WOMEN-OWNED SMALL

BUSINESS (WOSB)

SOLICITATION/CONTRACT/ORDER FOR COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES

1. REQUISITION NUMBER PAGE 1 OF

2. CONTRACT NUMBER 3. AWARD/EFFECTIVE

DATE

4. ORDER NUMBER 5. SOLICITATION NUMBER 6. SOLICITATION ISSUE

DATE

7. FOR SOLICITATION

INFORMATION CALL:

a. NAME b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (No collect 8. OFFER DUE DATE/

LOCAL TIME

9. ISSUED BY

13b. RATING

14. METHOD OF SOLICITATION

CODE

15. DELIVER TO 16. ADMINISTERED BY CODE

18a. PAYMENT WILL BE MADE BY CODE17a. CONTRACTOR/

OFFEROR

CODE

FACILITY

CODE

CODE

TELEPHONE NUMBER

17b. CHECK IF REMITTANCE IS DIFFERENT AND PUT SUCH ADDRESS IN

OFFER

18b. SUBMIT INVOICES TO ADDRESS SHOWN IN BLOCK 18a UNLESS BLOCK

BELOW IS CHECKED

REQUEST

FOR QUOTE

(RFQ)

INVITATION

FOR BID

(IFB)

REQUEST

FOR

PROPOSAL

(RFP)

SEE ADDENDUM

19.

ITEM NUMBER

20.

SCHEDULE OF SUPPLIES/SERVICES

21.

QUANTITY

22.

UNIT

23.

UNIT PRICE

24.

AMOUNT

(Use Reverse and/or Attach Additional Sheets as Necessary)

25. ACCOUNTING AND APPROPRIATION DATA 26. TOTAL AWARD AMOUNT (For Government Use Only)

28. CONTRACTOR IS REQUIRED TO SIGN THIS DOCUMENT AND RETURN

COPIES TO ISSUING OFFICE. CONTRACTOR AGREES TO FURNISH

AND DELIVER ALL ITEMS SET FORTH OR OTHERWISE IDENTIFIED ABOVE AND

ON ANY ADDITIONAL SHEETS SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

SPECIFIED

29. AWARD OF CONTRACT: REFERENCE OFFER

DATED . . YOUR OFFER ON SOLICITATION

(BLOCK 5), INCLUDING ANY ADDITIONS OR CHANGES WHICH ARE

SET FORTH HEREIN, IS ACCEPTED AS TO ITEMS:

30a. SIGNATURE OF OFFEROR/CONTRACTOR

30b. NAME AND TITLE OF SIGNER (Type or print) 30c. DATE SIGNED

31a. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (SIGNATURE OF CONTRACTING OFFICER)

31b. NAME OF CONTRACTING OFFICER (Type or print) 31c. DATE SIGNED

AUTHORIZED FOR LOCAL REPRODUCTION

PREVIOUS EDITION IS NOT USABLE

STANDARD FORM 1449 (REV. 11/2021)

Prescribed by GSA - FAR (48 CFR) 53.212

10. THIS ACQUISITION IS UNRESTRICTED OR

NORTH AMERICAN

INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION

STANDARD (NAICS):

SIZE STANDARD:

13a. THIS CONTRACT IS A

RATED ORDER UNDER

THE DEFENSE PRIORITIES

AND ALLOCATIONS

SYSTEM - DPAS (15 CFR 700)

SET ASIDE: % FOR:

11. DELIVERY FOR FREE ON

BOARD (FOB) DESTINATION

UNLESS BLOCK IS MARKED

SEE SCHEDULE

12. DISCOUNT TERMS

ARE ARE NOT ATTACHED

ARE ARE NOT ATTACHED

27a. SOLICITATION INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE (FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION) FAR 52.212-1, 52.212-4. FAR 52.212-3

AND 52.212-5 ARE ATTACHED. ADDENDA

27b. CONTRACT/PURCHASE ORDER INCORPORATES BY REFERENCE FAR 52.212-4. FAR 52.212-5 IS ATTACHED. ADDENDA

8(A)

ECONOMICALLY

DISADVANTAGED

WOMEN-OWNED SMALL

BUSINESS (EDWOSB)

SERVICE-DISABLED

VETERAN-OWNED

SMALL BUSINESS

(SDVOSB)

HUBZONE SMALL

BUSINESS

SMALL BUSINESS

NOTE: OFFEROR TO COMPLETE BLOCKS 12, 17, 23, 24, AND 30.

calls)

Solicitation/Contract Form Continuation

News Monitoring ServicesInstrument Name:

Product Service Code : R612

W91QEX26QA011

Continuation of Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs

Additional Information/Notes

Item Supplies/Service Quantity Unit Unit Price

Amount

0001 News Monitoring Service Product Service Code: R699 Pricing Arrangement: Firm Fixed Price

1 Years

1001 News Monitoring Service Product Service Code: R699 Pricing Arrangement: Firm Fixed Price

1 Years

2001 News Monitoring Service Product Service Code: R699 Pricing Arrangement: Firm Fixed Price

1 Years

3001 News Monitoring Service Product Service Code: R699 Pricing Arrangement: Firm Fixed Price

1 Years

4001 News Monitoring Service Product Service Code: R699 Pricing Arrangement: Firm Fixed Price

1 Years

Continuation of Description

Requirements News Monitoring Services

Continuation of Inspection and Acceptance

Overall Contract Inspection/Acceptance Locations

0001 Inspection and Acceptance Location

Both Destination Instructions: See PWS for performance, shipment and delivery criteria.

DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST

DORAL, FL 33172-5000

UNITED STATES

Richard A. Crusan

1001 Inspection and Acceptance Location

Both Destination Instructions: See PWS for performance, shipment and delivery criteria.

DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST

DORAL, FL 33172-5000

UNITED STATES

Richard A. Crusan

2001 Inspection and Acceptance Location

Both Destination Instructions: See PWS for performance, shipment and delivery criteria.

DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST

DORAL, FL 33172-5000

UNITED STATES

Richard A. Crusan

3001 Inspection and Acceptance Location

Both Destination Instructions: See PWS for performance, shipment and delivery criteria.

DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST

DORAL, FL 33172-5000

UNITED STATES

Richard A. Crusan

4001 Inspection and Acceptance Location

Both Destination Instructions: See PWS for performance, shipment and delivery criteria.

DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST

DORAL, FL 33172-5000

UNITED STATES

Richard A. Crusan

Continuation of Deliveries or Performance

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

News Monitoring Services - AI-Enhanced Platform

May 15, 2026

PART 1

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. GENERAL: This is a non-personal services contract under which the personnel rendering the services are not subject, either by the contract's terms or by the manner of its administration, to the supervision and control usually prevailing in relationships between the Government and its employees. The United States (U.S.) Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the Contractor's employees performing the tasks herein. Such contract employees shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn shall be responsible to the U.S. Government.

1.1 Description of Services/Introduction: The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform News Monitoring Services and AI-Enhanced Platform web-based interface as defined in this PWS except for those items specified as government furnished property (GFP) and government furnished services (GFS). The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

1.2 Background: The United States Southern Command Public Affairs requires continuous and comprehensive media monitoring to assess news coverage, document trends, and analyze the tone and context of messages relative to operational and strategic issues. The AI enhancements integrated into the platform will simplify complex multi-step analyses and deliver immediate, actionable insights by collapsing manual Boolean searches and dashboard navigation into an intuitive, chat-based interface. The system's advanced natural language processing will support translation, sentiment analysis, and real-time visualization of media trends, thereby increasing situational awareness and responsiveness in the Information Environment.

1.3 Objectives: The purpose of this contract is to: (a) provide a fully integrated web-based platform that aggregates news and social media content from global sources. (b) enhance data analysis capabilities through AI to deliver sentiment, trend, and statistical analyses in near real time. (c) Eliminate manual search limitations by automatically surfacing insights and recommended actions;

and (d) ensure 24/7 availability to meet the evolving needs of USSOUTHCOM Public Affairs and its component commands.

1.4 Scope: Contractor shall provide non-personal services for news monitoring services using an AI-enhanced web-based interface to include providing at least fifteen (15) personalized user logins, a robust statistical analytics suite, instant translation for articles (e.g., English to Spanish and vice versa), and customizable dashboard reporting. Services shall include a dedicated help desk with a proven record of a response time within thirty (30) minutes to address technical issues and user requests.

1.5 Period of Performance: The period of performance shall be for one (1) Base Year of 12 months and four (4) 12-month option years.

1.6 General Information:

1.6.1 Quality Control Plan (QCP): The Contractor shall develop, implement, and maintain a QCP and program to ensure all work described in this contract is performed at or above the standard defined in the Performance Requirements Summary (PRS). The QCP is developed by the contractor for its internal use to ensure that it performs and delivers high-quality service. The contractor's QCP is the means by which the contractor ensures all work complies with the requirements of the contract. The QCP identifies and corrects potential and actual problem areas throughout the entire scope of the contract.

1.6.1.1The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The QCP shall be submitted within thirty (30) days of contract award. After acceptance of the QCP, the contractor shall receive the contracting officer's (KO) acceptance in writing of proposed changes to the QC procedures. The contractor shall submit QCP changes within ten (10) days to the KO and Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) for review and approval prior to implementation.

1.6.1.2 The Quality Control Plan shall address as a minimum:

1.6.1.2.1 Inspection Program. Included shall be a quality control inspection program covering all general and specific tasks included in the contract scope of work. It shall specify tasks or areas to be inspected on a scheduled or unscheduled basis, the manner in which inspections are to be conducted, the titles of the individuals who will perform the inspections, and the percentage of the work that will be inspected on a recurring basis. In developing this inspection program, the Contractor shall identify the key activities and associated characteristics in each process that have a significant influence on specific services and provide for methods for evaluation of the selected characteristics.

1.6.1.2.2 Deficiency Identification. The QCP shall include a method of identifying deficiencies in the quality of services performed before the level of performance becomes unacceptable as defined in the PRS. This shall contain processes for corrective action without dependence upon Government direction.

