202304012_SOFTS SOW_ Draft.pdf

ATTACHMENT 1

STATEMENT OF WORK

SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES TELETRAINING SYSTEM (SOFTS)

1.0 Scope. Foreign language, regional expertise and cultural (LREC) capability are essential to Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel. The Special Operations Forces Language Office (SOFLO) is the Executive Agent for the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) LREC training program. This entails oversight, management of funding, LREC policy development, training and test research, and establishing an overall command LREC training strategy for the USSOCOM enterprise, which includes the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), U.S. Navy Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM), Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC), and the Theater Special Operations Commands.

1.1 Background. The SOFLO supports language and cultural training requirements for a minimum of 1,600 SOF students annually. These personnel require initial acquisition training (IAT), sustainment and enhancement training (SET), and pre-deployment and familiarization language and culture training at various times throughout their careers.

The training is provided through the SOF Tele-training System (SOFTS) which enables placing live instructors and students in virtual streaming video classrooms within Virtual School Platform (VSP). The critical parts of SOFTS are the VSP and language instructors. Provision of instructional materials and assessment is also included.

Instructors are typically provisioned through a separate contract or by other means.

1.2 Objective. SOF requires a VSP that integrates the infrastructure, technology, hardware, software, technical support, registration management, student management, instructor management, Government administrator management, security, and administration services that are necessary to conduct and monitor synchronous and asynchronous language training over the internet 7 days per week, 24 hours per day, from any location in the world with sufficient bandwidth.

2.0 General Contract Information

2.1 Contract Type. The contract will be Firm-Fixed Price (FFP). Materials and Travel requirements will be Cost-Reimbursable. The contract will include a base period of performance (POP) with four (4) additional 12-month option periods.

2.2 Period of Performance. The POP shall be 20 July 2024 – 19 July 2025, with four

(4) additional 12-month option periods. The base POP includes a 30-day transition period from 20 July 2024 – 18 August 2024.

2.3 Duty Hours. Contract services shall be provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year. Classes are scheduled to best accommodate unit and student’s needs and may be during any days and hours (see paragraph 3.8.1 for further details).

All classes are conducted in accordance with the Eastern Time (ET) convention.

3.0 Firm-Fixed Price Scope of Requirements. The VSP includes learning management system functionality, virtual classrooms and homerooms to enable training, tutoring, required network and infrastructure, class monitoring and technical support, online library, repository, and content storage, portal on web, management functions including user (student, instructor, administrator, managers) registration and management, class registration and management, user certification on SOFTS, and student and instructor management. The Contractor network shall be capable of supporting 650 classes annually, a minimum of 100 classes daily, and a minimum of 50 classes simultaneously (each class with a maximal ratio of 6 students per 1 instructor). The average class length is 96 hours over a period of 16 weeks, though classes may be scheduled for any frequency or duration in order to accommodate the unit’s schedule. The platform must support use on desktop computers, laptop computers, and common mobile devices. The platform must be compatible with Microsoft Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS, as well as PDF products. Students using different operating systems must be able to attend training in the same virtual classroom simultaneously.

3.1 Learning Management System Functionality: The Contractor shall provide a learning management system and virtual school environment with the ability to organize course content and facilitate instructor-student-Command Language Program Manager (CLPM) communication. Any changes to SOFTS must be nearly transparent to users.

To this end, it shall feature:

• A homeroom for each course with separate sections for: announcements, course syllabus and timelines, lesson plans, supplemental materials, handouts, homework assignments, quizzes, and rubrics.

• Each homeroom shall link to: a course gradebook, a tutoring request form, each student’s individual information, and all materials the instructor uses in the course, whether the materials were provided within the system or generated by the instructor.

• Each course homeroom shall have a section for session guides that allows for instructors to present the lesson, content, assignments, and other class details for the upcoming class sessions. This shall also include a session guide builder that is fully integrated with existing lesson plans, syllabus, existing class content, assignments, and the resource library that will allow the instructor to rapidly build session guides for each course.

• Course content shall be integrated with the resource library that will allow instructors to search the resource library for existing content and select them to be automatically added to their course homeroom without having to download and re-upload.

