12760420Q0185 National Correspondence Management System.pdf

Performance Work Statement

Implementation Services for National Correspondence Management System

United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service

September 15, 2020 v.1

RFI No. 12760420Q0185 Office of Regulatory and Management Services

9/3/2020 – updated 9/3/2020 Page 2

PART 1

Statement of Requirements

1.0 Introduction:

The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform National Correspondence Management System (NCMS) Implementation Services as defined in this Performance Work Statement except as specified in the section on government furnished property and services. The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

1.1 Background and Objectives:

Established in 1905, the Forest Service (FS) is a federal agency that manages public lands in national forests and grasslands under a founding principle, "To provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the long run". The agency’s mission is to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations”.

The FS has the responsibility for stewardship of more than 193 million acres of the nation’s forests and grasslands; for developing and communicating scientific knowledge through research and development that leads to informed natural resource decision-making; for delivering technical assistance through state and private forestry programs; and for sharing knowledge and experience with others in the global community through international forestry. Performing this mission requires a strong and effective network of operational and administrative support.

The Forest Service currently has implemented a Mercury solution on the Microsoft 365 SharePoint platform to manage general (uncontrolled) correspondence in the agency. Analysis indicated that a Government-off –the-Shelf (GOTS) system would provide the best solution for initial implementation in 2014. This SharePoint-based solution currently runs in the Government Cloud Computing (GCC) environment and leverages SharePoint by managing the lifecycle of correspondence from authoring, review, discussion, tracking, and management of correspondences and related administrative tasks. The solution uses the advanced document management and workflow capabilities of SharePoint. It uses advanced features and functionality of SharePoint.

1.2 Scope:

The scope of this work is to develop or implement, configure, maintain and train a National Correspondence Management System (NCMS). The possible solutions may include new system designs based on available non-GOTS services or information technology (IT) systems. Solutions may include leveraging and modifying currently owned systems within GOTS computing environments or assuming development, management and implementation of current system solutions. A successful solution must reside within government owned premises or services and must meet the requirements outlined in Forest Service Handbook 6209.12 on correspondence. A preferred methodology would be to utilize GOTS services or systems wherever possible and may include GCC and Microsoft 365 architectures or other government owned technologies.

http://www.fs.fed.us/

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1.3 SERVICES REQUIRED.

The contractor shall provide services to develop or implement, configure, maintain and train a NCMS as described below. Technical Exhibit 3 contains a list of current requirements of NCMS. If a new/replacement system is determined to be the best alternative, this new system must accept conversion of existing data and must be able to run concurrently with existing Mercury solution.

The Government estimates NCMS implementation to be initialized by end of 2nd Quarter 2021 for concurrent use and finalized transition no later than beginning of 4th quarter 2021.

1.3.1 Possible Outcomes

1.3.1.1 Outcome 1: The current Mercury system continues to function as the NCMS. Continued development, implementation maintenance and training are contracted to existing or new vendors. System must continue to follow Microsoft High-level Design (HLD) processes. Details about Microsoft 365 and the process can be found here and the pages linked to it.

The following services, at a minimum, will be provided for this outcome:

• Project management services in accordance with project management best practices such as the Project Management Institute’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) are provided.

• Run the Microsoft SharePoint Online Code Analysis Framework (MSOCAF) suite of tools and analyze the results, provide remediation to areas to current solution if they are required, and document the results.

• Document changes to the GOTS products that were made or are necessary to allow the system to continue to run in Microsoft 365.

• Perform detailed gap analysis of as-is and to-be requirements. Gather and document additional requirements as they are discovered.

• Provide a requirements elicitation document.

• Provide a requirements traceability matrix.

• Creation of deployment planning and scheduling that takes into consideration of the uniqueness of the FS field and fire seasons and their impact on day-to-day business.

• Provide separate Train the Trainer training sessions and training material for administrators and end-users.

• Provide and maintain self-service online training material.

• Continue assistance in development of helpdesk knowledge articles for the level one Customer

Helpdesk (CHD) or follow-on replacement functions such as USDA Customer Experience Center.

