A02.12 PWS RSM Podcast Editing dated 2025.04.18.docx

18 APR 25

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

RSM River Mechanics Podcast Editing

1. BACKGROUND

The USACE Institute for Water Resources (IWR), Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) produces a RSM River Mechanics Podcast. The intent of the podcast is to capture institutional wisdom and process insight of river-mechanics experts to collect and disseminate lessons learned over distinguished, multi-decadal, river-mechanics careers in a podcast format. River mechanics, sediment transport, and fluvial geomorphology are wisdom-based disciplines. Practitioners typically learn much more about these topics from conversations with senior subject matter experts than from manuals, conferences, or even classes. The RSM River Mechanics Podcast leverages innovative tech-transfer mechanisms to capture some of this institutional wisdom and deliver it to the sediment community.

HEC seeks services to edit the podcast recordings.

2. SCOPE

Provide professional, detailed, editing and sound mixing for episodes of the RSM River Mechanics Podcast. This contract procures editing services to improve the quality of audio interviews recorded in person, making detailed edits to the host and guest tracks and sound engineering decisions to produce professional, industry-standard, audio products.

The podcast includes interviews with the most respected researchers, professors, and practitioners in river engineering, fluvial geomorphology, sediment transport, and river restoration. Guests are selected primarily for technical expertise and usually have little experience with audio interviews. They are often nervous and not always as articulate as they would like to be. HEC is looking for an editor who will carefully and thoughtfully bring out the very best out of their content in the final edit and honor their career and respect the trust they have put in us by agreeing to the interview, by making them sound as smooth and well-spoken as possible.

These episodes will be - almost entirely - interview podcasts with audio from a host and one-to-three guests. Interviews are mostly in person, using a Zoom H4 recorder with a separate mic for the host and each guest. Occasionally we record them opportunistically in a live setting with an audience (e.g. conference panel – usually still one-mic per guest/host but could, rarely, include a single bulk audio track) which affects the quality of the audio as speakers are closely spaced. Tasks may eventually include or remote episodes (recorded on Teams or Zencaster) if travel restrictions or international episodes make them expedient. Future episodes are also likely to include “clip episodes” or trailers which will include segments from multiple interviews interspersed with explanatory audio. Most of the episodes are recorded live by the host, who is not an audio specialist. The quality of the delivered audio can vary. Most recordings include “audio bleed” with mics picking up multiple guest and recording have included ambient noise that has affected the difficulty of the edit. Host is open to coaching to improve future audio, but at least seven episodes included within the first two tasks are already recorded.

This contract only includes audio editing. No video will be provided, and no video products are required.

HEC tries to edit these interviews down to 50-60 minutes, but regularly records 80 to 100 minutes of raw audio, sometimes more. HEC will make content cuts before and after the detailed edit described in this contract.

3. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The following sub-sections provide details of various general requirements for this effort.

3.1. Non-Personal Services

The contractor shall provide strictly non-personal services and contractor employees are not subject to direct supervision and control by the Government. The contractor shall advise and support the Government but shall not make final decisions or certifications on behalf of the Government nor perform any inherently governmental functions. The contractor and its employees shall not represent the government nor appear to represent the government in performance of these contract services. Contractor personnel shall clearly identify themselves as contractor employees in all interactions during contract performance.

3.2 Contract Administration

The contractor shall establish processes and assign appropriate resources to effectively administer the requirement. The contractor shall have a single point of contact between the Government and Contractor personnel assigned to support the contract.

The contractor shall accomplish the assigned work by employing and utilizing qualified personnel with appropriate combinations of education, training, and experience. The contractor shall maintain the technical competency of their employees by providing initial and refresher training as required to meet the task order PWS requirements.

3.3 Place of Performance

All work will be performed at the contractor’s site.

3.4 Security Requirements

When on-site at HEC the contractor and all associated subcontractor employees (visitors) shall comply with the standards and procedures for all visitors at the facility. Visitors must sign in upon arrival, showing proper ID and sign out upon departure. All visitors will be escorted while on-site.

