Arqiva_Yahsat Y1A SOW.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

VOA 365 HD VIDEO TRANSMISSION ON YAHSAT Y1A @ 52.5 ° EAST

U.S. AGENCY FOR GLOBAL MEDIA

330 INDEPENDENCE AVENUE S.W.

WASHINGTON D.C. 20237

NOVEMBER 24, 2025

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND

2. SCOPE OF WORK

3. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

4. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

5. PRICING

6. WORK REQUIREMENTS

6.1 Monitoring, Reporting And Service Outages

6.2 Technical Recommendations And Service Upgrades

6.3 Customer Support

6.4 Managed Teleport Services

6.5 Satellite Capacity

7. SECURITY

8. SCHEDULE AND IMPLEMENTATION

9. CONTRACTOR FURNISHED EQUIPMENT

10. CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES

11. GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED EQUIPMENT

12. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

13. DELIVERABLES

14. USAGM CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE

15. USAGM PROGRAM MANAGER

16. INVOICING

17. SCHEDULE AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

1. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND.

1.1 The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), in support of Voice of America (VOA) requires one (1) High Definition (HD) video channel with stereo digital program audio to be transmitted on Yahsat Y1A @ 52.5° east.

1.2 USAGM requires Satellite Capacity and Managed Teleport Services for uplinking the following: 1) VOA 365 (Persian) AVC (H.264) video with stereo digital program audio in the MPEG-1, Layer II format. The target downlink coverage area for this service is Iran and the surrounding diaspora.

2. SCOPE OF WORK

2.1 The Contractor shall provide satellite capacity to accommodate VOA 365 HD video with program audio on Yahsat Y1A @ 52.5° east (Transponder 15) to accommodate the following:

2.1.1 VOA 365 HD video with program audio 5.128 Mb/s

2.1.2 Encoding and transport overhead 0.172 Mb/s

Total Bitrate Requirement: 5.300 Mb/s

2.2 In the event that USAGM has a requirement to add additional satellite capacity on Yahsat

Y1A and/or has a need to expand the downlink footprint coverage in the region, the contractor shall provide mutually agreed upon regional satellite capacity alternatives.

2.3 In the event that USAGM has a requirement to add additional Zixi platform capacity for the delivery of USAGM program content to support the expansion of satellite downlink footprint coverage in the region, the contractor shall provide mutually agreed upon Zixi platform expansion alternatives.

2.4 The VOA 365 HD video with program audio shall be Free to Air (FTA) on an MPEG

Digital Video Broadcasting - Satellite (DVB-S) or DVB-S Second Generation (DVB-S2) Multiple Channel per Carrier (MCPC).

2.5 USAGM requires that the VOA 365 HD video with stereo digital audio on Yahsat Y1A be located in the East Beam on Transponder 15.

2.6 Content for uplinking to Yahsat Y1A will be provided by USAGM to the Contractor’s Point of Presence (POP) using the public Internet protected by either Zixi or SRT error-correction protocol. The Contractor shall then transport the program content to the applicable uplink teleport.

3. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

3.1 The Period of Performance for satellite capacity, managed teleport services and Zixi content delivery for Yahsat Y1A will be one (1) Base Year with four (4) Option Years to be exercised at the Government’s discretion.

Base Year: February 19, 2026 - February 18, 2027 Option Year 1: February 19, 2027 - February 18, 2028 Option Year 2: February 19, 2028 - February 18, 2029 Option Year 3: February 19, 2029 - February 18, 2030 Option Year 4: February 19, 2030 - February 18, 2031

4. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

4.1 The place of performance for the Yahsat Y1A video and digital audio pair service will be at the Contractor’s Teleport(s) to be determined upon contract award. At the time of this writing, the current uplink location for these services is Chalfont Grove, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom.

5. PRICING.

5.1 The Contractor shall provide pricing for one (1) fully-formed HD AVC (H.264) video with associated stereo digital program audio (MPEG-1, Layer II) uplinked from the Contractor’s or Sub-Contractors’ Teleport to Yahsat Y1A @ 52.5° east.

