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Published notice: International open invitation to tender no. 2007/0480/Tp (NL - The Hague)

Processing and conversion of scanned images of documents to coded data.

1. Awarding Authority:

   The European Patent Organisation (EPO) through the European Patent Office: Headquarters, Erhardtstrasse 27, D-80469 Munich, Postal address: EPO, D-80298 Munich, Germany.
   The European Patent Organisation is an intergovernmental organisation set up pursuant to the European Patent Convention which entered into force in 1977. At present it has 34 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and United Kingdom). The executive body of the EPO is the European Patent Office which is charged with the searching and examination of European patent applications and the granting of European patents. It employs approximately 6700 staff at EPO headquarters in Munich, a branch at The Hague/Rijswijk (NL) and sub-offices in Berlin and Vienna (the number of Member States and staff members indicated may change).
   

2. Award procedure:

   International open invitation to tender with discretionary award of contract.
   

3. Description of the contract:

   1. Purpose of the contract:

      Processing and conversion of scanned images of documents to coded data. Scanned images to be processed are contained in selected patent and general administration documents, letters and forms. The information in the scanned images is not open to the public and may not be disclosed or used for any other purposes than the ones defined in the contract.
      Main processing work steps shall be:
      
      • Scanning of paper documents and creation of facsimile files;
      • Transferring/Copying documents from electronic facsimiles (bitmaps) that are already scanned and delivered by the EPO onto data carriers, dedicated servers or making the documents available online;
      • Processing the electronic facsimile files into text and image segments;
      • Text capture from the documents using OCR and/or ICR ("Intelligent Character Recognition") technique;
      • Upgrading the output of the OCR and/or ICR system to the EPO quality level by manual character capture;
      • Proof-reading of texts captured;
      • Converting data from PDF files, text processor or XML to the format specified by the EPO;
      • XML tagging, mark-up and parsing of texts;
      • Processing the extracted images and drawings and inserting the corresponding XML mark-ups in the text;
      • Using the XML marked up text and the image data for final document composition (formatting) to create documents in PDF and other formats specified by the EPO;
      • Indexing;
      • Storing of text and image data on data carriers;
      • On-line delivery of the deliverables/batches to a dedicated server.

   2. Division into lots:

      
      Lot 1: Forms OCR processing dealing with processing of standard scanned forms used in the patent granting procedure into XML;
      Lot 2: Mail OCR processing and analysis dealing with OCR and information extraction from the scanned correspondence of the EPO
      Lot 1 and Lot 2 shall only be awarded together.

   3. Volume of work

      Estimated requirement of yearly conversion 3.120.000 million (three million one hundred twenty thousand) pages plus or minus 20 % (twenty per cent) as specified in the Procurement Documents..

   4. Any deposits and guarantees required:

      Not applicable.

   5. Main terms concerning payment:

      Payment will be made monthly following acceptance of each delivered batch of coded data.

   6. Qualifications required by law:

      Not applicable.

4. Place and period of performance:

   1. Duration of contract or time limit for delivery or completion of services/work:

      The term of the contract shall be 1 year as from signature by both parties. There will be the possibility of extension at the EPO's discretion for a maximum of two periods of one year each.

   2. Place at which the contract is to be performed:

      1. The work shall be performed at the contractor's site provided that he meets the security and other EPO requirements specified in the Procurement Documents.
      2. The Contractor may only subcontract obligations under this Agreement in whole or in part, if the EPO has expressly approved hereof in writing prior to the subcontracting.

5. Variants:

   Proposals for variants which fail to meet any minimum requirements laid down in the Procurement Documents and/or the effect of which would be to reduce significantly the rights and/or safeguards of the EPO, are not allowed.

6. Request for the Procurement Documents and receipt of bids:

   1. Name and address of department from which the Procurement Documents and clarification of the Procurement Documents may be requested:

      European Patent Office
      Procurement
      Attn. Mr. M.K.R. Körner (# 0480/07/Tp)
      Patentlaan 2, 2288 EE Rijswijk, the Netherlands
      Postal address:
      P.O. Box 5818, 2280 HV Rijswijk, the Netherlands
      Fax No. +31 70 340 3977

      Procurement Documents will be forwarded upon written or faxed request. This request must contain the name, full address, telephone, fax number and email address of an authorised contact person. .The Procurement Documents and all following correspondence during the tender procedure shall be addressed to this person.

   2. Final date for receipt by the EPO of requests for the Procurement Documents:

      27 March 2008, 12:00 hours (CET)

   3. Final date for receipt by the EPO of requests for clarification:

      10 April 2008, 12:00 hours (CET)
      Questions must be submitted by letter or fax to the address given in 6(a).

   4. Final date for receipt of bids/number of copies to be sent:

      8 May 2008, 12:00 hours (CET)
      Two copies, in addition to the original bid to be marked as such.

   5. Address to which requests for clarification and bids must be sent:

      As in point 6(a).

   6. Language or languages in which requests for clarification and bids must be drawn up:

      English.
      The Procurement Documents will be available in English only.

7. Legal form of the grouping in the event of a joint bid:

   Each bidder (natural or legal person) may submit only one bid, either independently or jointly with others. If several bidders submit a joint bid, one must be designated as prime contractor responsible for performance of all the obligations under the contract.

8. Information and evidence concerning the bidder's financial and economic standing and technical and professional competence:

   See Procurement Documents

9. Period during which the bidder is bound by his bid:

   Six months following the final date for receipt of bids indicated in point 6(d).

10. Criteria for the award of contract:

    See Procurement Documents.

11. Other information:

    A bidders information meeting is scheduled at the European Patent Office in The Hague in April 2008. Exact date and place will be communicated with the Invitation to Tender letter.
    Contract award is likely to take place in 3rd quarter 2008.
    The first phase of the contract, i.e. the period between the expected conclusion of the contract (3rd quarter 2008) and the proposed start of regular production (4th quarter 2008), will be used for preparation. This pre-production phase shall comprise development and testing of hardware and software, production of test samples of patent documents in all expected formats and the period of training the contractor's production system.
    The start of the regular production shall be conditional upon successful performance of all tests requested by the EPO during the pre-production phase.