Attachment 1 SOW for Court Reporting Amendment 3 dtd 6Feb23.docx

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

Requirement Title: COURT REPORTING SERVICES

1. Background

The mission of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is to foster innovation and competitiveness by providing high quality and timely examination of patent and trademark applications, guiding domestic and international intellectual property policy, and delivering intellectual property information and education worldwide.

To accomplish this mission, the Agency must hold hearings, hear appeals, and make decisions on a host of patent-related and non-patent related matters. The handling of these matters must be documented. Multiple business units, including those listed below, across the USPTO support the mission of the Agency.

a) The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) conducts trials, (including inter partes, post- grant, and covered business method patent reviews and derivation proceedings), hears appeals from adverse examiner decisions in patent applications and re-examination proceedings, and renders decisions in interferences.

b) The Office of General Counsel (OGC) acts as the Under Secretary and Director’s principal legal advisor in assuring the provision of legal advice and representation for the agency. The OGC is concerned with defense of agency decisions in court and administrative tribunals, internal agency legal advice, and regulation of persons practicing before the USPTO. OGC is also the delegated authority to hear appeals from decisions in enrollment and discipline matters, and to determine whether special circumstances exist pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 122 for releasing information concerning patent applications.

c) The Office of Policy and International Affairs (OPIA) assists the Under Secretary and Director in advising the President and Federal agencies on domestic and international IP issues. Additionally, it promotes the development of intellectual property systems, nationally and internationally, and advocates improvements in and more effective means of protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights of United States nationals in the United States and throughout the world. OPIA is planning a series of public meetings regarding the protection and enforcement of certain intellectual property rights issues.

d) The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) is an administrative board that hears and decides adversary proceedings between two parties, namely, oppositions (party opposes a mark after publication in the Official Gazette) and cancellations (party seeks to cancel an existing registration). The TTAB also handles interference and concurrent use proceedings, as well as appeals of final refusals issued by USPTO Trademark Examining Attorneys within the course of the prosecution of trademark applications.

e) For planning purposes only, the following general information is provided:

· The average number of hearings per month for PTAB has been approximately 100 per month (approximately 80% virtual and 20% in-person for all categories). These hearings are often highly technical in nature and utilize terms of art that are uncommon in typical court hearings.

· The average number of hearings/trials for the OGC has been 20-30 per year.

· The average number of depositions for the OGC has been 50-60 per year.

· The average number of arbitrations for the OGC has been 6-10 per year.

· The OPIA will host approximately 10 roundtable meetings per year.

· Other offices have miscellaneous requirements for recordation of public hearings, etc.

2. Purpose

To secure professional court reporting services to document hearings, decisions, and other court related proceedings on a host of patent-related matters and non-patent related matters.

3. Scope

The scope of services entails contractor support for all facets of court reporting. The scope of this work includes transcription of “on the record” conversations only. Discussions held during side bars, breaks, and outside of actual depositions, hearings and roundtable meetings are not included. The USPTO reserves the right to order more specialized services such as video recordings of depositions and hearings and any other related service(s) deemed necessary for the particular event.

The Contractor shall furnish the necessary personnel, material, equipment, and services to meet the specifications and timeframes as described below.

The Contractor shall provide both stenography and court reporting services for the USPTO, in-person or virtual, as specified by in each BPA Call by the ordering official or Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The Contractor shall ensure, when applicable, state licenses and/or certification are up-to-date where services are being performed The contract shall be able to provide evidence of such licenses and/or certification within one business day, upon request from the COR or Contracting Officer. The Contractor shall provide a Program Manager as a point of contact for the COR. The Contractor shall be available at dates, times, and locations as scheduled by the COR(s) or ordering official(s).

All transcripts are drafts and not certified as official until the USPTO has certified them to be so, at which time, the USPTO will approve the deliverable for invoicing. All transcripts are the property of the government and the contractor shall not resell them to other parties.

Transcription Services

The Contractor shall provide support services in terms of expertise and professional assistance for the following court reporter activities as detailed here.

a. The Contractor shall transcribe all events, deposition and hearing proceedings verbatim.

b. The Contractor shall create and maintain an electronic dictionary with parts of words, entire words, or terminology specific to the proceeding, program, or event.

c. The Contractor shall have expert knowledge of legal terminology and appellate procedures.

d. The Contractor is responsible for accurate identification of proper names and places.

e. The Contractor shall ensure that the record or testimony is accurate and complete.

f. The Contractor shall attend and support virtual/remote hearings and events as well as telephonic and Video Telecommunication Calls (VTC), as required by the Government.