• Provide deployment planning and bug/fix support through deployment and any scale-up

• Provide solution configuration and testing.

• Implement an agile approach, incorporating feedback from FS subject matter experts in each iteration of development.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/

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• Provide documentation for system customizations, test plans, test results, deployment process, and administration/standard operating procedures.

• Provide User Acceptance Testing (UAT) for administrators and end-users. Provide remediation to issues discovered.

• Provide pre-production deployment and testing services.

• Provide resolutions to issues raised during Section 508 and load testing.

• Solution must meet appropriate federal cyber security requirements for the type of system being developed to include Privacy Act controls, encryption, non-USDA system interconnectivity and security risk assessments.

• Solution provider should explain methodologies that will meet minimum system up-time and outage requirements.

1.3.1.2 Outcome 2: A new system is developed to replace the function of the NCMS. Analysis of current solution is used to create a new system that meets the capabilities of the current Mercury system. There will be no loss of functional requirements from what the current system offers. Development, implementation, maintenance and training will be required for a successful solution. This outcome relies solely on using any available GOTS system. Microsoft based solutions must continue to follow Microsoft High-level Design (HLD) processes. Details about Microsoft 365 and the process can be found here and the pages linked to it.

The following services, at a minimum, will be provided for this outcome:

• Document changes to the GOTS products that were made or are necessary to in the creation of a replacement system.

requirements as they are discovered

• Provide process to automate ingestion of legacy correspondence and appropriate metadata into new system and migrate the data.

• Assist in development of helpdesk knowledge articles for the level one Customer Helpdesk (CHD) or follow-on replacement functions such as USDA Customer Experience Center.

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• Implement documentation and evaluation processes to support system certification for Authority to Operate requirements.

1.3.1.2 Outcome 3: A new system is developed that does not rely on GOTS or Government Owned solutions currently implemented for the US Forest Service. Analysis of current solution is used to create a new system that meets the functional requirements of the current system. There will be no loss of capabilities from what the current system offers. Development, implementation, maintenance and training will be required for a successful solution.

• Complete the High-level Design template to allow for submission to the governance processes for

USFS ITDO.

requirements as they are discovered

• Provide process to automate ingestion of legacy correspondence and appropriate metadata into new system and migrate the data.

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• Assist in development of helpdesk knowledge articles for the level one Customer Helpdesk (CHD) or follow-on replacement functions such as USDA Customer Experience Center.

• Implement documentation and evaluation processes to support system certification for Authority to Operate requirements.

1.4 Quality Requirements

1.4.1 Quality Control (QC):

The contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor’s quality control program is the means by which he assures himself that his work complies with the requirement of the contract. As a minimum, the contractor shall develop quality control procedures that address the areas identified in Technical Exhibit 1, “Performance Requirements Summary”. After government acceptance of the contractor’s proposed quality control plan, the contractor shall receive the contracting officer’s acceptance in writing of any proposed change to his QC system. The QC plan should be submitted to the Government as part of the response to this PWS.

1.4.2 Quality Assurance:

The government shall evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards.

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1.4.3 Government Remedies:

The contracting officer shall follow FAR 52.212-4, “Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items” or 52.246-4, “Inspection of Services-Fixed Price” for contractor’s failure to perform satisfactory services or failure to correct non-conforming services.

1.5 Recognized Holidays: The contractor is not required to perform services on these Holidays:

New Year’s Day Labor Day Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday Columbus Day President’s Day Veteran’s Day Memorial Day Thanksgiving Day Independence Day Christmas Day

1.6 Hours of Operation/Place of Performance:

The contractor is responsible for providing services between the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Eastern Time, Monday thru Friday except Federal holidays or when the Government facility is closed due to local or national emergencies, administrative closings, or similar Government directed facility closings. The Contractor must always maintain an adequate work force for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this statement of work when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons.

When hiring personnel, the Contractor shall keep in mind that the stability and continuity of the work force are essential.

1.7 Security Requirements:

Each UAT deliverable shall undergo independent penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities in the application. All high priority vulnerabilities in the application shall be remediated at the contractor’s expense.

