36C10B21Q0439_2.docx

Amendment to a Previous Combined Solicitation Amendment to a Previous Combined Solicitation – 3610B21Q0439 0002

GENERAL INFORMATION

SET-ASIDE

Technology Acquisition Center

23 Christopher Way Eatontown NJ 07724

POINT OF CONTACT*

Contract Specialist Sharon A. Benjamin Sharon.Benjamin@va.gov 848-377-5108

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

ADDRESS

POSTAL CODE

COUNTRY

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

AGENCY’S URL

URL DESCRIPTION

AGENCY CONTACT’S EMAIL ADDRESS

EMAIL DESCRIPTION

DESCRIPTION

The purpose of this amendment, 00002, to Solicitation # 36C10B21Q0439 is to:

1. Incorporate a revised B.5 Price Schedule and B.6 Product Description to adjust due dates for deliverables.

2. Except as provided herein, all other terms and conditions of this Solicitation remain unchanged and in full force and effective.

B.5 PRICE SCHEDULE

NOTE: Vendors are instructed to complete Section B.5 and submit with their quote.

Vendors are cautioned that alterations to the line items as specified below may render quotes unacceptable. All questions shall be directed to the Contract Specialist, Sharon Benjamin, Sharon.Benjamin@va.gov, (848) 377-5081, and Contracting Officer, David Sette, David.Sette@va.gov, (848) 377-5041, prior to the closing date and time specified in the Request for Quote (RFQ).

Inspection: Destination Acceptance: Destination Electronic submission to: Veterans Affairs Program Manager (VA PM), Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), Contracting Officer (CO), and Contract Specialist (CS)

Base Period Period of Performance (PoP) shall be 12 months

This Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD sections 1.3 through 1.9.

The PoP for this CLIN shall be 12 months after award.

The price of CLIN 0001 shall be included in and allocated to all priced CLINs/Sub-Contract Line Numbers (SLINs) under the Base Period.

Due seven (7) days ARO and updated weekly until System Acceptance.

Due 30 days ARO and updated monthly thereafter.

Due within 30 days ARO.

*Not to exceed 10% of the total base period value.

Due within 75 days ARO.

*Not to exceed 10% of the total base period value.

Due within 90 days ARO.

*Not to exceed 10% of the total base period value.

Due five (5) days before User Acceptance Test.

Due five (5) days after User Acceptance Test.

Due one (1) day after VA Acceptance.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Sections 1.3, 1.4 and 1.8.

Period of Performance: Up to 12 months, but shall co-terminate with the Base Period.

Due 45 days ARO, and updated monthly thereafter

Base Period Total: $

Option Period 1 Period of Performance (PoP) shall be 12 months.

This 12-month option period may be exercised in accordance with FAR 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000). Work shall not commence until, and unless, a formal modification is issued by the Contracting Officer. If exercised, this option shall commence immediately after expiration of the Base Period.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Sections 1.3, 1.4 and 1.8.

Period of Performance shall be 12 months.

Due monthly.

Option Period 1 Total: $

Option Period 2

This 12-month option period may be exercised in accordance with FAR 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000). Work shall not commence until, and unless, a formal modification is issued by the Contracting Officer. If exercised, this option shall commence immediately after expiration of the Option Period 1.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Sections 1.3, 1.4 and 1.8.

Period of Performance shall be 12 months.

Due monthly.

Option Period 2 Total: $

Option Period 3

This 12-month option period may be exercised in accordance with FAR 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000). Work shall not commence until, and unless, a formal modification is issued by the Contracting Officer. If exercised, this option shall commence immediately after expiration of the Option Period 2.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Sections 1.3, 1.4 and 1.8.

Period of Performance shall be 12 months.

Due monthly.

Option Period 3 Total: $

Option Period 4

This 12-month option period may be exercised in accordance with FAR 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract (MAR 2000). Work shall not commence until, and unless, a formal modification is issued by the Contracting Officer. If exercised, this option shall commence immediately after expiration of the Option Period 3.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Sections 1.3, 1.4 and 1.8.

Period of Performance shall be 12 months.

Due monthly.

Option Period 4 Total: $

Grand Total: Base plus all options and optional tasks $

OPTIONAL TASK ONE

This optional task may be exercised IAW FAR 52.217-7, Option for Increased Quantity-Separately Priced Line Item (MAR 1989), at the Government’s discretion at any time and from time-to-time, up to 50 times total, during the base or option periods.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for 1TB IAW PD Section 1.10.

