AG-2B46-S-16-0040__PWS_Attachment.pdf

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

Administrative Support Specialist

Revision 0

6/23/2016

Table of Contents

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Mission

1.2 Background

1.3 Scope

2 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

2.1 Non-Personal Services

2.2 Business Relations

2.3 Contract Administration and Management

2.4 Subcontract Management

2.5 Contractor Personnel, Disciplines, and Specialties

2.6 Location and Hours of Work

2.7 Travel / Temporary Duty (TDY)

2.8 Invoicing

2.9 Government Quality Assurance

3 PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

3.1 Administrative Services Support to NRCS State Offices

4 SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

4.1 Security and Safety

4.2 Government Furnished Property, Information, and/or Services

4.3 Applicable Directives

4.4 Restrictions against Disclosure

1. INTRODUCTION

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) requires Administrative Support Services for our Programs Section. The individual will be assisting professional staff with the implementation and management of USDA Farm Bill Programs. Primarily assisting with the conservation easement programs.

1.1 Mission

The NRCS is committed to “helping people help the land” – our mission is to provide America’s farmers and ranchers with financial and technical assistance to voluntarily put conservation on the ground, not only helping the environment but agricultural operations, too. For more information regarding the agency and its programs visit http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/.

1.2 Background

WV NRCS desires to complement existing professional staff by reducing the clerical task for staff. By employing this contractor WV NRCS staff will be able to assist more clients with technical aspects and not tie up professional staff assembling files, reviewing forms, application data, creating and maintaining spreadsheets, etc.

1.3 Scope

The contractor will assist WV NRCS Programs Staff with the assimilation of program documentation, development of correspondence, checking documents for accuracy, processing payments, maintaining spreadsheets, etc. Monitors and tracks commencement and expiration of agreements and prepares agreement modifications. Reviews contract obligating documents and assist in internal auditing of agreements. Work shall be completed in accordance with NRCS policies and procedures. The contractor will possess excellent skills in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Maps. This contract is expected to last a full year with an option for an extension of an additional full year.

2 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

This section describes the general requirements for this effort. The following sub-sections provide details of various considerations on this effort. The contractor is to provide candidates to fill one administrative support position.

2.1 Non-Personal Services

The Government shall neither supervise Contractor employees nor control the method by which the Contractor performs the required tasks. Under no circumstances shall the Government assign tasks to, or prepare work schedules for, individual Contractor employees. It shall be the responsibility of the Contractor to manage its employees and to guard against any actions that are of the nature of personal services, or give the perception of personal services. If the Contractor believes that any actions constitute, or are perceived to constitute personal services, it shall be the Contractor’s responsibility to notify the Contracting Officer (CO) immediately.

2.2 Business Relations

The Contractor shall successfully integrate and coordinate all activity needed to execute the requirement.

The Contractor shall manage the timeliness, completeness, and quality of problem identification. The Contractor shall provide corrective action plans, proposal submittals, timely identification of issues, and effective management of subcontractors. The Contractor shall seek to ensure customer satisfaction and professional and ethical behavior of all Contractor personnel.

2.3 Contract Administration and Management

The following subsections specify requirements for contract, management, and personnel administration.

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/

2.3.1 Contract Management

The Contractor shall establish clear organizational lines of authority and responsibility to ensure effective management of the resources assigned to performance of the contract. The Contractor must maintain continuity between the support operations at various locations within the NRCS and the Contractor’s corporate offices.

2.3.2 Contract Administration

The Contractor shall establish processes and assign appropriate resources to effectively administer the contract. The Contractor shall respond to Government requests for contractual actions in a timely fashion.

The Contractor shall have a single point of contact between the Government and Contractor personnel assigned to support contracts or task orders. The Contractor shall assign work effort and maintaining proper and accurate time keeping records of personnel assigned to work on the requirement.

2.3.3 Personnel Administration

The Contractor shall provide the following management and support as required. The Contractor shall provide for employees during designated Government non-work days or other periods where Government offices are closed due to weather or security conditions. The Contractor and NRCS must coordinate office closures due to weather, communication system failures, Government non-work days, etc. The Contractor shall maintain the currency of their employees by providing initial and refresher training as required to meet the PWS requirements. The Contractor shall make necessary travel arrangements for employees. The Contractor shall provide necessary infrastructure to support contract tasks.

The Contractor shall provide administrative support to employees in a timely fashion (e.g. time keeping, leave processing, pay, emergency needs).