• A virtual classroom for each course that is accessed through a one-click launch button in the homeroom. The virtual classroom must include:

o High-definition video and high-quality audio that can both be scaled based on user bandwidth while prioritizing the synchronization of audio and video to optimize language learning.

o Default optimized audio settings to maximize class interaction that allow the students and instructor to be able to communicate simultaneously as if they were in an in-person classroom and not be cancelled out.

o Controls that allow an instructor to turn on/off audio and video for students and to expel students.

o More extensive controls that allow the helpdesk to control settings for meetings and participants to optimize audio/video for classroom performance.

o Shared audio and video with ability for students and instructor to speak simultaneously and interact.

o Fully collaborative share space capable of sharing whatever application an instructor chooses to use whether from a device or from online sources.

o Ability to do live annotations on screen.

o Whiteboard with full annotation and collaboration tools.

o Shared co-browser for sharing websites in class that will load websites into a browser directly in the shared space for each user with the ability for the instructor to force users to follow their browser or be able to click into websites on their own.

o Ability to share documents and media files directly into the share space without sharing the file from the instructor’s computer screen.

o Ability to preload multiple documents, files, and other shared items into the shared space to be used during class.

o Chat functions.

o Four (4) virtual breakout rooms per virtual classroom to enable the instructor to divide the students into groups for instructional tasks and activities. These breakouts would enable the teacher to control and see all breakout rooms but isolate the breakout rooms from the other students. This function shall be available in all classrooms and operable by every instructor whenever the instructor decides employment of these breakout rooms will improve the training effort and impact. This function shall also be available for the helpdesk so that the helpdesk can assist with the creation and management of breakout rooms when requested. Breakout rooms shall also be able to be scheduled, controlled, and manipulated from the course homeroom both before and during class to provide the flexibility of planning class sessions even by users with appropriate permissions who are not actively joined in the virtual classroom.

o The virtual classroom must be fully encrypted end-to-end without losing any functionality and under all operating conditions including, but not limited to, recording, breakout rooms, all shared media, and chat.

o The contractor must have ownership and/or access to the virtual classroom to make changes, modifications, or additions to functions, user interface, integration, and all facets of the virtual classroom to meet any emerging requirements for SOFTS classes.

• The SOFTS VSP must include LMS functions for curriculum and content creation functions that allow instructors to create and manage content for their individual courses as well as curriculum management functions that allow instructor managers to manage the overall program of instruction for SOFTS courses. These functions must include:

o Full, native (not using outside apps) content authoring capability in all our languages and scripts in HTML5 format. Authors shall be able to easily create/upload/store/convert:

Lesson folders for holding activities, portfolios, and video/audio threads. Lesson pages that allow authors to place text, audio, and video content.

File storage for files generated with MS Office applications. The

VSP must include the capability for instructors to work on and edit these files within the platform in the web-browser without needing to download the file to their local computer. Multiple instructors should be able to work together to collaborate on files at the same time.

Text display.

Slideshow presentations.

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ What is LMS? Spell out.

PDF viewing.

Graphic recognition.

Voice recognition.

Audio files.

Flash cards that allow text, hints, images, and audio.

Radio buttons for binary and multiple-choice activities.

Check-all-that-apply activities.

Fill-in-the-blank activities at the sentence, paragraph, and multi-paragraph levels (Cloze tests):

With or without word banks.

Authors shall be able to include more options in a word bank than blanks if desired.

Cloze tests with pull down menus instead of blanks (a cloze test is an exercise, test, or assessment consisting of a portion of language with certain items, works, or signs removed (cloze text), where the participant is asked to replace the missing language item).

Drag-and-drop matching for text and images.

Image blender and sequencing activities in which the author chooses images and the system scrambles them at random for the students to then put in order.

Audio/video recording capability and organized storage of recordings:

Viewers/listeners shall be able to comment on recordings in threads.

Students shall be able to organize their recordings into portfolios.

Interactive audio recordings that allow the author to record prompts and leave spaces for the students to add responses. All prompts and responses shall be able to be stored as a single audio file.

Interactive video that allows authors to insert activities and text bubbles into existing video files.

Timeline activities that allow authors to show events or steps in a process in chronological order.

Image hotspot activities that allow authors to select and program areas of an image as hotspots that display content and activities when the learner hovers or clicks on them.

Text activities in which the student can mark or highlight words.

Graphic information organizers: bar charts, pie charts, accordion outlines, flow charts, Venn diagrams, collages, and word clouds.

Summary activities in which students choose between statements and build the correct summary.

Quiz building activities that help authors combine different types of questions into one document.

Customizable dialog boxes and buttons (Check, Show Solution, Retry).

Auto-correction with customizable feedback.

• Student results shall compute directly to a Gradebook.

• The Gradebook system shall create an entry for each activity and track how many times a student attempted each activity, time on task, and the average score of all attempts.

