USDA, Office of Operations, POD, Rm. 1547-South Building, 14th & Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250

D -- BROADCAST FACSIMILIE TRANSMISSION SERVICES POC Mr. Eugene Feinberg, Contracting Officer, 202-720-6864, fax 202-720- 9226. This synopsis is issued to conduct a market survey in accordance with FAR 17.207 in order to determine whether it is in the Government's best interest to exercise the FY 1997 option for broadcast fax services under Contract No. 53-3142-2-1038 with Sprint Communications Company LP. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the USDA is comprised of commodity and support divisions occupying approximately 200 offices located throughout the United States, including Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Approximately 90 of these offices include market news. AMS anticipates awarding a contract for broadcast fax services to a contractor in support of the following objective: The dissemination of time sensitive and perishable data to users and private subscribers on an equal basis. This data, contained in market news reports, is of greatest value at the moment of release. Reports are faxed to one central location, and are then delivered to recipients of a distribution list maintained by the sending AMS office. Broadcast fax service provides another way to disseminate reports through the Market News Telecommunications System (MNTS). This system has been in existence in one form or another for over 50 years providing information to government, industry, and private individuals about the movements, grades, and prices of agricultural commodities throughout the country. The proposed system should include support for international locations. Software that enables a user to create a distribution list, allow for a single connection that in turn delivers to all recipients, and is user friendly is needed. The provider of the service must be in a position to do on-site installations and training if necessary. Flexible document input including but not limited to ASCII, Postscript, TIFF, Epson print, Microsoft Paint, LaserJet PCL, HP plotter, and hard copy. Immediate delivery or storage for transmission at a specified time. Enables total control over the message arrival and security. Individual status reports to users attention after each transmission. Must furnish complete record of all communications: arrival confirmation, delivery times, number of tries, and so on. Exclusive account number and password that safeguards confidentiality. Software and FAX input systems can only be accessed when proper code(s) is entered. Error free transmission of at least 99% of the reports transmitted in the broadcast mode is required. The contractor must provide statistical reports showing delivery time on a weekly basis for all reports transmitted in broadcast mode. Firms qualified to provide similar or alternate MNTS Broadcast FAX service should furnish technical and pricing data sufficient for evaluation purposes within 15 days of publication of this notice. No payment will be made for any data submitted. All data will remain the property of the Government and will not be returned after evaluation. No solicitation exists for this requirement at this time. (0243)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0029 19960903\D-0006.SOL)