Inactive

Amendment 0001 - The purpose of Amendment 0001 is to provide answers to questions, Attachment 1 - Answers to Questions, hereby incorporated hereto. All other terms and conditions of this RFI shall rem... Amendment 0001 - The purpose of Amendment 0001 is to provide answers to questions, Attachment 1 - Answers to Questions, hereby incorporated hereto. All other terms and conditions of this RFI shall remain in full effect unless otherwise changed by the amendment. 1.0 Description 1.1 The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Acquisition and Lease Management Division is seeking information on how an interested party could provide hardware and software solutions for applying automated speech-to-text and speaker identification technologies to generate accurate written transcripts of crew conversations from aviation cockpit voice recorder (CVR) recordings and other operating compartment recordings obtained from marine, railroad, and highway vehicles. These recordings involve unique operations and high levels of background noise that make it challenging to perform speech to text tasks, and they are currently manually transcribed by technical experts during NTSB’s accident investigations. The agency wants to explore whether current speech-to-text technology can automatically generate transcripts and address inefficiencies in the processing of audio recordings from accident vehicles while also ensuring compliance with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. § 1114 (c) and (d) regarding the confidentiality of recordings and transcripts. 1.2 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes – it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This request for information does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the NTSB is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Respondees are advised that the U.S. Government 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 interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the Contracting Opportunities webpage of the System for Award Management (ww.sam.gov). It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor this site for additional information pertaining to this requirement. 1.3 NTSB is conducting market research through this RFI to capture information from the vendor community on the marketplace of potential solutions. This RFI seeks input regarding: a. Industry’s general comments on the NTSB’s business needs and possible solutions including proposals of alternate methods of meeting business needs; b. Industry’s capability to perform the work (including perceived risks and level of customization required); c. Industry’s estimate of the approximate cost to acquire and implement the proposed solution; d. Industry’s ability to demonstrate a proposed solution; and, e. Industry’s ability to propose innovative strategies for meeting NTSB’s needs, including multi-vendor collaborative solutions, solutions that leverage open source tools, and enhancements that will bring value. The desired outcomes of this RFI are for NTSB to: a. Learn more about what needs can and cannot be met with existing market offerings; b. Determine the approximate cost of acquiring, implementing, and maintaining the solution(s); c. Learn about the technology and staff resources that may be required to implement and support the solution; and, d. Inform future budget planning. 2.0 Statement of Objectives The contractor shall provide all equipment, both software and hardware, and other items and non-personal services necessary to automate speech-to-text and speaker identification tasks and create accurate written transcripts from audio recordings. Describe automatic speech recognition product(s) that will be supplied; Capability to securely and accurately transcribe crew dialogue in specialized operating environments including aircraft cockpits, bridge decks on ships, railroad locomotive cabs, and commercial highway vehicles; Capability to securely and accurately transcribe dialogue between vehicle crew members and ground stations or company communication centers; Capability to identify and accurately transcribe vehicle-generated sounds such as warnings and alarms at fixed and varying frequencies; Capability to enforce federal security requirements for storage, transmission, and access control to prevent release of the transcripts and recordings in accordance with the statutory requirements of 49 U.S.C. § 1114 (c) and (d) and NTSB policy for protecting the content; Capability to assist in identifying the causes of transcription failures and remedial actions; and Provide NTSB laboratory personnel with appropriate training. 3.0 Responses 3.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI. 3.2 Written responses in a PDF compatible format are due no later than JUNE 20, 2022 at 4:00 PM/Eastern Time (ET). Responses shall be submitted via e-mail only to bryan.moy@ntsb.gov. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. 3.3. Section 1 of the response shall provide administrative information, and shall include the following as a minimum: 3.3.1. Organization Name, mailing address, physical address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact. 3.3.2. Tailored capability statements addressing the particulars of this effort, with appropriate documentation supporting claims of organizational and staff capability. If significant subcontracting or teaming is anticipated in order to deliver technical capability, organizations should address the administrative and management structure of such arrangements. 3.3.3. Business type (large business, small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, HUBZone small business, woman-owned small business, very small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business) based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 541990, All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services. Please refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation FAR 19 for additional detailed information on Small Business Size Standards. The number of pages in Section 1 of the response shall not be included in the 3-page limitation, the 3-page limitation applies only to Section 2 of the response. 3.4 Section 2 of the response shall answer the question below and shall be limited to 3 pages: a. Within the Section 2.0 Statement of Work, is there any information that is not clear, or could otherwise be improved upon in order to perform the requirements of the contract to industry standards? 4.0 Questions Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contract Specialist at bryan.moy@ntsb.gov. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by posting answers to the selected government point of entry; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after JUNE 6, 2022 at 4:00 PM/ET will be answered. 5.0 Summary THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify parties that can provide tools necessary to automate speech-to-text and speaker identification tasks and create accurate written transcripts of operating compartment audio recordings obtained from aviation, marine, railroad, and highway vehicles. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. NTSB has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.