Attachment I.pdf

Statement of Work

Technical Services Support for Developing Updates of Community Resilience Guidance and Stakeholder Engagement

Background

NIST is conducting research to advance community resilience planning and assessment. NIST is addressing the role that buildings and infrastructure play in assuring the resilience of communities, how their performance affects community social functions and economic security, and how community resilience can better inform the design of the built environment.

In 2015 and 2020, NIST published the Community Resilience Planning Guide (CRPG) for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems and the CRPG Playbook, respectively. Companion guide briefs, templates, and other supplemental materials support these documents. NIST has partnered with communities to implement the CRPG and Playbook, including Anne Arundel, Charles, and Queen Anne’s Counties, Maryland; Fort Collins and Boulder County, Colorado; Nashua, New Hampshire; Southhampton Township, New Jersey; and with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Additionally, NIST has partnered with the Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning to support community resilience planning by collaboratively implementing the CRPG methodology using IN-CORE. The CRPG and Playbook are recommended as resources when communities and states apply for financial assistance to improve buildings and infrastructure systems from HUD and FEMA. NIST also led the development of an ASTM Standard Guide for Community Resilience Planning, based on the CRPG methodology.

NIST plans to develop updates to components of the CRPG, Playbook, and supporting materials to reflect the latest state of resilience planning practice, address lessons learned in CRPG and Playbook use and prior community and stakeholder feedback, and provide new technical guidance on topics that have emerged since the CRPG and Playbook were published. These updates will build on NIST’s CRPG and Playbook implementation experience, community and professional association stakeholder relationships, and prior stakeholder engagement and needs elicitation (conducted in 2021-2022).

Purpose

This task aims to provide technical services to support the evaluation of the CRPG and Playbook and develop an update plan.

Scope

The Contractor shall provide the technical, planning, communications, and stakeholder engagement support services described in Section 4: Requirements. This is a firm fixed price task order requirement.

https://www.nist.gov/community-resilience/planning-guide http://resilience.colostate.edu/index.shtml http://resilience.colostate.edu/in_core/ https://store.astm.org/e3350-22.html

Requirements

The Contractor shall provide all labor, materials, equipment, project oversight, administration, and technical execution of this task order. The Contractor is responsible for maintaining accurate records of project activities.

The Contractor shall provide the services described below in Tasks 1-3, and, if exercised, Optional Tasks 4-5 in Section 5 of this document.

1. Project Planning and Reporting

1.1. The Contractor shall develop and maintain a Project Work Plan. The NIST Contracting Officer’s

Representative (COR) will approve the Project Work Plan or provide comments for revision within seven calendar days of receipt. The Project Work Plan shall be revised as needed, but not more often than monthly throughout the period of performance, to accommodate changing priorities and work requirements. Updates to the plan shall be scheduled as mutually agreed upon between NIST and the Contractor.

1.2. The Contractor shall also provide a monthly progress update report with a summary of work completed and submitted by the 7th calendar day of the following month. Monthly progress reports covering a billing period shall be submitted at least seven calendar days prior to any invoice. Monthly progress reports shall be submitted to the NIST COR and TPOC.

2. Plan for CRPG Updates

The Contractor shall conduct a comprehensive review and assessment of the existing portfolio of NIST Community Resilience Planning Guide Products (e.g., CRPG Volumes 1 and 2, Playbook, Guide Briefs, templates), engage stakeholders, and review published community resilience planning documents in the U.S. to develop a two-year plan for the next version of the NIST CRPG portfolio of products.

Updates to the CRPG portfolio should address (1) an increase of accessibility for small- to mid-sized U.S. communities to enable independent use of the materials, and obtaining the necessary information, data, and models needed to implement the planning methodology in the CRPG, (2) an overview of IN-CORE for community modeling to support decision making, and (3) an overview of other federally provided resilience planning guidance or methods (e.g., NOAA’s Steps to Resilience) and how they can be referenced in the CRPG materials. These accessibility improvements could include redesigned content, new formats, training or instructional content, or other guidance or data products that increase the accessibility and use of the CRPG.

The following tasks shall be conducted in collaboration with NIST:

2.1. Assessment of Existing Community Resilience Methods, Practices & Implementation

Lessons

2.1.1. The Contractor shall perform a literature review and state-of-practice review (including review of grey literature, resilience plans) of community-scale resilience planning performed by US communities in the last 5-7 years. This review should include resilience plans from up to 20 communities and emphasize small- to mid-sized US communities. The literature and resilience plans should comprehensively represent U.S. regions, hazards, and community sizes. State resilience plans should also be included where appropriate and informative to the CRPG materials. This should consist of identifying and analyzing publicly available resilience plans, selected in collaboration with NIST, to assess the current state of resilience planning practice.

This review will focus on: (1) documenting current resilience planning methods and the associated technical requirements, (2) the format, level of technical content, and supplemental content presented in identified plans, (3) describing the types of required data for the community (e.g., demographic, economic), built environment, and hazards, and (4) any assessment methods or modeling (e.g., exposure or vulnerability assessments, dependencies, physical damage modeling, catastrophe modeling, recovery modeling).

The Contractor shall provide a list of resilience planning practice and literature review topics and resilience plans for NIST’s review and incorporate those comments.

2.1.2. The Contractor shall develop and employ an assessment methodology to synthesize the findings from the literature and state-of-practice review and present the findings in a manner that identifies how other plans align with and/or go beyond the CRPG methodology.

The Contractor shall provide the draft assessment methodology to NIST for review and incorporate feedback in the final method used in the assessment.

2.1.3. The Contractor shall provide the results of the literature review, state of practice review, and the assessment comparing review findings to the CRPG methodology in a draft summary report for NIST’s review. The Contractor shall address NIST’s feedback and provide a revised summary report.

