***This is not a solicitation and offers are not being requested at this time*** Notice of "Open Season" Broadcasting Board of Governors - Office of Internet Freedom Internet Censorship Circumvention Tools Blanket Ordering Agreement The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that the Broadcasting Board of Governors' (BBG) Office of Internet Freedom (OIF) intends to hold an "Open Season" period under which proposals will be solicited with the intent of adding new vendors to the agency's multiple-award/multiple task-area Blanket Ordering Agreement (BOA) number BBG50-G-15-0006. This notice is the pre-solicitation notice for the OIF's forthcoming open season Request for Proposals (RFP) for its Internet Censorship Circumvention Tools BOA. Under the forthcoming solicitation, the agency will hold a new competitive procurement to select additional awardees who may compete for orders under task areas 1, 2, 4, and 5. The agency has no plans to award work under task area 3 at this time. The competition will be open to all responsible business concerns having the requisite technical capabilities necessary to provide Internet Censorship Circumvention Tools. The agency is holding the Open Season period with the intent of improving competition, which will result in access to innovative and improved technologies and capabilities, enhanced metrics, improved performance and competitive pricing. General BOA Information The Internet Censorship Circumvention Tools Blanket Ordering Agreement was awarded as a multiple-award/multiple task-area agreement, which is currently in its second year of a five year ordering period. The BOA promotes the use of performance-based contracting and accommodates task orders issued with the following terms: fixed-price (FP) and time-and-materials (T&M). The agency intends to hold competitive procurements for the issuance of new task orders shortly after concluding Open Season awardee selections. The agency anticipates that new task order solicitations will be issued during mid to end of fall, 2017. However, the exact date for issuance of new task order solicitations is not guaranteed and may occur later in the year. Synopsis of Overall Scope of BOA The overall purpose of the BOA and the general nature of the work for task orders awarded under the BOA is to obtain Internet censorship circumvention tools and services. The primary supplies and services required under this contract relate to state-of-the art, specialized information technology (IT) software and systems for circumventing Internet censorship by foreign governments, and require active, ongoing maintenance and support throughout the term of the Task Orders by the Contractor to ensure required service levels. Synopsis of Task Areas 1, 2, 4 and 5 The type of work projects planned for task areas 1, 2, 4 and 5 is synopsized below. Task Area 1 - Circumvention Client Software The contractor shall provide a system to circumvent Internet censorship imposed by foreign governments and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) using client software technology, which, at a minimum, transparently proxies HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) traffic, and may, based on individual Task Order requirements, implement transparent proxy services for additional protocol traffic, up to and including full Virtual Private Network (VPN) service. This system will work on operating systems as specified in each individual Task Order, which may include various desktop and mobile computing devices. This system must allow Internet users in target countries to use this client software package to circumvent the censorship of the Internet within their country. Task Area 2 - Clientless Web Proxies The Contractor shall provide a network of web proxies which may be accessed by any web browser which supports Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) and which can be distributed by BBG broadcasters. This system must allow Internet users in target countries to circumvent the censorship of the Internet within their country by accessing web proxies operated by the Contractor which are distributed globally and use a diverse set of domain names and dynamic IP addresses which cannot easily be discovered, enumerated, and blocked. The proxy sites will need to be changed regularly, based on the specifics of site blockages in the target countries. Task Area 4 - Electronic Mail Newsletter Distribution The Contractor shall distribute an electronic mail (email) newsletter provided by BBG broadcasters to a list of electronic mail addresses provided by the broadcasters, and validated by the Contractor, on a schedule as specified in the Task Order. The Contractor shall evade attempts by foreign governments to censor these newsletters by a variety of techniques. Task Area 5 - Censorship Circumvention Technical Expertise and Support The Contractor shall provide technical expertise in Internet censorship circumvention to further the BBG's other Internet anti-censorship initiatives. This may consist of producing technical documentation and reports on the current state of Internet censorship in target countries; providing computer programming and software engineering for BBG's internal software products, open source software, or other Contractor's software; or setup, maintenance, and operation of computer systems and network devices.