Content shall be editable by anyone with proper permissions.

o All content, materials, and interactive activities must be stored on internal systems privately owned and controlled by the contractor. All processing of any asynchronous activities, tracking, or automatic grading must also be handled on internal systems within the SOFTS platform, owned and controlled by the contractor.

o All content and materials created by instructors for SOFTS classes should be added into the resource library and activity repository for potential use by students or future courses if approved by instructor and curriculum managers. There must be an automated workflow that will place and tag materials into proper categories based on the language, level, and content and mark the materials as pending approval before being made visible.

o Curriculum management pages must provide full moderation and a dashboard that lists all available materials and activities in the resource library and activity repository. Any materials not yet approved should be presented for moderation. Once approved, the materials would become available in the resource library for students and in the activity repository for interactive activities that can be used by instructors in other classes.

o Curriculum managers must be able to create course templates to include syllabi, lesson plans, class content, assignments, and class settings that can be used to rapidly create future courses of the same language and level.

o Existing course templates must work without any additional conversion work by instructors or instructor managers.

o All existing course content and data must be added to the SOFTS platform without any additional conversion work by instructors, instructor managers, SOFLO, or any other government personnel. The VSP must be able to present all course content and data in a way that is nearly transparent to the end-user. This includes, but is not limited to, any content added or created using the SOFTS content creation tools in the current SOFTS platform, course templates, session guides, and all associated course data for every historic SOFTS class and student.

o The platform must have the capability to create and/or load asynchronous activities or material and assign these to students for tracking for independent study. These asynchronous activities should be assignable by Command Language Program Managers with the results and tracking integrated with the student’s SOFTS record.

• The platform must conform to industry best-practice security standards.

• The contractor must have ownership and/or access to the platform to make changes, modifications, or additions to functions, user interface, integration, and all facets of the learning management functions provided in the VSP to meet any emerging requirements for SOFTS classes.

• The contractor must have an already existing and operational learning management system and virtual school environment.

3.2 Tutoring. The course homeroom shall include a link that provides each student access to request tutoring. The link shall enable the student to request specific tutoring hours and dates and provide space for the student to describe specific tutoring needs.

Once the student clicks on a submit button, the request shall be electronically sent to the Government administrator, the student’s CLPM, the Contractor instructional lead, Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ What is CLPM? Spell out.

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ Does your office have this position, or is this the COR?

Thibeau, Mark CIV USSOCOM SOCOM (USA) No, It’s the contractor’s Government administrator and the student. The Contractor instructional lead shall approve tutoring hours based on the availability of funded hours within that separate contract. The tutoring request function shall include an option to forward the request to Government if the tutoring would exceed the instructional Contractor’s contractual scope. The Government shall approve or disapprove the request using the tutoring function and the student shall be electronically advised of the outcome or any scheduling changes.

The VSP must also support and facilitate tutoring that is not tied to any course. There must be a designated page in the system for approved students to search for tutoring sessions by language. The contractor must facilitate and coordinate this tutoring with the instructor vendor and SOFLO. The system must be flexible enough to accommodate frequent changes to the schedule and structure of this type of tutoring based on emerging requirements from SOFLO.

3.3 Network and Infrastructure.

• 3.3.1 Network Operating Center. The Contractor shall provide a network operating center that is 100% Contractor-owned and managed internally and conforms to industry best-practices for Network Operating Centers. There shall be no reliance on third parties for operation, maintenance, hosting, or storage (i.e., “the public cloud”). The Contractor shall be able to scale said in-house hosting and storage capability easily to meet high demand and support future expansion. In addition to redundancy with Internet Service Providers, the Contractor shall also have redundant power sources to allow continued service through power outages.

Redundant power sources shall not be operated by third parties in any given time.

The contractor must have an already existing and operational network operating center that meets these requirements.

• 3.3.2 Network and Infrastructure Availability. The Network and Infrastructure shall be available and supported 24/7, including redundant power sources to allow continued service through power outages, and shall be actively monitored during all scheduled and approved network-enabled events to ensure uptime for classes worldwide.

• 3.3.3 Network Requirements. The Contractor shall provide a network that meets or exceeds Tier 4 datacenter requirements: 99.99% uptime, no more than

1.6 hours of downtime per year, and N+1 fault tolerant providing at least 72-hour power outage protection.

• 3.3.4 Infrastructure Requirements. The Contractor shall provide high-availability infrastructure with failover to ensure classes and VSP are always operational.

• 3.3.4 Standards for Bandwidth. The Contractor shall ensure redundancy and uninterrupted service by retaining multiple Tier-1 Internet Service Providers for

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ General Question: Is tutoring funded upfront as part of the FFP or is it a separate COST CLIN? Who is the government person who approves this?

Thibeau, Mark CIV USSOCOM SOCOM (USA) It’s part of the FFP under instructor hours. The COR (ME)

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ �General Question: Please explain. Why would it not be tied to a course?

We offer Open tutoring to any SOF operator who is sustaining, improving or preparing for testing. They don’t have to be enrolled in a language course for this.

dedicated internet access with a minimum 1Gbps + symmetric service (N+1 for all service types and internet service providers) dedicated internet access bandwidth to support SOFTS classes.

