DRAFT PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT.docx

US Naval Academy Enrollment Services Admissions Department – Strategic Outreach U.S. Naval Academy

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

SECTION 1.0: BACKGROUND AND MISSION OBJECTIVE

1.1 Statutory Mandate

In accordance with Title 10 of the United States Code, the U.S. Naval Academy (USNA) is statutorily mandated to recruit, evaluate, and admit qualified applicants from every congressional district in the United States and its recognized territories. Because of this geographic mandate, institutional outreach and enrollment marketing efforts must maintain a comprehensive, national focus to reach qualified prospects across all designated districts.

1.2 Core Mission and Performance Targets

The Office of Admissions requires an innovative, comprehensive suite of enrollment management research, advisory services, data-driven marketing campaigns, analytical portals, and strategic consultation services to support institutional goals related to candidate enrollment. The overarching objective of this requirement is twofold:

1. Top-of-Funnel Scaling: Expand the prospective candidate pipeline to achieve a sustained target metric of 20,000 unique prospective candidate applications initiated annually.

2. Funnel Efficiency and Yield: Deploy targeted optimization and high-impact digital messaging strategies to aggressively scale the application completion rate beyond the historical 32.6% plateau, thereby increasing the yield of fully qualified candidates who meet elite academic, physical, and leadership benchmarks.

3. AI Search Optimization: Gain a real time view of how USNA appears on major platforms including visibility, sentiment, authority, and competitive position, in a n effort to understand where competitors are outperforming, and where to focus next campaigns to increase lead generation efforts.

SECTION 2.0: CORE PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS & DELIVERABLES

2.1 Nationwide Student Discovery Clearinghouse & Engagement Architecture

· Platform Access: The contractor shall provide a secure, web-based national secondary school student digital clearinghouse and engagement network. This network must encompass a validated registry of nationwide secondary school prospects spanning public, private, and home-school sectors.

· Objective Filtering Parameters: The platform must utilize data-driven filtering metrics to identify high-aspirant candidates based on objective academic indicators (GPA thresholds, standardized test ranges), athletic/physical backgrounds, and demonstrated leadership potential.

· Brand Integrity and Public Metrics Mandate: The contractor is solely responsible for ensuring that all public-facing profiles, admissions criteria, testing requirements, and institutional metrics published across its partner networks are 100% accurate, current, and fully synchronized with official Admissions directives. Any misrepresentation of institutional standards (including, but not limited to, marketing the institution as "test-optional" or operating on "rolling admissions") shall be grounds for an immediate formal Corrective Action Request (CAR).

2.2 Secondary School Leadership and Counselor Engagement

· Multi-Channel Communications: The contractor shall provide an automated, multi-channel communication infrastructure to facilitate systematic outreach to secondary school guidance counselors, athletic directors, and high school administrators nationwide.

· Eligibility Alignment: The system must employ an objective matching methodology capable of dynamically aligning student academic profiles with the specific, statutory eligibility criteria required for federal service academy admission and the congressional nomination process.

2.3 Integrated Interactive Experiences & Virtual Tours

· Virtual Experience Integration: The contractor shall fully develop and integrate the institution's existing virtual tour, social media campaigns, and all other interactive multimedia assets into its enrollment marketing campaigns.

· Interaction Analysis: The contractor shall conduct comprehensive analysis of user engagement metrics derived from virtual tour interactions to identify and retarget high-interest prospects.

· Active Calls-to-Action: The contractor shall deploy dynamic calls-to-action and conversational inquiry forms throughout all virtual experiences, print marketing materials, and social media placements to maximize lead capture.

2.4 Enrollment Migration Modeling & Analytics

· Market Migration Analysis: The contractor shall utilize an advanced, multi-variant Enrollment Migration Model to target new and underrepresented markets across the national landscape. This model must leverage public and proprietary demographic datasets to evaluate and report on regional college-going migration patterns specifically as they relate to service academy enrollment trends.

