SP25.03 DAM RFQ - SOW.pdf

Request for Proposal (RFP): Digital Asset Management System (SOW)

U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Home of Space Camp

1. Executive Summary:

Company Overview: The U.S. Space & Rocket Center, located in Huntsville, Alabama, is a Smithsonian AƯiliate and the oƯicial state attraction for Alabama. It serves as the visitor center for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and is dedicated to educating and inspiring the next generation of space explorers and scientists.

Home to the world-renowned Space Camp, Aviation Challenge, and Space Camp Robotics, the USSRC oƯers immersive educational experiences that have inspired millions of children and adults globally. Our mission is to ignite a passion for space, science, and technology through engaging exhibits, educational programs, and the preservation of space history. The Center operates within a dynamic environment, deeply connected to the aerospace and defense industries, educational institutions, and the tourism sector. Our key stakeholders include families, educators, alumni, government oƯicials, and the broader community in Alabama and beyond. We aim to leverage our historic and documentary event footage to expand our reach for our educational mission and drive visitors to our programs and attractions

Background: We have a collection of approximately 150 TB of video footage that is both historical and current activities at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. It is not indexed nor key worded. Known footage includes Alan Shepard, first American in Space, speaking at the Rocket Center in front of a Redstone Rocket identical to what launched him into space. Our library is expanding approximately 20 TB a year but that amount will continue to increase as we expand our video department.

In addition to historic video, we have current marketing videos of Space Camp and Rocket Center activities and events. We also have graphics and still photography.

Multiple departments including marketing, museum exhibits, archives, social media, executive internal video production, and graphics need to be able to access this footage.

The files are inconsistently named and are not indexed or key worded. Our videographer is the only one that has total access to all the footage making for a single point of failure.

Project Goals and Objectives:

o Basic Functions

Ability to search and find footage through key word, index and transcription

Multiple people can access footage

Consistent file naming conventions

Proper backup and security protocols and practices o Additional Functions:

Enhanced workflows with proper comment and approval processes

Ability for people outside the organization, such as freelance creative talent, advertisers and researchers, to view and download footage.

Ability to create long form projects, such as documentaries and television series.

Ability to enhance brand consistency across all creative platforms

Enhance organization of files and support deliver deliverables

Expected Outcomes o Smooth implementation of DAM with vendor support and education o Migration of existing files from hard drives to a cloud based, secure environment that is consistently and frequently backed up o Migration of existing files using AI or other vendor supplied tools to standardize naming conventions, keyword and index files. Transcription of video footage a plus.

o Training on system functionality and best practices.

o The ability for multiple users with varying needs to access and eƯectively use the DAM library. User groups include marketing, video, photography, archives, social media, museum exhibits and graphics.

High-Level Scope:

o Assets include video, still photography, graphics, text documents, both current and historical.

o The system will be used by approximately 10-15 users o Describe how your proposed solution supports the following key functions:

Implement role-based permissions so users can only access files relevant to their responsibilities, such as restricting sensitive documents to certain teams.

Regular, automated backups to secure drives or cloud storage solutions to mitigate risks of accidental data loss or system failure.

Define clear archiving rules for unused or outdated assets to keep the library organized and eƯicient.

Follow industry regulations such as SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, or others as applicable, including regular audits and metadata management for legal and regulatory purposes.

Ability to import multiple formats (video, images, documents) from file uploads, live streams, networked devices, or integrations.

Support for automatic metadata extraction and tagging during ingest.

Centralized asset indexing with searchable metadata, tags, categories, and filters for fast retrieval.

Multi-factor authentication and support for integration with corporate identity management systems.

Advanced search tools supporting keyword, metadata, date range, and content-based searches (e.g., AI-driven image or video content recognition).

Bulk search and preview of assets in various formats.

Integrated video and image player, supporting instant preview, basic editing, and annotation.

Support for versioning and audit logs on asset changes, edits, or approvals.

Review and approval workflows, including notifications, comments, and asset locking.

Tools for sharing assets securely with internal and external stakeholders.

Scalable storage options: cloud, on-premise servers, hybrid deployments.

Automated reporting for usage, incidents, and system health.

Keyworded and/or indexed footage

Ability to segregate footage for individual users or user groups

Ability to send assets to vendors in proper formats for publication and distribution.

Regular, automated backups to secure drives or cloud storage solutions mitigate risks of accidental data loss or system failure.

Keep comprehensive audit logs of access and asset changes for compliance and security monitoring

2. Company Background and Current State:

Current Asset Management Process:

o Currently, the raw footage is stored to an All-Flash Thunderbolt 4 NASbook attached to the graphics workstation, a Macintosh computer. This Data is transferred by a local 10G network connection to trueNAS server in the server room as backup storage. Data is backed up via Veeam software to longer term storage platforms. Data is stored on both SSD and disk. Data is not currently indexed and has no metadata associated with the content. Any assets distributed outside the organization must be sent by dropbox link. The files are inconsistently named, are not indexed or keyworded.

Challenges and Pain Points:

o Limited access to files by the variety of users that need access o Improper security and back up strategy o We don’t know what we have in the library, which limits our ability to leverage it for marketing and original content development o The same images are being used and reused because they are easily found, not because they are the best ones for the task o Duplicates proliferating on individual computers o Inconsistency in branding

Why a DAM is the Solution:

o DAM will allow access by multiple people to the assets o Consistent file naming conventions can be better enforced o Proper back-up and security procedures.

o The ability to find and leverage our historic footage o Centralized location for footage and assets

3. Scope of Work and Requirements:

Types of Digital Assets:

o File Types: Video, Still, audio and text files

JPEGS, JPG

TIFFS

PSD

PDF

MOV

MP4

MP3

WAV

BRAW

PNG

RAW

AVI

Asset Volume and Growth:

o Approximately 150 TB video files o Approximately 20-30 TB of still and graphic files.

o Approx 5 TB of documents o Increasing approximately 10-15 TB annually

User Roles and Permissions:

Photographer – ability to upload, edit and download assets

Videography – ability to upload, edit and download assets

Archives – ability to upload and track assets. Assets entered will be historic documents and photos so will not be edited but might need some photo restoration.

Graphics – ability to set and enforce brand logo standards, repository for all original work

Marketing – ability to create and edit new assets from the library. Ability to send to outside vendors in multiple formats.

Social Media and Website - ability to create and edit new assets from the library. Ability to send to outside vendors in multiple formats.

Executive Suite – ability to access, comment and approve content

Communications – ability to access and download content for outside media

Museum Exhibits – ability to upload, edit and download content

General Public -ability to review historic documents and photos. No edit ability and limited download ability.

IT/Admin – all functions needed to maintain system

Key Functional Requirements: The specific features and capabilities the DAM must possess, such as:

Asset ingestion and upload methods – downloaded from cameras, we would like some ability to auto tag or simple interface to automatically name assets. It needs to be easy and quick.

Metadata management (e.g., tagging, indexing, custom fields) – AI tools and retrieval from source

Search and retrieval capabilities by keyword, person, event, content

Versioning and revision control – same footage will be used in multiple versions. Original and new version should be kept

Asset sharing and distribution (internal and external) – internally with departments for approval and use on signage, exhibits. Externally, advertising and researchers.

Rights management and licensing tracking – we want to license images, so we need to be able to track when it is licensed to others. We also ingest footage from other sources for our marketing that we need to track copyright and usage restrictions.

Workflows and creative project management – both internal and with external freelancers.

Analytics and reporting on asset usage – like to track how many times and in what capacity an image or clip is used.

Technical Requirements:

Integration with existing systems (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite)

Scalability and performance requirements

Deployment preferences (cloud-based) with the ability to edit locally on desktop or laptop

Security measures (e.g., access controls, encryption of some documents, compliance with State and Center security restrictions

Backup and disaster recovery

Compatibility with Existing Infrastructure: It needs to work in both Windows 11 and MAC environments.

Scalability: Initially, we’ll need to have 200 TB in hot storage until we can determine what the footage is. After the initial six months, we should be able to decrease our need for hot storage to approximately 20 TB of working files.

All footage should be available within a few hours at most.

Usage Scenarios (Use Cases):

o Marketing – uses photos, video and graphics for streaming, social and print media assets o Archives – catalog documents, photos and video. Gather them for use in museum exhibits and for academic research.

o Executive Suite – approval of final media assets, digital storage of commission meetings and minutes o Graphics – finding photos to incorporate into signage, media assets. Creating a library of approved logo formats.

o Video and Photo – uploading original content, editing, adding historic footage and formatting it for distribution to media channels, including internal screens o Film Production – creating original content based on historic footage, licensing and tracking current images and footage to outside sources o Planetarium programs

4. Vendor Information and Qualifications:

Company Profile: Please provide information about the vendor's history, experience, and expertise in DAM solutions. What awards or recognition has your company received in the last three to five years?

Experience and Track Record: Please provide information on your experience implementing DAM solutions, particularly in your industry.