Due two (2) days after option exercise.

OPTIONAL TASK TWO

This optional task may be exercised IAW FAR 52.217-7, Option for Increased Quantity-Separately Priced Line Item (MAR 1989), at the Government’s discretion at any time, up to 50 times, during the base or option periods.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Sections 1.11.

Due 30 days after optional task exercise.

Due 5 days before User Acceptance Test.

Due five (5) days after User Acceptance Test.

Due one (1) day after VA acceptance.

OPTIONAL TASK THREE

This optional task may be exercised IAW FAR 52.217-7, Option for Increased Quantity-Separately Priced Line Item (MAR 1989), at the Government’s discretion, at any time, from time-to-time during the base or option periods.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Section 1.12.

Subscriptions shall be exercised in blocks of 1,000, up to 10,000 per period of performance.

Period of Performance shall be up to 12 months.

*10,000 users X 12 months **Unit price equals one month of subscription for one user.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Section 1.12.

Subscriptions shall be exercised in blocks of 1,000, up to 10,000 per period of performance.

Period of Performance shall be up to 12 months.

*10,000 users X 12 months **Unit price equals one month of subscription for one user.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Section 1.12.

Subscriptions shall be exercised in blocks of 1,000, up to 10,000 per period of performance.

Period of Performance shall be up to 12 months.

*10,000 users X 12 months **Unit price equals one month of subscription for one user.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Section 1.12.

Subscriptions shall be exercised in blocks of 1,000, up to 10,000 per period of performance.

Period of Performance shall be up to 12 months.

*10,000 users X 12 months **Unit price equals one month of subscription for one user.

This FFP CLIN includes all labor, materials, project management and deliverables required for the successful completion of the services detailed in PD Section 1.12.

Subscriptions shall be exercised in blocks of 1,000, up to 10,000 per period of performance.

Period of Performance shall be up to 12 months.

*10,000 users X 12 months **Unit price equals one month of subscription for one user.

B.6 PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION (PD)

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Veterans Health Administration Employee Education System

Special Hosting Service Date: 08/17/ 2021

VA-21-000446670

PD VERSION NUMBER: 5.0

1.1 BACKGROUND

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) existing Talent Management System (TMS), while powerful in many ways, is limited in others. It cannot collect custom parameters or display usage and interaction data based on those parameters. It also relies on a limited static content server rather than a true content management system, meaning that VA Employee Education System (EES) cannot dynamically manage any of its learning content that is deployed on TMS. These limitations do not affect a large percentage of EES’s work, for which the VA TMS is appropriate.

However, as learning technology evolves and VA becomes more invested in delivering highly targeted, personalized learning, the ability to collect custom data and adjust the learning content in a way that best benefits the individual learner is becoming crucial for a small number of programs. Currently, each of these items of learning content are being deployed on separate vendor servers, each of which have different specifications and have to be individually put through VA Office of Information and Technology’s (OIT) software as a service (SaaS) process, which includes the need to be FedRAMP compliant. This causes a heavy (and sometimes impossible in the case of FedRAMP) burden to both the vendor and EES.

This proposed EES SaaS system will enable VA to have a single vehicle for all learning content that has custom data collection and content requirements which are not available within the current standard TMS delivery parameters. This EES SaaS system will provide VA with the following benefits over standard VA TMS content deployment:

1. Real-time data collection using Experience Application Programming Interface (xAPI)

2. Customizable analytics linked to learner objectives

3. Customizable dashboards for stakeholders

4. Easily accessible, open source, interchangeable data

The SaaS offering must be hosted within the United States and data stored / processed / transmitted within the offering must remain within the United States.

The Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) has confirmed that for SaaS, agencies have the option of: (1) leveraging a Provisional Authority to Operate (ATO) completed by the Joint Authorization Board; (2) leveraging an ATO completed by another agency, or (3) conducting their own ATO. However, if either the Joint Authorization Board (JAB) or another agency has already gone through the Risk Management Framework (RMF) process with the cloud service provider then we encourage the agency to leverage the work already done. This is less burdensome for both the agencies and the service providers. Regardless of the approach, VA will be using the FedRAMP baselines as a starting point, since they are specifically tailored for cloud services.

