JOFOC - ASL Dataset Redacted.pdf

Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition Enterprise Services Office of Acquisition

1401 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20230

(1) Identification of the agency and the contracting activity:

Program Office: Department of Commerce

National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA)

1401 Constitution Ave, NW

Contracting Activity: Department of Commerce

Enterprise Services - Acquisition

1401 Constitution Ave, NW

(2) Nature and/or description of the action being approved:

The purpose of this justification is to commission a video quality dataset with American Sign Language

(ASL) videos, ratings from people who are proficient with ASL, and documentation, to be published jointly by the Contractor and NTIA/ITS.

The agency plans to enter into a contract in a manner other than full and open competition to the

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas (UTA) on the basis that there is only one responsible source, and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. This is a new contract action for these commercial services.

(3) A description of the supplies or services required to meet the agency's needs:

The goal is to create an ASL dataset. The ASL dataset will contain short, silent videos of people communicating with ASL at a natural pace, as if talking with someone in the room. Preferably, each video recording will be unique (e.g., the dataset does not contain the same video segment recorded at two different bitrates).

The final experiment design will be agreed upon jointly by NTIA/ITS and the Contractor. The main variables for the ASL datasets are video resolution, compression, and ASL language grammatical element

(e.g., body language, finger spelling). The dataset will include the “original” recording (after editing and format conversion to the test monitor resolution) to assess the upper quality limit imposed by the camera, video format, and test monitor.

The dataset will include subject ratings collected from subjects on the 5-level Absolute Category Rating

(ACR) scale, in accordance with ITU-T Rec. P.913. The test requires at least 24 subjects who are proficient in ASL.

The dataset (videos and ratings) will be distributed on for research and development purposes on the

Consumer Digital Video Library (CDVL, www.cdvl.org). The Contractor shall collaborate with

NTIA/ITS to co-author paper(s) that describe and analyze the datasets.

The total value of this requirement is estimated to be $255,000.00 with a 12-month period of performance.

(4) An identification of the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition:

This acquisition is conducted under the authority of permitting other than full and open competition is 41

U.S.C.1901, as implemented by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.501.

(5) A demonstration that the proposed contractor's unique qualifications or the nature of the acquisition requires use of the authority cited:

Name and address of proposed contractor:

University of Texas at Austin (UTA)

3925 W. Braker Ln. Ste 3.340

Austin, Texas 78759-5316

One (1) university in the U.S. was found that has the required experience conducting video quality subjective tests: the Laboratory for Image & Video Engineering (LIVE) at the University of Texas at

Austin (UTA). UTA satisfactorily covers the ASL dataset requirements, as they have contacts with Texas

School for the Deaf and a program teaching ASL.

UTA is able to provide personnel proficient in American Sign Language (ASL) to create ASL datasets consisting of short, silent videos of people communicating with ASL at a natural pace. The datasets will also include subject ratings collected from subjects on the 5-level Absolute Category Rating (ACR) scale, in accordance with ITU-T Rec. P.913.

(6) A description of efforts made to ensure that offers are solicited from as many potential sources as is practicable, including whether a notice was or will be publicized as required by

Subpart 5.2 and, if not, which exception under 5.202 applies:

A special notice of intent to sole-source to UTA was published on SAM.Gov on June 28, 2022, with a closing date of July 13, 2022. No responses were received from interested parties.

(7) A determination by the contracting officer that the anticipated cost to the Government will be fair and reasonable:

The contracting officer determines that the anticipated price(s) will be fair and reasonable. The anticipated price for this acquisition is $255,000.00 for a period of performance of 12-months. The

Government will evaluate each line-item price and the total proposed price to determine if the Offeror’s price is fair and reasonable utilizing price analysis techniques in accordance with the guidelines in FAR

13.106-3 “comparison with similar items in a related industry; and comparison to an independent

Government estimate.” Because this is a commercial service, then cost and pricing data is not required;

however, the Government will request for other than cost pricing data in order to understand the

Contractor’s pricing methodology.

(8) A description of the market research conducted (see Part 10) and the results or a statement of the reason market research was not conducted:

• Publishing a notice of intent to sole-source to SAM.Gov.

• Published a sources sought synopsis to SAM.Gov.

• Follow-up industry discussions, meetings, and requests for information with three (3) universities.

Two (2) of the universities replied, and the third did not reply.

(9) Any other facts supporting the use of other than full and open competition, such as:

Very few universities and companies worldwide both have experience conducting video quality subjective tests and are willing to conduct such tests as a service. Most of the available options are in

Europe (e.g., the University of Nantes, and AGH University in Poland). NTIA eliminated these options from consideration since US options are available. In addition, European universities would not have access to people proficient in ASL, since a different sign language is used in Europe.

NTIA requires the experience and expertise from Contractor personnel to have (1) experience conducting video quality tests as per ITU-T Rec. P.913 or ITU-R Rec. BT-500, and (2) experience with ASL, such as knowledge of ASL linguistics, connections with a school for the Deaf, proficiency with ASL, prior research on video technology requirements for ASL, or access to ASL teachers.

A sources sought synopsis was published on SAM.Gov in pursuit to obtain capability statements from

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) or other interested entities capable of meeting the

Government’s ASL Dataset requirement. The sources sought was published on July 06, 2022, with a closing date of July 15, 2022. No responses were received from interested parties.

(10) A listing of the sources, if any, that expressed, in writing, an interest in the acquisition:

NTIA reached out to industry and found three (3) U.S. universities that specialize in ASL: the University of Gallaudet, University of Texas at Austin (UTA), Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) during the market research inquiry. Gallaudet responded to the market research inquiry, but upon further fact-finding discussions, it was found that Gallaudet lacks the required expertise on performing video quality subject tests. Fact-finding discussions with UTA revealed that they have sufficient ASL expertise and community contacts to conduct the project. UTA provided two levels of support, which differ only by the number of

UTA students involved (i.e., one or two). RTI did not respond to the market research inquiry.

Based on the notice of intent to sole source published on June 28, 2022, and the sources sought synopsis published on July 6, 2022, no other sources expressed an interest in this proposed acquisition.

(11) A statement of the actions, if any, the agency may take to remove or overcome any barriers to competition before any subsequent acquisition for the supplies or services required:

This acquisition is for limited, specialized support services with the objective of establishing an ASL dataset (videos and ratings), which will be distributed on for research and development purposes on the

Consumer Digital Video Library (CDVL, www.cdvl.org). This is a targeted effort with a period of performance of 12-months, that is not anticipated to have a follow-on or subsequent acquisition requirements.

(12) Program Official’s and Contracting Officer’s Certification that the justification is accurate and complete to the best of the Contracting Officer's knowledge and belief:

I certify that the facts and representations under my cognizance, which are included in this justification, and which form a basis for this justification, are complete and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief.