Attachment_1_-_CMR_SOW2023-Final_8-3-2023.pdf

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO SUPPORT COLLECTION MAINTENANCE AND REFORMATTING

ACTIVITIES

Statement of Work

August 3, 2023

I. General Information

A. Scope of Work

The contractor shall provide a range of library services that the National Library of Medicine

(NLM) needs to properly maintain its collections and reformat collection materials to preserve them and make them accessible to the public.

The selected contractor shall have subject matter expertise in project management;

professional librarian services; shelving and re‐shelving collection items; retrieving library materials for use by patrons; preparing and shipping items for commercial binding and reviewing newly bound volumes; maintaining collections; reformatting collection materials; and using a library services platform, currently Alma, in conjunction with these activities.

B. Background Information

The NLM mission is to enable biomedical research, support health care and public health, and promote healthy behavior by acquiring, organizing, preserving, and providing free online access to scholarly biomedical literature from around the world. To support its mission, the Library assembled one of the largest collections of biomedical literature in the world and continues to collect in some forty biomedical areas. In total, NLM collections contain approximately 30 million print and non‐print items currently located on three levels of Building 38 as well as offsite storage locations. The requirements of this procurement are to maintain the NLM collections, ensure that materials are housed appropriately, and assist NLM in reformatting collection items. This work is necessary to support the NLM mission to provide access to its collections whether online through the NLM’s Digital Collections or PubMed Central, through interlibrary loan, or by servicing patrons who use the collections on site. Library Operations (LO) is responsible for managing and making NLM collections accessible. LO is undergoing a reorganization and while the work of this contract will continue uninterrupted, the Divisions, Sections, and Units that carry out the work will undergo restructuring in 2024.

(https://www.nlm.nih.gov/lo/index.html)

The print collection contains an estimated 1.5 million monographs, 1.6 million bound serial volumes, and thousands of unbound serial issues. In addition, there over 600,000 pieces of microform, 105,000 audiovisuals and computer software, 72,000 prints and photographs, and over 30 million manuscript items.

Collection Maintenance and Reformatting

As the Library undergoes reconstruction, a temporary Reading Room that is open by appointment to the public has been set up in Building 38, Floor B1. Plans are to move the

Reading Room to a permanent space in Building 38 when renovations are complete (expected in mid to late 2024).

C. Period of Performance

The Period of Performance of this contract is from September 29, 2023, through September 28, 2024, plus two, 12‐month option periods.

D. Place of Performance

Activities shall be performed onsite at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, with opportunities available for limited telework as designated by the Contracting Officer’s

Representative (COR) and NLM Program Manager. In general, activities shall be performed

Monday through Friday, as necessary, during regular business hours (e.g., 7:30 am – 5:30 pm

EST).

Contractor staff shall not work on weekends, or Federal Government holidays. In the event of a

Government closure, contractors shall follow OPM (Office of Personnel Management)

Operating Status located on their website (https://www.opm.gov/policy‐data‐oversight/snow‐ dismissal‐procedures/current‐status/). Individual schedules for contractor staff and any subsequent schedule changes must be negotiated between the Contractor’s Program Manager and the COR or designee.

E. Telework

The work of this contract takes place onsite at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, MD. On limited occasions, as directed by the COR or the Contractor’s Project Manager, a

Contractor employee with a Government‐furnished (i.e., Government‐issued) or approved computer/laptop may be allowed and/or required to telework from home or some other alternate work location (including the Contractor’s facility) that is not a “Federally‐controlled facility.” Accordingly, reimbursable travel and per diem for the Contractor’s employees performing work on a regular basis at this place of performance is not authorized. Any changes to this must be approved in advance by the Contracting Officer.

F. Services to be Provided

The services contemplated under this contract include project management; professional librarian services; shelving and re‐shelving collection items; retrieving library materials for use by library users; preparing and shipping items for commercial binding and reviewing newly bound volumes; maintaining the collection; and reformatting collection materials.

The contractor shall perform the work set forth below and shall be responsible for the professional quality, technical accuracy, and coordination of all facets of such work. The contractor shall, without additional compensation, correct or revise any errors or deficiencies in workmanship or other services.

Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the contractor shall furnish all necessary labor and services, and perform the work set forth in the tasks outlined in this SOW.

The contractor shall handle NLM collection materials, which are often irreplaceable, carefully and thoughtfully.

II. Specific Tasks

Activity 1: Project Management

The contractor shall provide an onsite Project Manager to oversee the personnel working under this contract. (See the Labor Categories in Section III. Contractor Requirements.). The Project

Manager shall assign work to contract staff, regardless of tier, develop a quality assurance program, and implement quality control measures to ensure that all aspects of contract work are accurate. The COR and designees and the Project Manager shall provide training and written instructions to contract staff as required for contract work. For each year of the contract, one (1) base and two (2) 12‐month option periods, the anticipated level of effort required for this activity is one (1) full time (FTE) Project Manager.

The Project Manager and contract staff shall maintain statistical records and submit monthly reports describing progress and accomplishments of each month, including any problems encountered that impact performance and/or productivity. If there is a problem with contract staff performance, the COR or designee shall consult with the Project Manager and the Project

Manager shall be responsible for providing a resolution. If performance does not improve, NLM reserves the right to request the contractor replace staff on the contract. The Project Manager shall approve all new contract staff before they begin to work on the contract.

Activity 2: Professional Librarian Services

The contractor shall provide professional librarian(s) to support NLM collection reformatting activities and collection management. (See the Labor Categories in Section III. Contractor

Requirements.) The contract librarian(s) shall report to the Project Manager, and the Project

Manager shall perform quality control on all work performed by contract librarian(s).

The Professional Librarians shall track and maintain work in their area, train library technicians, and assign work and review assignments. In addition, The Librarian(s) supporting Collection Maintenance shall:

Train Library Technicians to perform collection maintenance activities; assign and review work, delegating tasks as appropriate; maintain accurate holdings and items records in NLM Systems;

inventory collection materials, identifying duplicate items and making withdrawal recommendations; support space planning activities, including data collection and review, track and analyze collection data; shelf‐read and shift collection materials; apply labels and barcodes;

rehouse fragile items; identify library materials needing repair; follow NLM guidelines for these services and assist with writing and updating procedures as needed. See Activity 5.

Professional Librarian(s) supporting Reformatting shall perform work in the following areas:

Perform scanning and image processing, train library technicians in digitization, assign and review work, perform quality assurance work and ensure corrections are made as needed, develop procedural documents for digitization processes, track work completed, and complete or assign other work as it relates to onsite digitization.

Evaluate and assess the quality and condition of NLM Collection materials to determine preservation needs and suitability for digitization. Source materials include monographs, bound serial volumes, unbound serial issues, microform, prints and photographs, manuscript items, and audiovisuals. (AV material formats include but are not limited to: ¾” U‐matic videotape, Betacam SP tape, 2” Quad tape, 16mm film, and 35mm film, optical discs, multimedia kits).

Investigate and create specifications for preservation‐level outputs including metadata;

evaluate, assess, maintain, clean, and repair materials; document, refine and follow quality assurance protocols including the inspection of deliverables, develop and refine workflows, and complete or assign other work as it relates to preservation.

Train library technicians to inventory source materials, process images and metadata, perform quality assurance (QA)/quality control (QC) on analog copies, images, and metadata, and other work as it relates to digitization of source materials.

The anticipated level of effort required for this activity is three (3) to five (5) FTE Professional

Librarians.

Activity 3: Shelving and Retrieval of Collection Items

1. Shelving

The contractor shall shelve all library materials pulled from the collection as well as any newly acquired materials, including newly bound journals. The contractor shall provide Library

Technicians trained and experienced in sorting and shelving library materials. (See the Labor

Categories in Section III. Contractor Requirements.) As necessary, the contractor shall shift material, but not more than fifty (50) shelves in either direction unless special instructions are given by the COR or designee. Shifting that requires moving collections more than fifty (50) shelves in either direction may be performed by the contractor as a collection maintenance activity (See Activity 5).