· Self-Service Analytics Portal: The contractor shall provide a customized analytics portal that enables Admissions personnel to conduct self-service data analysis and reporting at each stage of the enrollment funnel. The portal must house all data sets, historical campaign reports, and real-time behavioral analyses generated under this contract.

2.5 Operational Review & Content Currency Standard

· Bi-Annual Verification: The contractor must execute a mandatory, bi-annual content currency audit (every January and July). The contractor shall contractually certify that all digital media, landing pages, automated tracking scripts, and electronic correspondence utilize current institutional leadership names, active signatures, and verified organizational titles.

· Prohibition of Obsolete Material: Broadcasting any marketing, outreach, or tracking materials containing obsolete data or separated personnel assets is strictly prohibited.

SECTION 3.0: DATA SECURITY, ISOLATION, AND BILLING PROTOCOLS

3.1 Strict One-Way Inbound Pipeline (Zero Government Data Outflow)

· Absolute Database Isolation: To maintain strict compliance with federal Personally Identifiable Information (PII) regulations and Department of the Navy cybersecurity directives, the Government shall not share, upload, transmit, or expose any internal candidate records, student names, contact information, or database files to the contractor.

· External Ingestion Gate: The contractor’s software systems, clearinghouses, and communication portals shall remain completely isolated from the federal network infrastructure. The contractor is strictly prohibited from requiring or implementing any backend data bridges, application programming interfaces (APIs), or tracking pixels that require the outward transmission of data from internal Government servers.

· Data Delivery: All prospect records captured by the contractor's external networks shall be formatted into standard, secure comma-separated value (.csv) data blocks and transferred to the Government via a secure, one-way Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) server managed entirely by the Information Technology Systems Division (ITSD).

3.2 Mandatory Behind-the-Firewall Deduplication

· Internal Deduplication Check: Upon receipt of the contractor’s inbound lead file, the Admissions Office shall internally run an automated database check within the internal Admissions Information System (AIS) behind the federal firewall.

· The "Zero-Credit" Billing Rule: If an inbound lead submitted by the contractor matches a record that was already actively housed within the internal database prior to the start of that specific campaign phase (e.g., prospects already captured via organic web cards or Summer Seminar/Summer STEM registrations), that name shall be flagged as an "Organic Match." The contractor shall receive zero performance credit and zero financial reimbursement for any lead management, mailing, or digital outreach directed at a record the Government already organically owned.

SECTION 4.0: CONTRACT STRUCTURE AND AUDIT CONTROLS

4.2 Separation of Funding Lines

· CLIN 0001 (Core Strategy, Analytics, Virtual Tour and Platform Access (to include expanded digital platforms)): This line item represents the core licensing and platform management fees and shall be structured as a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) model.

· CLIN 0002 (Variable Outreach Costs - Media Buying, Print Media, and List Purchases): This line item covers variable outreach execution and shall be structured strictly as a Cost-Reimbursable, No-Fee (CRNF) model.

4.3 Mandatory Expenditure Auditing

· The contractor shall be reimbursed only for actual, verifiable out-of-pocket expenses incurred during marketing execution under CLIN 0002.

· Every monthly invoice submitted under this CLIN must be accompanied by certified third-party receipts, platform ad-spend logs, postage logs, and media-buy performance sheets.

· Any unspent funds within the allocated CLIN 0002 block at the end of the contract period shall remain entirely with the Government and shall not be pocketed by the contractor as windfall profit. Non-Appropriated funding paths (e.g., Candidate Guidance Funds) utilized for targeted summer program outreach remain subject to these exact deduplication and receipt verification audit controls.

SECTION 5.0: PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The anticipated period of performance shall be one (1) base year with 3 option years, exercisable at the Government’s discretion.

· Base Year: September 30, 2026 – September 29, 2027

· Option Year 1: September 30, 2027- September 29, 2028

· Option Year 2: September 30, 2028- September 29, 2029

· Option Year 3: September 30, 2029- September 29, 2030

Place of Performance:

Office of Admissions

U.S. Naval Academy 52 King George Street Annapolis, MD 21402