Draft Contract ACLED SOW - 2021 - 0405.docx

UNCLASSIFIED

-5- DRAFT Armed Conflict Location & Events Data Project (ACLED) Statement of Work (SOW) Project Title Armed Conflict Location & Events Data Project Introduction and Background The Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO) anticipates, prevents, and responds to violent conflict that undermines U.S. national interests. One of CSO’s goals is to harness data analytics to enable agile foreign policy decision making on preventing conflict and promoting stability. CSO’s Instability Monitoring and Analysis Platform (IMAP) is a primary Department and interagency hub for forecasting, tracking, and understanding global instability and conflict. These data-driven capabilities directly support the Global Fragility Act, and other legislation and policy frameworks focused on strategic prevention and stabilization, including the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018, the Strategic Prevention Project (2019), and the Stabilization Assistance Review (SAR; 2018). Data analytics are essential for targeted program design.

To harness data analytics, CSO requires systematic, reliable data on incidents of political violence and political disorder for all countries in the world, especially those experiencing or at risk of fragility, conflict, and instability. Systematic data is collected according to a transparent, verified methodology so that it can be compared across countries and contexts. This enables robust quantitative analysis and trend analysis. This data must be subnational and released on a timely basis with minimal lag. For trend analysis, CSO requires data for at least 24 months historically and with regular updates moving forward.

Project Goal To support the Department of State’s understanding of global trends in conflict and instability, CSO requires reliable, systematic, and timely data on incidents of political disorder for all countries in the world updated on a near real time basis.

The purpose of this contract is to continue the production and availability of the ACLED dataset to support CSO’s IMAP and other data driven analysis.

Scope The vendor shall provide services for collecting and cleaning data quantifying political disorder for specific regions on a near real time basis. ACLED shall produce data covering up to ten regions (excluding the United States) on a weekly basis. The number of incidents per week will vary depending on the outbreak of political violence and political protest.

On a weekly basis with a pause in data releases for the month of August, ACLED shall code, clean, review, and check data. The activities are the same regardless of the geographic coverage.

Contingent on the availability of funds, this coding shall cover the following regions in order of priority: Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East (including Syria and Yemen), South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, Central America, East Asia, South America, Western Europe.

The following activities shall be performed to collect ACLED data:

· Coding. Sources shall be reviewed for relevant events that fit within the scope of the project. Sources are accessed via online media aggregators and local partners. These events shall be coded according to ACLED’s previously established, proprietary methodology. The information recorded for each event shall include: Comment by Melissa Duell: Do we need to attach details in a tab or something?

· data_id

· iso

· event_id_cnty

· event_id_no_cnty

· event_date

· year

· time_precision

· event_type

· sub_event_type

· actor1

· assoc_actor_1

· inter1

· actor2

· assoc_actor_2

· inter2

· interaction

· region

· country

· admin1

· admin2

· admin3

· location

· latitude

· longitude

· geo_precision

· source

· source_scale

· notes

· fatalities

· timestamp

· iso3

· Cleaning. Coded data shall be cleaned to ensure it is reliable and consistent within the existing dataset.

· Review. Events that have been coded must be aggregated, revised, investigated, cross-checked, and inspected according to a consistent review process. This assures that the data remains valid, that mistakes are caught, and that only relevant data within scope is included in the dataset.

Data Use The vendor shall maintain intellectual property rights of the data collected. The Department of State shall have an irrevocable license to access, use, and share the data.

Period of Performance

12 month period of performance from the effective date of award with four (4) additional option periods that can be exercised at the discretion of the government. Additional geographic areas may be added depending upon availability of funding.

Travel

No travel is required or envisioned for completion of this contract.

Security and Confidentiality Requirements

All data and materials used during performance of the Statement of Work shall be unclassified.

Standard Work Hours

While the contractor may set the standard work hours for its own organization, CSO expects the contractor to be available for teleconferences during regular business hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, Eastern Time).

Key Personnel

Key personnel positions for this contract shall include Executive Director, Director of Research and Innovation, Director of Programs and Operations, Senior Data Manager, Senior Program Manager, and Senior Methodology Manager.

Experience and Qualifications

Director level personnel on this contract shall have 7 years experience in research, political science, and conflict studies, or program management and operations. Senior personnel shall have 3 years experience.

Deliverables Schedule

The vendor shall deliver the following:

Subcontracting

If applicable, the Contractor is permitted to partner with a subcontractor to fulfill the requirements of this contract. Subcontracting agreement shall be submitted to the CO for approval. Prime contractor shall demonstrate that they do 51 percent of the work in the Statement of Work.

Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan

Performance measures will be monitored continuously by the contractor for compliance. The contractor shall implement a Quality Control Plan for this effort. The contractor shall prepare and provide a Quality Control Plan which details and describes the contractor’s framework and process for delivering a quality product(s) and service(s) as required by the tasks in the Statement of Work. The contractor shall implement a Quality Control Plan that will ensure all work will be performed in accordance with the contract requirements. The contractor shall identify in the Quality Control Plan, the applicable process and metrics used to self-assess performance. The Quality Control Plan will be delivered to the Contracting Officer’s Representative for review and approval thirty (30) days after contract award.

COR contact information

Mr. Yerko Rojas Program Analyst Bureau of Conflict & Stabilization Operations U.S. Department of State 2025 E Street NW, Suite 3100 Washington, D.C. 20520 RojasV@state.gov

Government Technical Monitor/Program Officer

Dr. Melissa Duell Office of Advanced Analytics Bureau of Conflict & Stabilization Operations U.S. Department of State 2025 E Street NW, Suite 3100 Washington, D.C. 20520 DuellMD@state.gov