USAGM Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station Operation and Maintenance Services

The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) requires a Contractor to operate and maintain the Robert E. Kamosa Transmitting Station (REKTS) Facilities.  The Contractor shall be required to provide a qualified staff that shall be capable of completing any and all of the labor tasks outlined in this document.  These are U. S. Government radio transmitting plants located on the island of Tinian and the island of Saipan, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).  These facilities, hereafter referred to as the Tinian Transmitter Plant and the Saipan Transmitter Plant, shall be operated in accordance with the policies and procedures established by the USAGM Office of Technology, Services and Innovation.  These policies and procedures are delineated in a set of publications identified as Transmitter Station Instructions (TSIs’).The Tinian and Saipan Transmitter Plants scheduled program broadcasts are operated in a non-automated broadcast mode during normal working hours. 

After hours, weekends, and holidays, both sites may be remotely operated via laptop by the duty transmitter technician or one site may monitor the other from the Master Control Rooms at either Saipan or Tinian. The Contractor is responsible for maintaining an operable transmitting facility to accommodate the US Government produced broadcasting or sponsored radio programming in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Transmitting Station Instructions (TSIs) and the transmission schedule established by the USAGM Office of Technology, Services and Innovation.  The Contractor is expected to maintain an operable transmitting facility with an average availability of 99.5%.  This means that 99.5% of the scheduled programming is successfully broadcasted.The Contractor shall provide a final Facilities Maintenance Plan within thirty (30) days of contract award to the Contracting Officer and Contracting Specialist.  This should be consistent with all deliverables.  The plan shall identify the proposed approach to preventive and corrective maintenance of the power plants, administration and transmitter building, security guard facility, security gate, grounds, building and grounds facility, and other elements of the physical plant including any of the broadcast equipment and antenna infrastructure.  The antenna infrastructure preventive and corrective maintenance shall include, but not be limited to, antenna, antenna support structure, transmission line, and antenna tower corrosion control maintenance and repair.  Corrosion control includes the maintenance and repair of the antenna tower structure surface rust, which requires chemical conversion of surface rust before the top epoxy or equivalent coatings are applied.The Contractor shall be responsible for the overall maintenance, repair work and general upkeep of the Saipan and Tinian Transmitter Plants.  This shall include, but not be limited to, general buildings and grounds maintenance and repair, antenna, transmission line, and antenna tower corrosion control.  Corrosion control includes the maintenance and repair of the antenna tower structure surface rust, which requires chemical conversion of surface rust before the top epoxy or equivalent coatings are applied.  Seasonal typhoons impacting CNMI have routinely reached wind speeds well beyond tower design limits.  Even tropical disturbances and tropical storm force winds may cause towers to sway.  These seasonal winds and typhoons have torqued and swayed all towers in CNMI.  With every torque and sway created by high winds, paint on tower structures, cross members, platforms, ladders, bolts, and other miscellaneous parts have cracked.  Seasonal rain, in addition to salt particulates blown about by typhoon force winds, is introduced into the aforementioned paint cracks.  The rain and salt particulates that make it into these cracks evaporate very slowly and are often replaced by the next seasonal rain.The Contractor shall be responsible for preventive maintenance and repair of transmitters, power generating equipment, satellite ground station equipment, computers, and all other equipment in the broadcast chain.  Maintenance and repair activities shall be performed in accordance with the requirements established by the TSIs.  If a conflict between the TSI and manufacturer manual occurs, the TSI takes precedence.The Contractor shall take appropriate actions to maintain the grounds, including but not limited to, lawn mowing, grass trimming (around structures, sidewalks and fences), irrigation, general landscaping and vegetation control, road/parking lot maintenance and repair, fence repair, painting, animal and insect infestation control, and spot repairs encountered during daily operations to buildings and structures.The Contractor shall exercise reasonable care in the use of all GFE and shall follow standard industry maintenance practices.  This is to avoid work slowdowns or work stoppage caused by neglected care of GFE equipment and will not be tolerated by the Government.  The Contractor shall be liable for any damage resulting from loss, damage, destruction, theft negligence, misuse, or improper maintenance of GFE.  The contractor shall be expected to provide substitute equipment, at their expense, if the care of any of the GFE assets are determined by the Government to be neglected and therefore, rendered unusable.The Government will supply an initial component of spare parts, building and ground supplies, and administrative office supplies necessary to operate the Saipan and Tinian Transmitter Plants.  Before contract award, the Government will conduct an inventory to ensure that the parts and supply inventories to operate the Saipan and Tinian Transmitter Plants are at adequate levels.The Saipan and Tinian stations are configured for automated operations that may be monitored and controlled by duty transmitter technicians via laptop.  Due to this remote control and monitoring capability, there is no requirement for the Contractor to provide operations staff at the Saipan and Tinian stations 24 hours/day, 7 days/week.  However, the Contractor must develop a clear strategy to rapidly respond to any failure in the broadcast chain in order to quickly restore transmissions and minimize lost broadcast time.  The Contractor shall develop a simple notification process to notify the key Contractor personnel of broadcast failures that may occur at any time, 24 hours a day.  When so notified, the Contractor shall then quickly mobilize operations and maintenance staff to report to the station, correct the fault and rapidly restore programmed broadcasts.The Contractor shall assign only qualified personnel to perform the various tasks required to successfully operate and maintain the Saipan Transmitter Plant and the Tinian Transmitter Plant.  Currently, there are forty-five (45) contract employees supporting the REKTS facilities.  There are sixteen (16) contractor employees at the Saipan Transmitter Plant and twenty-nine (29) contractor employees at the Tinian Transmitter Plant.  A recommended staffing pattern of forty-six (46) contract employees (including security) will be the targeted number of total employees.