Attachment 39a -Transition Plan Framework.docx

Transition Plan Framework The USPTO is making this Transition Plan Framework available to advance understanding of the Patent Data and Document Management (PD&DM) Contract Transition Requirement. The information contained within this document and attached Transition Plan Framework Schedule is only general guidance. It’s intended to give contractors general information and a general understanding of the transition requirement. Accordingly, contractors are expected to provide a level of detail beyond that contained within the Transition Plan Framework. General statements such as the Offeror understands, the Offeror can or will comply with the requirements, standard procedures will be used, well known techniques will be used, or paraphrasing the Transition Plan Framework in whole or part will not satisfy this requirement.

The purpose of a Transition Plan Framework is to layout, in general terms, the tasks and activities that must take place to effectively and efficiently transfer duties/responsibilities from the expiring Patent Data Capture (PaDaCap) Contract. This Transition Plan Framework advocates the importance of coordination and cooperation among transition stakeholders: new Contractor, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the predecessor (incumbent) Contractor. This is achieved by (1) defining expectations, (2) describing transition roles and responsibilities, (3) providing guidance on transition processes and procedures, and (4) recommending a sequence of transition events from the USPTO’s perspective. This framework provides a means to manage a successful PD&DM Contract transition by describing the essential activities to prepare for, execute, and track transition. Throughout this Transition Plan Framework, all references to Contractor shall refer to the awardee of this re-competition, the new Contractor, transitioning into performance under the contract. For the purposes of this document the predecessor Contractor refers to the Contractor responsible for transitioning out.

Offerors shall provide a Transition Plan in accordance with the framework outlined below and in accordance with the requirements set forth in the Request for Proposals (RFP) and Statement of Work (SOW).

As a part of the response to the RFP, each offeror shall provide a Transition Plan that addresses all of the items described in this Transition Plan Framework. The Transition Plan should demonstrate that the Offeror fully understands the requirements described in the SOW and the steps necessary to ensure the continuous flow of operations from the predecessor Contractor to the new Contractor while maintaining the deadlines and quality requirements described in the SOW. Any Transition Plan that fails to fully and adequately address all areas of the Transition Plan Framework may be viewed as an indication that the Offeror does not have a full understanding of the requirements set forth in the SOW.

Due to the mission critical nature of the requirements performed under this contract, the USPTO will continuously and comprehensively evaluate the work product produced by the Contactor during the transition period. Additionally, due to limitations of USPTO systems and the sequential and batch nature of the deliverables produced under this contract, the USPTO cannot accept partial deliverables from multiple Contractors. Therefore, work products produced by the Contractor will not be placed into USPTO systems or disseminated to the public until such time the USPTO is confident of the Contractor’s ability to meet and maintain all work timelines and quality standards. Failure of the Contractor to achieve and maintain these levels of production and quality within a reasonable time period may result in termination of the contract.

EXPECTATIONS

The Contractor and predecessor Contractor must be keenly aware of the Transition Schedule. The USPTO is committed to supporting the Contractor and predecessor Contractor through transition; however, it is up to both Contractors to execute the transition before the current PaDaCap contract expires. The Contractor and predecessor Contractor must begin planning and transitioning early and have detailed plans, resources, and processes in place to execute transition as soon as the new PD&DM contract is awarded. All parties should expect there will not be an extension of the expiring PaDaCap contract and should plan to complete transition by February 01, 2023.

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

a) Contracting Officer (CO): The CO is the only member authorized to obligate the agency’s funds. The CO, with advisement from Legal Counsel and Lead Transition Sponsor (LTS), will be responsible for approving the phase-in/phase-out plan. Furthermore, the CO is responsible for resolving any disputes that may arise from the transition plan and during the transition period.

b) Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR): An individual designated and authorized in writing by the CO to perform specific technical or administrative functions.

c) Lead Transition Sponsor (LTS): Patents will have an LTS and may designate other supporting Transition Sponsor (TSs). The TSs will serve as spokespersons for Patents during the transition period and are accountable for transition oversight. Additionally, TSs will be the primary interface and partner with the Contractor and predecessor Contractor Lead Transition Managers (LTMs).

d) Lead Transition Manager (LTM): The Contractor and predecessor Contractor shall each appoint, in writing, an LTM. The Contractor may also designate other supporting Transition Managers (TMs). The TMs shall: (1) lead the planning, management, and transition of services of their respective employer; (2) execute, track and report transition activities; and (3) escalate, when necessary, issues to the TSs and CO. Therefore, the TMs must have strong management, communications and interpersonal skills and be a recognized leader within their respective company.

