Attachment_1-_PWS.pdf

SOL: AG-32SB-S-16-0036 Attachment- 1 U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Data Modeling, Analytics, Visualization, and Integration Performance Work Statement

Purpose and Objectives The purpose of this acquisition is to provide the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) with a data analytics capability to integrate, analyze, model, and visualize data from a variety of internal and external sources. NIFA seeks to better understand relationships that exist (but may not be obvious) among projects and activities. Seeing and understanding these relationships will provide key insights to aid in program planning, development, reporting and portfolio assessment, which collectively enhance understanding of public sector science investments.

As a result of contract performance, the Government expects to achieve the following outcomes:

• Enterprise licensing of the proposed solution;

• Integration of relevant internal and external data sources for use in in analyses;

• Any hardware, equipment or appliance required in the provision of the solution is to be hosted at the NIFA Waterfront Centre location;

• Installation, maintenance and technical support of any NIFA-hosted equipment is provided by the contractor.

• Users of the service and any software utilized as part of service delivery are fully supported by the contractor.

Background NIFA achieves its mission, in part, by providing grants for research, education, and extension to universities and other partners. NIFA is often asked to prepare and present information on the activities that are funded by the agency. Increasingly, the questions being asked are going beyond the capabilities of internal data systems and traditional reporting tools. Often, questions center on data that is not explicitly gathered by the agency.

As NIFA looks beyond the limitations of internally-sourced data and a simplistic information reporting approach, there is an increasing desire for the ability to dynamically improve agency data science capability and uncover the knowledge within data to discover emerging/changing areas of research to guide our programs, inform agency management, facilitate operational improvements and measure the impacts of NIFA-funded activities.

Scope For the purposes of this performance work statement, the term data integration (or integration of data) shall refer to the process of combining data from a heterogeneous set of data stores to create one unified view of all that data in order to conduct analysis, et al, from a broad base of data sources.

U.S. Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture Performance Work Statement Data Modeling, Analytics, Visualization, and Integration

The terms data analytics solution (or simply, solution) shall refer to the means of providing a data analytics capability to integrate, analyze, model, and visualize data from a variety of internal and external sources.

The scope of work under this performance work statement shall include:

• Provision of enterprise access to a high-performance analytics engine or tool with the capability to integrate, analyze, model, and visualize data from a variety of internal and external sources;

• Enhancements of the proposed solution to meet evolving and emerging needs;

• Technical and end-user support and assistance for the solution;

Requirements

Data Analytics Solution The contractor shall provide a data analytics solution that meets the following requirements. Appendix C of this document includes a representative sample of use cases for the proposed solution.

• Enterprise Access: Ability for broad use across the agency without regard to number of individual users;

• Complete Solution: All hardware and software specifically required to enable use of the Data Analytics Solution at NIFA;

• User interface: Browser-based, interactive, graphical user interface that enables full use of features and functionality;

• Input and Output Flexibility: Ability to export comprehensive data and results by user-selected fields and relevance, including APIs to facilitate bulk import and export of data;

• Data Integration: The Data Analytics Solution shall integrate structured and unstructured data from a variety of internal (NIFA) data sources and external sources. Appendix D of this document presents a list of the current sources required; All NIFA users shall have unrestricted access to the data that is integrated as part of the solution; The solution shall have the ability to identify confidential and agency sensitive NIFA data as separate and distinct from NIFA publicly-available data.

• Ad Hoc (supplemental) Data Integration: Individual users shall have the ability to integrate supplemental datasets of any size or source to augment the data integrated as part of the Data Analytics Solution either via import facility or via import or API (application program interface), and retain that data for their use within the solution;

• Data visualization: Interactive visual representation of structured and unstructured data to reinforce human cognition;

• Data Analytics: The ability to analyze the data and find relationships within documents and collections of documents. The approach is not merely a search tool, but an analytical tool which models the data, determines topics or concepts and enhances search capability by utilizing concepts and their relationships;

• Ability to visualize the data temporally and spatially using a time series component;

• Geospatial display of data: Where data have geospatial references, have the ability to locate information on a geographic map, (e.g., a map of the US);

