DHS S&T Request for Information

Open Source Social Media Analytics

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Science and Technology Directorate
Open Source and Social Media Analytics Capabilities
January 25, 2016
THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for
information and planning purposes; it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a
promise to issue an RFP. Furthermore, those who respond to this RFI should not anticipate
feedback with regard to its submission. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract
for any supply or service. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay any cost
incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at
the interested partys expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any
future RFP.
The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government.
All submissions become the property of the U.S Government, and will not be returned. The
Government reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose
deemed necessary and legally appropriate.
Any organization responding to this notice should ensure that its response is complete and
sufficiently detailed. No classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in
the response. Any proprietary information submitted shall be appropriately marked as identified
in Section 3.1 below. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical
information in any resultant solicitation(s).
All information submitted in response to this RFI is the responders consent to share submissions
with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) including DHS component agencies, DHS
oversight offices (e.g., Privacy Office, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Office of
General Counsel, Office of Policy), and associated support contractors, as well as members of
the DHS Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee and related
subcommittee members. Any non-federal participants in the review of submitted information
will do so in accordance with signed DHS Non-disclosure agreement.
1. DESCRIPTION
DHS, Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), in cooperation with the DHS Social Media
Task Force (SMTF) 1, is interested in open source 2 and social media 3 analytics capabilities and
related technologies that enable and enhance homeland security missions and operations.
Specific mission areas that may benefit include but are not limited to privacy, civil rights and
1

The Social Media Task Force is a high-level, DHS-wide effort responsible for examining how best to use social
media to fulfill DHS missions, while also protecting privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. .
2
Open source information represents publicly available information on the World Wide Web that is accessible to
the public..
3
Social media represents information that can be obtained from a variety of community platforms in accordance
with source privacy policies.

DHS S&T Request for Information

Open Source Social Media Analytics

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

civil liberties-protecting analytic methods and technology that create value for (1) criminal
investigations, (2) screening and vetting of individuals or organizations traveling or seeking a
government benefit, (3) homeland security mission-related situation awareness applications and
(4) public affairs and outreach. DHS is seeking additional information from industry to assist
with the identification of transformational opportunities to improve mission and achieve
operational efficiencies and lower costs through advanced analytic automation for DHS and the
Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE).
2. PURPOSE OF THIS RFI
2.1 The purpose of this RFI is to ascertain available sources that can provide privacy, civil
rights and civil liberties-protecting open source and social media analytics capabilities and
technologies, including privacy protecting features, analytic architecture, computing, storage,
language, analytics, and visualization capabilities that are based on open source or commonly
available commercial technologies and represent technology options of high value to the future
of homeland security.
2.2 This RFI is intended to assist DHS in understanding the current status of industry sources,
business practices, technical capacity, and operational capability to inform potential acquisition
strategies. The responses to this RFI should contain descriptions of capabilities that represent
current products and/or capabilities that will be productized in the coming year. DHS is currently
interested in original product manufacturers only.
2.3 Information provided will be reviewed in accordance with Section 4 of this document. Up
to 30 select exemplars of social media analytics capabilities in the market place will be invited to
make a technology presentation to DHS including DHS component agencies, DHS oversight
offices (e.g., Privacy Office, Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Office of General
Counsel, Office of Policy), and associated support contractors, as well as members of the DHS
Homeland Security Science and Technology Advisory Committee and related subcommittee
members at DHS. Presentations will be conducted at a location in the Washington D.C.
metropolitan area at the date and time specified in Section 4.2 below. Respondents not invited to
present may participate via webinar on a first come first serve basis. Invited presentations will be
considered as market research and will serve to broaden DHS understanding of the marketplace
for emerging privacy, civil rights and civil liberties-protecting open source and social media
analytics capabilities.
3. INFORMATION REQUESTED
3.1 Any information submitted in response to this RFI considered to be proprietary shall be
appropriately marked. Appropriate markings at a minimum must be header and footer on each
page proprietary information is included as well as a P in the margin where proprietary
information begins and brackets, [ ], at the beginning and end of the proprietary text. To facilitate
ease of review for DHS, respondents are asked to provide information in the order/format set
forth in the section 3 (i.e., provide Corporate Information first (3.2), followed by Technical
Information (3.3), etc.