• 3.3.5 Security and Encryption. The Contractor shall ensure that all industry standard security protocols are in place and followed. The VSP must be end-to-end encrypted under all operating conditions. All services, applications, and websites provided for SOFTS must be locally hosted and implement Transport Layer Security 1.3 cryptographic protocols. Data must be encrypted while in motion and at rest.

• 3.3.6 Virtual Classroom Infrastructure. The Contractor shall implement the virtual classroom for SOFTS to be either vConnect version 210 (or later) or a superior virtual classroom application which meets all the following requirements:

o Students and instructors in classes actively running that started prior to the start of the Period of Performance and end after the start of the POP must be able to continue in their classes with no change.

o The virtual classroom must not require any additional training for instructors, students, CLPMs, SOFLO, or any other approved/designated user to continue class operations.

o The virtual classroom must not require any additional effort to be authorized for use on Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router Network connections.

o If a transition is proposed, the virtual classroom must function in a way that is transparent to users when compared to current SOFTS classes.

o The virtual classroom must be fully on-premises with every component fully owned, installed, and hosted on the contractor’s private servers and private data center. Partial on-premises solutions where the servers still connect back to another server on another network for any reason (licensing, checking status, access to other components, etc.) are not acceptable and do not meet this requirement.

o The virtual classroom must be fully owned and controlled by the contractor so that any maintenance, upgrade, or enhancement is done in a way that will not have an impact on SOFTS classes or any network-enabled event.

There must be no part of the process that is relying on any other entity in terms of scheduling any needed maintenance.

o The virtual classroom must meet all the requirements for security and encryption without any exceptions.

o The virtual classroom must meet every classroom requirement listed in section 3.1 in their entirety. Partial solutions do not meet this requirement.

o The virtual classroom must be able to be modified to meet emerging SOFTS requirements.

If a virtual classroom other than vConnect is proposed, the contractor must demonstrate that it meets all the requirements and show how the transition post-award would be completed in a seamless manner that requires no additional

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ What is TLS? Spell out.

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ Spell out Period of Performance.

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ How does a class start prior to PoP starting?

Thibeau, Mark CIV USSOCOM SOCOM (USA) Happens when exercising option years

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ Is vConnect a standard system or is it specific the company that has the current contract?

It is the software that we use for the virtual classroom which is approved for use on SOCOM government computers.

training and would result in no down time for any students, instructors, or government staff.

3.4 Class Monitoring and Technical Support. The Contractor shall operate a Help Desk to actively monitor and support every class and network-enabled event that occurs on a 24/7 basis, unless specifically instructed otherwise by the Government. The Help Desk shall be Contractor-operated, with no outsourcing to third-party personnel. The Help Desk shall be operated and monitored on a 24/7 basis in real time (i.e. no recordings or messages). Contractor Help Desk personnel shall be trained to be able to support multiple classes simultaneously and respond to trouble shooting requests in real-time.

The contractor must have an already existing and operational help desk that meets these requirements.

3.4.1 The Contractor shall track attendance. If students are not present for class, the Contractor shall contact the students by phone and email in order to offer assistance if a technical reason is preventing them from attending class.

3.4.2 The Contractor shall provide on-call support during the conduct of all classes and troubleshoot and resolve system hardware and software problems.

In addition, while the class is in session, the Contractor shall regularly log what occurs in the class. If there are any issues in the class, whether technical or behavioral, the Contractor shall describe them and enter them into a class log to be stored as an easily retrievable database. The observation log must be a part of the SOFTS website with the logs integrated with the SOFTS student record.

There must be a searchable view of the log available to SOFLO and CLPMs if requested that allows for real-time access and viewing of any observations made for classes, instructors, or students for all presently running classes and all historic classes. The issues will be reported on a monthly basis in the form of vendor provided incident logs as part of the monthly report.

3.4.3 The Contractor shall maintain records of daily attendance (students and instructors), to include a detailed breakout of hours attended by language and course levels, and shall submit a monthly attendance report (Contract Data Requirements List A002). The Contractor shall maintain records of student absences and submit a Student Absence Report weekly (CDRL A003). The Contractor shall maintain records of all platform related down time during classes, tutoring, and system certification and associated causes and resolutions.

3.4.4 The Contractor shall provide monitoring capability to all unit language managers with students in courses and to the contracting officer’s representatives (COR) and his designees.

Is this part of a CDRL?

Thibeau, Mark CIV USSOCOM SOCOM (USA) yes

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ Spell out CDRL.

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ Add (COR). Who are his designees?

I have contractors who review recorded classroom sessions to evaluate the teacher’s performance.

3.4.5 The Contractor shall notify the Government of all instructor absences and tardiness exceeding 15-minutes immediately via email to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). (CDRL A004).

