26QE029_ATTCH9_PWSv2_040826.docx

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Department of War Education Activity (DoWEA) 4800 Mark Center Drive Alexandria, VA 22350

CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION (CUI)

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION – SEE FAR 2.101 & 3.104

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION – SEE FAR 2.101 & 3.104

DEPARTMENT OF WAR EDUCATION ACTIVITY (DoWEA)

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

FOR

K-6 LEARNING PORTFOLIO

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Agency

The Department of War Education Activity (DoWEA), one of only two federally operated school systems, directs, coordinates, and manages pre-kindergarten through grade 12 educational programs. DoWEA operates 160 fully accredited schools, serving over 65,000 children of active-duty military and DoW civilian families. Our curriculum, resources and student achievement scores on standardized assessments compare favorably to those of high-performing US public school systems.

As a field activity of the Office of the Secretary of War (Personnel and Readiness), DoWEA is overseen by a director located at our headquarters in Alexandria, VA. DoWEA’s schools are organized into three geographic areas: Americas, Europe, and Pacific. In the Americas, DoWEA operates 50 schools located in seven states, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. In Europe and the Middle East, DoWEA operates 64 schools located in Germany, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Bahrain. In the Pacific, DoWEA operates 45 schools located in Korea, Japan (mainland and Okinawa), and Guam. DoWEA also operates one fully accredited virtual high school with teaching hubs in the Americas, Europe, and Pacific.

DoWEA schools have many grade configurations. Of our 159 brick-and-mortar schools, 136 schools will be served. Of that number 35 have of our middle schools and middle/high schools have one grade that will be served, grade 6. Of that number, 15 have either two grades (K-1, 4-5, or 5-6) or three grades (K-2, and 3-5) that will be served. The remaining schools serve students in grades K-5 or K-6.

Table 1: School Year 2025-26 Projected Enrollment (December 15, 2025) - Rounded to nearest 25

1.2 Background: For the first time in 2020, DoWEA awarded a contract for a K-5 learning portfolio to archive student artwork and provide related professional learning for elementary school art educators. During the life of the contract, the portfolio was accessed by other elementary school educators. Also, sixth grade educators requested a learning portfolio; hence, the requirement was modified to include all K-6 educators. Per Federal regulations, DoWEA must compete this requirement.

1.3 Scope: The Contractor shall commercial off-the-shelf, 100% cloud-based digital art portfolio to capture K-6 student work in elementary art classes systemwide. The tool allows students and teachers to collect, store, share, and assess student work. DoWEA requires virtual professional learning for K-6 teachers. In addition to the K-6 students, K-6 staff and the students’ parents/sponsors also have access to the platform. Note: DoWEA expects to award one contract for this requirement.

2 REQUIREMENTS (OBJECTIVES)

2.1 Objective 1, K-6 Learning Portfolios

This objective is to procure a commercial-off-the-shelf, cloud-based/digital K-6 learning portfolio, The tasks listed below help the Contractor understand the requirements but are not exhaustive.

The Contractor shall develop a complete solution using a performance-based approach.

2.1.1 Task 1, Subscriptions—The Contractor shall provide subscriptions or licenses for a COTS, cloud-based portfolio with the following 14 features:

2.1.1.11 Allows multilingual communication and translation options for parents/sponsors to use the digital portfolio effectively.

2.1.1.12 Allows students with diverse learning needs, including secondary students receiving special services (SPED), to use the digital portfolio effectively.

2.1.2 Task 2, Professional Learning—The Contractor shall:

2.1.2.1 Product Training: Provide asynchronous webinars and/or SCORM®-compliant modules that provide at a minimum an overview of the materials, explanation of the website(s), and directions for navigation. See PWS 3.8 for more information about SCORM® compliance.

2.1.2.2 Professional Learning: Provide four 15-30-minute modules/videos each year for the life of the contract—a total of 1-2 contact hours per year. Note: The Government will determine the topics, dates, and times for each webinar in consultation with the Contractor post-award.

2.1.3.2.1 Dry Run: Present the professional learning to DoWEA staff at least 15 business days before the first regional presentation. Finalize the professional learning based on written feedback from the contracting officer’s representative (COR).

2.1.3.2.2 LMS: Post each webinar on our learning management system (LMS, Schoology).

2.1.3 Task 3, Transition and Data Migration Plan and (if required) Implementation: The Contractor shall provide a draft plan that is both time- and cost-effective. The proposed plan shall address (1) the entry transition, i.e., the steps the Contractor shall take to assume responsibility for the requirement from the incumbent contractor and (2) the exit transition, i.e., the steps the Contractor shall take to support a seamless handoff to a successor contractor at contract completion or termination.

2.1.3.1 The draft transition component of the plan shall, at a minimum, include the following:

1) Activities: Specific tasks for knowledge transfer, system access, security credentialing, and continuity of operations.

2) Timeline: Phased schedule with milestones for both entry and exit transitions.

3) Estimated Costs: Projected costs for transition activities.

4) Risk Mitigation: Identification of potential risks and contingency measures.