1.6.1.2.3 Deficiency Correction. The program shall contain process control and process performance measurement procedures that shall include how the Contractor shall implement preventive corrective actions. The Contractor shall demonstrate that it has designed quality into the delivery of services thereby mitigating the risk(s) associated with delivery of deficient or nonconforming services.

1.6.1.2.4 Documentation and Enforcement. The QCP shall include a method of documenting and enforcing quality control operations of both prime contractor and subcontractor work; including inspection and testing.

1.6.1.2.5 Trend Analysis. The QCP shall include a method of performing trend analysis and assessments through the use of metrics.

1.6.1.2.6 Surveillance Methods. The QCP shall contain specific surveillance techniques for all contract services. The surveillance methods shall be comprehensive and adaptable to the reporting system of the plan.

1.6.2 Operations Security (OPSEC) SOP/Plan Requirements: The Contractor shall implement and maintain an OPSEC program for preventing the disclosure of critical information or sensitive information which could jeopardize the Government's ability to execute its mission or to adequately protect its personnel and/or equipment. The Contractor shall develop an OPSEC Standing Operating Procedure (SOP)/plan within thirty (30) calendar days of contract award to the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) or Contracting Officer (KO) to be reviewed and approved by the Government OPSEC Officer on the supporting installation. The SOP must contain a training plan that includes an initial OPSEC brief, continuous awareness, and annual OPSEC training. Awareness/training includes, but not limited to information disclosure via letters, conversations, photographs, resumes, electronic mail (e-mail), social media/networking sites, dissemination of information and documents disposal. OPSEC Program shall fully comply with the provisions of DoDI 5205.02.

1.6.3 Quality Assurance (QA): The government shall evaluate the contractor's performance under this contract in accordance with (IAW) the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan. This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the contractor has performed IAW the performance standards and contract quality requirements are met. Contract quality requirements" means the technical requirements in the contract relating to the quality of the product or service and those contract clauses prescribing inspection, and other quality controls incumbent on the contractor, to ensure the product or service conforms to the contractual requirements. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, the performance threshold, and deductions, if applicable.

1.6.4 Recognized Holidays: The contractor is required to perform services on holidays if the need arises:

New Year's Day Labor Day

Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday Columbus Day

President's Day Veteran's Day

Memorial Day Thanksgiving Day

Independence Day Christmas Day

Juneteenth Day

1.6.5 Hours of Operation: The media monitoring web-based interface must be available year-round 24- hours a day. The contractor is responsible for conducting business between the hours of 08:00 and 17:00, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The Contractor must, at all times, maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons.

1.6.6 Place of Performance: The work to be performed under this contract will be performed remotely.

1.6.7 Type of Contract: The Government anticipates the award of a firm fixed price type contract.

1.6.8 Access and General Protection Policy and Procedures: Not Applicable

1.6.9 Post Award Conference/Contract Periodic Progress Meetings: The contractor shall attend the post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office IAW Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 42.5. The KO, COR, with other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the Contractor to review the Contractor's performance. At these meetings the KO will apprise the contractor of how the government views the Contractor's performance and the Contractor will apprise the Government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues. These meetings shall be at no additional cost to the government.

1.6.10 Contracting Officer Representative (COR): The COR will be identified by separate letter.

The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration. The COR is authorized to perform the following functions: ensure the Contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract; perform inspections necessary in connection with contract performance; maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract; issue written interpretations of technical requirements, including Government drawings, designs, specifications; monitor Contractor's performance and notifies both the KO and Contractor of any deficiencies; coordinate availability of government furnished property; and provide site entry of Contractor personnel. A letter of designation issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, states the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially with regard to changes in cost or price, estimates, or changes in delivery dates. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting order.

1.6.11 Key Personnel: Not Applicable

1.6.12 Special Qualifications or Certifications: Not Applicable

1.6.13 Identification of Contractor Employees: Not Applicable

1.6.14 Contractor Travel: Not Applicable

1.6.15 Other Direct Costs (ODC): Not Applicable

1.6.16 Data Rights: The Government has unlimited rights to all documents/material produced under this contract. All documents and materials, to include the source codes of any software, produced under this contract shall be Government owned and are the property of the Government with all rights and privileges of ownership/copyright belonging exclusively to the Government.

These documents and materials may not be used or sold by the Contractor without written permission from the Contracting Officer. All materials supplied to the Government shall be the sole property of the Government and may not be used for any other purpose. This right does not abrogate any other Government rights.

1.6.17. Non-Disclosure Requirements: Performance under this contract may require the Contractor to access data and information proprietary to a government agency, another Government Contractor, or of such nature that its dissemination or use other than as specified in this work statement would be adverse to the interests of the Government or others. Neither the Contractor, nor Contractor personnel, shall divulge, nor release data or information developed, or obtained under performance of this work statement, except to authorize Government personnel or upon written approval of the KO. The Contractor shall not use, disclose, or reproduce proprietary data, which bears a restrictive legend, other than as specified in this PWS. All documentation showing individual names or other personal information shall apply, and shall be controlled and protected under the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, Public Law 93-579, 5 United States Code (U.S.C.)

