2-8 Seats-PWS_5-11-23.docx

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Department of Defense Education Activity 4800 Mark Center Drive Alexandria, VA 22350

Seat Licenses for Grades 2-8 Supplemental Courses

1. General Information and Scope of Work

1.1 Agency

1.1.1 For school year (SY) 2022-23, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) will provide PK-12 instruction to approximately 67,000 dependents of military and civilian employees. Student enrollment is based primarily on deployment of military troops worldwide. In the Americas, DoDEA operates 50 schools located in seven states, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. In Europe and the Middle East, DoDEA operates 64 schools located in Germany, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Bahrain and Italy. In the Pacific, DoDEA operates 45 schools located in Korea, Japan (mainland and Okinawa), and Guam. DoDEA's curriculum, resources and student achievement scores on standardized assessments compare favorably to those of high-performing US public school systems. DoDEA also operates a virtual school option with teaching hubs in each DoDEA region: Americas, Europe, and Pacific, whose high school component is fully accredited.

1.1.2 DoDEA schools have various grade configurations, with the most common being PK-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Of DoDEA’s 159 brick-and-mortar schools, 100 schools have students in at least three of the grades K-5; 62 schools have at least one grade 6-8; and 40 schools have grades 9-12. Of the 6-8 schools, nine are part of a K-6 or PK-6 school.

1.1.3 DoDEA has adopted College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) in mathematics, literacy, the arts, social studies, and science, which are rigorous, research-based, and reflect the knowledge, skills and dispositions students need for success in college and/or careers and are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), National Core Art Standards (NCAS), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), College and Career Ready Standards for World Languages (CCRSWL), College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, and Society for Health and Physical Education Standards (SHAPE AMERICA). DoDEA has also adopted the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students.

1.2 Background

DoDEA has procured seat-based licenses from various vendors for our Virtual High School. DoDEA procured seat-based licenses for K-8 courses in response to the pandemic.

1.3 Scope of Work

DoDEA requires seat-based licenses for core content virtual courses at grade levels 2-8 that will be taught by DoDEA teachers and hosted on DoDEA’s learning management system (LMS, currently Schoology). DoDEA expects to provide on an as-needed basis courses to students who are (1) in need of an advanced academic placement in one or more core content areas, and/or (2) require one or more core content courses due to other circumstances. Core content for each grade level includes English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. All courses are expected to be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS). All courses shall be aligned to the appropriate national standards, per PWS 1.1.3. Although DoDEA would prefer to award one contract, multiple contracts will likely be awarded.

The courses shall possess the following characteristics:

2 Requirements

2.1 Seat Licenses: The objective is to provide commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) seat-based licenses and related resources/support for Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies courses at grade levels 2-8. The tasks below are to help the Contractor gain a better understanding of the requirements to successfully meet the objective. They are not all inclusive. The Contractor is expected to develop the total solution to meet all the requirements in accordance with a performance-based approach.

Supporting Tasks (Objective 1)

2.2 Task 1, Course Requirements: The Contractor shall offer courses with modules or units that possess the following characteristics:

2.2.1 Accreditation: Be accredited by a nationally recognized school accreditation organization such as Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges (MSA), New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), and Cognia (formerly Advanced), the parent organization of three major accreditation agencies which includes the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC), and Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI).

2.2.2 Design

2.2.2.5 Ensure courses possess the following characteristics:

1) Course overview, syllabus, and a scope and sequence.

2) Course requirements consistent with stated courses goals, representative of the scope of the course.

3) Lesson overview, content and activities, assignments, and assessments for each lesson to provide multiple learning opportunities for students to master the content.

4) Content and assignments of sufficient rigor, depth, and breadth to prepare students to score well on assessments.

5) All necessary orientation materials, textbooks, workbooks, lab books, or other materials needed for completion of the course. Note: These may be available online or provided by the Contractor.

6) Instructor resources/notes, assessments, recommended rubrics, solution manuals, assignments, and answers/explanations.

7) Variety of audio, video and graphical media elements that are engaging and relate directly to topics covered.

8) Variety of learning activities that address multiple learning modalities such as interactive simulations, manipulatives, labs and writing online.

2.2.2.6 Offer courses during the school year and extended year (summer school), per DoDEA’s various school calendars, which vary by region.

