Online Illustrated Essays

The Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia-Cascades Area Office is seeking a contractor to create and publish five online illustrated essays documenting historic Reclamation resources in Washington state. The project requires detailed research and documentation of specific sites including the Kennewick Division, Kittitas Division Yakima River Pressure Tunnel, Sunny Side Canal, Kachess Dam, and Cle Elum Dam. Each essay must be between 2,500-4,000 words, include a minimum of 10 images with captions, and follow Chicago Manual of Style citations. The essays will be published on a publicly accessible website and must meet Section 508 compliance requirements. Proposals are due by January 24, 2025, at 5:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, with the evaluation criteria primarily focused on price. The contract will include Service Contract Act wage determinations and is categorized under NAICS code 519210 for Libraries and Archives.

The procurement is an unrestricted contract with no specific set-aside designations, and History Link, a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, has been identified as the sole source provider through market research. The contract is structured with a base period and two option periods, spanning from March 1, 2025, to August 31, 2027, during which two essays will be completed in the base period, two in the first option period, and one in the final period. The total project size standard is $21 million, though the specific award value is not explicitly stated. The place of performance will be associated with the online publication platform, with work to be conducted remotely. History Link was selected due to their unique capabilities in hosting and maintaining long-term digital scholarly content, currently serving 4,500 daily website visitors and hosting over 8,100 scholarly articles.