Attachment A - Statement of Work.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

1.0 BACKGROUND:

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA or Agency) was created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to regulate and supervise Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) (jointly, the "regulated entities"). These institutions play critical roles in supporting our nation's housing finance system. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the "Enterprises") guarantee mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and hold mortgages and MBS for investment. The FHLBs working with the Office of Finance to lend money to banks and other financial institution members, generally using mortgages as collateral, and also invest in mortgage-related assets. Additional information about the FHFA and its mission can be found at http://www.fhfa.gov.

The Office of Congressional Affairs and Communications (OCAC) is responsible for coordinating contact and communication with all external parties, including members of the public, the media, Congress, trade associations, and other regulators. OCAC maintains FHFA’s website and intranet. FHFA’s Principal Public Affairs Specialists serve as official spokespersons for FHFA.

2.0 SCOPE:

The vendor shall provide media monitoring and news clipping services that use not only software-based services, but also human power to create customizable news analysis and clip reports with respect to issues pertaining to FHFA, the FHFA Office of Inspector General (FHFA-OIG), and to the housing finance industry in general. The services shall be provided to FHFA through electronic means and be available to all FHFA employees and contractors via mobile-optimized email, a secure website “dashboard,” and the FHFA intranet.

3.0 OBJECTIVES:

FHFA seeks media monitoring and news clipping services that utilize human analysts/editors to read news sources and social media posts (including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn) from across the nation (and some international sources), exercise editorial judgment regarding what is most relevant to the agency, summarize the pertinent news of the day, weed out duplicate and irrelevant news stories, and prioritize and order the news of the day according to direction provided by FHFA.

Analysts must understand housing finance issues, the mission and goals of FHFA and FHFA-OIG, FHFA’s role as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the housing finance industry and its role in the broader economy, and the role of Congress and the Administration in determining the future of housing finance. Analysts must be able to cull through thousands of news sources and distill essential material into cogent, brief news briefings/summaries.

FHFA’s goal is to ensure daily awareness of relevant and newsworthy developments and trends throughout the agency, particularly for senior management, communications staff, agency executives and FHFA-OIG.

http://www.fhfa.gov/

4.0 SERVICES:

The Contractor shall retain on staff all personnel required for the performance of the services required by this contract.

The Contractor shall employ highly-trained representatives with the proven skillsets to perform the following tasks with minimal revisions:

• Research, read and analyze a multitude of paper and electronic-based news articles, television news broadcasts and transcripts, blogs and social media news sources;

• Monitor essentially all major and/or relevant US online and broadcast news, including daily newspapers, national television and cable news, local television, newsweeklies, magazines and journals, Internet sites, specialty press, etc., to identify stories with information of potential interest to FHFA and FHFA-OIG.

• Write, edit and proofread summaries of daily news developments and trends;

• Create electronic briefings that are easy to read and navigate, containing news summaries, with access to full-text versions of underlying articles (where possible); and

• Exercise editorial judgment regarding elimination of news stories that are unnecessarily duplicative or irrelevant, and compile briefings in an order determined by FHFA.

Services rendered should also include media statistics per clipping of the audience size and reach, if available. News briefings will be delivered via e-mail and be accessible by FHFA through both desktop computers and mobile devices.

The Contractor shall work in conjunction with OCAC to determine the scope of news coverage, the parameters for searching and editing retrieved news stories, and the parameters for creation of news briefings. Sources should include local, national and international news media coverage including the latest coverage of housing finance, FHFA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks, and FHFA-OIG; top financial news outlets; trade publications; local, national broadcast, and cable news outlets; radio transcripts; and relevant news in social media and blogs. Additionally, key research and news topics regarding select other financial regulators shall be included upon request.

The Contractor will archive all briefings, making them available to FHFA (preferably through a proprietary website), and allow FHFA to electronically search through past briefings/stories for needed information.

In addition to daily news briefings, FHFA may need to request ad hoc, specific news clipping searches. Therefore, the Contractor shall remain available for OCAC personnel to contact as needed any time throughout the duration of the contract to alter the search terms and news briefing parameters as necessary. Contractor shall provide ad hoc search services by at least one of the methods specified below in Section 5.0. Contractor shall also provide breaking/special edition news summaries when requested by the Contracting

Officer’s Representative (COR). FHFA anticipates that ad hoc searches and requests for breaking/special edition news stories to occur no more than 25 times per one-year contract period.

