Natural language processing development tool distribution and maintenance
The Commission of the European Communities calls for tenders in the context of Area 6, Language Research and Engineering (LRE) of the specific programme in the field of telematic systems in areas of general interest, 1990-1994. Tenders concern the distribution, maintenance and support of a portable non-proprietary development tool kit for natural language processing (NLP) research, training and applications prototyping known as the ALEP system. ALEP results from previous RTD projects carried out within the framework of the EUROTRA and LRE programmes. The Commission has retained the intellectual property rights to the system, which can be made available to any interested European organization. An early version of the system is currently used in several Community sponsored RTD projects, and a more advanced implementation is to become available in 1994. The Commission intends to distribute actively and support the ALEP system in 1994-1995 with a view to fostering re-use and sharing of RTD results in the language engineering field through the adoption of common methods, formats and tools. Tenders are invited to address the following tasks: - Distribution of the ALEP tool kit; - Provision of training and user support services; - Maintenance of the ALEP system; - Establishment and management of a user group; - Improvements and developments of additional components. The contract is expected to start on 1 April 1994 and will have a duration of 21 months. Tenders are invited from eligible consortia comprizing industrial and/or research organizations with extensive engineering experience in the NLP field and able to provide professional support and development services in the areas defined above. The economic and technical standards required of the contractors are specified in the tender documents available from: Commission of the European Communities Directorate-General XIII Telecommunications, Information Market and Exploitation of Research Directorate E, Administrative Unit XIII/E-4 Jean Monnet building (B4-200) L-2920 Luxembourg Tel. +352-430132886; Fax +352-430134655