GUIDANCE ON TRANSITION PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES

a) The Contractor shall be held to the required levels of service from contract award, including during the transition period.

b) The Contractor and predecessor Contractor shall ensure their transition plans include contingencies to mitigate potential issues and barriers to success.

c) The Contractor and predecessor Contractor shall employ sufficient numbers of properly trained resources in order to meet the identified transition goals.

d) Effective and consistent transition metrics should be established and agreed upon by all transition stakeholders.

RECOMMENDED SEQUENCE OF TRANSITION EVENTS

The USPTO expects the transition to follow the framework outlined below. In this framework, the Front End Processing (FEP), Pre-Grant Publication (PG Pub) and Post Allowance processes have separate transition periods as illustrated in the high-level schedule presented further below and in the Transition Plan Framework Schedule, Attachment 39 as provided in Section J. This calendar assumes an award for start-up to begin February 01, 2020. If necessary, the dates of the transition will be adjusted based on the actual award date of this contract.

The FEP process anticipates fourteen (14) months from start-up until full production by the Contractor. During the transition period, failure of the Contractor to achieve and maintain the levels of production as established in the transition calendar and/or failure to meet the quality and timeliness requirements defined in the SOW will result in termination of the contract.

The transition for FEP processing shall entail:

The PG Pub and Post Allowance processes (including Post Issuance Processing) anticipate nineteen (19) months from start-up until full production by the Contractor and then three (3) months of full production by both the predecessor Contractor and the Contractor. During the transition period, failure of the Contractor to achieve and maintain the levels of production as established in the transition calendar and/or failure to meet the quality and timeliness requirements defined in the SOW will result in termination of the contract.

The transition to the Contractor for PG Pub and Post Allowance processes (including Post Issuance Processing) shall entail:

· A start-up period;

· A period of dual performance, with the predecessor Contractor continuing full production while the Contractor performs incrementally increasing amounts of work, which will be inspected and evaluated for conformance to USPTO requirements in the SOW;

· A further period of dual performance in which both the predecessor Contractor and Contractor are performing at full production prior to the Contractor assuming full responsibility for work placed into production and disseminated to the public; and

· The transition period will end when the USPTO is confident in the Contractor’s ability to perform at full production and can place the Contractor’s work into production and the predecessor Contractor ceases production.

At a minimum, the start-up periods shall entail all activities necessary for the Contractor to obtain their Authority to Operate (ATO), acquisition of all space and equipment, and hiring and training of essential personnel and all other activities deemed necessary to be completed under the start-up period to facilitate successful performance.

It should be understood that with this framework the Contractor and the predecessor Contractor will be working simultaneously. The Contractor will gradually ramp up production until such time as both the Contractor and the predecessor Contractor are operating at one-hundred percent capacity. This approach insures there will be no gap in requirements, nor any reduction in workflow timeliness or the quality of work product provided to the USPTO.

Throughout the transition timeline, the Contractor’s work will be inspected and evaluated for conformance to the USPTO requirements in the SOW. Work products produced by the Contactor will only be placed into USPTO systems and disseminated to the public once the USPTO is confident of the Contractor’s ability to meet and maintain all work schedules and meet and maintain timeliness and quality standards. Failure of the Contractor to achieve and maintain applicable levels of production and quality will result in termination of the contract.

The predecessor Contractor will be fully dedicated to meeting one-hundred percent of the requirements of this SOW for approximately 24 months after the award of this contract. Given this fact, the Contractor shall demonstrate their ability to achieve one-hundred percent capacity and meet or exceed quality standards and work schedules and timeliness measures without relying on or leveraging the predecessor Contractor’s facilities, software, workflow systems, training programs, standard operating procedures, or staff.

The USPTO expects the Assessment and Authorization (A&A) process to take up to six (6) months. A&A must be completed prior to the Contractor receiving any exports of work from the USPTO. While the Contractor is working through the A&A process the USPTO expects the Contractor to be working towards successful completion of the Transition Plan in order to facilitate receipt of exports with live data from the USPTO once the A&A has been completed and an ATO has been achieved. If the Contractor fails to meet timelines and milestones established in the transition plan, the USPTO may terminate the contract.

Once the Contractor completes the A&A process, the USPTO will commence exporting live data to the Contractor for training purposes. Prior to the Contractor completing the A&A process, only limited test data will be made available to the Contractor due to system constraints and security and confidentially concerns. The Contractor must ensure the A&A process is given the highest priority and taken very seriously. The Contractor must demonstrate consistent progress toward completion of this process and that they are fully complying with and following the USPTO’s Cyber Security team’s instructions. Failure to make timely and satisfactory progress on the A&A process will result in termination of the contract.