Section 552a.

1.6.17.1 Non-Disclosure Statements: The Contractor shall provide signed non-disclosure agreements to the Government prior to commencement of work under the contract. Disclosure of information by Contractor personnel may result in Contractor personnel removal from performance of duties under this contract.

1.6.17.2 Advertisement and social media: The Contractor shall NOT post information to public website or social media locations, personal or professional, that in any way disclose names, locations, hotel data, participants, discussions, pictures, etc. before, during or after the contract period of performance without the express consent of the Government. The use of propaganda violates DOD Commercial Use of Imagery Guidelines stated at (www.dimoc.mil/resourcess /limitations/). The Contractor shall not cite any information (e.g., contract information, pictures, locations, etc.) obtained through this contract on any marketing tools to include its company website, tv/radio broadcasts, online forums and social media including content posted to accounts of family, friends or associates

1.6.17.3 INFORMATION ASSURANCE: At no time will the Contractor or associated sub-contractor employees transmit government documents or information over using methods that do not meet the security requirements specified in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication

(SP) 800-171, "Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Information Systems and Organizations" such as personal electronic mail accounts, public digital data storage sites (cloud storage), social media platforms or instant messaging. Approved government sites such as DoD Secure Access File Exchange (DoD SAFE) at https://safe.apps.mil, or All Partners Access Network (APAN) at https://community.apan.org/, or other transmission means determined by the Government must be used.

1.6.18 Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Contractor and subcontractor personnel performing work under this contract may receive, have access to, or participate in the development of proprietary or source selection information (e.g., cost or pricing information, budget information or analyses, specifications or work statements, etc.) or perform evaluation services which may create a current or subsequent Organizational Conflict of Interests (OCI) as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5.

The Contractor shall notify the KO immediately whenever it becomes aware that such access or participation may result in any actual or potential OCI and shall promptly submit a plan to the KO to avoid or mitigate any such OCI. The Contractor's mitigation plan will be determined to be acceptable solely at the discretion of the KO and in the event the KO unilaterally determines that any such OCI cannot be satisfactorily avoided or mitigated, the KO may affect other remedies as he or she deems necessary, including prohibiting the Contractor from participation in subsequent contracted requirements which may be affected by the OCI.

1.6.19 Phase-in/Phase-Out (PIPO) Period: Not Applicable

1.6.20 General Training Requirements:

1.6.21 Overseas Training Requirements: Not Applicable

1.6.22 Foreign (OCONUS) Requirements: Not Applicable

1.6.23 Synchronized Pre-deployment and Operational Tracker (SPOT): Not Applicable

1.6.24 Safety: Not Applicable

1.6.25 Environmental Compliance: Not Applicable

PART 2

DEFINITIONS & ACRONYMS

2. DEFINITIONS AND ACRONYMS:

2.1. Definitions:

2.1.1. Area of Responsibility. The U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR) includes the geographic areas of Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mayotte, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

2.1.2. AI-Enhanced Platform. Refers to the web-based service augmented with machine learning, natural language processing, and advanced analytics capabilities that automate the synthesis of data for immediate decision support.

2.1.3. Sentiment Analysis. Is an AI-driven procedure to gauge the tone and polarity (i.e., positive, negative, neutral) of news content and social media posts.

2.1.4. Boolean Search. Is a method to filter search results using logical operators; however, the AI tools will dramatically reduce the need for such manual processes.

2.1.5. Contractor. The total contractor organization or a separate entity of it; such as an affiliate, division, or plant that performs its own purchasing.

2.1.6. Contracting officer (KO). A person with the authority to enter into, administer, and/or terminate contracts and make related determinations and findings.

2.1.7. Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). An individual designated and authorized in writing by the contracting officer to perform specific technical or administrative functions.

2.1.8. Defective Service. A service output that does not meet the standard of performance associated with the Performance Work Statement.

2.1.9. Deliverable. Anything that can be physically delivered but may include non-manufactured things such as meeting minutes or reports.

2.1.10. Foreign National. A foreign national is not a U.S. citizen. Green card holders are also identified as foreign nationals. A foreign national is further categorized as either a third country national or a local national based on the person's citizenship and location of performance of duty.

2.1.11. Key Personnel. Contractor personnel that are evaluated in a source selection process and that may be required to be used in the performance of a contract by the Key Personnel listed in the PWS. When key personnel are used as an evaluation factor in best value procurement, an offer can be rejected if it does not have a firm commitment from the people that are listed in the proposal.

2.1.12. Local National. Local nationals are foreign nationals who are citizens of the country where the performance of duty will occur.

2.1.13. Performance Work Statement (PWS). A statement of work for performance-based acquisitions that describes the required results in clear, specific, and objective terms with measurable outcomes.

2.1.14. Physical Security. Protection of the perimeter area, government property, and assets that prevent the loss or damage of Government property.

2.1.15. Quality Assurance. The various functions, including inspection, performed by the government to determine whether a Contractor has fulfilled the contract obligations pertaining to quality and quantity.

