19RC1125Q0004 Q And A.pdf

MEDIA MONITORING CONTRACT DAMASCUS 1659 ASH 19RC1125Q0004 Q&A

LIST ONE OF QUESTIONS 1-7

Q1. The RFQ appears to require contractor personnel to perform in-region monitoring and analysis of Syrian and regional media outlets. Our organization provides a software platform that delivers daily media and social media monitoring through customizable taxonomies, dashboards, and alerts, with software training and support included. Will the government consider separating the requirement into two components—(1) software platform and platform training, and (2) in-region contractor services—so that vendors specializing in technology media solutions may submit proposals focused on the software portion only?

ANSWER

The government will not consider separation of requirements and expect offeror to capture the full scope set forth in the request.

Q2. Will the government please explain the type(s) of social media you want tracked and posted?

All social media platforms used in Syria where public conversations are happening, particularly

X, Facebook and Telegram. This may vary according to the nature of the subject and any related reports. We expect the offeror to show us their plan for social media monitoring - from local/regional influencers, to trends, to government social media platforms, etc. Although the task of monitoring and reporting should be identified by the offerors, upon awarding the contract, Public Diplomacy Section will provide more insight on platforms or voices to be monitored.

Q3. Who is the government’s incumbent for the Media monitoring services for American

Embassy Damacus Syria service?

This is the first time for such services to be solicited through this RFQ.

Q4. For the format and delivery of the report, will the government accept a PDF document instead of a Word document?

Upon awarding the contract, the awardee will receive direction from the COR about the desired formatting. PDFs are not preferred, and the reports must be provided in a format easily shared and edited.

Q5. Key developments, trends, and relevant information can vary from user to by user. Will the government include a list of the desired topics be provided?

This offeror should demonstrate their ability to provide full and comprehensive reports in line with the scope of work set forth in the request. Upon awarding the contract, the awardee will receive further guidance and is expected to remain flexible to changing focus areas as developments happen.

Q6. When referring to 'sentiment,' is the government indicating a general positive or negative tone—such as a thumbs up or thumbs down—or are we assessing sentiment in relation to specific themes, such as key developments, emerging trends, or other relevant insights mentioned earlier?

The offerors should demonstrate their ability to provide analysis of the tone and key discussions as set forth in the request and not just a general positive or negative note. Further guidance will be provided upon awarding the contract.

Q7.Will a list of the "Select International Outlets" be provided?

The offeror should have the ability to demonstrate their monitoring and reporting abilities to identify and cover reliable local and international news related to Syria. Upon awarding the contract, the awardee will receive further guidance from the COR about outlets.

LIST 2 QUESTIONS 8-14

Q8.Section A. 2. (2) states that offers must present "Evidence that the offeror/quoter operates an established business with a permanent address and telephone listing; in Jordan or plans to establish an office within 30 days of contract award." My company has an office already established in Syria; will you accept a Syrian address, instead of an address in Jordan?

Yes, we do accept a Syrian address, or any address over the world, no need to have an established address in Jordan.

Q9.Are all personnel who work on this project required to be U.S. citizens?

No , not all personnel who work on this project required to be U.S. citizens, any nationality will be acceptable.

Q10.In addition to the project manager, does the government mandate any FTEs for this solicitation?

Our main concern is the project manager, and we don’t mandate any FTEs for this project.

Q11. Is Defense Base Act insurance required, if all employees work remotely from inside the

United States?

Defense Base Act insurance is required.

Q12. Under Section II. Pricing. Do you intend for the "Unit Price" to equal the fully-burdened rate for producing a single daily media report? Or does the "Unit Price" equal the fully-burdened rate for one month of reports (approximately 20 daily media reports per month)?

Unit Price should equal the fully-burdened rate for one month of reports.

Q13. Do you have a preferred format and categories for the "incidental charges" sheet reference in Section II.?

formatting. PDFs are not preferred, and the reports must be provided in a format easily shared and edited.

Q14. Is any travel to Jordan or Syria or Turkiye required for the contractor?

No travel is required for this contract. All work will be done and submitted electronically.

LIST 3 QUESTIONS 15-30

Q15 Is this a successor contract? If so, what is the current rate being paid?

Q16 Has this contract materially changed from the previous one?

Q17 For what period will task orders be issued?

No task orders, this will be a one-time contract/purchase order.

Q18 Does the Embassy expect that there will be a minimum and maximum number of Special

Reports ordered? If so, how many?

Estimated special requests will be at a maximum of three a month.

Q19 How does the Mission want to handle instances when multiple outlets report the same news item?

formatting. However, we would like to see the format suggested by the awardee and we anticipate accurate reporting, citation, and links to all reported news by different outlets.

