News Clips Commercial Items Solicitation No. 693JK421R500007 Amendment No. 2 PDF Version AS PUBLISHED.pdf

Amendment No. 2

To

Solicitation No. 693JK421R500007

“News Clips Services for DOT”

This Amendment No. 2 revises this Solicitation’s proposal-submission-deadline to 11:30 PM

Eastern Daylight Time May 13th, 2021, and provides, below, answers to questions posed by prospective offerors.

One prospective offeror’s question (and DOT’s answer):

Question 1: Could you please tell me if this is a new requirement, or if there is a current or previous contractor who has performed similar services? If available, can you please send along the incumbent contract or task order number?

Answer 1: To the best of the knowledge of the subject Solicitation’s cognizant Contracting

Officer’s Representative (COR) and that COR’s program-office-colleagues, no incumbent contractor or previous contractor has ever provided, to DOT’s Office of the Secretary (OST), the entire universe of support-services envisioned in the subject current Solicitation. However, the contractor-companies listed below are known or are believed to have provided, to OST, this current Solicitation’s work-sub-sets that are specified below, under the contract-numbers specified below. But prospective offerors are hereby asked to please do their own research in making any chosen attempts to contact the contractor-companies listed below in any quest for further or additional or more-precise information concerning those contracts. In addition, this

Solicitation’s cognizant contracting officer hereby certifies that any attempt by any prospective offeror-company, under the FOIA or via any other means, to gain possession of a copy of any of the below-listed contracts would be unlikely to improve the offeror-company’s earned competitive standing in the subject current procurement, because: (a) any staffing-information and all pricing-information contained in the below-listed contracts would almost certainly have to be redacted in the FOIA-process; and (b) it is not at all clear that DOT’s FOIA-processing-procedures could or would produce any results for any FOIA-requester in time to benefit the requester within this current procurement’s tight time-lines; and (c) the subject current

Solicitation’s Statement of Work has been significantly updated and improved by this current procurement’s sponsoring program office, so that any attempt by any offeror to compile its current proposal by looking at past contracts would be about as wise as trying to drive a car by looking only in its rear-view mirror. Here’s what is known about possibly-related other contracts:

~ Under Contract Number DTOS5917C00401 awarded in Fiscal Year 2017 to Winvale Group

LLC of 1012 14th Street, Fifth Floor, Washington, D. C. , which appears to have ended on

September 30th, 2019, that company performed the following types of support-work for OST:

Media Management Services, including a media database; real-time monitoring and search capability of broadcast, online and social media; and the ability to track the success of media campaigns from each of those mediums, which allowed users to have quick, easy access to information necessary to ensure effective communication of the Department’s missions to the public. And the contractor provided a database of journalists that allowed the USDOT OPA to develop comprehensive media contact lists for markets, both large and small, across the United States to include the U.S. territories. This included national and local, both traditional and new media, print, online, radio and broadcast. The contractor also provided the ability to locate journalists based on keywords searches of their previously published articles.

The contractor should also provided a tool that allowed the USDOT OPA to send out and track the receipt of press releases and media advisories.

The contractor also provided a Social media management tools: publishing, scheduling content, conversation analysis, and influencer engagement.

The contractor also provided media monitoring capability for television, including local, national and cable outlets; online radio, print, blogs and microblogs, and social media entities; to include

Twitter Firehose, Facebook, Blogs, Forums, Instagram, Youtube, and LinkedIn. News stories should be able to be shared without incurring copyright violations or fees. The contractor also provided social media analysis, using graphs and charts to demonstrate the reach/coverage of the Department’s messages, enabling DOT to search for coverage and create reports on coverage that may have occurred before the inception of the contract.

~ Under Contract Number DTOS5916C00016 awarded in Fiscal Year 2016 to Bulletin

Intelligence LLC of 11190 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 1, Reston, Virginia 20191, which appears to have ended on January 31, 2021, that company performed the following types of support-work for OST:

Electronic news clips retrieval-service to create a daily news briefing / summary and set of actual print and broadcast stories for all of DOT’s employees via a link on DOT’s Intranet, constituting a thorough, current and timely summary and compilation of news stories along with an archive that could be searched by key words.

~ Under Cision U.S. Inc. Purchase Orders numbered 693JK421P600010 awarded in Fiscal Year

2021 and which runs through July 31, 2021, and 693JK419P600021 awarded in Fiscal Year 2019 and which evidently ended on January 31, 2021, that firm, located at 130 East Randolph Street, 7th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60601-6164, has performed the following types of support-work for

OST:

Electronic news retrieval service to create a daily news briefing/summary and set of actual print and broadcast news stories for all of DOT.