2.1.16. Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). A plan describing how the agency will survey, observe, test, sample, evaluate and document the Contractor's performance in meeting critical performance standards identified in the contract.

2.1.17. Quality Control (QC). Tasks performed by the Contractor to improve the quality of the organization's output.

2.1.18. Shall. An imperative command: has a duty to or is required to. Denotes that a regulation must be followed unless the contracting officer has obtained a deviation.

2.1.19. Subcontractor. Any supplier, distributor, vendor, or firm that furnishes supplies or services to or for a prime contractor or another subcontractor.

2.1.20. Workday. The number of hours per day the Contractor provides services in accordance with the contract.

2.1.21. Work Week. Monday through Friday, unless specified otherwise.

2.1.22. Nielsen Rating System. Nielsen's comprehensive and innovative online measurement methodologies analyze consumer behavior and trends, advertising effectiveness, brand advocacy, social media buzz and more to provide a 360-degree view of how consumers engage with online media.

2.2 Acronyms:

AFFSSIR Armed Forces Repository of Specimen Samples

ALMS Army Learning Management System

ANSI American National Standards Institute

AOR Area of Responsibility

AR Army Regulation

ATCTS Army Training Certification Tracking System

AT Anti-Terrorism

CAC Common Access Card

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

CI Counterintelligence

CLIN Contract Line-Item Number

CONUS Continental United States (excludes Alaska and Hawaii)

COR Contracting Officer Representative

DD Form 254 Department of Defense Contract Security Requirement List

DNA Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA)

DOD Department of Defense

DODD Department of Defense Directive

DODI Department of Defense Instruction

FAR Federal Acquisition Regulation

FHP Force Health Protection

FCG Foreign Clearance Guide

FN Foreign National

FY Fiscal Year

GFE Government Furnished Equipment

GFP Government Furnished Property

GFS Government Furnished Services

IA Information Assurance

IAW In Accordance With

IT Information Technology

JPAS Joint Personnel Adjudication System

JTR Joint Travel Regulation

KO Contracting Officer

LN Local National

LOA Letter of Authorization

NCIC-III National Crime Information Center Interstate Identification Index

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

ODC Other Direct Costs

OCI Organizational Conflict of Interest

OCONUS Outside Continental United States (includes Alaska and Hawaii)

ODC Other Direct Costs

OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration

OPSEC Operation Security

PIPO Phase In/Phase Out

PRS Performance Requirements Summary

PWS Performance Work Statement

QA Quality Assurance

QASP Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan

QCP Quality Control Program

RA Requiring Activity

SCR Service Contract Reporting

SOP Standard Operating Procedures

SPOT Synchronized Pre-deployment and Operational Tracker

TCN Third Country National

TE Technical Exhibit

TSDB Terrorist Screening Data Base

U.S.C. United States Code

USSOUTHCOM United States Southern Command

PART 3

Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), Government Furnished Property (GFP), and Government Furnished Services (GFS)

THIS SECTION INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

PART 4

CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES

THIS SECTION INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

PART 5

SPECIFIC TASKS

5. Specific Tasks: Contractor shall provide non-personal services for news monitoring services using an AI-enhanced web-based interface. Tasks consist of the following:

5.1. Basic Services. The contractor shall provide continuous news monitoring and social media via a cloud-based web and synchronized mobile app interface with 24/7 availability. Provision of twenty (20) personalized user login accounts must be established and activated within three (3) days after contract award. The Contractor shall provide web-based and downloadable user instructions covering all available tools, products, and services essential to exclusively monitor, track, review, assess, and report publicly accessible news and social media content, along with 24-hour customer support and technical assistance to troubleshoot and resolve unexpected issues.

5.2. Data Capture & AI-Enhanced Analytics. The system shall capture news and social media content from over 150,000 global sources across multiple languages with 24/7 coverage and provide access to keyword, Boolean, and AI-assisted search tools and sub-search tools that auto generate insights based on news content results, allowing users to further tailor those results based on display and sorting options that include location, source type, audience engagement, audience activity, reach, viewership, language, and algorithmically-assessed tone. Search and data functions must include the ability to save user-defined sets of authors and incorporate the author lists into searches and reporting. Search results should also auto-feed and auto-display viewable and exportable data visualized in algorithmically selected charts, graphs, clouds, and maps. All initial, sub, and visual results shall be exportable as spreadsheets with columns for all data sets aggregated by the search and, when applicable, image and/or portable document formats. The search interface shall allow for unlimited static searches that can be further organized and isolated with assigned labels. The search interface should also allow for user defined categories that can be created, edited, selected and deselected to further refine or compare search results. Users must be able to select individual searches for comparison, save user-defined comparisons for continued viewing and use, and access autogenerated and exportable visual products that display the results and data associated with one-off, ephemeral, and saved comparisons. Social media search must be capable of breaking down results by geographic location, including user-defined geo-fenced locations.