3.4.6 Recording Classes. The Contractor shall provide SOFLO personnel and all instructors the ability to record, store, and share audio/video from classes.

3.4.6.1 This capability shall be readily accessible at any time to instructors and SOFLO personnel on demand.

3.4.6.2 All classes on SOFTS will be recorded and available to students for review for 7 calendar days after the class is recorded.

3.4.6.3 Additionally, the Contractor shall retain a recording of at least one class period from the class midpoint or the third week (whichever comes first) for 6 months after the class end date for quality assurance purposes.

3.5 Online Library, Repository, and Content Storage. The Contractor shall create and maintain an online community library for SOFTS that incorporates asynchronous training materials and content for all classes and is easily accessible and searchable by students and instructors. The online library shall have the capability for users with permission to record new audio/video directly in their web-browser from the SOFTS website to be loaded directly into the library. The online library shall also allow users to add embedded content. The online library shall allow instructors to work on, modify, and save training materials without requiring download from the storage location. The online library shall also allow for multiple instructors or curriculum developers to work on training materials together simultaneously in real-time from the storage location without requiring download. All files in the online library must reside on servers within the contractor’s internal network without any use of the cloud. The online community library must allow students and instructors, the ability to easily download content. Only SOF Language Office designated administrators and instructors will have permissions to upload content to the library.

The contractor must have an already existing and operational online library.

3.5.1. Training Media. The Contractor shall maintain language and cultural training videos and other training media (with design and content guidance from SOFLO) of short length (1min-1hr) in every language taught on SOFTS. These videos will be created by course instructors, evaluated and approved by SOFLO, and uploaded to the online library by either the course instructor or SOFLO.

Course instructors will be given specific guidance from SOFLO for training video structure, lesson topics, etc. The Contractor shall train instructors on the recording process during initial SOFTS training/certification. Training videos and other files that are posted to the online library will be in a common file format (i.e.

MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Adobe, mp4 or wmv) and be digital rights

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ Are we attaching copies of the CDRLs to the RFI?

Is it required management free in order to allow widest dissemination to approved SOFTS account holders.

3.5.2. Online Library Integration. The online library provided by the contractor shall be integrated with the course homerooms and curriculum management functions to allow for instructors and curriculum developers to search for and add materials from the library directly into their course homerooms, course templates, and session guides.

3.5.3. Online Library Course Materials Integration and Moderation. The contractor shall provide the functionality for all course materials created by instructors for courses to be added to a private section of the online library as waiting for approval. The contractor shall also provide moderation functions for administrators and instructor managers with permission to view these materials and approve any that should be added to the library to be visible for students and other users. The online library must be fully integrated with all aspects of the LMS functions of the VSP.

3.5.4. Online Library Visibility. The visibility of files and materials in the resource library shall have their permissions for viewing, editing, and downloading to be set by the system. Permissions can be set by user, role, group, or any other parameter requested by the government. Visibility of files must be strictly maintained based on permissions.

3.5.5. Online Library Customization. The contractor must have ownership and/or access to the online library to make changes, modifications, or additions to functions, user interface, integration, and all facets of the online library to meet any emerging requirement for SOFTS classes.

3.6 Portal on Web.

3.6.1 SOFTS Main Page. The system shall have a main page that is simple and easy to navigate, not cluttered with unnecessary information or anything that makes the Command vulnerable from an Operational Security perspective. The main page shall include:

• A short description of the program.

• General contact information for SOFLO and the Help Desk; a “Login” button and login screen.

• A “Register” button; a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section.

• Upcoming courses shall not appear on the main page. Upcoming courses shall only be visible to account holders once they log in.

Spell out.

• Links to homerooms, library, and any training material (e.g. media) shall only be operational to account holders after they log in.

3.6.2. SOFTS Main Page Warning. The main page shall be preceded by a warning page that the user must acknowledge in order to proceed. At a minimum, the warning should read:

“You are accessing a U.S. Government (USG) Information System (IS) that is provided for USG-authorized use only.”

By using this IS (which includes any device attached to this IS), you consent to the following conditions:

• The USG routinely intercepts and monitors communications on this IS for purposes including, but not limited to, penetration testing, Communication Security monitoring, network operations and defense, personnel misconduct (PM), law enforcement (LE), and counterintelligence (CI) investigations.

• At any time, the USG may inspect and seize data stored on this IS.

• Communications using, or data stored on, this IS are not private, are subject to routine monitoring, interception, and search, and may be disclosed or used for any USG- authorized purpose.

• This IS includes security measures (e.g., authentication and access controls) to protect USG interests--not for your personal benefit or privacy.

• Notwithstanding the above, using this IS does not constitute consent to PM, LE or CI investigative searching or monitoring of the content of privileged communications, or work product, related to personal representation or services by attorneys, psychotherapists, or clergy, and their assistants. Such communications and work product are private and confidential. See User Agreement for details.”