1.2 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance (PoP) is a 12-month base period with four (4) 12-month option periods and three (3) Optional Tasks. The total task order period of performance shall not exceed 60 months.

1.3 PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall provide VA an Education System as a SaaS managed service solution, hosted on a FedRAMP certified cloud platform, with the ability to accept/export standardized data with VA’s System of Record (SOR) for training. The Education System shall be accessible and operational within 30 days after task order award.

The Contractor shall provide access to the Education System to include a Moodle learning management system, utilization of the xAPI specification, the incorporation of Learning Record Store (LRS), a reporting system for activity in Moodle and the LRS, and hosted by a FedRAMP-low compliant content server.

Table 1- The following table contains a combination of both brand name and open source products/configurations that VA knows would meet the below salient characteristics (See Section 1.4). Should the Offeror propose “or equivalent” products/solution, the Offeror shall demonstrate that the proposed product(s) meet the salient characteristics in Section 1.4 below:

1. FedRAMP low certified

2. Supports four (4) data sources (input sources) initially. (VA anticipates 10 hours technical FTE support per data source)

3. 5,000 subscriptions (non-concurrent) (approximately 2,000 concurrent)

4. 1 Terabyte of Data Storage

5. Training for users and admins on a quarterly basis

1. xAPI supporting native Moodle xAPI plugin

2. SCORM 2004/xAPI delivery platform (supports modular configured content for test-out options)

a. Supports HTML5, Java Scrip, and JSON. reads and writes xAPI statements

3. Supports Natural Language processing with xAPI

1.4 SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS

1.4.1 Learning Record Store

1. Learning record store/learning analytics combination

2. xAPI support, including unlimited statements and activities

3. Customizable Dashboards

4. Analytics linked to learner objectives

5. Learning program analysis

6. Custom report builder

7. Dynamic report sharing

8. Unlimited data export

9. Report embedding

10. Data download to .csv file

11. Online training available for users as well as admins (The Contractor shall provide quarterly virtual training)

1.4.2 Learning Management System and Hosting

1. Open-source LMS that is widely used

2. Course-based learning platform that is modular:

a. Includes collaboration tools like forums, wikis, chats, file sharing, ePortfolios, and blogs

b. Includes thousands of plug-in modules for expansion, like podcasting, quiz games, etc.

3. Highly customizable

4. Scalable to any size user group

5. Ability to accept/export data using standard formats from VA’s SOR for training

6. Large and strong community and extensive documentation for support

7. Support for certification, gamification, and badges

8. Support for SCORM and xAPI

9. Support for inclusion of all standard web content types, such as HTML, JavaScript, video, audio, images.

10. Mobile-friendly

11. Online training available for users as well as admins (The Contractor shall provide quarterly virtual training)

1.4.3 Systems and Security

1. FedRAMP Low certified

2. Availability of 99.9% uptime

3. Maintenance and Operations Support, see Section 1.8

1.5 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall provide Weekly Progress Reports in electronic form in Microsoft Word and Project formats until EES System Acceptance. The report shall include detailed instructions/explanations for each required data element, to ensure that data is accurate and consistent.

The Weekly Progress Reports shall cover all work completed during the reporting period and work planned for the subsequent reporting period. The report shall also identify any problems that arose and a description of how the problems were resolved. If problems have not been completely resolved, the Contractor shall provide an explanation including their plan and timeframe for resolving the issue. These reports shall reflect data as of the last day of the preceding week. The report shall also include an itemized list of all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) deliverables and their current Section 508 conformance status. It is expected that the Contractor will keep in communication with VA accordingly, so that issues that arise are transparent to both parties to prevent escalation of outstanding issues.

After EES System Acceptance, the Contractor shall provide only Monthly Progress Reports in electronic form in Microsoft Word and Project formats throughout the Period of Performance. The report shall include detailed instructions/explanations for each required data element, to ensure that data is accurate and consistent.

The Monthly Progress Reports shall cover all work completed during the reporting period and work planned for the subsequent reporting period. The report shall also identify any problems that arose and a description of how the problems were resolved. If problems have not been completely resolved, the Contractor shall provide an explanation including their plan and timeframe for resolving the issue. These reports shall reflect data as of the last day of the preceding month. The report shall also include an itemized list of all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) deliverables and their current Section 508 conformance status. It is expected that the Contractor will keep in communication with VA accordingly, so that issues that arise are transparent to both parties to prevent escalation of outstanding issues.

