Draft_PWS_for_Simulation_Exercise.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK

For

Developing a Simulation Exercise

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Foreign Service Institute School of Professional and Area Studies

Political Training Division

1.0 Introduction

The Foreign Service Institute seeks development and delivery of a half-day simulation as a capstone exercise for use in its Atrocity Prevention course (offered once per year) and Human Rights and Democracy course (offered three time per year). The simulation would be developed with input from the Bureaus of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), International Organizations (IO), and Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

2.0 Background

The George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center of the Department of State is the federal government’s primary training facility for personnel of the foreign affairs’ community. The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the Department bureau that provides training for employees of the Department of State and other agencies at the Shultz Center. FSI offers more than 650 courses.

FSI/SPAS orients State Department and other USG employees to the foreign affairs environment;

provides high-quality job-related training for foreign and civil service personnel in the administrative management, consular, economic, political, and public diplomacy and stability operations areas; improves the professional skills and abilities of Department of State office management specialists and office support personnel; enhances functional and management skills of the Foreign Service National staff; and provides employees of foreign affairs agencies knowledge about foreign countries and regions and an understanding of American interests and policies related to those countries and regions.

The Political Training Division (POL) of FSI’s School of Professional and Areas Studies (SPAS) intends to engage a contractor to design a dynamic exercise that will help foreign affairs professionals recognize risk factors, patterns of escalation, and early warning signs of a potential atrocity or civilian harm, including non-lethal atrocities such as large scale, deliberate sexual violence and torture. The exercise will provide students an opportunity to practice analyzing potential perpetrators and other key actors, their means, motives/grievances, and windows of risk /windows of opportunity to develop potential pathways towards violence. Students will practice taking steps to prevent escalation, to take early action to limit or stop atrocities, and to respond to potential atrocities, in coordination with interagency colleagues. A greater emphasis will be placed on early preventative action as opposed to response.

3.0 General Scope

This requirement will include the development and initial delivery of the simulation, including all materials available in a teaching toolkit for instructors to use in future courses, as well as post-action analysis that allows for upgrades to the simulation based on participant needs and feedback.

Specific materials would comprise a written simulation scenario, individual role-play instructions and supplemental products for the students, and a series of high quality technology “injects” (such as fictional media clips, Twitter feeds, and video announcements) that build on the exercise scenario and require participants to adapt to a complex and quickly-changing security environment.

This new simulation would replicate the complexity of making decisions similar to many U.S.

interagency scenarios. It will mirror the issues participants might encounter as foreign affairs officers overseas and domestically, and integrate the variety of available U.S. government tools highlighted throughout the course. The simulation would require participants to work through common challenges encountered within an Embassy and the Department of State to formulate a whole of government response to the evolving simulated situation, while also engaging with international partners, including multilaterally. It will require students to build consensus and use all the resources at their disposal as they respond and adapt to the uncertainty and pressures of fast-breaking events communicated through simulation technology. The simulation would require participants to work through challenges within the Embassy and Department of State, while also engaging in complex interagency negotiations.

Multimedia Tabletop Exercise:

FSI is actively seeking the development and delivery of a multimedia exercise scenario for use in FSI/SPAS/POL course offerings, particularly Preventing Genocide and Mass Atrocities through Multilateral Diplomacy (PP230) and Promoting Human Rights and Democracy (PP530). The scenario should include both video/audio and written products and should be scalable for time and class size, and able to be adapted for use in other FSI courses.

No part of the services to be performed under this agreement may be subcontracted, and no obligation or duty arising out of the individual order may be transferred, or assigned, without the prior authorization of the Contracting Officer.

Contractor Duties and Requirements:

Blanket Requirement: The multimedia tabletop exercise scenario should artificially replicate the complexity and stress of making decisions and implementing USG policy in an environment similar to those at our most challenging U.S. missions, including multilateral missions such as the U.S.

mission to the United Nations. The focus of the multimedia-based scenario will be on practical applications of skills and concepts to effectively recognize early warning signs of a potential atrocity or civilian harm, including sexual violence, and identify available tools for developing prevention, early action, and response strategies. The training scenario should incorporate methods of assessing the conflict using the State/USAID Atrocity Assessment Framework, and using findings to develop recommended actions or policy. Students should be able to consider a wide range of tools including diplomatic, programmatic, economic, legal, or possibly military action. It should be decision-based, with alternative endings, and should teach descriptively how the student should process information, problem-solve, and prioritize goals, in a situation with no clear right or wrong answer.

Process: The contractor will participate in a team approach to overall scenario design, delivery and evaluation while working directly with the FSI instructor or instructor team, as well as subject matter experts from the Bureaus of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL); International Organizations (IO); and Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO), as well as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) who will provide overall guidance and learning objectives for the products (e.g. video, facilitator guide, and student guide). This process will include but not be limited to a joint kickoff meeting, script review and approval, storyboard review and approval, and any other meetings, design reviews, or revisions as directed by FSI throughout the design process.

The contractor will be responsible for preparing documentation of work performed in addition to the training products.

Period of Performance:

Period of performance of this contract shall be a base year on or about September 15, 2018 to September 14, 2019. Expected dates for the Atrocity Prevention course and Human Rights and Democracy course will be determined.

4.0 Deliverables

The purpose of this award will be to design, develop, and deliver to FSI/SPAS/POL an exercise scenario which consists of a written exercise scenario, written supplemental products for the students, and a series of staged/produced professional high-quality video “injects” - short one- to five-minute video clips that build on the exercise scenario. The scenario should use factual organizational references (ie: UN, AFRICOM, AU, etc.) but fictional names for countries and cities as well as any characters in the scenario, such as heads of state, community leaders, spokespersons, etc.

Contractor shall deliver:

A multimedia training module that includes media injects including as Twitter updates and three to five staged/produced professional high-quality video clips of television news reports, interviews, and camera footage of decision-based scenario events, including alternate outcomes, on DVD or WMV format, which meet section 508 compliance requirements

Facilitator’s guide for the instructor in an electronic format

Student instruction guide (including background materials and other supplemental written materials) in an electronic format

5.0 Specific Contractor Requirements

The contractor shall provide:

• Without support from FSI, script, cast, stage, film, and edit a realistic, professional-quality set of 3-5 scenario-driven video clips of television news reports, interviews, and camera footage of scenario-based events, on DVD or WMV format which meet section 508 compliance requirements, are compatible with FSIs learning management system, and are a standalone finished product usable by FSI instructors in various courses

• Participate in a team approach to overall scenario design, delivery, and evaluation while working directly with the FSI instructor or instructor team who will provide overall guidance and learning objectives for the products (video, facilitator guide, and student guide)

• Participate in design reviews and revisions

• Select and utilize appropriate teaching aids, including audio-visual materials, to be used in the course

• Prepare and provide appropriate products and documentation of work performed

6.0 Right of First Refusal

The government will have the RIGHT of FIRST REFUSAL over any proposed sub-Contractors as well as for any program managers, facilitators, and role players.

7.0 Contract

The government intends to award a firm-fixed price contract to one offeror. Payment will be rendered after the final review and acceptance of the stated deliverables in paragraph 4.0