PWS_508 REMEDIATION SERVICES - FINAL-May 15- PC.docx

INSTITUTE FOR LEARNING, EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT (ILEAD)

508 REMEDIATION SERVICES

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

1. Project Overview

1.1 Project Title: Institute for Learning, Education and Development (ILEAD) Section 508 Remediation Services

1.2 Background: The Institute for Learning, Education and Development (ILEAD) under the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is responsible for developing electronic media for training and informational purposes. To ensure accessibility, all electronic media must comply with Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act. Remediation services are required for various formats, including MS Office, Adobe, HTML, audio, and multimedia. ILEAD is committed to providing fully accessible products for diverse audiences within the VA system.

2. Objectives

2.1 Objective: Provide services to review and remediate learning products to achieve full compliance with Section 508 standards.

3. Scope of Work ILEAD's Production and Delivery Service Line Responsibilities: ILEAD's Production and Delivery Service Line will engage the contractor to remediate eLearning products, covering document remediation, audio transcription, audio description, professional voice narration, captioning, and eLearning course testing and certification.

4. Task Analysis and Approval Process

4.1 Task Analysis: Contractor responsibility to analyze complexity levels for each document or task. Task analysis charges are not to be an additional fee.

4.2 Approval Process: ILEAD will review the analysis and either dispute or approve the remediation. No separate payment for task analysis.

5. Contractor Qualifications

5.1 DHS Certification: The contractor must possess a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) certified Trusted Tester for testing and certification processes.

5.2 Understanding of Section 508: Contractors will have an understanding and compliance with Section 508 standards, particularly in the context of document remediation, transcription, audio description, captioning, and eLearning course testing.

6. Mandatory Tasks and Deliverables:

The Contractor shall perform the mandatory tasks and provide the specific deliverables described below within the performance period stated in this Performance Work Statement (PWS). If, for any reason, any deliverable cannot be delivered on time according to the below schedule, the Contractor shall provide a written explanation to the Program Manager (PM)/Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) three days prior to deliverable due date. This written transmittal shall include a firm commitment of when the work shall be completed. This transmittal to the PM/COR shall cite the reasons for the delay and the impact on the overall project.

The Contractor shall not commit or permit any act that interferes with the performance of work awarded to another Contractor or with the performance of Government employees. In any case where, while fulfilling the contract requirements, the Contractor disturbs any work guaranteed under another separate contract, the Contractor must restore such disturbed work.

7. TASK 1: PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

7.1.1 CONTACT KICK-OFF MEETING:

The COR shall schedule a kick-off meeting within ten (10) business days after the initial task order effective date with the Contractor to include the CO, COR, and VA PM and shall be conducted before work starts. After the initial kick-off meeting, it will be at the discretion of the CO if another minor kick-off meeting is required for the follow-on task orders. The meeting shall take one to two hours to review the overall contract, deliverables, and processes. The contractor shall organize, collect, and capture information provided by the ILEAD Project team to clarify and verify project requirements. The contractor shall prepare and provide the Meeting minutes for review and approval by the VA PM/COR. The contractor may invite contractor team members to attend.

At the Kick-off Meeting, the following activities shall be conducted:

· Introductions and purpose of meeting

· Project overview and background

· Review and confirm project goals

· Clarify Contractor/Government Teams roles/responsibilities and communication preferences

· Establish project management standards (e.g., meetings, reporting, tracking status, etc.)

· Confirmation of receipt of any Government Furnished Information (GFI), if applicable

· Identify stakeholders and their roles/responsibilities

· Identify and discuss potential risks

· Collect Action Items and due outs

· Question and answer sessions

· Meeting and action item recap

7.1.2 Deliverables:

1. Kick-off Meeting

2. Kick-off Meeting Minutes

7.2. TASK ANALYSIS

Task/Government Furnished Material (GFM) item submission process:

1. VA COR shall coordinate submission of the task and file delivery with the Vendor.

a. Files may be transferred by:

i. Email

ii. Contractor-provided FTP site

iii. MS Teams

2. Upon receipt of GFM, the Contractor shall analyze each item submitted and provide written determination (via email) to the VA COR of the results of Contractor’s task analysis. The Contractor shall provide in the task analysis the following:

a. Documents: Page count, Complexity levels by page, total units, and delivery date.

b. Transcription: Total units and pricing IAW the

c. Audio Description: Total units

d. Voice Narration: Word count

e. Captioning: Total units

f. eLearning Course Review: (# of slides weighted by Interactivity Level = total units.

i. (Unit = The cost of the level of effort based on the time to check One Level 1 slide with known problems)

3. The VA COR shall review the analysis each task for concurrence and approval. If not in concurrence, resolve with the vendor any discrepancies and reach agreement. No task type shall have a minimum size.

