Sources Sought Notice_Media Database.docx

NIST Document Type: Sources Sought Notice Procurement Identifier: NIST-AMD-F-PAO-SSN-25-02069 Title: Media Database

BACKGROUND:

The NIST Public Affairs Office (PAO) supports NIST’s mission by providing high-quality, strategic communications that focus on NIST and Administration priorities, highlight NIST’s unique services and capabilities, and celebrate science and discovery. These communication activities are critical for disseminating information about research findings and new technologies to U.S. industry, for attracting collaboration and enhancing relationships with our stakeholders. PAO’s Media Liaison Group (MLG) requires a subscription license to a media database that includes comprehensive, up-to-date lists of news media contacts, including accurate email addresses. The designated NAICS code is 519290_ Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services with a size standard of 1,000 employees.

REQUIREMENT:

Seat licenses to a media database that includes comprehensive, up-to-date lists of news media contacts, including accurate email addresses. The database shall have a comprehensive, up-to-date, and user-friendly database of media contacts; to implement an email list and email distribution system; and to generate media coverage reports. The database shall allow for migrating data, if necessary, from existing mailing lists. NIST requires ten (10) subscription licenses for staff members to access the database simultaneously.

SPECIFICATIONS:

a. The system shall provide access to a comprehensive, up-to-date, accurate database of news media contacts in the United States, including reporters, editors and other influencers, their contact information, coverage beats, preferred methods of contact, follower statistics, and recent stories and social media posts, with the ability to conduct searches based on keywords and topics and to create customized mailing lists from within the database. The database contact list shall be up-dated at least quarterly.

b. The system shall allow NIST users the ability to conduct real-time searches of recently published news articles on specific topics or keywords to aid in the identification of appropriate media contacts and outlets that are currently covering topics relevant to NIST and to view recent articles on those topics by those reporters and outlets. Results shall be filterable by region, content type, outlet ranking, etc., allowing the user to easily generate customizable reports detailing news coverage of NIST.

c. The system shall all user to create and manage mailing lists of reporters and other influencers and enable the distribution of news releases or related communications via email. Recipients must be able to reply directly to the NIST sender using the standard “Reply” function. As NIST prohibits external platforms from accessing its mailboxes, the system shall deliver outreach emails through a bulk email service selected by the vendor. This service must implement Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) for email authentication to ensure successful delivery. Emails shall be sent from a "noreply" address on a vendor-specific custom subdomain (e.g., noreply@vendorname.nist.gov) and include a Reply-To header directing responses to the originating NIST user account email address (e.g., john.doe@nist.gov).

d. The system shall provide analytics of open rates, click-throughs, and other metrics for analyzing the performance of email outreach.

e. Outreach emails shall provide the recipient a way to opt out of future emails (eg. an unsubscribe button), and the database must indicate if/when a contact has opted out.

f. The system shall allow NIST staff the ability to quickly and visually benchmark coverage of NIST against coverage of other similar organizations and to compare coverage of NIST in a current period with the same period in years prior.

g. IT Security and Privacy Requirements: The IT solution must meet requisite IT security and privacy controls to be compliant with security and privacy requirements defined by applicable federal laws, regulations, policies, and standards (e.g., the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, and Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Publication 200). The Contractor must work with the Government in having a security and privacy assessment on the system towards continued authorization, and for annual continuous monitoring of security and privacy control implementation thereafter – including remediating any Government-identified risks or findings because of these Federally mandated annual IT security and privacy assessments.

h. Authentication. The Contractor must implement Okta for Multi-Factor Authentication of users (i.e., ensure that the application works with NIST’s Okta tenant).

i. The contractor shall provide for 10 subscription licenses with simultaneous access. In addition, the contractor shall provide set-up instructions for all users.

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE:

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORRMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response. Submit your response via email to Rene Edwards, Contract Specialist on or before the closing date and time of this notice. Closing date for responses is by 2:00 pm ET on Wednesday July 16, 2025.

· Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

· Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why. Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.

· Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business. See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.

· If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information

IMPORTANT NOTES:

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirement soon.

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract.

Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made because of this notice.

The NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

The NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.