A06 Mobile Applications Support Services PWS 03232021.docx

Performance Work Statement NPS Mobile Applications Support April 5, 2021

National Park Service Office of Communications Digital Strategy Division

1.

General The National Park Service (NPS) is in need of qualified IT services to support NPS-managed mobile apps. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn is responsible to the Government.

The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items and non-personal services necessary to perform app development and support as defined in this Performance Work Statement except for those items specified as government furnished property and services. The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

1.1. Background

Mobile apps support the visitor experience while preparing for a trip, visiting a park, or sharing experiences after a trip. While in a park, an app provides a contextualized experience delivering informational, interpretive, and safety content based on the user’s location whether the visitor has a connection or is offline. Offline access to content extends outreach to visitors in all parts of a park regardless of communications infrastructure. Additionally, mobile apps can provide an additional layer of as-needed accessibility with audio-described content for interior and exterior areas.

Beyond the in-park experience, visitors can use apps to explore trip planning options, create itineraries, store personalized content such as favorites and lists, and engage with their friends and family by sharing content to social media platforms.

NPS App The NPS recently launched its first consolidated NPS App in the first quarter of calendar year 2021 to easily connect visitors with all parks and provide servicewide information such as news, events, and search capabilities. Visitors to national parks increasingly rely on digital tools to plan their trips and access information while in parks. This single app will provide parks the ability to create a cost-effective and informative digital experience.

The initial launch of the app now available in Apple and Google Play stores is considered the “minimally viable product” and includes:

· Search capability based on filters (park name, activities, topics, parks nearby, keyword).

· Individual park “apps” for all 420+ units and other sites. Park based content includes:

· Basic information about each park including hours of operation, address, contact information, directions, and weather.

· Self-guided tours with optional audio tours, categorized place-based content, things to do, volunteer opportunities, passport stamp locations, visitor centers, campgrounds, images, and multimedia.

· A detailed, interactive park map that will incorporate location-based content added by the park.

· The ability for visitors to build personalized lists and save and share information through social media.

· A fully accessible experience that provides tools to benefit in-park visitors with accessibility needs, such as audio descriptions of exterior exhibits.

· Access to NPS App-based information and resources even when offline.

Architecture and Integration The following diagram illustrates the current and planned architecture for the mobile app.

Native App The NPS App was created as a natively coded app for IOS and Android phone and tablet devices. It is designed as a set of modules that have clear and well-defined interfaces to allow for both national and park specific content and functionality. The app uses a common design across both IOS and Android with minor deviations to adhere to Apple and Android standards.

Code Repository The official final repository for the app code will be the NPS-managed Bitbucket. Access to Bitbucket is on the NPS’s Amazon Web Services platform and requires secure access through a PIV card.

Offline and Personalized Content Storage Individual parks can be selected for offline access without impacting access to the rest of the app. Data is cached within the app with the ability for the user to access individual parks in offline mode as well as delete them through the app settings without deleting the entire app.

Currently, all personalized content (e.g. favorites, custom lists, notifications) is being stored locally on the device with the intent to move this content to a cloud-based solution once a login solution is available.

Login/Recreation.gov The NPS is partnering with Recreation.gov to provide access to their login and user content for passes, reservations, and ticketing functionality and content/data. We are implementing a widget solution initially on the NPS.gov website with a phased approach involving multiple widgets for specific functions and content/data. Once this is available, users will be able to create/access their NPS/Recreation.gov account on the NPS.gov website. A solution for the mobile app may involve a different approach and will be architected in a later phase.

Transferring personalized content to the cloud accessible via the Recreation.gov account will allow users access to that content from the website and other devices.

Dynamic Maps The app is very map-centric. The national search function provides a map interface and each park has an individual map. In addition, individual content sections of the app may contain a map where location awareness is helpful to the visitor experience. All map data used in the app is provided by the NPS national map data set or place-based geolocation data. The app itself provides the pin clustering, zoom levels, filtering, and “find me” functionality necessary to customize the map to the visitor’s location and interests.

NPS API

Most of the content used in the app is served from the NPS API. This API is publicly available with data being used for a wide range of purposes. The API is built on the Solr platform and is versioned as changes are made. Documentation about the API is available on the website.

JSON Files The NPS has created specific JSON files to store content for the app in areas where that content is not available through the API (e.g. featured park, type-ahead, etc) or where query performance necessitated a data file more easily ingested through a non-API data source. These NPS-managed files are stored on nps.gov servers and are specific to the app needs.

Volunteer.gov Each park can list volunteer opportunities through data available from volunteer.gov. Currently, that data is provided through an XML file managed by NPS. In the future, the data source will continue to be volunteer.gov but the data service may change.

