1.2.1-2RFI-TRP Analysis Support Draft PWS 20240906.docx

FOUO//PRE-DECISIONAL//ACQUISITION SENSITIVE

Transportation & Removal Programs Analysis Support Performance Work Statement

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS)

IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT (ICE)

ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL OPERATIONS (ERO)

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS) FOR

TRANSPORTATION & REMOVAL PROGRAM (TRP) ANALYSIS & SUPPORT

Applicable Appendices:

Appendix A - Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

1.0 GENERAL

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) has a unique mission: ERO manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including identification and arrest, domestic transportation, detention, bond management, and supervised release, including alternatives to detention. In addition, ERO facilitates the transfer of noncitizens ordered removed from the U.S. to more than 150 countries around the world. An essential enabling component of ERO’s mission success is its highly complex transportation network and capabilities. The level of ERO’s transportation effectiveness, efficiency, flexibility, and sophistication has dramatic impacts on ERO’s mission and budget, as well as the safety of the detainees and ERO employees. Achieving high levels of effectiveness and efficiency is challenging because of the enormous scope and scale of ERO’s transportation network. ERO manages over 110 ground transportation contracts that connect more than 200 facilities, oversees large air contracts worth more than $1B in annual contract expenditures, maintains a fleet of over 4,000 vehicles, and operates 24/7 across the nation and around the world. ERO also manages the contracted movement of non-citizen families and unaccompanied children each day. ERO’s transportation network must be flexible enough to handle surges and lulls in requirements while operating under considerable budget constraints. Lastly, ERO operates in an extremely dynamic and politically sensitive environment in which priorities continually shift and change.

2.0 BACKGROUND

Recognizing the importance of transportation to its mission, ERO, in 2015, initiated a comprehensive review of all aspects of its ground and air transportation network, including analysis of acquisition, processes, policies, operational practices, and data. Utilizing the findings from that assessment, ERO has steadily focused on advancing its transportation-related capabilities and efficiency. Since 2016, ERO has made significant progress in numerous areas, including: accessing and building a database of relevant transportation data; creating decision support tools; streamlining transportation-related processes; and producing documented cost savings and avoidance of more than $60M per year. Over the past five years, the required level of effort needed to meet these requirements has grown as the complexity of ERO’s network has grown and the amount of data and reporting requirements have also increased.

3.0 SCOPE

There is a contracted support activity that resides in the ERO Law Enforcement and Systems Analysis (LESA) Division, Strategy and Operations Analysis (SOA) unit that focuses on assisting ERO in decision support, reporting and improving the Transportation and Removal Program (TRP). This contracted support works to coordinate, standardize, and improve transportation operations, data quality and completeness, and acquisition effectiveness and to provide transportation expertise to improve operations across the ERO enterprise.

Although significant improvements have been made to managing TRP, increasing mission efficiency, and maintaining budgets, significant challenges remain in coordinating transportation and detention operations, coordinating between ERO divisions and mission partners, and responding accurately to inquiries from the Front Office, DHS, and Congress. ERO must constantly, quickly, and accurately respond to internal inquiries, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) investigations, and Government Accountability Office (GAO) requests. ICE ERO is interested in improving the Transportation & Removal Program with the assistance of industry partners in ways summarized, but not limited to:

· The creation of a centralized and automated process and technology across ERO field offices to create, review, approve, order, track and report transportation requests.

· Modernize the technology and process of coordinating disparate transportation requirements and data flows between agencies, AORs, and among various contractors involved in the end-to-end movements of non-citizens through the immigration enforcement lifecycle.

· Synthesize data driven insights and decision support tools into TRP culture, processes and technology that present all optimal assets and routing options for consideration by transportation leaders.

