2021 Symposium Statement of Work.pdf

Statement of Work (SOW)

GENERAL INFORMATION

Title of Project:

Annual AmeriCorps State and National Grantee Symposium (Virtual)

Statement of Need, Purpose, and/or Objective:

The purpose of this requirement is to provide an excellent virtual training conference experience for participants. This will include a timely and easy registration process, an agenda that meets attendees’ needs, materials that communicate messages about the conference that are clear and informative, and to establish a virtual platform that meet the requirements of the training and are conducive to learning.

Background Information:

AmeriCorps (formally, Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)) is seeking a vendor to provide conference and meeting support services for its annual AmeriCorps State and National grantee meeting, which is called the ASN Symposium. The Symposium is a three (3) or four (4) day event to be scheduled to occur in September 2021. The period of performance for this requirement: begins with award and continues with planning activities leading up to the meeting; followed by on-line management during the meeting; with follow-up activities and a final report due in October 2021.

The Symposium is designed for the network of State Service Commissions funded by AmeriCorps as well as staff from AmeriCorps direct grantees (multi-state nonprofit programs, tribal programs, and programs operating in a territory without a commission). Specific attendees include State Service Commission Executive Directors, State Service Commission staff, and managers for tribal and direct programs.

Expected attendance is approximately 500-700 people.

Participants attending the meeting will be provided with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in their roles as AmeriCorps grantees. Through participation in the meeting, grantee staff will have the opportunity to consult with their AmeriCorps Portfolio Managers, communicate with AmeriCorps senior leadership and other government officials, and network with colleagues to learn and share best practices.

This event has typically been an in-person event hosted in the DC metro area. Grantees from across the country would travel to DC for a 3-4 day in person conference. In response to COVID-19 precautions as outlined by the CDC, and local governments, the 2020 Symposium was transitioned onto an online platform. AmeriCorps continue to adhere to CDC gathering restrictions and precautions by hosting the 2021 Symposium virtually.

The previous contract was awarded to HB & Company for an in-person Symposium conference under award number 95332A-19-C-0018. The performance period for this contract began in 4/11/29-11/30/19 with one option year being exercised between 12/19/19 – 11/30/20.

Period of Performance:

Period of performance shall be from date of award to November 30, 2021.

The ideal schedule for the event is as follows.

• The Symposium will start Monday or Tuesday, DATES TBD, at approximately 1:00 pm EST and end on Thursday or Friday at approximately 6:00 pm EST with an estimated 500-700 individuals attending. It is likely that, due to the volume of training content to be covered, some sessions will need to be pre-recorded and available for the entirety of the event.

• The Symposium virtual conference event and resources must take into consideration the time zones in which AmeriCorps programs reside, from Samoa Standard time to Wake Island Time Zone.

Place of Performance:

Work may be performed virtually.

Award Type A firm fixed price award is anticipated.

Hours of Operation:

Contractor employees shall generally perform all work between the hours of 7:00am and 6:00pm, Monday through Friday (except Federal holidays). However, there may be occasions when Contractor employees shall be required to work other than normal business hours, including weekends, to fulfill requirements under this SOW. During the week of the Symposium, hours of work may extend before 7:00am and after 6:00pm depending on the final agenda.

Federal Holidays:

Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) establishes the following public holidays for Federal employees. Please note that most Federal employees work on a Monday through Friday schedule. For these employees, when a holiday falls on a non-workday –Saturday or Sunday – the holiday usually is observed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday). Contractors shall follow these same guidelines. Direct billing/invoicing shall not be allowed for any Federal Government Holidays (e.g. New Year’s Day; Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.; Birthday of George Washington; Memorial Day;

Independence Day; Labor Day; Columbus Day; Veterans Day; Thanksgiving Day; Christmas Day)

SCOPE OF WORK

General Requirements:

Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all the necessary services, qualified personnel, material, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government as needed to perform the Statement of Work below.

