DRAFT Attachment 0002 Statement of Work Template.docx

Office of Information and Technology

ATTACHMENT 0002: STATEMENT OF WORK TEMPLATE

Office of Information & Technology Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions Office (EISO)

Table of Contents

Introduction The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made considerable investments in Microsoft products, technologies, development efforts and cloud services via their Microsoft Enterprise Agreement (EA). VA continues to require this agreement to maintain and support current agency demands for Microsoft software and services as well as provide expansion capabilities to respond to changing agency needs.

Building off a history of successful collaboration, VA seeks to continue to engage with “Microsoft Professional Services”, hereto referred to as “MPS”, who will provide Microsoft dedicated technical representatives and subject matter resources to advise and assist VA on the architecture, development, deployment, security, and ongoing operations of the Microsoft technologies purchased through the Enterprise Agreement (EA), with a goal of maximizing these investments in Microsoft products. MPS is comprised of resources from both Microsoft Consulting Services and Microsoft Unified Support.

This Statement of Work (SOW) and any exhibits, appendices, schedules, and attachments dated on or about March XX, 20xx sets forth the services to be performed by Microsoft Corporation, (“Microsoft”, “us”, “we”, “our”) in response to professional services requirements contained in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”, “government”) solicitation xxxxxxxxxxxxx. This SOW represents the complete baseline for scope and services applicable to this project and shall expire on 4/1/20XX, unless it has been awarded to TBD Partner Prime (“Customer”, “Prime Contractor”, “you”, “your”) and fully incorporated into a fully executed contract between the Prime Contractor and Microsoft for the services described herein, or the SOW has been formally extended in writing by Microsoft Corporation.

Throughout the term of the engagement, VA may elect to purchase optional services as scoped in a task definition and issued as an amendment to the base contract. All changes to this overarching document and/or subsequent task definition will be managed in accordance with the change management process defined below. Any terms not otherwise defined herein will assume the meanings set forth in the awarded contract or task definition.

1 Engagement Objectives & Scope

1.1 Objectives

Microsoft Services for enterprise organizations includes a diverse group of technical architects, engineers, consultants, and support professionals dedicated to delivering on the Department of Veterans Affairs’ mission of providing health, education, disability, funerary, and financial benefits earned by Veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Microsoft consulting services specialize in the front-end life-cycle stages (plan, design, architect, develop/code and deploy) with direct access to Microsoft software developers and source code for current and future products. Microsoft Unified Support is a comprehensive enterprise support set of services that reduces cost, enhances productivity, and accelerates technology for any stage of the Information Technology (IT) lifecycle. Unified supports legacy and cloud environments offering proactive services, service delivery management and 24/7 problem resolution services.

Under this arrangement, Microsoft will provide staff augmentation assistance through a base level of resourcing to support Microsoft products for VA enterprise at large. VA is responsible for providing overall direction and control of the engagement and its activities, managing the project schedule and estimates, and for overall project success via the established Office of Information and Technology (OIT) Program Management Office (PMO).

Specific Microsoft products supported may include, but are not limited to, Microsoft Azure Commercial / Government, Microsoft 365 (M365 / O365), Dynamics Power Platform, Azure Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas), Azure Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Modern Development Applications/Solutions, as well as Windows Client, Microsoft Endpoint Manager, and Zero Trust Architecture / Cyber Security as defined in Attachment 0002 – MS PET.xlsx and procured under the Enterprise Agreement (EA).

These resources will be assigned to assist VA in fully leveraging the Microsoft enterprise investment, accelerate digital transformation and cloud migration solution capabilities in accordance with VA’s strategies and following the standardized approach from The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).

1.2 Areas Within Scope

Microsoft resources will advise and assist on tasks and objectives related to the planning, design, deployment and optimization of the Microsoft solutions and technologies employed in VA as directed by VA’s Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) in coordination with VA’s program/project management leads.

Below are general areas of assistance Microsoft will provide. Section 3.1 defines the Roles/LCAT/Positions to assist in completing these activities:

· Provide assessment and recommendations to VA for use in strategic planning, deployment, adoption, and upgrades of Microsoft technologies.

· Assist VA in Designing / Architecting of Microsoft technologies to meet VA requirements with the approval of VA PM responsible.