Custom Park Modules Currently, the NPS has approximately 31 park-specific mobile apps, available through the IOS and Android app stores, using a common platform and managed by the NPS Harpers Ferry Center. The new app is an evolution of the framework for the current HFC-produced apps. A small number of these apps have custom features and content (e.g. live data). As time and resources allow, these features will be moved into the NPS App. In the future, other parks may wish to implement their own custom modules. The app is designed to support this modular-based functionality.

Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics The app is using Google’s Firebase Analytics and Crashlytics as the underlying analytics monitoring and crash reporting tools.

Notification Server At this time, notifications for the app are not implemented. NPS plans to use a service such as Amazon’s Simple Notification Server following the implementation of the login solution mentioned above.

1.2. Objective

The National Park Service is seeking support for varying levels of development, user experience/interface, and maintenance services for the NPS App. The Contractor shall provide labor, support, and services as necessary for existing and new development; knowledge and experience in native and hybrid app development; and knowledge of and experience with technologies used to create, manage, and monitor mobile apps.

2. Scope of Work The scope of technical services to be provided under this contract are very broad and highly varied. The contractor has considerable leeway to identify the best skilled personnel to address the IT technical areas that are explained in detail in Section 2.1 of this document.

2.1. Tasks

The contractor shall provide services for the performance of all tasks under the specified task headings as identified below:

Task 1: Operations and Maintenance This task will be firm-fixed price.

The contractor shall provide all the daily operations and maintenance activities to include but not limited to:

· Performance monitoring using Crashlytics and other tools to ensure the app continues to meet or exceed the baseline performance standards.

· Analytics monitoring and reporting (e.g., the NPS app uses Firebase) along with updates to the app to allow for improved tracking. The NPS will determine what analytics are required. The contractor will implement the requirement. As part of this work, the contractor shall need to implement a naming scheme within the app that allows each individual view/screen (camping, Visitor Centers, etc.) in the app to be analyzed as a page

· Testing OS and device upgrades to ensure stability of the codebase and backwards compatibility with previous versions. The contractor shall also provide a private, signed, certificated, and provisionally-licensed version of the app to the NPS for internal testing on devices before updates are made available to the public. Devices and OS Testing shall ensure compliance IOS versions 11.4 and up, and devices currently supported by Apple. Device and OS testing shall ensure compliance for versions of Android currently supported with security fixes at the time of a release.

· Troubleshooting, prioritizing, and resolving defects, bugs, crashes, or errors to the current codebase for each platform using the NPS ticketing system.

· Change Management to ensure that all updates to the app are documented for each minor or major release as well as their impacts to Privacy and Personally Identifiable Information.

· Packaging/Release Management to the Google and Apple stores.

Schedule for updates:

· Version upgrades – updates shall be tested against developer preview with app store deployment coinciding with public version release.

· Major bug or crash fixes – update applied immediately following fix.

· Minor fixes – updates applied on a monthly schedule as appropriate.

Deliverables

· Monthly Report

· The contractor shall work with the NPS App Manager to determine an appropriate level of detail for a monthly report to include at minimum:

· Summary of performance issues

· Summary of major bug or crash fixes and description of resolutions

· Monthly analytics

· Release summary

· Schedule: Monthly

· Delivered to: NPS App Manager

· Full Code Repository

· At the end of the period of performance, the contractor shall provide full code repositories, with history, for all required app platforms and any other common code repositories shared by the app.

· Milestone: End of Period of Performance

· Delivered to: NPS App Manager or designee

Task 2: Design/Development/Documentation This task will be labor hour totaling 5050 hours.

The NPS App Team maintains a list of new features and functionality to implement in the app through a phased approach. NPS will define the requirements for implementation of these new features with the expectation that the contractor will provide feedback as to best practices for user experience and technical implementation. These changes will range from small changes to existing features to full scale implementation of new features (e.g. implementation of Recreation.gov services). All tasks will be prioritized and managed by the NPS Mobile App Manager.

· User experience/interface design – The NPS will provide designs for most design work for the app. There will be instances where the contractor will need to provide minor changes. In addition, the contractor will be expected to review designs and provide feedback to ensure the user experience meets best practices for mobile apps.

· Development of new and enhancements to existing functionality – The NPS will execute tasks through a prioritized list for implementation in the app. These tasks will range from minor updates to existing design to major new functionality.

· Integration with third party services and data – The contractor shall work to integrate the app with third party services such as Recreation.gov or simple notification services.

· Integration of dynamic mapping functionality and mapping data services – Updates to mapping will be an ongoing requirement as more data becomes available for consumption.

· Testing and quality control – Any updates or new development to the app will need to undergo rigorous testing and quality control prior to release. Depending on the functionality and data contained in the release, the app may need to be reviewed by DHS CarWash.