Deliverables:

A. Weekly Progress Report B. Monthly Progress Report

1.6 ASSESSMENT, AUTHORIZATION, and CONTINUOUS MONITORING

1. The information system solution selected by the Contractor shall comply with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).

2. The Contractor shall comply with FedRAMP requirements as mandated by Federal laws and policies, including making available any documentation, physical access, and logical access needed to support this requirement.

3. Following guidance from the Federal CIO, VA will utilize existing JAB ATO or agency ATO issued by another agency as a starting point for FedRAMP requirements. If neither of those exist, VA will sponsor FedRAMP ATO. VA will be using the FedRAMP baselines as a starting point, since they are specifically tailored for cloud services.

4. The Contractor shall, where applicable, assist with the VA ATO Process to help achieve agency authorization of the cloud service or migrated application.

5. The Contractor shall complete a FedRAMP System Security Plan (SSP) and supporting documentation within 30 days after contract award.

6. The Contractor shall complete a Third-Party Assessment Organization (3PAO) Security Assessment Plan (SAP) within 75 days after contract award.

7. The Contractor shall complete a 3PAO Security Assessment Report (SAR) within 90 days after contract award.

8. The Contractor shall afford VA access to the Contractor’s and Cloud Service Provider’s (CSP) facilities, installations, technical capabilities, operations, documentation, records, and databases.

9. If new or unanticipated threats or hazards are discovered by either VA or the Contractor, or if existing safeguards have ceased to function, the discoverer shall immediately bring the situation to the attention of the other party in accordance with the security requirements in Addendum B.

10. The Contractor shall not release any data without the consent of VA in writing. All requests for release must be submitted in writing to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)/Contracting Officer (CO).

11. In order for live VA data to be used in this system, a FedRAMP Authorization and Agency ATO will be required.

Deliverables:

A. FedRAMP System Security Plan (SSP) and supporting documentation B. 3PAO Security Assessment Plan (SAP) C. 3PAO Security Assessment Report (SAR)

1.7 USER ACCEPTANCE

The Contractor, in conjunction with VA Support teams as appropriate, shall verify through testing, that all EES System functions and interfaces are operational and all data is transferred to and from the appropriate system according to the business requirement. The Contractor shall also ensure that it complies with all VA security protocols. The Contractor shall provide VA with a copy of the Test Methodology and final Test Results. VA will provide the Test Data to include SCORM 2004 and xAPI learning content, Moodle LMS data, and data from the Virtual Medical Center (VMC)

During the testing, the Contractor shall verify that the EES System is fully operational and meets all the performance requirements. The Contractor shall test and verify that all system functions and requirements are met and operational.

The Contractor shall submit the Test Results and Certification of Full Operation to the VA PM and COR for acceptance.

Deliverables:

A. Test Methodology B. Test Results C. Certification of Full Operation

1.8 MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide hosting to include operations and maintenance and support that provides, at a minimum:

1. Toll-Free telephone or online support to contact technical expert to resolve technical issues and online submission of support requests with ability to view and update support request over the web.

2. The following response times on incidents (During the hours of 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m Eastern Standard Time):

a. CRITICAL (Priority 1) — Response Time: 1 Hour - the problem results in extremely serious interruptions to a production system. It has affected, or could affect, the entire user community. Tasks that should be executed immediately cannot be executed because of a complete crash of the system or interruptions in main functions of the production system. Data integrity is compromised, and the service request requires immediate processing as the issue can result in financial losses. In a desktop application, whether part of, or independent of a solution, the issue is at risk of creating imminent financial losses due to missing critical project deadlines or deliverables. The customer shall call the vendor’s support line for all critical priority 1 issues.

b. URGENT (Priority 2) — Response Time: 2 Hours - the problem results in serious interruptions to normal operations, will negatively impact an enterprise-wide installation, urgent deadlines or at risk. In a production system, important tasks cannot be performed, but the error does not impair essential operations. Processing can still continue in a restricted manner, and data integrity may be at risk. In a pre-production environment, the problem hinders deployment of an enterprise installation. In a desktop application, meeting urgent project deadlines that have a financial impact are at risk. The service request requires timely processing, because the malfunction could cause serious interruptions to critical processes or negatively impact business.

c. IMPORTANT (Priority 3) — Response Time: 4 Hours - the problem causes interruptions in normal operations. It does not prevent operation of a production system, or there could be minor degradation in performance. The error is attributed to malfunctioning or incorrect behavior of the program. The issue will affect a pilot or proof-of-concept deadline in a development environment. In a desktop application, meeting important project deadlines may be at risk.

d. MINOR (Priority 4) — Response Time: 1 Business Day - the problem results in minimal or no interruptions to normal operations (no business impact). The issue consists of "how to" questions including issues related to APIs and integration, installation and configuration inquiries, enhancement requests, or documentation questions.