4.0 OBJECTIVE

ERO is addressing the challenges listed above and its professional service contracting needs by modernizing its requirements for the TRP analysis support and ensuring that ERO receives the support of a provider that has experience managing a $400M+ logistical operation in a law enforcement environment. Additionally, adding specificity on workstreams will allow ERO to more accurately respond to inquiries through enhanced data engineering and modeling activities, expanded acquisition coordination with the Field, Detention Planning and Acquisition Unit (DPAU), and the Office of Acquisition Management (OAQ) and ultimately obtaining assistance in updating policies and procedures to create new, more efficient operations at the field and headquarters level as it relates to planning and executing ground and air transfers and removals. Broad categories for support could build upon existing work and include:

· Task 1: Transportation Acquisition Support

· Task 2: Transportation Predictive Analytics & Modeling

· Task 3: Transportation Strategy, Planning & Assessment

· Task 4: Transportation Data Visualization & Engineering (Reporting)

· Task 5: Transportation Advanced Research & Studies To accommodate this support, ERO requires contracted support that has:

1) Cleared resources available to deliver by the end of the transition period,

2) Experience delivering teams of at least 10 individuals who have direct logistics, procurement, and data analytics expertise in a law enforcement environment,

3) Experience working with US government detainee transportation datasets and models including but not limited to ordering and invoice data, geospatial data and models, transportation forecasting tools and simulations, and transportation planning and optimization tools.

4) Subject-matter expertise having supported law enforcement,transportation contracts, or other related federal Government contracts that can be leveraged to make policy and operational improvements while managing strict budgets.

This contract requires a breadth of vendor capabilities beyond data analytics or procurement support. It requires a vendor who has direct experience supporting logistics in a law enforcement environment, building tools and training workforces on the use of those tools, and evaluating policy and program changes impact on operations and budget.

5.0 SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS/TASKS

The following tasks and activities represent areas where ERO requires professional services contract support for transportation acquisition, programs, and operations.

Task 1: Transportation Acquisition Support ERO will receive transportation acquisition support to help manage the TRP:

· Assist in the development of acquisition documents, roadmaps, and plans to support the evaluation, stand-up, and monitoring of transportation contracts. This includes supporting new contracts/Inter-governmental service agreements (IGSA)s, re-competes, modifications, and option years.

· Support ERO in the development of Independent Government Cost Estimates (IGCEs) by leveraging historical data and industry knowledge to prepare cost estimates for new or modified transportation services.

· Provide subject matter expertise to ERO and OAQ to facilitate negotiations with contractors by assisting in the evaluation of price proposals, providing analysis, questions, comments, and recommendations on negotiation strategies.

· Support field offices to right-size transportation requirements by providing analysis of transportation and other data and provide recommendations for efficiently structuring requested contracts.

· Collect and analyze transportation data to support OAQ, CORs, and Field Offices in the acquisition of transportation services.

· Provide source selection support to OAQ by assisting in performing transportation price analysis and comparisons for proposals.

· Provide strategic guidance, policy recommendations and frameworks to improve the acquisition process and improve logistics between transportation contracts and bed-space contracts.

· Assist in managing and supporting ERO’s transportation working groups and facilitate other reviews as required (e.g., creating and evaluating Basis of Estimates (BOEs)).

· Track and monitor transportation costs associated with modifications and new contract requests and coordinate with ERO budget personnel to report on fixed and variable contract expenditures.

· Support enterprise-wide optimization of transportation contracts by standardizing reporting and operational requirements and pursuing strategic transportation approaches to achieve maximum operational efficiencies.

· The contractor will be responsible for executing a series of support activities between OAQ and the field and program offices to utilize available transportation data to right-size and right-type air and ground transportation contracts. The contractor shall provide the following specific services to support acquisition activities, enterprise-wide optimization, and standardized reporting in transportation contracts:

· Support OAQ, CORs, field and program offices for acquisition of ground, air, and Joint Family Management Division (JFMD) transportation services across multiple AORs.

· Provide strategic guidance, policy recommendations, and proposed framework for use in the full acquisition lifecycle, including those contracts that require a modification for the collection of G-391 (transportation trips) data, as well as all invoice data related to air, and JFMD transportation.

· Support contracting officer negotiations prior to award by assisting in evaluating price proposals providing questions, comments, and negotiation strategies.

· Track and monitor acquisition levels and costs to compare against the baseline and measure the effectiveness of implemented activities.

· Provide lessons learned and best practices debrief for each contract supported from pre-solicitation stages through final award.

