QA2018MAY10.pdf

Machine Foreign Language Translation System (MFLTS) Text-to-Text (T2T) Language Packs (LPs)

Questions and Answers Solicitation Number: W909MY-18-R-0011 RFP Release Date: 30 April 2018

Question 1: Whether companies from Outside USA can apply for this? (like, from India or Canada)

Answer: Yes, companies outside the US may submit a proposal for this effort.

Question 2: Whether we need to come over there for meetings?

Answer: All required meetings are set forth in the solicitation, specifically the Performance Work Statement. Technical Demonstration will require travel to Fort Belvoir, VA. Any personnel participating in the demonstration that are Non-US Citizen, must notify the government of their intent to participate in the demonstration representing their company (RFP page 66) by May 15, 2018.

Question 3: Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA? (like, from India or Canada)

Answer: No, the task must be performed within the US.

Question 4: Can we submit the proposals via email?

Answer: Proposal shall be submitted in accordance with the instructions provided in the Solicitation under proposal submission Instruction.

Question 5: Please confirm that a Language Pack consists of both MT and OCR.

Answer: Yes, Language Pack consists of both MT and OCR for the following Russian, Modern Standard Arabic, Polish, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and Ukrainian.

Question 6: Will the government be providing any example documents that represent the genres and file types for the test corpora ahead of the demonstrations? Providing such a document set will increase the likelihood that the government will successfully attract vendors that can meet the requirements. This suggestion was made during the industry day by multiple vendors.

Answer: Sample documents are available in the Reading Room for this acquisition.

Question 7: What is the approximate size of the test corpora in documents, and the average document size in words?

Answer: For the Reading Comprehension Test output during the Tech Demo, an average of 12 one-page documents for machine translation and OCR will be provided (for an average total of 24 one-page documents). NOTE: This is an average that may vary depending on the languages. It could be more or less.

Question 8: Would the government consider throwing out the best and worst results of each test to prevent disqualification due to outliers?

Answer: Test will be conducted in accordance with the instructions provided in the Solicitation.

Question 9: WPM Case 2: Is the 300 WPM the totality of the processing of both OCR and MT?

Answer: Yes, 300 WPM is processing speed for both OCR and MT.

Question 10: Can the government confirm that OCR is not desired for Dari, Pashto, Urdu, and Farsi?

Answer: Your assumption is correct, OCR is not desired for Dari, Pashto, Urdu, and Farsi LPs as indicated in the solicitation.

Question 11: The output of the OCR process is an editable *text* document, not an image. Per the prose on p. 70 of the solicitation and elsewhere, the government seems to desire the translated output to be an *image*. Please clarify.

Answer: Although OCR itself creates text, the complete process should create a translated document with the approximate appearance of the original document image. The Government is not requiring the same document file type. Example (if the original image was a TIFF file, it's OK to create an RTF or TXT output file with the proper approximate formatting).

Question 12: PWS 3.2.4.2 implies that Mandarin image documents could be either Simplified or Traditional. Does the same apply to the BLEU evaluation? Should these be treated as two separate language packs for MT?

Answer: Yes, for image documents.

No, for BLEU PWS para 3.2.4.1.

They should not be treated as two separate language packs for MT.

Question 14: T2T runs on Mobile and Web-enabled platforms. PWS section 3.2.7.2 makes reference to both Android and Google, which do not apply in either of these environments. Please clarify.

Answer: The reference to Google and Android was removed and PWS was corrected to reflect the removal.

Question 15: Suggest that the computer be used to report processing time rather than a human-driven approach (stopwatch).

Answer: The Government will utilize a Stopwatch approach to ensure consistency among all offeror as indicated in the solicitation.

Question 16: PDF is not supported in the MFLTS architecture – either as described by the documents in the reading room, or when the program completed its second sustainment year. If there is a requirement to translate PDF documents, does that imply a change to the architecture?

Answer: Yes, there is a requirement to translate image PDF documents. Architecture documents have been updated to reflect this change and are available in the Reading Room.

Question 17: Is the following laptop spec acceptable for the demonstration test?

Dell Precision M7520 32 GB Ram

512GB HD

Intel Core i7-7820HQ, 2.9 GHz

Answer: Please refer to the solicitation for acceptable Laptop Specifications. Offeror’s may select the appropriate laptop specification for the demonstration.

Question 18: How does the program office plan to account for the startup time for the MT and OCR components of the language pack? Is it acceptable to start the components and THEN run the test files through them? Does the clock start only when the first file enters the component?

Answer: The program office is not measuring startup time. The Offeror will have time to set their system up and let the government know when they are ready to start the demonstration. Yes, it is acceptable to start the components and then run the test files through them. The clock starts when the first government test file enters the component for processing (2 hours per LP).

Pricing instruction:

Question 19: Completing both Section B and the pricing model can be confusing, because Section B doesn’t accommodate multiple prices for discounts. For example, there are two cells in the pricing model that correspond to MSA, CLIN 0022 of Section B. There could be different costs in cells C5 and cell C18 if the vendor plans to offer discounts, but there’s only one slot for that price in Section B. using just the pricing model would avoid inconsistencies and confusion.

Answer: In accordance with the instructions provided in Section B narrative, the offerors pricing shall be noted in the pricing model (Attachment 0010). At time of award the Government will add the appropriate amount to Section B.

Question 20: Can we assume that OPSEC and other supporting tasks should be priced only with the first awarded LP? If OPSEC is aligned only with LP configuration, how will it be funded after the 90-day PoP?

Answer: Yes, OPSEC and other supporting tasks should be priced under the first awarded LP. Solicitation will be amended to reflect this change.