3. User Management capability (system administration for user admin rights and the ability to add/edit users at the system level)

4. Software maintenance to include product updates or upgrades and maintenance releases

5. A service availability of 99.9% uptime with ongoing backup and redundancy as part of the platform

1.9 SUBSCRIPTION MANAGEMENT

The Contractor shall provide a monthly SAAS Subscription report identifying current subscriptions and user activities (access, logins, activity by data source).

Deliverables:

A. Monthly SAAS Subscription Report

1.10 ADDITIONAL SAAS STORAGE (OPTIONAL TASK 1)

If this Optional Task is exercised by VA, the Contractor shall provide an additional 1TB of Storage Space for additional content. This optional task may be exercised in the Base or any Option Period, in increments of 1TB, not exceeding 10TB per contract year.

1.11 ADDITIONAL DATA SOURCES (OPTIONAL TASK 2)

If this Optional Task is exercised by VA, the Contractor shall provide additional data sources for additional content. The optional task would be to bring in additional data sources. The VA anticipates 10 hours of technical FTE support per data source.

The Contractor shall perform all tasks, and provide all associated deliverables in Section 1.7, User Acceptance Test, for each data source.

This optional task may be exercised in the Base or any Option Period in increments of one data source at a time, not exceeding 10 per contract year.

Deliverables:

A. Test Methodology B. Test Results C. Certification of Full Operation

1.12 ADDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS (OPTIONAL TASK 3)

If this Optional Task is exercised by VA, the Contractor shall provide an additional 1,000 active software subscriptions for the SaaS Hosted Education System. This Optional Task may be exercised in the Base or any Option Period in increments of 1,000 active subscriptions, not to exceed 10,000 active subscriptions per contract year.

Deliverable:

A. Additional Subscriptions

2.0 OPTION PERIODS

If any Option Period is exercised by VA, the Contractor shall continue to provide the subscriptions and support of the SaaS vendor hosted Education System and shall continue to perform all tasks and their subsections, including all associated deliverables (with the exception of Section 1.4 Salient Characteristics).

3.0 NOTICE OF THE FEDERAL ACCESSIBILITY LAW AFFECTING ALL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) PROCUREMENTS (SECTION 508) On January 18, 2017, the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) revised and updated, in a single rulemaking, standards for electronic and information technology developed, procured, maintained, or used by Federal agencies covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as well as our guidelines for telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment covered by Section 255 of the Communications Act of 1934. The revisions and updates to the Section 508-based standards and Section 255-based guidelines are intended to ensure that information and communication technology (ICT) covered by the respective statutes is accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.

3.1 SECTION 508 – INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) STANDARDS

The Section 508 standards established by the Access Board are incorporated into, and made part of all VA orders, solicitations and purchase orders developed to procure ICT. These standards are found in their entirety at: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule/text-of-the-standards-and-guidelines. A printed copy of the standards will be supplied upon request.

Federal agencies must comply with the updated Section 508 Standards beginning on January 18, 2018. The Final Rule as published in the Federal Register is available from the Access Board: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule.

The Contractor shall comply with “508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements” for all electronic ICT and content delivered under this contract. Specifically, as appropriate for the technology and its functionality, the Contractor shall comply with the technical standards marked here:

3.2 COMPATABILITY WITH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

The standards do not require installation of specific accessibility-related software or attachment of an assistive technology device. Section 508 requires that ICT be compatible with such software and devices so that ICT can be accessible to and usable by individuals using assistive technology, including but not limited to screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software.

3.3 ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE TESTING

Deliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the Section 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements standards identified above.

The Government reserves the right to test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon Deliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the Section 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements standards identified above.

The Government reserves the right to test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon delivery.