2.4 Subcontract Management

The Contractor shall be responsible for any subcontract management necessary to integrate work performed on this requirement and shall be responsible and accountable for subcontractor performance on this requirement. The prime Contractor will manage work distribution to ensure there are no Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) considerations.

2.5 Contractor Personnel, Disciplines, and Specialties

The Contractor shall accomplish the assigned work by employing and utilizing qualified personnel with appropriate combinations of education, training, and experience. The Contractor shall match personnel skills to the work or task with a minimum of under/over employment of resources.

The Contractor’s minimum staff qualifications must be as follows:

1. Understanding of USDA-NRCS Conservation Easement Programs.

2. Possess basic accounting skills in order to review payment requests and other budget matters.

3. Possess excellent computer skills in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, outlook, Google Maps.

4. Ability to read and understand complex documents and provide concise summary reports of the subject.

5. Be able to create and manage large databases in Excel and be able to provide summary reports.

6. Have excellent communication skills with multiple partners.

2.6 Location and Hours of Work

Accomplishment of the results contained in this PWS requires work primarily at the NRCS State Office, 1550 Earl Core Road, Morgantown, WV 26508. Normal NRCS workdays are Monday through Friday except US Federal Holidays. NRCS employees typically work eight (8) hours per day, estimated 40 hours per week. Flextime workers start not earlier than 6:00 AM and not later than 9:00 AM. Core hours of work are from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM daily.

The Contractor shall be responsible for establishing their work hours under this contract, except when access to a Federal facility is required, in which case the Government may limit the Contractors access based availability of NRCS employees. However, Contractor employees in possession of a valid HPDS- 12 PIV-II Compliant Credential (e.g., LincPass) can work unaccompanied at government locations upon Government approval. See Section 4.1 for additional information.

Weather and security closures by their nature usually arise without advance notice. As such, the Government will notify the Contractor as soon as possible once any closures have been announced. At times the Contractor’s employees may need to work in excess of 40 hours per week to support surge requirements. The Contractor must ensure this contingency can be met.

2.7 Travel / Temporary Duty (TDY)

No travel is anticipated

2.8 Invoicing

Invoices shall be submitted each month for the previous months work. Invoices must be submitted electronically through the Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) system. In addition to the information required by FAR 32.905(b) each invoice must contain a breakdown of the total amount. Travel costs must be broken down by the individual traveler and documentation supporting the costs being invoiced must be attached and clearly indicate the traveler it is associated with. The remaining non-travel amount must be broken down into the individual labor category and rate identified in this contract and the quantity of hours expended. No other amounts shall be listed on an invoice.

Invoices shall be submitted every two weeks, as work proceeds and in accordance with paragraph (i) of clause 52.212-4. The Contractor shall submit with each invoice the information required by paragraph (g) of clause 52.212-4.

Invoices and supporting documentation shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer.

2.9 Government Quality Assurance

The CO (or representative) reserves the right to review all work products required under the contract for acceptability as needed. The Government shall notify the Contractor whenever revisions to reports/deliverables are required in order for the deliverables to be deemed acceptable.

3 PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

The contractor will provide an Administrative Support Specialist who can complete assignments on schedule in a professional manner. The assignments will be centered around the acquisition and management of Conservation Easements. WV NRCS currently has a portfolio of approximately 350 Conservation Easements. These easements are encumbered through the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP) Floodplain Easement Program (FPE) and Wetland Reserve Program (WRP). The Contractor will assist NRCS Program Staff with the management of these easements through the review of various reports and crafting correspondence that resolve challenges to the terms of the Conservation Easement Deed. The Contractor will assist in the review of applications, evaluation of applications, assembly of obligating documents and the acquisition of the easements. The Contractor will assemble paper and electronic files that ensure internal and external auditing requirements, assemble documents in the course of completing files for national office review and allow for the closing of the Conservation Easement Deed.

The period of performance for this contract will start upon the necessary signatures of both parties and will end 12 months from such signatures but not later than September 1, 2017

3.1 Administrative Services Support to NRCS State Offices

The specific performance objectives required include the following:

Performance Objectives/Tasks Performance Standards and Acceptable Quality Levels

3.1.1 The Contractor shall assist with the review of

application packages. Work requires contact with County Boards and other partners to assemble the complete file.

Compliant / requests are always compliant with federal law and applicable regulations.

Complete / all documentation required for the request is present 95% of the time.

