Description
The U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), International Broadcasting Bureau's (IBB), Voice of America (VOA), Television Service (TV), and Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) are seeking qualified individuals for various free-lance broadcasting services assignments in Washington, DC; Miami, FL (for OCB); and overseas locations. The VOA broadcasts in English and 52 other languages. These languages are as follows: Afan Oromo, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic (MERN), Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cantonese, Creole, Croatian, Czech, Dari, Estonian, Farsi, French, Georgian, Greek, Hausa, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Khmer, Kirundi, Kinyarwanda, Korean, Kurdish, Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Mandarin, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Tibetan, Tigrigna, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek and Vietnamese. VOA and TV are seeking qualified individuals for the following types of free-lance assignments: Radio-TV Broadcast Announcers, Narrators and Personalities, Researchers, Writers, Producers, Editors, Desk Coordinators; Directors for Television, Radio and TV Production Assistants, Television Makeup-Artists, Master Control Producers, Television On-Camera Talent, General Studio Technicians, Video Switchers, Audio Technicians, Lighting Directors, TV Technical Support Maintenance Technicians, Non-English Language Translators, Narrators, Videotape Editors, Character Generator Operators, and Electronic Graphic Artists. Furthermore, the BBG's Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), which broadcasts radio and television programming in Spanish to Cuba, is seeking qualified individuals for similar free-lance assignments on the same "as-needed" contract basis as VOA and TV, but with OCB's free-lance work assignment locations being Miami, FL or at overseas locations. The following general information pertains to all of the above-listed VOA, TV, and OCB free-lance assignments: 1) Assignments are performed on a contract basis. 2) Most VOA and TV assignments require working in Washington, DC; while some assignments require working at IBB studios at overseas locations. Most OCB assignments require working in Miami, FL; while some assignments require working at overseas locations. 3) Contractor candidates may be required to undergo a background security investigation and successfully pass the security clearance process in order to receive work assignments. 4) Contractor candidates must be willing to work on an "as-required" basis, depending upon the VOA's, TV's, or OCB's broadcasting needs. Some broadcasting activities require working irregular hours - such as very early in the morning or late in the evening - depending on the broadcasting schedule. 5) Videotape editor candidates should have at least two (2) years experience as a videotape editor in either a commercial or Government television production facility, utilizing modern computerized editing systems and videotape machines. 6) Free-lance assignments are contracted for strictly on an "as needed" basis. The IBB makes no guarantees on the amount of work assignments that contractors can expect to receive. 7) The Government is obligated to inspect all contractor performed work to insure that it fully satisfies the Government's requirements. The Government is further obligated to reject all work that fails to meet Government-specified requirements. The following criteria, depending on the type of broadcasting services being contracted, are used as appropriate by VOA, TV, and OCB to evaluate prospective contractors: 1) Radio or television broadcast or Internet news experience, including translating and adapting broadcast scripts. Please specifically note that for broadcasting work, the VOA requires that prospective contractors take a voice test. For translation or on-camera work, VOA and/or TV requires that prospective contractors take a translation and/or on-camera test. 2) Extensive knowledge of the target broadcast language(s) and the ability to adapt English material into the target language. 3) Ability to produce work that demonstrates a keen knowledge of national and international issues. 4) Ability to explain complex issues in clear, logical terms that can be understood by VOA's, TV's, and OCB's worldwide audiences. 5) Ability to operate highly specialized and complex broadcast television equipment, such as audio consoles, character generators, wave-form monitors and vectorscopes, and videotape machines such as Betacam-SP and U-Matic machines. 6) Highly developed production skills, such as: assembling/coordinating material, monitoring program segments for proper sequencing and integration, ensuring continuity, editing broadcast scripts as necessary, etc. 7) Ability to research, select, and prepare material to provide background and highlight key elements of VOA, TV, or OCB web news reports, prepare and encode multimedia enhancements, and either prepare or request and coordinate the preparation and encoding of additional streamed media, and ensure compliance with copyright restrictions. 8) Documented knowledge (i.e., education/training and/or practical experience) of the principles and practices of journalistic writing, editing, and Internet publishing. 9) Typing/word-processing skills. 10) Ability to operate a wide variety of broadcast equipment, including reel-to-reel recorders, audio consoles, disc-turntables, cartridge machines, etc. Individuals who are interested in and believe that they have the experience and capabilities to perform one or more of the above-stated free-lance assignments on a contract basis with one or more of the above-stated BBG organizations (VOA, TV, OCB) at their respective Washington, DC; Miami, FL (for OCB); or overseas locations may submit written inquiries for additional information and/or submit their written statement(s) of interest, technical qualifications, and pertinent experience for proposing to contract for one or more of the above-listed free-lance assignments with the appropriate BBG organization(s) as follows: (a) For free-lance radio assignments with the VOA in Washington, DC or overseas, submit written inquiries for additional information and/or contract technical proposals to the Voice of America (VOA), Attention: Ms. Cynthia Krasinski, VOA/X, Room 3254, Cohen Federal Building, 330 Independence Avenue (SW), Washington, DC 20237; (b) For free-lance television assignments with Television (TV) in Washington, DC or overseas, submit written inquiries for additional information and/or contract technical proposals to VOA-TV, Attention: Ms. Lisa Keathley, Director, TV/W, Room 4023, Cohen Federal Building, 330 Independence Avenue (SW), Washington, DC 20237; and (c) For free-lance radio and/or television assignments with the Office of Cuba Broadcasting's (OCB) Radio and/or TV Marti in Miami, FL or overseas, submit written inquiries for additional information and/or contract technical proposals to OCB, Attention: Ms. Mary Amps, OCB/A, 4201 NW 77th Avenue, Miami, FL 33166. Any written inquiries and/or contract proposals responding to this Public Notice may be submitted to the above-listed respective VOA, TV, and/or OCB POCs at any time up to the June 30, 2004 expiration date of this Public Notice. This Notice is not a RFQ, RFP, or IFB.