030ADV25R0015 - Attachment J-3 - Sample Order.pdf

Attachment J-3 – 030ADV25R0015

OIG Sample Statement of Work

Veterans History Project Evaluation

Library of Congress Office of the Inspector General

C.1 - OVERVIEW/BACKGROUND

The Library of Congress (Library) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) requires contract support to conduct an evaluation of the Library’s Veterans History Project (VHP). VHP collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. VHP was created in

October 2000 by the Veterans’ Oral History Project Act (Public Law No: 106-380). This act authorizes the American Folklife Center to establish an oral history program “to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of American war veterans.

Goal 1 of the Library’s FY 2024 – 2028 Strategic Plan is to Expand Access. One objective of this goal is to engage visitors with inviting and inspiring digital and in-person spaces. Since 2000, VHP has preserved thousands of individual veterans’ collections, which offer users an unparalleled archive of primary source material. Many of VHP’s collections are in analog format and not every collection will be digitized.

Online display of collections is not exhaustive due to volume of submissions. VHP currently is unable to accept born digital files. Submission must be sent in analog formats such as thumb drives, compact discs, or digital video discs.

VHP is managed by the American Folklife Center, which falls under the Special Collections Directorate, a part of the Research and Collections Services, itself a division of the Library Collections and Services

Group.

Reference:

OIG is an independent, objective office which conducts and supervises audits, investigations, and other reviews relating to the Library; provides leadership and coordination and recommends policies to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness; and provides a means of keeping the Librarian and Congress fully and currently informed about problems and deficiencies relating to Library administration and operations.

Audits are concerned with fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement; often focus on economy, efficiency, and effectiveness; and include evaluations of internal controls and compliance with laws and regulations.

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.

Further information can be found online:

Library – https://loc.gov

VHP – https://www.loc.gov/vets

C.2 - SCOPE

Contractor shall evaluate the Library’s VHP to determine whether it is equipped to efficiently process collections submitted to the VHP for inclusion in the Library’s collections.

C.3 - REQURIEMENTS

The contractor will perform an evaluation to assess VHP’s process for receiving, cataloging, and making veteran submissions available to its collections. The evaluation will include an examination of VHP’s https://www.loc.gov/strategic-plan/ https://loc.gov/ https://www.loc.gov/vets efforts to modernize its infrastructure to support digital submissions. Additionally, the evaluation will analyze the extent of collections that have not yet been digitized and VHP’s plans for digitization.

The contractor shall conduct the evaluation in accordance with the December 2020 version of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) Quality Standards for Inspections and

Evaluations to address the requirements outlined in this order.

C.4 OTHER REQUIREMENTS

C.4.1 - Preliminary Planning Meeting

(a) Prior to the meeting’s occurrence, contractor shall provide to the Contracting Officer’s Representative

(COR) the following documentation: on-boarding forms, resumes, declarations of independence, non-disclosure agreements, conflict of interest statements, and non-employee information forms.

(b) Contractor shall submit other onboarding documents, as needed, to the COR for review and approval.

All contractor’s engagement personnel must have attained clearance from the Library’s Personnel

Security Division (PSD) to attend the Preliminary Planning Meeting.

(c) Conduct a Preliminary Planning Meeting with OIG management and COR to:

(i) discuss contractual requirements,

(ii) review issues affecting the engagement, and

(iii) discuss planning objectives, timelines, and logistical matters.

C.4.2 - Evaluation Plan

Contractor shall prepare and submit a detailed evaluation plan to the COR for review and approval following the Preliminary Planning Meeting. The plan must identify the standards, policies, regulations, etc. to serve as criteria; the methodological approach to conducting the engagement; and the schedule for completing the evaluation, including milestones and due dates for the steps that address the requirements in this Statement of Work. The plan must be cross-referenced to the working papers as steps are completed.

The evaluation must include three phases: planning (development of the evaluation plan), fieldwork (to include testing and interviewing), and reporting.

C.4.3 - Entrance Conference

As requested by the COR, contractor shall conduct an entrance conference with the OIG and Library management to introduce the evaluation team and establish stakeholders; provide an overview of the evaluation objectives; explain the scope of the evaluation; discuss the planned evaluation approach; and present the initial prepared-by-client list to management. The entrance conference shall include a discussion regarding the anticipated timing of the work, how management prefers to communicate with the contractor, and whether there are any issues that may impact the evaluation going forward.

C.4.4 - Progress Reports and Status Update Meetings

Contractor shall complete progress reports and status update meetings on a weekly basis in coordination with the COR to document progress. The COR may adjust the meeting frequency, if deemed necessary.

