NTIA ASL Datasets

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT TO SOLE SOURCE AND NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTATION OR PROPOSAL. The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), Enterprise Services -Acquisition (ES-A), located in Washington, D.C., intends to negotiate on a sole-source basis and award a contract to University of Texas at Austin (UTA), 3925 W. Braker LN., STE. 3.340, Austin, Texas 78759-5316.

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of permitting other than full and open competition This acquisition is being conducted using the policies and procedures of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 13.501(a)(ii) under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 1901(e)(2). FAR Part 12 “Acquisition of Commercial Items” as supplemented by the Commerce Acquisition Regulation (CAR), will be used to evaluate the proposal to award this requirement. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code(s) for this requirement is 512110 – Motion Picture and Video Production with a size standard of $35.0 M. The PSC Code is T006 – Photo/Map/Print/Publication – Film/Video Tape Production. DOC ES-A anticipates awarding a firm-fixed-price contract with a 12-month base period and no options for this requirement.

The Government does not intend to incur additional costs that will result in either substantial duplication of costs or experience any unacceptable delays in fulfilling the DOC’s needs. Award to anyone other than UTA will add further challenge to the Government in having to train and walk interested parties through understanding the requirement; thereby, adding to the delay and harming the Government further. UTA will provide personnel proficient in American Sign Language (ASL) to create ASL datasets consisting of short, silent videos of people communicating with ASL at a natural pace. The datasets will also include subject ratings collected from subjects on the 5-level Absolute Category Rating (ACR) scale, in accordance with ITU-T Rec. P.913.

This is NOT a solicitation for quotations, quotation abstracts, a request for competitive quotations; or request for competitive proposals; however, all responses received within 15 days from the date of publication of this synopsis will be considered by the Government. Responses must clearly and thoroughly defend any claims or assertions that attempt to refute the Government’s claim. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action based upon responses to this notice is solely with the discretion of the Government. Information received will normally be considered for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Information received on this notice must eliminate the Government's concerns and addressed how the items can be provided without jeopardizing the science behind the on-going projects. If no affirmative responses are received within 15 days of this notice to determine whether a qualified source is more advantageous to the Government, a contract will be issued to the University of Texas at Austin (UTA). There is no solicitation package available. Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to Dgreen@doc.gov.