6. WORK REQUIREMENTS.

6.1 MONITORING, REPORTING AND SERVICE OUTAGES.

6.1.1 The Contractor shall staff a 24/7/365 Network Operations Center and Technical Support

Call Center with competent English-speaking technicians to monitor USAGM’s video and audio content and proactively communicate technical issues to USAGM’s Primary and Backup Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs) and Project Manager (PM).

6.1.2 The Contractor shall provide coordination, system health monitoring (including content and signal quality monitoring at edge devices), and management of the network, components, and subsystems.

6.1.3 The Contractor shall define response times for USAGM service calls, trouble ticket processing, and reporting.

6.1.4 The Contractor shall contact USAGM’s CORs and PM every 60 minutes during a transmission outage providing updates including: status and remedial actions in place.

6.1.5 The Contractor shall be responsible for returning the satellite services, teleport services and terrestrial circuits back to full operation as quickly as possible. If the outage is prolonged (more than 4 hours), the Contractor, with agreement from the USAGM

Contracting Officer (CO), and/or the CORs and PM, shall be required to provide USAGM with alternative signal/service routing to maintain continuity of operations.

6.1.6 If the Contractor schedules satellite or terrestrial service outages in order to carry out system(s) maintenance, it shall be the Contractor’s responsibility to notify and obtain USAGM’s approval via USAGM CORs and PM in writing via email at least 48 hours prior to the planned maintenance period.

6.1.7 The Contractor shall provide and notify the USAGM CORs and PM of measures to ensure continuation of maximum service during the planned maintenance outage.

6.1.8 The Contractor shall coordinate with USAGM CORs to develop outage reporting and root-cause analysis forms for approval by the USAGM Global Network Division Director after contract award.

6.1.9 The Contractor shall host quarterly meetings (Teleconference/MS Teams/Zoom/on-site at

USAGM) with the USAGM CORs and PM to discuss operational concerns, including outages, maintenance etc. These meetings shall be initiated by the Contractor and shall be scheduled at a mutually agreed upon time with at least one-week advanced notice.

6.2 TECHNICAL RECOMMENDATIONS AND SERVICE UPGRADES.

6.2.1 Where the Contractor provides Managed Teleport Services, then the Contractor shall be responsible for providing technical recommendations to USAGM for consideration with respect to satellite and terrestrial content transmission and reception to/from USAGM.

6.2.2 Where the Contractor is providing Managed Teleport Services, then the Contractor shall have adequate terrestrial bandwidth to deliver program content to the designated uplink Teleport and to accommodate potential return feed program content requirements.

6.3 CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

6.3.1 The Contractor shall provide expert technical operations and a management team that can advise USAGM on optimal operational practices, recommend deployment network topologies, day-to-day and emergency procedures, performance reporting and metrics, and ensure the overall reliability and responsive operation of the network through both proactive planning and rapid situational response.

6.3.2 The Contractor shall provide the contact information of senior staff who will be associated with this contract. USAGM requests the address, telephone number, fax number and email address for the following Key Contractor Personnel:

Account Manager Account Engineer Project Manager I.T. Manager

Teleport Station Manager (Managed Teleport Services Only)

6.3.3 The Contractor shall be responsible for keeping Key Contractor Personnel information current and submitting any changes to the USAGM CORs via email.

6.3.4 The Contractor shall provide a detailed escalation plan relative to this task order for system failures, outages or technical support to the CORs. The Contractor shall be responsible for keeping this plan current and submitting any changes to the USAGM CORs.

6.4 MANAGED TELEPORT SERVICES.

6.4.1 The Contractor shall be responsible for receiving the VOA 365 HD video with audio content which will be received via Zixi over the public Internet.

6.4.2 The Contractor shall be responsible for ensuring that the VOA 365 HD video and audio content is uplinked on a MPEG/DVB compliant Multiple Channel per Carrier (MCPC) on Yahsat Y1A in Ku-band Free-to-Air (FTA) transponder 15 (see 6.5.2 below).