· Updates to security documentation – in the event that new functionality changes the security boundary of the mobile app (e.g. integration of recreation.gov, simple notification server, personalization database), the contractor shall work with the NPS to update security documentation associated with the Authorization to Operate (ATO) to include System Security and Contingency Plans.

Deliverables

· Compiled code packages for both Google and Apple Platforms

· Milestone: Development task complete

· Schedule: As tasks are assigned estimates for each shall be provided (e.g. story points, or other methods) and mutually agreed upon. Any changes to estimates shall be communicated to the NPS App Manager.

· Delivered to: Notification to NPS App Manager

· Updated security documentation

· Milestone: Changes to security boundary

· Schedule: As tasks are assigned estimates for each shall be provided (e.g. story points, or other methods) and mutually agreed upon. Any changes to estimates shall be communicated to the NPS App Manager.

· Delivered to: NPS App Manager or designee

3. Deliverable formats

· Full code repositories, with history, for all required app platforms and any other common code repositories shared by the app.

· All final document deliverables shall be provided as PDF.

· Any flat file designs shall be delivered in PSD format.

4. General Information

4.1. Section 508 and Accessibility Requirements

All electronic and information technology (EIT) procured through this performance work statement must meet the applicable accessibility standards at 36 CFR 1194, unless an agency exception to this requirement exists. 36 CFR 1194 implements Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended in 1998, and is viewable at: http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm.

The Contractor also shall provide Level AA conformance to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C-WAI) WCAG 2.0, see: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/.

NPS will have final authority in determining whether Section 508 and WCAG 2.0 standards have been met. NPS may use Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) support to make this determination.

4.2. Tools

The contractor may use any NPS/DOI permitted tools required to perform tasks as listed in the PWS. In some instances, the contractor may be required to use specific tools such as NPS Bitbucket repository for the NPS Mobile App, Firebase for analytics, etc. The preferred tool for design work is Photoshop but as long as files can be delivered in PSD without losing functionality then that would be acceptable. NPS uses an internal installation of Mapbox/Atlas. The contractor will need to be able to pull data and map tiles from this source. The NPS uses Jira for managing support tickets for our digital products. The contractor will be required to use this system to manage work unless an approved alternate is identified.

4.3. Quality Control

The contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor’s quality control program is how he assures himself that his work complies with the requirement of the contract. The QCP should be delivered with the contractor’s proposal. After acceptance of the quality control plan the contractor shall receive the contracting officer’s acceptance in writing of any proposed change to his QC system.

4.4. Quality Assurance

The government shall evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan. This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

4.5. Performance Requirements Summary

The contractor service requirements are summarized into performance objectives that relate directly to mission essential items. The performance threshold briefly describes the minimum acceptable levels of service required for each requirement. These thresholds are critical to mission success.

4.6. Period of Performance

The period of performance shall be for one (1) year of 12 months. The Period of Performance reads as follows:

May 24, 2021 to May 23, 2022

4.7. Recognized Holidays

The contractor is or is not required to perform services on federal holidays.

Hours of Operation: The contractor is responsible for conducting business, between the hours of 8-5pm E,T Monday thru Friday except Federal holidays or when the Government facility is closed due to local or national emergencies, administrative closings, or similar Government directed facility closings. For other than firm fixed price contracts, the contractor will not be reimbursed when the government facility is closed for the above reasons. The Contractor must always maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons. When hiring personnel, the Contractor shall keep in mind that the stability and continuity of the workforce are essential.

4.8. Place of Performance

The work to be performed under this contract will be performed at the contractor facility.

4.9. Security Requirements

Successful completion/adjudication of a National Agency Check (NAC) or National Agency Check with written Inquiries (NACI) is required prior to beginning performance of this contract for all support personnel. In addition, the Contractor shall be required to comply with FAR 52.204-09, Personal Identity Verification of Contractor Personnel. The Contractor shall obtain the required Contractor identification badge and sign any releases and participate in any training required to use Government equipment and operate Government hardware and software. The Government retains the rights to all intellectual property produced during this contract. If violated, the Government reserves the right to require dismissal of the Contractor or take any appropriate action.

4.10. Physical Security

The contractor shall be responsible for safeguarding all government equipment, information and property provided for contractor use.

4.11. Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings

The Contractor agrees to attend any post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 42.5. The contracting officer, Contracting Officers Representative (COR), and other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the contractor's performance. At these meetings the contracting officer will apprise the contractor of how the government views the contractor's performance and the contractor will apprise the Government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues. These meetings shall be at no additional cost to the government.

