260129_PWS_CCC_V.1.docx

Performance Work Statement (PWS) For Cross Connection Control Trainings

1. General Information

1.1 Background

The IHS is responsible to provide water, sewer and solid waste facilities for Native American housing at, adjacent to, or near Indian Reservations as authorized by Public Law 86-121. Community sizes range from 15 to 10,000 people. The Indian Health Service (IHS) is authorized to design, construct and improve facilities, acquire lands and right-of-way for sanitation facilities, projects, and transfer complete facilities to Native American Tribal organizations or other public authorities for operation and maintenance.

The Environmental Health Support Center (EHSC) serves as the national coordinator of IHS based training for the Office of Environmental Health and Engineering (OEHE). In addition, this office also serves as the national liaison for training activities with all twelve Indian Health Service Areas and other governmental, public and private institutions.

The purpose of the proposed requirement is to provide hands-on cross connection control trainings for tribal utility and IHS staff in the lower 48 States and Alaska. The successful vendor(s) will be able to provide off-the-shelf and customized trainings and certifications (or certification facilitation).

1.2 Instructor Qualifications

Instructor experience shall be integral to the Vendor’s selection. Instructor qualifications, as demonstrated through the proposal CV/resumes, shall include:

· a minimum of five years’ experience in water operations serving communities ranging from 15 to 2500 connections. While not required, instructors with operator certification levels 2 or higher in water distribution, water treatment, wastewater collections, wastewater treatment, and/or utility management is a plus.

· a minimum of 5 years’ experience in providing cross control training and support to tribal utility departments or small rural communities. Tribal experience is preferable.

· Evidence of adult education competencies (e.g., adult education training courses attended, experience teaching adults, demonstration of understanding of learning styles, knowledge transfer approaches)

1.3 BPA Calls: Proposal Requirements

Training service proposals will be requested when the IHS has identified a training need. The IHS will provide information on dates, location, and requested course title. The Vendor proposals shall include the following at a minimum:

· Course name, dates, and locations per the proposal

· Training delivery approach

· Training course objectives

· Training course preliminary agenda (include proposed times and module topics)

· Instructor names, and if not already provided in the contract documents, copies of instructor resumes

· Training course cost breakdown

· Estimated course material revision time for minor revisions (hours and cost/hour and if applicable)

· Course preparation time (hours and cost/hour)

· Instruction time (hours and cost/hour)

· Estimated Travel (salaries, per diem, transportation, and lodging NTE GSA published rates)

· Training manual publication and shipping (lump sum)

· Shipping costs for equipment (if applicable)

· Shipping costs for manuals (if applicable)

· Venue costs (if requested by COR)

· Certification costs (per person, if applicable)

· Misc. Expenses (if applicable)

· If applicable, training course development cost breakdown

· Course preparation time, including review and revisions (hours and cost/hour)

· Equipment and shipping container costs

Payment: If the proposal is accepted, work will be ordered via BPA Call as a single unit price to execute the training course. Vendor shall only charge for actual course revision time used up to the amount awarded in the BPA call and actual travel expenses as applicable. Vendor shall not charge for any services not provided (e.g., training manual publication and shipping if the EHSC publishes the manual).

It is anticipated that the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) will be an employee of the EHSC. If not, the COR will provide an EHSC point of contact for the Vendor. The Vendor shall closely coordinate all work with the COR, EHSC staff, appropriate IHS Area Division of Sanitation Facilities Construction (DSFC) staff, and Tribal or Division of Acquisitions staff on all project and contractual matters as and when appropriate.

2. Requirements Overview: Training Course Development

2.1 General

The successful vendor(s) shall have an existing catalog of two or more multi-day cross control training certification and general overview courses available that can be used “off-the-shelf” or minimally modified upon request to meet the needs of the IHS. At a minimum, the Vendor shall be able to provide the following two off-the-shelf certification courses:

1. Cross Connection Specialist Certification

2. Backflow Assembly Tester Certification

Preferred courses include web-facilitated and/or in-person training delivery. The successful vendor(s) shall also have the capacity to execute existing government owned trainings and/or develop new training courses upon request.