The contractor shall have no more than a 2% error rate, i.e., two (2) errors per one hundred

(100) items shelved. The contractor shall meet this quality standard for all shelved and re‐ shelved items. As directed by the COR or designee, the Project Manager shall check at least 5% of shelved items in each of the shelving areas. Errors found shall be corrected by the contractor.

Currently, print and non‐print items are located on three levels of Building 38 as well as offsite storage locations. The contractor shall shelve all items in exact call number order. NLM has more than one call number scheme and the contractor shall always shelve items at the correct shelf location. Detailed instructions on sorting and shelving including NLM call number schemes and locations of collections, will be provided after award of the contract.

2. Retrieval

The NLM Reading Room is open to the public; however, most of the NLM collection is stored in areas that are not open to the public. The contractor shall retrieve collection items for library users in the NLM Reading Room. The contractor shall provide Library Technicians trained and experienced in retrieving library materials for library users. (See the Labor Categories in Section III. Contractor Requirements.) Technicians will be trained in how to handle all NLM collection materials, including rare and unique library materials, and are required to follow all handling instructions.

The contractor shall have access to appropriate NLM systems to receive and print library users’ requests. The contractor shall maintain an accurate fill rate of 95% or better.

Currently, the NLM Reading Room opens at 8:30 am and closes at 5 pm. A schedule of delivery times to reading room will vary as the reading room moves from its temporary location to its permanent location when renovations are complete. The schedule will be built around library users’ needs; staffing of this activity will vary based on the delivery schedule to the reading room. The Project Manager shall assign personnel as appropriate to accommodate operating hours and number of requests. NLM’s current Reading Room policies and schedule can be found here: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/readingroom/index.html

The anticipated level of effort required for this activity is three (3) to five (5) FTE Library Technicians.

Activity 4: Prepare Items for Commercial Binding and Review Newly Bound Volumes

The contractor shall prepare serial units for commercial binding by physically checking the titles approved for binding for completeness, preparing them for binding, packing/unpacking them for pick up/delivery by the commercial binder, and maintaining holdings and items records in NLM systems. The contractor shall provide Library Technicians trained and experienced in preparing library materials for binding and maintaining records in a library services platform (LSP) (See the Labor Categories in Section III. Contractor Requirements). The contractor shall prepare monthly shipments. However, the COR or designee may increase or decrease the number of shipments prepared each year.

The contractor shall maintain an error rate of 3% or less in all work related to preparing items for binding, including the data entered into the NLM LSP and binding management system.

The anticipated level of effort required for this activity is two (2) FTE Library Technicians.

The Project Manager shall provide quality oversight on binding services including the preparation of bindable units, review of returned bound volumes, and meet the required turnaround times for processing the bindable units throughout the workflow. Detailed instructions will be provided to the contractor after award.

Activity 5: Perform Collection Maintenance

The contractor shall maintain the NLM collections. Throughout the contract period, the contractor shall be tasked by the COR or designee to perform activities related to collection maintenance. The contractor shall provide Library Technicians trained and experienced in collection maintenance activities. (See the Labor Categories in Section VIII. Contractor Requirements). Written and verbal instructions for maintaining NLM collections shall be provided to the contractor after award. All questions and problems encountered by the contractor during the performance of any collection maintenance task shall be reported immediately to the Project Manager and the COR or designee. The contractor shall consistently and carefully record the amount of time each contractor staff spends on each collection maintenance task. The Project Manager shall perform quality control on all work performed by the contractor staff and each task assigned shall be checked for completeness and accuracy as specified in the quality assurance plan.

The following are examples of collection maintenance activities that shall be performed by the contractor but not necessarily all inclusive.

