ARTIFACT CATALOGING SERVICES NEEDED
Artifact Cataloging services needed

 Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services/541990 -- All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT
FOR
ARTIFACT CATALOGING SUPPORT FOR
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE MARINE CORPS
1.0 Scope. The National Museum of the Marine Corps (NMMC), hereinafter called the
Museum, is responsible for providing proper stewardship and accountability of objects in its
collections. One element of the accountability process involves management of its assets in an
automated collections database, called DONHAMS(Department of the Navy Heritage Assets
Management System). The use of this specific software is mandated by Assistant Secretary of
the Navy Memorandum, dated 16 January 2003). DONHAMS is used for accountability,
inventory and cataloging of artwork and historical artifacts at the Museum. The NMMC is
striving to reach accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), and as part of this
accreditation, a minimum of 70% of the museum collection is required to be cataloged and
photographed. Cataloging and photography also greatly helps the museum account for and track
the condition of its artifacts. The goal of the museum is to catalog 100% of the backlogged
artifacts, approximately 42,000 objects.
2.0 Background. The NMMC operates its curatorial offices from Building 2014 on MCB
Quantico, VA. The museum requires that approximately 42,000 artifacts be cataloged and
entered into DONHAMS. The contractor(s) will work out of Building 2014. NMMC will
provide laptops, work stations, cameras,measuring devices, and all packing material. The
contractor(s) will catalog and properly rehouse artifacts as directed by the curatorial staff. This
work is required to be completed within 10 years. The museum requires that 4,000 artifacts be
cataloged per year in order to reach this requirement, and will need contractor support to reach
this goal.
3.0 General Requirements. The Contractor shall provide continuous support for NMMC
cataloging to ensure that 4,000 artifacts are cataloged, photographed, and entered into
DONHAMS per contract year. Cataloging will include but is not limited to a physical
description of the artifact, measurements of the artifact in inches, entering any associated
provenance of the artifact, photographing the artifact (front, back, markings, damage, and any
other unique aspects of the object), renaming and resizing the photograph files per NMMC
standards, and attaching them into DONHAMS. The work will require the onsite contractor(s) to
be skilled in artifact handling, and also in re-housing the artifacts. The onsite contractor(s) will
be required to go up and down stairs to get the artifact boxes on the 2nd floor, and bring them
down to the cataloging stations on the first floor. Artifacts will be re-housed with new, archival
tissue paper in all cases. In some cases,they will need to be rehoused in a new, archival storage
box. . The boxes will need to be marked with a label maker, and moved into storage. The
storage location will need to be entered into DONHAMS. Once the final data is entered into
DONHAMS, a catalog worksheet must be printed, and filed into the appropriate catalog and
accession files. The scope of work associated with each of these task activities may vary by
precedent and volume throughout the performance period, although not substantially. The
Contractor shall also appoint a Program Director to coordinate task activities and to serve as the 2
overall expert for successful completion of all cataloging tasks, as well as to serve as the primary
interface with the NMMC Registrar. Contractor must provide a weekly report that monitors how
long each object is taking to catalog, and a list of every object cataloged for tracking purposes.
Performance metrics associated with NMMC provisions are provided in the Quality Assurance
Surveillance Plan (QASP) at Attachment 1.
3.1 Performance Requirements. NMMC Photography and Cataloging Guidelines and
Collections Management Procedures provided at Attachment 2 provides a baseline performance
standard. The Contractor shall adhere to these guidelines and procedures in the development of
their performance solution and must request any deviations from the material content of that
document. Where the Contractor seeks to improve upon the standard, this should be clearly
annotated in their request. Where the Contractor is non-compliant with a performance standard,
this shall be clearly identified and the rationale clearly articulated.
3.2 Contractor Qualifications: The contractor must provide onsite workers that have a
strong background and experience in museum work. [The contractor must provide a
resume that shows that the workers have at minimum a bachelor’s degree in history,
museum studies, or another applicable field.] Contractor employees must each have
earned a bachelor’s degree in history, museum studies, or another related field, but
Masters degrees in those fields are preferred. The resume must also show that the
workers have had at least two years of experience in handling and cataloging
museum artifacts at a recognized museum. Contractor employees must have had at
least two years of experience in handling and cataloging museum artifacts at a
recognized museum. The contractor must provide proof that they have worked with
museums as large in size and with similar collections as NMMC. Contractor
employees must be trained and proficient in the use of KE Emu Collections
Management Software, and this experience must be documented in prior work
experience.
4.0 Work Hours, Security, Travel and ODCs.
4.1 Contractor Responsibilities and Compliance: The Contractor shall coordinate with the
Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to finalize specific details to include any and all
work regarding cataloging and photography to be entered into DONHAMS. The contractor shall
coordinate working hours and days with the COR. The contractor will be required to work at
least eight (8) hours daily, Monday through Friday, within the core hours of 8:00 am and 4:30
pm EST., excluding normal Federal holidays. . Hours worked can be adjusted in coordination
with COR/ACOR for the contract, but must fall within the working hours of the staff at Building
2014. The contractor may not be in the building without supervision bv a government employee.
The Contractor must clarify with their staff whether or not they will be paid in case the building
is shut down for any reason to include inclement weather and Federal Holidays. All data entry
work may be checked for accuracy and approved by the COR. Artifact handling and packaging
may also be checked and approved by the COR. Mishandling of artifacts may result in
immediate suspension of the offending worker, and if so, will require immediate replacement of
that worker.3
4.1.1 Security. Access to Government buildings will be granted for contractor employees and
network accounts established. All Contractor staff shall abide by the rules of conduct for the
installation and the organization that they are supporting. This includes adherence to personal
security (e.g., badges, Common Access Card (CAC)), information security policies, and work
area access. As required, personnel shall register their personal vehicles and obtain any
necessary
decals for base access. Any government property issued to Contractor personnel shall be
annotated via custody receipt and returned at the conclusion of the individual’s tenure, or the end
of the period of performance.
4.1.2 Travel. All required travel will be coordinated and approved by the COR in advance, or is
not authorized as a reimbursable cost under the contract.. Travel costs will be taken and
reimbursed in accordance with the Government JTR.
4.1.3 Other Direct Charges. ODCs associated with the cost of business must be identified in
the proposal for consideration as an allowable cost. The government considers all such
incidental items the responsibility of the Contractor and discretionary in use. The Contractor is
required to identify any, and all non-labor costs associated with the operation of their proposed
strategy. This includes clearly identifying non-labor service requirements, incidental, or nonrecurring
charges, and related costs of the proposed operation. The government will not
reimburse such charges 'after the fact', nor accept a reduced standard of performance should the
rejection of such charges compel the Contractor to reduce their support operation.