· Provide enhanced support for formal processes for transportation requests.

· Support new contracts/IGSAs, re-competes, contract/IGSA modifications, option exercises by providing transportation and acquisition subject matter expertise, reviews (i.e. RFIs, RFPs, SOWs, BOEs), analysis, and recommendations.

· Support enterprise-wide optimization of transportation contracts and operations and standardized reporting requirements in contracts.

· Understand and assist in maintaining the transportation acquisition timeline of contract re-competes and prioritized contract modifications.

· Provide support in developing questions for RFIs and review and make recommendations for the SOW and RFP/RFQ.

· Review and make recommendations on the BOE for detail and comparison of bidder price breakdowns.

· Support contract evaluation teams in analyzing transportation contract bidder proposals and BOEs and provide recommendations to OAQ and develop and monitor key performance metrics.

· Provide acquisition specific expertise and analysis to other task workstreams outlined in this document.

Task 2: Transportation Predictive Analytics & Modeling ERO will receive support of various tools that are in various stages of development and accreditation.

· Identify gaps for TRP decision support tool development and improvement including opportunities to collect new data, improve data quality, and improve forecasting, reporting, and scenario planning capabilities.

· Develop and enhance the LESA suite of Discrete Event Simulation (DES) models to better capture all transportation components of the Immigration Enforcement and Removal Lifecycle.

· Evaluate the use of current and other model types and methods as appropriate including but not exclusively: Tableau, Geospatial Information System (GIS), Python, and QLIK Databricks

· Maintain and improve TRP-related geospatial capabilities.

· Maintain and improve the Transportation-Bed Space Optimization Decision Support Tool.

· Maintain and improve automated data gathering including G-391 data processing and quality checks.

· Streamline reporting on key performance indicators across the transportation data and visualization enterprise promoting information sharing among field and HQ stakeholders.

· Promote interoperability of transportation-related products with other LESA DES models as needed to enhance decision-making and forecasting.

· Support all ad-hoc activities, requests, model, and tool enhancements, prioritizing and validating requests with TRP stakeholders.

· Perform recurring model maintenance, support, and governance supporting model documentation requirements, methods, as well as prepare models for official DHS accreditation.

· Provide predictive analytics & modeling specific expertise and analysis to other task workstreams outlined in this document.

Task 3: Transportation Strategy Planning & Assessment ERO will receive logistics, strategy, policy, and change management subject matter expertise to advise ERO leaders on recommendations related to ERO transportation structure, roles, responsibilities, and the overall management of ERO’s transportation network.

· Support cross-functional transportation operations management and transportation related collaboration between ERO divisions and Field Offices.

· Support business process improvements including policy updates and documentation in line with executive orders, ERO policies, and field office standard operating procedures.

· Evaluate and recommend logistics systems, processes, and tools for implementation to support the connection of transportation activities with bed space to include the evaluation of commercial-off-the-shelf tools that could significantly streamline ERO operations and data reporting.

· Provide business process re-engineering and requirements gathering assistance to support the creation of electronic data capture and management systems, such as a centralized G-391 system for ERO transportation orders, and support enabling implementation activities such as process standardization and change management support.

· Create user guides and standard operating procedures and host training for impacted CORs, contract detention officers, and/or ERO law enforcement and administrative support personnel who are impacted by any process change.

· Perform change management activities to streamline adoption of tools and technique to create process efficiencies within headquarters and the field.

· Provide onsite support as needed (meetings, working groups, etc).

· Provide near real-time response to TRP requests for information and ad-hoc requests related to TRP operations and contingency scenarios in order to facilitate decision support.

· Provide strategy, plans & assessment specific expertise and analysis to other task workstreams outlined in this document.

Task 4: Transportation Data Visualization & Engineering (Reporting) ERO will receive data visualization and data engineering support to include:

· Identify, Engineer (Collect, Wrangle), Design Visualizations (Report) on all TRP (Ground Trans, ICE Air (Charter & Commercial), and Joint Family Management Division (JFMD) transportation) data.