Maintain call numbers at ranges’ ends in the NLM Collection

Shelf read the collections

Maintain accurate records in NLM systems

Shift collection materials

Rehouse fragile materials

Identify library materials needing repair

Receive, sort mail, and unpack shipments of new collection materials

Distribute collection materials to various processing locations

Assist with disaster response

The anticipated level of effort required for this activity is four (4) to five (5) FTE Library

Technicians.

Activity 6: Support Reformatting Collection Materials

The contractor shall support NLM collection reformatting activities. The contractor shall provide

Library Technicians trained and experienced in reformatting library materials. (See the Labor

Categories in Section VIII. Contractor Requirements.) The Library Technicians assigned to work on this activity shall report to the Project Manager, and the Project Manager shall perform quality control on all reformatting work performed by Library Technicians.

During the initial twelve‐month base period, NLM expects the contractor to reformat approximately 500,000 pages. The COR or designee may increase or decrease the number of pages to be reformatted as needed. Reformatted pages include scanning source materials, processing images and metadata, and performing QA/QC on images and metadata.

The contractor shall maintain an error rate of 3% or less in all work related to reformatting collection materials. Examples of work that shall be done in this activity includes:

Select, gather, track, and prepare source materials for scanning

Review batch spreadsheet, scanning notes, and condition of source material before scanning

Inventory and rehouse source materials

Ship and receive source materials scanned or copied offsite

Scan source materials

Process images and metadata

Perform QA/QC on images and metadata

Review the condition of source materials after scanning or copying, send for repair, if needed, and return to the collection

Detailed written and verbal instructions for reformatting collection materials will be provided to the contractor after award.

The anticipated level of effort required for this activity is nine (9) to twelve (12) FTE Library

Technicians.

III. Contractor Requirements

The contractor shall provide experienced and skilled personnel in the performance of this contract using the following labor categories: Project Manager, Professional Librarian, and Library Technician. The contractor is responsible for providing all personnel and materials necessary to perform in accordance with this SOW.

All contractor staff shall perform physical tasks such as opening and sorting boxes that shall require the ability to lift as much as 50 lbs. They shall be responsible for transporting books between floors and across various points of the Library. They also shall reach to shelve items on the top shelves which can be approximately 80” above floor level. Step stools are available throughout the stack floors to assist staff in reaching high shelves.

The COR or designee has the right to evaluate and approve key staff assigned to work on the contract. The COR or designee must be notified of and approve all changes in staffing after the award. Resumes must be submitted and approved prior to placement of personnel.

Anticipated key personnel requirements across contract years are as follows:

Labor Category Base Year Option Year 2 Option Year 3 Project Manager Yes Yes Yes Professional Librarian Yes Yes Yes

Anticipated requirements across contract activities are as follows:

Labor Category

Activity 1 Project

Management

Activity 2

Profession

Professional

Librarian

Services

Activity 3 Shelving

Shelving and

Retrieval

Activity

Binding Prep

Activity 5 Maintain Collection

Activity 6 Support

Reformatting

Project Manager

X X X X X X

Professional Librarian

X X X

Library Technician

X X X X

Labor Categories

Project Manager (Key Personnel)

The Project Manager shall have at least three years of supervisory or project management experience. The Project Manager shall have the ability to plan, train, supervise, and evaluate the work of professional and paraprofessional staff. The Project Manager shall also have at least three years of recent experience in the following: 1) interpreting bibliographic data elements and searching and maintaining bibliographic records in a library services platform; 2) collection maintenance activities such as book and journal binding, book repair, collection inventory, collection shifting, maintaining accurate bibliographic records; and, 3) analog‐to‐ digital reformatting projects. The reformatting project experience should include preparing collection materials for reformatting; scanning materials and performing quality assurance on copied, scanned, and digitized materials; and overseeing staff performing quality assurance.

The Project Manager shall develop a quality assurance program and perform quality control on all work performed by the contractor staff.