Specific Requirements:

Task 1 – Project Plan and Timeline

Contractor will submit a proposed logistics project plan and timeline for completing all the tasks in this requirement to AmeriCorps for review and approval no more than five (5) business days from contract award date. CNCS will provide feedback to the Contractor on the proposed project plan and timeline on a conference call. The kick-off meeting will occur no more than 10 business days after the contract award date. The kick-off meeting will include a discussion of AmeriCorps State and National grantee data collection, storage, and security with IT staff. A revised plan and timeline, if necessary, should be submitted to AmeriCorps within three (3) business days from receiving feedback. The project plan and timeline must incorporate sufficient time for all materials to be posted online to be reviewed and verified for 508 compliance, before the Symposium occurs.

Task 2 – Project Management

• Develop work plans, milestones, and schedule of deliverables for each of the components outlined below. Work plans will be submitted to AmeriCorps for approval (including assessments as to whether the planned activities need to be in compliance with the objectives of OMB Memorandum M-12-12, Promoting Efficient Spending to Support Agency Operations).

• Create and implement systems for tracking and detailing tasks related to each of the components below.

• Implement a strong quality assurance process that ensures that written materials (including work products like the project timeline, on-line registration, and event website) are free of all errors and formatted according to AmeriCorps specifications. Must also maintain strong quality assurance and correct any errors identified throughout the contract period.

• Lead planning meetings with appropriate AmeriCorps staff throughout the contract period, including, but not limited to, the program/event lead and the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). This includes scheduling the meeting in Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or other approved platform as approved by AmeriCorps, creating a detailed agenda and distributing it to meeting participants at least one (1) day prior to the meeting; keeping minutes; and identifying and ensuring completion of follow-up items.

• Distribute minutes, via email, and identify action items for all meetings and disseminate to meeting participants no later than three (3) business days after each meeting.

Task 3 – Identify Online Conference Platform

• The Contractor will initiate and execute a thorough market survey for appropriate platforms based on conference specs and preferences (AmeriCorps will provide participant and presenter requirements; contractor will complete a review of options) for September 2021. The event will occur in September. Vendor will consider all options that emerge through its process, provide a comprehensive report of options with the results of all platform research, and recommend the three

(3) platforms to AmeriCorps that best meet the criteria for this contract.

• The market survey must include investigation of appropriate platforms for federal events.

• The platform should ensure the safety, security, and privacy of information gathered from all participants

• Negotiate and execute a contract with the selected virtual conference platform based on decision factors that include dates and space availability, cost,

• Serve as primary point of contact with virtual platform managers.

• Conference platform must meet all federal 508 requirements

Task 4 – Registration, Logistics, and Pre-conference Program Planning

• Contractor may not assess a registration fee for Symposium attendees.

• Contractor will provide honorarium for keynote speaker(s), as directed by AmeriCorps.

• Assume $5,000 total in Price Proposal; and honoraria may not be paid to federal employees.

• Establish a conference registration website for participant registration and event information no later than July 2021. CNCS design requirements will be provided at the start of the contract period. The Symposium registration site must collect, and the vendor must be able to report weekly on these items: participant name, job title, organization name, organization summary (up to 500 words), address, email, phone, and type of grantee organization.

• Contractor is responsible for setting up and maintaining the registration and event website, including fixing any errors identified during the contract period; Symposium attendees will complete their own registrations online prior to the event.

• All online applications and materials will require 508 compliance review by the Contractor and approval by AmeriCorps in advance of the deadline for the deliverables. The contractor must submit each deliverable at least 30 days prior to the final deliverable deadline so that it may be reviewed and approved by AmeriCorps staff. These include the online registration form and event website.

• Manage the registration process, including responding to email correspondence and staffing an online helpdesk from the event website and registration launch date (in July 2021) until the end of the contract period.

• Monitor attendee registrations and provide bi-weekly reports to AmeriCorps, conference coordinators, and others (as requested). The reports must contain participant name, program type (tribal/national program or state commission), participant job category (commission executive director, program director, program officer, etc.), participant organization name and location, lodging requested, and reasonable accommodations requested. AmeriCorps staff may request additional information during the contract period.

• Provide customer support via phone and online for registrants and attendees for the duration of the contract. Responses are required within 24 hours.

• Send confirmation and logistical details to participants, presenters, and speakers.

