United States Space Force Chief of Space Operations Strategic Communication Support

7/17/24 Edit - Removed "attached requirements documentation" from Section 1.7 and added "requirement description" in it's place as this notice does not have any attachments.

Requirement Description:

A strategic communication capability within the USSF is paramount to ensuring the Service meets its strategic objectives as it builds a lean, agile, and innovative organization. To create and support this capability, the USSF requires an industry partner with deep and specialized expertise in strategic communication for the Federal Government and a variety of audiences. In today’s information environment speed and agility is of the essence, so this partner must not just possess general strategic communication knowledge, but rather needs a deep understanding of the space domain, a track record applying proven and validated methodologies in this domain for the Government, and access to cutting edge technology and global data sources to drive efficiency and responsiveness. This partner must be capable of rapidly analyzing information from a wide range of sources to inform data-driven communication strategies, organize an extensive repository of service-wide communications accessible to Guardians, and provide innovative solutions to complex communications challenges facing the USSF as it aims to meet its national defense objectives. 

The industry partner should possess the following specialized expertise:

Domain Specific Knowledge: The USSF and Space Force Operations are at the forefront of protecting and advancing US interests in space. The partner must demonstrate expertise in military space operations, including technical and operational acumen, an understanding of policy and regulatory issues, knowledge of industry trends and innovations, the relationships with the commercial space sector, and military culture and organizational dynamics – and understand how to execute effective communication strategies in this wider context. This applied knowledge is crucial for enhancing the USSF’s communication efforts and supporting its mission. The ability to “hit the ground running” without the need for extensive learning periods is critical to address the urgent need for a strategic communication capability to support the USSF in the context of great power competition with China.

Validated Strategic Communication Methods: The partner must have proven and long-standing experience leveraging well-established theories and methodologies that provide a reliable basis for developing and implementing communication strategies. To provide a robust foundation for developing and executing strategic communication plans that are both effective and adaptable to changing circumstances the partner must have experience in communication theory, research, and practice. We need a partner who has a history of applied knowledge and understanding of military organization’s portrayal among different target audiences to assist USSF in its efforts to establish wider understanding of its mission and to maintain its desired posture relative to the other organizations, and against near-peer competitors.

Data-Driven Analytic Capabilities: The partner must utilize a data-driven, science-based approach to developing strategic communication strategies, ensuring decisions are based on evidence and insights, not assumptions. The requirements of conducting strategic communication activities in the era of Great Power Competition, coupled with the USSF need to engage effectively with domestic and allied nation audiences means that the industry partner must have an established capability for ingesting, storing, and managing global public communications data. In addition, the industry partner must have proven, cutting edge analytic capabilities that can quantify and track perceptions of USSF, providing effective and responsive communication strategies, optimized decision-making, and coherent and consistent measures of effectiveness.  

Service-Wide Repository for USSF Messaging:  Various levels of the USSF have identified the need for a central hub for service-wide communication to ensure unified and coordinated messaging. The partner must be capable of contributing to building the infrastructure necessary to make USSF and space-related communications available across the service. This repository will not only aid coordination of USSF messaging to meet strategic objectives but enable ongoing large-scale analyses to provide additional data-driven communication recommendations. 

Internal Assessments: USSF requires a comprehensive, data-driven understanding of internal perceptions of its Guardians at scale, ensuring that the Space Force can address concerns, enhance internal engagement, and foster a more cohesive organizational culture. The partner must have capabilities that extend beyond standard quantitative survey techniques to mine open-ended comments, focus group data, and other forms of internal feedback and must apply advanced data analysis methods to extract nuanced insights from these diverse sources. 

Strategic Communication Technology: The partner must be capable of leveraging and/or developing custom tools and analytics to help the USSF achieve its unique mission and keep pace with evolving requirements and near-peer competitors. This includes leveraging advanced technologies to create tailored solutions that enhance the USSF's communication strategies and ensure they remain effective and relevant in a rapidly changing information landscape.

1.0 REQUESTED INFORMATION

1.1 Capability Statement: Request you submit a capability statement that presents your technical capability for completing the attached Performance Work Statement.  The capability statement shall at a minimum address the specific items below.

     1.1.1 Approach: Describe your approach for accomplishing the Performance Work Statement.

     1.1.2 Past Performance: Identify previous contracts which are relevant to the scope of the Performance Work Statement.  Include contract number, period of performance, whether performance was completed as a prime or subcontract, and a summary of services provided.

     1.1.3 Timeline: Attached your timeline in obtaining the required skill set for contract award.  This timeline should include time for any applicable transition period, clearances (if required), and any other information that would be crucial to successfully transition to contract award.

     1.1.4 Page Limit: Capability Statements are limited to 15 pages in total length, single spaced, and 12-point font and accessible by either Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat.

1.2 Rough Order of Magnitude:  Please provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) for service for this type of work and any "Other Direct Costs" that would be incurred e.g. travel, per diem, license costs.  Please be specific in the Labor Category with the skill sets for a Firm Fixed Price structure.  There is no page limit for the ROM.

1.3 Strategic Vehicles: Please provide a list of any contractual vehicles that may be utilized to fulfill this requirement including but not limited to GSA Federal Supply Schedule Contracts, Decentralized Ordering Contracts, or any other strategic contractual vehicle that your company is a part of.  There is no page limit for this submission.

1.4 Submission Instructions: Please provide your responses to this RFI to the primary POC listed in this announcement by the timeframe listed in this announcement.  Additionally, please include your company's CAGE, Unique Entity ID, and Size Standard as part of your submission.  Please note: Large submissions may be required to be sent via multiple e-mails.  The Government recommends contacting the primary POC in this announcement to verify receipt. 

1.5 Industry Discussions: The Government may choose to meet with companies who responded to this RFI to hold one-on-one discussions.  Discussions would only be held to obtain further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirement.

1.6 Proposed Acquisition Strategy: The Government is contemplating a full trade off (both technical and past performance) for this acquisition. This allows the Government to trade off price for a better technical and or past performance solution in the Government's best interest. The Government would like to solicit industry feedback for this acquisition approach regarding the pros/cons that industry perceives with the acquisition approach.

1.7 Industry Feedback Regarding Requirement: While the Government is the final decision regarding the requirement, we would like to solicit industry feedback regarding the requirements description attached requirements documentation and where industry thinks that we could improve the overall quality of the product/service received by updating/clarifying our requirement.