· Facilitating the review, storage, and integration of transportation related data into ICE’s various data analytics and engineering environments and other data engineering tools to support the reporting and analysis of transportation data.

· Includes automated data quality reviews for data that is collected through the TRP reporting process and Operations Support Division’s invoice reconciliation processes.

· Incorporating new data from systems as required.

· Complete documentation on data engineering practices to include guides and standard operating procedures.

· Determine the kind of data to be collected and identify the resources with which to effectively collect them.

· Organize, implement, and enforce correct data collection policies and methods.

· Ensure compliance with all DHS and ICE standards and laws related to data.

· Develop techniques that allow for the collection of accurate data.

· Integrate different types of data from disparate sources, including structured and unstructured data.

· Analyze data to identify patterns and insights.

· Identify data resources and researching historical data.

· Test data outcomes.

· Present data in an organized manner using visualization techniques.

· Design and build data pipelines, ensuring a smooth data flow from multiple sources to data warehouses or lakes.

· Implement data cleaning and validation processes to enhance data accuracy and consistency.

· Design of a data storage mechanism that can handle large volumes of data, ensuring that as an organization grows, its data infrastructure can scale accordingly.

· Mitigate algorithmic biases by ensuring that data pipelines are designed with fairness and transparency.

· Perform extract transform load (ETL) operations to transform raw data into a format suitable that analysts and data scientists can use for modeling and analysis.

· Implement security measures to protect sensitive data, essential for maintaining trust and compliance with data privacy regulations.

· Facilitating the review, storage, and integration of transportation related data into ICE’s various data analytics and engineering environments and other data engineering tools to support the reporting and analysis of transportation data.

· Includes automated data quality reviews for data that is collected through the ERO reporting process and Operations Support Division’s invoice reconciliation processes.

· Incorporating new data from systems as required.

· Complete documentation on data engineering practices to include guides and standard operating procedures.

· Provide data visualization & engineering specific expertise and analysis to other task workstreams outlined in this document.

Task 5: Transportation Advanced Research & Studies ERO will receive subject matter expertise surge capabilities to support special projects such as rapid development of proof of concepts, prototypes, and logistics analysis in response to congressional inquiries, unanticipated changes in policy or operations, and ERO strategic logistics related initiatives as requested.

· Provide additional support that can rapidly deploy to conduct focused, and discrete support for special projects relating to:

· Rigorous academic research and evidence building to support transformation and resource requirements supporting modernization of TRP process and technology.

· Issue investigation, root cause identification, best practice evaluation, recommended remedial actions and recommended recurrence controls.

· New process development and implementation,

· Change management support and field deployment of prototypes or new technologies,

· Data collection or information gathering modernization assistance.

· Provide advanced research & studies specific expertise and analysis to other task workstreams outlined in this document.

6.0 CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL

The contractor shall provide qualified personnel to perform all requirements specified in this PWS according to the Appendix A – QASP.

OPTIONAL POSITIONS

Please note: * indicates Key Personnel

Contractor key personnel shall not be assigned by the contractor to more than one key position for this requirement.

The project manager shall be available to the COR and/or the Strategic Operations Analysis (SOA) supervisory lead via telephone between the hours of 8am and 4pm eastern standard time (EST), five days a week (i.e., 40 hours per week), Monday through Friday, and shall respond to requests for discussion or resolution of technical problems within 24-48 hours of notification.

7.0 KEY PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS

The Government considers certain contractor personnel to be key personnel. All key personnel positions shall be approved by the Government in advance. The contractor must submit to the COR the resume of proposed key personnel for review and approval or rejection. The qualifications of proposed substitute key personnel must meet or exceed the skillset requirements as evidenced by the resume provided by the contractor to the CORs. The Government shall have the right to reject key personnel submitted for consideration by the contractor if they fail to meet the requirements set forth in this section.

Key personnel positions are expected to serve for the life of the contract, or until approved replacements are submitted by the contractor and approved by the COR.