Predecessor Contractor Responsibilities

Following award of this contract, the predecessor Contractor, according to the terms of their contract, shall develop a plan for dual processing, within sixty (60) days of notification of the award that will assure uninterrupted delivery of all products. The predecessor Contractor should work in good faith with the Contractor to minimize any negative impacts on patent pendency and patent quality to ensure a smooth transition to the Contractor. The Transition Plan shall be submitted as part of the RFP proposal.

The predecessor Contractor should provide sufficient experienced personnel during the start-up and transition period to ensure that the requirements called for by their contract are maintained at the required levels of proficiency.

Contractor Responsibilities

The Contractor should notify the USPTO of any concerns, potential problems or known issues, early in the start-up and transition phases, in order to mitigate barriers to success.

The Contractor shall have key personnel on board during the start-up phase and determine the nature and extent of start-up activities required by the Contract. The Contractor should partner with and negotiate in good faith with the predecessor Contractor to capture lessons learned, best practices, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure a seamless transition.

The Contractor shall develop a training program that will enable them to begin the period of dual performance, as described above, for each phase of work described in the SOW. This plan shall be submitted in response to the RFP.

As a part of the response to the RFP each Offeror shall provide a Transition Plan that includes consideration of the following:

· Contractor Team / Key Personnel

· Identify transition team, roles and responsibilities

· Identify POCs by phase of work: i.e., FEP, PG Pub, Post Allowance/Post Issuance

· Management points of contact

· IT personnel

· Cyber security personnel

· Accounting/Invoicing Points of Contact

· Timelines and milestones for achieving each

· Assessment and Authorization (A&A) Process

· IT security controls

· Privacy controls

· Timelines and milestones for achieving Authority To Operate (ATO)

· Facility

· Proposed location

· Acquisition strategy

· Considerations of work environment

· Build out plan

· Security considerations

· Explain how and when your organization will achieve the ability to process full contract volumes after award – to include potential facility location, outfitting in the necessary timeframe, and risk assessment strategy – without reliance on subleasing or otherwise obtaining the incumbent’s facilities

· Timelines and milestones for achieving each

· Systems and Equipment

· Security (physical and cyber)

· Compliance with USPTO specifications

· Requirements gathering and development of software and workflow tools to accomplish all tasks as outlined in the Statement of Work

· Beyond capture of text, provide specific discussions pertaining to the processing, capture and publication of complex work (i.e. tables, chemistry, math, DNA and drawings)

· Development of and documentation of all operating procedures as outlined in the SOW

· Acquisition and deployment of all required hardware and software

· Explain how your organization will acquire, configure, and implement patent specific automation to address FEP, PG Pub, Post Allowance/Issuance or a combination thereof without assuming control of the automation currently in place, and owned by, the incumbent PaDaCap contractor

· Explain how your organization will manage the simultaneous accreditation and implementation processes to mitigate transition risk

· Explain how your organization will develop the systems, processes, and domain expertise necessary to produce publication-ready tables, chemistry, math, DNA, and drawings

· Explain how your organization will identify, develop, and maintain SOPs for each step of the effort to include updating processes to reflect DCBs

· Explain how your organization will establish General Security, Data Security, Risk Mitigation, Human Security (background checks) and Facility Security in compliance with FISMA guidelines

· Timelines and milestones for achieving each

· Hiring Plan

· Number of employees to be hired, with descriptions of necessary skills and abilities

· Methods of hiring and recruiting

· Methods of screening employees for suitability in order to be granted access to USPTO systems

· Timelines and milestones for achieving each

· Explain how and when your organization will achieve the ability to process full contract volumes at required quality levels after award without retaining incumbent personnel

· Explain how you will train your workforce to include patent knowledge, USPTO technology and vendor workflow systems, USPTO publication business rules, and quality measures

· Training Plan

· Methods used and approach to obtaining knowledge of

· Patent knowledge, i.e. rules, regulations, procedures and guidelines as they relate to all the tasks described within the Statement of Work

· USPTO business rules specifically as they pertain to publication of patent documents

· USPTO systems, i.e. PALM; PRE-EXAM, DAV/eDRS, Patents End to End

· Software and workflow tools

· Methods for documentation of all of the above

· Methods for development of training for all of the above

· Methods for delivery of training for all of the above

· Methods for insuring training is successful for all of the above

· Timelines and milestones for achieving all of the above

· Continuity of Operations (COOP) Plan

· Method to ensure performance of USPTO mission essential functions

· Method to ensure backup and protection of data

· Plan to avoid or reduce disruptions to operations

· Measures in place to protect essential facilities, equipment, records, and other assets, in the event of a disruption

· Timelines and milestones for achieving all of the above

· Phase In of Work

· Contractor outline of concerns

· Identify any gaps in USPTO provided process and procedures

· Identify concerns with meeting production schedule (see attached spreadsheet)

USPTO Responsibilities After contract award, the USPTO will hold a post award kick-off meeting to ensure the Contractor understands the goals and objectives of the contract and the expectations of the USPTO during the start-up, testing, transition and full production periods.