USDA Secure Code policy commits the government to acquiring software that is reasonably free from security vulnerabilities. The development team must leverage best practices in the industry to ensure that delivered code and software have no security vulnerabilities at the time of delivery. FS, at its discretion, may perform independent penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities. All “High” vulnerabilities discovered through this process will be treated as defects and shall be addressed by the contractor at no additional cost to the government.

System and cyber security requirement must be maintained in accordance with risk assessments conducted by USFS CIO Cyber Security functions and may include Privacy Act controls such as Privacy Threshold Analysis, Impact Assessment, a record schedule and a Privacy Act System of Record Notice. There will be no non-USDA system interconnections. There will be no external users other than developers contracted to this project. Systems must meet FIPS 140-2 compliance for encryption.

1.7.1 PHYSICAL Security.

The contractor shall be responsible for safeguarding all government property provided for contractor use. At the close of each work period, government facilities, equipment, and materials shall be secured.

1.8 Conservation of Utilities.

If ever in Government offices, the contractor shall instruct employees in utilities conservation practices.

The contractor shall be responsible for operating under conditions that preclude the waste of utilities in work areas. This includes use of electrical power and turning off the water faucets or valves after use.

1.9 Special Qualifications: None.

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1.10 Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings:

The Contractor agrees to attend any post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 42.5. The contracting officer, Contracting Officers Representative (COR), and other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the contractor's performance. At these meetings the contracting officer will apprise the contractor of how the government views the contractor's performance and the contractor will apprise the Government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues. These meetings shall be at no additional cost to the government.

1.11 Contracting Officer Representative (COR): The (COR) is identified below:

TBD

The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration. The COR is authorized to perform the following functions: assure that the Contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract: perform inspections necessary in connection with contract performance:

maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract:

issue written interpretations of technical requirements to the Contracting Officer, including Government drawings, designs, specifications: monitor Contractor's performance and notifies both the Contracting Officer and Contractor of any deficiencies; coordinate availability of government furnished property, and provide site entry of Contractor personnel. A letter of designation issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, states the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially regarding changes in cost or price, estimates or changes in delivery dates. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting contract or order.

1.12 Contractor Manager:

The contractor shall provide a contractor manager or lead who shall be responsible for the performance of the work. The name of this person and an alternate who shall act for the contractor when the manager is absent shall be designated in writing to the contracting officer. The contractor manager or alternate shall have full authority to act for the contractor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this contract. The contract manager or alternate shall be available between 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Eastern Time, Monday thru Friday except Federal holidays or when the government facility is closed for administrative reasons.

1.13 Key Personnel:

The follow personnel are considered key personnel:

• Program Manager/Alternate Program Manager.

• The Key Senior Technical Lead

Resumes shall be provided for all Key Personnel.

1.14 Identification of Contractor Employees:

All contract personnel attending meetings, answering Government telephones, and working in other situations where their contractor status is not obvious to third parties are required to identify themselves as such to avoid creating an impression in the minds of members of the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by contractors are suitably marked as contractor products or that contractor participation is appropriately disclosed.

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1.15 Data Rights:

The Government has unlimited rights to all documents/material produced under this contract. All documents and materials, to include the source codes of any software, produced under this contract shall be Government owned and are the property of the Government with all rights and privileges of ownership/copyright belonging exclusively to the Government. These documents and materials may not be used or sold by the contractor without written permission from the Contracting Officer. All materials supplied to the Government shall be the sole property of the Government and may not be used for any other purpose. This right does not abrogate any other Government rights.