2.2.2.7 Provide courses with online curriculum and materials that (1) permit the DoDEA instructor to add activities and assessments to the course to customize and extend learning opportunities and to differentiate when needed, (2) permit the online instructor to modify the course in the following ways: un-publish (hide) units, lessons, activities, and assessments and (3) are evaluated regularly and updated periodically to ensure the course is relevant and current with the subject-matter standards and technology advances.

2.2.2.8 Ensure content-specific tools and software (1) make maximum use of the capabilities of the online environment, (2) make resources available by alternative means, e.g., central description documents, video, or other digital formats and (3) feature intuitive/user-friendly, age-appropriate navigation.

2.2.2.9 Ensure content and software delivery incorporates either unique numbering or naming identifiers for content, assignments and assessments or provides a mechanism allowing DoDEA to customize the numbering or naming of curriculum components.

2.2.3 Assessments: Provide content assessments aligned to the content standards that do the following:

2.2.3.1 Assess students’ mastery of content, using computer-scored, teacher-scored, and discussion-based feedback that is appropriate to the assessment objectives.

2.2.3.2 Use formative and summative assessments, such as pre-assessments, to provide instructional feedback for students and teachers.

2.2.3.3 Enable teachers to adapt assessments to address students’ varying needs.

2.2.3.4 Include answer keys, grading rubrics, and models to support use in the online classroom.

2.2.3.5 Provide adequate methods to preserve academic integrity such as locking down the browser, random listing of test items, or use of multiple questions/items to measure similar content mastery.

2.2.4 Delivery of Print and Digital Resources

2.2.4.1 Deliver digital materials (such as access codes) three days after receipt of delivery order.

2.2.4.2 Ship print materials, if any, to the Americas by commercial carrier or by USPS and ship to Europe and the Pacific only by commercial carrier. Deliver print materials 30 calendar days after receipt of delivery orders for US sites and 45 calendar days after receipt of delivery orders for overseas sites. Note: Delivery orders will include door-to-door addresses. Provide a digital Shipment Notification upon shipment of material that includes the following:

· Contract number and delivery order number

· Contract line-item number (CLIN) indicating materials and quantities in this shipment

· Date and destination of shipment

· Shipping carrier name and tracking number

· Estimated date of arrival of shipment and shipping slip (if applicable)

2.3 Task 2, Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)—The Contractor shall:

2.3.1 Provide courses designed to run in DoDEA’s LMS, which operates within DoDEA’s VLE.

2.3.2 Deliver curriculum in one or more of the following three formats:

1) Imported, hosted, and maintained by DoDEA.

2) Instructional content hosted externally by the Contractor accessible through DoDEA’s LMS with the assignments and assessments imported, hosted, and maintained in DoDEA’s LMS.

3) Integration through DoDEA’s LMS to the curriculum hosted by the Contractor.

2.3.3 Ensure course content meets the following specifications:

1) Conforms to IMS Learning Global Consortium (IMS) content packaging specifications, per https://www.imsglobal.org/ (redirected to https://www.1edtech.org/.

2) Incorporates assessments, where applicable, that are IMS Test and Question Interoperability (QTI) conformant per https://www.imsglobal.org/ (redirected to https://www.1edtech.org/)

3) Uses imported content, if required, that conforms to the IMS content packaging specifications.

4) Uses content-hosted externally that are IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) conformant.

5) Has code that does not disable LMS features when content is used.

6) Requires single—not multiple—authentications for users to access content via our LMS.

2.3.4 Disclose any third-party program/software/application required by the proposed solution for every course. Note: Both the Contractor’s and the third-party programs/software/ applications shall meet the same technical requirements, such as single sign on, FedRAMP Level 2, etc.

2.4 Task 3, Product Training and Professional Learning—The Contractor shall:

2.4.1 Provide one to two hours of synchronous professional learning that contain guidance and resources for course implementation, such as digital modules and/or webinars, which shall help teachers use course tools and functions to manage and adjust the VLE to facilitate instruction including (1) strategies for using online activities and assessments and (2) ways to differentiate instruction.

2.4.2 Provide professional learning in a form that DoDEA can place on our LMS, i.e., either in the form of digital module(s) and/or synchronous webinar(s) that are recorded and archived. If the digital module solution is selected, the Contractor shall adhere to Sharable Content Object Reference Model® (SCORM®) conformance, per http://www.adlnet.gov/scorm/.