· Analyze, provide recommendations, and assist VA efforts to improve systems, processes, and procedures for application lifecycle management of Microsoft technologies.

· Work directly with the Microsoft Product Group to address government inquiries and concerns.

· Provide support for operational health by assessing current state of IT, addressing improvement points and work in collaboration with the government, to provided proactive assessments, health checks and educational knowledge transfer.

· Provide oversight and management for deployed/implemented (in use) services related specifically to DevOps, testing methodologies and technical assistance related to applications that are in production on Microsoft’s technology platforms.

· Provide production support to specific products and technologies specified by VA with a focus on delivering engaged, preventative operational support.

· Provide support focused on problem prevention and resolution, as well as technical and business goals of operational production health.

Unified Support Process Microsoft problem resolution services help resolve technical issues that are present in VA’s Microsoft environment and are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Problem resolution services are typically consumed on demand with requests for support submitted by the government’s designated contact via telephone or online using the Microsoft Services Hub. Severity 1 and A support requests must be submitted according to the problem resolution request process established during the Kick-Off Meeting.

The response time varies by severity and is the period of time that occurs between the creation of the service request and the time that the services resource communicates with VA. All incidents shall be documented in accordance with section 1.1.1 of the contract.

Problem resolutions services are managed by a Microsoft Support Incident Manager (IM) who, along with the Support Account Manager (SAM), will work with the government to triage the support case, drive prioritization, and bring in needed technical expertise until case resolution.

VA is responsible for outlining the known business impact of the situation and Microsoft will then assign the appropriate severity level, as detailed in Figure 2 below.

For Severity 1 or A, this assignment will occur during the initial submission. The government can request a change to the severity level during the term of a situation should the business impact require a higher or lower severity level.

Figure 2: Problem Resolution Severity Categorizations Third Party Support Coordination: Microsoft is a member of TSANet and will work with VA to troubleshoot the environment and the problem, to the best of our knowledge.

1.3 Areas Out of Scope

Any area not explicitly included in the Awarded contract, Section 1.2 of this SOW, or Task Definitions, is out of scope for Microsoft during this engagement. Areas out of scope for this engagement, including the following:

Table 1: Areas out of scope for this engagement

2 Engagement Approach, Timeline, & Deliverables

2.1 Engagement Approach

Microsoft will supplement VA’s technical staff for this engagement by providing guidance and assistance as directed by the VA Contracting Officer Representative (COR) in collaboration with the VA PM(s), utilizing VA designated project methodologies. The VA PM will provide direction to the overall project team, of which Microsoft will be a part. The VA COR shall provide approval in writing for all contractual changes.

Should changes be needed to the agreed upon staffing mix, VA will work with the designated Enterprise Development and Deployment Manager (EDDM) to execute a Change Request. All changes shall be communicated to VA COR/PMO team and VA Project PM within 1 day of changes in accordance with section X.X.X CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL SECURITY REQUIREMENTS of the contract.

2.2 Timeline

Iteratively throughout the engagement, a timeline of critical tasks for the engagement will be developed and tracked collaboratively between VA PM and Microsoft. Any updates to project milestones and timeframes will be updated on the project plan and managed collaboratively by the VA Project Manager (PM) and Microsoft.

2.3 Deliverables

Below is the list of deliverables for this engagement. Deliverables for optional tasks will be defined by subsequent task definition(s) and executed as awarded via contract or modification between the prime contractor, Microsoft and VA Contracting Officer.

{Contractor to populate below table with list of Deliverables from the Product Description}

Table 2: List of Deliverables

2.4 508 Compliance Microsoft's commitment to develop products and services that help provide an accessible user experience starts with a formal, internal Microsoft process, which follows U.S. Section 508 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Microsoft is committed to helping government customers comply with the Section 508 requirements as set forth in section 6.0 of the awarded contract to its delivery of services.

2.5 Project Governance Approach

The governance structure and processes the team will adhere to for the project are described in the following sections:

2.5.1 Communication Plan

VA reserves the right to revise Communication Plans as needed throughout the period of performance.