1.16 Organizational Conflict of Interest:

Contractor and subcontractor personnel performing work under this contract may receive, have access to or participate in the development of proprietary or source selection information (e.g., cost or pricing information, budget information or analyses, specifications or work statements, etc.) or perform evaluation services which may create a current or subsequent Organizational Conflict of Interests (OCI) as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5. The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer immediately whenever it becomes aware that such access or participation may result in any actual or potential OCI and shall promptly submit a plan to the Contracting Officer to avoid or mitigate any such OCI. The Contractor’s mitigation plan will be determined to be acceptable solely at the discretion of the Contracting Officer and in the event the Contracting Officer unilaterally determines that any such OCI cannot be satisfactorily avoided or mitigated, the Contracting Officer may affect other remedies as he or she deems necessary, including prohibiting the Contractor from participation in subsequent contracted requirements which may be affected by the OCI.

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PART 2

DEFINITIONS & ACRONYMS

DEFINITIONS:

PWS – Performance Work Statement

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR): A representative from the requiring activity assigned by the Contracting Officer to perform surveillance and to act as liaison to the contractor. Such appointment shall be in writing and shall state the scope of authority and limitations. This individual does NOT have authority to change the terms and conditions of the contract.

Defective Service. A service output that does not meet the standard of performance associated with it in the Performance Work Statement.

Key Personnel Contractor personnel that are evaluated in a source selection process and that may be required to be used in the performance of a contract by the Key Personnel listed in the PWS. When key personnel are used as an evaluation factor in best value procurement, an offer can be rejected if it does not have a firm commitment from the persons that are listed in the proposal.

Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). An organized written document specifying the surveillance methodology to be used for surveillance of contractor performance.

Quality Control. Those actions taken by a contractor to control the performance of services so that they meet the requirements of the PWS.

Quality Assurance. Those actions taken by the government to assure services meet the requirements of the Performance Work Statement.

ACRONYMS:

CO Contracting Officer COR Contracting Officer Representative FAR Federal Acquisition Regulation FS Forest Service FFP Firm Fixed Price OCI Organizational Conflict of Interest PM Program Manager PWS Performance Work Statement QA Quality Assurance QAP Quality Assurance Program QASP Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan QC Quality Control QCP Quality Control Program UAT User Acceptance Test USDA United States Department of Agriculture

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PART 3

GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT, AND SERVICES

3.0 GENERAL: The government shall provide, the facilities, equipment, materials, and/or services listed below.

3.1 Equipment/Materials: The Government will provide: Standard Operating Procedures and Policies for operating in the FS and USDA Information Technology Environments.

3.2 Services: The Government will provide personnel to assist with gaining access to governance personnel for GOTS systems and facilitating the transfer of code. The Government will provide screen sharing and conferencing services (Microsoft Teams). Government will provide appropriate subject matter expertise for workflow analysis of the correspondence business process.

3.3 Facilities: The Government will furnish the necessary conference rooms for any onsite visits, as appropriate.

PART 4

CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES

4.1 General: Except for those items specifically stated to be government furnished in Part 3, the contractor shall furnish everything required to perform this PWS.

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TECHNICAL EXHIBIT 1

Performance Requirements Summary

Perf Std # Required Services

Performance Standards Acceptable Quality Level

(AQL)

Monitoring Method

General

PS-1 Ensure Effective Staffing to Meet Government Requirements and Objectives

All staff is in place and knowledgeable for all required tasks by the end of the first week of performance.

No deviation.

COTR/designee review of staffing levels at the end of the first week.

PS-2 Implement a Strong and Effective Quality Control Plan/Process.

The Quality Control Plan/Process proactively identifies and addresses issues, as well as continuously improves the services being provided by the Contractor.

No deviation. COTR/designee review of monthly reports.

Phase 1: Office 365 hosting and Workflow Analysis

PS-3 Provide quality High-Level Design (HLD) document

HLD design document is accepted by the Microsoft HLD process.

No deviation, though multiple submissions allowed if O365 constraints have to be resolved through design changes.

review.

PS-4 Microsoft SharePoint Online Code Analysis Framework (MSOCAF) suite results analyzed and remediated results

All identified issues commented with remediation identified.

No deviation without prior approval from the COTR or designee.

review.

PS-5

Analyze viable Correspondence Management workflows

Thorough and accurate research and documentation workflows and gap analysis complete.