• Data Modeling: Statistical machine learning technique for modeling collections of documents to compute similarities among documents, determine topics or concepts, and mixtures of concepts within defined collections of text:

• Big data analytics: The process of examining large data sets containing a variety of data types to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, trends, preferences and other useful information;

• Data mining: Analytical techniques and tools that assist in the extraction of often previously unknown information, relationships, patterns, and trends from data sets;

• Semantic Search: Data search techniques where queries seek not only keywords, but aims to discover intent and contextual meanings of search terms to find most relevant results from structured and unstructured data;

• Contextual search: Data analytic techniques where queries seek information based on context in structured and unstructured data;

• Textual analytics: Processes and technologies that discover and communicate insights from text (unstructured data).

Enhancements to Data Analytics Solution The contractor shall make adaptive and/or perfective enhancements to the Data Analytics Solution as mutually agreed to by government and the contractor. All proposed changes must follow NIFA change control procedures, be communicated via the COR and/or Task Manager (TM) and have COR/TM approval prior to the initiation of any work. Prior to award, the government and the contractor will agree on a not-to-exceed cost for all enhancements for the base and each optional performance period.

Solution Support The contractor shall provide all services necessary to support the installation, maintenance and technical support of any hardware and software required to enable function of the solution. Hardware components shall be hosted at the NIFA Waterfront Centre location. The contractor shall maintain the solution in good working order and ensure that is compliant with any applicable federal cybersecurity requirements and directives. The contractor shall ensure that NIFA has full access to all system logs and can track data individually integrated to the data analytic solution.

End-User Support The contractor shall perform all services necessary to support all NIFA users of the high-performance data analytics service. Support shall include, but not necessarily be limited to:

• Answers to questions and technical or subject matter assistance in the employment of the high-performance data analytics service ;

• Assistance on problems or issues encountered during use of the high-performance data analytics service;

• Provisioning of any user credentials required for use of the high-performance data analytics service.

Deliverables

Deliverable Frequency Submit to Requirement reference

Data Analytics Solution At beginning of period of performance TM, COR Data Analytics Solution

Enhancements to Data Analytics Solution

As required by mutual agreement TM,COR Enhancements to Data

Analytics Solution Solution Support As required TM, COR Solution Support End-User Support As required TM, COR End-User Support

Type of Order The government anticipates award of a Firm Fixed price (FFP) contract.

Intellectual Property NIFA asserts ownership of all intellectual property first produced as a result of this work. Intellectual property includes, but is not limited to, data, computer source code, scripts, documents and spreadsheets produced, graphic representations, reports, and usage and configuration data. Data characterized as “internal” to NIFA may not be repurposed by the contractor in accordance with Government Furnished Information restrictions described in this performance work statement.

Government Furnished Information Technical data, reference material or computer software provided to the Contractor as Government-furnished information (GFI) under this contract will be subject to restrictions on use, modification, reproduction, release, performance, display, or further disclosure. GFI pertinent to the estimation or performance of specific tasks will be made available to the Contractor verbally, electronically, or in hardcopy, as necessary.

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

Any GFI made available to the Contractor for the performance of this contract shall be used solely for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without written authorization by the Contracting Officer. The Contractor shall be required to execute standard NIFA non-disclosure statements as required for any Contractor personnel who may have access to GFI in the course of their duties.

Period of Performance The base period of performance shall be for twelve months. Performance shall begin on a date mutually agreed to prior to award of this task order and run for one year. There shall be two (2) optional performance periods of twelve months each.

Place of Performance Work, consultation and meetings will principally take place at NIFA offices. Remote attendance for meetings and consultations will be mutually agreed upon as required. NIFA offices are principally located at:

National Institute of Food and Agriculture Waterfront Centre 800 9th Street, S.W.

Washington, DC 20024

Task Manager The Task Manager (TM) is:

TBD

The TM and the COR or other delegate will monitor all technical aspects of the contract. The COR will assists in contract administration. The TM 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 notify the Contracting Officer, COR and contractor of any deficiencies; coordinate availability of government furnished property, and provide site entry and badging of contractor personnel. The TM is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting order.