5) Compliance: Alignment with DEA security, privacy, and data handling requirements.

2.1.3.2 The draft data migration component of the plan shall, at a minimum, include the following:

1) Data Inventory & Format: Comprehensive description of all data assets, including file types, schemas, metadata, and dependencies.

2) Migration Methodology: Step-by-step ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) process, including tools, technologies, and validation methods.

3) Security & Compliance: Measures to protect data integrity, confidentiality, and compliance with DoWEA and federal standards (e.g., FISMA, NIST).

4) Timeline & Milestones: Detailed schedule for planning, execution, validation, and final acceptance.

5) Resource Requirements: Personnel roles, hardware, software, and, if required, needed third-party tools.

6) Assistance to Successor: Defined scope of technical support, including documentation, Q&A sessions, and participation in transition meetings.

2.1.3.3 Finalize the transition and data migration plan within ten business days of receipt of written feedback from DoWEA.

2.1.3.4 Upon receipt of a written request, perform the following:

1) Execute the approved transition and data migration plan.

2) Collaborate with the successor vendor to ensure successful data transfer and operational continuity.

3) Provide issue resolution support during the transition period.

2.2 Objective 2, General Requirements

2.2.1 Task 1, Technical Support: The Contractor shall 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.

2.2.2 Task 2, Technical Requirements for Digital Resources—The Contractor shall:

2.2.2.1 Provide digital resources designed to run in DoWEA’s learning management system (LMS, Schoology) and Google Classroom, both of which operate within our virtual learning environment (VLE). In addition, provide teacher and student access to the Contractor’s digital resources through a single sign-on platform that uses one username and password to access what is needed, specifically, via DoWEA’s identity, rostering, and management platform (ClassLink).

2.2.2.2 Deliver digital resources in one of the following formats:

1) Integrated via DoWEA’s LMS to the digital resources hosted by the Contractor.

2) Hosted externally by the Contractor but accessible via DoWEA’s LMS and Google Classroom to the digital assignments and assessments imported, hosted, and maintained in the LMS.

2.2.2.3 Ensure the course content meets the following specifications:

1) Conforms to IMS Learning Global Consortium (IMS) content packaging specifications.

2) Uses imported content, if required, conforming to IMS content packaging specifications.

3) Uses code that does not disable LMS features when digital resources are accessed.

4) Requires single—not multiple—authentications to access content via DoWEA’s LMS.

5) Incorporates, where applicable, assessments that are IMS Test and Question Interoperability (QTI)-conformant.

6) Uses content-hosted externally that conforms to any of the existing versions of IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), per www.imsglobal.org.

2.2.3 Task 3, Third-Party Programs, Software, and Applications: The Contractor shall ensure its own and its subcontractors’ (third-party) programs, software, and applications meet—at a minimum—the same technical requirements as the Contractor must meet, such as single sign on (SSO) and Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Level 2, etc. On a case-by-case basis, DoWEA may honor requests to waive the FedRAMP Level 2 requirement. For more information, see Technical Exhibit #1, 1.1.

2.2.4 Task 4, Delivery of Digital Resources—The Contractor shall deliver digital materials with instructions detailing how the resources can be accessed by teachers, students, and above-school-level educators, using DoWEA’s LMS and/or DoWEA’s single-sign on rostering platform (ClassLink).

2.2.5 Meetings: Attend virtual meetings at no additional cost to the Government and provide the medium through which each meeting occurs, record each meeting’s minutes. 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 attending any face-to-face meetings shall be handled/ paid for as stated in the contract.

2.2.5.1 Post-Award Conference: Participate in a video- or teleconference with the COR five business days after award IAW FAR Subpart 42.302(3).

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

2.2.5.3 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 DoWEA. 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.

2.3 Performance Standards and Acceptable Quality Levels (Objectives 1 and 2)

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

2.3.2 Acceptable Quality Level: See PWS Section 7, Performance Requirement Summary.

3 CONSTRAINTS

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

3.2 Privacy—The Contractor shall:

3.2.1 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.

3.2.2 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.

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

3.2.3 Privacy Training: Ensure Contractor staff who have access to DoWEA’s student, teacher and/or staff personally identifiable information successfully complete the DoW 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.

3.2.4 Privacy Verification: Provide the COR written verification of compliance with 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, DoWEA reserves the right to ask for further verification data in order for DoWEA to comply with DoW’s evolving privacy mandates.

3.3 Liaison and Alternate Liaison—The Contractor shall:

3.3.1 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.

3.3.2 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.

3.4 Holidays and Hours of Operation: The liaison or alternate liaison shall be available during the hours of 9AM to 3PM 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, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

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

3.6 Nondiscrimination: The Contractor shall provide resources free of bias regarding race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability.

3.7 Section 508 Compliance—The Contractor shall:

3.7.1 Background: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) requires Federal agencies that develop, procure, maintain, or use information and communication technology (ICT) to ensure they are accessible to people with disabilities. Federal employees and members of the public who have disabilities must have access to and use of information/ data that is comparable to people without disabilities.

3.7.2 Requirement: Ensure that products, platforms, and services delivered as part of this work statement that are ICT or contain ICT conform to the Revised 508 Standards, 36 C.F.R. § 1194.1 & Apps. A, C & D which are located at the following URL: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule/text-of-the-standards-and-guidelines.

3.7.3 ARS: See the attached ICT Accessibility Requirements Statement (ARS). All functional performance criteria apply when using an alternative design or technology that achieves substantially equivalent or greater accessibility and usability by individuals with disabilities, than would be provided by conformance to one or more of the requirements in Chapters 4-6 of the Revised 508 Standards or when Chapters 4-6 do not address one or more functions of ICT. Note the guidance in the table below:

3.8 Sharable Content Object Reference Model® (SCORM®) Compliance: Provide digital modules, if included among the proposed/required resources, that are SCORM®-compliant. Note: The Department of War Instruction (DoWI) 1322.26 mandates that modules comply with the latest possible version of SCORM®, per https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/132226_dodi_2017.pdf?ver=2017-10-05-073235-400.

3.9 Data & Data Rights: All data developed from any work awarded under this contract is and shall remain the property of the Government. The Contractor shall ensure that digital rights to all visual materials embedded in the resources will be given so that DoWEA for DoWEA’s internal use only may use resources without incurring copyright costs or infringing on copyright laws. All data developed from any work awarded under this contract is and shall remain the property of the Government.

3.10 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 INFORMATION / RESOURCES

None

5 CONTRACT DELIVERABLES

Frequency Submit To

Objective 1, K-6 Learning Portfolios

Task 3, Transition and Data Migration Plan and Implementation

· Finalize plan ten business days after receipt of written feedback from DoWEA.

· Implement plan immediately per written authorization from DoWEA.

COR

Objective 2, General Requirements

Constraints

6 ACRONYMS and DEFINITIONS

Contracting Officer (KO): Only individuals with the expressed authority to obligate (bind) the Government by means of entering, administering, and terminating contracts within the limits of the authority delegated via the KO’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. CORs do not have the authority to obligate (bind) the Government.

Contractor: Supplier or vendor contracted to provide specific supplies or services to the Government—may also be referred to as “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.

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

7 PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT SUMMARY

Objective 1, K-6 Learning Portfolio

Task 1, Subscriptions, PWS 2.1.1

Task 3, Transition, Data Migration Plan, and Implementation

PWS 2.1.3

Transition, if required, is seamless in the time required.

Objective 2, General Requirements

Print: 95% of resources received on time and undamaged. The remaining 5% received ten business days after due date.

Constraints

Privacy Verification

PWS 3.2.4

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:

1.1.1 Ensure all online resources, cloud-based services and instructional software meet Department of War (DoW) and DoWEA cybersecurity requirements as defined below. Note: Software, cloud services and associated websites are rigorously tested to ensure no security risks are posed to DoWEA infrastructure and its users.

1.1.2 Complete the Cloud Services questionnaire that was submitted as part of the proposal submission and provide copies of and/or access to any software listed in the proposed solution.

1.1.3 Ensure its content accessible from the web is compatible with the following browser platforms: Google Chrome, and Edge. Ensure that any applicable STIGs are implemented.

1.1.4 Provide a plan of actions and milestones (POA&M) to mitigate any cybersecurity findings resulting from non-compliant and/or vulnerable components in 30 calendar days of written notification from DoWEA.

1.1.5 Be able to meet Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Level 2 standards for all proposed software/digital resources and ensure that any third-party resources that are part of its proposed solution also meet the FedRAMP Level 2 standard. For more information on FedRAMP, see www.fedramp.gov. Participate, if required, in interviews and deep system architecture inspections.

· Per DoW policy for cloud-based services, DoWEA conducts a supplemental series of validations, which closely mirror the FedRAMP Internet Cloud vetting processes. Contractor participation/cooperation is normally required to complete this process.

· On a case-by-case basis, DoWEA may honor requests to waive the FedRAMP Level 2 requirement.

· DoWEA currently distributes software packages via Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) and Microsoft Intune.

· All older 16-bit software are automatically denied.

1.4 DoWEA 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 DoWEA schools, districts, or regions only if explicitly required to do so in the contract or in writing by the COR.

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

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

· DoW Risk Management Framework (DOWRMF) per DoW Instruction 8510.01, which may be 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) DoW 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. In addition, provided solutions shall be applicable to the digital learning environment of the DoWEA Virtual School.

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

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) DoWEA’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., using authorized personnel access lists, ID cards, entry logs, etc.).

3) All Contractor personnel that have access or may potentially have access to DoWEA 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 DoWEA’s data at rest to include unique encryption keys for each customer on systems hosting multiple customers.

3) Notification of DoWEA 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 DoWEA’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 DoWEA information. Note: The Contractor’s solution shall support DoWEA at all levels: school, community, district, region, and HQ.

9) Maintenance of a backup and restore plan for DoWEA 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 DoWEA either nightly or on another pre-determined scheduled feed.

2) Allow DoWEA 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.

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION – SEE FAR 2.101 & 3.104