The format of the progress reports shall serve as the agenda for the Status Update Meetings, which shall include the following:

(i) the time and date of the meeting,

(ii) an update on work performed since the last status meeting,

(iii) progress against milestones and deliverables,

(iv) outstanding documentation requests/potential delays,

(v) a listing of current or potential findings,

(vi) planned work to be completed by the next status meeting,

(vii) upcoming milestones, and

(viii) a list of assigned staff and planned absences (e.g., vacation leave).

On a limited basis, contractor shall conduct other status update meetings with OIG (and potentially

Library management) to discuss the status of the engagement, as requested by the COR. The agenda for these meetings will be the same elements as outlined above for the status update meetings.

C.4.5 - Mid-Fieldwork Meeting

Contractor shall conduct a mid-fieldwork meeting with Library and OIG management to discuss the status of the engagement, including the engagement’s preliminary findings, potential obstacles to completing the engagement, and other issues of concern.

C.4.6 - Draft and Final Notice of Findings and Recommendations (NFRs)

Contractor shall prepare NFRs describing the condition, cause, effect, criteria, and recommended actions to remediate. Contractor shall complete draft and final NFRs and submit to the COR for review and comment during fieldwork and prior to the delivery of the draft report to the OIG. The NFRs shall be fully indexed to the evaluation documentation (i.e., workpapers).

The contractor shall:

(i) review and incorporate OIG edits/comments on draft NFRs,

(ii) resubmit updated draft NFRs to the OIG COR for review and approval, and

(iii) submit final draft NFRs to the OIG COR for distribution to the Library for review and comment.

Contractor shall complete Final NFRs and submit them to the COR within 10 business days after draft

NFRs have been accepted by the COR, which will be after all OIG and Library comments have been addressed to the extent appropriate.

C.4.7 - Exit Conference and Draft Report

Contractor shall conduct an exit Conference with OIG and Library management within 10 business days after final NFRs have been completed and submitted to the OIG COR.

Contractor shall complete and submit a draft report, fully indexed to workpapers, to the COR for review and comment. The COR will provide the contractor with edits/comments for the contractor to incorporate into the draft report. The contractor shall review and incorporate the edits/comments and resubmit the draft report to the COR. Once approved by the COR, the draft report will be distributed to the Library by the COR for review and comment. The Library is provided 15 business days to provide official written comments on the draft report.

The Draft and Final Report must at a minimum include the following:

(i) Executive Summary – Highlight the major problems found and recommendations that address the specific problems.

(ii) Background – Provide pertinent information needed to understand the subject matter being evaluated.

(iii) Findings and Recommendations - Describe each major vulnerability found using the standard elements of a finding (i.e., criteria, condition, cause, and effect) and make recommendations to address the underlying cause. These findings and recommendations will have been previously presented and accepted by management stakeholders in NFRs.

(iv) Objectives, Scope, and Methodology– Describe the objectives, scope, and all testing methodology used in the evaluation.

C.4.8 - Final Report and Evaluation Documentation

Within 10 business days of receipt of the Library’s official comments on the draft report, contractor shall incorporate the comments, if agreeable (as determined in coordination with the COR), into a final report and submit it to the COR for review, approval, and distribution. Contractor shall submit final, reviewed workpapers to the COR with the final report.

All written products provided by the contractor shall be of professional quality in terms of technical content and quality of writing. If a written product in a draft or final version is not technically correct or professionally written, the COR will return it to the contractor for correction.

Contractor shall provide the COR with access to the contractor’s workpapers on an on-going basis to facilitate the understanding of the contractor’s review and observations.

All final workpapers shall be provided in electronic format. The documentation must include an index for ease in review and retrieval of information. Electronic files should be created using Microsoft Office products, Acrobat-PDF, or other application as appropriate and mutually agreed to by the parties. The files shall not be created using any software that requires the OIG to download the software and/or obtain a software license that the OIG does not have already.

C.5 - CONTRACT PERFORMANCE

C.5.1 General Performance Requirements

All individuals assigned to work on the engagement will be required to submit clearance request documents. The COR will facilitate the review process with the PSD. Individuals will not be approved to work on the engagement until PSD has granted clearance.

During the planning phase, the contractor must provide documents to include, but not limited to, resumes, Library security mandatory training completion certification (up to two hours), clearance forms, independence statements, and continuing professional education records.

The contractor must perform quality assurance reviews on all deliverables to the OIG prior to submission.

The contractor must make available to the COR their most recent documentation of peer reviews and quality control program compliance.