A second prospective offeror-company’s questions (and DOT’s answers):

Question

RFP Reference Question

1 N/A

Is this SOW currently being performed for the DOT?

If so, would the government please provide the incumbent’s name and the value of their current contract(s)?

DOT’s Answer: See answer numbered 1 as given above for “One Offeror’s Question”. DOT will not be disclosing the dollar-value of any prior or existing related contract.

2 N/A

What is the period of performance of the current contract? Does the Government expect to issue an extension?

DOT’s Answer: The Cision Purchase Order numbered 693JK421P600010, cited above in

“One Offeror’s Question”, is scheduled to end on

July 31, 2021. And if it needs to be extended in order to fill any service-gap during the pendency of the subject current Solicitation and during the processing of the subject current procurement, then it probably will be extended for a month or two.

3 Sample Product

To facilitate fair competition, would the government please provide the current topics used in the daily clips reports so non incumbent contractors may use this to produce their sample product?

DOT’s answer: The topics vary day-to-day, but always include stories on the Department, our modal offices, which are listed in the RFP, the Secretary, the modal leadership, infrastructure and transportation safety related stories.

Statement of Work -

Scope of Services

(page 7)

The government notes that the successful offeror must be flexible and able to change their products quickly. Typically, how much notice is given by the government, and by when, to make these adjustments? Would a change ever require a change of delivery more than an hour?

DOT’s Answer: This is not predictable due to the nature of transportation issues. Hot topics arise with no notice so the answer to this question is variable.

Statement of Work –

Analyst Written Daily

News Briefings: Task 1

(page 8)

How many news items are typically in the 4:45 am

Secretary’s first read briefing? Does this require a human-written analysis? If so, can DOT provide screenshots of what this report contains so vendors can better assess the level of effort required?

DOT’s Answer: Depends on the news cycle. Yes, as stated in the RFP, it would require human written analysis due to the complexity of our issues.

Statement of Work –

Analyst Written Daily

News Briefings: Task 3

(page 9)

On average, how many DOT-related news clips are captured daily to support the daily briefings?

DOT’s Answer: Depends on the news cycle.

Statement of Work –

Analyst Written Daily

News Briefings: Task 4

(page 9-10)

On average, how many national news clips are captured daily to support the daily briefings?

DOT’s Answer: Depends on the news cycle.

8 Statement of Work –

Analyst Written Daily

Does DOT currently maintain any online subscriptions that would allow them to see news

News Briefings: Task 9

(page 10) coverage that may be behind a paywall? If so, to which news outlets?

DOT’s Answer: NYT, WaPo, WSJ, Bloomberg Gov, Politico, Business Insider, USA Today, TIME magazine, CQ, Automotive News

Statement of Work –

Analyst Written Daily

News Briefings: Task 10

(page 11)

For the customized index, would the government please confirm that this will be by topic and provide the current topic areas being used for the daily briefing?

DOT’s Answer: We would provide a list of search terms, but those change as new situations occur. We would expect the contractor to become familiar with our issues and anticipate new topics they arise without necessarily being told what those are.

Statement of Work –

Analyst Written Daily

News Briefings: Task 11

(page 11)

As stated, this platform access seems unsecure (even if IP-protected). Do users log in through domain authentication? Will the government provide the list of users it requires to have access upon award of the contract?

DOT’s Answer: We would need to have a way to sign new users up as they come on board. This is used by leadership and others in the Department to stay informed as to what is going on in the transportation industry at large. The Department would not share the report outside of the agency. We would expect that the reports would be delivered by email to those who have subscribed.

Statement of Work –

Analyst Written Daily

News Briefings: Task 13

(page 11)

DOT requires the vendor to “provide searchable access to an archive of USDOT’s briefing dating back to February 2010.” Vendors can provide an archive of news articles about DOT dating back to 2010, but only DOT has possession of the actual DOT briefing reports. This requirement seems to limit competition to the incumbent. As the government owns all contractor products produced under the previous scope of work, will the government retain the archive of DOT stories – going back to 2010 – and provide it to successful offerors to import into their database?

DOT’s Answer: We would be able to keep previous briefings, but they would not be available to a new contractor/briefing provider.

Statement of Work –

Analyst Written Daily

News Briefings: Task 13

(page 11)

How many USDOT users receive this briefing?

DOT’s Answer: We currently have approximately

1400 subscribers.

Statement of Work –

North American Media

Database: Task 2 (page

13)

How many press releases does USDOT typically send in a single year?