2.5 General Requirements—The Contractor shall:

2.5.1 Technical Support: Provide industry-standard technical support for its digital resources for the life of the contract via telephone or email within one business day from the initial contact to include but not limited to assisting with service problems, product setup, upgrades, and troubleshooting.

2.5.2 Meetings: The Contractor shall (1) attend virtual meetings at no additional cost to the Government and (2) provide the medium through which each meeting occurs, record each meeting’s minutes. The Contractor shall submit the draft minutes to the COR within two business days of the event and finalize the minutes two business days after receipt of written feedback from the COR. Note: Costs associated with attendance at face-to-face meetings, if any, shall be handled/paid for as stated in the contract.

2.5.2.1 Post-Award Conference: Participate in a video- or teleconference with the COR five business days after award IAW FAR Subpart 42.5.

2.5.2.2 IT Meeting: Convene a video- or teleconference with DoDEA Information Technology staff ten business days after award, per Technical Exhibit #1.

2.5.2.3 Other Post-Award Meetings: Meet with the Contracting Officer (KO), COR, and/or other Agency personnel, as appropriate, to review Contractor performance, as required by DoDEA. The KO may discuss the Agency’s view of Contractor performance, and the Contractor shall apprise the Agency of any problems being experienced. The Contractor shall take appropriate action to resolve any outstanding issues the Agency raises.

2.6 Performance Standards and Acceptable Quality Levels

2.6.1 Performance Standard: Tasks shall be completed by the required completion date.

2.6.2 Acceptable Quality Level: See PWS 7, Performance Requirement Summary (PRS).

3 Constraints

3.1 Place of Performance: Work shall be performed at the Contractor’s facilities.

3.2 Liaison and Alternate Liaison—The Contractor shall:

3.2.1 Provide a liaison and alternate liaison to be responsible for the performance of work. Their names shall be designated in writing to the Contracting Officer. They shall have full authority to act for the Contractor on all contract matters relating to the daily operation of this contract. Each shall have at least one year of experience working in a similar role.

3.2.2 Notify the COR in writing regarding any change in either the liaison’s role ten business days in advance of the change If the liaison or liaison alternate is changed post-award, the replacement shall meet or exceed the qualifications and experience of the person assigned upon contract award.

3.3 Holidays and Hours of Operation

3.3.1 The liaison or alternate liaison shall be available during the hours of 0900 to 1500 Eastern Standard Time (EST), except for Federal holidays and Federal government closures/shutdowns. The following list shows recognized Federal holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

3.3.2 Although there are different time zones within Europe and the Pacific and different hours for specific schools throughout DoDEA, the normal business hours for the regions roughly correspond to the following: Americas, 0700-1500 EST; Europe, 1300-2100 EST; and Pacific, 2000-0400 EST.

3.4 Availability: The Contractor shall make all resources available for the life of the contract.

3.5 Copyright Dates: Provide the most recent copyright dated materials, but not earlier than 2013. The copyright preference applies only to student and teacher materials (for example, the student textbook, teacher’s editions, etc.). The copyright preference does not apply to material included as part of the Contractor’s collection (that is, articles, leveled readers, big books, assessments, pictures, problems included in a textbook or supplemental to the teacher or student text) but which was created by others prior to 2013.

3.6 Anti-Bias, Diversity, and Inclusion—The Contractor shall provide resources free of age, racial, color, national origin, disabling conditions, sexual, gender, religious, and ethnic biases and present balanced coverage of multi-cultural contributions and representation.

3.7 Privacy—The Contractor shall:

3.7.1 User Accounts: Require, wherever applicable, that individual accounts possess unique usernames and passwords that do not require personally identifiable information (PII) to access online content, i.e., first & last name and any other unique personal information.

3.7.2 Contractor Personnel: Ensure personnel assigned to this contract take proper precautions to protect information from disclosure. Collect and/or store all agency-owned or agency-controlled PII in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C, which may be found at the following URL: http://www.archives.gov/about/laws/privacy-act-1974.html.

3.7.3 Privacy Training: Ensure Contractor staff who have access to DoDEA’s student, teacher and/or staff personally identifiable information successfully complete the DoD Privacy Act/Personally Identifiable Information (PA/PII) training before gaining access to the data and yearly thereafter. Provide copies of the certificates of completion to the COR which can be audited at any time by the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or his/her designee.