A process will be employed to facilitate communication during the engagement between the Microsoft delivery leadership team and the VA PMO. There will be several key vehicles for providing this communication: a Monthly Microsoft Unified Support and Professional Service Status Report, Monthly Contractor Staff Activity Report, and Monthly Professional Service Project Status Report.

Regular meetings/program reviews will also be utilized as outlined below.

· Bi-Annual program management Review: will be held at the halfway point of each contract year to review salient topics regarding the overall management of the Enterprise Agreement.

· Quarterly program reviews: will be held at least quarterly to review overall status, engagement activities, priorities, key issues, and outstanding actions.

· Bi-Weekly status meetings: the Microsoft team will host a scrum style virtual meeting every two weeks with VA program managers/technology stakeholders review progress made, identify issues and mitigation plans and discuss planned upcoming activities.

The Enterprise Development and Deployment Manager (EDS) or Enterprise Task Manager (ETM) will produce a monthly summary of scope and progress toward activities procured via optional tasks, in accordance with the format provided in VA’s Product Description document, and will review any items for discussion with the VA Program Manager during the regularly scheduled bi-weekly status meetings.

Microsoft services reserves the right to directly communicate and interface with VA PM without first having to notify or inform the Prime Contractor for all matters directly related to the technical performance of the state of services as outlined in this Statement of Work. Any interactions with VA End Users which may affect the contract shall inform the VA PM. The Prime Contractor shall be notified of all performance related concerns.

2.5.2 Issue/Risk Management Procedure

The Microsoft EDS and Delivery Manager will assist VA’s Project Manager in identifying and managing issues and risks across the engagement. The following general procedure will be used by Microsoft to manage active issues and risks during the engagement:

· Identify: identify and document issues and risks (potential issues that could affect the project.

· Analyze and prioritize: assess the potential impact and determine the highest priority risks and issues to be actively managed.

· Plan and schedule: determine the strategy for managing priority risks and issues, and identify a resource who can take responsibility for mitigation and remediation.

· Track and report: monitor and report the status of risks and issues.

· Escalate: escalate to project sponsors the high impact issues and risks that the team is unable to resolve.

· Control: review the effectiveness of risk and issue management actions.

Active issues and risks will be regularly monitored during the engagement and documented by Microsoft in the monthly reports.

2.5.3 Change Management Process

During the engagement, either party can request, in writing, to make additions, deletions, or modifications to the services described in this SOW (“change”). Approved changes will be managed through contract amendments/modifications and could lead to additional costs and schedule impacts which must be concurred upon bilaterally. Microsoft shall have no obligation to commence work in connection with any change until the details of the change are agreed upon in an amendment signed by the authorized signatories from VA, the Prime Contractor and Microsoft.

Within five (5) consecutive business days of receipt of the proposed amendment, VA must either indicate acceptance of the proposed change by signing the amendment or advise Microsoft not to perform the change. If VA advises Microsoft or Prime vendor not to perform the change, Microsoft will proceed with the original agreed upon services only. In the absence of VA’s acceptance or rejection within the previously noted time frame, Microsoft will not perform the proposed change.

No change to this engagement shall be made unless it is requested and accepted in accordance with the process described in this section. Neither party shall perform or commence work in connection with any proposed change until approved by Contracting Officer and a Change Request Form is approved and signed by both parties.

2.5.4 Engagement Management

Throughout the engagement, VA and Microsoft will work collectively to ensure delivery resources and department priorities receive the necessary guidance and direction. It is expected that this group will meet regularly to:

· Make decisions about engagement’s strategic direction.

· Address risks or issues to the successful delivery of the engagement.

· Review and approve significant change requests. All changes shall be bilaterally agreed upon and in writing.

Table 3: Engagement Management Roles

2.5.5 Escalation Path

The Microsoft Project Manager will work closely with the government Project Manager, sponsor, and other designees to manage project issues, risks, and change requests as described previously. VA will provide reasonable access to the sponsor or sponsors in order to expedite resolution. The standard escalation path for review, approval, or dispute resolution is as follows:

· Project Team member (Microsoft or VA)

· Project Manager (Microsoft and VA)

· Microsoft Program Management Lead, COR and EDDM/EDSs

· Microsoft Delivery Manager and VA Engagement Sponsor

2.5.6 Task Definition Procedures for Optional Tasks

· VA stakeholder identifies need within the scope of this SOW.

