Draft Digitize USNA Herbarium - SOO Aug 2020.pdf

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

UNITED STATES NATIONAL ARBORETUM

3501 NEW YORK, AVE. N.E.

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20002

Request for Quote for

DIGITIZING, TRANSCRIBING, DATA MANAGEMENT,

AND WEB-HOSTING

THE HERBARIUM

of the

U.S. NATIONAL ARBORETUM

WASHINGTON, D.C.

August 26, 2020

SECTION A: Statement of Objective

1. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

The US National Arboretum houses the official Herbarium for all of ARS’s botanical specimens.

The specimens consist of pressed, dried plant samples of various sizes, some of which are more than 100 years old. Digitizing this collection will aid in accessibility and preservation of the information contained in the original items and will allow universal access to the US National Herbarium. Currently the only way to access much of this material is to visit the Herbarium in person or request a loan of material. Digitization and web-hosting of the vouchers and associated data would allow universal access to this collection, thereby increasing its scientific and cultural value enormously.

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2. OBJECTIVE

Our objective is to create high-resolution images of each specimen and folder in the Herbarium;

transcribe specimen and folder labels; manage the resulting digital assets; and create and host a searchable website that meets ARS IT and Office of Communication standards, all within a three-year (max) time frame.

3. SCOPE OF WORK

• The Contractor shall supply all labor, equipment, tools, supplies, materials, transportation and supervision required and as outlined in the attached tasks and requirements list. Hours of service shall be Monday – Friday between 7:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. The Contractor shall obtain prior approval from the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) for any work performed outside of normal working hours.

• Digitization services will consist of 800,000 sheets (to be bid on in increments of 200,000;

400,000; 600,000; and 800,000 sheets) and includes preparation, imaging of sheets and folders, transcription of folders.

• IT services will include transcription of specimen labels, management of digital assets

(images, transcription data), and design and hosting of a searchable web-site that meets ARS IT and Office of Communication requirement, as described in the specifications outlined below.

4. PERIOD AND PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The job must be initiated before September 30, 2020, and will conclude in 24-36 months, depending on the number of specimens under contract. All digitization will take place at the US National Arboretum in the Herbarium in Washington, DC using contractor-supplied equipment and personnel. Herbarium specimens may not be removed from the Herbarium. IT services may be provided virtually after downloading image files to cloud server for ready access by USNA staff.

5. AWARD OPTIONS

Ideally, we will have funds now to image the entire collection (800,000 sheets) at once, transcribe folder and specimen labels, design and host the website, and manage digital assets.

However, the contractor will bid on the imaging job in increments (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of the specimens) so that ARS may contract part of the job in FY20 and additional work in subsequent years, depending on available funds and quality performance by the contractor.

Follow-on work in later years may be contracted with no further competition. Follow-on contractual work does not need to be done in consecutive years. For example, ARS may fund some work in FY20, and later work in FY22.

6. TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

The Contractor shall provide qualified professionals with experience in handling and protecting herbarium specimens and recognizing and extracting data from specimens. The Contractor shall be responsible for the safety of workers and Arboretum employees and volunteers, as well as USNA property and facilities, and shall take proper measures to keep the work area secure.

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The ARS on-site technical representative will oversee the project and serve as the daily POC for managing and communicating. The ARS COR will approve end deliverables, evaluate performance, and mange schedules.

7. REQUIRED TASKS

a. Preparation and Set-up

The Contractor will set up a high-throughput imaging device for imaging onsite in a location at the U.S. National Arboretum Herbarium determined by ARS and the Contractor. ARS will provide adequate space for equipment and Contractor employee work space, as well as a power source and broadband Internet connection.

Contractor will add barcodes to folders and specimens. Barcodes for specimens and folders will be provided by ARS.

All employees of Contractor shall comply with ARS security management program, obtain permission of the ARS Location Manager, be identified by project and employer by wearing contractor-issued identification badges at all times on ARS property, and are restricted from unauthorized access.