C.6 - Schedule of Events/Deliverables

The contractor shall provide electronic copies of all deliverables to COR in a format editable and readable by OIG. Once created, all deliverables and work products of the contract (including but not limited to all software documentation, reports, records, summaries and other matters and materials prepared or developed by the contractor in performance of this contract) are considered the property of the

Government, free from any claim or retention of right on the part of the contractor, its agents, sub-consultants, officers or employees and is subject to attorney/client privilege.

The deliverables shall be considered final upon receiving Government approval. The Government shall provide written notification of acceptance or rejection of all deliverables, apart from invoicing, within five business days of receipt. All notifications of rejection will be accompanied with an explanation of the specific deficiencies causing the rejection. Items must be approved by the COR to be considered

"accepted."

C.7 - Quality Control

The contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this contract. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor’s quality control program is how it assures itself that its work complies with the requirement of the contract.

C.8 - Key Personnel

Refer to section C.4 in solicitation 030ADV25R0015 for qualification of Key Personnel. Contractor shall identify Key Personnel assigned to the engagement. The personnel specified as Key Personnel are considered essential to the work being performed under this contract. The following staff members are identified as Key Personnel:

Audit Manager/Principal

The minimum experience requirements in this category include: a) being an Audit Manager in the

Contractor’s organization, b) having a minimum of six (6) years of audit experience, of which at least three (3) years relate to Federal government audits, c) having a bachelor’s degree and d) being an active

CPA in good standing with the AICPA and State Board.

Supervisory Senior Auditor

The minimum experience requirements in this category include: a) being a Senior Auditor in the

Contractor’s organization, b) having a minimum of four (4) years of audit experience, of which at least three (3) years relate to Federal government audits, and c) having a bachelor’s degree that includes 24 semester hours in accounting.

C.9 - Government furnished property

Contractor will be required to use their own equipment and supplies. The contractor will not be reimbursed for any material used for the performance of this requirement.

C.10 - Organizational or Individual Agreement for Utilizing Library IT Systems or Processing

Library Information Using a Foreign System

When using their own systems in the performance of this contract, contractor shall ensure that all Library of Congress (“LOC” or “Library”) information (“information”) is protected from unauthorized use and mishandling. Information includes both hard copy (paper) and soft copy (electronically stored). A signed agreement with specific compliance measures will be signed to enable this and may be provided on request prior to the contractor submitting a proposal.

C.11 - Contractor Travel

Travel is not authorized for this requirement. Costs for transportation, lodging, meals or incidental expenses incurred by the contractor will not be reimbursed or authorized under this agreement.

F.1 - Deliverables Schedule

Deliverable Date [Note: The guidance below is for initial planning purposes. The Contractor will establish fixed dates.]

C.4.1 – On-Boarding Documentation

No later than (NLT) 5 business days after the period of performance start date and prior to the preliminary planning meeting, deliver on-

NLT 5 business days after the start date boarding documentation as described to the OIG COR for review and approval to attain Library security clearances for individuals to start work.

C.4.1 – Conduct a Preliminary Planning Meeting. All attendees must have attained clearance from the Library’s Personnel Security

Division.

NLT 15 business days after the period of performance start date

C.4.2 – Deliver Evaluation Plan to the COR for review and approval.

NLT 15 business days after the

Preliminary Planning Meeting.

C.4.3 – Conduct an Entrance Conference. NLT 20 business days after the

Preliminary Planning Meeting.

C.4.4 – Complete Progress Reports and Status Update Meetings with the COR.

Meetings conducted weekly or as needed

C.4.5 – Conduct a Mid-Fieldwork Meeting and other Status Update

Meetings with OIG and/or Library management.

NLT 45 business days after the

Entrance Conference

C.4.6 – Submit Draft NFRs fully indexed to the workpapers. NLT 90 business days after the

Entrance Conference

Note: The OIG COR will distribute Draft NFRs to the

Library.

C.4.6 – Submit Final NFRs fully indexed to workpapers. NLT 10 business days after

Draft NFRs have been accepted by the OIG COR

C.4.7 – Conduct an Exit Conference. NLT 10 business days after

Final NFRs have been completed and submitted to the

OIG COR.

C.4.7 – Complete and submit an INITIAL Draft Report, fully indexed to workpapers, to the OIG COR for review and comment.

Allow 10 business days for OIG comments.

NLT 15 business days after

Final NFRs have been completed and submitted to the

OIG COR

C.4.7 – Complete and submit a FINAL Draft Report, fully indexed to workpapers, to the OIG COR for delivery to Library Management for comments.

Allow 15 business days for

Library comments.

C.4.8 – Complete and submit the Final Report incorporating any necessary changes resulting from Library Management review, fully indexed to final workpapers, to the OIG COR.

NLT 10 business prior to the end of the Period of

Performance.

(End of Statement of Work)