FREDERICKSBURG, Va., July 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IST Research, a technology and tradecraft-driven company that addresses real-world challenges within the information environment, today announced it has been awarded a five-year, $66 million contract from the GSA (General Services Administration). Various Government customers will use the company’s innovative Pulse Platform to conduct large-scale citizen engagement around the world, with the goal of giving a voice to some of its most marginalized populations.
This sole source, Phase III SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) GSA contract, starting immediately and running through June of 2025, will support operations in the information environment for the special operations and Federal Government community, expanding and extending services across the Federal Government. The contract calls to leverage Pulse to provide monitoring and engagement for organizations around the globe, beginning with the support of SOCAFRICA.
The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the need for methodologies IST Research employs around monitoring and engagement. This technology is even more critical—and efficient—in light of the current dangers of and restrictions around air travel and face-to-face encounters. In addition to its unique data collection capabilities, IST Research uses powerful, built-in cloud data processing and analysis capabilities, and employs highly skilled social and data scientists to examine and produce rigorous findings, drawing from all available data.
“Right now it’s more critical than ever for organizations to continue engaging vulnerable populations in order to ferret out bad actors looking to take advantage of this worldwide crisis,” said Ryan Paterson, CEO of IST Research. “Our ‘technology + technique’ approaches are remote, scalable, cost-efficient, sensitive to the realities of vulnerable populations—and more accurate than methods used previously. This is how we will continue to satisfy another significant GSA contract.”
Pulse combines social listening, content discovery across the surface, deep, and dark web, and direct population engagement with fragile and hard-to reach-populations—all on a single technology platform. Pulse is flexible and applicable to problem sets across both geography and industry, including security, humanitarian assistance, research, marketing, and risk assessment. IST Research subject matter experts combine this proven technology with specific communications techniques to create a unique capability that is deployed operationally around the globe.
About IST Research
Founded in 2008, IST Research was created to explore the possibilities created by the development of technology and techniques within new and challenging operational environments. The company's communications platform fosters understanding of hard-to-reach communities by providing insight into their thinking and engaging them in two-way conversations to gain a comprehensive understanding of complex human security challenges. Pulse is a proven technology that addresses today's complex, global problems. An Inc. 5000 company headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, IST Research is privately funded. For more information visit www.istresearch.com.