Professional Librarian (Key Personnel)

All Librarians shall have a master's degree in library science (MLS) or library and information studies (MLIS) from a college or university accredited by the American Library Association (ALA) or comparative experience. All Librarians shall have the ability to create detailed written instructions and provide verbal training for paraprofessional staff. All Librarians shall have the ability to plan, assign, and evaluate the work of paraprofessional staff.

Librarian(s) supporting Biomedical Journal Digitization shall have knowledge of library citation standards, image capture, article identification, and citation and metadata creation.

Librarian(s) supporting Onsite Digitization shall have at least two years of experience scanning library materials, processing images, and performing QA/QC on images and metadata.

Librarian(s) supporting AV Preservation shall have at least two years of experience with preservation‐level AV reformatting projects.

Librarian(s) supporting Collection Maintenance shall have at least one year of recent experience with interpreting bibliographic data elements and updating bibliographic, holdings, and items records using a library services platform (LSP). NLM currently uses Alma. In addition, Librarian(s) shall have at least two years of experience with performing/overseeing collection maintenance tasks such as shelving, shifting, inventory, and rehousing fragile materials.

Library Technician

All Library Technicians shall have at least one year of recent experience in library services including interpreting bibliographic data elements and searching and updating bibliographic, holdings, and items records in online environments.

Library Technicians working on reformatting collection materials shall also have at least one year of recent experience preparing library materials for reformatting, scanning library materials, processing images, or performing QA/QC on images and metadata.

Library Technicians working on collection maintenance activities shall have at least one year of experience with performing tasks such as shelving, shifting, inventory, and rehousing fragile materials. All Library Technicians working in collection maintenance shall additionally have one year of experience in using a Library Services Platform to update holdings and item records.

Currently NLM uses Alma. At least one library technician shall have one year’s experience handling rare and unique library materials, including archival and manuscript collections.

Library Technicians working on the shelving and retrieval activity shall have at least one year of experience locating, retrieving, and shelving library materials in library collections by call number or another organization scheme.

Library Technicians may be asked to move up to 50 pounds of weight.

Anticipated Hours Per Option Period

IV. Government Responsibilities

The Government will provide:

The number of onsite workstations and equipment at NLM necessary for contractor staff to perform bibliographic data entry, scanning, image processing, and quality assurance that will include computer equipment, scanners, printers, access codes, and software required for contractor tasks. Contract personnel working on‐site at NLM or who require access to internal systems will need to obtain NIH badges.

Work areas for sorting materials to be shelved, processing items for binding, and collection maintenance tasks.

Office supplies necessary for assigned tasks.

Training, including sessions in all equipment necessary to perform work under this contract. Additional training for special tasks or significant changes in policies and/or procedures or equipment shall be provided by the COR or designee.

Weekly meetings between the COR or designee and the Project Manager to discuss any problems, concerns, or needs concerning policies and procedures, quality assurance, and performance.

V. Standards of Performance

The contractor shall maintain quality control of all work performed that will assure a high standard of performance. The COR or designee shall inspect samples of completed work and where it is not satisfactory, the contractor shall perform correction or rework at the contractor’s expense. The Project Manager shall meet weekly with the COR or designee to discuss questions and problems concerning policies and procedures, quality assurance, and performance.

After initial training from the COR or designee during the first two weeks of the contract, and as determined by the COR or designee, the contractor shall meet all specifications and requirements in the SOW. The contractor shall then work independently with minimal guidance from the COR or designee.

Throughout the performance of the contract, the contractor shall: 1) identify problems with current procedures or workflow and report them promptly; 2) make thoughtful, well‐informed

Program Manager 1,912

Professional Librarian (5FTE) 9,560

Library Technicians (24) 44,932 suggestions for solving workflow and procedural problems; 3) make every reasonable effort to resolve problems promptly to minimize the negative impact on NLM and NLM’s other contractors; 4) handle all NLM materials carefully and properly per the training provided by the

COR or designee.

The COR or designee shall review and approve the quality assurance program developed by the

Project Manager prior to its implementation and the COR or designee assumes responsibility for the review and acceptance of work done under this contract.