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Open Source Social Media Analytics

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

3.2 Corporate Information.

3.2.1 Organization name and the year in which the company was established/founded (list
any previous names used).
3.2.2 Location of corporate headquarters.
3.2.3 Information regarding the certifications, and commercial recognitions and associations.
3.2.4 Industry North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes and business
size for each NAICS code.
3.2.5 Vehicles and contracts currently held (vehicle, agency, expiration date), including
GSA Federal Supply Schedule contracts or other Government-wide Acquisition
Contracts (GWACs) vehicles (i.e., NITAAC, ALLIANT, DHS Eagle, NASA SEWP,
etc.).
3.2.6 Overview of the kinds of services or core capabilities the entity offers.
3.3 Technical Information.
3.3.1 Provide a brief description of your privacy, civil rights and civil liberties-protecting
open source and social media capabilities, including any data sources, privacy, civil rights or
civil liberties protection mechanisms, security, storage, language processing, geo-spatial
processing, data analytics, data visualization, APIs and user interface(s). This summary should
be submitted in the tabular format that is provided below. Not all capabilities discussed below
may be appropriate for all situations, but an overview of the services or capabilities on offer will
help the Department in its evaluation.
Open Source and Social Media Analytics Capability Summary
<Insert Name of the
Capability>
Data Sources

High Level Description(s)

Social Media Platforms

<Briefly list and describe how social media

platforms interface with your capability. Identify
any data plans, subscriptions, and services related
to data sources that are available directly through
your capability.>

Web Sources

<Briefly list example sources and describe how

web data interfaces with your capability. Identify
any data plans, subscriptions, and services related
to data sources that are available directly through
your capability.>

DHS S&T Request for Information

Open Source Social Media Analytics

Deep Web Sources

<Briefly list example sources and describe whether

and how deep web data interfaces with your
capability. Identify any data plans, subscriptions,
and services related to data sources that are
available directly through your capability.>

Dark Web Sources

<Briefly list example sources and describe whether

and how dark web data interfaces with your
capability. Identify any data plans, subscriptions,
and services related to data sources that are
available directly through your capability.>

Other Data Sources

<Briefly list example sources and describe how

other data interfaces with your capability.>

Data Ingestion Methods

Batch Loading
Analytics Capabilities
Language Processing
Media Processing (Image,
Speech, Video)
Geospatial Processing
Foreign Language
Capabilities

<Analytic Methodologies>
Analyst Interface

<User Interfaces>

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

<Briefly list and describe the data ingestion

methods of your capability.>
<Briefly describe how the system can batch and/or
stream the loading of information (e.g. limited
biographical information, keywords or other
filtering mechanisms) that is used to select open
source and social media of interest. Briefly
describe the accuracy of the resulting methods on
selection of relevant information>
<Briefly describe language processing features of
the system and associated accuracy metrics at a
high level.>
<Briefly describe how the system processes the
content of media files as part of analysis and
associated accuracy metrics at a high level.>
<Briefly describe the geospatial features of the
capability and associated accuracy metrics at a
high level.>
<Briefly describe capabilities that are available for
processing foreign language and associated
accuracy metrics at a high level.>
<Whether autonomous, automated or human,
make a table entry for each major analytic
method supported, e.g. network analysis,
ontological search, etc. and associated accuracy
metrics at a high level>
<Make a table entry for each major interface and
briefly describe its purpose. Some examples might
cover the Analyst Interface, Data Scientist
Interface, Administrator Interface, etc.>

DHS S&T Request for Information

Open Source Social Media Analytics

Information Sharing
System Capabilities

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

<Briefly describe how the capability supports

information sharing between users of the system>

System Hosting Methods

<Briefly describe methods for hosting your

capability in private, commercial, government
and/or hybrid cloud infrastructures.>

Integration Methods

<Briefly describe interface methods (e.g. Restful

API's etc.) that can be used to integrate your
capability with other systems.

Storage System

<Briefly describe and characterize how your

capability stores information (including
writing/reading/deleting data) that will be
accessed by users>

Streaming Capabilities

<Briefly describe and characterize how your

capability processes streaming data sources and
updates information that will be accessed by
users>

Data Management

<Briefly describe how data is managed within the

system over time, including encryption strategies,
enforcement of data retention policies, etc.>

Information Sharing

<Briefly describe any high level functions that

enable data sharing between your capability and
other capabilities.>

Privacy, Civil Rights and Civil

Liberties Protections

<Briefly describe how privacy policies that govern

the usage of your capability are expressed and
enforced within your system. Identify unique
privacy, civil rights and civil liberties protection
features that are available in your capability.>

Information Security

<Briefly describe the security profile and features

of your capability. Highlight conformance with
government guidelines for information security.>

3.3.2 Provide the recommended hardware/OS requirements (if applicable). As hardware

resources are doubled for the same amount of data, how does the increase translate to the
efficiency of your solution?
3.3.3 Provide architectural information and diagrams representing system concepts for the
described capability (e.g., security, privacy, civil rights and civil liberties, data storage, data
ingest, data processing, analytics, compliance with the Federal Enterprise Architecture 4 where
relevant.
4

[http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/e-gov/fea]), etc.).