No deviation

Review of the deliverables by the COTR/designee

Phase 2: Hosted Office 365 environment and Scale-up of Mercury

PS-6 Implement Mercury in selected hosting environment (which is Office 365 unless Phase 1 outcomes change it)

Successful integration with Office 365 (or designated hosting environment).

No deviation without prior COR/designee approval.

Sign-off by COTR after successful User Acceptance Testing.

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PS-7 Aid in Mercury scale-up across FS

Creation of deployment plan and schedule.

Train the Trainer materials delivered.

Knowledge articles for Helpdesk created.

Legacy Correspondence migrated.

No deviation without prior COTR or designee approval.

COR/designee review of Monthly progress reports

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TECHNICAL EXHIBIT 2

DELIVERABLES SCHEDULE

Deliverable Frequency # of Copies Medium/Format Submit To High Level Design documentation as required by Office

Once – By three months into contract

1 Electronic TBD

Correspondence Workflow documentation

Once – By three months into contract

1 Electronic TBD

UAT Report As appropriate until accepted as satisfactory by COR

1 Electronic TBD

Monthly Status Reports

Monthly 1 Electronic TBD

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TECHNICAL EXHIBIT 3

CURRENT REQUIREMENTS

The following are the current requirements for the general (uncontrolled) correspondence replacement system. Mercury currently implements most of these requirements satisfactorily or can be configured to do

so. The contractor should use these requirements as the starting point to analyze and configure workflows for the NCMS, and to bootstrap additional requirements gathering activities as outlined in Phase 1 above.

It is recognized that some customization of the NCMS may be necessary to fully implement some of these requirements. The gap analysis in Phase 1 along with discussions with the Government will determine whether such customizations should go forward.

Correspondence System Requirements

1. Functional Requirements

1.1 General

1.1.1 The system should allow for the management of signatories, categories and header footer list based on location (Region, Station, etc.). For example, based on the office of origin of the letter, the letterhead will have the correct address.

Individual letters, might also have different information (potentially as metadata) for the File Code Category, the letter type (Formal letter, Decision Memo, more - see below for a link to a zip file of template types), reply due dates, etc. In addition, only authorized individuals can sign official letters - and only for offices they are authorized to sign for. The system should have a secure way of managing the lists of signatories.

1.1.2 The system should provide document summary and the history of the correspondence from creating to mailing

1.1.3 The system should show the signature and the date signed for the delivered correspondence

1.1.4 The system should display to the user which template the user is currently working on, along with location and other required data. Templates are letterheads for that are specific to an office location/address, have the reply due displayed, as appropriate, file code listed, and more. The current system prompts the user to fill in various metadata (as previously described but also including things like recipient's address, etc.) and dynamically creates a MS Word document for editing the body of the letter template in use today, to use as an example, can be found here:

https://usfs.box.com/s/cn8jhll28q23nmirlfnfv9olven6id72

1.1.5 The system should provide a list of signatories to select for the correspondence based on location (Region, Station, Staff, etc.)

1.1.6 The system should pre-populate the template with predefined metadata fields (e.g. file code, signature, user information, location etc.)

1.1.7 The system should allow templates to have required and non-required fields

1.1.8 The system should clearly mark the required and non-required fields in the template for better usability

1.1.9 The system should not set the "Archive Date" before the "Reply Due Date" for the correspondence

1.1.10 The system should provide ability to easily attach attachments.

1.1.11 The system should allow the capability of sending letters to external audiences including attachments/enclosures in secure, easy-to-view formats. This typically through email (sent with attachments in the email, or links to the available attachments) but would not be limited to only email if other options were proposed for distribution of the correspondences.

1.1.12 The system should provide mass email intake and push capability to receive and push large volumes of email between Forest service and its constituents.

1.1.13 The system should provide the capability to mail-merge within the system

1.1.14 The system should provide the capability to track and link related responses to inquiries and reporting option.

1.2 Document Management

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1.2.1 The system should have ability to track version(s) of the documents/correspondence.

1.2.2 The system should allow for the management of sensitive documents, i.e., only the individuals that have access to view, update or delete the document can be limited to a specific set of users.

