RFE/RL AZADI RADIO PROGRAM AND VOA ASHNA RADIO PROGRAM IN AFGHANISTAN

NOTE: The response time has been extended to December 3rd, 2018. 1. The Broadcasting Board of Governors is seeking a radio Station with coverage in Bamyan Province and Daikundi Province in Afghanistan cable or terrestrial to provide the services described below. 2. The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), Office of Strategy and Development (OSD) in Prague, Czech Republic, is seeking a "Provider" that is a news radio Provider. A Provider is defined as a full time radio Station with a one year minimum of operating experience, which has the ability to reach mass audience in Bamyan Province and Daikundi Province in Afghanistan with a reputation for producing respected, credible and accurate news programming. 3. The primary objective is to provide transmission of the BBG-provided content (RFERL Azadi and VOA Ashna unpaid program) on a regular basis, as described below in the broadcast schedule, to the largest possible audience in Bamyan Province and Daikundi Province in Afghanistan using available BBG funding. 4. The preferred Provider shall broadcast RFE/RL Azadi radio program from Monday to Sunday from 07:00 to 09:00 in Bamyan Province in Dari and Pashto language and from 07:00 to 19:00 in Daikundi Province in Dari and Pashto language. The Provider shall also broadcast the unpaid VOA Ashna radio program in Dari and Pashto language from Monday to Sunday from 05:00 to 07:00 in Daikundi Province and from 06:00-07:00 in Bamyan Province local time with the broadcast airing not varying more than two minutes from the aforementioned times. Samples can be found at the following website: https://www.rferl.org/p/5542.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ejvpX2soCI 5. BBG is solely responsible for the content of all BBG provided programming and is authorized to produce its program in the desired format, so long as it does not violate the laws of Afghanistan. 6. The Provider shall supply all personnel, equipment, and transmission services to receive and rebroadcast the RFE/RL Azadi radio Programs and unpaid VOA Ashna radio Programs in its entirety, without pre-emption, alteration, abridgement or excerption. However, the Provider shall have the right to decline to run the BBG content, so long as BBG is notified in advance of the intent and reason, and may recommend changes to program format or content. No alterations shall be made, however, without the prior written agreement of the Contracting Officer (CO), the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR). 7. The Provider will only be paid for the original airings of the RFE/RL Azadi radio Programs and unpaid VOA Ashna radio Programs that are run from start to completion and to the satisfaction of the BBG. 8. The Provider shall inform the BBG in advance of any planned alteration of the program's scheduled broadcast airing or other technical or administrative issues post award. The Provider and the BBG shall provide each other with point of contact information for notification purposes. 9. The BBG will transmit RFE/RL Azadi radio Programs and unpaid VOA Ashna radio Programs to the Provider via satellite, Internet/File Transfer Protocol (FTP), or other means. The technical details of the transmission to the Station(s) and feed transmission times will be mutually agreed upon after contract award once a Station Provider is selected by the BBG.