RFI-USDA-APFO-0006.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON AERIAL FILM SCANNING

A. INTRODUCTION

You are invited to respond with information (submissions) to assist the Farm Service Agency (FSA), in performing market research to 1) identify prospective service providers that have the capabilities to provide large format, long roll aerial film scanning services for the Aerial Photography Field Office (APFO), 2) determine the potential overall capacity in the commercial marketplace for this service, 3) identify technology that could enhance the efficiency of this service. Please use the information contained in this document and the format requested as the basis for your response. If you have pertinent information that does not fit the requested format, please provide the information you have. Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) may be used to draft a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a pilot opportunity to provide film scanning services.

This Request for Information (RFI) is being issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids (IFB), a Request for Proposals (RFP), a Request for Quotations (RFQ) or an indication that the Government will contract for any of the items and/or services contained in this notice. In accordance with FAR 52.215-3, Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes, the Government will not pay for any information/items submitted in response to the RFI. No determination as to the viability of this potential requirement has been made at this point and there is currently no solicitation for this effort.

Information identified as proprietary will be not released. Only summaries of data provided under this RFI are releasable to the public.

B. BACKGROUND

APFO holds over 65,000 rolls of large format aerial film, which contain in most cases 9” x 9” images of various types of black and white and color film materials. The estimated individual frame count exceeds 10 million images, with an average exposure count of 175 images per roll.

Approximately 60% of the film is black and white, and 40% is color or infrared. Current estimates indicate scanning the entire original content of the APFO film holdings will take 13 years in-house. APFO holds film for other Federal agencies, including the US Forest Service, NRCS, DOI, unclassified military projects and NASA. APFO provides scanning services upon request of the aforementioned film holdings at a cost recovery basis for use in a wide variety of purposes from geospatial applications to legal matters. Scanning services that can provide options to drastically reduce the overall scan time for the original film holdings are to be considered in this RFI.

C. DESCRIPTION

The objective of this RFI is to gather information regarding commercial capability for scanning original aerial film housed by APFO as expeditiously as possible. APFO would like to compare capacity, price and methods for scanning film meeting or exceeding the standards below with that of alternative standards that would maintain image integrity for intended use. (ranging from geospatial applications to legal matters).

1. 12.5 microns; can be resampled from better than 12.5 microns.

2. Cover the entire film image plus the “data strip.” The data strip contains information about flight orientation/direction necessary for derivative product work.

3. Oriented such that “north is up” on a computer screen.

4. All film images having a greater length than 9” may be digitally replicated with multiple scans and then merged and saved as a single file.

5. 8-bits per channel (for black and white (BW), natural color (NC), or color infrared (CIR) film); can be resampled down from higher bit depth.

6. Uncompressed. Image compression is not acceptable.

7. All images may undergo changes through a post imagery process such as, dodging and or color balancing in an effort to achieve image quality improvement, providing the changes meet the parameters of the established radiometric values.

8. Comply with TIFF 6.0 specifications and a set file naming structure.

http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/tiff/TIFF6.pdf

9. Metadata output file from the scanner

Please use the information contained in this document and the format requested as the basis for your submission.

D. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (REQUIREMENTS)

APFO is requesting vendors with, services and/or solutions in the film scanning domain to respond with information on their resources, capabilities, pricing methodology, experience and qualifications to the Aerial Photography Field Office in this RFI.

http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/en/tiff/TIFF6.pdf

Response Format The following is an outline for responding to this RFI. This outline is intended to minimize the effort of the respondent and structure the responses for ease of analysis by the APFO. If you are responding as a provider of scanning services, please adhere to this format without compromising your response and limit response pages to no more than ten (10). If you are responding with new technology, please provide information to cover as many of the following items as practical in your response.

Section 1: Profile Brief information about your firm:

• Business size and type (i.e. small, woman-owned, veteran-owned, etc.)

• Locations

Section 2: Capability Describe your firm’s experience and capabilities in providing film scanning service solutions.

1. Current capacity to scan film to the prescribed requirements, considering typical risks and delays. How many rolls of film/images can be scanned in a 2-year period (average of 175 images per roll)?

a. Black and White (60% of film rolls)

b. Color/IR (40% of film rolls)

c. Explain how this capacity was calculated

2. If your capacity could be increased in a short amount of time, explain briefly what would need to be done, the time frame needed, and estimated increase in capacity

3. Has your firm completed larger volume scanning projects for other agencies/entities? If so, please describe briefly.

4. Is your firm capable of, or aware of capacity for, scanning approximately 65,000 rolls of film consisting of 10 million images within 2 years?

5. Physical storage capacity

Section 3: Resources and Methods Briefly describe operational aspects of your firm’s ability and capacity to perform the scope of this work. If subcontracts or partnerships would be supporting this work, please include the name and location of the vendor(s) and identify capacity and equipment separately, in order to avoid potential duplication of data in evaluation of responses:

1. Scanning device(s): quantity, manufacturer, model number, serial number, hardware version.

2. Provider of (i.e. manufacturer or other) and estimated term for support of your scanning equipment

3. Storage methods and environmental conditions the film would be stored in and exposed to during custody

4. Method/capability to perform damaged film repairs to facilitate the scope of this work

5. Method of shipping film to APFO or designated location

6. Internal QA/QC process

7. Methodology of documenting and reporting quality issues/process errors

8. Methodology for scanned image post processing

9. Methods for delivering scanned image files to APFO

10. Metadata collection process

11. Warranty

12. Is it feasible for your firm to set up a scanning operation in the Salt Lake County, Utah commuting area?

13. Long-term data storage solutions for the scanned images that would allow access and retrieval for use

Section 4: Pricing Describe how pricing is calculated and include, where appropriate, information and cost drivers (pricing information provided does not constitute a quotation or offer of pricing and will be utilized only to develop cost estimates and determine feasibility):

1. Scanning B&W film original materials; include estimated cost/unit

2. Scanning Color film original materials; include estimated cost/unit

3. Film shipping and handling

4. FGDC complaint metadata; include estimated incremental cost/unit

5. GSA Contract, quantity discounts, bulk purchasing agreements

6. Pricing above for operation in Salt Lake County, Utah commuting area

Section 5: New Technology If new technology is discussed, could it be operational in time to complete requirements above by April, 2018? Please indicate your capacity over a two-year period, an estimated time-frame for implementation to production, and estimated pricing.

Section 6: Additional Information Provide any other information, materials, suggestions, and discussion you deem appropriate.

E. INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDENTS

Responses to this RFI are due no later than 4:30 P.M. (Mountain Time) on July 17, 2015. Please submit responses electronically to michelle.clifford@slc.usda.gov

The following instructions establish the acceptable minimum requirements for the format and content of the responses:

• Please address all questions and requirements and include feedback on all related topics, including implementation costs, schedules, and risks. In addition, please feel free to provide other recommendations or suggestions on related subjects or issues.

• The electronic copy of your responses must be in an Adobe Systems(R) PDF (Portable Document Format) format and readable by the Adobe Acrobat Reader(TM).

• The first page of the submission must state the RFI title and provide the name, e-mail address, and telephone number for the individual that can be contacted for clarification or questions regarding this submission.

• To aid in Government review, the total pages for the entire submission are limited to not more than ten (10) pages and file size shall not exceed 20 MB.

• Any proprietary data that is included in the response must be marked appropriately at the paragraph level (page level is acceptable for full page table, graphs, etc). Any response marked proprietary at the document level will not be considered.

F. CONTACT INFORMATION

Clarifications or questions regarding this RFI must be submitted in writing to john.stadelman@slc.usda.gov. All clarifications or questions must reference this RFI.

Response Format