DOT’s Answer: Average press releases, not including media advisories broken down:

OST: Over 100 releases

FAA: 200ish

FHWA: 50ish

FMCSA: over 20ish

FRA: 25

FTA: 45ish

MARAD: less than 20

NHSTA: 45ish

OST-R/BTS: I can contact Dave to see if he can provide this for me.

PHMSA: 10 ish

GSL: about 10 or less

14 Statement of Work –

North American Media

In order to provide consistent pricing across vendors, can the Government clarify how many press releases

Database: Task 2 (page

13) vendors should estimate USDOT will need to be able to send?

DOT’s Answer: Average press releases, not including media advisories broken down:

OST: Over 100 releases

FAA: 200ish

FHWA: 50ish

FMCSA: over 20ish

FRA: 25

FTA: 45ish

MARAD: less than 20

NHSTA: 45ish

OST-R/BTS: I can contact Dave to see if he can provide this for me.

PHMSA: 10 ish

GSL: about 10 or less

Statement of Work –

Social Media Monitoring

Capability: Task 4 (page

13)

Approximately how many social media reports covering specific campaigns are requested annually?

Typically, how much response time is allowed for these reports?

DOT’s Answer: We need to be able generate these reports ourselves. We generally do them at least 3 week, sometimes daily.

Statement of Work –

Analytics Tools: Task 1

(page 14)

Are these graphs, charts, and DMA maps with corresponding information included in the daily briefings?

DOT’s Answer: No

Statement of Work – Real-time Monitoring and

Email Alerts: Task 1 (page

15)

How many USDOT users will require the ability to set automatic email alerts, perform keyword searches, and email clips to colleagues?

DOT’s Answer: 15-20

Statement of Work – Real-time Monitoring and

Email Alerts: Task 1 (page

15)

How many USDOT users will require the ability to search the comprehensive, web-based television search engine application?

DOT’s Answer: 15-20

Statement of Work – Real-time Monitoring and

Email Alerts: Task 5 (page

15)

Given certain copyright concerns, will these video downloads be stored on local government hard drives or can they be housed in an online portal for review?

How long does USDOT require access to stored clips?

DOT’s Answer: They can be stored online. We would need to be able to share the video clips in a way that anyone within the Department can view them.

Statement of Work – Real-time Monitoring and

Email Alerts: Task 5 (page

15)

In order to ensure vendors are consistent with pricing and capabilities, can the Government provide an estimate for how many video downloads were executed, on average, in a year?

DOT’s Answer: An average of 50,000

21 GPAT (page 18)

The government identifies a GPAT, but does not provide the template cited on this page. Should offerors provide their capability to develop products that adhere to Section 508 standards and regulations in lieu of this?

DOT’s Answer: No offeror is required to include a

GPAT in its proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation. But every offeror is required to fully and carefully explain, in its non-pricing proposal, how the offeror is proposing to comply with the Rehabilitation Act’s requirements for making work-products such as those envisioned in this

Solicitation accessible by handicapped persons.

Instructions to Offerors

(page 66)

Should Reps & Certs, Attachment 1, and Attachment

2 be included as appendices to the Technical

Volume? If so, will these required documents be counted against page count?

DOT’s Answer: Each offeror shall place its Reps and Certs in its pricing-proposal volume, and there will be no page-limit on that pricing-proposal-volume.

Instructions to Offerors

(page 66)

What are the font (type and size) requirements for body text and graphics for offerors responses?

DOT’s answer: Any offeror may use, in its proposal submitted to DOT in response to this Solicitation, any font-size or font-sizes, and any font-type or font-types, which is / are fully legible to DOT personnel who will be reading the offeror’s proposal.

24 General

Would the government provide a current daily briefing report?

DOT’s Answer: The briefing is exclusively for the

Department of Transportation’s internal use.” There is a copyright clause that prohibits reproduction or redistribution without permission the current contract holder.

25 General

Would the government please extend the proposal to address questions and to support equal competition between the incumbent and other offerors?

DOT’s Answer: The subject Solicitation’s proposal-submission-deadline is hereby extended to 11:30 PM

Eastern Daylight Time May 13th, 2021.

26 General

Will the government accept additional clarifying questions following the release of the answers to the initial round of questions?

DOT’s Answer: It depends, in part, on the timing of such questions, and, in part, on their merit.

Straggling is discouraged.

27 General

Would the government provide a screenshot of the current IP-based web portal used by DOT?

DOT’s Answer: The briefing is exclusively for the

Department of Transportation’s internal use. There is a copyright clause that prohibits reproduction or redistribution without permission the current contract holder.