1.2.3 The system should provide role- and group-based security controls to ensure that all correspondence and related content, metadata, and workflows can be accessed or modified only by authorized users.

1.2.4 The system should provide the mechanism to identify and remove duplicate correspondence.

1.2.5 The system should allow a way to update/add/delete document templates and a way to add/edit/delete signature blocks

- this includes electronic signature blocks. As previously described, the templates and signatories (which today are picked from an official list based on office automatically creating a signature block with the letter's closing ready for signature) will change over time and need a "Move-Add-Change" process that is easy to use and manage.

1.2.6 The system should provide custom templates to standardize printer format and fonts of outgoing correspondence.

1.2.7 The system should provide templates for creation of different types of correspondence for specific location (Region, Station, Staff, etc.)

1.2.8 The system should archive the correspondence upon successful completion and sign off

1.3 Workflow

1.3.1 The system should allow for user to track and view notes captured during the correspondence creation process.

1.3.2 The system should provide a mechanism to flag correspondence cases as urgent and notify users as appropriate.

1.3.3 The system should allow reviewers to authorize other users to act on a user’s behalf (proxy) for processing correspondence tasks.

1.3.4 The system should allow for capability to track status and approval process and trigger an email if a certain action has not been undertaken within a given period of time.

1.3.5 The system should allow Executive Assistants who aren't reviewers or authors to be included so that the correspondence falls into their realm.

1.3.6 The system should send the correspondence from the person who initiated it rather than Mailroom.

1.3.7 The system should provide the ability for users to adjust the routing (workflow) of in-process documents to other individuals or groups of users.

1.3.8 The system should provide feedback to the author when the reviewers concur.

1.3.9 The system should allow users to select the type of workflow synchronous or asynchronous.

1.3.10 The system should allow author to select a Review or Review Not Needed Option

1.3.11 For Review needed: The system should allow for sequential or parallel workflow process - in an easy to select/implement way for the end user

1.3.12 The system should allow authors to select the reviewers for the review process

1.3.13 The system should allow users to change the order sequence of the reviewers

1.3.14 The system should allow users to link to working document (Bookmark)

1.3.15 The system should send an notification when the correspondence document is send for review

1.3.16 The system should allow reviewers to edit the Correspondence and track changes

1.3.17 The system should allow reviewers to "Concur" or "Do not concur" option, and provide a field for commenting

1.3.18 The system should allow review process to continue to the next reviewer if one of the reviewers do not concur with the correspondence

1.3.19 The system should provide notification to the original author if any non-concurrency has occurred during the review process

1.3.20 The system should finalize the correspondence upon the successful completion of the review process (in other words all constituents have concurred)

1.3.21 The system should provide the ability for users to see the entire workflow for a correspondence and identify the status of each task in the workflow.

1.3.22 The system should provide the ability for users to skip or advance workflow steps as configured by the Administrator.

1.4 Search

1.4.1 32. The system should enable robust querying (searching) of in-progress and historical correspondence.

1.4.2 38. The system should provide the ability to search by text, subject, author, or other attributes (meta-data) of the document.

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1.4.3 39. The system should have ability to search across the entire archives with one search query.

1.4.4 The system should allow users to search for correspondence using keywords, file plan, author, reviewer, signatories etc.

In other words all metadata fields, status….

1.4.5 The System should provide tier-based security system that allows controlling, at a user or group level, the access or visibility from whole document down to the individual fields in the correspondence summary (metadata, etc.).

1.5 Reporting

1.5.1 The system should provide a uniform location to see the correspondence information and history and enable user access to all previous data and information versions in email, documents, and/or media content.

1.5.2 The system should generate standard reports to allow users to compare and evaluate the status of items in the correspondence process of staff, both individually and in groups, using a variety of performance measures.

1.5.3 The system should provide the ability for users to create and store ad hoc reports, and allow system generated reports to be reproducible in Excel format (.xls and .csv), PDF, etc.

1.5.4 The system should provide real time analytics, including graphical representation of individual and organizational performance, overdue tasks, and other data in an executive dashboard style.