Contract Manager The contractor shall provide a contract manager who shall be responsible for the performance of the work. The name of this person and an alternate who shall act for the contractor when the manager is absent shall be designated in writing to the Contracting Officer. The contract manager or alternate shall have full authority to act for the contractor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this contract.

Quality Assurance The contractor shall ensure quality assurance in accordance with the approved Quality Control Plan (QCP) as applicable to the services performed in accordance with this PWS. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures specific to this requirement to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor’s quality assurance program is the means by which he assures himself that his work complies with the requirement of the task order. At a minimum, the contractor shall develop quality assurance procedures that address the areas identified in “Appendix B, Performance Requirements Summary.”

Quality Assurance Surveillance The government shall evaluate the contractor’s performance under this task order in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). The QASP 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). The QASP is presented in Appendix B of this document.

Government Remedies The contracting officer shall pursue remedies for the contractor’s failure to perform satisfactory services or failure to correct non-conforming services in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract.

IT Security Requirements The systems supported under this task are all classified Confidentiality=Low, Integrity=Low, Availability=Low.

The activities and reports required to perform tasks in this contract may contain unclassified “Sensitive Security Information” (SSI) that could act as a guide for hostile entities to cause harm to the Department’s critical infrastructure. USDA Departmental Regulation, 3440-2 “Control and Protection of “Sensitive Security Information” provides minimum protection requirements and guidance to be followed when handling SSI. Such information will not be divulged or made known in any manner to any person.

The contractor will immediately notify the COR upon discovery of any inadvertent disclosures of information. All information arising from this contract, both hard copy and electronic, will be returned to the government at the completion of this contract.

The contractor will not disclose sensitive or proprietary information of, or in the possession of, the United States Department of Agriculture or any of its operating units, contractors or business partners to unauthorized persons. The contractor will be subject to any and all penalties imposed by law for unlawful disclosure of Departmental information.

All contractor and sub-contractor personnel shall comply with the USDA established security policies and procedures. The contractor will be responsible for insuring that all contractor and sub-contractor personnel undergo security background checks and complete the specified USDA Security Awareness and Privacy training. System administrators and database administrators are subject to “Modified Background Investigations” for moderate risk personnel at the cost of the contractor.

The contractor shall comply with all requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Computer Security Act of 1987. Anyone handling sensitive or USDA Departmental priority applications or systems must be able to pass the equivalent of a Secret Security Level Background Check. Applicable personnel also includes: systems administrators, network administrators, database administrators, field security officers, and others who have the potential to adversely affect security of agency information.

The contractor shall:

1. Comply with all security requirements pertaining to the information resources they use;

2. Refrain from using trivial and obvious passwords;

3. Ensure that passwords are held in strict confidence and properly safeguarded from unauthorized access and use;

4. Employ available and approved safeguards to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data, applications, and information resources;

5. Comply with all licensed software agreements; and

6. Report any suspected security incidents observed to the Information Systems Security Officer, the

COR and their immediate supervisor.

Facility Security Requirements: Due to security requirements, pre-notification of all visitors to the NIFA Waterfront Centre facility is required. Anyone requiring access must notify the COR prior to arrival at this location. The notification must include the names of all visitors, who they are visiting, dates, times, and nature of visit. Visitors that have not notified the COR prior to their arrival on-site may be turned away at the entrance to the facility.

Section 508 Accessibility Standards Notice This contract is subject to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (the Act) of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) Electronic and Information Accessibility Provisions (36 CFR Part 1194).

Section 508 of the Act requires that, unless an exception applies, all communications products and services that require a contractor or consultant to produce content in any format that is specifically intended for publication on, or delivery via, a federally owned or federally funded website permit the following:

(1) Federal employees with disabilities to have access to and use information and data that is comparable to the access and use of information and data by federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities.

(2) Members of the public with disabilities seeking information or services from a federal agency to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use of information and data by members of the public who are not individuals with disabilities.

(Note: Information about Section 508 of the Act is available at http://www.section508.gov/. The complete text of Section 508 can be accessed at http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/provisions.htm.)

