Requirements

Situation: Exercise Talisman Sabre 25 will for the first time establish a Multinational Information Operations Centre (MIOC). In order to determine its impact on the Information Environment (IE), the MIOC will require support to firstly baseline and then assess impacts of TS25 events on the IE. Available Intelligence capabilities will be utilised towards this end, but policy restrictions limit sharing classified information amongst MIOC partner nations. However, analysis and exploitation of Publicly Available Information (PAI) is sharable across all participant nations.

MIOC Role: The MIOC will coordinate and conduct real world Information Operations (IO), in lieu of traditional fiction-based exercise activities.

C2 and structure: The MIOC will be bilaterally led, (AUS/USA) and include contributions from Five Eyes nations and partner nations including: France, Japan and Norway, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. The multinational nature of the MIOC dictates restrictions on what intelligence and information can be shared with allied and partner nations.

Operations: The MIOC will form beginning from 5 Apr 24, progressively integrating Australian and US force elements to operational level of capability. Other allies and partner force elements will join the MIOC during TS25 field exercise period 12-27 Jul 25. The MIOC will progressively dismount to 5 Aug 25. The MIOC will train and practice to coordinate Information Actions by force elements of its contributing nations, both organic to the MIOC and across the wider exercise. In particular, the MIOC will coordinate IO across key tactical events in: Christmas Island, NW Australia waters, regional sea lanes, mainland Australia and Darwin. The MIOC will focus on other than domestic or allied or partner nation audiences. TS25 Combined Joint Information Bureau will manage Public Affairs and focus on domestic and allied or partner nation audiences.

Capabilities: The MIOC will be supported by allies and partner nation IO staff, force elements and Information Related Capabilities. Australian contributions to the MIOC include various levels of support from National Intelligence Agencies and directly supporting ADF force elements to analyse the IE. A capability shortfall exists in sharable PAI analysis and exploitation. The Supplier is to be brought into the MIOC organisation to meet this capability shortfall.

Requirements: The Supplier will need to be capable of providing the following:

• Baseline and monitor the TS25 Information Environment
• Collect and translate foreign language media to detect and monitor competitor information campaigns
• Leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to translate and structure complex data
• Monitor the operations, activities, and investments of competitors and consistently pull information of direct MIOC mission relevance
• Recommend actionable options for qualitative and quantitative measures that encompass kinetic and non-kinetic effects, competition, persona/entity networks, and narrative/message propagation
• Enhance multi domain operations and enable effects against competitors, key State Owned Enterprises / entities, and individuals in the Information Environment throughout the intel-ops fusion cycle
• Leverage digital tools to identify conduits to competitor influence audiences in foreign countries and enrich understanding of these conduits (e.g., soft selectors, networks, etc.) using Publicly Available Information (PAI) and Commercially Available Information (CAI)
• Amplify visibility of allies and partner operations at selected exercise locations around Australia
• Amplify US and Australian logistics efforts in key locations within Australia
• Provide draft messaging to audiences in Australia to identified conduits (as identified above and those already known to the ADF) in non-alerting ways
• Track and analyse information and narratives spreading in foreign countries of interest, including via hard-to-access public sources
• Recommend and draft amplifying and educational truthful content
• Support TS25 through aligned messaging
• Provide unclassified reporting to MIOC which can be shared amongst Allies and partner nations at Official level
• 27 Jul – 5 Aug 25 support development of a summary of MIOC performance, impacts and effects and provide recommendations for persistent support to future HQJOC Activities, Operations and Investments

Clearance Requirements

• Suppliers personnel coordinating administrative delivery and quality assurance of the contract - Baseline
• Suppliers staff / analysts receiving guidance on the scope, focus, content and quality assurance of reports against the SOW - NV1 Clearance
• Classification of deliverable reports against the SOW - Official