Scanning & Transcription Framework.

Contract notice

Services

Directive 2004/18/EC

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1)Name, addresses and contact point(s)

The National Archives
Kew
For the attention of: Dave Rosbotham
TW9 4DU Richmond
UNITED KINGDOM
Telephone: +44 2083925244
E-mail:
Fax: +44 2084871971

Internet address(es):

General address of the contracting authority: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Further information can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from: The above mentioned contact point(s)

Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to: The above mentioned contact point(s)

I.2)Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions
I.3)Main activity
General public services
I.4)Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities
The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities: no

Section II: Object of the contract

II.1)Description
II.1.1)Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority:
Scanning & Transcription Framework.
II.1.2)Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance
Services
Service category No 7: Computer and related services
Main site or location of works, place of delivery or of performance: Kew, Richmond, Greater London, or supplier premises.
NUTS code
II.1.3)Information about a public contract, a framework agreement or a dynamic purchasing system (DPS)
The notice involves the establishment of a framework agreement
II.1.4)Information on framework agreement
Framework agreement with several operators
Number of participants to the framework agreement envisaged: 5

Duration of the framework agreement

Duration in months: 48

Estimated total value of purchases for the entire duration of the framework agreement

Estimated value excluding VAT: 1 270 000,00 GBP
II.1.5)Short description of the contract or purchase(s)
The National Archives is a government department and an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice. As the official archive of the UK government and for England and Wales, we safeguard and make available to the public a vast collection of historical records dating back over 1,000 years. These range from parchment and paper scrolls through to digital files and archived government websites.
Our 21st century role is to collect and secure the future of the record, both digital and physical, to preserve it for generations to come, and to make it as accessible as possible.
The National Archives advises on information management across government, publishes all UK legislation, manages Crown copyright and supports the wider archive sector. We also work to promote and improve access to public sector information so it can be effectively re-used by individuals, community groups and commercial companies.
To realise The National Archives’ vision, it scans and transcribes a wide variety of historic documents and archive material in order to make them easily accessible to the public sector and the wider public.
In order to respond quickly to project requirements, and to reduce administration and procurement overheads, The National Archives wishes to let a framework agreement covering 7 Lots, providing for several suppliers to offer a range of value for money (VfM) scanning and transcription services.
II.1.6)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79999100, 72000000, 79000000

II.1.7)Information about Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The contract is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA): yes
II.1.8)Lots
This contract is divided into lots: yes
Tenders may be submitted for one or more lots
II.1.9)Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: no
II.2)Quantity or scope of the contract
II.2.1)Total quantity or scope:
Lot 1: Scanning of paper material and the creation of associated metadata on site at TNA’s premises to create a digital surrogate.
Lot 2: Scanning of paper material and the creation of associated metadata on site at TNA’s premises to create a digitalised record.
Lot 3: Scanning of paper material and the creation of associated metadata off site (suppliers’ premises) to create a digital surrogate.
Lot 4: Manual creation of electronic text from digital images that do not have security constraints.
Lot 5: Manual creation of electronic text from digital images that have security constraints.
Lot 6: Automated creation (Optical Character Recognition, OCR) of electronic text from digital images that do not have security constraints.
Lot 7: Automated creation (Optical Character Recognition, OCR) of electronic text from digital images that have security constraints.
Estimated value excluding VAT: 1 270 000,00 GBP
II.2.2)Information about options
Options: no
II.2.3)Information about renewals
This contract is subject to renewal: no
II.3)Duration of the contract or time limit for completion
Duration in months: 48 (from the award of the contract)

Information about lots

Lot No: 1 Lot title: On site paper surrogate
1)Short description
Scanning of paper material and the creation of associated metadata on site at TNA’s premises to create a digital surrogate.
2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79999100, 72000000, 79000000

3)Quantity or scope
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 2 Lot title: On site digitised record
1)Short description
Scanning of paper material and the creation of associated metadata on site at TNA’s premises to create a digitalised record.
2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79999100, 72000000, 79000000

3)Quantity or scope
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 3 Lot title: Off site paper surrogate
1)Short description
Scanning of paper material and the creation of associated metadata off site (suppliers’ premises) to create a digital surrogate.
2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79999100, 72000000, 79000000

3)Quantity or scope
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 4 Lot title: manual transcription of Open images
1)Short description
Manual transcription of digital images without additional security constraints (i.e. open access).
2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79999100, 72000000, 79000000

3)Quantity or scope
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 5 Lot title: manual transcription of Closed images
1)Short description
Manual transcription of digital images with additional security constraints (i.e. Closed.
2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79999100, 72000000, 79000000

3)Quantity or scope
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 6 Lot title: Automated (OCR) transcription of Open images
1)Short description
Automated creation of electronic text from digital images that do not have security constraints (i.e. Open Access).
2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79999100, 72000000, 79000000

3)Quantity or scope
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots
Lot No: 7 Lot title: Automated (OCR) transcription of Closed images
1)Short description
Automated creation of electronic text from digital images that do have security constraints (i.e. Closed).
2)Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)

79999100, 72000000, 79000000

3)Quantity or scope
4)Indication about different date for duration of contract or starting/completion
5)Additional information about lots

