Release Document 5 10 22.pdf

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Request for Proposal (RFP)
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Reporting of online harms and threats against the
COVID -19 response

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RFP released: 16th February 2022
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Deadline for Questions: 25th February 2022
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Deadline for Proposals: 18th March 2022

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The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
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Level 10, Executive Wing
Parliament Buildings
Wellington 6011
New Zealand

The opportunity
This RFP is issued by The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC), referred to below as “the
Buyer” or “we” or “us”.
The Buyer wish to source a supplier that can provide regular research reports on a range of open sources of
mainstream and media platforms or other sources to identify online harms and threats against the COVID -
19 response.
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What we need
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We require regular scanning and assessment of the online open-source mis/disinformation landscape to
provide us with a system analysis of harmful misinformation relating to the COVID-19 response. This
reporting will continually inform the COVID-19 response to support the COVID-19 Protection Framework in
protecting and minimising the spread of COVID -19.
What we don’t want
The Buyer does not want proposals for methodology that has not been tried before. The Buyer does not
want theoretical Proposals about abstract or speculative approaches.
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What’s important to us?
It is of high importance the provider can supply researchers with high experience in delivering the services
required by the Buyer. The Buyer is looking for providers who have the capability, experience and
infrastructure to deliver the reporting. They need to have a good track record in delivering similar services.
Delivery in full, on time, as per specifications (DIFOTIS) is important to us.
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Successful providers will act with integrity and use data collection methods that align with the model
standards for information gathering published by the Public Service Commission.
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Why should you bid?
This is a unique opportunity to support and inform the COVID-19 response. The analysis and insights that you
provide will contribute to building and maintaining a strategic picture of the mis- and disinformation context
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and inform a strategy to build resilience to the harms of mis- and disinformation.
When the information environment is deliberately confused by mis- and disinformation, this can threaten
public safety, fracture community cohesion and undermine the public acceptance of science’s role in
informing health policy, such as the vaccine programme.
Our primary objective in countering disinformation is to give the public confidence in information available
to them so that they are equipped to make ful y informed decisions.
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A bit about us
DPMC’s work is all about ensuring New Zealanders live in a country that is ambitious, resilient and well-
governed. DPMC's overall area of responsibility is in helping to provide, at an administrative level, the

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'constitutional and institutional glue' that underlies our system of parliamentary democracy. DPMC is a mid-
sized agency of eight business units, with approximately 275 staff in Auckland, Wel ington, and Christchurch.
We have a unique role as the trusted advisor, leader, and steward of our system of executive government.
COVID-19 Group is a business unit at DPMC and is guided by a mission to mobilise the collective capacity of
government to eliminate COVID-19 while sustaining New Zealand’s economy and social cohesion.
The Group’s key functions are:
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•  Strategy and policy integration – leadership and coordination of the overarching strategy for response,
and coordination and integration of advice on readiness and response activities across agencies;
•  System readiness and planning – coordination and convening role across delivery agencies to ensure
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alignment of planning activities;
•  Insights and reporting – drawing on research and evaluation (both domestic and international) to ensure
continuous improvement of the system;
•  Risk and assurance – assurance that the right work is happening across government, in the right sequence
and at the appropriate pace, advising on any emerging risks, and ensuring any gaps are identified and
addressed; and
•  Communications and engagement  –  leadership and coordination of public communications, and
coordination of stakeholder engagement.
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Key Information
1.1  Context
a.  This Request for Proposals (RFP) is an invitation to submit a Proposal for the reporting of
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online harms and threats against the COVID -19 response contract opportunity.
b.  This RFP is a single-step procurement process.
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1.2  Our timeline
Here is our timeline for this RFP (all are New Zealand times and dates):
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Respondent briefing session
W/C 21st February 2022

Deadline for Questions
4pm 25th February 2022
Deadline for us to answer questions
3rd March 2022
Deadline for Proposals
4pm 18th March 2022
Successful Respondent(s) notified (indicative)
4th April 2022
Expected start date of Contract (indicative)
14th April 2022
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1.3  How to contact us
a.  Contact us through our Point of Contact via email.