• Post meeting and training materials on event website prior to start of event; update the materials during the event; and update the sites with final materials and links to videos, transcripts, etc. after the event. The AmeriCorps event lead will provide training materials, confirm all presenters and meeting materials, and approve all website updates.

Task 5 – Outreach and Marketing

• Coordinate with AmeriCorps State and National staff and the AmeriCorps Office of External Affairs on all outreach and marketing, potentially to include development of theme, logo, and graphic announcement of event.

Task 6 – Technical Training and Support

• Work with COR to secure and maintain a site for shared materials and collaborative work with AmeriCorps staff and presenters (e.g., Adobe Connect, BaseCamp, SharePoint, or Drop Box).

• Provide instructions for AmeriCorps and presenters to access and store training materials on shared site.

• Provide written instructions for the presenter session design form and submission of presenter materials on the site for shared materials by July 2021.

• Cross check and confirm presenter materials are submitted to the shared site; identify missing materials and notify AmeriCorps.

• Update the event online resources throughout and until the end of the contract period. These include the event website, registration, and session design form. Ensure that all information is correct and consistent across the online resources and event website.

Task 7 – Evaluation, Data Collection, and Reporting Requirements

• Submit a concise (no more than two pages) monthly narrative status report no later than the 10th of each month throughout the period of performance to AmeriCorps State and National staff and COR;

the status report should cover the following:

o Status of project plan and timeline;

o Key tasks and activities during the month;

o Summary of meetings and correspondence;

o Anticipated tasks and activities in the upcoming months;

o Challenges experienced and steps taken to resolve them.

• Copy, distribute, collect, and compile session evaluations per AmeriCorps guidance. The compilation should include all evaluation ratings and comments for each and all sessions typed in a single document as part of the event final report, and the original evaluation forms should be attached to the report as an addendum.

• Create, collect, and compile post-event an online survey of all grantee participants and presenters to capture feedback on event and recommendations for future trainings. The survey should be electronic and distributed no later than three (3) business days after the end of the Symposium. The survey deadline should be no later than two weeks from the date of distribution. Provide a preliminary summary of online survey data to AmeriCorps the day after the submission deadline. Provide the final compiled survey data in the final report.

• Submit data in event final report no later than three (3) business days before the contract exit meeting.

Data should be presented in source file format and in a printed, color, and final compiled report. Along with session evaluation and survey data, the final report will include all participant and budget data, a summary of the planning process and event specifications. Additional and final report requirements will be provided by AmeriCorps no later than August 31, 2021. The final report must be complete, as directed by AmeriCorps, and free of all errors (typos, budget totals, etc.). The contractor will need to edit/correct the final report as directed by AmeriCorps if errors are identified prior to the exit meeting.

The contract will not be deemed complete until the final report is approved by AmeriCorps.

Task 8 – 508 Compliance Requirements

• Ensure that all online materials are 508 compliant prior to the start of the event. AmeriCorps will review and approve compliance of materials to be posted online before the event. Contractor must ensure that any materials received past the deadline and/or at the Symposium will also be compliant.

• AmeriCorps will provide instructions and requirements for submitting materials that are 508 compliant.

The contractor will be required to make all presenter materials compliant. The contractor will be required to review all presenter materials submitted, complete a 508 review, edit the materials where necessary (e.g., insert captions or adjust font size or color) and submit a report on the 508 compliance of each item. Complete a test of this process prior to the presenter material submission deadline.

• Solicit requests for special needs or accommodations from registrants, and fulfill these accommodations as appropriate. Include requests made and accommodations provided in monthly status reports and final event report to AmeriCorps.

• The Price Proposal must include fees for 40 hours of ASL interpretation or online auto-caption services.

• Materials developed in support of this project that are for use in online systems must adhere to 508 compliance requirements. The information must be able to be read by a screen reader.

• AmeriCorps is required by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C.

794d), to offer access to electronic and information technology for disabled individuals within its employ, and for disabled members or the public seeking information and services. This access must be comparable to that which is offered to similar individuals who do not have disabilities. Standards for complying with this law are prescribed by the US Access Board.