4.0 INFORMATION SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

All VA sensitive information shall be protected at all times in accordance with local security field office System Security Plans (SSP’s) and Authority to Operate (ATO)’s for all systems/LAN’s accessed while performing the tasks detailed in this Product Description.

5.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

5.1 VA TECHNICAL REFERENCE MODEL

The Contractor shall support the VA enterprise management framework. In association with the framework, the Contractor shall comply with OI&T Technical Reference Model (VA TRM). The VA TRM is one component within the overall Enterprise Architecture (EA) that establishes a common vocabulary and structure for describing the information technology used to develop, operate, and maintain enterprise applications. Moreover, the VA TRM, which includes the Standards Profile and Product List, serves as a technology roadmap and tool for supporting OI&T. Architecture & Engineering Services (AES) has overall responsibility for the VA TRM.

5.2 TRUSTED INTERNET CONNECTION (TIC)

The Contractor solution shall meet the requirements outlined in Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M08-05 mandating Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/omb/memoranda/fy2008/m08-05.pdf), M08-23 mandating Domain Name System Security (NSSEC) (https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/omb/memoranda/fy2008/m08-23.pdf), and shall comply with the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Reference Architecture Document, Version 2.0.

ADDENDUM B – VA INFORMATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM SECURITY/PRIVACY LANGUAGE

APPLICABLE PARAGRAPHS TAILORED FROM: THE VA INFORMATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM SECURITY/PRIVACY LANGUAGE, VA HANDBOOK 6500.6, APPENDIX C, MARCH 12, 2010

1. GENERAL

Contractors, Contractor personnel, Subcontractors, and Subcontractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks as VA and VA personnel regarding information and information system security.

2. ACCESS TO VA INFORMATION AND VA INFORMATION SYSTEMS

a. A Contractor/Subcontractor shall request logical (technical) or physical access to VA information and VA information systems for their employees, Subcontractors, and affiliates only to the extent necessary to perform the services specified in the contract, agreement, or task order.

b. All Contractors, Subcontractors, and third-party servicers and associates working with VA information are subject to the same investigative requirements as those of VA appointees or employees who have access to the same types of information. The level and process of background security investigations for Contractors must be in accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 0710, Personnel Suitability and Security Program. The Office for Operations, Security, and Preparedness is responsible for these policies and procedures.

c. Contract personnel who require access to national security programs must have a valid security clearance. National Industrial Security Program (NISP) was established by Executive Order 12829 to ensure that cleared U.S. defense industry contract personnel safeguard the classified information in their possession while performing work on contracts, programs, bids, or research and development efforts. The Department of Veterans Affairs does not have a Memorandum of Agreement with Defense Security Service (DSS). Verification of a Security Clearance must be processed through the Special Security Officer located in the Planning and National Security Service within the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness.

d. Custom software development and outsourced operations must be located in the U.S. to the maximum extent practical. If such services are proposed to be performed abroad and are not disallowed by other VA policy or mandates (e.g. Business Associate Agreement, Section 3G), the Contractor/Subcontractor must state where all non-U.S. services are provided and detail a security plan, deemed to be acceptable by VA, specifically to address mitigation of the resulting problems of communication, control, data protection, and so forth. Location within the U.S. may be an evaluation factor.

e. The Contractor or Subcontractor must notify the CO immediately when an employee working on a VA system or with access to VA information is reassigned or leaves the Contractor or Subcontractor’s employ. The CO must also be notified immediately by the Contractor or Subcontractor prior to an unfriendly termination.

3. VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL LANGUAGE

1. Information made available to the Contractor or Subcontractor by VA for the performance or administration of this contract or information developed by the Contractor/Subcontractor in performance or administration of the contract shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the prior written agreement of VA. This clause expressly limits the Contractor/Subcontractor's rights to use data as described in Rights in Data - General, FAR 52.227-14(d) (1).

2. VA information should not be co-mingled, if possible, with any other data on the Contractors/Subcontractor’s information systems or media storage systems in order to ensure VA requirements related to data protection and media sanitization can be met. If co-mingling must be allowed to meet the requirements of the business need, the Contractor must ensure that VA information is returned to VA or destroyed in accordance with VA’s sanitization requirements. VA reserves the right to conduct on-site inspections of Contractor and Subcontractor IT resources to ensure data security controls, separation of data and job duties, and destruction/media sanitization procedures are in compliance with VA directive requirements.