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b.  Our Point of Contact:
COVID-19 Procurement
Email address: [email address]

Please put ‘Disinformation RFP’ at the start of your subject line
c.  To apply to register for our Respondent briefing session (week commencing 21st February 2022), contact
our Point of Contact via email. In your application for briefing registration please provide a brief
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description of your organisation and its services, the name/s of those wishing to attend, their phone
number and email address.
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1.4  Developing and submitting your Proposal
a.  This is a closed, competitive tender process.
b.  Take time to read and understand the RFP.
c.  Take time to understand our Requirements. These are in SECTION 2  of this document.
d.  Take time to understand how your Proposal will be evaluated. See SECTION 3 of this document.
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e.  For resources on tendering visit  https://www.procurement.govt.nz/suppliers-2/
f.  If you have questions, ask our Point of Contact before the Deadline for Questions (see Section 1.2 above).
g.  Use the Response Form to submit your Proposal.
h.  Complete and sign the declaration at the end of the Response Form.
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i.  Use the Pricing Schedule included in the Response Form for your pricing information.
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j.  Check you have provided all the necessary information in the correct format and order.
k.  Submit your Proposal before the Deadline for Proposals.
1.5  Address for submitting your Proposal
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Submit your Proposal to Point of Contact before the Deadline for Questions (see Section 1.2 above).
We wil  not accept Proposals sent by post or delivered to our office.
1.6  Our RFP Terms
a.  Offer Validity Period
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By submitting a Proposal, the Respondent agrees that their offer will remain open for six (6) calendar
months from the Deadline for Proposals.
b.  RFP Terms
By submitting a proposal, the Respondent agrees to the RFP-Terms described in SECTION 6. Remember, if

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a Respondent commits a non-trivial breach of the RFP-Terms, we may exclude them from further
participation in the RFP process, whether or not that requirement is contractually binding.
1.7  Later changes to the RFP or RFP process
a.  After publishing the RFP, if we need to change anything or provide additional information, we will let all
Respondents know by contacting Respondents by email.
1.8  Defined terms
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These are shown using capitals. You can find all definitions at the back of the RFP-Terms (section 6 in this
document).
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SECTION 2:  Our Requirements
2.1  Background
The current COVID-19 narratives are mostly related to vaccines though there are emerging activities relating
to the COVID-19 Protection Framework (CPF) including My Vaccine Pass (MVP) and vaccine mandates,
especial y for 5-11-year-old children.
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Many of these narratives are woven into larger themes centred around mistrust of authorities and
international businesses and relate to concerns about side effects, safety and long-term effects of the
vaccine and perceptions of COVID-19 restrictions. Most themes originate from outside New Zealand but are
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tailored to New Zealand audiences.
While most misinformation is not spread intentionally, there are a small group of people and organisations
within New Zealand and overseas who actively share disinformation and seek to cause harm by threatening
public safety, fracturing community cohesion and reduce trust in democracy.
False information can be spread through a range of different channels, including social media, traditional
media (television, radio and print), pamphlets, letterbox drops and word of mouth.
Mainstream social media platforms (e.g. Facebook and YouTube) are the most common means of
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disseminating COVID-19 disinformation in Aotearoa though there is increasing use of alternate platforms to
coordinate activity.
There are increasing reports of spokespeople, government employees and frontline workers targeted online
and offline.
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A range of government agencies are working to mitigate the consequences of false information.
Our strategic communications approach focuses on providing readily available reliable information while
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building and strengthening resilience to false information.
2.2  Key outcomes
The outcomes we want to achieve are:
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•  Regular and objective qualitative and quantitative analysis of the online open-source
mis/disinformation landscape, including tracking of a set of consistent, core set of metrics and trends
over time, using appropriate data visualisations to ascertain, for example, whether harm is
consistently escalating or not.
•  To understand changes and risks in the mis and disinformation narratives in a timely way so that
proactive action can be taken to protect New Zealanders from online harms
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•  Prevent the propagation of false and damaging content

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2.3  What we require from a Respondent:
We are looking to source regular (e.g. weekly/fortnightly tbc) evidence-driven qualitative and quantitative
analysis of the trends and signals in the Aotearoa New Zealand open-source online landscape that indicate
changes in the context and nature of online content relating to COVID-19, particularly in regard to
mis/disinformation. This includes assessment of global trends and narratives, where they intersect with
observations made within the Aotearoa New Zealand landscape.
We are seeking a supplier that can provide actionable insights to inform agency decision making, and raw
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data on content of concern also needs to be ingestible at a machine-readable level (e.g. in MS Excel).
Reporting should be appropriate to government classification and sharing protocols and use a standard of
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probabilistic language that is consistent with broader Government agency reporting.
The methods of data col ection and the information provided in the monitoring reports should align with the
model standards for information gathering published by the Public Service Commission. These model
standards provide a set of expectations for information needed to give effect to the responsibilities that
agencies have to protect people, information and places, to ensure regulatory compliance, and to detect and
prevent criminal offending. These reflect the relevant provisions of the Privacy Act 1993 (now superseded by
the Privacy Act 2020).
We will evaluate each tender response on four criteria; Fit for Purpose, Capability, Capacity and Price;
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a.  Fit for Purpose
We are seeking Respondents that:
o   can provide services that meet or exceed our requirements - demonstrate clearly how well they
understand our requirements
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o   provides the level of quality we require
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o  can provide actionable insights from their analysis of the of the online open-source landscape
o   can articulate and mitigate risk
o  can provide a equity lens over the analysis
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o  can give assurance that they will keep the information they collect secure and in accordance with the
Privacy Act 2020.
b.  capability
We are seeking Respondents that can:
o  provide information that demonstrates their track record
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o  allocate the right people to deliver the services
o  demonstrate how key personnel (and subcontractors) develop and maintain a high skil  set in the
delivery of the requirements

