- Project Background
The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MLSP) of Mongolia aims to develop a Mongolian Text-to-Speech (TTS) software system and deliver it to visually impaired people who speak in Mongolian to improve an accessibility. The Mongolian Text-to-Speech (TTS) software system comprises of the C15: Mongolian speech-to-text synthesis software, C16: Mongolian Text-to-Speech Interfaces, and C17: Mongolian Text-to-Speech Corpus. The software system will run on the major operating systems like Windows, Linux, Android, MacOS, and iOS, and consists of three main components: a) a speech synthesizer that provides core functionalities to convert Mongolian Cyrillic text to Khalkha dialects, b) screen reader interface programs that separately run on such operating systems and c) high-quality speech corpora of multiple speakers. These components will be published with the open source and freeware licenses at the end of development.
The MLSP (the Client) is seeking a local organization (the Consulting firm) to develop the Mongolian text-to-speech synthesis software, library files that run offline, have a small footprint, and with the fast generation of high-quality speech. The MLSP will select the qualified consultant following ADB’s Guidelines on the Use of Consultants.
- Purpose of the Assignment
The MLSP (the Client) is seeking a local organization (the Consulting firm) to develop the Mongolian text-to-speech synthesis software, library files that run offline, have a small footprint, and with the fast generation of high-quality speech. The MLSP will select the qualified consultant following ADB’s Guidelines on the Use of Consultants.
- Consulting Firm’s Qualifications
The Consulting firm shall meet the following requirements:
- At least 5 years of experience in software development (Experiences in Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be an advantage)
- Experience in the development of screen reader and related software
- Experience with NVDA, Voice Over, Orca screen readers
- Experience in interfacing TTS synthesizer to screen readers (Experiences in the Mongolian language will be an advantage)
- Experience in development of TTS synthesizer and similar ones (Experiences in the Mongolian language will be an advantage)
- Experience in Android and iOS application development
- At least 3 years of experience in R&D in assistive technology
- Will have an advantage if has experience in implementation of TTS for embedded devices (Experiences in the Mongolian language will be an advantage)
- Experience in working with people with visual impairment and have a strong understanding in respect of needs, required assistive technologies, specially TTS
- Experience in training for people with visual disabilities
- Text-to-speech interfaces are subject to copyright under the Client. The consultant shall wholly transfer the Copyright of the interfaces.
- In the case of copyrighted software, the consultant should also transfer the copyright and related technical documents without any pre-condition. If the software uses third-party components, it should not have any copyright or license issues and it should not charge any additional cost.
The company should have the below specialists as a minimum requirement for the entire assignment:
- Principal Investigator/ Team Leader
- Windows software developer
- Linux and Android software developer
- MacOS and iOS software developer
- Trainer
Please find the detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the consultancy service on ADB’s Consultant management system (CMS).
All interested firm should submit their Expression of Interest (EOI) via ADB’s Consultant Management Recruitment System before 13 June 2021. ADB’s CMS can be found at https://selfservice.adb.org/OA_HTML/adb/xxcrs/jsp/ADBCsrnFwd.jsp?sel=169273
Only online submission of EOIs will be accepted. EOIs lacking required documents will be disqualified from evaluation. Only short-listed candidate will be contacted.
For more information on the assignment and submission, please contact the Project Implementation Unit:
Loan 3605/ Grant 9191-MON: Ensuring Inclusiveness and Service Delivery for Persons with Disabilities Project
Ulaanbaatar city, Chingeltei District, United Nations Street -5,
Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, 1st floor
+976-77335577
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