3. Prior to termination or completion of this contract, Contractor/Subcontractor must not destroy information received from VA, or gathered/created by the Contractor in the course of performing this contract without prior written approval by VA. Any data destruction done on behalf of VA by a Contractor/Subcontractor must be done in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements as outlined in VA Directive 6300, Records and Information Management and its Handbook 6300.1 Records Management Procedures, applicable VA Records Control Schedules, and VA Handbook 6500.1, Electronic Media Sanitization. Self-certification by the Contractor that the data destruction requirements above have been met must be sent to the VA CO within 30 days of termination of the contract.

4. The Contractor/Subcontractor must receive, gather, store, back up, maintain, use, disclose and dispose of VA information only in compliance with the terms of the contract and applicable Federal and VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies. If Federal or VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies become applicable to VA information or information systems after execution of the contract, or if NIST issues or updates applicable FIPS or Special Publications (SP) after execution of this contract, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to implement the information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies in this contract.

5. The Contractor/Subcontractor shall not make copies of VA information except as authorized and necessary to perform the terms of the agreement or to preserve electronic information stored on Contractor/Subcontractor electronic storage media for restoration in case any electronic equipment or data used by the Contractor/Subcontractor needs to be restored to an operating state. If copies are made for restoration purposes, after the restoration is complete, the copies must be appropriately destroyed.

6. If VA determines that the Contractor has violated any of the information confidentiality, privacy, and security provisions of the contract, it shall be sufficient grounds for VA to withhold payment to the Contractor or third party or terminate the contract for default or terminate for cause under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12.

7. If a VHA contract is terminated for cause, the associated Business Associate Agreement (BAA) must also be terminated and appropriate actions taken in accordance with VHA Handbook 1600.05, Business Associate Agreements. Absent an agreement to use or disclose protected health information, there is no business associate relationship.

8. The Contractor/Subcontractor must store, transport, or transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using VA-approved encryption tools that are, at a minimum, FIPS 140-2 validated.

9. The Contractor/Subcontractor’s firewall and Web services security controls, if applicable, shall meet or exceed VA minimum requirements. VA Configuration Guidelines are available upon request.

10. Except for uses and disclosures of VA information authorized by this contract for performance of the contract, the Contractor/Subcontractor may use and disclose VA information only in two other situations: (i) in response to a qualifying order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (ii) with VA prior written approval. The Contractor/Subcontractor must refer all requests for, demands for production of, or inquiries about, VA information and information systems to the VA CO for response.

11. Notwithstanding the provision above, the Contractor/Subcontractor shall not release VA records protected by Title 38 U.S.C. 5705, confidentiality of medical quality assurance records and/or Title 38 U.S.C. 7332, confidentiality of certain health records pertaining to drug addiction, sickle cell anemia, alcoholism or alcohol abuse, or infection with human immunodeficiency virus. If the Contractor/Subcontractor is in receipt of a court order or other requests for the above mentioned information, that Contractor/Subcontractor shall immediately refer such court orders or other requests to the VA CO for response.

12. For service that involves the storage, generating, transmitting, or exchanging of VA sensitive information but does not require Assessment and Authorization (A&A) or a Memorandum of Understanding-Interconnection Security Agreement (MOU-ISA) for system interconnection, the Contractor/Subcontractor must complete a Contractor Security Control Assessment (CSCA) on a yearly basis and provide it to the COR.

4. INFORMATION SYSTEM DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

1. Information systems that are designed or developed for or on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities shall comply with all VA directives developed in accordance with FISMA, HIPAA, NIST, and related VA security and privacy control requirements for Federal information systems. This includes standards for the protection of electronic PHI, outlined in 45 C.F.R. Part 164, Subpart C, information and system security categorization level designations in accordance with FIPS 199 and FIPS 200 with implementation of all baseline security controls commensurate with the FIPS 199 system security categorization (reference VA Handbook 6500, Risk Management Framework for VA Information Systems – Tier 3: VA Information Security Program, and the TIC Reference Architecture). During the development cycle a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) must be completed, provided to the COR, and approved by the VA Privacy Service in accordance with Directive 6508, Implementation of Privacy Threshold Analysis and Privacy Impact Assessment.

2. The Contractor/Subcontractor shall certify to the COR that applications are fully functional and operate correctly as intended on systems using the VA Federal Desktop Core Configuration (FDCC), and the common security configuration guidelines provided by NIST or VA. This includes Internet Explorer 11 configured to operate on Windows 10 and future versions, as required.