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o  provide a description of their understanding of likely challenges and key success factors in providing
these services.
o  articulate how they support the Government’s Broader Outcomes policy
o  demonstrate understanding of the effects of misinformation and disinformation on public safety,
social cohesion
o  Demonstrate that data collection methods will be carried out in line with the terms and conditions of
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the platforms they monitor (i.e. no assumed/false identities).
c.  capacity
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We are seeking Respondents that can:
o  deliver in Full on Time in Spec (DIFOTIS) in New Zealand – as per our Requirements.
o  provide the sufficient resources to work on the delivery
o  support their delivery with good infrastructure (operational and financial systems to manage
delivery).
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2.4  Other information
a.  The supplier may be handling confidential and sensitive information, this will be covered by the contract.
b.  Payment will be monthly on invoice.
c.  Work completed as part of this RFP is to remain confidential, this will be covered by the contract. Any
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findings will be the property of DPMC. This means that if the supplier wishes to publish reports or
updates, or tweets or social media posts, this first must be approved by DPMC. Any disclosure must be
pre-approved and in a format that is acceptable to government (for example a robust report).
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d.  NZ-Online-Extremism-Findings-Report.pdf (dia.govt.nz)
2.5  Contract term
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We anticipate that the Contract wil  commence 14th April 2022. The anticipated Contract term is 1 year with
the option of extending with a further 2x6 months. In total 2 years.
2.6  Contract value
We estimate the value of this Contract to be $105,000 plus GST for the initial term, and 210,000 plus GST in
aggregate if all renewals and extensions are taken up.
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SECTION 4:  Pricing information
4.1  Pricing information provided by Respondents
a.  Respondents must use the Pricing Schedule (section 3.3) provided in the RFP Response Form.
b.  The Pricing Schedule must show a breakdown of al  costs, fees, expenses and charges.
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c.  Where the price is based on fee rates, specify all rates, either hourly or daily or both as required.
d.  Respondents must show how they will manage risks and contingencies related to the delivery of the
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Requirements.
e.  Respondents must document al  assumptions and dependencies that affect its pricing and/or the total
cost to us. In other words, if the Respondent would expect us to pay more than the quoted price or
estimate if particular assumptions or dependencies are not satisfied, the Respondent must cal  out
those assumptions and dependencies.
f.  Respondents must tender prices in NZ$. Unless otherwise agreed, we will arrange contractual payments
in NZ$. If there are foreign exchange implications explain how risk in foreign exchange will be dealt with
here.
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g.  any anticipated expenses (such as travel costs for resources) should be clearly identified; and
h.  all pricing is to be exclusive of GST and other local taxes and duties. If other taxes or duties apply these
should be indicated.
i.  Respondents may submit a pricing approach that is different to the Pricing Schedule, however, the
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Respondent must also submit a Pricing Schedule that conforms.
j.  If two or more Respondents intend to submit a joint Proposal, the Pricing Schedule must include al
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costs, fees, expenses and charges chargeable by al  Respondents. If this is the case, only the lead in the
consortium will issue invoices.
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SECTION 5:  Our Proposed Contract
5.1  Proposed Contract
The Government Model Contract for Services wil  be the proposed contract. The contract template is
attached with the issue of this RFP. The Terms and Conditions are available HERE.
If the successful respondent is member of the All of Government Consultancy Supplier Panel, a Consultancy
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Service Order wil  be the proposed contract.
In submitting your tender response, you must let us know if you wish to question and/or negotiate any of
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the terms or conditions in the Proposed Contract, or wish to negotiate new terms and/or conditions. The
Response Form contains a section for you to state your position. If you do not state your position, you wil
be deemed to have accepted the terms and conditions in the Proposed Contract in ful .
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SECTION 6: RFP Terms
View the RFP Terms dated V.2. June 2021.
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