Five key positions are required: Project Manager, Alternate Project Manager, Data Scientist II, Strategic Planner, Senior Acquisition Specialist. The skillsets need for these positions are listed below:

1) Project Manager

a) A bachelor’s degree in business, economics, science, engineering, or management related field. A master’s degree is preferred.

b) 10 years of project management and logistics related experience leading diverse teams in procurement and data initiatives

c) 8 years of experience leading the development of comprehensive data and analytics projects across and within a federal agency with multiple components, and external agencies

d) 4 years of experience working with law enforcement acquisition processes and managing law enforcement data (preferably ICE ERO acquisitions and data) to inform transportation operations.

e) Experience connecting data and information sharing across the transportation environment.

f) Experience working with personnel and leaders in both the field and at a headquarters on key initiatives.

g) Must possess an active Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification per the Project Management Institute

2) Assistant Project Manager

a) A bachelor’s degree in business, economics, science, engineering, or management related field

b) 8 years of project management and logistics related experience

c) 3 years of experience working with law enforcement acquisition processes and managing law enforcement data (preferably ICE ERO acquisitions and data) to inform transportation operations.

d) Must possess an active PMP Certification per the Project Management Institute

3) Data Scientist II

a) A master’s degree in business, economics, science, mathematics, statistics or management related field

b) 10 years of data analysis experience with a focus on immigration data, systems, and tools

c) 5 years of experience developing tools and executing analytic strategies within ICE environment

4) Strategic Planner

a) 20 Years of experience with DHS or law enforcement (preferably ICE and ERO)

b) 8 Years of experience with logistics and transportation optimization within a law enforcement environment

c) Experience standing up new organizations and implementing new tools and providing the appropriate change management and operational changes to ensure the successful deployment of initiatives.

5) Senior Acquisition Specialist

a) Experience with DHS or law enforcement (preferably ICE and ERO)

b) 8 Years of experience with federal acquisition processes and regulations.

c) Experience supporting acquisition offices with expertise in crafting contract requirements, developing IGCEs, assisting with establishing optimal structure and evaluation criteria.

d) Experience leveraging data and analytical tools to assist contracting officers with targeted analysis and recommendations about type of contracts, scope, quality assurance and requirements development.

The Government may designate additional contractor personnel as Key at the time of award. Key personnel shall not be assigned by the contractor to more than one key position for this requirement.

Before replacing any individual designated as Key by the Government, the contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer (CO) no less than 15 business days in advance, submit written justification for replacement, and provide the name and qualifications of any proposed substitute(s). All proposed substitutes shall possess qualifications equal to or superior to those of the Key person being replaced, unless otherwise approved by the CO. The contractor shall not replace Key personnel without approval from the CO.

8.0 CONTINUITY OF SUPPORT

The contractor shall ensure that the contractually required level of support for this requirement is maintained at all times. The contractor shall ensure that all contract personnel are present for all hours of the workday and their time is recorded using the government timekeeping system. If for any reason the contractor staffing levels are not maintained due to vacation, leave, appointments, etc., and replacement personnel will not be provided, the contractor shall provide e-mail notification to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) or the Government Technical Monitor (GTM) overseeing the contractor, prior to employee absence. Otherwise, the contractor shall provide a fully qualified replacement. The contractor’s compliance with the government’s requirements will be monitored according to the Appendix A – QASP.

9.0 EMPLOYEE IDENTIFICATION

Contractor employees visiting government facilities shall wear an identification badge that, at a minimum, displays the contractor name, the employee’s photo, name, clearance-level, and badge expiration date. Visiting contractor employees shall comply with all government escort rules and requirements. All contractor employees shall identify themselves as contractors when their status is not readily apparent and display all identification and visitor badges in plain view above the waist at all times.

Contractor employees working on-site at government facilities shall wear a government issued identification badge. All contractor employees shall identify themselves as contractors when their status is not readily apparent (in meetings, when answering government telephones, in e-mail messages, etc.) and display the government issued badge in plain view above the waist at all times.

10.0 EMPLOYEE CONDUCT

Contractor’s employees shall comply with all applicable government regulations, policies and procedures (e.g., fire, safety, sanitation, environmental protection, security, “off limits” areas, wearing of parts of DHS uniforms, and possession of weapons) when visiting or working at government facilities. The contractor shall ensure contractor employees present a professional appearance at all times and that their conduct shall not reflect discredit on the United States or the DHS.