The Contractor shall attend a post award kick-off meeting at FHFA’s Headquarters shortly after contract award, if the awardee is not the incumbent.

The Contractor shall attend (in-person or telephonically) regularly scheduled “check-ins” with the COR and communications team to gauge progress/success.

5.0 DELIVERABLES:

• The Contractor shall deliver news clips with summaries once daily, seven days per week, excluding Federal holidays (see Clause 6.220B), no later than 7:00 am Eastern time.

• The Contractor shall deliver breaking/special edition news summaries when requested by the COR.

• The Contractor will provide ad hoc services via one of two means: 1) The contractor shall have staff available to conduct searches or 2) the contractor shall provide up to three FHFA users with the means to conduct their own ad hoc searches.

FHFA’s COR shall review daily deliverables. FHFA will provide notification of rejection within two calendar days of receipt. If rejected, FHFA will provide details regarding the basis for rejection. Contractor shall revise or correct the deliverable in timely manner. In no way does FHFA waive its rights under any other inspection clause elsewhere within the contract.

Deliverables under this contract must be suitable for storing and sharing on FHFA’s intranet and e-mail by meeting technical and functional standards of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. The following standards apply:

• 36 CFR 1194.22 – Web-Based Intranet and Internet Information

• 36 CFR 1194.31 – Functional Performance Criteria

6.0 GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES:

The Contractor shall be responsible for providing all equipment and materials necessary to perform the tasks required under this Statement of Work.

The COR and OCAC staff will provide the following:

Feedback on the quality of briefings to improve relevance, maximize coverage and improve accuracy.

Oversight, guidance and clarification.

List of essential topics to be included and search terms to be used. These shall be regularly reviewed and updated by FHFA as needed.

List of high-priority news sources (see Appendix) that shall be reviewed daily and used to compile news briefing. This list contains the minimum/core sources to be used. Contractor may review additional sources based on expertise and topics of the day. The list may be modified at the direction of the COR.

7.0 SECURITY:

The Contractor shall comply with any FHFA security protocols and procedures to include background checks if needed and signing FHFA’s Non-Disclosure Agreement.

8.0 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:

The place of performance shall be at the Contractor’s facility, unless meeting with FHFA personnel.

9.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:

The initial period of performance shall be 2/1/24 – 1/31/25 and shall have four (4) option years.

10.0 FAILURE TO MEET PERFORMANCE STANDARDS:

Inspection and acceptance will be performed in accordance with FAR 52.212- 4 – Contract Terms and Conditions -- Commercial Items (Sep 2013). Performance of the services in conformance with the contract requirements is essential for the Contractor to receive full payment as identified in the contract.

Deduction:

Based on the table below, the Contractor shall make the appropriate deduction to its monthly invoice.

Late Delivery of News Clippings or Irrelevant* News Clippings

Amount of Deduction

1 – 5 times in any 30 day period. 5% 6 – 10 times in any 30 day period. 10% 11 or more times in any 30 day period. 20%

*Irrelevant topics are those that FHFA has previously identified for the Contractor as irrelevant and subsequently appear in deliverables.

10.1 NOTIFICATIONS

Based on a review of the Contractor’s performance and/or the Contractor’s deliverable(s), the COR will notify the Contractor and Contracting Officer of any noncompliance with the Contract requirements via email. To the extent practicable, resolution of missing articles or summaries requiring corrections should be done informally, with the COR and Contractor working together.

Appendix Minimum Required News Sources*

American Banker American City Business Journals Associated Press The Atlantic Barron’s Bloomberg BNA’s Banking Report BusinessWeek Carolina Journal Charlotte Business Journal Charlotte Observer Chicago Tribune

CNBC

CQ Roll Call Debtwire Dow Jones Market Watch DS News The Economist Federal Report by Mike Causey Financial Times Forbes Magazine Fortune Greensboro News & Record The Hill High Point Enterprise HousingWire Inside Mortgage Finance Publications Law 360 Lexington Dispatch Los Angeles Times M Report McClatchy News Service Money Magazine Nation National Mortgage News Newsweek Magazine New York Times Politico Pro Thomson Reuters Risk Magazine S&P Global Time Magazine USA Today U.S. News & World Report Wall Street Journal Washington Post

*The news sources above are provided should not be considered exhaustive. American Banker, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal should be reviewed in print editions as well as online.

Minimum Required Social Media Sources*

Facebook LinkedIn X (Formerly known as Twitter)

*The social media sources above are provided should not be considered exhaustive.