4. Task analysis efforts shall not be separately priced or incur additional cost.

5. Upon agreement and formal approval (via email from COR), the contractor shall begin work on the task assigned.

6. The standard turnaround is 24hrs. However, if additional time is needed, seek COR approval.

7.2.1 Deliverable:

1. Task Analysis (with each GFM submission)

7.3 Document Remediation: Remediation of various document formats based on complexity levels, including text formatting, images, tables, etc. Price will be determined per page and complexity level (see pricing schedule). The standard turnaround is five business days. However, if additional time is needed, seek COR approval.

Complexity Level 1: Text-only pages. (1 unit per page).

Complexity Level 2: Text with simple images or tables (2 units per page).

Complexity Level 3: Text with complex tables/graphs or educational images (3 units per page).

Complexity Level 4: Text with large tables/charts or complex images (4 units per page).

· File types include but are not limited to: MS Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher; Adobe: InDesign, Acrobat; HTML

· Individual document tasks may contain multiple items, multiple pages or may consist of a single page

· Tasks may include document formatting or document creation based on guidance from VA

· Varying levels of complexity ranging from plain text to images, frameworks, process flows, clinical images and diagrams, fillable forms, etc

· Most tasks shall be multiple pages

7.3.1 Document Remediation Expedited Request: Expedited turnaround of two days or less may be requested. (COR will notify vendor when expedited service is required per occasion).

7.3.2 Deliverable

Deliverable Item# 4-5 (see table below). Remediated, fully accessible documents conforming to ILEAD’s specifications denoted in task request.

7.4 Audio Transcription: Transcription of audio and multimedia content into compliant Word or PDF documents. Price determined per minute of the video. The standard turnaround is five business days. However, if additional time is needed, seek COR approval.

7.4.1 Audio Transcription Expedited Request: Expedited turnaround of two days or less may be requested. (COR will notify vendor when expedited service is required per occasion).

7.4.2 Deliverable

Deliverable Item# 6-7 (see table below). Transcription of ILEAD-provided audio/multimedia in format noted in task request (typically Word or PDF). Deliverable shall be fully accessible.

7.5 Audio Description (AD): Assessment of video for AD needs, script creation, recording, and insertion into the video. Deliverables include audio files and/or AD-enhanced video. One unit of AD equals one individual insertion of audio into the original track. The standard turnaround is five business days. However, if additional time is needed, seek COR approval.

7.5.1 Audio Description Expedited: Expedited turnaround of two days or less may be requested. (COR will notify vendor when expedited service is required per occasion)

7.5.2 Deliverable

Deliverable Item# 8-9 (see table below). Multimedia files created from GFM to include spoken narration of key visual elements, such as the action, settings, facial expressions, costumes, and scene changes. One audio described file per GFM item included in task request.

7.6 Professional Voice Narration: Provision of diverse voice actors for narration. Scripts may involve multiple actors, and deliverables include individual spoken parts in various formats. Deliverable is individual spoken parts as mp3/mp4/other. Price determined per word of voice narration. The standard turnaround is five business days. However, if additional time is needed, seek COR approval.

7.6.1 Expedited Professional Voice Narration: Expedited turnaround of two days or less may be requested. (COR will notify vendor when expedited service is required per occasion)

7.6.2 Deliverable

Deliverable Item# 10-11 (see table below). Audio files of requested narration to be delivered either as one large file comprising entire script or as one audio file per speaking part.

7.7 Captioning: Live captioning for virtual events and follow-on captioning for recorded content. Deliverables include caption files in .vtt format or other as assigned. The standard turnaround is five business days. However, if additional time is needed, seek COR approval.

7.7.1 Live Captioning: Per minute rate for live events. One task consists of one event, charged by the number of minutes. Government will give at least three days’ notice of an event occurring unless an expedited request is made. Government will provide presentation materials (when available) at least one day in advance of live captioning event.

· The Contractor shall provide real-time closed captioning services for Adobe Connect virtual conferencing (webinar) sessions, in compliance with Adobe best practices.