5.2.1 Actionable AI Insights and Accuracy Benchmarks. The platform shall incorporate AI to allow users to prompt search-based insights, including summaries, observations, and metrics based on the aggregated search content identified and information requested. These AI-generated insights must be exportable and maintain a minimum of 85% accuracy when evaluated against a human-scored test set. A history of AI prompts and results must be retained for a period no shorter than 30 days to allow for user reference or reuse.

5.2.2 The AI module shall be configurable by the user to adjust sensitivity settings for sentiment /tonality and trend detection.

5.3 Web-Based Customer Interface. The Contractor shall provide secure, password-protected access to the web portal for USSOUTHCOM Public Affairs. The interface shall allow for advanced filtering, ad hoc searches (including but not limited to historical data back to 2006 for certain content types), and the ability to download/export articles and analytical reports in common formats (e.g., Excel, PDF, image files).

5.4 Dashboard Layout and Performance Standards. The contractor's web-based interface shall feature a dashboard creation, viewing, editing, and sharing section that allows users to select from templates that support both traditional media and social media content monitoring, as well as create custom dashboards by selecting the inputs (searches), metrics (results display widgets), and layout options needed to support media assessment and analysis tasks and goals. . At a minimum, dashboard element options available to users must include a range of news audience, source, author, tone, location, and focus options that support reporting on observed developments, trends, and outcomes in the media environment. All dashboards shall be sharable and exportable in formats that mirror, to the greatest extent possible, the dashboard in the web-based tool. User must be able to edit the date range of content that feeds that dashboard data displayed with preset options ranging from the present date to the current year and the ability to custom select a desired (to and from) date and time range To ensure data currency, the system shall maintain a maximum Data Ingestion Latency of five (5) minutes for all external content and social media posts, and all dashboard metrics must automatically refresh every sixty (60) seconds.

5.5 Email Notifications, Alerts, and Distribution: The contractor's web-based platform shall provide robust automated email capabilities, allowing the Government to establish alerts for specific watch terms with customizable delivery frequencies tailored to individual user categories. To ensure proactive monitoring and rapid dissemination of key updates, the interface must enable users to email individual search results--including links to articles, video clips, and audio transcript excerpts--to an unlimited number of email addresses. Furthermore, the system shall impose no limits on the volume of email notifications sent, the number of article links saved, or the views of video clips accessed through the notification system, guaranteeing designated personnel unrestricted and customized access to critical information.

5.6 Downloads: The contractor's web-based interface shall allow the Government to download unlimited numbers of exportable products (spreadsheets, reports, charts). Exportable products selected for download shall remain available to download from the contractor's web-based interface for as long.

5.7 Newsletters: The contractor's web-based interface shall include a newsletter section that allows users to create, edit, and schedule the delivery of autogenerated newsletters populated with media content drawn from existing search results over pre-determined and cycled delivery times.

Users should have the option to select templates or custom design the newsletter using integrated design options. Users must be able to pause newsletter deliveries without the need to delete them or convert scheduled deliveries to manual deliveries to allow newsletters to be sent only when situationally needed or required.

5.8. Marking or tagging for review: The contractor's web-based interface shall include a section that allows users to add marked or tagged search results for detailed analysis and reporting of sampled content. This section must allow users to individually name the marks or tags in which content selected for sampling will be isolated for quick access and analysis without the need to sort through higher volumes of media content in original searches. Named marks or tags should be available as inputs that feed dashboards and newsletters to allow for sampled reporting on an as needed or scheduled basis.

5.9 Social Media. Capable of searches (APIs and Firehose Feeds, etc.) of all publicly accessible blogs, forums, message boards, wikis, video sites, comment sections, and social networks worldwide. Provides ability to aggregate and automate results of relevant social conversations by topic. Search Engine capable to analyze conversations/results and provide insight into the underlying themes, trends, sentiment, influencers, conversation volume and demographics that are happening in conversations across social networks today--and over time. Capable of creating detailed reports that break down results by channel (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.), measure volume, capable of comparative analysis, track organic output. Additionally, users can create unlimited customized graphics and analytical reports on data that can be exported to a PDF and Microsoft Excel. Capable of storing and incorporating user-defined lists of social media authors /accounts/usernames.

5.10 Social Media Trend and Impact Analysis Module. The contractor shall provide a passive social media monitoring tool designed to analyze aggregate public sentiment, trending narratives, and broad conversation themes across the social web. The analytic tool shall provide measurement metrics on the reach, spread, and public reception of topics relevant to the Government, as well as the performance of official Government public affairs broadcasts. All data collected and analyzed must be anonymized and aggregated at the macro level, subject to periodic data-integrity audits by the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) to verify the absolute absence of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The system shall strictly prohibit the profiling of specific individuals and shall not include capabilities to direct-message, autoreply, or otherwise facilitate direct contact with individual social media users, ensuring strict adherence to standard unclassified Public Affairs passive monitoring constraints.

5.11 Customer Support. The contractor shall provide a customer support point of contact (POC) to the Government to assist with technical, service, training and account issues with web-based system. The contractor's point of contact information shall include: name, title, telephone, email address and business address. Government's requests for assistance shall be addressed by the contractor's point of contact within 48 hours of receipt, unless holidays or extenuating circumstances preclude it, in which case requests shall be addressed at the earliest opportunity.