VI. Meetings

1. Kick‐Off Meeting

The Contractor shall conduct a kick‐off meeting to include a kick‐off presentation, within seven business days of award. Content, format and location to be determined by the NLM and the

Contractor. As part of the kick‐off meeting, the Contractor shall provide details on the onboarding for any necessary personnel subsequent to the kick‐off meeting. The Contractor shall keep meeting minutes and forward a finalized copy to the CO and COR for approval within three business days after the meeting is held, or as otherwise directed.

2. Requirements Meetings

When required, the Contractor shall participate in necessary meetings to complete required tasks of the SOW. In addition, the Contractor shall attend NLM All Hands and NLM Training sessions, when required.

3. Routine Update Teleconferences

The Contractor shall participate in regular teleconferences/and video teleconferences with NLM to discuss performance. The frequency will be agreed upon by the Contractor and NLM.

Typically, these meetings are held weekly.

VII. Training

NIH shall provide appropriate training in NIH specific systems and procedures necessary to perform job requirements.

VIII. Reporting Requirements

At the request of the COR, the Contractor shall provide deliverables, including written reports, presentations to federal staff, and other materials, in draft form for Government review and comment and in final form, conforming to schedule, format, and other requirements as specified by the COR. In addition to monthly status reports, deliverables may include project plans, management briefings, other financial reports, analyses, evaluations, reviews, and other reports as required. Additional reports may be requested by the COR at any time during the period of performance.

1. Bi‐Weekly Status Report

Due every other Monday by Close of Business to the Contracting Officer (CO) and Contracting

Officer Representative (COR). The Contractor shall provide a detailed status on all items that have been completed in the two‐week time frame or items that are still being worked. The

Contractor will provide the name of the item, status, any difficulties encountered and an estimate of the time frame for completion of those items still being worked.

2. Monthly Invoices and Supporting Documentation

Due to the CO and COR, on or before the 15th of the month following each monthly reporting period. The first reporting period consists of the first full calendar month of performance plus any fractional part of the initial month. Each Monthly invoice shall consist of certified timesheets, description of all contract activities the preceding month to include all products, procedures and outcomes achieved and a description of problems encountered and their resolution.

3. Transition Plan

In the event the Government competes the requirements of this SOW and prior to completion of the final period of performance, the Contractor shall provide the Government with a

Transition Plan that shall ensure an orderly and successful transition of the remaining task assignments to a successor contractor should the incumbent Contractor not be selected during the competition. As part of the Transition Plan, the Contractor shall adequately train the successor contractor’s employees following any competition of the requirements specified in this SOW.

The Contractor shall provide the following deliverables for review and acceptance by the COR.

Deliverable Due Date

Kickoff Meeting As specified by the COR.

Bi‐Weekly written status reports On a date as specified by the COR.

Transition Plan As directed by the COR.

Baseline Security Requirement ‐ Roster of

Employees Requiring Suitability Investigations

Initial submission ‐ within 14 calendar days of the effective date of the contract award.

Deliverable Due Date

Subsequent submissions ‐ within 14 calendar days of any revision to the

Roster as a result of staffing changes.

Training records for all mandatory training In conjunction with award and annually thereafter or upon request.

Personal Security – List of employees with defined roles and responsibilities

Within 14 calendar days before an employee begins working under the

Task Order.

Personal Security – Off‐boarding documentation, equipment and badge when terminating work under the Task Order

Within 14 calendar days after the

Government’s final acceptance of the work under the Contract, or in the event of a termination of the Contract.

Badges ‐ all badges must be submitted to the COR within two (2) business days after the Government’s final acceptance of the work under the

Contract, or in the event of a termination of the Contract.

Fingerprinting

All contractor (including any subcontractor) employees must have a successfully adjudicated fingerprint check before gaining access to HHS‐ controlled information systems.

Background Investigation – On‐boarding documentation when beginning work under the Contract

Prior to performing any work on behalf of NIH.

Continuity of Operations During a Government

Closure Plan

As directed by the COR