Socio-Cultural and Psychological Implications of Crowd Control in Countries of Conflict

Contracting Office Address P.O. Box 190022, North Charleston SC 29419-9022 Description Request for Information (RFI) Information pertaining to sociological and psychological disparity of knowledge of crowd situations whether violent or non-violent within multiple cultures. DUE: January 24, 2014 The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWARSYSCEN) Atlantic, Innovation and Discovery Competency (71000) is seeking information to include research studies with associated documentation (i.e. professional papers, journals), database systems information, points of contact (POCs) who possess or have access to information, and/or software pertaining to sociological and psychological disparity of knowledge of crowd situations whether violent or non-violent within multiple cultures. All information should be relevant to the following: 1. Conflict drives people from their homes to other parts of their countries or to other surrounding countries. Demographics change rapidly throughout the Middle East and North Africa. What are the cultural, behavioral and communications changes within the new demographics and what are the elements to crowd development, cohesion and dispersion? 2. Assess behavior, psychological, social, and cultural norms of Middle Eastern and North African persons in differing environments through verbal and non-verbal communication patterns in high conflict areas. Factors associated with crowds that are not well understood especially within culturally diverse groups requiring consideration: How are the groups organized and what is the hierarchical structure of the groups? The levels of violence from non-violent and associated reasoning for escalation versus de-escalation. What are the sociological and psychological factors that may contribute to violent behavior in crowds? What types of behaviors are elicited by levels of violence? What are some of the contributing factors to crowd behavior to include: leader involvement, social media, visual, local media, cultural specific, particular situations, etc.? What crowd-control techniques are most effective in preventing and stopping violent behavior? Is there any real data to validate specific control techniques outside of controls used within Western environments? What are the specific gender and age issues? It is important to get away from Western ideas of sociological and psychological theorem and patterns and conduct a greater research effort in analysis of these areas within specific culturally diverse populations. Obtaining information from NGOs, human terrain cultural data collection agencies, and from education professionals, sociologists and psychologists from specific cultures would be most beneficial. The RFI results will be used to assess the cultural understanding of crowd development and dispersion within high conflict areas, specifically, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and the African Sahel to include the Sudans and Somalia. Specific information sought includes: Lists of documents pertaining to the research queries stated previously: professional papers, journals, books, etc. If documents can be acquired without purchase, request those items be emailed to Ms. Terresa Jackson according to Submittal requirements stated below. Data base systems information with points of contact for accesses, if necessary. If corporate or government agency, need information on the company including name, URL, mailing address, email and phone. Simulation environments software or online URLs with points of contact for accesses, if necessary. Brief description of system's features, capabilities, performance, and availability. Technology Readiness Level (TRL) with a brief description of system state of readiness or availability. This should include statements on demonstrated or evaluated performance. Cost information on those items that require purchase such as licensing, price and General Services Administration (GSA) schedule information if available. Submittals The technical point of contact is Terresa Jackson at contact@example.gov. Please provide documentation packages to Ms. Jackson via the US Army's ARMDEC SAFE transfer site (https://safe.amrdec.army.mil/SAFE2/). Acceptable submission formats include Microsoft Word and/or pdf. Large (> 5Mb) data packages will not accepted by Navy email. ARMDEC SAFE is certified to FOUO and will accept data file transfers up to 2 GB total and 25 (zip) files. Documentation packages should be appropriately marked for distribution/dissemination rights (i.e., FOUO, etc.). DVDs and/or CDs of free software may be mailed to the following address: Terresa Jackson 5215 Timberhurst San Antonio, TX 78250 All submissions should be provided no later than 12:00 PM CST, 24 January 2014. Technical questions, issues, etc. may be directed to Ms. Jackson via email. This RFI is for information gathering and planning purposes only, and should not be construed as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or solicitation of an offer. The Government DOES NOT intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or otherwise pay for the information solicited. E-mail your non-technical contract related questions to the Contract Specialist at contact@example.gov.