Digital Preservation Software Support

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD SOLE SOURCE The United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), National Agricultural Library (NAL) intends to issue an award to Artefactual on a sole source basis. Award will be made pursuant to FAR In accordance with FAR 13.501 and 41 USC 3304 §(a)(l ), the property and service needed is available from only one responsible source and no other type of property or service will satisfy the needs of the agency.

The National Agricultural Library’s (NAL) current technological infrastructure struggles to provide long-term preservation to match the rapid uptick in digital content creation, increased digitization efforts, and curation of complex research datasets. In addition to regular data back-ups, NAL should develop a long-term preservation strategy that addresses file and media formats, redundancy, software and hardware obsolescence, accessibility, migration, standards, security, authenticity, and integrity.

Software and storage options suitable for the scale and nature of this activity should be deployed and the overall framework should be carefully planned, documented, and managed. NAL requires a digital preservation system that will ensure that the library’s digital collections and assets remain accessible in the long-term, supporting digital ways of working with staff and users, reducing, or eliminating potential risk of catastrophic data loss, and support key strategic priorities.

Additionally, NAL requires a long-term active digital preservation and secure access (backup, archiving, storage and content management) in a single, intuitive and fully supported application aligned to the OAIS ISO 14721 standard. The system will Safely store content, ensuring that it can be found and trusted, provide secure immediate access, and automatically update files to future-friendly formats. Archivematica currently meets the standards-based preservation needs and in-house as opposed to SaaS.

Artefactual is the developer of the code base and the only company capable of providing support and patching of their software. The system must also provide configuration and development support, risk mitigation support, custom code, and patching of Archivematica in a timely fashion to meet USDA/Federal cybersecurity needs. The anticipated Period of Performance is for one base year and four, one-year options. THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR QUOTES.

This notice is for informational purposes only and is not to be constructed as a commitment by the Government. Potential sources who believe they can provide the services listed above are invited to submit substantiating documentation in writing to the identified point of contact. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.

A determination by the Government to compete this proposed contact based on responses to this notice is solely at the discretion of the Government. The deadline to respond to this notice is September 16, 2024. Requested information shall be limited to no more than 2 pages. Interested firms are instructed to submit written responses by e-mail to angela.wingert@usda.gov. NO HARD COPY OR FACSIMILE SUBMISSION WILL BE ACCEPTED. Cover letters and extraneous materials (brochures, etc.) will not be considered.

No reimbursement will be made for any cost associated with providing information in response to this announcement or any follow-up information provided. The Point of Contact for this action is Angela Wingert and any response must be emailed to angela.wingert@usda.gov.