g. In any instance where the contractor has knowledge that any actual or potential situation may delay or threaten to delay the timely performance of this contract, the contractor shall immediately notify the Contracting Officer (CO). This notice shall include all relevant information and corrective actions that are being taken. The Government reserves the right to hold the contractor fully accountable for problems incurred as a result of such delays, including denial of delivery time extensions, if such notification is not provided.

h. If after notice of a proposed hearing, the Contractor does not appear at the time and place specified for the hearing, the Contracting Officer (CO) will hold the contractor responsible for finding a substitute for the hearing. The Contractor may be responsible for the reimbursement to the USPTO for any expenses over and above that which would have been incurred if the Contractor had performed in accordance with this Statement of Work. The Government may deduct such expenses from any other sums due or that may become due the Contractor.

i. The Contractor shall be fully responsible for loss or damage to materials associated with an assignment while in the contractor’s care and custody. The contractor shall keep accurate records of the materials picked up from the government or received from a claimant associated with a hearing or claim. The records shall include a list of materials, the status of the assignment, and the case number assigned by the government.

j. The Contractor shall comply with USPTO’s reporting requirements as defined under Deliverables Section.

k. No Government equipment will be provided. The contractor will be required to provide all necessary equipment to complete the requirements. In some instances, when other virtual meeting platforms are being used, i.e. ZOOM, the vendor (if it has access to such), may be asked to host the deposition, hearing, and/or meeting utilizing their virtual platform if it complies with USPTO IT standards.

4. Period of Performance

The period of performance (PoP) consists of a base year and four (4) option years.

5. Place of Performance

The following locations (regions) where depositions, hearings, and proceedings typically occur are:

1. Washington, DC Metropolitan Region (D.C., Maryland, Virginia (DMV)):

USPTO

Madison Building 600 Dulany Street Alexandria, VA 22314

2. Detriot , TX Metropolitan Region:

USPTO, Midwest Regional Office 300 River Place South, Suite 2900 Detroit, MI 48207

3. San Jose and Menlo Park, CA Metropolitan Region:

USPTO, Silicon Valley Office 345 Middlefield Road Building One, Second Floor Menlo Park, CA 94025

4. Denver, CO Metropolitan Region:

USPTO, Rocky Mountain Regional Office 1961 Stout Street Denver, CO 80294

5. Dallas, TX Metropolitan Region:

USPTO, Texas Regional Office Terminal Annex Federal Building 207 S. Houston Street Dallas, TX 75202

Furthermore, contract performance may be required at locations within the Washington D.C. Metro area (DMV) and continental United States as required by opposing counsel or administrative law judges. As travel is not reimbursed under this award, if a BPA holder must decline a call in a location where they are unable to provide a reporter, a minimum of three days advance notice will be required. Contractor shall be able to provide services in all areas of the Continental US.

6. Scheduling

Whenever possible, the USPTO will notify the Contractor of the requirement for attendance at a deposition or hearing no later than two (2) business days for virtual and five (5) business days for in person before the scheduled session. Each request will set forth the date, place, time of the session, and any additional information that may assist the reporter. The Contractor shall send an email to the designated ordering official confirming that all hearings/depositions have been booked with court reporters. For the purpose of notification, the business day will end at 5pm.

The Contractor shall contact the designated ordering official and provide final confirmation of the court reporter by two (2) business days before scheduled session and provide the name of the court reporter that will be performing the service.

In some instances, arbitrations, depositions, and hearings may be cancelled or waived as agreed upon between both parties. There may also be rare instances where short-notice is required to request court reporter services and/or extend the length of arbitrations, depositions, and hearings. Short notice is defined as scheduling request made the business day prior or the same day in which the reporter is needed.

7. Ordering Procedures

Ordering Procedures shall be in accordance with the Contractor’s proposal, as negotiated and agreed upon.

8. Cancellation

Services may be cancelled by the USPTO at any time up to 24 hours prior to the scheduled hearing without a cancellation fee being incurred. If a notice of cancellation of a hearing and/or deposition is not received by the Contractor, from the Government, prior to 48 hours the business day proceeding the day of the schedule hearing, the Contractor shall be reimbursed a cancellation fee. This charge may be applied only once per location site, per day, when all hearings scheduled for that site have been cancelled.

9. Deliverables

Unless otherwise stated, transcripts of depositions and/or hearing shall be delivered within the timeframe(s) set forth below.

a. Hearing Documents The designated ordering official may request the Contractor to submit one (1) or more soft copies of the transcripts (in proper format) attached to an email (Microsoft Office 2010 version or later), and/or one or more hard copies via regular or expedited mail.

All documents shall be prepared, proofread, quality checked, and delivered within the specified timeframe (one (1), two (2), five (5) or seven (7) business days) as requested by the designated ordering official. Additional compensation will not be provided to the Contractor for early deliveries.

Transcripts shall be prepared in accordance with the guidance provided in Attachment (1) and the sample templates in Attachments (2-3) of this document. Transcript formatting is at the discretion of the USPTO business unit and will not be altered by the Contractor. Improperly formatted documents will not be accepted.

The Contractor shall submit recordings to the designated ordering official, as required.

b. Corrected Documents The Government will request from the Contractor, at no additional cost, corrected documents when errors are discovered. The designated ordering official may request the Contractor to submit one (1) or more soft copies of the transcripts (in proper format) attached to an email (Microsoft Office 2013 version or later), and/or one or more hard copies via regular or expedited mail, which accurately reflect the full and complete verbatim record of the proceeding where errors attributed to the contractor’s performance appear in the transcript (i.e., those which can obscure the meaning of the testimony, but not including typographical errors or misspelling, if the intended meaning is clearly evident, such as “thier” for “their” or “teh” for “the” etc.) the government may require the contractor to immediately correct such errors and furnish the corrected transcript within two (2) business days after receipt of notification and without additional cost to the government. The government also reserves the right to request audio of the proceeding when errors are identified, which shall be provided within 3 business days of request.

c. Re-Hearing/Documents Should the contractor cause the government to re-hear any case or hearing or other proceeding, the designated ordering official may request the Contractor to submit the audio recording of the proceeding, in addition to one (1) or more soft copies of the transcripts (in proper format) attached to an email (Microsoft Office 2013 version or later), one (1) or more hard copy, and/or both at no cost to the government. All documents shall be prepared, proofread, quality checked, and delivered by close of business (COB) five (5) business days after the hearing to the designated ordering official.

In addition, the contractor shall be liable for all government expenses, claimant expenses and attorney fees incidental to the re-hearing. Although not a comprehensive list of examples, causes for re-hearings may include:

d. Kick Off Meeting- Within two weeks of award; virtual/remote.

The Government will host the kick-off meeting. The purpose of the meeting to introduce points of contacts from the Government and Contractor. The Government will go over the contract requirements and will answer questions presented by the Contractor. Five days after the kick-off meeting, the Contractor shall provide a list of their points of contacts.

e. Monthly Status Report.

The contractor shall provide to the COR, by the 10th of the month, a monthly status report for the previous month, via email. The report shall contain the following data:

Quality Control Plan (QCP)

The contractor shall include a detailed description of its surveillance and inspection system and how those surveillance and inspection systems will ensure services are performed in accordance with the performance objectives identified within this BPA and identify procedures to ensure complete, accurate, and security of legal record(s). The plan should also include provisions for any necessary remedial action plans.

10.

Performance Standards

The COR, in conjunction with feedback from the authorized ordering official(s), will monitor performance in accordance with the Supplies/Services and Prices section of the BPA, and as summarized in the table below:

Inspection

Inspection

Inspection

Inspection

Inspection

11. BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION

Background investigations and fingerprinting must be conducted and favorably adjudicated for each contract employee prior to commencing work. Contract employee(s) must make an appointment with USPTO’s Office of Security and Safety to start background investigation and fingerprint check prior to receiving photo ID badge.

The Awardee shall furnish USPTO’s Office of Security and Safety, via encrypted email, with the following information to obtain a photo ID badge for all contract employees who will be assigned regularly to this contract:

1) Contract Name and Number and Expiration Date

2) Company Name

3) Name of Individuals

4) Date of Birth

5) Place of Birth

6) Last 5 Digits of Social Security Number

12. METRICS & REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

1) The Contractor will be required to provide monthly metrics to the COR, using Attachment 6, Vendor Metrics Report Template. Required data will include, but is not limited to: company’s name, BPA call order number, provided service info: date, time, location, support type (in person/virtual), litigation type and number, deliverable due date, hours of audio transcribed, and potential barriers to audio quality.

2) All orders filled under the BPA shall be tracked and recorded on delivery tickets monthly that shall contain the following information:

a. Name of Contractor, invoice number and invoice date.

b. BPA Number

c. Date of Order

d. Job Number and Title

e. Itemized list of services furnished

f. Quantity, unit price, and extension of each item, less applicable discounts

g. Date of Order Fulfillment

13. DEFINITIONS

· “in-person” refers to the transcriber physically sitting in the trial, deposition, hearing, and/or meeting.

· “digital recording” refers to the transcriber using a recording device only, at the time of the proceeding, and transcribing later.

· “virtual reporting” refers to the transcriber being offsite – performing the work remotely - not physically sitting in the trial, deposition, hearing, and/or meeting.

· Full day = 8 hours

· Half day = 4 hours

Form # USPTO-OP-020 (08/2020) Page 1 of 7 image1.png