During the post award kick-off meeting, the USPTO will provide the Contractor with a list of representatives to be included in email communications with the CORs based on the subject matter. All communications regarding work processes and instructions shall be in accordance as described above in the section entitled Roles and Responsibilities.

The USPTO will hold regularly scheduled meetings each week, or more frequently as required, to answer Contractor questions, receive status updates, address areas of concern, update milestones, etc. It is anticipated that separate meetings for each process area, FEP, PG Pub and Post Allowance will most likely be necessary, particularly early in the transition process.

Once the USPTO has approved the Transition Plan as submitted by the Contractor, the USPTO will monitor progress of all work towards meeting the milestones in the Transition Plan. If at any time the Contractor fails to meet the established milestones and quality measures the USPTO may terminate the contract.

Start-up and Transition Schedules The Transition Plan Framework Schedule, Attachment 39 as provided in Section J, includes the anticipated flow of work to the Contractor and the predecessor Contractor during the transition. The FEP, PG Pub and Post Allowance processes shall have separate transition periods as illustrated in the transition calendar located in the Transition Plan Framework Schedule. The Transition Plan Framework Schedule consists of the following:

Predecessor Contractor

· Projected annual and weekly volumes

· Contract transition start and end date

· Contract years

· Percent of work per CLIN Contractor

· Projected annual and weekly volumes

· Contract transition start and end date

· Start-up

· Contract years

· Percent of work per CLIN

High-level Schedule To aid in understanding the timeline in the attached spreadsheet, “PD&DM Transition Plan Framework Schedule” the following high-level schedule is provided.

Transition Period During the transition period, work produced by the Contractor will be evaluated against the criteria specified within the SOW and the criteria found in the Inspection and Acceptance section. Any deficiencies will be noted and reported to the Contractor. Failure to meet required production volumes and timeframes as specified in the attached PaDaCap Transition Plan Framework Schedule and detailed Transition Plan, as well as failure to meet quality measures may result in the termination of this contract.

Key Criteria for Evaluation of Work of Contractor during Transition

Each of the operational areas are listed below along with some of the key performance indicators that will be inspected and evaluated for conformance to USPTO requirements. These key indicators are provided for informational purposes only. Work produced by the contractor, will be evaluated against the criteria specified within the SOW and the criteria found in the Inspection and Acceptance section. The Contractor shall be expected to meet all quality and timeliness criteria as specified throughout the SOW. Any deficiencies will be noted and reported to the Contractor.

In addition to the specific inspection and acceptance requirements set forth for individual deliverables, the preliminary measure of acceptable quality for input data to the USPTO is the following:

· Load capability of images to the electronic file wrapper

· Capability to load the deliverables to USPTO systems

· Ability of the deliverable to produce the anticipated outputs and reports

· Compliance with acceptable style and formatting of the resulting output per the USPTO Technical References in Section J.

Failure to meet required production volumes and timeframes as specified in the detailed PD&DM Transition Plan Framework Schedule (see attached), as well as failure to meet the preliminary measures for acceptable quality identified above or the detailed quality measures and schedules described throughout the SOW may result in the termination of this contract. The Contractor will be expected to meet all quality and timeliness criteria as specified throughout the SOW. Failure to meet quality and timeliness criteria will be cause for rejecting a deliverable and in turn may lead to termination of this contract.

Front End Processing (FEP)

The following are some examples of errors an FEP inspection will reveal. These errors will be cause for rejection of the deliverable.

· Incorrect date – different in the official electronic file wrapper than on the original document

· Documents are erroneously combined (scanned together)

· Image quality that is less than the quality of the original

· Duplicate scans

· Document code is incorrect

· Document scanned into wrong application

· Document was indexed but not scanned

· Document was scanned but not indexed

· Incomplete scan (all pages not scanned)

· Document was scanned out-of-order

· Incorrect application number

PG Pub and Grant Red Book Inspections

The USPTO will inspect a sampling of each patent type in the PG Pub and Grant Red Book deliverables for accuracy in accordance with the SOW and the USPTO Technical References listed in Section J.