In person training courses shall be highly interactive and include a minimum 33% time allocation for kinesthetic (aka hands-on) exercises for attendees to begin applying content learned while still in the class environment in addition to standard lecture formats. Lecture should be balanced throughout each module with operator discussions, exercises, and demonstrations such that attendees have an opportunity to be actively engaged in the training event.

2.2 Training Delivery Approach

The preferred method of course delivery will be in person followed by Instructor led live Virtual sessions. There will be limited need, if any, for on-demand trainings.

In person training courses shall be highly interactive. Lecture should be balanced throughout each module with discussions, exercises, and scenarios such that attendees have an opportunity to be actively engaged in the training event. Coordinate with IHS to obtain real world examples and scenarios for use during trainings. Additionally, if requested, Vendor shall provide certification as part of any certification training course ordered including the exam and paperwork processing with an appropriate certification entity.

For Instructor Led Live Virtual Trainings, the vendor shall provide one industry standard electronic training platform each for virtual trainings. Examples of industry standard platforms include, but are not limited to: Zoom, Adobe Connect, and GoToTraining. Electronic platform cost to be incidental to all course development and execution line items.

· Platforms for virtual trainings shall, at a minimum, include the capability to:

· Allow access for up to 100 simultaneous participants (includes participants, instructors, and one or two government observers) if requested.

· Screen share

· File share

· View live-stream video of instructor and students

· Poll

· Chat

· Utilize breakout rooms

· Phone option for attendees without microphone

· Record and download training sessions

· Report attendee logins/logout

· Report results of poll questions

2.3 Workload Estimates

Training needs vary year to year based on requests received from the 12 IHS Areas located in the lower Continental United States and Alaska. For each of the past two fiscal years, the EHSC has provided fewer than three in-person cross connection control trainings annually throughout the IHS service areas.

There is no guarantee of work in any given contract year. The ideal Vendor shall be able to provide at least three trainings per year. The IHS is willing to work with the Vendor, within reason, to find dates that are acceptable to both parties. The locations are selected by the IHS and are generally non-negotiable.

For reference, the cross connection courses requested in FY25/FY26 include:

2.4 Training Services – Off the Shelf

Off-the-shelf trainings include trainings developed solely under the auspices of the Vendor without funding from the federal government.

Training course title, descriptions, and agendas shall be provided to the EHSC within one week of contract award. Training manuals and other resources shall be provided to the EHSC in a pdf format for review and approval upon request and prior to IHS utilizing trainings from the Vendor’s catalog.

Training content will remain solely owned by the Vendor unless otherwise agreed upon in writing by both contract parties. Vendor shall provide and maintain all materials/equipment required to execute off the shelf trainings.

2.5 Training Services – Government Owned Trainings

Government owned trainings include trainings whose development was sponsored by the federal government unless the government released ownership/use rights in writing. At this time, the government does not own any cross connection control trainings.

2.6 Training Services – New Course Development

If indicated in the proposal request, the Vendor shall work with the EHSC to develop new training courses to meet emerging tribal utility operational needs. Course design requests may be for on-demand, web-facilitated, and/or face-to-face offerings.

Work under this section includes developing training courses including course objectives, agenda, instruction methods, teaching and learning strategies, knowledge transfer assessment (e.g., how learning strategies will be assessed), learning materials, learning environment (e.g., instructor to student environment, student to student environment, and student to material environment), instructor’s biography, presentations and handouts.

Additional information related to course content, durations, and objectives to be provided in each BPA call request for new course development.

Unless otherwise indicated in the BPA call,

· the Vendor shall submit draft training course documentation and materials to the COR within 90 days of BPA call execution.

· the COR shall review and provide comments on the draft materials within 10-20 business days of receipt

· the Vendor shall review and revise the materials within 10 business days of comment receipt until accepted by the COR.

Draft materials shall be provided in PowerPoint format, pdf, or other mutually acceptable format for review.

Final and revised training materials shall be provided as follows:

· Presentation Modules – PowerPoint (editable)

· Handouts/Manuals – Original editable document file format (e.g., Word, Excel) and PDF

· Reference Books – electronic or hard copy

The Vendor shall develop the course for Indian Health Service ownership. The IHS will maintain all ownership rights to reproduce or use the training material provided with this contract without restriction and the right to authorize others to use the materials for any purpose. The Vendor shall only provide these training courses to the government during the contract performance periods. Upon completion of the contract, the Vendor shall turn over all training course materials (content, equipment, and other resources) and may not offer these trainings without the express written permission of the government thru the IHS EHSC office.

