R--Sole source - Translate six books from Russian to English

SUBJECT: Intent to sole source of book translation services from Russian to English The NPS Shared Beringian Heritage Program was established by the Congress in 1991 to recognize and celebrate the natural resources and cultural heritage shared by Russia and the United States on both sides of the Bering Strait. The program works to improve local, national, and international understanding of these resources and sustain the cultural vitality of Native peoples in the region. One of the Program¿s main goals is to promote the study, interpretation, and enjoyment of the natural and cultural resources of international significance. The Beringia Program established a book translation series in the mid-1990s to provide American public and scholars with an access to the Russian language materials on the shared natural and cultural resources and insure better understanding of these resources. The books translated and published in the series proved to be great source of previously unavailable information that would lead to better understanding and managing of the resources in the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and three Western Arctic National Park Service Units (KOVA, NOAT, CAKR). The books for translation and publication are carefully selected from the proposals evaluated by the Beringia Project Panel. The books published in this series are some of the best and most visible products to come out of the Beringa Program. This announcement constitutes the only notice. This is not a request for quotes. A determination not to compete is solely within the discretion of the Government. Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the Government. Responses must be received no later than 2:00 PM, August 15, 2016 by sending an e-mail to [email protected]; however, any technical data received will be for the sole purpose of market research for future requirements. Under Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAP), National Park Service, Alaska Region, Acquisitions Office intends to issue a sole source, firm-fixed price order to: COMPANY: Richard Bland & Associates, 732 E 22nd Ave, Eugene, OR 97405 ON or AFTER: August 15 NAICS: 541930 Translation and interpretation services. AUTHORITY: 13.106(b) Soliciting from a single source Determinations not to compete this proposed procurement were made based on the following characteristics: The first and most important consideration for the selection of the proposed contractor, Richard L. Bland, is that he is only person who has an exclusive permission from the authors to translate their works. Secondly, this translation project requires an expertise of an archeologist professionally familiar with the archeology and history of Alaska and Beringia, and, at the same time, extremely skilled and experienced in Russian-English translations and possesses a fluent knowledge of written Russian and English and special historical and archeological terminology. Dr. Bland translated from Russian-to-English and published a number of books on archeology, history, and ethnography. Several of these translations were translated and published with the funding from the Shared Beringian Heritage Program. The style of the translation was extremely accurate for the subject matter and quality was excellent.