The error criteria applied for each randomly sampled deliverable for Red Book will be 10 errors per 100,000 characters.

PG Pub and Grant Red Book (XML)

In addition to the character count errors, XML tagging and markup will also be inspected.

The following are some examples of errors a Red Book XML tagging inspection will reveal. These errors are cause for rejection of the Red Book deliverable.

· There is empty classification-data-source in Classification-ipcr

· The main-classification has trailing zeros

· Too many unnecessary attributes in table entry

· Incorrect math tagging

· Missing US-claim-statements

· Tables were not wrapped in a p tag

· Hex value of Unicode not used

· Using “ol” which should be replaced by “ul”

· Sequence listing documents, all the format (spaces, line breaks) need to be preserved inside <s400>.

· There should not be any bullet characters in claim-text

The following are some examples of errors a Red Book inspection will reveal. These errors are cause for rejection of the deliverable. All criteria below is based on the PG Pub and Grant Data Entry manuals.

· Claims missing

· Claims numbered incorrectly

· Did not use latest complete specification (SPEC)

· Drawing not numbered correctly

· Incorrectly capturing Inventor Name(s)

· Incorrectly capturing Applicant Name(s)

· Incorrectly capturing Assignee Name(s)

· Missing or incorrectly captured Classification/CPC Data

· Missing data from the heading

· Missing tables

· Paragraphs numbered incorrectly

· Punctuation missing

· Scheme labels part of the text rather than part of the CWU.

· Incorrect use of Special Characters

· Symbols printed as numbers

PG Pub and Grant Yellow Book Inspections

The USPTO will inspect a sampling of each patent type in the PG Pub Yellow Book deliverables for accuracy and formatting in accordance with the USPTO Technical References listed in Section J and in accordance with generally accepted publishing guidelines.

The following are some examples of errors a Yellow Book inspection will reveal. These errors are cause for rejection of the deliverable. All criteria below is based on the PG Pub and Grant Data Entry manuals.

· Columns not balancing properly /extra spacing

· Bolding headers/references

· Claim numbers not printed bold face

· Claims missing

· Claims numbered incorrectly

· Did not use latest complete specification (SPEC)

· Drawing not numbered correctly

· Drawings, orientation incorrect

· Formatting within tables incorrect

· Illegible text

· Incorrect Font sizes

· Incorrectly capturing Inventor Name

· Missing or incorrectly captured Classification/CPC Data

· Missing data from the heading

· Incorrect formatting in Plant Patents

· Missing tables

· Paragraphs numbered incorrectly

· Punctuation missing

· Scheme labels part of the text rather than part of the CWU.

· Special Characters incorrect

· Symbols printed as numbers

· Table/CWU placement within Spec

· Text flow errors

· Titles are not italicized

Reports, Data Files, Notifications, Communications.

Reports and data files will be inspected for accuracy and completeness. The Contractor must demonstrate the ability to produce reports and data files in accordance with the production schedule listed in the SOW and the standards in the USPTO Technical References listed in Section J.

Failure to deliver deliverables, including delivery of reports, notifications, etc. in accordance with the SOW and the specifications and schedule identified in “Reports and Deliverables for Patent Data Capture”, Section J of the contract, will result in termination of the contract.

Timeliness of Deliverables All deliverables must be provided in accordance with the production schedule listed in the SOW and the Transition Plan Framework Schedule, Attachment 39 as provided in Section J.

Post Allowance/Post Issuance - Certificates of Correction (C of Cs)

The USPTO will inspect a sampling of the C of C Yellow Book deliverables for accuracy and formatting in accordance with the USPTO Technical References listed in Section J. The deliverables will also be inspected for run capability and their ability to attach to the previously issued patent.

The following are some examples of errors a C of C Yellow Book inspection will reveal. These errors are cause for rejection of the deliverable.

If C of C Yellow Book deliverables fail to meet the accuracy and formatting requirements in accordance with the USPTO Technical References listed in Section J the deliverable will be rejected and the contract may be terminated. Additionally, if the deliverables fail in their run capability and do not produce the anticipated outputs and reports and/or if they do not properly attach to the previously issued patent the deliverable will be rejected and the contract may be terminated.

All criteria below is based on the SOW and the C of C PaDaCap manual found in Section J.

· C of C will not load and run properly

· Margins not correctly set

· Text blurred or illegible

· Incorrect font

· Incorrect headers

· Column and line references incorrectly captured

· Poor quality of drawings

· Errors introduced into the Certificate by the Contractor

· Incorrect language for Supersedes and Vacates of earlier C of Cs

· Signature incorrect/of poor quality/missing image1.emf image2.emf