FDA Social Media Monitoring Software Sources Sought Notification

This Sources Sought/Request for Information (RFI) is being issued in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 10, Market Research. It is for information, planning and market research purposes only and shall not be construed as either a solicitation or obligation on the part of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or its Centers. The purpose of this RFI is to help the FDA understand the industry best practices and technical solutions capable of providing the full range of requirements described in this RFI. FDA will use this market research information to assess the market's capability to successfully meet the FDA's social media monitoring software tool requirements.

Sources Sought Another purpose of this Sources Sought Notice/RFI is to determine the availability and capability of qualified small businesses (including Small Business Administration Certified 8(a) companies; firms in Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone); Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned small businesses; and Women-Owned small businesses).

FDA welcomes responses from all interested parties.

Sources Sought Response Requirements

Responses to this notice shall be limited to ten pages (excluding marketing literature and/or technical data sheets and/or resumes) and must include:

1. A capability statement in response to each of the individual draft Statement of Work (SOW) requirements. 2. Description of the company’s past performance and experience with implementation of this type of software that is of a similar scope and size. And information (Government or commercial entity, contract/purchase amount, etc.) relating to each of the past performance descriptions. 3. Responses to the following questions: a. Are any of the FDA’s specific requirements too restrictive? In other words, are any of the requirements too specific that it would eliminate a commercial product or products that could potentially more than satisfactorily satisfy the FDA’s goals? b. Any suggestions regarding the FDA’s requirements and/or SOW? c. Any other comments regarding this potential acquisition? 4. Organization name, and telephone number and e-mail address of a point of contact having the authority and knowledge to clarify responses with Government representatives. 5. Commercial pricing list(s) or other pricing information, if applicable and available. 6. Customary practices, including warranties, discounts, and contract type(s) under which commercial sales of the products or services are made, if applicable and available. 7. DUNS number, CAGE code, and company structure (corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc.). 8. Written confirmation of registration in SAM (www.sam.gov). Offerors should be registered to be considered as a source. 9. Please provide the size classification of your business under the appropriate NAICS code. If you are classified as a small business, HUBZone small business, Service Disabled Veteran Owned small business, Woman-owned small business and/or 8(a) certified small business, please provide a detailed capability statement, focusing on your firm's proven ability to provide the range of requirements. 10. Please demonstrate your firm's capability to meet the requirements of FAR 52.219-14, Limitations on Subcontracting, for this requirement if you’ve identified your business as a small business. 11. Identification of any Government contractual vehicles available for use for this requirement, such as GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract numbers and GWACs by agency and contract numbers, if applicable.

Acknowledgment of receipt of responses will not be made, nor will respondents be notified of the outcome of the FDA's review of the information received. Additionally, the FDA does not intend to hold discussions concerning this RFI with any interested parties. This request is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to pay for any information submitted as a result of this request. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any cost associated with submission of the information being requested or reimburse expenses incurred to interested parties for responses

of 4 to this announcement. However, FDA reserves the right to contact one or more of the respondents if additional information is required or to request demonstrations.

Responses to this announcement will not be returned, nor will there be any ensuing discussions or debriefings of any responses. However, information obtained as a result of this announcement may be reflected in the subsequent solicitation if issued. This announcement is Government market research and may result in revisions in both its requirements and its acquisition strategy based on industry responses.

Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing to Christine Rynkiewicz at [email protected].

Respondents must submit a capability statement and response requirements to Christine Rynkiewicz at [email protected] no later than the specified due date and time indicated on the Government Point of Entry (GPE) for consideration.

Draft Statement of Work Social Media Monitoring Software

Background

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protects and promotes the health of all Americans by regulating the safety of foods, cosmetics, drugs, biologics, animal drugs and feed, and medical devices. FDA also regulates tobacco products.

FDA's Office of External Affairs (OEA) is the agency’s focal point for communications activities aimed at the general public. The staff consists of communications professionals who specialize in media relations, stakeholder outreach, digital and social media, writing, editing, graphic design, photography and video production. OEA provides leadership and guidance to the communications activities of the entire agency. Obtaining a snapshot of conversations that our audience is having will help us provide better counsel to FDA leadership so they can communicate more effectively and provide timely content.