Training: All employees of the Contractor shall be trained in handling herbarium specimens, specific procedures in the USNA Herbarium, and in relevant operation of the Contractor equipment. Additionally, employees will be familiar with USNA building-evacuation plans and other safety measures (provided by ARS).

b. Imaging

Contractor will use on-site equipment (supplied by the Contractor) to image the contracted number of specimens. Pixel resolution should be at least 500 ppi per image. Contractor equipment and personnel must be capable of digitizing at least 20,000 specimens per week.

Contractor may have at most five (5) contractor personnel on site at once.

The production of Digital Images shall be performed using a rapid-capture digitization pipeline with automated and semi-automated processes. The process includes automated, integrated quality control, barcode application and reading, and automated file naming. Digitization shall take place in the Herbarium of the US National Arboretum.

ARS staff shall be responsible for specimen handling and movement from permanent storage to pre-digitization staging and back from post-digitization staging to permanent storage. Contractor staff shall only be responsible for specimen handling and movement from pre-digitization staging to digitization and back to post-digitization staging. The contractor shall conduct all handling and movement of specimens in accordance with the agreed upon handling and placement protocol document.

Data will be delivered to ARS though a shared network. Contractor will provide back-up file storage for digitized items that is backed up at least eight times per 24-hour period.

Contractor will image every sheet and transcribe every folder (average 10 sheets per folder).

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c. Folder Transcription

Folder labels will be transcribed to allow sorting and searching of specimens by genus and species name. Contractor will transcribe both the genus and species on the folders and work with ARS to develop protocols to easily search and retrieve folders and specimens within those folders.

Folder transcription may occur concurrently with scanning/imaging or may be done after scanning is complete.

Once specimens have been digitized, image files shall be named based on specified requirements set forth by ARS. Contractor shall ensure that file naming is automated via barcode reading and naming of file based on barcode data.

d. Quality Control and Assurance

Contractor must be ISO certified in quality management, environmental management, and information security.

Contractor must provide a planned and systematic written approach to ensure that data conversion quality shall be met. This should address the key areas of 1) How to address errors when they occur and 2) How to prevent errors before they occur.

Contractor must also provide a written quality control plan that identifies the detailed analytical methods and tools to monitor the quality of finished data conversion, including an evaluation method for corrective actions and inspection and test procedures at various stages of the project.

Contractor employees must be trained to handle fragile herbarium specimens with extreme care and without damage.

Contractor will provide oversight and management of the entire project, including employees, equipment operation, data delivery and management, and technical support.

e. Specimen Label Transcription

Contractor will provide for transcription in English of pertinent data from specimen labels, as selected by ARS. This will include such information as collection date, location, collector(s), and GPS coordinates.

Contractor will provide a connection to a transcription service that can employ crowdsourcing to transcribe label data.

Upon request, Contractor will provide specimen transcription data to ARS as it is generated for ARS to store on its own server.

f. Digital Asset Management

Contractor must have experience with software package development for digital collections management. Contractor will provide a proposal for software development to be mutually agreed upon by ARS and Contractor, which meets all ARS IT security and accessibility requirements.

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Contractor will store the digitized collection on Contractor server.

ARS will have full ownership of all data and images resulting from this Project, and will have unrestricted access to the digital asset management system used by the Contractor.

The digital asset management system must be compliant with the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) to ensure access for research, scholarship, and knowledge transfer by a broad and large base of users.

g. Web Development and Hosting

Contractor will use the most up-to-date technologies and innovations to capture, store, organize, and host data.

Contractor will build, host, and design the website, with context and approval provided by ARS.

The website will not go “live” without express written permission from ARS.

The website must allow broad use of the collection for data mining, linkages, and data visualization.

Contractor will work with ARS to ensure that the website meets requirements of ARS Security and ARS Office of Communications, and will work closely with ARS on Web development and roll-out.

8. DELIVERABLES

ARS will review deliverables and notify the contractor of findings within 10 workdays of completion of a task. Representatives of the contractor will meet with the COR and the technical representative as needed to review status and other deliverables.

Deliverables include:

1. Digital images of herbarium specimens

2. Transcription data of folder and specimen labels

3. Management of digital assets.

4. Searchable and accessible website that meets ARS specifications and requirements.