3.6.3 SOFTS Account Creation.

• The process for creating a user account shall be a fully automated online process.

• The basis of all accounts shall be an email ending in .mil, .edu, or .gov. No account shall be created based on any other type of email address. Email address with .edu extensions must be from a DOD school. Entering personal email address is optional and if needed, may be provided for best contact after class start.

• The account creation process shall collect as little personally identifying information (PII) as necessary to include: name; service; component (active, reserve, Guard, CIV); unit or organization; occupational specialty (MOS/NEC/AFSC/CIV Series); rank / GS level, work email ending in .mil,.edu, or .gov; work phone; personal phone as needed; and mailing address only if they need equipment.

• The account creation process shall generate an email automatically telling the user his/her username.

• Passwords shall not be distributed at all. If a user forgets his/her password, the system shall prompt them to reset it. The password setting and resetting processes shall be fully automated. The password must be at least 10 characters long, contain uppercase and lowercase letters, at least two numbers, and at least two special characters. Special characters are the following: / $ ! & % * ? ( ).

• Upon creation of the accounts, users shall be sorted into 3 categories based on the information identified: (1) Government Administrators, (2) Support Contractors, or (3) Students. Support Contractors shall be further categorized as Instructor Administrators, Instructors, or Government Support Contractors. Students shall be further categorized automatically based on their occupational specialty and unit/organization as SOF operator, SOF enabler, or Space Available participant.

3.6.4 Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Any PII created shall be protected in accordance with:

• The Privacy Act of 1974 established the requirement to protect the personally identifiable information (PII) about individuals that is maintained by federal agencies in their systems of records. It applies to USSOCOM’s information systems, to include the NIPR portal. DoD Directive (DoDD) 5400.11-R, Department of Defense Privacy Program provides guidance about and prescribes uniform procedures for implementation of and compliance with the DoD Privacy Program.

• DoDD 5400.11-R defines personal information as “Information about an individual that identifies, links, relates, or is unique to, or describes him or her (e.g., a social security number; age; military rank; civilian grade;

marital status; race; salary; home or office phone numbers; other demographic, biometric, personnel, medical, and financial information, etc).”

• The VSP shall conform to industry standard security protocols, including, but not limited to TLS 1.3 cryptographic protocols and encryption of all data that passes through or is stored within the VSP to protect all PII.

3.7 Management Function. The Contractor shall use web-based learner management, email, and other automated tools built into the VSP to the maximum extent possible to assist Government oversight of all key processes (e.g. student registration and approval for attendance in a class). These automations and algorithms should be based on previous experience in supporting virtual school and must be customized to SOFTS

Is this comma supposed to be there? Or should the word “of” actually be “or”?

requirements. The contractor must have ownership and/or access to the systems used to provide the VSP including the LMS functions, virtual classroom, and all website portals to make changes, modifications, or additions to functions, user interface, integration, and all facets of the VSP to meet any emerging requirements for SOFTS classes.

The VSP must include an internal messaging system that facilitates communication between instructors, students, CLPMS, SOFLO, the helpdesk, and administration without revealing any personal identifiable information.

The moderated internal messaging system must be directly integrated, incorporated, and leveraged for all aspects of the system including registration, course homerooms, the classroom, any asynchronous independent system, as well as the general system.

The contractor must have ownership and/or access to the internal messaging system to make changes, modifications, or additions to functions, user interface, integration, and all facets of the internal messaging system to meet any emerging requirements for SOFTS management.

3.8 Class Registration and Management. The Contractor shall establish a web registration, student management, class and learner management portal, and class deployment schedule that includes learning management system (LMS) functionality described below with the ability to customize based on customers’ emerging requirement.

3.8.1 Class Management. The Contractor shall provide a class management approach consistent with SOFLO standard. This includes the following:

• Class Scheduling. Classes shall follow four general templates, Part-Time

(PT), Full-Time (FT), Tutoring (TU), and Exam Preparation (XP). PT, TU and XP classes are scheduled to best accommodate unit and student’s needs and may be held during any days and hours. However, PT, TU and XP classes will normally be conducted on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for 2 hours (1800-2000 or 2000-2200 EST). FT classes are scheduled as required to best accommodate unit and student’s needs.

• Class Numbering. The Contractor shall provide standardized numbering as

Shown below. Each class will have a unique identifier consisting of the DOD trigraph language code, the DOD two-digit Fiscal Year, initial proficiency level of the class using the DOD numerical proficiency level, a sequence number, and the Service of the sponsor. For example, a full time Russian class for beginners in FY2020 would be RUS20-0001-AF-FT.