3.7.4 Privacy Verification: Provide the COR written verification of compliance to the Privacy requirements (listed above) 120 calendar days prior to the expiration of each year’s contract option period or annually, as required. Note: After reviewing the Contractor’s verification, DoDEA reserves the right to ask for further verification data in order for DoDEA to comply with DoD’s evolving privacy mandates.

3.8 Section 508 Compliance—Ensure Contractor resources, wherever applicable, meet the following requirements:

3.8.1 IT Requirement: Ensure all electronic hardware and software that is procured under this contract/ purchase order comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, (29 U.S.C. 794d) and the Architectural & Transportation Barriers Compliance Board Electronic Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards (36 CFR part 1194). See http://www.section508.gov for more information.

3.8.2 Deliverable Requirement: Ensure the following occur:

· Outputs/deliverables do not adversely affect accessibility features of existing EIT technologies.

· EIT related to the requirements of the contract are accessible to people with disabilities, per 29 U.S.C 794(d).

· Outputs/deliverables including functional performance, information, documentation, and support requirements are considered. Standards from 36 CFR Part 1194 Subpart B-D apply to this acquisition.

3.9 Optical Character Resolution (OCR): The Contractor shall provide, upon request, two digital OCR copies of print materials in one or more of the following formats:

· Digital Accessible Information System/National Instructional Materials

· Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) with cascading style sheet

· HyperText Markup Language (HTML)

· Portable Document Format (PDF), (unlocked, embedded fonts, single page)

· Rich Text Format (RTF)/Word document

3.10 Sharable Content Object Reference Model® (SCORM®) Compliance: Provide SCORM®-compliant digital modules. Note: Department of Defense Instruction (DoDI) 1322.26 mandates digital modules be developed in compliance with the latest possible version of SCORM®, which may be found at the following URL: https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/132226_dodi_2017.pdf?ver=2017-10-05-073235-400.

3.11 Data: All data developed as a result of any work awarded under this contract is and shall remain the property of the Government.

3.12 Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI): The Contractor (including any subcontractor) personnel performing work under this contract may receive, have access to, or participate in the development of, proprietary or Privacy Act information (e.g., personal information, education, etc.) may create a current or subsequent OCI as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5. Whenever the Contractor becomes aware that such access or participation may result in actual or potential OCI, the Contractor shall (1) immediately notify the Contracting Officer (KO) in writing and (2) promptly submit a plan to the KO to avoid or mitigate any such OCI. Note: The KO will unilaterally determine if the Contractor’s plan is acceptable. If the KO determines the plan cannot satisfactorily avoid or mitigate an OCI, s/he may implement other remedies to include prohibiting the Contractor’s further participation in contracted requirements.

4 Government-Furnished Resources

4.1 The Government in consultation with the Contractor will schedule the synchronous webinars post-award.

5 Contract Deliverables

Frequency

Access within three business days of receipt of a delivery order

6 Acronyms and Definitions

Contract Line-Item Number (CLIN) – Basic structural element in a procurement instrument describing and organizing the required product or service for pricing, delivery, inspection, acceptance, invoicing, and payment. The use of the term “line item” includes “subcontract line number”, (SLIN), as applicable.

Contracting Officer (KO) – The only individual with expressed authority to obligate (bind) the Government by means of entering, administering, and terminating contracts within the limits of the authority delegated via a Contracting Officer’s warrant.

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) – Qualified and trained Government employee, nominated by the requiring activity (RA) and appointed in writing by a KO primarily to perform specific technical or administrative functions on a specific contract(s); serves as the ‘eyes and ears’ of a KO to assure the Government’s best interests are protected via the terms and conditions of the contract(s) appointed. COR’s do not have the authority to obligate (i.e., bind) the Government.

Contractor – Supplier or Contractor having a contract to provide specific supplies or service to the Government. The term used in this contract refers to the prime.

Deliverable – Usually physically delivered items but may include such items as digital documents/reports.

Performance Requirements Summary (PRS) – Tabular listing of performance objectives and standards that provides the basis for a meaningful QASP.

Performance Work Statement (PWS) - A statement of work for performance-based acquisitions describing the required results in clear, specific, and objective terms with measurable outcomes.

7 Performance Requirement Summary

Course Requirements

PWS 2.2

Virtual Learning Environment

PWS 2.3

Product Training

PWS 2.4.1

Professional Learning

PWS 2.4.2

Technical Support

PWS 2.5.1

Privacy Training

PWS 3.7.3

Privacy Verification

PWS 3.7.4

Technical Exhibit #1 - TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall comply with the applicable technical requirements detailed below.

