DEFENSE SUPPORT TO PUBLIC DIPLOMACY – FY06 This sources sought is a request for information prior to drafting and releasing any resultant solicitation. The information contained in this sources sought notification is based on the best and most current information available to date, is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. Any significant changes will be provided in subsequent synopsis, if required. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) is seeking potential sources capable of providing specialized, immediate policy support to the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict regarding foreign audience and media analyses, development of strategies and policy options for DoD support to Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication efforts for Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, the War On Terrorism, and other USG strategic communications activities. SCOPE: The products developed by this contract requirement would be used to present and develop information policy documents to various USG/DoD audiences identified by the Contracting Officer Technical Representative (COTR). The products will consist of periodic reports (daily, weekly, monthly) that result from monitoring select foreign language public domain media (television networks and the Internet), as well as special reports that support the development of international information strategies and policy recommendations regarding DoD support to Strategic Communication. Work may include supporting conceptual prototype products as required to fully present information strategies. SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS AND SUBTASKS: Develop Work Plan. The contractor shall provide a written Work Plan to accomplish the subtasks within 15 days of the award. The COTR will approve the mutually agreed Work Plan within 5 days of receiving it from the contractor. Monitor Arabic TV Broadcasts. Based on input from applicable USD(P) offices and through USD(P) from the Interagency, the contractor shall continue to produce daily media monitoring and analysis of Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Al Manar, Al Alam and Al Iraqiya. The monitoring will continue to focus on regional, Arabic language, prime time news coverage and talk shows. Analyst teams consisting of both native Arabic and non-native Arabic linguists shall be used for this monitoring. At a minimum all analysts shall possess a secret clearance or be able to obtain a secret clearance. All managers and senior analysts shall possess a secret clearance or higher. Reports shall be provided in MS Word format and contain detailed analysis. These reports shall be distributed electronically daily to recipients designated by the COTR. The reports must consider quantitative and qualitative methodology to analyze the content and content trends of these media outlets. Analysis should be able to determine whether or not USG and DoD policies have an effect upon these media outlets. The contractor will continue to operate and maintain the USG provided Automated Media Monitoring and Research System (AMMARS) and associated satellite TV video feeds (Contract #W74V8H-04-P-0751). Operations and maintenance include the licensing agreements and manufacturer planned upgrades for all necessary software, on-site technical support for maintenance trouble shooting and equipment repair. Monitor and analyze USG Arabic TV Broadcasts. Based on input from applicable USD(P) offices, the contractor shall produce media monitoring and analysis of specified television programming and the Friday Islamic Sermons that are given in prominent Islamic mosques. Analyst teams consisting of both native Arabic and non-native Arabic linguists shall be used for this monitoring. All analysts shall be eligible for secret clearances and all managers and senior analyst shall possess a secret clearance or higher. Reports addressing researched materials shall be provided in MS word format and contain detailed analysis. Reports summarizing Friday Sermons will be included in the daily media analysis report submitted on Friday, as programming is available on monitored channels. These reports shall be distributed electronically as required to recipients designated by the COTR. Research current adversaries: Researching the public domain, the contractor will expand the development of metrics to assess adversary progress in the realm of Strategic Communication. Specifically, building upon the series of analytic products on the Transnational Strategy of Militant Radical Islam, the contractor will continue to develop the SAIC proprietary I4 (Ideology, Impact, Importance, Influence) Scalar Assessment metrics to track adversary progress toward their desired end state. The contactor will continue delivery of reports based on referenced metrics through the “Scorecard,” to track changes, lack of changes, or unusual events. The reports will track changes over time of trends and patterns of adversary propaganda. The reported trends and patterns will focus on foreign audiences in various regions of the world, the media and messengers that reach those audiences, and the messages that most influence those audiences as they apply to the WOT. The reports will include monthly trends of sets (categorized by language) of websites sharing common ideological goals (e.g., pro-insurgency websites across Europe; Militant Radical Islamic websites in the Middle East; Militant Radical Islamic websites in Indonesia; websites supportive of minority separatist movements in the Philippines and Thailand). The reports will provide profiles of individual sites within a larger language set. These profiles will include new sites, as analysts find them, as well as snapshots depicting “up,” “down,” or “no movement” in the degrees of militancy for designated sets. The contractor will provide case studies examining particular themes and messages used in the adversarial media. In addition, the contractor will continue to publish Global Issues Reports focusing on the current adversary and future threats. Global Issues Reports shall continue to derive from public domain research in Arabic, Farsi, Indonesian, Urdu, Thai, Tagalog, Spanish and French and shall expand to include Russian, Chinese and Hindi and, at the discretion of the COTR, an African language such as Hausa. These reports shall be brief and must examine current Strategic Communication opportunities, trends, threats and topics. When appropriate and as requested by the COTR, the contractor will research special topics such as media sources, key communicators, historical approaches, trends and other related topics. The contractor will develop additional metrics as desired by the government to meet changing government requirements. Distribute products: The contractor will continue to provide a password protected website for the archiving and distribution of research products. The website must be secure, password protected, searchable and updated daily for distributing the unclassified