Amendment_0001.docx

SB1341-14-RQ-0703

Amendment 001 The purpose of this amendment is to provide responses to the following questions posed by potential offerors:

1) Though the place of performance is listed as at “the contractor’s site,” do the security procedures of the NIST require the evaluations to be done on the contractor’s premises, or can evaluators be given remote access to the contractor’s computational resources in order to complete their data sets?

Remote access is acceptable.

2) If virtual (remote) access of the contractor’s computational resources can be given to evaluators, can evaluators be current bilingual residents of the native countries (Egypt and China) or other countries, or do the evaluators have to be American citizens/permanent residents?

From a technical standpoint this is not an issue.

3) Does the NIST expect to maintain contact with the contractor during regular business hours (8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.) or are after hours contact requests expected as well?

There is no preconceived expectation of contact hours.

4) Will the NIST award this contract to one vendor or will the contract possibly be split amongst more than one vendor?

The Government expects to make one award.

5) In addition to the response to “Does the translation have the same meaning as the source?,” will the NIST at any time require subjective or substantive corrections to the non-English text to improve the Machine Translation memory?

No.

6) Will the selected contractor be able to use the NIST logo on their future marketing materials?

No.

7) “Mandarin Chinese” is only a spoken language. Would the Government please clarify that Simplified Chinese is the required language?

The CTS (conversational telephone speech) transcripts will target Mandarin Chinese speech.

8) Would the Government please clarify if there are any IT security requirements for the computers that will host the NIST-provided software?

None.

9) The tables in 4.0 Objectives total 10,000 source words over 10 systems x 5 judges totaling 1,000,000 whereas the deliverables table (4) says 20,000 source words. Would the Government please clarify which is correct?

There are 10,000 source words in Arabic and 10,000 source words of Chinese – both to be evaluated by the respective set of bilingual judges (Arabic and Chinese) as identified in SECTION 4. Combined there are 20,000 source words to be assessed by the mono-lingual English speaker(s).

In SECTION 12 (the deliverable section) the two Bilingual assessments (Arabic and Chinese) are grouped as one deliverable. They are both correct as written.

10) Would the Government please clarify if bidders should separate pricing according to the 6 tasks listed in the SOW or just provide one overall price for the entire program?

Please provide a firm-fixed-price per task.

11) Ref Task 2: How will the Government provide the Java-based software used to perform the assessments (i.e. on a CD mailed to the contractor location; through a web-based platform that allows for downloading the software; etc.)?

The software will be available from NIST via ftp download. If this not accessible, NIST will provide the contractor with a CD that may be duplicated at the contractor expense.

12) Ref Task 2: How is the Contractor to return the assessments back to the Government?

The assessments will reside in one or more text files that can be emailed or ftp’d to the Government.

13) Must the Arabic judges be native to the Arab Republic of Egypt or native to any country where Arabic is the primary language?

Their native dialect must be Egyptian Arabic.

14) Please clarify the type of source data – is it written text or voice files?

Written text.

15) To match the segment of text representing the source data and the resulting machine translation and put the results on Likert Scale, do you have a format ready , for example The format of a typical five-level Likert item, for example, could be o Strongly disagree o Disagree o Neither agree nor disagree o Agree o Strongly agree Or will it be simple “Does the Translation have the same meaning as the original source data”

We have a 5-point scale ready.

16) In case if we appoint a new judge in place of existing one, does he have to go through the training and validation process?

Yes.

17) How many vendors do they plan to select?

The Government intends to make one award as a result of this solicitation.

18) Who is the current vendor for this job?

None.

19) Can we get the copy of the current vendor proposal?

There is no current vendor.

20) Can we get the fee schedule / structure of the current vendor?

There is no current vendor.

21) What is the proposed budget for this project?

The Government cannot provide this information.

22) What is the current price for services and annual spending of the last year?

The Government cannot provide this information.

23) Is there special consideration or points for DVBE?

No this is a small business set aside only.

24) Also if a judge leaves midway, will the entire assignment be done by a new judge or only the balance work?

The balance.

25) Is there a specific format for the proposal?

Only to the extent specified elsewhere in the solicitation.

26) Is there a specific format for the price proposal?

Only to the extent specified elsewhere in the solicitation.

27) The document says “Price – The Government will evaluate price for reasonableness” please clarify the parameters. Quotation below $XXXX (per word or per task) is considered unreasonable?

