Machine Translation Software

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 only. Responses may be used in developing project documentation and acquisition strategies. 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 seeking proposals at this time, and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondents are advised that the United States (U.S.) Government will not pay for any information or administrative cost incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the responding party's expense. You are advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the U.S Government 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, and any subsequent solicitation. The response to this RFI is to be limited to no more than 20 pages. RFI Objective: Machine Translation Software The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is seeking information from interested parties who can provide commercially available machine translation software suitable for an enterprise-wide solution. The software will be used primarily to translate files from various European and Asian languages into English. Below is a list of criteria of interest, and each response should address, at a minimum, these capabilities. Each response should also include information on any additional recommended optical character recognition (OCR) software that will work best with their product for converting an image source to English text, if separate software is needed. In the response, please indicate if there is a no-cost trial version commercially available on a website and provide the web address. Capabilities --The software must allow for translation of a wide range of European and Asian languages including but not limited to translation from Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese, Korean, German, French, Russian and Spanish into English. Ideally, the software should also enable bidirectional translation, from English into each of the foreign languages. --The software must be server based and allow for enterprise-wide use. -- On the client side, the software must be compatible with Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 7. Windows 7 security requirements are as defined by United States Government Configuration Baseline (USGCB) on Windows 7. -- On the server side, the software must be compatible with 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux v5.4 or higher, or 64-bit Windows 2008. The software must be capable of performing in a Virtualized Infrastructure. --The software must support Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) to facilitate building specialized applications that will communicate with this software. --The software must be compatible with Microsoft Office 2003, 2010 and future upgrades. --The software must have a plug-in to execute on-the-fly translation of multiple documents from multiple source languages. --The software must be able to execute bulk translation on the server-side. --Information on software processing speed should be included for example number of words or number of pages per minute. --The software must have OCR capabilities or the ability to interface with an existing client or server based OCR solution. --The software should be capable of working with multiple file types including but not limited to text files, MS Word files, WordPerfect files, PDF files (both Text and Image based), email files, TIFF, XML, and websites (HTML). The software should be capable of using multiple original sources including image files or text files containing any UTF-16 character set. --Information on the capability of the software to handle images embedded in the source files should be included. --The software should ideally use a hybrid of rule-based and statistical based translation engines. --The software should have the capability to support multiple, technical subject-specialized dictionaries. --The software should have the capability to support user-defined dictionaries and support user-defined additions and deletions from each technical subject-specialized dictionary. --The software should have translation memory capabilities. --The software should be user-friendly. --The software should ideally offer flexibility to enable the end user to select the format of the translation output file from several options such as MS Word, XML, or PDF. --The software should provide flexibility to enable the user to select the destination location for the translation output from among several options inclusive of local drives, network drives, or portable drives and/or the clipboard. --The translation output should be of a quality that reflects that of the original document, allowing the end user to determine the gist of the information. This software must meet the requirements set forth in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and be Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 compliant. Responses should include licensing or ownership information, i.e. enterprise or per user, list prices, upgrade or renewal plans, and maintenance support, etc. Respondents may submit their responses to the USPTO no later than December 30, 2010, in white paper/thesis format on 8.5"x11" and not more than 20 pages in length. The total page count of 20 pages does not include the cover letter, table of contents and acronym list. The total page count does include all other information provided (i.e., graphs, technical, etc.). The response should be prepared as single-sided pages using Microsoft Word with 12-point regular Times New Roman. Fold out charts for tables or graphics are allowed with a limited size of 11"x17" and each foldout counts as a single page and also counts towards the total page limit. Charts and graphics must be in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visio or Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). 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. If you have any questions, submit your questions to Joe Troia at email: Joe.Troia@uspto.gov. Please email any responses to (include RFI number DOCSSPAPT1100001 on any correspondence) to: Joe.Troia@uspto.gov