P15PS00427_OralHistory_Clarifications_final.docx

P15PS00427

Please be advised of the following pertaining to National Park Service (NPS) solicitation No. P15PS00427.

“Oral History Digitization and Transcription Services”

The following are clarifications to submitted interested parties’ inquiries:

1. The quantities listed in the Scope of Work, Sections II. A. 1. and II. B. 2, “Base Year – Known Quantities” are provided as a reference for the materials which the NPS intents to process in the first year of the contract. In some cases (for example, Section II. C. Copy Edit of Existing Transcripts) there are no known quantities. The intent of the Bid Sheet is to establish standard pricing, per unit, for the life of the proposed contract. It is not necessary to use the base year quantities to propose costs for the first year. Rather, the NPS requests proposed pricing for each item that the bidder has the capability to provide.

2. Bidders may submit proposed pricing on the Bid Sheet for any combination of services they seek to provide. Proposed pricing for the Bid Option- Spanish Translation (Tab 4 of 4) is not required. In order to maintain consistency for comparison, do not alter the requested items on the Bid Sheet. However, if the bidder would like to offer additional related services in support of proposed project work, additional tabs (beginning with a new Tab 5) may be added to the Bid Sheet to provide pricing for proposed additional services. Any additional services offered beyond the base services requested in the solicitation must also be described in the bidder’s proposal package.

Note: In accordance with the Statement of Work “Best Value” evaluation criteria item number 5, the Government reserves the right to make an award determination to a responsible proposal that offers the technical requirements, experience, expertise, most favorable pricing, and additional Spanish translation services that the next most qualified offerors may not offer.

3. Bid Sheet – Tab 1 of 4: Digitization -- The units for proposed pricing of cassette tapes are to be considered per tape, “per side” as noted. For example, a 60 minute cassette tape has two, 30- minute sides of recording. Occasionally, one side is blank, and therefore there is only 30 minutes of recording. Section II.A. of the Scope of Work states that “There will be no charge for blank tape (i.e. no audio).” Therefore proposed pricing should reflect the cost of digitizing each side of each cassette tape.

4. Bid Sheet – Tab 1 of 4: Digitization-- The units for proposed pricing of reel to reel tape should be considered per reel as noted. For example, the price to digitize one 4” reel of audio tape.

5. Bid Sheet – Tab 2 of 4: Transcription-- Some in the industry provide pricing for transcription from audio files per minute (Item 1.). Bidders may offer proposed pricing per minute in the first item line, or aggregate the cost per minute into a cost per hour (line 2 of Item 1.) For ease of comparison, pricing on both lines (per minute, and per hour) may be included.

6. Bid Sheet – Tab 3 of 4: Copy Editing-- The price per hour to copy-edit existing transcripts includes the time required to listen to the original audio and edit the transcript. The per page price to copy – edit existing documents refers to related materials (such as abstracts) that may not require listening to the original audio file. For example, editing of 3 pages of text of an abstract or related written material.

7. Section II. C. of the Scope of Work provides for the production of an index (abstract) of the transcription which will include names, places, broad themes and associated time stamps from the transcribed interview. This is a summary that allows a reader to quickly understand the content of the interview and locate the information within the transcript. For example, a SAMPLE is provided herein, for reference with these clarifications.

8. Bid Sheet – Tab 4 of 4: Bid Option – Spanish-- The first item, "Spanish transcription" requests pricing (per minute) for Spanish language transcription of interviews conducted in Spanish, to preserve the original language of the interview. The second and third items provide for Spanish to English translation - either from the Spanish transcript (text-to-text, rate per page), or of the audio file itself (English translation of Spanish audio, rate per minute). The NPS may choose to only transcribe an English translation of Spanish audio, or may choose both Spanish transcription, and English translation.

End of Clarifications