USAHEC_Vendor_Questions_Answers_01.pdf

VENDOR QUESTIONS/ANSWERS 01

1. Our company is not a small business and we will not be subcontracting any small businesses.

Does this disqualify us from submitting a proposal?

- No; however, Small Business Participation is one of the factors that is being evaluated, so that would negatively impact your rating for that factor.

2. Our company will not be proposing a library solution. Will you consider a partial solution that meets all requirements except for library functionality?

- Yes all bids will be evaluated according to the evaluation criteria.

3. Regarding Archival Functionality, we have the following question about the requirement below:

(g) Automated update of location status upon circulation/return is required.

Our solution meets this requirement provided client changes the location of the item(s)/object(s), is this acceptable?

- Yes it would. Ideally the system would retain a home location that once the returned items is checked back it, the location would automatically default to the established home location.

4. Regarding Digital Management & Preservation Functionality, we have the following questions about each requirement below:

(l) System shall have an Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) capability.

This is a function of the scanner software. However we can interface with a scanner having

OCR, and our product can read and ingest (index) text from documents scanned by OCR. Would this solution be acceptable?

- Yes OCR. Ideally the discovery function would have a capability to read image files.

(p) Files shall be accessible through a digital forensic tool that permits non-altering forms of access (view only/background fixity scan/copy creation) without altering underlying technical metadata (last accessed/edited date), similar to BitCurator. (Creation metadata stays separate from archival use metadata and they shall not overwrite one another.)

Our software does not directly control fixity of files, but other software can manage this and the other functions listed. We can provide an approach that is fully integrated with our software.

Would this solution be acceptable?

- Yes, needs to be addressed in the proposal and be part of the bid package

(q) System shall have Automated Quality Assurance/Quality Control for ingested/data-in-transit AND regular background/data-at-rest scans including: fixity, virus check, metadata integrity.

Our software does not directly control these functions but we can provide an approach that is fully integrated with our software. Would this solution be acceptable?

- Yes, needs to be addressed in the proposal and be part of the bid package

(t) System shall have Automated Quality Assurance/Quality Control for ingested/data-in-transit AND regular background/data-at-rest scans including: fixity, virus check, metadata integrity.

Our software does not directly control these functions but we can provide an approach that is fully integrated with our software. Would this solution be acceptable?

- Yes, needs to be addressed in the proposal and be part of the bid package

(u) System shall have the ability to generate active notification to designated system administrators of all file actions beyond the reading of files.

Our software does not directly control these functions but we can provide an approach that is fully integrated with our software. Would this solution be acceptable?

- Yes, needs to be addressed in the proposal and be part of the bid package

(v) Actions beyond the reading of files require some form of concurrence/affirmation from designated system administrators.

Would a solution that is fully integrated with our software be acceptable?

- Yes, needs to be addressed in the proposal and be part of the bid package

5. Regarding Discovery/Search Functionality (Public Interface), we have the following questions about each requirement below:

(c) System shall be a single entry search for all publicly available materials within the system as well as proprietary databases to which the USAWC Library subscribes. The current list of databases to which the Library subscribes can be found here -http://usawc.libguides.com/current/resources

Our solution is capable of publishing and searching against all or select records from the

Collections Management System. Indexing and searching databases other than our Collection

Management System (CMS) would be an extensive customization requiring a more detailed specification. How will authentication be handled? IP Can documentation be provided? Should http://usawc.libguides.com/current/resources our solution connect to the other databases, or will the other database applications provide data through an API? If so, do they all provide APIs, and in the same format?

- Yes they need to connect to the other databases. Some not all vendors provide API.

Currently we utilize a system called “Summon” which provides us this type of access.

(d) System shall be compatible with proxy service so authorized users and IP addresses can access proprietary databases.

Please clarify which propriety databases for this requirement.

- Please see link: http://usawc.libguides.com/current/resources

Will authorized users have access to all other proprietary databases, besides our proposed public interface solution?

- Yes thru the proxy service

(e) System shall have the ability to export search field scripts or widgets for use on other websites.

- PWS will be adjusted to read “SYSTEM SHALL HAVE THE ABILITY TO ADD ADDITIONAL

SEARCH BOX FUNCTIONALITY TO MULTIPLE WEBPAGES.”

Does just the search field need to be exported? If others need to be exported, we would need to know which ones. Can you give an example of an export script and widget?

- Currently USAHEC, library, supports two different and distinct clients (students/public) public cannot access proprietary databases so we utilize a separate search box on a separate discovery page that connects them to the various databases

(http://usawc.libguides.com/current/resources).

(g) Search shall recognize natural language keyword searches, recognize abbreviations in controlled vocabulary, and recognize DACS, EAD, MARC, and BibFrame schemas simultaneously, while only displaying one unified record.

Which NLP processing should be done, and for which languages? What does recognize mean with relation to DACS, EAD and MARC? -

- I am assuming NLP = Natural Language Processing English only for the “did you mean” function.

Does the schema mean MARC specific prefixing? - -

- Independent of MARC, referring to metadata structure itself. All records regardless of schema will be considered for retrieval against search terms.

(j) The search functionality shall employ the use of indexing, data harvesting, and protocol searching to tie together data records to be searched upon the submission of a user query and also may be attached to other servers and Discovery Layer Systems through Open Archives

Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH).

Is OAI-PMH the mechanism for which all other applications will be harvested and aggregated? - -

- Yes

What format will the content be in? MARC? EAD? DACS? Different formats?

- Multiple formats but primarily Dublin core.

(w) System shall support federated search and faceted classification systems, within USAHEC.

Also, shall interoperate with other federated search engines.

Do the federated search and faceted classification systems refer to the databases/applications listed on the http://usawc.libguides.com/current/resources page?

- Yes