REMOVING EMPLOYEES FOR MISCONDUCT OR SECURITY REASONS

The Government may, at its sole discretion (via the COR), direct the contractor to remove any contractor employee from DHS facilities for misconduct or security reasons. Removal does not relieve the contractor of the responsibility to continue providing the services required under the contract. The CO will provide the contractor with a written explanation to support any request to remove an employee.

11.0 OTHER APPLICABLE CONDITIONS

The contractor may have access to proprietary or sensitive information from various public or private sources. For example: proprietary, intellectual property, critical infrastructure (CI), sensitive but unclassified (SBU), law enforcement sensitive (LES), sensitive security information (SSI). Each contractor must sign a DHS Non-Disclosure agreement, no later than 5 business days after arrival on board.

The contractor shall ensure that each of its employees, consultants, and subcontractors who work with PCII have executed Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) in a form prescribed by the PCII Program Manager. The contractor shall ensure that each of its employees, consultants and subcontractors has executed an NDA and agrees that none of its employees, consultants or sub-contractors will be given access to PCII without having previously executed a NDA.

The parties have agreed to implement a Rule promulgating new regulations at Title 6 Code of Federal Regulations Section 29.8(c) to govern procedures for handling critical infrastructure information. The regulations detailed in the Rule, which was effective upon publication pursuant to Section 808 of the Congressional Review Act, were promulgated pursuant to Title II, Section 214 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, known as the "Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002." (CII Act).

The contractor shall not request, obtain, maintain, or use PCII without a prior written certification from the PCII Program Manager or a PCII Officer that conforms to the requirements of Section 29.8(c) of the regulations in the Rule.

The contractor shall comply with all requirements of the PCII Program set out in the Act, in the implementing regulations published in the Rule, and in the PCII Procedures Manual, as they may be amended from time to time and shall safeguard protected information in accordance with the procedures contained therein.

12.0 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance for this contract is a one-year base period, inclusive of a 60-day transition period, with four one-year option periods to be exercised at the discretion of the Government. This contract contains the FAR 52.217-8 option, but it will only be exercised if determined necessary in accordance with FAR 37.111.

13.0 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

The primary place of performance is at the discretion of the contractor. The contractor may require contractor to work at their approved site or telework/remote options. There is space available on the federal premises in Washington, DC (500 12th St SE) that may be reserved if available. The contractor personnel may be required to support on federal premises with 72 hours’ notice.

A co-located workforce is considered vital to the successful management and operations of ERO. Accordingly, the Government provides the contractor with workspaces to the maximum extent possible. The Government will allow situational telework for contractor staff to perform work away from the Government site. The contractor staff may perform contract work during telework, provided they use appropriate tools (e.g., DHS laptop or Remote Desktop capability) procedures to protect ERO information per contract requirements. Certain aspects of this work may be performed at an approved alternate work site if they do not require access to the ICE network.

In the event of an emergency event (e.g., act of terrorism, natural disaster, pandemic health emergency), the contractor shall change the location of the critical elements of contract performance as directed by the CO. Unless otherwise stated in this contract, the cost impact of such direction is not included in the price of this contract, and the Government will provide an equitable adjustment to the contract per any applicable “Changes” clause in the event of such direction.

14.0 HOURS OF OPERATION

Contractor FTE personnel shall perform work for eight hours (excluding lunch, which is not chargeable to the government) per day, five days per week, Monday through Friday, except for federal holidays. See OMB website for federal holidays. Core hours are 7:00am to 5:00pm.

15.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED EQUIPMENT (GFE)

ICE will provide GFE as necessary to support the contract efforts. Contractors must use GFE to perform any work under this agreement and are strictly prohibited from placing ICE data on any non-GFE technology. Any equipment furnished by the Government to the Contractor to perform work under this task shall be returned to the Government at the end of the period of performance. All training materials, policies, procedures, and electronic work products generated from this task become the property of ICE.