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Open Source Social Media Analytics

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

3.3.4 Identify any underlying open source technology and/or standard(s) or other standards,
such as ISO, IEEE, industry, etc., to which each capability or product adheres.
3.3.5 Identify methods that are available in your solution for hardening the capability and/or
security features that are intrinsic to your capability to meet FISMA security standards for
private and/or government cloud deployment if relevant.
3.3.6 Provide a detailed description of the capability, its performance attributes, and its
differentiated position in the open source and social media analytics marketplace.
3.3.7 Describe your methods for ingesting data from social media source systems and open
sources, automatic application of metadata and other tags, and delivery to analysts and users in
near real time.
3.3.8 Address one (or more, if applicable) of the following four technical areas that relate to
open source and social media analytics as relevant to your solution:
3.3.8.1 Training Identify training, workshops, and experiences that can help government
analysts share best practices for protecting individual privacy, civil rights and liberties while
utilizing open source and social media data sources to improve DHS mission and operations
related to investigations, screening and homeland security mission-related situation awareness
applications. Emphasize methods for training analysts in understanding language and cultural
aspects of open source and social media. Include metrics that can be used to assess analytic
performance during training and recommended continuous training patterns associated with your
solution.
3.3.8.2 Privacy, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Protection Security, access, source
selection, data collection, analysis, correction, redress, and data removal methods that protect the
privacy, civil rights and civil liberties of individuals involved in open source and social media
communications. This includes, but is not limited to, automatic/automated US Person
Identification, role based access to information, user audit, system logging, policy enforcing
mechanisms, encryption, etc.
3.3.8.3 Open Source and Social Media Data Sources Identify data sources and platforms
that are provided as part of vendor capabilities and/or describe methods for ingesting [if relevant]
additional open source and social media data sources for use in analysis. Emphasize tools that
make the process of ingesting new data sources for analysis efficient. Describe any related
subscription services, specific sources, general sources, and limitations associated with data
sources. Describe how privacy and terms of use policies of different data sources are enforced
within the capability.
3.3.8.4 Social Media Analysis Capabilities Identify and describe analytic methods and
capabilities that address identity, geospatial, language, keyword, images, text image, spoken
language, video, clustering, network and other analytic technical capabilities that help analysis,
data scientists and/or other end users alike identify patterns, trends, and data segments of interest
in the context of homeland security investigative, screening and/or homeland security mission

DHS S&T Request for Information

Open Source Social Media Analytics

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

related situation awareness missions including dynamic and continuous correlation; capabilities
that inherently manage information relationships and models; and agile analytics capabilities that
can help data scientists and/or end users identify and dynamically exploit emerging trends in data
sets and data flows. It is important to identify features of the system that aid in
understanding/diagnosing/improving the performance of analytic operations over time.
3.3.8.5 Open Source and Social Media Analytics Visual Interface visual capabilities for
helping users understand important relationships in large data sets (e.g., geospatial, graphs, word
clouds, heat maps, languages, media types, etc.); information access in mobile environments; and
capabilities that enable information sharing, including any visual depictions of large/complex
information.
3.3.8.6 Analytic system architecture, scale, speed and accuracy provide a description of
the system architecture including support for private, commercial and government, and hybrid
cloud instances. Identify technical methods by which the described capabilities scale to meet
increasing information needs as well as the impact of increasing scale on analytic performance in
terms of speed and accuracy. Identify system integration points for your capability and inventory
APIs and any other methods of integrating your solution with existing information systems.
Explain system instrumentation that will enable auditing data, computation, analytic, user and
other relevant computer security operations. Characterize the largest customer use case that is
operational in terms of numbers/types/locations of users, computing resources, storage, and
response times.
3.3.9 Provide an exemplar case study or success story where your open source and social
media capabilities were integrated with an investigative, screening, and/or homeland security
mission related situation awareness application that is relevant to homeland security. Explain key
design alternatives considered, challenges faced in achieving privacy, civil rights and civil
liberties compliance, system performance, analytic methodology, security and customer
satisfaction aspects of the use case.
3.3.10 Provide information on what Federal agencies and/or private entities have benefited
from your open source and social media capabilities and how your company is prepared to
deliver and service open source and social capabilities to a Federal agency that must comply with
privacy, civil rights and civil liberties compliance, information technology laws, regulations and
policies.
3.3.11 If selected to present, the Government requests that presenters have the technical
knowledge and experience to understand and answer complex questions from DHS. To ensure
active technical dialogue, the Government prefers presenters from the development/technology
side of the organization and not marketing or sales team type representatives for the
presentations. Provide a brief description of the qualifications of the individuals who will present
if your organization is selected. If available, provide links to specific presentation examples that
might be publically available, such as YouTube videos and TED talks on the Internet or videos
on your corporate website.