Q20 Is there an obligation for the contractor to list each news source and its output each day?

The offeror will be expected to provide accurate reporting that includes source/s citations, references, links to the original stories, etc on daily basis delivered in English language.

Accurate reporting on related news and accurate translations is required.

Q21 Does the Mission expect the contractor to distinguish between online and print or broadcast content, or will a single source from an individual publisher or content creator suffice?

The offeror will be expected to provide accurate reporting that include source/s citations, references, and links to the original stories. Upon awarding the contract, the awardee will receive direction from the COR about the desired formatting.

Q22 Are the sources that are undefined in the RFQ to be left to the contractor to determine?

Upon awarding the contract, further guidance will be provided.

Q23 Will it be the contractor's responsibility to identify the key social media influencers to be monitored, or will the list be generated by the U.S. Mission?

The awardee is expected to demonstrate its abilities and knowledge of the Syrian media scene, which includes identifying key influencers and trending topics across platforms. Upon awarding the contract, the Embassy will provide further guidance.

Q24 What is the desired length of the Daily Media Monitoring and Analysis Report? (e.g., number of words or pages in Calibri size 11 font)

The report should accurately reflect the news cycle, not a specific length.

Q25 What is the desired length of the Daily Social Media Monitoring and Analysis Report?

(e.g., number of words or pages in Calibri size 11 font)

Q26 What is the anticipated length of each Analytical Report? (e.g., number of words or pages in Calibri size 11 font)

The analytical report does not have specific length requirement as long as the reporting is comprehensive and provide full coverage of the story.

Q27 Does the Mission expect media reports to include original language excerpts (e.g., Arabic) alongside English summaries, or English only?

The offeror is expected to provide accurate English Translation in the media reports and reference the original text through direct links.

Q28 Will the U.S. Mission provides regular feedback on the tone or analytical direction of the reports, or is the contractor expected to calibrate independently?

Yes, the U.S. Mission will provide regular feedback and have regularly scheduled check-ins.

Q29 Is there a preferred structure or format template for daily reports, or can the contractor propose one in its technical approach?

formatting. We look forward to reviewing the formats suggested by the awardee.

Q30 How much contextual explanation or background is expected in the daily reports versus just summarizing headlines and events?

No contextual explanation or background beyond the article is usually needed in the daily summaries, but we expect to the extent possible from the article that the summary translation to provide an accurate understanding of the "who, what, why, when, where" context of the news item.

LIST OF QUESTIONS 4 (31-38)

Q31 DBA insurance. We understand that the pricing should include DBA insurance. However, the contract does not require an in-person delivery of service and in the past we have not been required to provide DBA for remote delivery of services. We employ local national personnel who work from home in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, in order to monitor social media and media sources. Our professional analysts are also work from home employees who provide the reports and analysis while monitoring the local collection team in a remote capacity. Our analysts have worked throughout the relevant countries, but they currently reside in Sweden, Italy the US and France. Is there a need to include DBA for any of the employees given that they work entirely in a remote and work from home capacity?

Defense Base Act insurance is required.

Q32 Is there a preferred length for the daily reports?

Q33 For section 17a of the solicitation/contract/order cor commercial terms form, do we fill in the DUNS number for 17a?

Contractor/Offeror can list the name of the vendor in this field.

Q34 For 17b, if we do not have a facility ID number (our employees work from home) do we leave this blank?

Yes, please keep this blank.

Q35 Client references. Section 52.202-1 says we should provide a list of the last 5 years of clients. Some of our clients (to include government clients) require confidentiality as part of their contract. Is it required to provide a complete list of clients, or is it acceptable to provide a list of the types of clients and identify some of these that we service as well as the services provided?

A - If so, is a list of 10 such clients acceptable, and if not, what would be a more appropriate number?

It is not required to provide a complete list of clients. What we are looking for is to provide a list of clients proofing that your company have experience of doing similar services before.

Q36 With regard to the Special Analytical Reports section of the requirement, is there an expected report length and/or frequency for such requests? We routinely provide bespoke analytical reports to our clients. If infrequent and relatively short in length, we will generally provide this free of charge. If larger or more detailed reports are required, we charge an additional fee based upon the scope of the requirement. Can you provide some guidance or recommendations to facilitate pricing for such reports under the incidental charges pricing sheet that we will provide for you?

The analytical report does not have specific length requirement as long as the reporting is comprehensive and provide full coverage of the story. We anticipate a maximum of three requests per month associated with special events.