• The current deliverable(s) must incorporate these standards, as well as any agency-specific standards developed by AmeriCorps. Responses to the RFQ should contain documentation of compliance with these standards. AmeriCorps is requesting documentation in the form of a brief explanation of the process for ensuring compliance with 508 standards. There is no form/survey to fill out for the proposed products/systems. AmeriCorps is seeking a brief explanation of the process for assuring 508 compliance with agency-specific standards. However, the Contracting Officer may request additional technical documentation, if necessary, to make this determination.

• The final work product must include documentation that the deliverable conforms to the Section 508 Standards promulgated by the US Access Board.

• In the event of a dispute between Contractor and AmeriCorps, then AmeriCorps’s assessment of the Section 508 compliance will control, and the Contractor will need to make any additional changes needed to conform with AmeriCorps’s assessment, at no additional charge to AmeriCorps. Reference the following link for detailed information http://section508.gov.

Task 9 – Post Event

• Send follow-up information to attendees and registrants (location of posted materials, next steps for TTA, etc. as requested by AmeriCorps).

• Follow-up with attendees to ensure registration information is complete and accurate; provide final actual registration report to AmeriCorps within five (5) business days after the end of the Symposium.

• Make payment to any other subcontractors.

• Provide final financial report (budget to actual expenditures).

• Provide event summary report in accordance with Task 8.

• Confirm that all presenters’ materials are updated and final (in the event late changes/edits or substitutions were made at the Symposium) and saved on the shared storage site; cross check with the actual agenda to confirm all materials are secured.

• Ensure that all final materials are 508 compliant, per AmeriCorps direction and approval. Materials may include all presenter PowerPoints and handouts, photos, videos, Symposium participant list, and organizational summaries.

http://section508.gov/

• Participate in an event debrief meeting with AmeriCorps event and procurement staff, face-to-face or by phone, within two (2) weeks after the event and an exit meeting no later than three (3) business days before the last day of the contract period.

LEVEL OF EFFORT:

Estimated level of effort is

• 25 hours for a Program Manager

• 175 hours for two Event Managers

• 100 hours for a Session Technical Moderator

• 200 hours for a 24/hr technology support person

GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITIES

The COR will provide content and information to be used for outreach, registration, and website development as needed. The Government will review all products produced prior to publication and will retain access to the information for at least 3 years following the event. Access to government personnel is restricted during all federal holidays that occur during the period of performance.

DELIVERY OR DELIVERABLES

The virtual event platform, and all necessary deliverables outline in the task requirements, must be submitted and published one week prior to the event.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The vendor must provide monthly reports submitted via email summarizing the planning progress as outlined in the task requirements.

PAYMENT PROVISIONS:

NA

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Travel:

NA

Key Personnel:

Key personnel may include, but are not limited to, program manager; project manager; and senior conference/event planner. The vendor shall submit CVs for all key personnel.

Non-Compliance Penalties:

NA

Information System Security Requirements:

The Contractor must comply with applicable federal laws that include, but are not limited to, the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA), Title III of the E-Government Act of 2002, Public Law 107-347 and standards, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, Management of

Federal Information Resources, Appendix III, Security of Federal Automated Information Resources, and CNCS Information and Privacy policies.

Data Rights:

All documentation and electronic data and information collected by the Contractor and generated in support of this contract shall be Government property, and shall be returned to the Government at the end of the performance period or when specified in the Task Order.

Section 508—Electronic and Information Technology Standards:

All electronic materials and virtual platforms related to this SOW must meet federal 508 requirements and standards.

Reference the following link for detailed information:

http://section508.gov/index.cfm?fuseAction=stdsSum.

Publications and Publicity:

All Contractor-developed processes and procedures and other forms of intellectual property during this contract shall be Government property Confidentiality of Information:

Any information or data of a personal nature about individual(s) or proprietary information or data pertaining to an institution or organization must be stored securely by the Contractor and must not be maintained by the Contractor beyond the end of the period of performance.

http://section508.gov/index.cfm?fuseAction=stdsSum

Any information or data of a personal nature about individual(s) or proprietary information or data pertaining to an institution or organization must be stored securely by the Contractor and must not be maintained by the Contractor beyond the end of t...