Accordingly, regardless of format, all web content or communications materials specifically produced for publication on, or delivery via, NIFA or USDA websites, including text, audio, or video, under this contract shall conform to applicable Section 508 accessibility standards. Remediation of any materials that do not comply with the applicable accessibility standards of 36 CFR Part 1194 as set forth herein shall be the responsibility of the Contractor.

The following Section 508 accessibility standards apply to the content or communications material identified in this SOW or PWS:

Software Applications and Operating Systems (1194.21)

Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications (1194.22)

Appendix A

Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

PURPOSE

The QASP is a Government developed and applied document used to make sure that systematic quality assurance methods are used in the administration of standards identified in the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, attachment 1. The intent is to ensure that the Contractor performs in accordance with the performance metrics set forth, that the Government receives the quality of products/services called for in the contract and that the Government only pays for the acceptable products/services received.

This Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) has been developed to evaluate contractor performance of the requirements set forth in the SOW. It is designed to provide an effective and systematic surveillance method of monitoring contractor performance for each the Quality Performance Requirements.

The Contractor, and not the Government, is responsible for management and quality control actions to meet the terms of the task order. The role of the government is to promote quality assurance to ensure Performance Requirements standards are achieved.

The Contractor is required to develop a Quality Control Plan (QCP) that describes its method for measuring quality and plan for meeting or exceeding the Performance Requirements Summary (PRS) standards. The QCP will be evaluated and approved by the Contracting Officer within 15 days of task order award and shall provide the measures needed to lead the contractor to success.

AUTHORITY

This QASP provides for the inspection and acceptance of products/services required in the task order.

Inspection and acceptance will be accomplished by the Contracting Officer or his duly authorized representative.

SCOPE

The QASP contains the basis for inspection and acceptance of all of the products/services required under this task order.

GOVERNMENT RESOURCES

The following definitions for Government resources are applicable to this plan:

Contracting Officer (CO) - A person duly appointed with the authority to enter into, administer or terminate contracts and make related determinations and findings on behalf of the Government.

NIFA Contracting Officer Representative (COR) – An individual acting as the authorized representative of the CO for the technical administration of the task order.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Government resources shall have responsibilities for the implementation of this QASP as follows:

Contracting Officer (CO) - The CO ensures performance of all necessary actions for the compliance with the terms of the task order and safeguards the interests of the United States in the contractual relationships. It is the CO that assures the Government receives impartial, fair and equitable treatment under this task order. The CO is ultimately responsible for the final determination of the adequacy of the Contractor’s performance.

NIFA COR - The COR provides detailed technical oversight of the Contractor’s performance. The COR will report to the CO as necessary in a timely, complete and impartial fashion to support the CO in the technical contract administration activities. While the COR may serve as a direct conduit to provide Government guidance and feedback to the Contractor on technical matters, he or she is not empowered to make any contractual commitments or to authorize any contractual changes on the Governments behalf. Any changes that the Contractor deems may affect contract, price, terms or conditions shall be referred to the CO for action.

METHODS OF QA SURVEILLANCE

The below listed methods of surveillance shall be used in the administration of this QASP.

Review – The Client will review each monthly activity summary report from the contractor to make sure work is within scope and agreed upon. The COR/Client POC shall also keep the results of all monthly activity summary reports on file.

Feedback – Feedback may be obtained either from surveys or from random customer complaints. To be considered valid, complaints must be set forth clearly and in writing the detailed nature of the complaint, must be signed and be forwarded to the CO and to the COR if warranted, The COR will maintain a summary log of all formally received complaints as well as a copy of each complaint in a documentation file. The COR shall also keep the results of all customer surveys on file and shall enter the summary results into the QASP/Surveillance Plan Checklist.

Periodic Inspection – Periodic inspection shall be conducted if and when specified in individual task orders. For the potential tasks that have been identified so far and included in this QASP, the appropriate COR typically performs the periodic inspection on a routine basis.

Performance Requirements Summary

Due Date/

Performance Objective

Method of Surveillance

Acceptable Quality Level Incentive/Disincentive

Data Analytics Solution

At beginning of period of performance

100% Review 100% on time and complete

Disincentive – Vendor task performance rating may be affected; other remedies within the contract terms may result.