1.1 Software and Cloud Security Requirements—The Contractor shall:

1.2 System Requirements—The Contractor shall:

1.3 Data Management Requirements—The Contractor shall:

1.4 DoDEA Software License Keys: The Contractor shall provide (1) license keys and electronic downloads for software required under this Contract to the COR and (2) software directly to DoDEA schools, districts, or regions only if explicitly required to do so in the contract or in writing by the COR.

1.5 Cybersecurity Supporting Elements/Requirements and Scalability—The Contractor shall:

1.5.1 Comply with the same Federal law and DoD policies and guidance to which DoDEA is subject. These requirements include but are not limited to the cybersecurity requirements defined in the following documentation:

· DoD Directive (DoDD) 8500.01E, Information Assurance, be found at the following URL: https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/850001_2014.pdf.

· DoD Security Technical Implementation Guidance (STIG), found at the following URL: https://public.cyber.mil/stigs/downloads/.

· DoD Risk Management Framework (DODRMF) per DoD Instruction 8510.01 found at https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/851001p.pdf?ver=2019-02-26-101520-3004.5.2.

1) Maintaining system security IAW the latest versions of the (1) DoD Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide, (2) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and (3) Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).

2) Providing a solution robust enough to serve the needs of a large community of learners dispersed across the world using a variety of bandwidths and scalable to meet future growth, both in terms of instruction and the number of users.

3) Ensuring Contractor staff who have access to DoDEA’s student, teacher and/or staff personally identifiable information take the DoD Privacy Act/Personally Identifiable Information (PA and PPI/PII) training before gaining access to the data and yearly thereafter. Provide copies of the certificates of completion to the COR which can be audited at any time by the CISO or his/her designee.

1.6 Program and System Integration—The Contractor’s solution shall:

1.6.1 Provide Single Sign-On (SSO) Capabilities / Platform which accomplishes the following:

1) Integrates with an Industry Standard SSO login solution. (ClassLink, Google, Azure, etc.)

2) Supports Oauth 2.0, Security Assertions Markup Language (SAML) for integration with Azure, or Google.

3) Authenticates using Azure Active Directory (AD) or Google AD.

1.6.2. Support industry-standard data rostering standards via ClassLink and standard data formats such as OneRoster.

1.6.3. Ensure that data storage, handling, and security meet the following minimum standards:

1) DoDEA’s information and data shall be secured in data center located in the United States.

2) The system, including its server(s) and network devices, shall be in an environmentally controlled and secure facility under controlled circumstances (e.g., authorized personnel access lists, ID cards, entry logs).

3) All Contractor personnel that have access or may potentially have access to DoDEA data in any form shall be US citizens, including any third-party penetration (PEN)/security testers.

4) All data transit shall be secured with Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption.

5) All data at rest shall be secured with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)-256 encryption.

1.6.4 Ensure that data integration includes the following:

1) Automated industry standard form of data integration using Representational State Transfer Application Program Interface (RESTful API), Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), or Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) data sets (ClassLink, OneRoster, etc.).

2) Encryption of DoDEA’s data at rest to include unique encryption keys for each customer on systems hosting multiple customers.

3) Notification of DoDEA in writing within 72 hours of any changes made to corporate policies for data protection.

4) Use of only masked student data in a non-production environment.

5) Integration scheduling that meets DoDEA’s required timeframes.

6) Provision of fully automated data uploads per Agency schedule(s) and Agency requirements.

7) Support of SFTP capabilities using a single set of login credentials.

8) Provision of a single data set of DoDEA information. Note: The Contractor’s solution shall support DoDEA at all levels: school, community, district, region, and HQ.

9) Maintenance of a backup and restore plan for DoDEA data in the event of a disaster.

10) Provision of detailed feedback of what caused errors if an integration transmission results in errors.

1.6.5 System Features—The system shall:

1) Allow user accounts to be created automatically based on a file provided by DoDEA either nightly or on another pre-determined scheduled feed.

2) Allow DoDEA to be able to choose the format of user login identification, e.g., an email address, and be able to create manual accounts, if needed.

3) Require the user—for manually created accounts—to reset the password on the user’s initial login or, upon request, a password reset.

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