Proficiency Levels

Numerical Proficiency Level Code

Sponsor Sponsor Code

Class Type

0 00 SOFLO SO FT

0+ 05 95 CA CA PT

1 10 4 & 8 PSYOP PY TU

1+ 15 USAJFKSWCS JK XP

2 20 1SFC SF

2+ 25 AFSOC AF

3 30 MARSOC MC

3+ 35 NSW NV

4 40 SOCSOUTH SS

SOCNORTH SN

SOCEUR SE

SOCAFRICA SA

SOCCENT SC

SOCPAC SP

SOCKOR SK

The proficiency levels in this table (column 1) does not relate to the sponsor column. For lack of space, we provided all naming conventions in this table.

3.8.2 Web Class Registration. The Contractor shall provide a detailed web registration capability similar to standard portals but customized for SOFTS requirements. The Contractor shall publish future class availability to prospective students. Then, when a prospective student first registers for an upcoming class, their information must be entered into a class registration database, which shall be a “one-stop shop” for all class registration information. Notifications are made to the various teams (the Government administrators at the appropriate level, the student’s CLPM, the Contractor language instruction lead, and others as required by Government) that a new student has registered. Before a student’s registration is official, the student must obtain the Language Program Manager (CLPM) endorsement prior to class registration approval (Exhibit ABC). The CLPM’s approval is required before any further action is taken on the student’s registration. The email sent to the CLPM shall contain a link the CLPM can click on in order to approve or disapprove the student’s registration. The CLPM must also be able to call the Contractor and indicate their approval or disapproval verbally, after which Contractor personnel will confirm via email. The process and communication between the contractor, student, CLPM, instructor lead, and others must all be customized and programmed directly into the web class registration portal.

3.8.3 Student Placement. The Contractor will ensure students are placed in classes appropriate to their proficiency level based on the student’s previous test scores (obtained from the student’s CLPM or SOFLO). In lieu of test scores, the student’s self-reported level may be obtained using the Government-provided “Can-do Assessment Questionnaire.” The contractor will also coordinate with the student, CLPM, instructor team, and SOFLO to ensure that every student is scheduled for an assessment with their instructor prior to a class starting. After class starts, the Contractor along with instructor and SOFLO instructor

Rice, Penny CIV USSOCOM HQ Is there an exhibit that goes with the RFI?

No management team, will facilitate moving students who demonstrate that they are in a class inappropriate to their proficiency level to a more appropriate class based on instructor input. The move shall be done without disruption to ongoing classes. The student placement process must also be customized and programmed directly into the web class registration portal.

3.8.4 Web Class Users’ Systems Checks. Once approval is given, the Contractor shall ensure that all students approved for class possess sufficient hardware, software, peripherals, and internet connectivity to participate in the class on day one of training. The Contractor shall ensure this by proactively contacting each student by email and by phone in order to resolve any problems or incompatibilities that may exist. The Contractor shall also verify that all instructors possess sufficient hardware, software, peripherals, and internet connectivity in order to deliver instruction. The information provided on the web registration shall remain secure at all times consistent with the latest information technology security standards.

3.8.5 SOFTS Bi-weekly Class Management Meeting. The Contractor shall participate in bi-weekly meetings with SOFLO to discuss class management (CDRL A001). The meetings shall be held bi-weekly on Monday and Wednesday, and shall review:

• SOFTS class scheduling and approval.

• Tutoring support.

• Language, Regional Expertise, and Culture instructor assignment.

• Student registration approvals, attendance and behavior issues (if any).

• Other special request training.

3.9 User Certification on SOFTS.

3.9.1 The Contractor shall train and certify all users and track users’ certification by date and system version. The contractor shall recertify users if a user has not used the system in more than one year. The contractor shall train and certify all users every time the system (any major component of the user interface with the VSP) version changes.

3.9.2 The Contractor shall train and certify SOFLO and unit managers on demand. The Contractor shall maintain records of SOFTS system certification (student, instructor, language manager) to indicate date of certification, specific systems/version certified on, and other pertinent information.

3.9.3 Certification of students and instructors must occur prior to training start but no earlier than 2 weeks before training start to reduce effects of learning decay.

Instructor certification shall include additional tasks to enable them to resolve minor student problems with the system. Once a class is approved for execution, What is LREC? Spell out.

the Contractor shall contact instructors and students and immediately begin necessary preparations.

3.9.4 Instructors shall also be trained and certified to manage their class web environment; post assignments and materials; create learning activities; assign, collect, and evaluate students’ audio submissions; and issuance of a certificate to instructors who successfully complete certification training. Successful completion of certification training shall be demonstrated by the instructor passing a test based on the training content.

3.10 Student Management. The Contractor shall provide an innovative approach to learner management consistent with SOFLO standards. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Creation and maintenance of student profiles, attendance, and performance records (i.e., a Gradebook).