The contractor shall keep an inventory of GFE, which shall be made available to the COR upon request. The Government will provide basic equipment (e.g., laptops, PIV cards) in accordance with the contract. Contractor shall provide a fully executed Property Receipt to the COR or ICE Property Custodian within 48 hours of receipt.

The Government will provide the necessary software development tools, applications, and licenses to support the contractor. The Government will provide Microsoft Office and other software to support the Contractor’s work.

Any tool or application required by the contractor that is not available on ICE’s infrastructure toolkit must be requested to the Government a minimum of 60 days prior to it being required. No tool or application is guaranteed to be approved if it is not currently approved by the Government. Therefore, the contractor shall not depend on tools or applications that are not already approved.

16.0 TRAVEL

Contractor travel may be required to support this requirement. The contractor shall not be reimbursed for travel and per diem within a 50-mile radius of the worksite where a contractor has an office. Local travel expenses within the Washington, DC Metropolitan area shall not be reimbursed (this includes parking).

All travel outside the Washington, DC Metropolitan area must be approved by the COR in advance. No travel will be reimbursed without prior approval from the COR. In the event the contractor is required to travel outside of the Washington, DC Metropolitan area, the contractor will provide the COR with a completed Request for Travel Authorization at least 5 (five) business days prior to the requested travel date.

The contractor will be required to travel to ERO field offices as determined by the ICE COR, to identify efficiencies and make recommendations on optimizing the transportation network. Travel expenses will be reimbursed consistent with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 31.205-46, Travel Costs, and the substantive provisions of the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR), as applicable, and consistent with the not-to-exceed (NTE) amount specified for this contract line item (CLIN). The FTRs may be located and downloaded from www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr or www.gsa.gov/federaltravelregulation.

17.0 TRANSFERS FROM OTHER DHS CONTRACTS

Contractor employees may be eligible for transfer from other DHS Component contracts provided they have an adequate and current investigation meeting the new assignment requirement. If the contractor employee does not meet the new assignment requirement a DHS 11000-25 with ICE supplemental page will be submitted to OPR-PSU to initiate a new investigation.

Transfers will be accomplished by submitting a DHS 11000-25 with ICE supplemental page indicating “Contract Change.”

18.0 BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN

The contractor shall prepare and submit a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to the Government. The BCP Plan shall be due thirty (30) business days after the date of award. The BCP shall document the contractor plans and procedures to maintain support during an emergency, including natural disasters and acts of terrorism. The BCP, at a minimum, shall include the following:

A description of the contractor’s emergency management procedures and policy

· A description of how the contractor will account for their employees during an emergency.

· How the contractor will communicate with the Government during emergencies

· A list of primary and alternate contractor points of contact, each with primary and alternate telephone number and e-mail address.

Individual BCPs shall be activated immediately after determining that an emergency has occurred, shall be operational within four (4) hours of activation or as directed by the Government, and shall be sustainable until the emergency situation is resolved and normal conditions are restored or the contract is terminated, whichever comes first. In case of a life-threatening emergency, the COR shall immediately make contact with the contractor PM to ascertain the status of any contractor personnel who were located in Government controlled space affected by the emergency. When any disruption of normal, daily operations occur; the contractor PM and the COR shall promptly open an effective means of communication and verify:

· Key points of contact (Government and contractor)

· Temporary work locations (alternate office spaces, telework, virtual offices, etc.)

· Means of communication available under the circumstances (e.g., email, webmail, telephone, facsimile, courier, etc.)

· Essential contractor work products expected to be continued, by priority

The Government and the contractor PM shall make use of the resources and tools available to continue contracted functions to the maximum extent possible under emergency circumstances. Contractors shall obtain approval from the Contracting Officer prior to incurring costs over and above those allowed for under the terms of this contract. Regardless of contract type, and of work location, contractors performing work in support of authorized tasks within the scope of their contract shall charge those hours accurately in accordance with the terms of this contract.

19.0 QUALITY CONTROL PLAN (QCP)

The contractor shall develop and implement a QCP to ensure contractor personnel are adhering to ERO policy, procedure, and practice as well as contract performance requirements. The contractor shall execute and document all QCP activities, compliance status and performance outcomes.