6.5 SATELLITE CAPACITY.

6.5.1 The Contractor shall have the capability to provide 5.30 Mb/s of satellite transponder capacity on Yahsat Y1A to accommodate one (1) VOA 365 HD video with program audio.

6.5.2 USAGM requires that the capacity on Yahsat Y1A matches the existing service and matches the current downlink carrier parameters as listed below:

Satellite: Yahsat Y1A (52.5o E) Transponder: 15 Downlink Beam: East Downlink Frequency: 11.996 GHz

FEC: 7/8

Symbol Rate: 27.5 MSym/s Downlink Polarization: Vertical Modulation: QPSK Service ID: 203 (VOA 365 HD) Video Format: 1080i25 (VOA 365 HD)

7. SECURITY.

7.1 The Contractor shall use its best efforts to provide a secure service that is compliant with

U.S. Government regulations to the extent practical. The Contractor shall actively monitor its systems to ensure they are not compromised.

8. SCHEDULE AND IMPLEMENTATION.

8.1 The service commencement and implementation date shall be February 19, 2026 to ensure continuity of service on Yahsat Y1A.

9. CONTRACTOR FURNISHED EQUIPMENT.

9.1 If the Contractor is required to provide encoders, decoders or additional equipment, it shall provide budgetary cost estimates to USAGM before the purchase of said equipment.

9.2 The Contractor shall not procure any additional equipment for USAGM unless authorized by the Contracting Officer by way of a Task Order or Purchase Order.

9.3 All equipment purchased by the Contractor on behalf of USAGM and that USAGM has paid for, shall become the property of USAGM and returned to USAGM at the end of the contract.

10. CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITIES.

10.1 The Contractor shall be responsible for notifying the USAGM CORs and PM of all outages, whether proposed planned or incidental.

10.2 The Contractor shall be responsible for providing status reports (including any outages) via email to the CORs and PM, as well as submitting invoices via Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) once per calendar month.

10.3 The Contractor shall be responsible for scheduling quarterly meetings between the

USAGM CORs, and PM to discuss ongoing operational issues and/or concerns.

10.4 The Contractor shall be responsible for maintaining the outage escalation chart(s) and to provide current key personnel information pertaining to the operation of this contract.

10.5 The Contractor shall be responsible for coordinating and communicating with all third-party providers/sub-contractors to ensure continued operations of the Satellite Transmissions and Managed Teleport Services.

10.6 The Contractor shall be responsible for providing technical support and advice to the

USAGM throughout the duration of this contract.

11. Government-Furnished Equipment.

11.1 The Government shall not be providing any equipment.

12. GOVERNMENT INFORMATION.

12.1 All information provided to the Contractor by the USAGM shall remain the property of USAGM and shall not be made public without the consent of USAGM.

13. DELIVERABLES.

13.1 The Contractor shall provide the following deliverables via email as indicated below.

• Monthly Reports (once per calendar month) – CORs and PM.

• Monthly Invoices (once per calendar month) – CORs.

• Outage Reports (within 12 hours of the Outage) – CORs and PM.

• Escalation Charts (as changes occur) – CORs and PM.

• Key Personnel Information (as changes occur) – CORs and PM.

• Ongoing technical advice (as required) – CORs and PM.

mailto:ggibbs@usagm.gov mailto:jhowell@usagm.gov mailto:ggibbs@usagm.gov

14. INVOICING.

14.1 The Contractor shall submit all invoices for payment via the Invoice Processing Platform

(IPP).

14.2 The Contractor shall be responsible for registering with the US Government’s IPP system.

14.3 Invoices are to be submitted once per calendar month.

15. SCHEDULE AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.

Schedule and Implementation Plan Date (X= day the contract is awarded Award Contract and Signed X Kick-off Meeting Service Implementation Plan and Project Review N/A Test Uplinking MBN Alhurra HD video with digital audio stereo pair uplinking and circuit testing.

N/A

Service Implementation

Acceptance February 19, 2026*

*This is an existing service and will remain on-air without a break in service.