• Collection and maintenance of all students Oral Proficiency Interview and Defense Language Proficiency Test scores and dates from the student.

• Providing a training completion certificate (Service specific templates to be provided by Government) to every student who completes training after the student completes all surveys required by Government.

• Ensuring students complete a language appropriate self-efficacy questionnaire for each class they enroll in.

• Ensuring students complete study and analysis surveys prior to receiving their training completion certificates.

• Notification to the appropriate language manager of the students’ completion of training and grades.

• Automatic transfer of all profile data to any subsequent courses a student may register for.

3.10.1 The system shall generate score reports for CLPMs and SOFLO that include: name, rank and grade, military specialty, unit, target language, course start and end dates (for all courses taken by the individual within SOFTS), hours in class, entrance score(s), exit score(s) and dates (Unofficial OPI scores shall be separate from official Oral Proficiency Interview and Defense Language Proficiency Test scores).

3.10.2 Student data shall also be available individually. When browsing an individual student, the following information shall be available in no more than two clicks:

• name; rank or grade; military specialty;

Spell out.

• unit or organization;

• CLPM;

• registration status (Registered, Enrolled, Completed, or Dropped);

• upcoming course start and end dates;

• current course start and end dates;

• historical course start and end dates;

• hours in class for each course; instructor(s) for each course;

• entrance score(s) for each course;

• exit score(s) for each course (unofficial OPI scores shall be separate from official OPI scores);

• link to the homeroom for each course;

• link to the student’s attendance breakdown for each course;

• link to the student’s goals for each course;

• link to the Gradebook for each course the student was enrolled;

• link to the instructor’s comments from each course;

• link to the Help Desk’s observations from each course,

• link to the student’s placement questionnaire responses; and

• link to the student’s contact information (as applicable, for CLPMs and

SOFLO only).

3.11 Instructor Management. The Contractor shall provide, in coordination with SOFLO and the LREC instructor contractor, individual instructor accounts on the system. Each instructor account on the system shall have a profile that shall include:

• All classes the instructor was assigned to teach, even if the class was later canceled.

• Links to each class’s homeroom, reports, and results.

• A storage folder for supplemental materials with the capability to create subfolders within it.

• Links to all materials the instructor used in courses, whether the materials were provided within the system or generated by the instructor.

• A record of the instructor’s platform hours, tutoring hours, and preparation hours

(if conducted on SOFTS) for each course.

• The instructor’s system certification information.

• Links to the instructor’s responses to pre- and post-class questionnaires.

4.0 Schedule: The Contractor shall be prepared to start classes, as required, NLT 10 working days after contract award.

4.1 Transition. The Contractor shall provide transition support in accordance with FAR 52.237-3 Continuity of Services. The Contractor shall work with the incumbent Contractor for the first 30 days of the POP and any follow-on Contractor for the last 30 days of the POP to ensure continuity of services.

4.1.1 Contract Phase-In. During the Contract phase-in period, the incoming Contractor shall prepare to assume full responsibility for all areas of operation in accordance with the terms and conditions of this contract. The incoming Contractor shall be completely established, have all processes/plans in place, and the VSP shall be ready to support any required classroom training at the start of the transition period. To ensure a seamless transition and minimize classroom training downtime, the Contractor shall ensure that all classroom training functionalities and capabilities are the priority of the contract phase-in, unless otherwise identified by the Government. This includes receipt of historical class and student data; receipt of current and scheduled class data; and capability to create and conduct new classes and scheduled tutoring.

4.1.2 Contract Initial Operating Capability (IOC). The Contractor shall achieve IOC on the 5th day of the first period of performance. IOC is defined as 33% of the classes that were running during the previous contract and scheduled to run into the first period of performance are running and new classes are being scheduled.

4.1.3 Contract Full Operating Capability (FOC). The Contractor shall achieve FOC on the 10th day of the first period of performance. FOC is defined as 100% of the classes scheduled to be running on the 10th day of the first period of performance are running at full capabilities, capacities, and functionalities of the platform, and fully operable as intended by Government.

4.1.4 Contract Phase-Out. The Contract phase-out period shall begin six months before the end of the contract. During the Contract phase-out period, the outgoing Contractor shall prepare to transition all operations to the incoming Contractor awarded the subsequent performance period. The outgoing Contractor will facilitate a smooth transition for the incoming Contractor to support continuous and uninterrupted operations by:

• Providing incoming Contractor with all application/hardware/network documentation, backups, network statistics, business processes related to the operation of SOFTS, student and instructor profile data and training records, and accountability of training equipment/materials.

• A fully prepared transitional state will be achieved no later than 90 days prior to the end of the contract end date.