3. The standard installation, operation, maintenance, updating, and patching of software shall not alter the configuration settings from the VA approved and FDCC configuration. Information technology staff must also use the Windows Installer Service for installation to the default “program files” directory and silently install and uninstall.

4. Applications designed for normal end users shall run in the standard user context without elevated system administration privileges.

5. The security controls must be designed, developed, approved by VA, and implemented in accordance with the provisions of VA security system development life cycle as outlined in NIST Special Publication 800-37, Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework to Federal Information Systems, VA Handbook 6500, Risk Management Framework for VA Information Systems – Tier 3: VA Information Security Program and VA Handbook 6500.5, Incorporating Security and Privacy in System Development Lifecycle.

6. The Contractor/Subcontractor is required to design, develop, or operate a System of Records Notice (SOR) on individuals to accomplish an agency function subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (as amended), Public Law 93-579, December 31, 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) and applicable agency regulations. Violation of the Privacy Act may involve the imposition of criminal and civil penalties.

7. The Contractor/Subcontractor agrees to:

a. Comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 (the Act) and the agency rules and regulations issued under the Act in the design, development, or operation of any system of records on individuals to accomplish an agency function when the contract specifically identifies:

i. The Systems of Records (SOR); and

ii. The design, development, or operation work that the Contractor/Subcontractor is to perform;

b. Include the Privacy Act notification contained in this contract in every solicitation and resulting subcontract and in every subcontract awarded without a solicitation, when the work statement in the proposed subcontract requires the redesign, development, or operation of a SOR on individuals that is subject to the Privacy Act; and

c. Include this Privacy Act clause, including this subparagraph (c), in all subcontracts awarded under this contract which requires the design, development, or operation of such a SOR.

8. In the event of violations of the Act, a civil action may be brought against the agency involved when the violation concerns the design, development, or operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function, and criminal penalties may be imposed upon the officers or employees of the agency when the violation concerns the operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function. For purposes of the Act, when the contract is for the operation of a SOR on individuals to accomplish an agency function, the Contractor/Subcontractor is considered to be an employee of the agency.

a. “Operation of a System of Records” means performance of any of the activities associated with maintaining the SOR, including the collection, use, maintenance, and dissemination of records.

b. “Record” means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and contains the person’s name, or identifying number, symbol, or any other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a fingerprint or voiceprint, or a photograph.

c. “System of Records” means a group of any records under the control of any agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual.

9. The vendor shall ensure the security of all procured or developed systems and technologies, including their subcomponents (hereinafter referred to as “Systems”), throughout the life of this contract and any extension, warranty, or maintenance periods. This includes, but is not limited to workarounds, patches, hot fixes, upgrades, and any physical components (hereafter referred to as Security Fixes) which may be necessary to fix all security vulnerabilities published or known to the vendor anywhere in the Systems, including Operating Systems and firmware. The vendor shall ensure that Security Fixes shall not negatively impact the Systems.

10. The vendor shall notify VA within 24 hours of the discovery or disclosure of successful exploits of the vulnerability which can compromise the security of the Systems (including the confidentiality or integrity of its data and operations, or the availability of the system). Such issues shall be remediated as quickly as is practical, based upon the severity of the incident.

11. When the Security Fixes involve installing third party patches (such as Microsoft OS patches or Adobe Acrobat), the vendor will provide written notice to VA that the patch has been validated as not affecting the Systems within 10 working days. When the vendor is responsible for operations or maintenance of the Systems, they shall apply the Security Fixes based upon the requirements identified within the contract.

12. All other vulnerabilities shall be remediated as specified in this paragraph in a timely manner based on risk, but within 60 days of discovery or disclosure. Exceptions to this paragraph (e.g. for the convenience of VA) shall only be granted with approval of the CO and the VA Assistant Secretary for Office of Information and Technology.

5. INFORMATION SYSTEM HOSTING, OPERATION, MAINTENANCE, OR USE

a. For information systems that are hosted, operated, maintained, or used on behalf of VA at non-VA facilities, Contractors/Subcontractors are fully responsible and accountable for ensuring compliance with all HIPAA, Privacy Act, FISMA, NIST, FIPS, and VA security and privacy directives and handbooks.