· VA stakeholder prepares Task Definition (TD) describing the task which needs to be completed and estimated type and quantities of resources required as identified on CLINS to achieve successful outcome as identified on Approved Task Definition Template executed at the time of award.

· VA stakeholder delivers the TD for review and approval as required by standard VA Process.

· Upon execution via contract modification, Microsoft EDDM/EDS assigns appropriate resources.

· For each optional task:

· Microsoft will supplement VA’s technical staff for the engagement providing guidance and assistance as directed by the VA COR, utilizing VA designated project methodologies, and as identified on Task Definition. The VA COR, via the VA Project Manager will provide direction to the overall project team, of which the Microsoft team will be a part.

· Microsoft will complete baseline planning activities with the support and approval of VA PM which may include but not be limited to documentation of requirements, defining “done”, testing approach and strategy, identification of external dependencies, documentation of project risks and long-term supportability/transition plan, as further detailed within the scope of each engagement as identified on Task Definitions.

2.5 Engagement Completion

The engagement will be considered complete when any of the following conditions are met:

· All parties (VA, prime Contractor and Microsoft) agree all of the Microsoft Professional Services (MPS) deliverables identified in Section 2.3 are deemed accepted and any Change Requests accepted pursuant to the Change Management Process defined in this SOW are delivered and accepted or deemed accepted; or

· The period of performance has expired, and the Optional Task has not been extended as outlined by this TD.

· All Microsoft activities and in-scope items or agreed upon re-prioritized scope have been completed.

· The Contract or Optional Task is terminated pursuant to the provisions of the agreement.

Completion for optional tasks will be defined in their respective task definitions and shall be dependent upon each task’s structure.

3 Engagement Organization and Staffing

3.1 Engagement Roles and Responsibilities

This section provides a brief overview of key project roles & responsibilities for the dedicated Microsoft resources as specified in the Product Evaluation Table (PET).

Table 4: Microsoft Roles and Responsibilities *Resource provided by Microsoft Consulting Services +Resource provided by Microsoft Unified Support

4 General VA Responsibilities and Engagement Assumptions

4.1 General VA Responsibilities

Delivery of services is dependent on VA’s direct involvement in all aspects of the services; VA’s ability to provide accurate and complete information as needed, timely and effective completion of the responsibilities as identified herein, the accuracy and completeness of the assumptions, and timely decisions and approvals by VA management are keys to success.

In addition to any activities identified in the Approach, Section 2.1, VA will perform the tasks, furnish the personnel, provide the resources, or undertake the responsibilities specified below.

General Responsibilities Include:

· Providing information includes accurate, timely (as mutually agreed-upon), and complete information required for the engagement.

· Managing external dependencies: VA will facilitate any interactions with related projects or programs to manage external project dependencies.

· Budgeting and paying for any additional licenses, cloud credits and services beyond the initial contract purchase. Unless specifically identified as a part of executed TD, all software and third-party extensions will not be used until VA obtains pricing information, including a breakdown of total cost of ownership. Licenses shall not be used until VA approval is obtained and Contract Modification is processed.

· Assigning a government resource to act as System/Program Owner, with sufficient availability and authority for the role.

· Assigning a qualified Project Manager to plan and lead the project and coordinate all VA stakeholder communication, and work with the project team daily.

· Assigning personnel who possess the appropriate business and technical knowledge of the current environment necessary to participate in the project.

· Ensuring the appropriate Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are available to provide timely responses to inquiries and requests.

· VA will submit individuals for the appropriate level of security access in an expeditious, timely manner and manage and facilitate the clearance process and paperwork for PIVs, system access such as email, cloud accounts and GFEs, as required. All GFE assignments and access shall be documented on Contractor Staff Roster. All changes shall be communicated to VA COR/PMO team and VA Project PM within 1 day of changes in accordance with section X.X.X CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL SECURITY REQUIREMENTS of the contract.

· Providing secure access to Microsoft and our partners to suitable facilities, workspaces, and systems. These include desks, phones, VA network and internet connection, print services, PC space, and access to the current VA Azure Virtual Desktop environment, GFE laptop computers (as needed), CAG desktops (enhanced desktops for developers and testers), access to servers, and access to applications (remote and onsite), as required.

