Virtual Reality and 3 Dimensional technologies

This is a sources sought notice issued for market research purposes only. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR A PROPOSAL. This Sources Sought Notice is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The purpose of this notice is to identify qualified l business concerns that are interested in and capable of performing the work and providing the products described herein. MSHA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses nor otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. As a result of this Sources Sought, MSHA may issue a Request for Proposal (RFP). There is no solicitation available at this time. However, should such a requirement arise, no basis for claims against MSHA shall arise as a result of a response to this Sources Sought or the MSHA's use of such information as either part of our evaluation process or in developing specifications for any subsequent requirement. MSHA is the primary federal agency that enforces the Mine Act of 1977 with the mission of protecting the nation's miners. In the performance of that mission the Directorate of Education and Policy Development designs, develops, and conducts instruction programs with the latest technology available to assist in government, industry, and labor efforts to reduce injuries, illnesses, and fatalities in the mineral industries. To further this goal, MSHA has been exploring training tools involving Virtual Reality, Interactive Gaming, and 3 Dimensional technologies. This type of training will allow students to be immersed in a simulated mining environment and witness simulated hazards. This training will allow our entry level MSHA inspectors to mentally perform specific job inspection tasks while they are receiving guidance from instructors. With this notice, MSHA is conducting market research to determine the types of commercial technical solutions that are available for the development of training courses based on interactive 3D virtual simulation of a mine. The training environments will simulate a surface coal, surface metal, underground coal and underground metal. The surface mine simulation will include the following: Highwall, travelway, dump point, blast zone, heavy equipment, crushers, screeners, conveyors, etc. The underground mine will include: Standard room and pillar section, longwall section, working face, conveyor belt, heavy equipment, power center, etc. Each environment will be equipped with a help interface that will include information from the MSHA mine file, accident reports, Federal Codes of Regulations 30, training records, along with other reference materials. The help interface will be available upon entering each environment and will be accessible throughout the training. The course is to be completely interactive allowing the student to freely navigate through the 3D environment. Each environment should have different "game plays" or scenarios, each with a completely different set of mine violations. Each of these scenarios will have multiple decision points that will require the student inspector to choose if it is a violation, and the severity of the violation. The event or inspection should have additional choices like a notes section where the student can take notes or take a picture of the scene. Upon completion of each scenario a report will be generated in the format used for MSHA citations with the information submitted by the student. There also may be a post inspection interview scenario after which they can choose to make changes to their citations before submission. These scenarios may also be customized for additional lessons with increased severity and possibly include a fatality, fire, emergency evacuation, highwall failure, mine explosion, or a mine rescue situation. MSHA is currently developing SCORM compliant online training via Trivantis Course Mill Learning Management System a product that can manage the student courses and track their results. Responses should provide information regarding the possibility of making the product SCORM and Section 508 Compliant, as well as any options for online and stand alone delivery. All online delivery would be through MSHA's LMS or a government web server. All interested parties are requested to respond to this notice by 12:00 Noon EST,. Wednesday March 4, 2009 to the contracting officer, Mr. Robert Beaty at beaty.robert@dol.gov. Responses to this sources sought notice should include a description of any product and its capability in the areas specified and the types of hardware platforms that are supported. Please include any experience in virtual reality 3D gaming technology development, mining background, and any information where they have developed similar products. The response should provide information including examples, of existing implementations using the product.. Additionally, please provide any catalog or pricing information on any existing system or product that you may have that would meet these requirements. As an aid to developing the Government cost estimate for this work we would ask that responses contain estimated costs for similarly developed products, maintenance and training or any catalog or list pricing for any existing product that would meet these requirements. Any comments/questions must be sent to via email to the contracting officer ar beaty.robert@dol.gov. No questions or comments will be accepted by telephone. THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS