The united states coast guard has experienced, in recent years, an explosion and dispersion of methods used to communicate with its workforce and the audiences that IT considers internal. Some of…

This federal contract award was issued by the U.S. Coast Guard to Fors Marsh Group LLC, a for-profit limited liability company and certified B Corporation that provides research, market research, advertising, program evaluation, training, and customer experience solutions to public and private sector clients. The contract has a ceiling value of $487,611.16 and is a Delivery Order under the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services - Small Business (OASIS SB) contract vehicle. The contract was set aside for small businesses.

The purpose of the contract is to address the Coast Guard's challenges in effectively and predictably communicating with its workforce and internal audiences, including the rise of social media, cyber security demands, distributed workforce models, and generational differences in communication preferences. Fors Marsh Group will likely provide services such as research, analysis, strategic communications, and technical support to help the Coast Guard improve its internal communication methods and reach. Guidehouse LLP, doing business as PricewaterhouseCoopers Public Sector, is a subcontractor providing subject matter expertise and other support services under this contract.

The united states coast guard has experienced, in recent years, an explosion and dispersion of methods used to communicate with its workforce and the audiences that IT considers internal. Some of the factors weighing on the services ability to effectively and predictably communicate internally include the rise of social media platforms, the increasing demands of ensuring cyber security, the increased employment of a distributed workforce model, the continuous progress towards a matrixed organization through the development of mission support business and product lines, and the deprioritization of legacy communication methods and tools such as the elimination the coast guard message system (cgms). Further complicating the coast guards efforts to effectively communicate are the generational differences between its senior leadership and junior members, and the sweeping changes in communication styles and preferences that have occurred in the intervening years between those generations. These developments have left coast guard leadership lacking in confidence that the service has effective and commonly understood methods of sending information to and receiving from the workforce.