Q37 To confirm, is there a strict requirement for two independent daily reports (social media and media reports)? While we can accommodate this requirement, ideally, we would write one daily report that provides a summary and comprehensive view in consideration of all sources, combined with additional analysis. We always note source-related considerations in our analysis. Would a single comprehensive report format be acceptable for you? Depending on your needs, we may recommend that we provide a filterable incident/reporting data spreadsheet to accompany the daily report rather than imbedding this information into the report itself. This would identify specific sources of information for those interested in the data collection specifics. Would this be an acceptable format?

There is no specific requirement for two independent daily reports. The offeror is expected to provide the services and capture the full scope set forth is this RFQ.

Q38 our company can provide interactive incident maps, additional reports and detailed incident data in addition to regular daily reporting. Would this be of interest for your team, and if so, would you like us to include these options under the incidental charges pricing sheet? This could include such items as bespoke mapping requests (weekly or monthly interactive map summaries, monthly report summaries, trend analysis graphs etc), as well as spreadsheets of collected data, and regular significant incident analysis reports.

The award will only cover costs directly noted in the Statement of Work.

LIST OF QUESTIONS 4 (39-44)

Q39 Section 1.B: Performance Work Statement: Does the Embassy anticipate the possibility of an extension of the award beyond the first year should the contractor meet its requirements?

The anticipated length of the contract will be for one year.

Q40 Section 1.C: Type of Contract: The scope, deliverables, quantity, period of performance and pricing are described in specific terms, suggesting the use of a firm fixed price contract/purchase order rather than an IDIQ mechanism. Please confirm that the award will be a single firm fixed price contract/purchase order rather than an IDIQ with an initial order awarded with the IDIQ.

The award will be a single firm fixed price contract/purchase order. NO IDIQs.

Q41 Key Deliverables: The RFQ states: “The report must be delivered by 7:00 AM Syria local time, Monday through Friday, including exclusive of U.S. federal and local holidays – list of holidays will be provided.” Can the Embassy please confirm that this should read: “The report must be delivered by 7:00 AM Syria local time, Monday through Friday, including exclusive of

U.S. federal and local holidays – list of holidays will be provided.”

The report must be delivered by 7 AM Syria local time on a daily basis Monday through Friday excluding U.S. federal holidays.

In addition, the news report following each weekend or holiday is expected to capture the events of that weekend/holiday.

The U.S government reserves the right to change the days of the requested reports from

Monday through Friday to Sunday through Thursday and will give the vendor a 30-day notice of such change.

Q42 Section 3, A.2.(2): The RFQ states: “Evidence that the offeror/quoter operates an established business with a permanent address and telephone listing.” Is there a specific location requirement for an established business?

There is no specific location requirement for an established business.

Q43 Section 3, A.2.(5): For the list of past performance, please confirm that offerors may omit the fax number as appropriate.

Yes, Offerors can omit the fax number as appropriate.

Q44 Section 3, A.7: The RFQ states: “An actual (1 week) sample of Media monitoring and reports that has been completed within 30 days of the proposal submission.” Can the

Embassy please confirm that this means a sample completed within 30 days prior to proposal submission? Alternatively, please confirm if offerors may submit a sample within 30 days following proposal submission for review.

The proposal should include the sample of work conducted in the last 30 days of the proposal submission and no sample of work will be accepted afterwards.

LIST OF QUESTIONS 5 (45-49)

Q45 Can you please confirm if this is a new requirement? If not, who is the current provider?

This is the first time that this service is being solicited through this RFQ.

Q46 Is there an expected number of individuals to perform the work in this contract?

The offeror is anticipated to understand the scope of this service and staff accordingly.

Q47 Does the location of the individuals performing the work matter? Can they be located outside of Syria?

The location of individuals performing the work does not matter, the individuals can be located outside of Syria.

Q48 What is the approximate page count, word count, and/or number of summaries included in the required products?

The report should accurately reflect the news cycle, not a specific page length. The awardee will be expected to provide as much background or explanation as needed to present a comprehensive and coherent product based on the particular news story and areas of interest.

Q49 Can you please share samples of the required products?

The offeror should demonstrate their abilities and understanding of the scope of this contract by providing their own product samples. No templates or samples will be provided.

LIST OF QUESTIONS 6 (50-51)

Q50 Please define how many Special Analytical Reports would be required each month.

We anticipate a maximum of three special reports per month.

Q51 In addition to your requirements, would the embassy benefit from having a Media

Monitoring Application that also creates summaries on your iphones? If so, should that be part of the quote or would that be discussed separately?

The offeror should submit their proposals based on the information provided in the RFQ. Upon awarding the contract, further discussion will be held with the awardee.