· The Contractor shall join the scheduled Adobe Connect session at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled program start time and collaborate with the host to verify proper connectivity.

· The contractor shall provide an electronic MS Word file of the transcript created for each Adobe Connect session.

7.7.1a Expedited Live Captioning: Expedited live captioning session may be requested one day in advance of live captioning event.

7.7.1b Deliverable Deliverable Item# 12-13 (Please see table below) Captioner present in live event providing accurate captions reflecting spoken parts in live event.

7.7.2 Follow-on Captioning: Per minute charge for recorded content, with one task comprising the total minutes. May involve audio-only and/or multimedia files.

· The Contractor shall be able to receive pre-recorded programs and return the captioned deliverable within five (5) business days. However, if additional time is needed, seek COR approval. Historically, no more than 5 requests have required less than 24-hour turn-around.

· The Contractor shall be able accept electronic file transcripts, Power Point files, or web-based links from the VA, that will add to the value and accuracy of the captioners’ work for all offline captioning services.

· The Contractor shall be able to accept the following digital video file types for use in creating offline captioning files and creating video files with embedded captioning when supported: H.264 MP4, WMV, MPEG-1, QuickTime, QuickTime ProRes, Avid DNX, and MXF files.

· The Contractor shall be able to provide the most commonly available closed caption file types to include SRT, DFXP, XML, VTT, SMPTE-TT, SCC, CAP and SAMI.

· The Contractor shall be able to create and provide an electronic transcription text file created from archive video or audio files, upon request.

· The Contractor shall provide an external secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) server with secure access accounts to which the VA can upload video files to be used with the captioning services process. The SFTP server shall be able to receive video files up to 100 GB in size.

7.7.2a Expedited Follow-on Captioning: Expedited turnaround of one business day may be requested. (COR will notify vendor when expedited service is required per occasion) 7.7.2b Deliverable Deliverable Item# 14-15 (see table below). Complete caption files in the requested format that accurately represent audio provided by VA in task request.

7.8 eLearning Course Testing and Certification: Testing and certification of eLearning courses for Section 508 compliance, including audits and certification documentation. Complexity levels determined by the amount of interaction on each slide.

Complexity Level 1: Text-only slides (1 unit per slide).

Complexity Level 2: Text, simple tables, audio, and images (2 units per slide).

Complexity Level 3: Text, tables/graphs, images, narration, video, knowledge checks, etc. (3 units per slide).

Complexity Level 4: Advanced interactions, serious gaming, complex videos (4 units per slide).

Contractor (DHS certified Trusted Tester) shall receive completed eLearning courses created by ILEAD, audit assigned course, produce audit report of accessibility defects, deliver audit report to ILEAD eLearning producer, guide/coordinate with ILEAD eLearning producer toward resolving defects until final course is fully conformant with Section 508. Once deemed fully accessible, contractor DHS Trusted Tester will issue a certification of conformance with Section 508 (via email) to the VA 508 Office. The VA 508 Office will issue an email accepting Trusted Tester’s certification.

7.8.1 DHS Certified Trusted Tester: The contractor must possess a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) certified Trusted Tester for eLearning course testing and certification processes.

7.8.2 Deliverable

Deliverable Item# 16-17 (see table below). VA 508 Office’s acceptance of Trusted Tester’s certification of conformance noting course name, Trusted Tester’s name and credentials.

7.9 VA Task Review and Approval Process (For All Products and Services Deliverables)

1. Upon completion of task, the Contractor shall deliver final items back to the VA COR for review and approval.

2. VA COR shall review items for accuracy, correctness, functionality, and conformance.

3. Items with discrepancies shall be returned to the Contractor for correction.

4. The VA COR shall provide approval via email for each task upon acceptance of the final deliverable.

5. Contractor can add all approved deliverables to the next monthly invoice.

8 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall provide a monthly report consisting of MS Excel document containing an itemized list of all submitted 508 tasks to include the following:

1. Date Received

2. Task #

3. Task Name (can be edited to short title)

4. CLIN listing for task to include either # of pages, captioning/Transcription time, Voiceover word count, or Audio Description time

5. Due Date

6. Brief Task description (e.g., PPT, Word, PDF, Narration, CC, Transcript, Live Captions)

7. VA Accepted Date

8. Total price

9. Invoice #

10. Payment status

11. Invoice amount

12. Running Balance

Additionally, an overall summary of activity by CLIN showing allocated funds/units and the expenditures and funds remaining within the CLINs to maintain a near real-time running balance (Essentially be equivalent to a balance sheet).