2.7 Training/Reference Manuals

If included in the request for proposal, the Vendor shall provide spiral bound training manuals for each attendee that include durable front and back covers. At a minimum, the manuals shall include a cover page including the title of the course and a graphic representative of the course content, a table of contents with each module listed and page numbers, copies of the agenda, instructor bios, instructor contact information, presentation slides (2 per page with each slide size maximized to fit approximately 1/2 the usable page), exercises to be completed during the course, and reference material for future use. Each page of the manual, with the exception of the cover, shall include pagination. Manual pages, with the exception of the cover, shall be double sided and include tabs to separate modules, exercises, and appendices as applicable. Exceptions to these requirements may be approved by the COR for off-the-shelf courses with already development training manuals.

Upon mutual agreement, the EHSC may agree to publish training manuals using the federal government printing office (GPO) accounts. In the event that the EHSC publishes the manual, the Vendor shall provide the EHSC with a pdf document of the manual (as described above) a minimum of three weeks before the start of the training event unless otherwise approved by the COR. If the EHSC publishes the training manual, no payment will be made to the Vendor for training manuals.

The manual shall be provided to attendees at the start of each session.

2.8 Venues/Locations

Trainings may be located anywhere in the continental United States and Alaska. The training venue and projector screens will be secured by the government at no cost to the Vendor unless otherwise indicated in the proposal request. Training venues typically include federal/state/local government meeting spaces, tribal meeting spaces, and/or hotel meeting spaces.

The Vendor shall provide a laptop, projector, flip charts, and all other materials required to execute the training class.

2.9 Training Course Closeout Documentation

Refer to government furnished activities and material below for information on course paperwork. Vendor shall provide training closeout documentation including the filled out sign-in sheet, individual evaluation responses, corrected rosters, venue review form, and agenda deviations form to the COR either via email or mail services. Closeout documentation shall be submitted within two weeks of the completion date of the training or with the invoice, whichever is sooner.

2.10 Government Furnished Activities and Materials

2.10.1 Course Posting, Roster Management, and Closeout: The IHS will be responsible for all scheduling, advertising, registrations, training certificates (exception: Vendor is accredited to issue continuing education units (CEUs)), and transcript maintenance. The EHSC will provide the Vendor with a local point of contact (POC) for each training to address questions related to individual classes. In most cases, the local POC will also be available to assist with course paperwork facilitation and transmittal.

2.10.2 Course Paperwork: The EHSC will provide electronic versions of course evaluations, sign-in sheets, rosters, agenda deviation form, and venue evaluation form to the Vendor. Forms may be removed or added depending on the funding agency requirements. Unless otherwise notified, the Vendor shall provide copies of all course paperwork for students and/or instructors to complete.

2.11 Performance Standards

Positive: Course to be included in potential EHSC offerings

Negative: Course not accepted by the EHSC and will not be requested

Course Development

· Submit draft course materials as accepted in the proposal.

· Submit revised documents within 10 days of receipt of comments

· Submit final documents after completion of all revisions

· Course content review(s)

Positive: Document past performance report card, paying particular attention to performance that exceeded the standard

Negative: Document past performance report card, paying particular attention to performance that is below the standard.

· Draft Agenda – with proposal

· Final Agenda – 2 weeks before the start date of the training

· Pre-Course review form – 2 weeks before the start date of the training

· Reference material - at the class

· Class evaluations, certificates, and other closeout documentation– within 2 weeks after the end of the training or with the invoice, whichever comes first.

· Certification – if requested as part of the certification courses

· Course evaluations

· Random inspection (non-student observers, telephone calls with attendees) Positive: Document past performance report card, paying particular attention to performance that exceeded the standard

Negative: Document past performance report card, paying particular attention to performance that is below the standard.

Miscellaneous

Software Application Files and Accessibility

Software Application files, if delivered to the Government, shall conform to the requirements relating to accessibility as detailed to the 1998 amendments to the Rehabilitation Act, particularly, but not limited to, § 1194.21 Software applications and operating systems and § 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications. See: http://www.section508.gov/

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