Enhancements to Data Analytics and Integration

As required by mutual agreement

100% Review 100% on time and complete

Disincentive – Vendor task performance rating may be affected; other remedies within the contract terms may result.

Hardware and Software Support

As required 100% Review 90% on time and complete

Disincentive – Vendor task performance rating may be affected; other remedies within the contract terms may result.

End-User Support As required

Periodic review and customer complaints

90% on time and complete

Disincentive – Vendor task performance rating may be affected; other remedies within the contract terms may result.

Monthly Evaluation of Contractor’s Performance Contractor_______________________ Evaluation Period: _________

Contract #: _________ Task Order #:_________

Method of surveillance: ________________

The contractor shall be evaluated monthly using the following ratings:

3 = Excellent: Contractor exceeded performance requirements

2 = Satisfactory: Contractor met performance requirements.

1 = Unsatisfactory: Contractor did not meet all performance requirements.

1. Submittal of Deliverables – Contractor personnel’s work is timely.

Rating: 1 _____ 2 _____ 3 _____

2. Quality of Work of Deliverables – Contractor personnel’s work is complete and accurate.

Rating: 1 _____ 2 _____ 3 _____

3. Contractors’ adherence to security and Section 508 requirements as required in the task order.

Rating: 1 _____ 2 _____ 3 _____

Name of Evaluator: _________________________

Title of Evaluator: __________________________

Phone Number: __________________________

Signature: __________________________

Date: __________________________

ATTACHMENT B

Section 508 Product Accessibility Report Template Product Accessibility Template

Contact for more Information:__________ Date:________

Criteria Name of Product and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

Section 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems

Section 1194.22 Web-based internet information and applications

Section 1194.23 Telecommunications Products

Section 1194.24 Video and multi-media products

Section 1194.25 Self-contained Products

Section 1194.26 Desktop and Portable Computers

Section 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria

(a) When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually.

(b) Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer.

(c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that Assistive Technology can track focus and focus changes.

and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

(d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to Assistive Technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text.

(e) When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators, or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application's performance.

(f) Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input caret location, and text attributes.

(g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes.

(h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user.

(i) Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.

(j) When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided.

(k) Software shall not use flashing or blinking text, objects, or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.

(l) When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using Assistive Technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.

(a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content).

and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

(b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.

(c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.

(d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.

(e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.

(f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.

(g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.

(h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers.

(i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation

(j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.

(k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way.

The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.

(l) When pages use scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by Assistive Technology.

and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

(m) When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with §1194.21(a) through (l).

(n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using Assistive Technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.

(o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.

(p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.

(a) Telecommunications products or systems which provide a function allowing voice communication and which do not themselves provide a TTY functionality shall provide a standard non-acoustic connection point for TTYs. Microphones shall be capable of being turned on and off to allow the user to intermix speech with TTY use.

(b) Telecommunications products which include voice communication functionality shall support all commonly used cross-manufacturer non-proprietary standard TTY signal protocols.

(c) Voice mail, auto-attendant, and interactive voice response telecommunications systems shall be usable by TTY users with their TTYs.

(d) Voice mail, messaging, auto-attendant, and interactive voice response telecommunications systems that require a response from a user within a time interval, shall give an alert when the time interval is about to run out, and shall provide sufficient time for the user to indicate more time is required.

(e) Where provided, caller identification and similar telecommunications functions shall also be available for users of TTYs, and for users who cannot see displays.

and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

(f) For transmitted voice signals, telecommunications products shall provide a gain adjustable up to a minimum of 20 dB. For incremental volume control, at least one intermediate step of 12 dB of gain shall be provided.

(g) If the telecommunications product allows a user to adjust the receive volume, a function shall be provided to automatically reset the volume to the default level after every use.

(h) Where a telecommunications product delivers output by an audio transducer which is normally held up to the ear, a means for effective magnetic wireless coupling to hearing technologies shall be provided.