26 General

Regarding the requirement to "create reports on coverage that may have occurred before the inception of the contract," how many years of retroactive coverage is required for editorial coverage?

DOT’s Answer: These reports would be generated by public affairs team members. We need to able to search back at least 10 years.

27 General

We note that USDOT requires that contractors

"provide integrated Social media management tools:

publishing, scheduling content, conversation analysis, and influencer engagement." How many owned profiles does USDOT need to manage (i.e.: 3 Twitter, 5 Facebook, 5 LinkedIn, etc.).

DOT’s Answer: That question is not entirely clear to

DOT’s cognizant COR. If the questioner is referring to user logins to monitor social media, then the answer is that DOT would need the same number as the reporter database.

28 General

Given the diverse nature of the United States population and media environment, does USDOT require that platforms provide the ability to track for non-English language content such as Chinese

(Simplified and Standard), Hebrew, Spanish, Russian

(including Cyrcillic), Japanese, Hindi, Arabic, etc.)?

DOT’s Answer: Not at this time.

29 General

How many USDOT users need access/log ins to the following?

1. eNews Print and Internet Monitoring

2. Social media Monitoring Capability

3. Northern American Database

4. Analytics Tool for Tracking Progress and

Success of Media Campaign

DOT’s Answer: 15-20

Past Performance (page

70)

The solicitation requests a minimum of three examples of past performance, performed within the last five years. Is there a page limit for each citation?

Is there a maximum for how many past performances citations can be submitted?

DOT’s Answer: No page limit. And no limit on performance citations.

~ A third prospective offeror-company’s questions (and DOT’s answers):

Question 1 -

Referencing Page 12, “Social Media Monitoring Capability: Task 4. Upon request, the contractor shall produce reports on social media coverage of specific campaigns including conversation analysis and influencer engagement."

Will the DOT require the ability to produce reports on social media coverage of retroactive content (in other words, creating a search after the event has occurred, and running a report looking backwards)? D

DOT’s Answer: Yes

Question 2 -

Referencing Page 68, “North American Media Database: c. Provide wire service web distribution”

Please confirm that DOT requires the ability to send out a wire news release, rather than simply sending media advisories to journalists directly via email? If this indeed the case, approx. how many wire service web distributions are expected to be sent per month?

DOT’s Answer: We would most likely not need wire service sends. We have never used them in the past.

Question 3 -

We note the need for “Real-time Monitoring and E-mail Alerts for Realtime Broadcast Media” on pages

14/15 but do not see this referenced in the Instructions/Technical Description on pages 67-72, nor in the

CLIN Breakdown. Should Offerors simply incorporate this into the CLIN 0002/eNews Print and Internet

Monitoring?

DOT’s Answer: Yes.

Question 4 -

Does the US DOT require access to a Mobile App version of the Media Monitoring platform to receive alerts, perform searches, and/or run analytics?

DOT’s Answer: Not a requirement.

~ A fourth prospective offeror-company’s questions (and DOT’s answers):

Question # Category RFP Reference Question

1 Analyst Written News

Briefings & Media

Database

SOW Should offerors be able to integrate elements of one part of the service into others? For example, including information from the

North American Media

Database into the Daily

News Briefings?

DOT’s Answer: That would be very helpful.

2 Analyst Written News

Briefings

Page 10, Task 5 Should Task 5 be understood as being able to adjust topics of focus promptly, typically within 24 hours? Yes.

Additionally, should

Task 5 be understood as being able to implement new guidance for specific topics within that same time frame and typically within existing cost?

DOT’s Answer: Yes.

3 Analyst Written News

Briefings

Page 11, Task 13 Should offerors be prepared to show the full archive of USDOT’s briefing dating back to

February 2010 upon request?

DOT’s Answer: That would be useful.

4 North American

Database – Wire

Service Web

Distribution

Page 68 Should offerors be prepared to include a wire distribution package? If yes, please provide the estimated number of annual press releases to be distributed via a wire

(not email) and if any multimedia elements would be required the number of multimedia assets.

DOT’s Answer: It would be good to know the cost of that service.

And would that be part of the package price?

We have not used a wire service to put out press releases in the past though.

5 Corporate Experience Page 71 Under “Corporate

Experience”: should this information include specific client names, or is a description of the contracts and the clients (without naming them specifically) sufficient?

DOT’s Answer: I don’t think specific names are necessary, but a full description of their skills and education levels would be required.

This Amendment No. 2 provides no further answers or clarifications regarding DOT’s subject

“News Clips” Solicitation.

James H. Mowery III

Contracting Officer

May 5, 2021