Broadcast Management Training

September 25, 2014 Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) In accordance with FAR Subpart 6.302-1 entitled "Only One Responsible Source and No Other Supplies or Services Will Satisfy Agency Requirements," the following information is herein documented regarding the non-competitive justification of the below-cited acquisition: (1) The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) intends to award a contract to the Radio Netherlands Training Center (RNTC), subdiary of Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW), for a two-week broadcast management course for ten BBG representatives from selected BBG-affiliated organizations at RNTC headquarters in Hilversum, The Netherlands. This document is a Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) in accordance with 41 U.S.C. 253 (c )(1). (2) Per FAR Subpart 6.302-1, 41 U.S.C.253(c)(1) is the statutory authority permitting other than full and open competition for this acquisition, and it is herein cited as follows: "When the supplies or services required by the agency are available from "Only one responsible source, and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements," full and open competition need not be provided for. (3) BBG seeks the referenced media training in support of the agency's mission to foster freedom and democracy around the world through free press and free expression as well as the strategic goals laid in the BBG's 2014 Strategy Review by geographic region and country. (4) The training must be both broad-based to cover key media management issues and specific to account for the needs of the BBG affiliate participants as well as the demands of the often repressive environments in which those affiliate partners operate. It should feature analytical methods to assess organizational and media environments, editorial and financial management, trends in media innovation and the impact of new media and multimedia production methods on broadcast newsroom organization and workflows, among other subjects. It should be weighted across such subjects to reflect areas of greatest interest to the participants. It should include the latest means to address online censorship and journalism safety, which are key problems in a host of BBG target markets. It should be timed to help accelerate fulfillment of BBG strategic goals. And it should take place in a location that facilitates relative ease of travel of the candidate affiliate partners to encourage their participation and minimize costs. (5) RNTC is the only organization that can meet all of BBG's requirements for the training. RNTC has a long track record in successful multi-level journalism training. RNTC has a well-established broadcast management training program already in place. It is prepared to modify that program with content tailored to the needs of BBG and our partners, commensurate with their level of professional development. RNTC is also prepared to stage the training consistent with BBG's schedule for meeting its 2014 strategic goals. (6) RNTC is an extension of RNW, which is a member of the DG7, a select group of government- and public-funded media organizations from democratic nations, including the BBG, BBC, Deutsche Welle, France Medias Monde, NHK World, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, with a shared purpose of supporting free flows of credible, accurate news and information especially in closed and repressive societies. RNTC thus intuitively grasps the core purposes of BBG's media training to equip our partners to practice objective journalism in their homelands and thereby contribute to advancing the BBG mission. (7) Through RNW's DG7 association, RNTC is uniquely positioned to incorporate into the training program the latest practices as regards journalism saftey and Internet anti-censosrhip. RNW is actively engaged in the DG7's Internet Freedom sub-group, which is pioneering (under BBG's leadership) techniques and technologies for journalists to overcome censorship of all kinds and developing the tools to allow journalists to report safely from repressive environments and danger zones. RNTC can access proprietary, state-of-the art knowledge to build into the training. (8) Many of the participants in the training program hosted by RNTC for BBG would be journalists from countries where censorship and journalism safety are daily concerns - e.g., Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Somalia, Venezuela, et al. (9) Located in Europe, RNTC is centrally situated vis--vis the countries in Eurasia, Asia, and Africa from which the participants would come, which will make participant travel easier and less expensive. (10) The cost of the training shall be for $40,000 - 10 trainees at $4,000 per person. (11) The BBG has previously contracted with RNTC for comparable training on a sole-source basis at a directly comparable rate. (12) We certify that this justification for other than full and open competition for the above-stated acquisition is accurate and complete to the best of our knowledge and belief: Bruce Sherman, Director September 25, 2014 Office of Strategy and Development Date