(i) Interference to hearing technologies (including hearing aids, cochlear implants, and assistive listening devices) shall be reduced to the lowest possible level that allows a user of hearing technologies to use the telecommunications product.

(j) Products that transmit or conduct information or communication, shall pass through cross-manufacturer, non-proprietary, industry-standard codes, translation protocols, formats or other information necessary to provide the information or communication in a usable format. Technologies which use encoding, signal compression, format transformation, or similar techniques shall not remove information needed for access or shall restore it upon delivery.

(k)(1) Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys shall comply with the following: Controls and Keys shall be tactilely discernible without activating the controls or keys.

(k)(2) Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys shall comply with the following: Controls and Keys shall be operable with one hand and shall not require tight grasping, pinching, twisting of the wrist. The force required to activate controls and keys shall be 5 lbs. (22.2N) maximum.

(k)(3) Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys shall comply with the following: If key repeat is supported, the delay before repeat shall be adjustable to at least 2 seconds. Key repeat rate shall be adjustable to 2 seconds per character.

and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

(k)(4) Products which have mechanically operated controls or keys shall comply with the following: The status of all locking or toggle controls or keys shall be visually discernible, and discernible either through touch or sound.

a) All analog television displays 13 inches and larger, and computer equipment that includes analog television receiver or display circuitry, shall be equipped with caption decoder circuitry which appropriately receives, decodes, and displays closed captions from broadcast, cable, videotape, and DVD signals. As soon as practicable, but not later than July 1, 2002, widescreen digital television (DTV) displays measuring at least 7.8 inches vertically, DTV sets with conventional displays measuring at least 13 inches vertically, and stand-alone DTV tuners, whether or not they are marketed with display screens, and computer equipment that includes DTV receiver or display circuitry, shall be equipped with caption decoder circuitry which appropriately receives, decodes, and displays closed captions from broadcast, cable, videotape, and DVD signals.

(b) Television tuners, including tuner cards for use in computers, shall be equipped with secondary audio program playback circuitry.

(c) All training and informational video and multimedia productions which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that contain speech or other audio information necessary for the comprehension of the content, shall be open or closed captioned.

(d) All training and informational video and multimedia productions which support the agency's mission, regardless of format, that contain visual information necessary for the comprehension of the content, shall be audio described.

(e) Display or presentation of alternate text presentation or audio descriptions shall be user-selectable unless permanent.

(a) Self-contained products shall be usable by people with disabilities without requiring an end-user to attach Assistive Technology to the product. Personal headsets for private listening are not Assistive Technology.

and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

(b) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.

(c) Where a product uses touch screens or contact-sensitive controls, an input method shall be provided that complies with §1194.23 (k) (1) through (4).

(d) When biometric forms of user identification or control are used, an alternative form of identification or activation, which does not require the user to possess particular biological characteristics, shall also be provided.

(e) When products provide auditory output, the audio signal shall be provided at a standard signal level through an industry standard connector that will allow for private listening. The product must provide the ability to interrupt, pause, and restart the audio at anytime.

(f) When products deliver voice output in a public area, incremental volume control shall be provided with output amplification up to a level of at least 65 dB. Where the ambient noise level of the environment is above 45 dB, a volume gain of at least 20 dB above the ambient level shall be user selectable. A function shall be provided to automatically reset the volume to the default level after every use.

(g) Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element.

(h) When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a range of color selections capable of producing a variety of contrast levels shall be provided.

(i) Products shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.

and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

(j) (1) Products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to be used in one location and which have operable controls shall comply with the following: The position of any operable control shall be determined with respect to a vertical plane, which is 48 inches in length, centered on the operable control, and at the maximum protrusion of the product within the 48 inch length on products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to be used in one location and which have operable controls.

(j)(2) Products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to be used in one location and which have operable controls shall comply with the following: Where any operable control is 10 inches or less behind the reference plane, the height shall be 54 inches maximum and 15 inches minimum above the floor.

(j)(3) Products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to comply with the following: Where any operable control is more than 10 inches and not more than 24 inches behind the reference plane, the height shall be 46 inches maximum and 15 inches minimum above the floor.

(j)(4) Products which are freestanding, non-portable, and intended to comply with the following: Operable controls shall not be more than 24 inches behind the reference plane.