5.12 Software's Functional Capabilities Source Selection. The contractor shall provide a comprehensive media intelligence platform that enables users to narrow search results to specific news sources, blogs, and social media, with geographic filtering ranging from worldwide to specific countries. This platform must allow users to tailor displayed results by opening text, hit sentences, archive hits, and source information, ensuring that every identified result includes mandatory metadata such as source name, geographic location (country and region), category, and language.

To support audience penetration assessment, the vendor must provide detailed readership metrics for every source, including percentile, rank, unique visitors, page views, active reach, sessions per visitor, and time per visit. Furthermore, each result must be equipped with integrated "Quick Tools" to facilitate immediate action, including options to create or add to archives, email articles, translate content, hide results, and share articles directly to Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). All outbound social sharing functions must fully comply with current DoD network security and firewall restrictions to prevent unauthorized data exfiltration.

5.13 Exportable Results and Analytics. Search results displayed on screen must be exportable to Microsoft Excel. The results and associated data should, at a minimum, auto-populate into the following preformatted categories: circulation, unique visitors, potential viewership, date, headline, opening text, hit sentence, keywords, URLs, rating, and number of articles. The results of each user-generated search must include a standing dashboard that displays trends in press coverage maintaining a data refresh and ingestion latency not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes from original source publication. The dashboard must display all the following: the number of articles, top publications and their geographic/viewership data, trending words and cumulative sentiment, and the ability to view the density of coverage either globally or by specific region.

5.14 Data Visualization and Reporting. The contractor shall provide comprehensive data visualization and export suite with integrated tools that produce customizable charts and report press-coverage data. The system must enable users to export dashboard metrics--including article volume, top publications with associated geographic/viewership data, trending keywords, cumulative sentiment, and global or regional coverage density. Users must be able to specify customizable date ranges via specific "From" and "To" inputs or preset periods (current/previous month, quarter, year, and 3-6-12 month intervals) formatted in standard mm/dd-mm/dd intervals by day, week, or month-year. Furthermore, to facilitate the rapid identification and analysis of variances in press coverage, the system must feature flexible graphic customizations. This includes various chart types (line, column, area, pie) and display sizes (small, medium, large), with the capability to split and adjust data by geographic location, regional settings, language, sentiment, or readership, displaying results as either raw article counts or proportional percentages relative to the selected timeframe.

5.14.1 The contractor shall provide the available options to add or remove data related to media audiences or press coverage sentiment, for example: Hide unrated articles. Hide articles with unknown readership; Show potential viewership of sources. Same Source allows users to count articles that have been published multiple times as single stories.

5.14.2. The contractor shall provide export format options: Excel with graph, JPG, PNG and PDF.

5.15. News Element Search Results. The contractor shall provide a search results interface that explicitly distinguishes between the headline, lead sentence, and hit sentence for each result, enabling Public Affairs personnel to determine the journalistic importance and news value of specific keywords, terms, and topics by assessing the location of search terms relative to the article's lead sentence to support informed decision-making within press room operations.

5.16. Service Contract Reporting (SCR): Not Applicable.

PART 6

APPLICABLE PUBLICATIONS

6. APPLICABLE PUBLICATIONS (CURRENT EDITIONS)

6.1. The Contractor must abide by all applicable regulations, publications, manuals, and local policies and procedures.

6.1.1 Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS)

6.1.2 Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

6.1.3 DoD Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide (CC SRG)

PART 7 ATTACHMENT/TECHNICAL EXHIBIT LISTING

7. Attachment/Technical Exhibit List:

7.1 Attachments:

7.1.1 Attachment 1 - Performance Requirements Summary

7.1.2 Attachment 2 - Deliverables Schedule

ATTACHMENT 1

Performance Requirements Summary

The contractor service requirements are summarized into performance objectives that relate directly to mission essential items. The standard should relate to timeliness, quality, or quantity (metrics) of service required by the Contractor is stated in the PWS verbiage. The performance threshold briefly describes the minimum acceptable levels of service required for each requirement. These thresholds are critical to mission success.

Performance Objective

Standard Performance Threshold (This is the maximum error rate. It could possibly be "Zero deviation from standard") Acceptable Quality Levels (AQL's)

Method of Surveillance

PRS#1 - PWS para 5.1

The contractor shall provide continuous

The platform is accessible 24/7;

twenty (20) functional user accounts are

100% compliance for account

100% Inspection of initial setup and news monitoring and social media via a cloud-based web and synchronized mobile app interface with 24 /7 availability.

Provision of twenty

(20) personalized user login accounts must be established and activated within three

(3) days after contract award.

The Contractor shall provide web-based and downloadable user instructions covering all available tools, products, and services essential to exclusively monitor, track, review, assess, and report publicly accessible news and social media content, along with 24-hour customer support and technical assistance to troubleshoot and resolve unexpected issues.

established within three (3) days post-award; and current downloadable user instructions are available within the interface.

activation and documentation availability; 99% system uptime per month.

