A-2 SoW v4.doc

STATEMENT OF WORK

Subscription Based Electronic State Regulatory Monitoring Service

Introduction

The Contractor shall provide access to an online searchable database of all current (within 18 mos.) proposed, proposed amendments to, and adopted regulations and legislation from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and provide tagging functions to allow NIST to sort by relevancy regulatory and legislative measures of interest to NIST. On a daily basis, the Contractor shall alert NIST in the form of e-mailed reports of the newly identified potentially relevant regulatory items published by the states and the District of Columbia.

Background

The goal of the Standards Coordination Office (SCO) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is to equip U.S industry with the standards and conformity assessment-related tools and information necessary to effectively compete in the global marketplace. SCO works closely with NIST laboratories to identify opportunities for NIST participation in standards and conformity assessment-related activities. SCO also coordinates with both the private sector and other federal agencies regarding standards activities and programs. SCO monitors standards development and conformity assessment activities globally and provides research and information services as well as training, publications, and policy analysis. SCO works closely with U.S industry, standards developers, and other government agencies, to build a standards infrastructure to support innovation and create opportunities for business to thrive.

The USA Inquiry Point and Notification Authority (IP/NA) exists to fulfill obligations under the Trade Agreements Act and under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). The office / function is part of SCO and provides information and services to support the success of US business and interests in international trade. In fulfillment of US obligations under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), the IP/NA monitors proposed Federal and state regulation and notifies draft and final U.S. Federal and state regulations and related regulatory actions throughout the regulatory lifecycle which could have an impact on international trade. Via the IP/NA, NIST is required to review and evaluate proposed and amending state level regulation, and monitor legislation, for possible Technical Barriers to Trade issues.

In order to comply with NIST counsel recommendations (of May 2004) and to fulfill the United States’ WTO Member obligations under the TBT Agreement, the U.S. WTO TBT Notification Authority (located at NIST in the SCO) is required to notify the WTO of changes in U.S. technical regulations and mandatory conformity assessment procedures at the Federal and sub-central (State) level. To fulfill this obligation, SCO requires access to a specialized legislation and regulations information service to monitor and flag proposed regulations from the 50 states and the District of Columbia that could be potential technical (non-tariff) barriers to trade.

Minimum Requirements

The Contractor shall provide access to a comprehensive and searchable electronic resource that includes these capabilities:

1) Track and monitor U.S. state regulatory actions, proposed, enacted, and revised, as well as state legislative proceedings (introduced, implemented, subsequent action, signed by governor, revised) for all 50 states, for non-agricultural manufactured goods and products, and for agricultural products or food products, when marking, labeling, grading, packaging, testing, and/or certification is at issue.

2) Send reports by e-mail on a daily basis relevant to introduced legislation, relevant proposed and final regulation, and bills that are signed by governors.

3) Perform customized, manual and/or automated analysis, filtering, and reviews to identify items relevant to NIST and screen out items not relevant to NIST.

4) Continue tracking bills and legislation and regulatory items NIST is already tracking.

5) Offer a service with no limit on the number of bills and regulations that are tracked, as well as keywords or phrases used to identify and track legislation and/or proposed and final regulation that may be relevant to NIST.

6) Utilize a list of keywords and phrases, and/or comprehensive understanding by one or more legislative and/or regulatory analysts, of the specific product related regulations and legislation of interest to NIST, to immediately begin tracking legislation and regulatory activity relevant to NIST.

7) Revise and add new search terms used to screen (proposed) regulation and legislation of interest to NIST (per request from NIST and/or addition of relevant search terms added by analyst based on NIST’s existing interests) to identify other regulatory actions of interest to NIST based on regulatory or legislative trends in product compliance.

8) Provide login access and credentials for access to web-based information for no less than four simultaneous users.

9) On a daily basis, manually and/or using automated tools, create a list of bills, legislative and regulatory actions that are potentially relevant and non-relevant to NIST, using personalized client screening or using automated keyword searching and Boolean operators, while screening out and documenting the items that were judged not relevant to NIST.

10) Connect regulatory or legislative actions that NIST has previously notified, and/or notifies after service commences, to directly related subsequent regulatory and legislative activity at the proposed, adopted, and revised stages.

Deliverables

The Contractor shall perform in accordance with the foregoing subscription-based task requirements and is responsible for successfully providing all corresponding deliverables as included in the chart below. The Contractor shall submit deliverables to the Technical Point of Contact (TPoC) via e-mail. Not Applicable = N/A.

by e-mail that terms have been added and/or removed

Installation

There is no need for installation of software and/or computer programs on NIST computers. The Contractor shall push information to NIST in the form of emailed daily reports as well as providing NIST access to an online, web-based interface. The Contractor shall provide NIST with login access to a web-based system for additional information on items relevant to and tracked by NIST. The Contractors Internet-based service shall be configured, customized, and made fully operational for NIST according to contract specifications no later than 10/01/2020.

Training

The Contractor shall provide access to online tutorials or FAWs and conduct two (2) training sessions for up to five (5) users at NIST. The training shall provide a thorough demonstration of system/solution functions, maintenance, data administration, and basic troubleshooting. The training, if needed, shall be completed online (see below) no later than two weeks after the start date of service, 10/1/2020.

Period of Performance:

Base Year:

10/1/2020 through 9/30/2021

Option Year 1:

10/1/2021 through 9/30/2022

Option Year 2:

10/1/2021 through 9/30/2023 Option Year 3:

10/1/2023 through 9/30/2024 Option Year 4: 10/1/2024 through 9/30/2025

Place of Performance:

Other than training, the Contractor shall perform services from its location. Training, if government staff decide it is necessary, shall be conducted virtually and hosted by NIST or the Contractor, using an online tool acceptable to NIST, such as BlueJeans, Webex, or Microsoft Teams.