Video QC Python Scripting

Description

This Request for Quote (RFQ) is issued by the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) at the Smithsonian Institution (SI), for technical professional, non-personal, work-for-hire services to design, write, test, and deploy video quality control (QC) processing scripts, in accordance with the Statement of Work (SOW).

Bidders are requested to submit quotes for 800 hours of service. The period of performance will be for 35 weeks starting on or about October 7, 2024 and ending on or about June 6, 2025.

SCOPE OF WORK
This Statement of Work (SOW) is issued by the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) at the Smithsonian Institution (SI), for technical professional, non-personal, work-for-hire services to design, write, test, and deploy video quality control (QC) processing scripts to use in QC workflows for digital archive files derived from analog film, video, audio, and other time-based media formats. While the work will dovetail with NMAAHC overall time- based media workflows, for this contract there will be a specific focus on the Johnson Publishing Company Archive (JPCA), which is jointly stewarded by NMAAHC and the Getty Research institute.

Work will be scheduled at mutually convenient times for the contractor and the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR).

The project shall take place at a location convenient for the contractor. The location must have readily available high- speed internet and cellular connections.

QUALIFICATIONS
The contractor must have a high level of specialized and knowledge and experience with the following:

• video QC workflows in museum and archive settings

• video and audio digital file management workflows in a museum and archive settings

• workflows for analog video digitization in museum and archive settings

• QC Tools software

• GitHub and version control software

• Python and Bash scripting languages and creating batch processing scripts

• command line interface (CLI) on Apple computers

• IDE or a source code editor such as Sublime, TextMate, Atom, etc.

• common video and audio codecs and containers including FFV1 and Matroska

• metadata standards for audio and video and processes for embedding, writing, and retrieving metadata

• MediaConch, MediaInfo, ffmpeg, vrecord

• file format identification tools such as Siegfried, DROID, etc.

• Homebrew package manager

• Basic understanding of POSIX standards

SPECIFIC TASKS
The contractor will perform these tasks:

• Assess current NMAAHC python scripts for purpose and usability with a focus on the JPCA project

• Communicate with COTR to understand digital preservation goals and workflows

• In Python scripting language write scripts to perform video QC preservation tasks

• Seek feedback on code from COTR, JPCA staff and other NMAAHC staff to make improvements

• In coordination with COTR, maintain NMAAHC’s JPCA GitHub and schedule releases of code

• Respond promptly to GitHub issues on NMAAHC’s JPCA GitHub and troubleshoot technical difficulties

• Dutifully comment all code to ensure ease of understanding what a script does and how it works

• Notify COTR of problems that impede work completion, availability for work, and changes in schedule

• Be diligent, thorough, meticulous, and consistent in following NMAAHC guidelines