8.1 Deliverable:

Monthly Task Summary Report All contract deliverables shall conform to and support current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Level AA, as specified by the US Access Board in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards and Guidelines under Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act. For specific guidance on each standard see: WCAG 2.1 Quick Reference Guide. The VA Section 508 Office complies with and upholds WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Delivery Schedule Below is a delivery schedule based on a project proceeding through the full ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate) model process and can be used for development of follow-on Task Orders.

(Estimate 10,000 units total- Level 1: 5,000 Level 2: 3,000 Level 3: 1,500 Level 4: 500 ) Within 5 business days of task approval from VA COR

One transcript (Compliant Word/PDF) per recording submitted by VA COR Estimate 50 tasks Within 5 business days of task approval from VA COR

EXPEDITED

One minute = one unit One transcript (Compliant Word/PDF) per recording submitted by VA COR Estimate 5 expedited tasks Within 48 hours of task approval from VA COR

Estimate 50 tasks Within 5 business days of task approval from VA COR

EXPEDITED

One insertion = EA Estimate 12 expedited tasks Within 48 hours of task approval from VA COR

Estimate 5,000 tasks Within 5 business days of task approval from VA COR

Estimate 750 expedited tasks Within 48 hours of task approval from VA COR

Estimated Level 1: 50 Level 2: 50 Level 3: 50 Level 4: 50 eLearning Courses Initial Audit Report Within 5 business days of task approval from VA COR

9. Quality Control:

9.1 Contractor’s Quality Control Program: The Contractor shall develop and maintain an effective internal quality control program to ensure that services performed are in accordance with the PWS. The Contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. As a minimum requirement, the Contractor shall internally develop quality control procedures that address the areas identified below in the Government’s Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP).

9.2 Performance Monitoring: In accordance with FAR 37.102, task orders issued under this contract shall be performance-based to the maximum extent practicable.

Acceptable Performance Level: Final Document shall contain zero errors.

Review and acceptance of completed material by VA COR/ILEAD Trusted Tester.

Acceptable Performance Level: Final transcript shall contain zero errors.

Review and acceptance of completed material by VA COR/ILEAD Trusted Tester.

Acceptable Performance Level:

Final audio described video shall have all unspoken content described audibly.

Review and acceptance of completed material by VA COR/ILEAD Trusted Tester.

Acceptable Performance Level: Final audio files shall have all terms, acronyms, and scripted language pronounced correctly based on VA-provided pronunciations.

Review and acceptance of completed material by VA COR/ILEAD Trusted Tester.

Acceptable Performance Level: Final caption files shall be 100% accurate with all spoken words and acronyms represented correctly based on VA terminology.

Review and acceptance of completed material by VA COR/ILEAD Trusted Tester.

Acceptable Performance Level: Final reviewed/certified courses shall contain no barriers to accessibility.

Tasks will be considered complete upon receiving concurrence/acceptance of course certification documentation from VA Section 508 Office.

10. Government-Furnished Information (GFI) and Material (GFM):

10.1 Task items are Government Furnished Material (GFM) and shall be sent and retrieved from to the contractor’s secure FTP site or equivalent document transfer vehicle (email if file size permits). The contractor shall provide a secure FTP connection, verified by VA NSOC within 30 days of award.

Note: Government will not accept SharePoint in place of an FTP or SFTP, as SharePoint does not support FTP or SFTP.

10.2 This task order requires no Government Furnished, or Facilities (GFF), nor is there any associated Government Furnished Information (GFI).

11. Performance Details:

11.1 Period of Performance: The period of performance (PoP) shall be one base period with four task ordering periods.

11.2. Place of Performance:

The work to be performed under this contract for all tasks shall be performed at the Contractor’s facility. VA currently utilizes Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex platforms for virtual meetings.

