QUESTIONS_AND_ANSWERS_PURSUANT_TO_RFQ_SB1341-14-RQ-0628_PATENT_ANALYTICS_8-2014.doc

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS PURSUANT TO RFQ SB1341-14-RQ-0628 (PATENT ANALYTICS)

Q1. Do you have a rough estimate of the number of NIST documents/outputs that will be provided for inclusion in the project? Even just an order of magnitude would be useful here, to help us estimate the extent of the matching exercise.

A1. This is a link to the latest publicly available NIST Tech Transfer Report: http://nist.gov/tpo/publications/upload/DOC-FY-2013-Tech-Trans-Annual-Report-4-28-14.pdf. The relevant part for NIST is Chapter 2. We won’t go back more than 5 years for patents and pubs so the exact number are available in that report. Rough “ball park” is about 200 patents (combined issued and apps) and 6,000 pubs.

Q2. We assume that the NIST documents/outputs will include scientific journal papers, conference papers etc written by researchers funded by NIST, not just NIST standards. Is this correct?

A2. These are NIST technical publications by NIST researchers. It might be helpful to all offerors to note that the aforementioned report includes CRADAs, software downloads, etc. The point of this requirement and exercise is that NIST doesn’t have good clean lists for some of these things. The task is for the algorithms to uncover the usage of these NIST activities. NIST will not be providing partial lists of CRADAs, software downloads, etc.

Q3. Can you provide basic guidance as to the white paper requirements, in terms of expected length etc.? This is so we can estimate the time required to write the paper – e.g., this will be very different for a 5-page brief vs. a 100-page in-depth report.

A3. The white paper should be about 25-30 pages.

Q4. Is there an incumbent organization that is supporting or has supported NIST in the area of patent analytics?

A4. No. NIST has done matched patent work before but not in this area.

Q5. If yes, please provide the contract number information.

A5. See A4 Q6. Can you please provide an estimated number of NIST technical outputs to be linked to USTPO data?

A6. See A1

Q7. The solicitation mentions developing algorithms that search for use or citations of “NIST publications, patents, documentary standards, Standard Reference Materials (SRMs), Standard Reference Data Products (SRDs), Calibration services, and software downloads”. Section VI mentions that a list of publications and patents will be provided. Will a list of the other search targets be provided by NIST? (i.e., documentary standards, Standard Reference Materials (SRMs), Standard Reference Data Products (SRDs), Calibration services, and software downloads)

A7. See A1. NIST will not provide other search targets. As discussed in A2, the NIST collection of who is using these things is spotty and we don’t know the extent to which these activities are impacting patenting.

Q8. The solicitation mentions searching “patent applications and issued patents in the publicly available USPTO database”. Can we assume that searching USPTO data contained in databases from commercial providers is acceptable?

A8. As long as the commercially available database provides access to the complete and most recent USPTO data, there are no issues with using a commercial provider.