Timely / performed within the timeframe required by policy 95% of the time.

3.1.2 The Contractor shall create and organize

spreadsheets to manage the number, type, location, etc of applications submitted for consideration.

Accurate / not more than 5 errors per file.

3.1.3 The Contractor shall assist in the management

of Internal Control documents

Accurate / 95% of data on each form is accurate.

Complete / each form is always complete with no missing information.

Timely / performed within the timeframe required by policy 95% of the time.

3.1.4 The contractor shall be accountable for timely

attendance at the NRCS State Office

Accurate to 95% of the work schedule.

3.1.5 Contractor shall resolve performance issues in

a timely manner once notified by NRCS.

Simple task at 1-2 days @ 95% successes rate Complex task at < 5 days@ 95% successes rate Personnel Changes at <4 weeks @ 80% successes rate

4 SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

This section describes the special requirements that apply to this contract. The following sub-sections provide additional detail for each requirement.

4.1 Security and Safety

FAR Subpart 4.13, Personal Identification Verification of Contractor Personnel, establishes the policy and use requirements for FAR Clause 52.204.9, Personal Identification Verification of Contractor Personnel, which is hereby incorporated into this order by reference. It requires Contractor compliance with Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance M-05-24, and Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS PUB) Number 201.

USDA policy implementing referred to in paragraph (a) of the clause is at USDA Department Manual 4620-002, USDA Departmental Regulation 4620-002. This policy applies to Contractor employees who require routine access to federally controlled facilities and information systems. All such Contractor employees must have been successfully identity proofed (FBI fingerprint check), and have a successfully adjudicated National Agency Check with (Written) Inquiries (NACI) or Office of Personnel Management (OPM)/National Security (NS) community background investigation to serve on the contract. USDA agencies may grant access to USDA information systems after successful adjudication of the FBI fingerprint check. Completion and successful adjudication of the final NACI results or OPM/NS BI are still required to continue work under this contract. If the fingerprint or background investigation result is unsatisfactory the Contractor employee shall be removed from the contract immediately and replaced immediately. Unless a Contractor employee already has successfully completed these requirements and the investigation is current, the employee will be required to complete an online version of the SF-85, Questionnaire for Non-sensitive Position, two FD-258, Fingerprint Charts (can be provided by the NRCS if the law enforcement agency does not have them), and other required forms. Contractor employees’ fingerprints shall be taken to a Federal, State, municipal, or local law enforcement agency. The Contractor is responsible for any cost of obtaining the fingerprints. The Government is responsible for the cost of the FBI finger print check and background investigation. The NRCS does not have any control over the timeliness of the background check or that it will be completed within the performance period of this contract, but it is estimated to be completed approximately 30 calendar days once the Contractor provides all of the required documentation and the NRCS submits it to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Fingerprint check results are estimated to be received within 10 calendar days once the Contractor provides all of the required documentation and the NRCS submits it to the OPM

Upon award of the contract, and once the NRCS has provided the Contractor with the required documentation and instructions, the Contractor must complete and submit the required documentation promptly.

4.2 Government Furnished Property, Information, and/or Services

The Government will make available the following:

1. Access to Government information systems, upon successful completion of the security requirements listed in Section 4.1.

2. Office space with access to phone, office supplies, scanner/copier

3. Contractor shall not remove any government equipment/property from the office.

4.3 Applicable Directives

The Contractor shall comply with all documents listed below as mandatory and referenced under paragraph 3.0, Performance Requirements. Compliance with documents listed as non-mandatory is at the Contractors' discretion.

Mandatory

- Title 440 Part 512 and 528

- Civil Rights Act of 1954

4.4 Restrictions against Disclosure

The Contractor agrees, in the performance of this contract, to keep all information contained in source documents or other media furnished by the Government in the strictest confidence. The Contractor also agrees not to publish or otherwise divulge such information in whole or in part, in any manner or form, nor to authorize or permit others to do so, taking such reasonable measures as are necessary to restrict access to such information while in the Contractor’s possession, to those employees needing such information to perform the work provided herein, i.e., on a "need to know" basis. The Contractor agrees to immediately notify the Contracting Officer, in writing, in the event that the Contractor determines or has reason to suspect a breach of this requirement.

The Contractor agrees not to disclose any information concerning work under this contract to any persons or individual unless prior written approval is obtained from the Contracting Officer. The Contractor agrees to insert the substance of this clause in any consultant agreement or subcontract hereunder.