The QCP shall be delivered with the contractor’s task order proposal. A final copy of the plan will be submitted thirty (30) calendar days after the task order award. If adjustments are made to the QCP by the contractor after award, the contractor shall provide a copy of the updated QCP to the CO and to the COR within five (5) calendar days of the revisions.

The QCP shall be updated annually, at the beginning of each contract option period by the contractor and copies of the updated plan shall be provided to the CO and the COR no less than 10 business days after the exercise of the option period. All revisions from the previous version shall be highlighted (or tracked) and provided at the same time as the revised copy of the QCP.

All quality control reports submitted by the contractor shall be subject to Government verification. Satisfactory performance in this area is indicative of the contractor maintaining an acceptable QCP and will be substantiated based on the performance measures outlined in the QASP.

The accuracy of reports and documentation shall be the responsibility of the contractor.

20.0 QUALITY ASSURANCE REVIEWS

The contractor shall define and implement quarterly quality assurance reviews and internal audit procedures in a QCP and review the QASP metrics/performance. The results of the review shall be sent to the COR 30 business days after the quarter has ended.

The contractor shall execute and document the results of such reviews and audits, implement a corrective action plan on areas found deficient in performance, and ensure that all documentation (e.g., internal audit reports) related to them are available to the COR and the CO at any time during the execution and close-out of this contract.

21.0 DELIVERABLES & CONTRACTUAL REPORT

The contractor shall consider items below as having mandatory due dates. All deliverables or events that must be reviewed and/or approved by the COR prior to proceeding to next deliverable or event in this PWS.

of Interest Risk Mitigation Plan

Mitigation Plan due NLT 5 business days after award

CO, COR, PM

associated timelines.

and provide recommendations on efficiencies and optimization.

provide a summary of the potential opportunities & efficiencies.

routine and non-routine ad hoc reports, as requested.

The contractor shall provide all written reports in electronic format with read/write capability using applications that are compatible with DHS workstations (Windows XP and Microsoft Office Applications).

22.0 SECTION 508 COMPLIANCE

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (classified to 29 U.S.C. § 794d) requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use information and communications technology (ICT), it shall be accessible to people with disabilities. Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities must be afforded access to and use of information and data comparable to that of Federal employees and members of the public without disabilities.

All products, platforms and services delivered as part of this work statement that, by definition, are deemed ICT shall conform to the revised regulatory implementation of Section 508 Standards, which are located at 36 C.F.R. § 1194.1 & Appendixes A, C & D, and available at https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=e1c6735e25593339a9db63534259d8ec&mc=true&node=pt36.3.1194&rgn=div5. In the revised regulation, ICT replaced the term electronic and information technology (EIT) used in the original 508 standards. ICT includes IT and other equipment.

Exceptions for this work statement have been determined by DHS and only the exceptions described herein may be applied. Any request for additional exceptions shall be sent to the Contracting Officer and a determination will be made according to DHS Directive 139-05, Office of Accessible Systems and Technology, dated November 12, 2018 and DHS Instruction 139-05-001, Managing the Accessible Systems and Technology Program, dated November 20, 2018, or any successor publication.

When developing or modifying ICT, the Contractor is required to validate ICT deliverables for conformance to the applicable Section 508 requirements. Validation shall occur on a frequency that ensures Section 508 requirements is evaluated within each iteration and release that contains user interface functionality.

When modifying, installing, configuring or integrating commercially available or government-owned ICT, the Contractor shall not reduce the original ICT Item’s level of Section 508 conformance.

When developing or modifying web based and electronic content components, except for electronic documents and non-fillable forms provided in a Microsoft Office or Adobe PDF format, the Contractor shall demonstrate conformance to the applicable Section 508 standards (including WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA Success Criteria) by conducting testing using the DHS Trusted Tester for Web Methodology Version 5.0 or successor versions, and shall ensure testing is conducted by individuals who are certified by DHS on version 5.0 or successor versions (e.g. “DHS Certified Trusted Testers”). The Contractor shall provide the Trusted Tester Certification IDs to DHS upon request.