SevenCs (7Cs) ENC Analyzer Software for NOAA Marine Chart Division (MCD)

NOAA'S ACQUISITION & GRANTS OFFICE, EASTERN ACQUISITION DIVISION-NORFOLK, NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE (NOS) MARINE CHART DIVISION (MCD) OFFICE INTENDS TO NEGOTIATE, ON A SOLE SOURCE BASIS, UNDER AUTHORITY OF FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), WITH SEVENCS (7Cs) GMBH OUT OF HAMBURG, GERMANY FOR SEVENCS ENC ANALYZER SOFTWARE LICENSES.

THE SOLE SOURCE DETERMINATION IS BASED ON THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION'S (NOAA) REQUIREMENT THAT SEVENCS IS THE SOLE PROVIDER AND DISTRIBUTOR OF ENC ANALYZER SOFTWARE IN THE UNITED STATES. SEVENCS DOES NOT HAVE ANY AUTHORIZED PARTNERS / RESELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES. THE ENC SOFTWARE PACKAGE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO THE LATEST VERSION OF THE IHO S-58 VALIDATION CHECKS WHICH HAS INTRODUCED A NEW ERROR CLASSIFICATION CALLED “CRITICAL”.

IF AN ENC IS VALIDATED AND RETURNS A “CRITICAL” ERROR IT MUST BE FIXED PRIOR TO RELEASE TO THE PUBLIC AS IT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL HYDROGRAPHIC ORGANIZATIONS THAT ENCS HAVING “CRITICAL” ERRORS MAY NOT WORK PROPERLY WITHIN A NAVIGATION SYSTEM. THE MARKET FOR THIRD PARTY ENC VALIDATION SOFTWARE TOOLS IS LIMITED TO JUST TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOFTWARE – DKART INSPECTOR AND SEVENCS ANALYZER.

MCD HAS BEEN USING THE DKART INSPECTOR PACKAGE FOR OVER 12 YEARS, BUT NOW NEEDS TO TRANSITION THE REMAINDER OF OUR CARTOGRAPHIC WORKFORCE TO ENC PRODUCTION. SEVENCS HAS UPDATED THEIR SOFTWARE TO THE LATEST VERSION OF THE IHO S-58 STANDARD, THUS ENABLING MCD TO PRODUCE COMPLIANT ENCS. AS NOTED ABOVE, S-58 HAS INTRODUCED A NEW CLASSIFICATION THAT WILL ENABLE MCD TO CATCH “CRITICAL” ERRORS THAT IF UN-CAUGHT MAY CAUSE THE DATA TO LOAD IMPROPERLY IN SHIPBOARD NAVIGATION SYSTEMS.

THE DKART SOFTWARE LICENSING IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO THE CITRIX ENVIRONMENT, DKART IS COMPATIBLE WITH CITRIX BUT THE LICENSING DOES NOT PERMIT MORE THAN 10 USERS AT A TIME AND SOMETIMES LESS DUE TO HOW THE LICENSING SOFTWARE DOES NOT RELEASE LICENSES IN THE CITRIX ENVIRONMENT. ADDITIONALLY, DKART IS EVENTUALLY UPDATED WITH THE "LATEST" S-58 VERSION BUT IS TYPICALLY A YEAR BEHIND. DKART WAS IN USE FOR 12 YEARS WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE THAT IT WAS UP TO A YEAR OUT OF DATE IN COMPARISON TO S-58.

ONCE MCD JOINED IC-ENC AND RECEIVED REGULAR UPDATES ON S-58, AS WELL AS NOTIFICATION OF NEW VERSIONS OF THE SEVENCS SOFTWARE, IT WAS APPARENT THAT DKART WAS MORE OUT OF DATE THAN WAS ACCEPTABLE FROM A QUALITY CONTROL STANDPOINT. S-58 IS CONSTANTLY UPDATED AND LIKELY UPGRADED TO THE NEXT VERSION. DKART IS TYPICALLY A YEAR BEHIND THE CURRENT S-58 STANDARD.

RELYING SOLELY ON DKART WOULD LIKELY RESULT IN CHARTS BEING REJECTED BY IC-ENC BECAUSE IC-ENC ARE WORKING OFF THE NEW VERSION OF SEVENCS THAT REFERENCES AN UP-TO-DATE S-58 WITH NEW CRITICAL ERRORS THAT MCD COULD NOT SEE BECAUSE OF THE LATENCY OF DKART UPDATES. ANY REJECTION OF ENCS RESULTS IN INEFFICIENCIES, CONFUSION AND POSSIBLE MISSING CRITICAL ERRORS. SEVENCS IS NEVER MORE THAN 3 MONTHS BEHIND THE LATEST VERSION OF S-58.

FURTHERMORE, IT APPEARS BECAUSE OF DKART'S ACQUISITION BY A LARGER COMPANY THEIR UPDATE SCHEDULE MAY HAVE SLID EVEN MORE. THE UPDATE CYCLE OF DKART, AS STATED ABOVE, PROVIDES A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF LIMITATIONS. DKART’S LACK OF COMMUNICATION, PARTICULARLY WHEN DEALING WITH REQUESTED UPDATES, DUE TO FALSE POSITIVES FOR VALIDATION. THIS CAN CREATE A CONSIDERABLE INEFFICIENCY. DKART'S ADVANCED USER INTERFACE WAS THEIR MAIN ATTRACTION. SEVENCS NOW ALSO PROVIDES THAT ADVANCED USER INTERFACE.

THE SOFTWARE THAT SEVENCS PRODUCES MEETS MCDS REQUIREMENTS BY HAVING THE ABILITY TO UTILIZE A CONCURRENT LICENSE STRUCTURE – THUS ALLOWING MCD TO REDUCE ITS LICENSE FOOT PRINT AND IS UPDATED TO THE LATEST IHO STANDARDS. SEVENCS HAS DEVELOPED THIS SOFTWARE AND DOES NOT USE A RESELLER NETWORK. THIS SOFTWARE AND LICENSE IS PROPRIETARY AND NO OTHER COMPANY HAS THE SOURCE CODE TO PROVIDE THIS PRODUCT, LICENSES, OR MAINTENANCE SERVICES.

MCD ENCS ARE ACCEPTED FOR DISTRIBUTION BY THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR ENCS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. THIS ORGANIZATION ALSO USES SEVENCS TO VALIDATE AND RUN OTHER QUALITY ASSURANCE ON OUR ENCS. WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO REPLICATE ANY ERRORS THAT THIS ORGANIZATION FINDS WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO CORRECT OUR CHARTS PROPERLY WHEN THEY REJECTED FOR DISTRIBUTION.

THIS NOTICE OF INTENT IS NOT A REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS AND NO SOLICITATION PACKAGE IS AVAILABLE. HOWEVER, FIRMS THAT BELIEVE THEY CAN FULLY MEET THE GOVERNMENT'S REQUIREMENTS MAY SUBMIT SUBSTANTIATING DOCUMENTATION IN WRITING TO THE IDENTIFIED POINT OF CONTACT WITHIN 15 DAYS AFTER PUBLICATION OF THIS SYNOPSIS. SUCH DOCUMENTATION WILL BE EVALUATED SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING WHETHER OR NOT TO CONDUCT THIS PROCUREMENT ON A COMPETITIVE BASIS. A DETERMINATION BY THE GOVERNMENT NOT TO CONDUCT A COMPETITIVE PROCUREMENT, BASED UPON RESPONSES TO THIS NOTICE, IS SOLELY WITHIN THE DISCRETION OF THE GOVERNMENT. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE IN RESPONSE TO THIS NOTICE.