Objective

The goal of this acquisition is to utilize a social media monitoring and measurement software tool to better understand the FDA’s and OEA’s social media outreach campaigns. The tool shall assist in the following OEA goals:

1. By monitoring the success and failure of our messages via measurement and sentiment, we can plan more useful strategies to serve our audiences. 2. FDA seeks to monitor overall conversations to see what the public is discussing about our work, answer questions for them, and develop consumer content for FDA.GOV and our social media channels. 3. To achieve an at-a-glance public representation of FDA initiatives.

Technical Capabilities

The software tool must have the following technical capabilities:

1. Software Console  Must include a simply formatted and easy to read console, which provides metrics and data  The solution must be compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome. Provide access for two profiles and fifteen users, with increased capabilities as new tools are incorporated.

2. Comprehensive Coverage  Shall provide comprehensive scanning of blogs, online mainstream news sites, video and image sharing sites, discussions boards, Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, and Flickr.  Shall be able to easily review, share, and analyze on-topic posts.  All metrics and statistics from the social media sites shall be delivered in real-time so FDA may quickly review meaningful posts.

of 4  The software tool must be available twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week, from any computer.  Unlimited archiving services of historical data must be available to the FDA upon request.

3. Social Media Metrics  Must have the ability to search keywords and phrases, and the specific measurements and metrics that matter in that context, related to our agency messages or topics within the social media posts.  Measurements and metrics shall be produced dynamically and will be dependent on the queries input by FDA.  Shall export data into XML, PDF and HTML formats.

4. Data Filtering and Segmentation  FDA end users must have the ability to configure its dashboard or choose from more than multiple preconfigured dashboards in the gallery to view and analyze FDA profile results, and drill down into several layers of detailed information.  Shall have the ability to segment results by media type, geographic region, or language, or by engagement statistics and user assignment.  Shall have the ability to count inbound links, social media metrics, and sources to understand the data behind the data, and connect the dots around our social media activity.

5. Workflow Management  Must be able to use workflow management in the multiple consoles to scale listening and response across the FDA.  Must be able to assign posts to team members for efficient review and response.

6. Social Media Web Analytics  Measure via the integration of key social media metrics such as comment counts, commenter counts, views, Compete.com data, Webtrends, Omniture, de.licio.us bookmarks, Digg and Reddit votes, forum activity, Twitter metrics, audience engagement, and overall shares.

7. Automated Sentiment Analysis  Shall provide a first glance at whether the chatter about FDA topic is positive, negative, or neutral with automated sentiment analysis.  Specifically identify keywords as subjects for sentiment analysis in FDA topic profile, and deliver sentiment analysis on the content down to the sentence level.

8. Historical Data  Shall compile ninety (90) days of immediate historical data with each topic profile created, and long-range historical data is available upon request.  Every month, historical results on active profiles must accrue in an unlimited archive. FDA end users must be able to access, analyze, and report on the profile’s entire history, and chart the events and content that have impacted the FDA.  Must allow simple sharing of data and insights from the topic profile.  Shall copy the FDA dashboard to teammates or supervisors to show them what is being heard and how FDA activities are impacting results.

9. Enterprise-level Scalability  Must provide a method of fully integrated listening and measurement for a complete reporting picture on all of FDA social media activities.  Must allow FDA to oversee and manage workflow from a single dashboard.  The FDA end users will be able to monitor all FDA activity, no matter where it happens. 10. Technical Support  Standard technical support is required with the software package. Technical support shall be available by phone during regular business hours.

11. Software Training  Must provide training on use of software tool to FDA web & digital media employees (end users).

Deliverables

1. Term social media monitoring software licenses for 3 users delivered within 15 days of award.

of 4 2. Software maintenance and support for all software licenses delivered at the time of license activation.

3. Software training provided within 30 days of contract award to assist the FDA with initial building and saving multiple dashboards in order to segment and easily view data and provide lessons on how to build further dashboards.