The Contractor must pre-screen Candidates using the E-verify Program (http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify) website to meet the established employment eligibility requirements. The Vendor must ensure that the Candidate has two valid forms of Government issued identification prior to enrollment to ensure the correct information is entered into the E-verify system.

All new contractor employees will complete Level I OPSEC Training within 30 calendar days of their reporting for duty. Additionally, all contractor employees must complete annual OPSEC awareness training. The contractor shall submit certificates of completion for each affected contractor and subcontractor employee, to the COR or to the contracting officer (if a COR is not assigned), within 5 calendar days after completion of training. OPSEC awareness training is available at the following websites: https://www.iad.gov/ioss/ or http://www.cdse.edu/catalog/operations-security.html; or it can be provided by the RA OPSEC Officer in presentation form which will be documented via memorandum.

3.5 Materials

All materials, minus expendable supplies, purchased by the contractor with funds from this task order and used under this task order, become and remain the property of the Government.

4. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS (TASK AREAS)

4.1. Task 1

The contractor shall edit 4 episodes, including up to 550 minutes of raw podcast audio. This contract is not only for a simple, filler-word removal service, but also for a complete editing service that carefully considers each speaker and the listener experience throughout the recordings and makes the recorded scientists sound articulate.

This detailed editing shall include:

a. Remove all “ums,” “ahs,” filler words, mouth noises, speech ticks.

b. Remove long pauses and any other distracting or unnecessary sounds or speech whenever the cuts themselves are not more distracting than the content cut.

c. Remove and smooth repetitions or other speech errors or stumbles to make conversation smooth and easy to follow.

d. Make the audio tracks as concise as possible without sacrificing content or a smooth audio experience.

e. Use the contractor’s professional judgment to make the speakers sound as articulate and well-spoken as possible.

f. Remove ambient noise captured on the recording.

g. Balance and optimize recorded audio from 2 to 4 microphones, silence tracks from non-speaker microphones, and remove cross-microphone bleed over from other speakers.

h. Make high-level, editorial decisions to cut repetitive content and recommend cuts in HEC’s final, scientific edit.

Task 1 Deliverables

The contractor shall meet with the podcast host prior to initiating work to discuss the recordings, editing approach, and expectations. This meeting can be remote (i.e. video call) and is expected to last an hour.

The contractor shall provide edited podcast tracks to HEC, including a separate .wav track for each speaker. The contractor shall provide a draft of the first episode (specified by HEC) within fourteen days of contract award. The contractor shall provide drafts of the other three the episodes within 40 days of contract award. HEC staff will review the podcasts within 10 days of submittal. The contractor will address comments noted by HEC staff and make revisions within 10 days of the receiving the comments.

Period of Performance: Task 1 must be completed no later than 60 days from the date of contract award.

4.2. Task 2

The contractor shall edit 5 episodes, up to 600 minutes of raw podcast audio. This contract is not only for a simple filler-word removal service, but also for a complete editing service that carefully considers each speaker and the listener experience throughout the recordings and make the recorded scientists sound articulate.

This detailed editing shall include:

a. Remove all “ums,” “ahs,” filler words, mouth noises, speech ticks.

b. Remove long pauses and any other distracting or unnecessary sounds or speech whenever the cuts themselves are not more distracting than the content cut.

c. Remove and smooth repetitions or other speech errors or stumbles to make conversation smooth and easy to follow.

d. Make the audio tracks as concise as possible without sacrificing content or a smooth audio experience.

e. Use the contractor’s professional judgment to make the speakers sound as articulate and well-spoken as possible.

f. Remove ambient noise captured on the recording.

g. Balance and optimize recorded audio from 2-to-4 microphones, silence tracks from non-speaker microphones, and remove cross-microphone bleed over from other speakers.

h. Make high-level, editorial decisions to cut repetitive content and recommend cuts in HEC’s final, scientific edit.

i. Include final mix with music, introduction, outro, and explanatory audio and/or music between segments defined by HEC.

Task 2 Deliverables

The contractor shall meet with the podcast host prior to initiating work to discuss the recordings, editing approach, and expectations. This meeting can be remote (i.e. video call) and is expected to last an hour.

The contractor shall provide edited podcast tracks to HEC, including separate .wav tracks for each speaker. The contractor shall provide draft podcast episodes within 30 days of receipt of each episode. HEC staff will review the podcasts within 10 days of submittal. The contractor will address comments noted by HEC staff and make revisions within 10 days of the receiving the comments.

Period of Performance: Completion of Task 2 is no later than 15 December 2025. The podcasts will be provided as they are recorded (including 3 that will be provided at award of contract). It is anticipated all podcasts will be provided approximately on 30 September 2025.

4.3. Optional Task 3

The contractor shall edit 5 episodes, up to 600 minutes of raw podcast audio. This contract is not only for a simple filler-word removal service, but also for a complete editing service that carefully considers each speaker and the listener experience throughout the recordings and make the recorded scientists sound articulate.

This detailed editing shall include:

a. Remove all “ums,” “ahs,” filler words, mouth noises, speech ticks.

b. Remove long pauses and any other distracting or unnecessary sounds or speech whenever the cuts themselves are not more distracting than the content cut.

c. Remove and smooth repetitions or other speech errors or stumbles to make conversation smooth and easy to follow.

d. Make the audio tracks as concise as possible without sacrificing content or a smooth audio experience.

e. Use the contractor’s professional judgment to make the speakers sound as articulate and well-spoken as possible.

f. Remove ambient noise captured on the recording.

g. Balance and optimize recorded audio from 2-to-4 microphones, silence tracks from non-speaker microphones, and remove cross-microphone bleed over from other speakers.

h. Make high-level, editorial decisions to cut repetitive content and recommend cuts in HEC’s final, scientific edit.

i. Include final mix with music, introduction, outro, and explanatory audio and/or music between segments defined by HEC.

Task 3 Deliverables

The contractor shall meet with the podcast host prior to initiating work to discuss the recordings, editing approach, and expectations. This meeting can be remote (i.e. video call) and is expected to last an hour.

The contractor shall provide edited podcast tracks to HEC. There should be separate .wav tracks for each speaker. The contractor shall provide draft podcast episodes within 30 days of receipt of each episode. HEC staff will review the podcasts within 10 days of submittal. The contractor will address comments noted by HEC staff and make revisions within 10 days of the receiving the comments.

Period of Performance: The completion date for Optional Task 3 is no later than 10 March 2026. It is anticipated all podcasts will be provided approximately on 25 January 2026.

4.4. Optional Task 4

The contractor shall edit 5 episodes, up to 600 minutes of raw podcast audio. This contract is not only for a simple filler-word removal service, but also for a complete editing service that carefully considers each speaker and the listener experience throughout the recordings and make the recorded scientists sound articulate.

This detailed editing shall include:

a. Remove all “ums,” “ahs,” filler words, speech ticks.

b. Remove long pauses and any other distracting or unnecessary sounds or speech whenever the cuts themselves are not more distracting than the content cut.

c. Remove and smooth repetitions or other speech errors or stumbles to make conversation smooth and easy to follow.

d. Make the audio tracks as concise as possible without sacrificing content or a smooth audio experience.

e. Use the contractor’s professional judgment to make the speakers sound as articulate and well-spoken as possible.

f. Remove ambient noise captured on the recording.

g. Balance and optimize recorded audio from 2-to-4 microphones, silence tracks from non-speaker microphones, and remove cross-microphone bleed over from other speakers.

h. Make high-level, editorial decisions to cut repetitive content and recommend cuts in HEC’s final, scientific edit.

i. Include final mix with music, introduction, outro, and explanatory audio and/or music between segments defined by HEC.

Task 4 Deliverables

The contractor shall meet with the podcast host prior to initiating work to discuss the recordings, editing approach, and expectations. This meeting can be remote (i.e. video call) and is expected to last an hour.

The contractor shall provide edited podcast tracks to HEC. There should be separate .wav tracks for each speaker. The contractor shall provide draft podcast episodes within 30 days of receipt of each episode. HEC staff will review the podcasts within 10 days of submittal. The contractor will address comments noted by HEC staff and make revisions within 10 days of the receiving the comments.

Period of Performance: The completion date for Optional Task 4 is no later than 15 December 2026. It is anticipated all podcasts will be provided approximately on 30 September 2026.

4.5. Optional Task 5

The contractor shall edit 5 episodes, up to 600 minutes of raw podcast audio. This contract is not only for a simple filler-word removal service, but also for a complete editing service that carefully considers each speaker and the listener experience throughout the recordings and make the recorded scientists sound articulate.

This detailed editing shall include:

a. Remove all “ums,” “ahs,” filler words, mouth noises, speech ticks.

b. Remove long pauses and any other distracting or unnecessary sounds or speech whenever the cuts themselves are not more distracting than the content cut.

c. Remove and smooth repetitions or other speech errors or stumbles to make conversation smooth and easy to follow.

d. Make the audio tracks as concise as possible without sacrificing content or a smooth audio experience.

e. Use the contractor’s professional judgment to make the speakers sound as articulate and well-spoken as possible.

f. Remove ambient noise captured on the recording.

g. Balance and optimize recorded audio from 2-to-4 microphones, silence tracks from non-speaker microphones, and remove cross-microphone bleed over from other speakers.

h. Make high-level, editorial decisions to cut repetitive content and recommend cuts in HEC’s final, scientific edit.

i. Include final mix with music, introduction, outro, and explanatory audio and/or music between segments defined by HEC.

Task 5 Deliverables

The contractor shall meet with the podcast host prior to initiating work to discuss the recordings, editing approach, and expectations. This meeting can be remote (i.e. video call) and is expected to last an hour.

The contractor shall provide edited podcast tracks to HEC. There should be separate .wav tracks for each speaker. The contractor shall provide draft podcast episodes within 30 days of receipt of each episode. HEC staff will review the podcasts within 10 days of submittal. The contractor will address comments noted by HEC staff and make revisions within 10 days of the receiving the comments.

Period of Performance: The completion date for Optional Task 5 is no later than 30 March 2027. It is anticipated all podcasts will be provided approximately on 15 February 2027.

Data Rights: The Government has unlimited rights to all podcast episodes produced under this contract. All documents and materials, to include the audio files, 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.

In compliance with Department of Defense Issuances (DoDI) 8500.01 (2014) section 3.c.2, DoDI 8510.01 (2016) section 3.d, and USACE ER 25-1-112 (2014) section 7.1.3; all information systems (IS) and platform information technology (PIT) systems developed and/or supported under this contract shall comply with all DoD, DISA, Army, and USACE cybersecurity and architectural requirements. This includes IS/PIT compliance with DISA Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG) and being categorized IAW CNSSI 1253 using security controls developed in accordance with (IAW) the risk management framework (NIST SP 800-53). STIG compliance includes, but is not limited to most current version of the DISA published Application Security and Development STIG and the internet access point (IAP) demilitarized zone (DMZ)

STIG.

5. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY (GFE)

HEC will provide *.wav files of each podcast track. HEC will provide separate audio tracks for each speaker unless technology prohibits this standard. No government equipment will be issued to the contractor.

6. CONTRACTING OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE AND/OR TECHNICAL POINT OF CONTACT (TPOC)

A contracting officer representative (COR) and/or technical point of contact (TPOC) will be appointed on each task order. The COR and TPOC have no authority to direct the contractor in any way to alter the contractual obligation. The contracting officer is the only individual authorized to make changes to the contract.