Client References and Case Studies: Please provide examples of successful DAM implementations, especially with large libraries of files that cannot be deleted.

Customer Support and Service: Detail your support oƯerings, including support channels, response times, and service level agreements (SLAs).

5. Implementation and Training:

Implementation Process: Please supply a detailed plan for implementing the DAM system, including milestones, potential delivery dates, resources required of us and resources supplied by you. Also, please detail data migration strategy for getting data from hard drives to the cloud to your system and strategy and resources for data conforming prior to migration.

Training and Onboarding: Please provide information about training materials, user guides, and onboarding assistance for your team, including support after implementation.

Customer Support and Service: Detail your support oƯerings, including support channels, response times, and service level agreements (SLAs). Describe all online help, user guides, knowledge bases, or other training materials available during and post implementation.

Integrations with Third Party: Describe your tool's ability to integrate with third party applications. What integrations does your DAM solution currently support? Which are OOTB and which require additional costs and configuration? Does it integrate with (OOB) with any ERP/CRM platforms? (e.g. Oracle NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365)

Functionality:

o Describe your tool's ability to create templates for repetitive content.

o Can assets be reviewed, approved, rejected, and annotated in your system?

Describe the review and approval capabilities.

o Describe your user types and permissions associated at each level.

o Describe your tools and abilities to use AI to keyword and index files.

o Describe your ability to conform film names and to enforce file naming standards, if any

Data Migration: Identify the vendor's approach to perform data migration from the current data maintained locally.

Updates and Upgrades: What is the vendor's development roadmap? How will updates and upgrades be rolled out? What do you anticipate costs to be?

Minimum and Recommended Network Speeds:

o What minimum upload and download bandwidth is required for optimal use of your DAM (e.g., 1 Gbps symmetrical)?

o What is the recommended bandwidth for handling large video uploads (e.g., 4K/8K video, multi-terabyte migrations)?

Performance Benchmarks:

o Under typical conditions, what average transfer speeds can we expect for:

Uploading a single 100GB+ video file

Downloading or streaming high-resolution video assets (4K, RAW, BRAW, ProRes, etc.)

Can the system support concurrent uploads/downloads from multiple users without significant degradation?

Streaming & Remote Access:

o Does the DAM support adaptive streaming for video playback? If so, what are the bandwidth requirements for diƯerent quality levels (e.g., 720p, 1080p, 4K)?

o What are the latency expectations for remote users accessing assets outside the main campus network?

Data Migration:

o For initial migration of 150 TB+, what bandwidth considerations and strategies does the vendor recommend?

o Describe how you can support bulk data transfer devices (e.g., AWS Snowball, physical drives) instead of relying on the network?

o Describe how you would conduct a migration over the external network, what is the expected timeline at diƯerent bandwidth levels (e.g., 1 Gbps vs. 5 Gbps)? We currently do not have access to a higher bandwidth. This circuit is shared by all campus operations.

Scalability & Future Proofing:

o Describe how your solution scales with growing bandwidth needs as video sizes increase (e.g., 8K, HDR workflows)? Describe any additional costs/fees associated with bandwidth usage.

o Describe your service level agreements (SLAs) around transfer speed or access performance?

Security During Transfers:

o Describe your encryption methods used during upload/download?

o Describe the impact that encryption has on performance overhead?

6. Pricing and Licensing:

Pricing Model: Please supply details on the pricing structure (e.g., subscription fees, one-time costs, tiered pricing).

Cost Breakdown: Please provide a breakdown of costs associated with diƯerent aspects of the system (e.g., licensing, implementation, support).

Scalability Pricing: Please clarify how pricing scales with increased usage or additional features.

7. Evaluation Criteria:

Functional and Technical Alignment: How well the vendor's solution meets USSRC functional and technical requirements, especially with implementation and training support.

Vendor Experience and Reputation: The vendor's track record and customer satisfaction.

Support and Training: The quality of customer support, training, and onboarding.

Scalability and Performance: The DAM's ability to handle future growth and maintain optimal performance.

Cost: The overall cost of the solution, including initial and ongoing expenses.

User Experience (UX): The ease of use and intuitiveness of the interface.

Security and Compliance: The vendor's adherence to security standards and regulatory compliance.

Technical Acumen & Collaboration: Demonstrated understanding of the needs of the various departments and ability to satisfy them.

Budget & Value: Competitiveness of the proposed budget and pricing model relative to the scope of services and anticipated value.

• References: Positive feedback from provided references.

Thank you for your interest in partnering with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. We look forward to reviewing your proposals