The Government cannot provide this information.

28) Is it okay to submit the quotation in PDF format?

Yes.

29) The technical quotation highlighting the technical capability and past performance and the price quotation will be part of one document or it should be two separate document?

Two documents.

30) The Technical Capability Evaluation Factor appears to be subjective in nature. Could you please share the evaluation parameters?

The evaluation factors are listed in the solicitation. Further details cannot be provided.

31) What is the payment term on this solicitation? Monthly billing and Net payment terms?

Equal monthly payments.

32) Self-certification of Small business is accepted or you need any specific certificate and from which agency?

Offerors shall complete annual representations and certifications in accordance with FAR 52.212-3 Offerors Representations and Certifications- Commercial Items.

33) Is there additional points for Women Owned Business enterprise?

No, this is a small business set-aside only.

34) Is this a global solicitation? Can companies from Canada, India bid on this solicitation?

Companies that are registered in the System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) are eligible for award.

35) Can you provide us with documentations related to NIST 2015 OpenMT Evaluation?

Publically available information can be found here: http://www.nist.gov/itl/iad/mig/openmt15.cfm

36) What is the computer system requirement for NIST 2015 OpenMT software?

We do not have specific requirements identified. Most standard PC’s and workstations capable of running the current release of JAVA will suffice.

37) The Statement of Work for Solicitation SB1341-14-RQ-0703, Human Assessments of Translation states a minimum and maximum number of personnel required to complete the work on this project. However, it is unclear whether the firm-fixed-price should be based on the maximum number of personnel or on the minimum. Would you please clarify?

Based on how many people you intend to use to complete this work.

38) Also, do you require the resumes of the personnel who will be working on the project included in this quotation?

No.

39) Is the software the judges will be using web enabled so the judges can access the software via a web browser?

No.

40) Please clarify the following:

Whether we need to come over there for meetings ??

No.

Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA ?? (From India or Canada) Yes.

Can we submit our proposals via email ?

Submission procedures should follow those identified in the solicitation.

41) Can we get a sample of each language (including original) Samples are not available.

42) If no sample available, can they tell us roughly how accurate the machine output is The accuracy will be highly variable.

43) Is the English to English portion proofreading English text to the corresponding English audio?

There is no English Audio.

44) Are we supposed to make corrections or just assess the transcript and rate it on the Likert scale?

Assessments only.

45) Do you want pricing on per word basis or per hour basis?

Per word is preferred over per hour.

46) Do you need the resumes of the bilingual and monolingual judges as part of the proposal?

No.

47) Which companies were selected for OpenMT 2013 and 2014 and what were there rates?

This is not applicable. Previous assessments during those years were not funded.

48) Do the folks doing the assessments need to be physically located at the contractor’s site?

No.

49) Do the folks doing the assessments need to translators need to be located in the U.S.?

No.

50) Will there be human translations we need to complete?

No.

51) What are the software requirements?

NIST will provide the software (JAVA based) used to perform all assessments. System requirements have not been specified.

52) Will we be able to see a sample of the data sets and software before bidding?

No.

53) If we change a judge do we assign a new pin or do you? We know that we must notify you of the changes.

The contractor will manage PINs to identify judges. NIST will not hold any PII about the judges.

54) Can judges work remotely on their own computer, or does the contractor need to provide central control of computers?

Remote location is okay.

55) We studied the MT09 evaluation plan, but can you provide other reference material, source files, links, or documentation on NISTs OpenMT Evaluations?

See: www.nist.gov/itl/iad/mig/mt.cfm for publically available information on past OpenMTs.

56) Did a vendor perform OpenMT evaluation services from 2009 to present (2014) for NIST? If so, who?

Assessments were created by participants of the evaluations using a volunteer model.

57) What is the estimated budget or government spend for this acquisition?

This will not be provided.

58) Can the government provide a schedule of the data set assignments? It will be helpful to accurately forecast staffing levels and will lower costs to the taxpayer.

The contractor will be provided all of the data set assignments on day 1 of the assessment period.

59) How will the government deliver the software to the contractor?

Via email, ftp or CD (postal mail).

60) Will the government assist in the installation of the software if any problems arise?

Yes, to the extent the software or software installation instructions must be modified. The mode of assistance will be limited to phone conversations and email exchanges.

61) How extensive is the training? Please provide estimated hours of training.

Reasonable training is estimated to be accomplishable in 2 hours or less.