Sole-Source Justification for My Talking Books (RealSAM) Dialog Licenses

This document is Amendment 0001 to Solicitation 030ADV26R0047, issued by the Library of Congress Contracts and Grants Directorate. The primary purpose of this amendment is to extend the proposal submission deadline from September 18, 2026, to September 30, 2026, at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. Additionally, the amendment modifies key contract terms and clauses. It removes the special contract requirement clause LC52.239-2 (Systems Development Life Cycle), which previously detailed contractor responsibilities regarding requirements, design, development, testing, implementation, and documentation. The amendment also updates the FAR ordering clause (52.216-18) by establishing the ordering period for delivery or task orders from December 1, 2026, through November 30, 2031. All other terms and conditions of the original solicitation remain unchanged.

This document is Attachment J1, which outlines the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for the "My Talking Books" (RealSAM) system, a service associated with the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS). The agreement establishes performance, availability, and communication benchmarks that the contractor must meet, with all metrics targeted at a 98.6% compliance rate per month. Key requirements under this SLA include: - **Technical Help Desk Availability:** Services must be available during standard business hours, defined as Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding weekends, federal holidays, and planned system outages. - **Communications and Staff Alerts:** The contractor must notify appropriate NLS staff within eight business hours of specific events, including system changes, severe failures, staff shortages, and project completions. Notifications may be delivered via email, mobile messaging, or voice telephony. - **Performance and Resolution Times:** The contractor is required to respond to help desk requests within 24 business hours. Additionally, full incident resolution and service restoration—achieved through either a workaround or a permanent solution—must be completed within 72 business hours of ticket creation.

This document outlines the technical scope of work for a project involving the Library of Congress's Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) service. It details the specific components and systems that must be integrated and managed. The project's scope is divided into three primary management categories: - **Library-Managed Services:** Includes the BARD Login (an OAuth 2.0-based authentication service) and the core BARD service, which provides user data, catalog data, and audiobook content. - **Amazon Alexa Services:** Encompasses the Alexa Platform for managing smart speaker services and the "My Talking Books Skill," which enables users to manage their BARD Wishlist, discover catalog items, and stream audiobooks. - **Vendor-Managed Services:** Covers "RealThing Services" such as the RealSAM Dialog Engine Server and License Management, RealSAM Data Services, authentication proxies, webhooks, streaming and bridge servers, AWS Amazon Services, and load balancers. Additionally, the scope requires integration with the Sentry.io service to monitor system performance and stability. This project aims to deliver a seamless, voice-activated audiobook streaming experience for BARD users by coordinating these distinct federal, vendor, and third-party platforms.

This document is a pricing sheet and schedule for a Library of Congress (LOC) federal procurement concerning "My Talking Books" RealSAM licenses. The period of performance spans five years, from December 1, 2026, to November 30, 2031, with an optional six-month extension running through May 30, 2032. The solicitation outlines acquisition requirements for new perpetual RealSAM Dialog licenses (excluding maintenance and support) and legacy license support. Pricing is structured around 500-unit blocks for each ordering year across multiple hosting configurations: * Perpetual RealSAM Dialog License Support with an LOC-hosted Authorization Proxy. * Perpetual Support with an LOC-hosted Authorization Proxy and Streaming Servers. * Perpetual Support with an LOC-hosted Authorization Proxy, Streaming Servers, and Dialog Engine (Binary Blob). Vendors are requested to provide pricing per 500-unit block for each of the five ordering years and the six-month extension period, with flexibility to propose additional product-specific licensing models.

The Library of Congress's National Library Service for the Blind and Print-Disabled (NLS) has issued Solicitation Number 030ADV26R0047 for an Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The primary purpose of this commercial contract is to acquire My Talking Books (RealSAM) Dialog Licenses and technical support services. My Talking Books is an Amazon Alexa skill that provides voice-only interface access for NLS patrons to search, browse, stream, and manage their Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) collections on smart speakers. The contract is structured with a five-year ordering period commencing December 1, 2026, through November 30, 2031, featuring a minimum order guarantee of $10,000 and a maximum contract ceiling of $3,000,000. Under the scope, the contractor will deliver new perpetual licenses in blocks of 500 and provide annual technical support for both new and legacy licenses. Technical support must accommodate four mutually exclusive hosting scenarios ranging from contractor-hosted to Library-hosted infrastructure. Proposals will be evaluated using the Low Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection process. Key contract requirements include stringent Library of Congress Information Technology Security policies, assessment and authorization (A&A) protocols, continuous background vetting for contractor personnel, and strict compliance with Section 508 and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility standards. James R. Robinson serves as the Contracting Officer for this solicitation.