work performed by the contractor. The contractor shall provide access no later than 24 hours to users identified by the government. The contractor must support up to 400 discrete users as established in the initial period of performance. The website should also include capabilities for video hosting, fuzzy search, image captioning, video embedding, portable document formatting, and linkage to data bases developed for metrics analysis. The contractor will also continue to use existing email distribution lists to disseminate the finished reports as directed by the COTR. Provide support to the Department of State’s Public Diplomacy Office, as directed by OASD-ISA or the current office responsible for DSPD, in order to facilitate USG Interagency coordination between the Department of State and DoD. At a minimum, assigned personnel must possess a Top Secret security clearance and have at least one year demonstrated experience in public diplomacy and counter-propaganda, as well as experience in staffing and coordinating DoD actions. Provide personnel as required to support the Office of Defense Support to Public Diplomacy in the OASD (ISA). Personnel shall possess a current Top Secret clearance and should be prepared to work at the Pentagon. At least one person assigned will be fluent in French, and who will assist, part time, the Policy Senior Language Authority (SLA) and the working group lead in the planning and execution of efforts to improve articulation of Defense Language Program and Foreign Area Officer Program issues, missions, goals, requirements and capabilities to all DoD elements and agencies with foreign language requirements. Personnel assigned will demonstrate experience at working at the OSD level and be familiar with Interagency staffing and support functions. Additionally, personnel assigned will be familiar with the development of DoD Support to Strategic Communication policies and plans. Provide one person, as needed, to provide consultative support to the Office of Defense Support to Public Diplomacy in the OASD (ISA). At a minimum the person assigned must be eligible for a secret clearance and must have at least five years demonstrated combined experience in public diplomacy and US political processes. Continue to operate and maintain the advanced database warehousing network known as the Automated Media Monitoring and Research System (AMMARS) to store up to 30 days of video/audio material from six networks. The database material must be searchable through phonetic searches in the vernacular language of the selected media. The USG will provide the media feeds to the AMMARS at the contractor site. The feeds will be current and directed at foreign audiences as identified in paragraphs 5.2 and 5.3. Additional feeds will be added as areas of interest and additional target audiences are further identified and specified by the COTR. Develop Informational Strategies to support Defense Support to Public Diplomacy as required by the government. This may include conceptual prototype products. This may also include detailed target audience analysis and focus group research. DELIVERABLES: All deliverables shall be considered accepted upon delivery in a draft format. Draft work plan. Daily media analysis report covering Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya, Al Manar, Al Alam, and Al Iraqiya. (Monday through Friday with Saturday and Sunday coverage as appropriate included in the Monday report). Periodic media analysis reports covering Al Hurra and Friday Evening Sermons from Imams at prominent Islamic mosques Other locations will be added as required by the COTR in agreement with the contractor. “Scorecard” reports of metrics developed from the series of analytic products on the Transnational Strategy of Militant Radical Islam and using the SAIC proprietary I4 (Ideology, Impact, Importance, Influence) Scalar Assessment system. Periodic media information reports (Global Issues Reports) that address significant aspects of the global nature of the Transnational Strategy of Militant Radical Islam.Operation and maintenance of the secure password website to present and provided deliverables as noted in paragraphs 6.2 through The website will continue to be searchable and also contain a feedback section for readers. Operation and maintenance of the USG provided Automated Media Monitoring and Research System (AMMARS). As specified by the COTR and agreed to by the contractor, the contractor may provide occasional video clips that the AMMARS captures and stores. Development of information strategies, audience research and conceptual prototype products as required. The Government shall coordinate to access signals from other government entities and negotiate any required agreements to provide the required broadcast video signals to the AMMARS so that analysts can complete the media monitoring requirements in the tasks at paragraphs 6.2 and 6.3. If you are interested in competing for this requirement, please indicate your interest by sending an e-mail no later than 16 June 2006 10:00 A.M. EDT to Ms. Toye Y. Latimore, Email:
[email protected]. The e-mail shall contain the following subject line, “Sources Sought,SUPPORT TO PUBLIC DIPLOMACY – FY06 .” Use of any other subject line may delay your entry. All valid e-mail responses from prospective sources must provide the return e-mail address, company name, mailing address, telephone number, facsimile number, and point of contact within the body of their response. In addition, to assist in the acquisition strategy development, please respond to the following questions: Is your business a large business or small business [Small Disadvantaged, Woman-Owned, Service Disabled Veteran Owned, etc.]? (For the purpose of determining your business size, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), 519110 with a size standard of $21.0 M average annual receipts over the past three years, will be utilized for this acquisition). Provide a list of customers (Government/non-Government) within the past 5-year highlighting similar work performed. Include contract numbers, contract type, dollar value of each procurement, and point of contact/addresses/and phone numbers and brief description of the work performed. Provide information relative to past performance that demonstrates the ability to provide all the services listed above. E-mail responses without the aforementioned information will not be recognized as valid. ALL PROSPECTIVE OFFERORS MUST RESPOND TO THIS SYNOPSIS VIA E-MAIL. TELEPHONE REQUESTS FOR SOLICITATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED OR RETURNED. Submit responses no later than June 16, 2006 10:00 A.M. EDT. Your response is limited to 10 pages. NO SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME. The government reserves the right to conduct oral capabilities demonstrations that will be scheduled at a later date. This is not a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract as a result of this notice or to pay for any information received.