Crowdsourced Non-Patent Literature Hosting

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) BEING RELEASED PURSUANT TO FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) PART 10 MARKET RESEARCH. This RFI is issued solely for informational, market research, and planning purposes. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is not at this time seeking proposals, and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondents are advised that the USPTO will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the responding party's expense. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and responses to the RFI will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if one is issued. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the USPTO to form a binding contract. It is the responsibility of the interested parties to monitor the Federal Business Opportunities (www.fbo.gov) site for additional information pertaining to this RFI. 1.0 RFI OBJECTIVE: The USPTO, as part of the White House executive actions to strengthen the quality and the accessibility of the patent system, is exploring ways to make it easier for technologists and engineers from industry and academia to provide technical training and expertise to patent examiners. See White House FACT SHEET (February 20, 2014). To determine whether an invention is patentable, a patent examiner must evaluate it in light of the state of the art. But innovation moves fast and important advances may be documented only in hard-to-access corporate records or any number of other widely-dispersed repositories. The most relevant information about a particular technology in an application is sometimes difficult for examiners to locate and use. Because this information often resides with the technical and scientific community, crowdsourcing and third-party submissions are promising ways to uncover hard-to-find prior art. A growing number of organizations from a wide range of industries have expressed a willingness to help with crowdsourcing these efforts by pledging to provide public product documentation, educational materials, and other forms of "prior-art." The USPTO envisions a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship with a private or public sector firm with the objective of providing easily accessible materials that have been pledged to the USPTO through the above-described crowdsourcing effort. Industry partners and other interested parties will electronically supply materials including product documentation, educational-training materials, and other forms of "prior-art" to the USPTO on a voluntary basis or in response to requests for assistance in newly developing technological areas. These materials would be made available to both USPTO staff and to the public via the Internet at no cost to the USPTO or the public. The USPTO is seeking information from qualified firms that are capable of electronically receiving and potentially hosting millions of structured/indexed and unstructured documents. The firm shall index and/or add searchable metadata (e.g. keywords, author, date of public availability, etc.) to the received materials. The firm shall have the capability to provide access to a publically searchable database. Qualified firms shall provide tools and capabilities for the public to search the database containing the indexed materials. Capable firms will respond to the notice and takedown provisions codified in 17 USC - 512 (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) at no cost to the USPTO or the public. Qualified firms shall have the capability to fund the ongoing operation of the infrastructure, including the maintenance of the materials and periodic updates for up to five (5) years, and perhaps longer, at no cost to the USPTO. 2.0 ACQUISITION STRATEGY: The USPTO seeks market information and suggestions on the best ways to structure any potential acquisition strategies, agreements or contracts for indexing and providing searchable access to materials being pledged to the USPTO. If the USPTO determines a requirement for the services stated in this RFI, the acquisition strategy may include solutions offered in response to this RFI. Respondents to this RFI are encouraged to identify and provide any unique solutions. Acquisition strategies being considered by the USPTO are as follows: a. Using a single prime contractor for hosting materials in a searchable database. b. Using multiple contractor(s) for hosting materials in a searchable database. c. Other acquisition alternatives and suggestions offered by industry. 3.0 INSTRUCTIONS FOR RFI RESPONDENTS: RFI responses should be no longer than ten (10) pages and shall include, at a minimum: 1. Point of Contact Name, Company Name, Address, Email, Phone, DUNS number, and GSA FSS contract number, if applicable; 2. A brief capability statement with reference to each of the requirements, capabilities and acquisition strategy solutions as included herein; 3. An indication of whether teaming is intended, and if so, identification of each vendor involved in the team; 4. For each vendor involved in a response, the business size for NAICS 541519; 5. Past performance summary of work performed that was of similar size and scope; and 6. An indication of interest in responding to a solicitation, should one be issued. Telephone calls requesting a solicitation will not be accepted or acknowledged. Any questions regarding this RFI shall be submitted in writing to: Heather.Bakos@uspto.gov and shall be received not later than 11:00 AM Contracting Officer's Local time on October 21, 2014. Participation and responses to this RFI are voluntary and their source shall be treated as confidential. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested respondent's expense. The objective of this RFI is to assess vendor capabilities and interest. Review of the responses to the RFI will focus on the offeror's technical capability to provide a quality solution, corporate experience/past performance for same or similar activity with commercial activities or government agencies, and responsiveness to the RFI. Interested firms who possess the above capabilities should respond no later 11:00 AM, Contracting Officer's Local time on DECEMBER 16, 2014. Responses received to this announcement that are marked "Proprietary" will be handled accordingly. Proprietary information submitted in response to this RFI will be protected from unauthorized disclosure as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). All proprietary markings should be clearly delineated. The respondent shall identify where data is restricted by proprietary or other rights and mark it accordingly. Responses shall be emailed to: Heather.Bakos@uspto.gov Please include reference to RFI #PTOHMB201501 in the subject line to the response and any other correspondence. 4.0 FORMATTING OF RESPONSES Responses shall be formatted as 8.5"x11" and be not more than ten (10) pages in length. Font size should be 12 point, Times New Roman. Electronic submissions shall be in PDF file format. The total page count of 10 pages does not include the cover letter, table of contents and acronym list. Not responding to the RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP. If a solicitation is released, it will be issued via the Federal Business Opportunities website (www.fbo.gov). It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor this website for any information that may pertain to this RFI or a future RFP. The information provided in this RFI and any future changes to the RFI are subject to change and are not binding on the USPTO. 5.0 POTENTIAL CLARIFICATION OF RFI RESPONSES To fully comprehend the information contained within a response to this RFI, there may be a need to seek further clarification from those respondent(s) identified as capable. This clarification may be requested in the form of written communication; electronic communication; or a request for a presentation of the response to a specific USPTO group or groups. The USPTO reserves the right to seek additional information from those vendors identified with unique solutions that are determined to be beneficial to the USPTO.