(a) All mechanically operated controls and keys shall comply with §1194.23 (k) (1) through (4).

(b) If a product uses touch screens or touch-operated controls, an input method shall be provided that complies with §1194.23 (k) (1) through (4).

(c) When biometric forms of user identification or control are used, an alternative form of identification or activation, which does not require the user to possess particular biological characteristics, shall also be provided.

and Supporting

Features

Remarks and explanations

(d) Where provided, at least one of each type of expansion slots, ports and connectors shall comply with publicly available industry standards

(a) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user vision shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are blind or visually impaired shall be provided.

(b) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require visual acuity greater than 20/70 shall be provided in audio and enlarged print output working together or independently, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are visually impaired shall be provided.

(c) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user hearing shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people who are deaf or hard of hearing shall be provided

(d) Where audio information is important for the use of a product, at least one mode of operation and information retrieval shall be provided in an enhanced auditory fashion, or support for assistive hearing devices shall be provided.

(e) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require user speech shall be provided, or support for Assistive Technology used by people with disabilities shall be provided.

(f) At least one mode of operation and information retrieval that does not require fine motor control or simultaneous actions and that is operable with limited reach and strength shall be provided.

Appendix C

Data Analytics Solution Example Uses Following is a non-exhaustive list of ways in which NIFA staff intend to use the data analytics solution:

• Derive topics or concepts using state-of-the-art topic modeling techniques for various NIFA or external data.

• Find relationships among topics derived from NIFA (or other agency) project or grant data and visualize the projects on a topic map. Employ natural language processing techniques to model and analyze NIFA (and other agency) project data; determine the relevant topics or concepts contained throughout the collection; and visually display the projects in relation to one another.

• Obtain a view of and export specific project or grant information directly from a topic map and find similar projects or grants.

• Map Knowledge Areas (NIFA Taxonomy) codes associated with NIFA defined Portfolio’s such as Food Safety and Climate Change.

• Recognize, filter, and display subsets of data for example by such as Minority-Serving Institutions and EPSCOR Institutions.

• Upload data against a given data set and return projects which are most similar to this data and include the ability to perform sensitivity analysis and adjust this parameter.

• Associate and export publications data and patent data and data described in Appendix D in the context of, and associated with NIFA grants.

• Aggregate data from multiple grants into one “project” and summarize project goals and accomplishments

• Display overlap between grants that may duplicate one another.

• Expertise Identifier: Ability to upload structured or unstructured information and find similar or related projects and associated PDs and co-PDs with contact information.

Appendix D

Data Source Examples Data that is integrated under the Data Analytics Solution shall include structured and unstructured data that is internally sourced at NIFA or that is sourced elsewhere either from another government entity or from a private sector source.

Externally sourced data includes but is not necessarily limited to:

• News and Social Media Data

• USDA science agency award data outside NIFA (Forest Service, Agricultural Research Service)

• National Science Foundation Award Data

• Health and Human Services Award Data (NIH, FDA, CDC, ACF, AHRQ, NIDILRR)

• Environmental Protection Agency Award Data

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration Award Data

• Department of Defense Award Data

• US Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) Patents Data

• Provide for APIs to integrate new sources of data such as Web of Science, SCOPUS, altmetrics, etc

NIFA-sourced data includes but is not necessarily limited to:

• Data for ongoing and recently completed research and education grants in agriculture, food and nutrition, and forestry;

• Structured and unstructured grants data conducted or sponsored by USDA Research, Education, and Economics (REE) mission agencies, state agricultural experiment stations, land-grant universities, other cooperating state institutions, and participants in NIFA-administered grant programs;

• Data related to grant application, receipt, review, award, and post-award processing;

• Proposal data in pdf format;

• Request For Application (RFA) data in pdf format;

• Multistate research projects, managed by the regional associations of agricultural experiment station directors;

• Sustainable Agriculture Research and Extension projects, managed by regional associations.

• Integrated Pest Management Centers projects managed by regional centers.

• NIFA funded capacity and non-capacity data through the collection of plan of work and annual report