· Managing project risk mitigation and provide any instructions, authorizations, approvals, or other information provided to us by VA project representative or by any other personnel identified by the Contracting Officer Representative, Project Manager or Program Manager.

· Documentation required to successfully execute/complete this engagement which is accessible, accurate and access to other materials and resources as needed, and as advised by us in advance.

· VA will manage non-contractor resources, including the management of VA personnel and resources from other contractors.

Work identified in subsequent Task Definitions and optional taskings may have additional VA responsibilities specific to that task and documented at that time.

4.2 Engagement Assumptions

The services, fees and delivery schedule for this project are based upon the following assumptions.

· Workday:

· The standard workday for the Microsoft project team is between 8 AM and 5 PM local time, Monday through Friday.

· Remote working:

· The Microsoft project team may perform services remotely.

· If the Microsoft project team is required to be present at the government location on a weekly basis, resources will typically be onsite for three nights and four days, arriving on a Monday and leaving on a Thursday.

· The place of performance under the Statement of Work may be at a Microsoft facility, a customer’s facility, a U.S. Government facility, or various remote and off-site locations (including home offices).

· Language:

· All project communications and documentation will be in English. Local language support and translations will be provided by the government.

· Staffing:

· If necessary, Microsoft will make staffing changes. These can include, but are not limited to, the number of resources, individuals, and project roles. All changes shall be communicated to VA COR/PMO team and VA Project PM within 1 day of changes in accordance with section X.X.X CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL SECURITY REQUIREMENTS of the contract.

· Microsoft will make available resources with appropriate technical qualifications and experience. In the event the technically qualified resources exist without requested level of clearance, VA will work with Microsoft to engage resources on provisional basis upon submission and acknowledgement of the background investigation application.

· Resource availability and dispatch may affect timelines but will not impact unified support response timelines.

· Microsoft will engage specific resources as deemed necessary by Microsoft and approved by VA, to support a specific technical area. This could require multiple individuals engaged to support the engagement, based on technical specialty. Thus, Microsoft will use a Matrix Support Model to support this effort. Microsoft will identify which resources will be staffed using a matrix support model and which resources will be dedicated.

· Microsoft reserves the right to utilize whichever labor categories, in whatever quantities we determine, in our sole discretion, are appropriate to perform the services. If a lower cost labor category is used to perform duties of a higher priced category, government may be entitled to equitable adjustment.

· All project resources will have the appropriate level of security access required to complete project-related efforts or VA will submit individuals for the appropriate level of security access.

· In the event that VA requires a Position Risk Designation level or an individual holding a DoD level clearance that differs from the base, VA will issue contract security specifications to define applicable security requirements and procedures as part of the resulting Task Definition award.

· Informal knowledge transfer:

· VA staff members who work alongside Microsoft staff will be provided with information knowledge transfer throughout the project. No formal training materials will be developed or delivered as part of this informal knowledge transfer unless identified as a deliverable on specific task definition or as provided through unified support services.

· Other assumptions:

· This Statement of Work as agreed to by all parties is considered the baseline scope document outlining Microsoft’s responsibilities for the assistance. Any changes to those responsibilities will be considered a change in scope for the engagement. Any proposed change to the project scope must be put into written format and be submitted to Microsoft during this engagement for review and consideration. All changes must be approved by VA Contracting Officer.

· This SOW is generated based upon currently known information deemed to be accurate and correct.

· Any delay on delivering government required items could impact the delivery schedule and result in a Change Request to add Funding or extend the Period of Performance. All performance extensions must be approved by VA Contracting Officer.

· VA agrees that Prime and/or Microsoft, under this Statement of Work, may associate VA’s Online Services with Professional Services accounts through configuration of VA’s subscriptions or Azure resources. Any changes must be approved by VA Contracting Officer.

· Service deliverables including status reports, staff rosters, meeting agendas and minutes are separate and distinct from software deliverables and therefore do not require review against VA Enterprise Architecture.

5 Addendums & Exhibits

5.1 Exhibit 1: Labor Category Descriptions

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