Section III: Legal, economic, financial and technical information

III.1)Conditions relating to the contract
III.1.1)Deposits and guarantees required:
Those invited to tender will be advised of any requirement to provide deposits and guarantees, parent company and/or other guarantees or performance and financial liability if considered appropriate.
III.1.2)Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions governing them:
III.1.3)Legal form to be taken by the group of economic operators to whom the contract is to be awarded:
No special legal form is required but if a contract is awarded to a consortium The National Archives may require the consortium to form a legal entity before entering into the contract.
III.1.4)Other particular conditions
The performance of the contract is subject to particular conditions: no
III.2)Conditions for participation
III.2.1)Personal situation of economic operators, including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: In accordance with Articles 45 and 46 of Directive 2004/18/EC and Regulation 23 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 and as set out in the pre-qualification questionnaire.
III.2.2)Economic and financial ability
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: In accordance with Article 47 of Directive 2004/18/EC and Regulation 24 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 and as detailed in the prequalification questionnaire.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required: As detailed in the prequalification questionnaire.
III.2.3)Technical capacity
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met:
In accordance with Articles 48 and 50 of Directive 2004/18/EC and Regulation 25 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 and as detailed in the pre-qualification questionnaire.
Minimum level(s) of standards possibly required:
As detailed in the prequalification questionnaire.
III.2.4)Information about reserved contracts
III.3)Conditions specific to services contracts
III.3.1)Information about a particular profession
Execution of the service is reserved to a particular profession: no
III.3.2)Staff responsible for the execution of the service
Legal persons should indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff responsible for the execution of the service: no

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Type of procedure
IV.1.1)Type of procedure
Restricted
IV.1.2)Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate
Envisaged minimum number 5
Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates: As specified in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire.
IV.1.3)Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue
IV.2)Award criteria
IV.2.1)Award criteria
The most economically advantageous tender in terms of the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document
IV.2.2)Information about electronic auction
An electronic auction will be used: no
IV.3)Administrative information
IV.3.1)File reference number attributed by the contracting authority:
CM1001P
IV.3.2)Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract
no
IV.3.3)Conditions for obtaining specifications and additional documents or descriptive document
Payable documents: no
IV.3.4)Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
1.10.2012 - 12:00
IV.3.5)Date of dispatch of invitations to tender or to participate to selected candidates
18.10.2012
IV.3.6)Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up
English.
IV.3.7)Minimum time frame during which the tenderer must maintain the tender
IV.3.8)Conditions for opening tenders

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.1)Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: no
VI.2)Information about European Union funds
The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no
VI.3)Additional information
The National Archives has a long established business rule that prevents accessioned official record documents from leaving its site. Therefore, any scanning of official records must take place on The National Archives’ premises at Kew (Lots 1 and 2). Non-accessioned material (e.g. microfilm and finding aids) are not covered by this restriction and can be shipped to a supplier location to be digitised (Lot 3). There are however security requirements associated with any of The National Archives’ work, be it the handling of physical material or processing of digital images. The requirement can vary depending on the legal status of documents - for example, ones that are closed to public access have greater constraints attached to them (Lots 5 & 7) than files that are officially open (Lots 4 & 6).
For Closed records additional security requirements will cover physcial, data protection and transfer aspects of the scanning or transcription process.
The National Archives requires the outputs from any work to conform to a set of minimum standards. These may change over time however current requirements specify two possible output options - Digital Surrogates and Digitised Records.
Digital surrogates are defined by The National Archives as electronic copies of physical documents. The National Archives will retain the original physical material but present the digital surrogates as standard for public consumption (Lot 1).

Digitised records are defined by The National Archives as electronic copies of physical documents where the digital form is accessioned to become the official Public Record. In these cases The National Archives will not retain the original material and the newly created digital record will become the definitive official record. The creation of these digital official records has a much higher technical requirement than that of surrogates and includes the need for provenance metadata in order to prove the authenticity of the image (Lot 2). For details of the image specifications for Digitised Records: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/digitisation-image-specification.pdf.

Further details regarding the image specification for Surrogates and the metadata specification in both cases will be provided during the OJEU formal tender phase to qualifying Potential Contractors.
The National Archives’ transcription requirements fall into 2 categories: manual or automated (Optical Character Recognition or OCR) transcription of open information (Lots 5&7), and manual or automated (OCR) transcription of images that are subject to security and handling restrictions arising from DPA or other regulations (Lots 4&6), this may include the creation of redacted transcription data or metadata.
Digitisation projects vary in size from hundreds of records to millions. As an example, one of The National Archives’ current projects (not to be undertaken under this Framework) requires approximately 250,000 images to be digitised over a three month period from original material (original accessioned documents including written and printed materials) held on The National Archives premises. In this case the original material varies in size from A5 to A0 and above.
Transcription requirements vary depending on the nature of the original material and how it is organised. It is rare that The National Archives would require 100 % transcription of all information so selections are usually made. This information is passed on to the transcription partner using a template clearly identifying what data needs to be collected.
Other services required include redaction and other data manipulation services which may occur at the scanning stage or electronically.
The National Archives’ digitisation requirements have evolved over the last 4 years and continue to grow in scope and complexity. It is important that framework partners are found that can evolve alongside The National Archives and continue to deliver to the expected standard.
Metadata information will be required to be returned to TNA in csv or xml conforming to specified Schemas to be defined.
VI.4)Procedures for appeal
VI.4.1)Body responsible for appeal procedures

The Royal Courts of Justice
The Strand
WC2A 2LL London
UNITED KINGDOM

VI.4.2)Lodging of appeals
Precise information on deadline(s) for lodging appeals: The Authority will incorporate a standstill period when information on the award of the contract is communicated to tenderers. That notification will provide full information on the award decision. The standstill period, which will be for a minimum of 10 calendar days, provides time for unsuccessful tenderers to challenge the award decision before the contract is entered into. The Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (SI 2006 No 5) provide for aggrieved parties who have been harmed or are at risk of harm by a breach of the rules to take action in the High Court. ____.
VI.4.3)Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained
VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:
20.8.2012