1.5.5 The system should provide the ability for users to identify user-specific or office-specific pending tasks, along with the ability to sort the tasks based on due date or priority.

1.5.6 The system should provide for executive reporting.

2. Non Functional Requirements

2.1 Integration

2.1.1 The system should provide integration with Microsoft Office Word, Outlook, and Excel - and optionally USDA's Microsoft 365 environment, including Teams. Specifically, if the solution is not currently part of the Microsoft 365 environment, it needs to properly be able to use the Office Online capabilities for and reviewing/updates/editing as the correspondence package goes through the approval workflow of the proposed solution. Concurrent editing capabilities of Office 365 are a desired feature.

2.1.2 The system should provide a mechanism for the batch receipt of correspondence through multiple electronic and physical avenues (email, U.S. mail, and fax, and phone calls).

2.1.3 The system should allow external government recipients (e.g., from Department, DOI, etc.) to open the links to correspondence. It would be ok to have a proxy or "copy" to such correspondence or use a workflow or RPA approach to securely allow access to the finalized/signed letter.

2.1.4 The system should implement electronic signature, so that wet signatures are not required for documents previously signed with a pen to become an official agency record.

2.1.5 The system should Interface with the Forest Service Records Management System

2.1.6 The system should provide interface with Department's Controlled Correspondence system (share documents from FS to USDA)

2.1.7 The system should support single sign-on (no need to have another username password prompt to log into the system).

2.1.8 The system should allow Department-level offices such as the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Congressional Relations to be part of the correspondence document review process.

2.1.9 The system should all for interoperability with the Forest Service eDiscovery Platform in order to communicate preservation terms on ECM repository content.

2.1.10 The system should be able to utilize the agency's public distribution lists for the distribution of correspondence through the mail system.

2.1.11 The system will be required meet ATO (Authority to Operate) USDA security controls and if hosted in a cloud solution meet FedRAMP requirements.

2.2 Usability

2.2.1 The system should be easy to use

2.2.2 The system should be web-based and accessible through Internet Browser

2.2.3 The system must comply with Section 508 accessibility requirements.

2.2.4 The system should provide the ability to handle a high volume of correspondence during peak hours and avoid decrease in performance.

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2.2.5 The system will not impose artificial limits on viewing any part of the system required by the user or Administrator (view threshold limits)

2.3 Security

2.3.1 The system should be able to support eAuth protocols

2.3.2 The system shall provide the ability to leverage Active Directories (or equivalent) for defining users/roles/groups.

2.3.3 The system shall have single sign-on capabilities utilizing Forest Service Identity Authentication Services.

2.3.4 The system shall maintain data integrity by ensuring data sent across a network cannot be modified by a user.

2.3.5 The system shall encrypt sensitive data (in repository or while transfer).

2.3.6 The system shall adopt the networking and information technology standards and guidelines prescribed by NIST.

2.4 Miscellaneous

2.4.1 The system shall be able to support 45000 users. On average, there are over 7000-9000 reviewers, editors, and signatories that touch the system each year. All employees potentially search the system or receive links to the system for reading/viewing/downloading correspondence.

2.4.2 The system should target availability 24/7: 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

2.4.3 The system should be able to consume existing archival data from the current legacy correspondence management system.

2.4.4 The system should provide the option for auto-generated email notification for system events (i.e., user/group task assignments, overdue tasks, etc.).

2.4.5 The system should be accessible through mobile devices / platforms... for e.g. provide for approvals/rejections and electronic signing to be made via mobile devices

2.4.6 The system should provide online help documentation of all screens, fields, buttons, pick lists, etc.

2.4.7 The system should allow for conversions to PDF record copies

2.4.8 The system should integrate eSignature capabilities with PDF versions of correspondence that use Adobe Acrobat signature lines

2.4.9 The system should provide for easy methods for distributing correspondence

2.4.10 The system should provide the ability to edit in Office online apps. Specifically, the solution should allow the editing of the correspondences and attachments with any available Microsoft Office Online tools available to the FS.

TECHNICAL EXHIBIT 1