11.3 Observance of Government Holidays:

There are 11 Federal holidays set by law (USC Title 5 Section 6103). Under current definitions, four are set by date:

New Year’s Day January 1 Martin Luther King's Birthday Third Monday in January Washington's Birthday Third Monday in February Memorial Day Last Monday in May Juneteenth June 19th Independence Day July 04th Labor Day First Monday in September Columbus Day Second Monday in October Veterans Day November 11 Thanksgiving Fourth Thursday in November Christmas Day December 25th

If any of the above falls on a Saturday, then Friday shall be observed as a holiday. Similarly, if one falls on a Sunday, then Monday shall be observed as a holiday.

11.4. Type of Contract:

This is a firm fixed price Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ).

11.5. Travel:

Travel is not required for the execution of this contract.

11.6 Contractor Reporting Requirements (as required)

a. Reporting shall be in accordance with the standards found in section eight of this PWS.

b. The Contractor shall submit a monthly progress report, addressing the status of all active efforts. These reports shall also serve as the official reporting for order compliance.

c. The monthly progress report shall also identify any problems that may have arisen and provide an explanation of how each problem was resolved or, where one was not resolved, a plan for how the problem shall be resolved.

d. The Contractor shall take minutes of all contract status conference calls and/or meetings held with the Program Manager. Copies of these minutes shall be attached to the next progress report.

e. The Contractor shall notify the PM/COR, in writing, if problems arise that could have an adverse effect upon the performance of the TO.

11.7 Contract Pre-Award Meeting:

The Contractor shall not commence performance in this PWS until the CO has conducted a pre-award meeting or the CO has waived this requirement.

12. Formal Acceptance or Rejection of Deliverables:

The Government shall have 10 business days to review each deliverable and provide comments. Lack of Government comment indicates acceptance of deliverable. The Contractor shall have five business days to incorporate the Government’s comments and make appropriate revisions.

All deliverables, unless otherwise specified, shall use Microsoft Office compatible formats.

All final deliverables posted on electronic systems for VA use shall be compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 1998 Amendment according to the requirements for each deliverable.

13. Changes to the PWS:

Any changes to this PWS shall be authorized and approved only through written correspondence from the CO. Any costs incurred by the contractor that were not authorized by the PWS or the CO shall be born by the contractor.

14. Data Rights:

Performance of this effort may require the contractor to access and use data and information proprietary to a Government agency or Government contractor which is of such a nature that its dissemination or use, other than in performance of this effort, would be adverse to the interests of the Government and/or others.

The contractor and/or contractor personnel shall not divulge, or release data or information developed or obtained in performance of this effort, until made public by the Government, except to authorized Government personnel or upon written approval of the Contracting Officer. The contractor shall not use, disclose, or reproduce proprietary data that bears a restrictive legend, other than as required in the performance of this effort.

If copyrighted or trademarked portions of vendor materials are changed, all documents/materials provided as supplemental items for VA shall be severable from the copyrighted or trademarked portion of the course or program. All documents/materials created as supplemental items for VA shall be subject to the data rights as specified in FAR 52.227- 14.

Data: VA shall have unlimited rights to, and ownership of all deliverables provided under this effort, including reports, recommendations, briefings, work plans and all other deliverables. This includes the deliverables provided under the basic award as well as and any optional task deliverables that are exercised by the Contracting Officer. All deliverables shall be available for future editing by VA or its design, therefore the deliverables shall include both Training Management System ready final formats, and source of those final formats to enable VA to change the content, format, sequencing, and response at the smallest increment of courseware products (i.e., page, frame, table, embedded SCORM object). The definition of “unlimited rights” is contained in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 27.401, Definitions. VA may, upon contractor application, allow the contractor to have limited use and/or distribution rights but such may not infringe on VA’s rights in the subject things in any way, shape, or form currently known or unknown.

15. General Contractors, contractor personnel, subcontractors, and subcontractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA Directives and Handbooks as Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and VA personnel regarding information and information system security.

15.1. VA Information Custodial Language

a. Information made available to the Contractor or Subcontractor by VA for, or 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 the VA.

b. VA information should not be co-mingled, if possible, with any other data on the Contractor’s/Subcontractor’s information systems or media storage systems in order to ensure that 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’s information is returned to the 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 that data security controls, separation of data and job duties, and destruction/media sanitization procedures are in compliance with VA directive requirements.

c. 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 the 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 calendar days of termination of the contract.

d. 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 the VA information or information systems after execution of the contract, or if NIST issues or updates applicable Federal Information Processing Standard (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.

e. 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, then after the restoration is complete, the copies must be appropriately destroyed.

f. 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 for cause under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 12.

May 15, 2024