DHS S&T Request for Information

Open Source Social Media Analytics

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

4. SELECTION OF RESPONSES FOR PRESENTATION

4.1 Selection of responses for presentation will be based upon our determination of
the following attributes:
4.1.1 Quality, clarity, and completeness of the response to items in Section 3.
4.1.2 Relevance to DHS mission area needs as defined in the Quadrennial Homeland
Security Review (QHSR) but specifically investigative, screening and homeland security mission
related situation awareness aspects of open source and social media analysis that are related to
mission areas. (see http://www.dhs.gov/quadrennial-homeland-security-review-qhsr).
4.1.3 Qualifications and communication capabilities of staff identified to deliver a
presentation on behalf of the response at future open source and social media technology
presentations.
4.2 Presentations will be made to all those identified in Section 2.3 above and are scheduled for
Friday, February 26, 2016 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Presentations will be conducted at a location in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The
specific location for presentations will be provided to those selected for presentations
approximately two weeks prior to the event. Details regarding selected speakers and a draft
agenda will be made available by email to all respondents in adequate time before the event to
allow webinar registration.
5. RFI RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS
5.1 Interested parties having the expertise and capabilities are invited to submit detailed
information discussing their capabilities to Cherita Thomas, at cherita.thomas@hq.dhs.gov by
3:00 PM EST on Tuesday, February 9, 2016. Only electronic submissions will be
accepted. Each electronic submission shall include:
5.1.1 An email that includes the following:
5.1.1.1 In the subject line: Response to Open Source and Social Media Capabilities RFI
insert name of company;
5.1.1.2 Name of contractor submitting the email and the firms mailing address;
5.1.1.3 A Point of Contact (POC), telephone number, and email address of the person to be
contacted regarding any correspondence between the Government and the Contractor. The POC
shall be capable of addressing questions or issues associated with the submission and content of
the RFI;
5.1.1.4 Total number of electronic files being submitted, if more than one electronic file is
being attached.

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Open Source Social Media Analytics

HSHQDC-16-SMTF-RFI

5.1.2 Attached to the email, a maximum number of 15 pages per submission with Times New
Roman font greater than or equal to 12 pt. Electronic files larger than 5 MB shall be broken
down into multiple files with no one file exceeding 5 MB. Each electronic file shall be numbered
(e.g., File 1 of 4, File 2 of 4, etc.).
5.2 Interested parties should limit marketing material in order to allow sufficient space for
adequately, directly, and substantively responding with the information of most interest to the
Government.
5.3 Responses to this RFI may be reviewed by Government technical experts drawn from staff
within DHS including its component agencies, DHS oversight offices (e.g., Privacy Office,
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Office of General Counsel, Office of Policy), and
associated support contractors, as well as members of the DHS Homeland Security Science and
Technology Advisory Committee and related subcommittee members. Any non-federal
participants in the review of submitted information will do so in accordance with a signed DHS
Non-disclosure Agreement. As stated above, all information submitted in response to this RFI is
the responders consent to share submissions with all those identified herein.
5.4 If selected to present, vendors will be required to sign a Gratuitous Services Agreement
for Open Source and Social Media Technology Presentations prior to being registered as a
presenter. All other vendors that are not presenting but participating in the webinar will be
required to comply with the Rules of Behavior for Open Source and Social Media Rules of
Behavior. This document will be provided at the time of webinar registration and must be
signed before authorized to complete registration.