C.7, 7.1.1 The Government retains the rights to all data provided, synthesized and created from this contract. Such rights include, but are not limited to, copyright and all other intellectual property rights in the synthetic DNA sequence The Government reserves the right to publish and distribute data to outside entities following the conclusion of this contract. The Contractor shall forfeit all ability to claim any copyright data from this contract." | Would the LOC consider allowing the Contractor to retain ownership of works of authorship (i.e., technical reports), as long as the LOC is granted a fully paid up, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use the Contractor's copyright? | No, the LOC is not willing to assign copyright to another entity, however please see updates to Rights in Data Clauses added in solictation amendment 0002. | ||
| N/A | N/A | General | Would the terms of the contract allow for the protection of Contractor/Subcontractor's Background IP? | The contractor is not required to provide details on proprietary methods/ processes in technical report/ deliverables. The intention of technical reports is to provide an overview of methods used in the encding and decoding of the data provided. The LOC will not share vendor identified (and LOC agreed upon) proprietary information with the Public or provide agreed upon proprietary information in future contracts related to requirements. | ||
| 52 | L.2.5 | Submission Instructions for Volume IV: Solicitation Acknowledgement | May the offeror include a statement of exceptions or modifications to specific terms or clauses by providing, for example, a cover letter, a statement in the technical volume, a brief statement on the SF-1449, or other such method? | Yes. However, the Government has the ability to accept or reject any exceptions to modifications, depending on if term or clauses are driven by law or the best interest of the Library. Exceptions to material terms will render an offer unacceptable as a matter of law. |
&P of &N Attachment J2 - 030ADV25R0036 Questions Answers 7-1-25 07/01/2025
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