Periodic Inspection of system availability logs.

PRS#2 - PWS para 5.2.1

The platform shall incorporate AI to allow users to prompt for search-based automatically extract, refine, and present actionable insights--including summaries, observations, and

The platform's AI must utilize natural language processing to correctly extract actionable insights, identify trending themes, and categorize article sentiment from aggregated search

Minimum 85% contextual accuracy based on monthly random human-scored auditing.

Periodic random sampling of AI-processed content.

metrics based on the aggregated search content identified and information requested sentiment analysis, trending themes, and key statistical metrics--from the aggregated data. These AI-generated insights must be exportable and maintain a minimum of 85% accuracy when evaluated against a human-scored test set. A history of AI prompts and results must be retained for a period no shorter than 30 days to allow for user reference or reuse.

data. To meet the required performance threshold, these AI-generated outputs must maintain a minimum of 85% contextual accuracy.

AI must correctly extract insights, identify trending themes, and categorize article polarity (sentiment) based on natural language processing.

PRS#3 - PWS para 5.5

The contractor shall provide a dedicated help desk that shall be available to the Government to provide support for technical issues, training, and user assistance. Support requests must be acknowledged and responded to within thirty (30) minutes during standard business hours.

Technical support acknowledges tickets within 30 minutes during standard business hours

95% of technical support requests acknowledged within 30 minutes.

Monthly Random Sampling of Helpdesk Ticket Logs

PRS#4 - PWS para 5.11

The contractor shall provide a passive social media monitoring tool designed to analyze aggregate public sentiment, trending narratives, and broad conversation themes across the social web.

The analytic tool shall provide measurement metrics on the reach, spread, and public reception of topics relevant to the Government, as well as the performance of official Government public affairs broadcasts. All data collected and analyzed must be anonymized and aggregated at the macro level, subject to periodic data-integrity audits by the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) to verify the absolute absence of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). The system shall strictly prohibit the profiling of specific individuals and shall not include capabilities to direct-

All data must be anonymized /aggregated; zero instances of individual profiling or active engagement (DMs, auto-replies).

Zero (0) instances of PII collection or unauthorized engagement functionality.

COR Data- Integrity Audits (Quarterly or Periodic) and system feature verification.

message, auto-reply, or otherwise facilitate direct contact with individual social media users, ensuring strict adherence to standard unclassified Public Affairs passive monitoring constraints.

PRS#5 - PWS para 5.12

The contractor shall provide a customer support point of contact (POC) to the Government to assist with technical, service, training and account issues with web-based system. The contractor's point of contact information shall include: name, title, telephone, email address and business address.

Government's requests for assistance shall be addressed by the contractor's point of contact within 48 hours of receipt, unless holidays or extenuating circumstances preclude it, in which case requests shall be addressed at the earliest opportunity.

Contractor must address Government requests for technical assistance, training, or account issues within the mandated timeframe.

95% response rate within 48 hours of receipt (excluding holidays or approved extenuating circumstances).

Monthly review of help desk tickets and support logs.

ATTACHMENT 2

Deliverables Schedule

Deliverable Frequency # of Copies Medium/Format Submit To

Basic Services

[PWS para. 5.1]

Within twenty-four (24) hours after contract award.

Fifteen (15) personalized user login accounts.

Electronic (via email)

COR

User Instructions and Operational Documentation [PWS para. 5.1]

Initially available within twenty-four (24) hours after contract award; updated continuously as system changes occur.

One (1) master digital copy accessible to all authorized users.

Electronic (Downloadable PDF or integrated HTML on the platform)

COR

*** END OF NARRATIVE ***

0001 Delivery Schedule Delivery After Delivery Date 12 Jun 2026

1 YearsQuantity

Address and POC Service Performance Site DoDAAC: W91LMH

CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST DORAL, FL 33172-5000 UNITED

STATES

Period of Performance From 12 Jun 2026 To 11 Jun 2027

1001 Delivery Schedule Delivery After Delivery Date 12 Jun 2027

1 YearsQuantity

Address and POC Service Performance Site DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST DORAL, FL 33172-5000 UNITED

STATES

Period of Performance From 12 Jun 2027 To 11 Jun 2028

2001 Delivery Schedule Delivery After Delivery Date 12 Jun 2028

1 YearsQuantity

Address and POC Service Performance Site DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST DORAL, FL 33172-5000 UNITED

STATES

Period of Performance From 12 Jun 2028 To 11 Jun 2029

3001 Delivery Schedule Delivery After Delivery Date 12 Jun 2029

1 YearsQuantity

Address and POC Service Performance Site DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST DORAL, FL 33172-5000 UNITED

STATES

Period of Performance From 12 Jun 2029 To 11 Jun 2030

4001 Delivery Schedule Delivery After

Delivery Date 12 Jun 2030 1 YearsQuantity

Address and POC Service Performance Site DoDAAC: W91LMH CountryCode: USA

W096 USA ELM HQ USSOUTHCOM

USSOUTHCOM SCSHQ, 9301 NW 33RD ST…