Inactive

The Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) on behalf of the Office of Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) hereby issues this notice of intent to award a sole source procurement. DHS OPO intends t... The Office of Procurement Operations (OPO) on behalf of the Office of Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) hereby issues this notice of intent to award a sole source procurement. DHS OPO intends to solicit and award a sole source contract to OpenMined located at 154 W 14th Street, New York, NY 10011. This is a notice of intent to solicit and award a sole source contract under the authority of FAR 6.302-1 “Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements”. Summary of the requirement Background In May 2021 the White House Press Secretary announced that the United States Government would be joining the Christchurch Call to Action to Eliminate Terrorist and Violent Extremist Content Online. The Christchurch Call is a commitment by Governments and online service providers to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content (TVEC) online. It rests on the conviction that a free, open, and secure internet offers extraordinary benefits to society. Respect for freedom of expression is fundamental, however, no one has the right to create and share TVEC online. Specifically, by signing to support the Christchurch Call, Governments commit to: • Counter the drivers of terrorism and violent extremism. • Ensure effective enforcement of applicable laws. • Encourage media outlets to apply ethical standards. • Support frameworks, such as industry standards. • Consider appropriate action. In September 2022, the Christchurch Call announced the Christchurch Call Initiative on Algorithmic Outcomes (CCIAO), between the Government of New Zealand, the U.S. Government, Twitter/X, and Microsoft to invest in an initiative under the banner of the Christchurch Call that will support the creation of new technology to understand the impacts of algorithms on people’s online experiences. The CCIAO identified the need to develop and test ground-breaking privacy enhancing software infrastructure to address challenges identified in the Christchurch Call and CCIAO to move forward work under the Call. The CCIAO aims to answer important questions about Artificial Intelligence (AI)/human interactions online in a scaled, affordable, and user-friendly way, without compromising the security of systems nor the privacy of user information. It will achieve this by building a platform based on privacy enhancing technologies. Once tested, replicated, and validated, these technologies would form the basis for an infrastructure to support independent study of impacts of algorithms and their interactions with users, including across multiple platforms and types of platforms, and would dramatically lower the barriers to doing this work without accessing those underlying data and systems. Phase 1 of the CCIAO began in December 2021 and was focused on field testing PySyft, an infrastructure for remote access execution. Phase 1 was completed in November 2023, when the Contractor was able to build and test the infrastructure towards a proof of function supporting the integration of each participating platform that was in compliance with applicable United States and European Union legal frameworks. In addition, the Contractor was able to demonstrate its capabilities by conducting studies at multiple social media platforms with a small number of third-party researchers. Phase 2 aims to build, evaluate, and refine the infrastructure while commissioning additional research on the amplification of TVEC through the CCIAO platform. DHS S&T, through its co-leadership of the Five Research and Development (5RD) Countering Violent Extremism Network, identified the common need across Five Eyes countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to conduct research to better understand the role of online media in radicalization and connecting online and offline activity. As such, S&T is to conducting research in support of implementing commitments agreed to as part of the Christchurch Call, to support the shift into Phase 2 of the CCIAO. This effort will integrate lessons from Phase 1 into the software infrastructure while scaling up and delivering new system components. These components, once built, tested, scaled, and deployed together, will help the U.S. and international partners develop a comprehensive cybersecurity framework that ensures integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the system with appropriate regulations and legal compliance, access controls, protection and recovery measures, testing and oversight to ensure the CCIAO project’s success. Scope The scope includes research on how privacy-enhancing technologies could aid in the study of online radicalization, in support of the CCIAO. The contractor will need to meet the following minimum capabilities: Contractor shall have the ability to add capabilities and improvements to the PySyft software, while making these tools publicly available on GitHub and PyPi. Contractor shall have agreements in place with the New Zealand Government, the U.S. Government, Twitter/X, and Microsoft to perform work under the auspices of the Christchurch Call and the CCIAO. Contractor shall have subject matter expertise in privacy enhancing technologies. Contractor shall have subject matter expertise in software development. Contractor shall have subject matter expertise in conducting research to understand the impacts of algorithms on individual online experiences. Place of Performance: The primary place of performance will be at contractor facilities. Period of Performance: 12 months after date of award. Market research was performed and supports the sole source determination. A determination by the Government not to compete based upon responses to this notice is solely at the discretion of the Government. This is a notice of the intent to award a sole source contract. It is published for informational purposes only and not a request for competitive proposals. Therefore, no solicitation document exists for this requirement. Any firm believing that they can fulfill the requirement may be considered by the agency. Interested parties may identify their interest and capabilities in response to this synopsis. All questions and/or comments regarding this notice shall be addressed in writing to the Contracting Officer Jennifer.Koons@hq.dhs.gov by September 18, 2024, by 2:00 PM Eastern. Questions by phone will not be considered.