4.12. Contracting Officer Representative (COR)

The (COR) will be identified by separate letter. The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration The COR is authorized to perform the following functions: assure that the Contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract: perform inspections necessary in connection with contract performance: maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract: issue written interpretations of technical requirements, including Government drawings, designs, specifications: monitor Contractor's performance and notifies both the Contracting Officer and Contractor of any deficiencies; coordinate availability of government furnished property, and provide site entry of Contractor personnel. A letter of designation issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, states the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially with regard to changes in cost or price, estimates or changes in delivery dates. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting order.

4.13. Key Personnel

Project Manager. The contractor must provide a project manager who is responsible for the performance of the work. The name of this person, and an alternate(s) who must act for the contractor when the manager is absent, must be designated in writing to the contracting officer.

The project manager or alternate must have full authority to act for the contractor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this contract. The project manager or alternate must be available during normal business hours to meet with government personnel (designated by the contracting officer) to discuss problem areas.

The project manager and alternate(s) must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English and have a minimum of five (5) years’ experience managing complex mobile and web software platforms using agile project management and development methodologies.

4.14. Special Qualifications

The Contractor shall provide team resources that will be required to demonstrate relevant technical experience with a minimum of five (5) years in the mobile arena using different and varied technologies.

· Experience building apps with native programming languages for iOS (Objective - C and Swift) and Android (C++ and Java)

· Experience publishing apps into the Apple and Google Play stores.

· Experience with web service integration (SOAP, REST, JSON, XML)

· Experience with HTML5, JavaScript, jQuery, and Ajax

· Experience pulling content from data sources such as APIs and geolocational services (e.g. Atlas/Mapbox)

· Experience optimizing apps for high performance and availability

· Knowledge of MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or similar database management system

· Knowledge of SQLite or similar mobile database alternatives

· Experience designing for mobile and mobile responsive platforms

· Experience optimizing the logic behind the offline or near-offline experience for mobile apps. This experience would apply to offline downloads with large data sets and varying connectivity scenarios (e.g. connected, disconnect, and intermittent)

· Experience pulling content from data sources such as cartographic databases, APIs and map tiles and styles from services such as Mapbox/Atlas.

· Experience reviewing proposed and existing designs and functionality to provide recommendations and feedback resulting in a cohesive and usable experience.

· Experience architecting a framework that facilitates a custom experience for individual entities with a consistent look and feel.

4.15. Identification of Contractor Employees

All contract personnel attending meetings, answering Government telephones, and working in other situations where their contractor status is not obvious to third parties are required to identify themselves as such to avoid creating an impression in the minds of members of the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by contractors are suitably marked as contractor products or that contractor participation is appropriately disclosed.

4.16. Contractor Travel

In accordance with P.L. 99-234, "Federal Civilian Employee and Contractor Travel Expense Act of 1985", travel-related expenditures for Contractor's personnel are restricted to the limits established for federal employees. This includes mileage for company-owned vehicles.

The Contractor shall travel as required to support program tasks. All travel arrangements are to be made by the Contractor. Payment for transportation, per diem, mileage, parking, and other fair and reasonable travel expenses will be paid in accordance with the effective Federal Travel Regulations as amended and supplemented by the Department of the Interior travel regulations where applicable. No Federal travel authorizations are to be issued. All travel expenses are to be submitted through the Contractor's invoice for reimbursement. The Contractor shall make every effort to keep travel costs to a minimum. No reimbursement will be made for parking at a Contractor's normal place of work.

4.17. Data Rights

The Government has unlimited rights to all documents/material produced under this contract. All documents and materials, to include the source codes of any software, produced under this contract shall be Government owned and are the property of the Government with all rights and privileges of ownership/copyright belonging exclusively to the Government. These documents and materials may not be used or sold by the contractor without written permission from the Contracting Officer. All materials supplied to the Government shall be the sole property of the Government and may not be used for any other purpose. This right does not abrogate any other Government rights.

4.18. Organizational Conflict of Interest

Contractor and subcontractor personnel performing work under this contract may receive, have access to or participate in the development of proprietary or source selection information (e.g., cost or pricing information, budget information or analyses, specifications or work statements, etc.) or perform evaluation services which may create a current or subsequent Organizational Conflict of Interests (OCI) as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5. The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer immediately whenever it becomes aware that such access or participation may result in any actual or potential OCI and shall promptly submit a plan to the Contracting Officer to avoid or mitigate any such OCI. The Contractor’s mitigation plan will be determined to be acceptable solely at the discretion of the Contracting Officer and in the event the Contracting Officer unilaterally determines that any such OCI cannot be satisfactorily avoided or mitigated, the Contracting Officer may affect other remedies as he or she deems necessary, including prohibiting the Contractor from participation in subsequent contracted requirements which may be affected by the OCI.

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