Interactive_News_Developer_SOW_-_FINAL.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK

“Interactive News Developer”

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

The Voice of America’s News Center has a requirement for a talent vendor (hereinafter referred to as “Contractor”) to provide Interactive News Developer services described below. The Contractor shall be responsible for meeting all obligations under the term of this contract. All work shall be performed in accordance with “The VOA Journalistic Code.” The contractor must request pre-approval before engaging in outside speaking and writing that might give rise to an actual or perceived violation of the Code.

BACKGROUND

The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM - Formerly The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is an Executive Branch Federal Government agency that oversees U.S.

broadcasting of news and information to audiences around the world. BBG includes the Voice of America (VOA) and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (VOA), as well as grantee entities Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and the Middle East Broadcasting Network (MBN). Together, VOA and VOA distribute programming in English and 42 other languages to an estimated weekly audience of 175 million people.

The News Center is a multimedia news room providing 24/7 content and editorial guidance and direction for all VOA language services and English platforms. This material includes TV reports, standups, web and digital vids, radio and web reports, photo content and animated explainers.

TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

General Responsibilities of Contractor.

(1) Contractor serves as an Interactive News Developer in the VOA News Center focused on special reporting and visual storytelling. Contractor ensures that all material engages audiences in support of the VOA Charter and in accordance with VOA's journalistic code.

(2) Required expertise.

• Working knowledge of PHP, Python or node.js. Ability to evaluate the work of others using these protocols and programming languages.

• Ability to use a modern visualization library such as D3 and three.js.

• Demonstrated mastery of user-interface design and its application, including the use of metrics to understand and adapt to patterns of user behavior.

• Demonstrated ability to evaluate and work with a wide range of technologies relevant to multimedia Web development, including open source software, relational database management, computer security, and the marriage of technology and journalism.

• Comprehensive knowledge of cascading style sheets (CSS) and HTML, including emerging standards for html5..

• Demonstrated ability to exercise sound and independent judgment in evaluating the capabilities of other Web developers, contractors, product vendors, engineers, and other entities that perform tasks and/or provide products in various Web specialties.

• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing. This includes the ability to write clearly and persuasively about technical subjects for nontechnical audiences and to communicate orally with a wide range of editors, correspondents, engineers, contractors, broadcast programmers, and senior managers.

• Applicant must submit three samples of interactive stories, web pages, or interactive elements of stories or visual storytelling applicant has created. Can be submitted as links or on a flash drive.

DELIVERABLES, INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE, AND PAYMENT TERMS

DELIVERABLES

The Contractor shall provide deliverables that are responsive to the statement of work / specifications described in the task order and that conform to the Deliverables Inspection and Acceptance Criteria section of this task order. The Contractor shall submit all deliverables to the COR identified herein for dissemination to BBG subject matter expert(s) for review and comments. Final inspection and acceptance of all work performed and deliverables will be performed by the COR.

The following deliverables are essential to the successful completion of this contract:

• Major interactive news features

• Data visualizations

• Reader-facing we pages, applications and other displays

• Interactive visual components and displays for digital reporting

• Visual/data focused/interactive reporting and editing workflows

DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE

The Contractor shall submit the required deliverables to the COR in accordance with the following schedule:

Deliverables Schedule Deliverables Due Date

• Major interactive news features

As assigned

• Data visualizations

• Reader-facing we pages, applications and other displays

• Interactive visual components and displays for digital reporting

• Visual/data focused/interactive reporting and editing workflows

F.4 PLACE OF DELIVERY FOR DELIVERABLES

Item(s) to be delivered under this contract shall be delivered electronically to:

Deliverable Item #

# of Copies Address

All items 1 COR or Hub, TV, Assignment or Education Editor News Center 330 Independence Ave SW

The COR will specify the place of delivery for items to be delivered under this contract that have not been listed in the preceding table upon their assignment.

DELIVERABLE INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA

Inspection The COR will review, for completeness and quality, all deliverables submitted by the Contractor, and may return them to the Contractor for correction. The Contracting Officer may delegate responsibility for review to other employees with appropriate expertise. Absence of any comments by the COR will not relieve the Contractor of the responsibility for complying with the requirements of the contract. Final approval and acceptance of deliverables will be provided to the Contractor in writing by the COR. The COR will have up to 2 hours to inspect deliverables and return them to the Contractor for correction.

Acceptance Criteria All contractor-produced documents and documentation (‘deliverables) shall meet the following general acceptance criteria. Final inspection and acceptance of all work performed, reports and other deliverables, will be performed at the place of delivery by the BBG’s COR.

• Clarity − Deliverables and technical content shall be relevant and unambiguous, and shall adhere to accepted elements of style. Presentations, if any, shall be easy to understand and be relevant to the supporting narrative.

• Adherence to Requirements − All deliverables must satisfy the requirements of this statement of work and must contribute to the overall success of the tasks.

• Format − Deliverables shall be submitted in the format specified on the Deliverables section of the contract (if applicable), or as specified by the COR. Completeness − Deliverables shall be comprehensive and entirely developed (i.e. have all required parts and elements).

• Timeliness –Deliverables shall be available at the time required and generated on or before specified and mutually agreed to due dates or in accordance with a later mutually agreed to scheduled date.

• Significant Deficiencies - Deliverables shall be free of significant deficiencies.

Significant deficiencies are findings by reviewing officials of serious omissions, inaccuracies, noncompliance with contract requirements and standards.

PAYMENT

The Contractor shall submit invoices only for work that has been submitted to the COR, and inspected and accepted by the COR.

SECURITY

All staff must be able to obtain and maintain a public trust background investigation. (If applicable). All candidates must pass an initial background clearance to start work

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The contract will commence on or about May 1, 2019, with work described concluding on or about _April 30, 2020_.

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The work on this contract shall be conducted at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, 330 Independence Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20237 or contractor’s worksite.

CONTRACT TYPE/VEHICLE

Firm Fixed Price _ to be awarded under a commercial contract.

SUBMISSION OF INVOICES

1952.232-91 Electronic Invoicing and Payment Requirements - Invoice Payment Platform (IPP) (April 2016) Payment requests for all new awards must be submitted electronically through the U. S. Department of the Treasury's Invoice Payment Platform System (IPP). "Payment request" means any request for contract financing payment or invoice payment by the Contractor. To constitute a proper invoice, the payment request must comply with the requirements identified in FAR 32.905(b), "Payment documentation and process" and the applicable Prompt Payment clause included in this contract. The IPP website address is: https://www.ipp.gov.