2.2. Stakeholder Outreach Findings

2.2.1. The Contractor shall identify a set of at least 10-15 stakeholder organizations that provide community resilience planning guidance documents (local to regional level) or have supported its implementation in the past 5 years (e.g., municipal or state governments, engineering or planning consulting firms, professional associations)1The stakeholders list should be informed by the literature and state-of-practice review conducted in task 2.1, 1 Examples: American Planning Association, International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), Pew Charitable Trusts State Resilience Planning Group, state resilience offices.

prior NIST Community Resilience Program community engagements, or other known implementations of the CRPG/Playbook or IN-CORE.

The Contractor shall submit the draft list of stakeholder organizations and contacts to NIST for review and feedback. The final set of stakeholders will be selected and prioritized in consultation with NIST.

2.2.2. The Contractor shall engage the selected stakeholder organizations to update the literature and state of practice review findings and receive feedback on proposed CRPG/Playbook updates.

The Contractor shall provide NIST with draft topics to be discussed with the stakeholder organizations for review and feedback.

2.2.3. The Contractor shall update the summary report prepared in task 2.1.3 with the results of the stakeholder engagements for NIST’s review. The Contractor shall address NIST’s feedback and provide a revised summary report.

2.3. Two-Year Plan for CRPG updates

The Contractor shall develop a two-year plan for CRPG updates that addresses the following sub-tasks. The Contractor shall deliver a draft plan for NIST’s review, address NIST’s feedback, and provide a revised plan.

2.3.1. Building on the practices and assessment results in task 2.1 and responding to the stakeholder engagement feedback in task 2.2, the Contractor shall identify technical communication standards and practices for improving content communication (document layout, graphics, videos, interactive features, etc.) of the CRPG, Playbook, and supplemental materials. These technical communication standards should conform to NIST public communication requirements.

The Contractor shall provide a draft set of technical communication standards for NIST review and feedback.

2.3.2. The Contractor shall incorporate the findings of task 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3.1 to draft a CRPG update development plan recommending options for NIST to consider implementing over a 2-year timeframe. The recommendations will address, at minimum, format and content updates to existing CRPG publications, engagement with external stakeholders in developing and reviewing new content, and recommendations for dissemination and outreach following the 2-year timeframe.

The plan should include options for updates for the following, but may include other topics identified by the Contractor:

• Updates to CRPG Volume 1 and the Playbook

• Updates to CRPG Volume 2

• Updates to CRPG Guide Briefs

• Updates or development of new templates, including, if needed, the development of interactive features or content

• Development of training or other instructional content

• Development of other supplemental or topical content

The Contractor shall provide a draft plan outline and draft plan to NIST for review and feedback. The Contractor shall incorporate NIST feedback and submit a final plan.

Optional Requirements

The following requirements are optional. Award of the optional task is at the discretion of the Government in accordance with FAR 52.217-7: Option for Increased Quantity – Separately Priced Line Item. The optional task may be exercised at the time of award in accordance with FAR 52.217-4, or at any time throughout the base period of performance of the task order. However, the optional task shall be completed prior to the end of the base period of performance.

3. Develop New Success Stories of CRPG and Playbook Implementation

The Contractor shall draft and edit up to three (3) success stories on the adoption or use of the NIST CRPG/Playbook or other products related to NIST CR Program product use (including IN-CORE). The success stories shall be selected in consultation with NIST. See the Success Stories on the NIST CRPG website for examples.

3.1. The Contractor shall provide draft success stories for NIST review and provide final drafts incorporating NIST feedback.

4. Develop Playbook Implementation Templates

The Contractor shall draft up to three (3) templates identified by NIST for community use to implement the NIST Community Resilience CRPG and Playbook steps. The templates will be informed by the results of tasks 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3. See NIST’s Community Resilience Planning Guide Playbook Templates & Additional Resources website for examples of previously published templates.

4.1. The Contractor shall provide draft templates for NIST review and provide final drafts incorporating NIST feedback.

https://www.nist.gov/community-resilience/planning-guide/community-resilience-success-stories

Deliverables

Deliverable Tasks Description Quantity/Media Deliverable Due Date

1 1.1 Develop a project work plan One (1), MS Word

Not more than 14 calendar days after task order award

2 1.2 Monthly progress update report

Twelve (12), MS Word

A. By the 7th calendar day following each month.

B. Seven (7) calendar days in advance of any invoice.

3 2.1.1 State of resilience planning practice literature review topics & plan listing

Revised literature review topics and plan listing incorporating NIST feedback.

One (1), MS Word

Not more than 30 calendar days after task order award

Not more than 7 calendar days after receiving NIST feedback.

4 2.1.2 State of resilience planning practice draft assessment methodology

One (1), MS Word

Not more than 30 calendar days after task order award

5 2.1.3 State of resilience planning practice literature review, state of practice review, and assessment results summary report draft

Revised summary report incorporating NIST feedback.

One (1), MS Word

Not more than 90 calendar days after task order award.

Not more than 14 calendar days after receiving NIST feedback.

6 2.2.1 Draft list of stakeholder organizations and contacts

One (1), MS Word

Not more than 60 calendar days after task order award

7 2.2.2 Draft list of stakeholder discussion topics

Not more than 60

8 2.2.3 Draft revision of summary report with results of stakeholder engagements

Not more than 120

Revised final summary report with the results from the activities of tasks 2.1 and 2.2, incorporating NIST feedback

Not more than 14 calendar days after receiving NIST feedback.

9 2.3.1 Draft technical communication standards and practices

One (1), MS Word

Not more than 150

10 2.3.2 Draft CRPG update development plan outline

Draft CRPG update development plan

Revised final CRPG update development plan incorporating NIST feedback.

Not more than 180 calendar days after task order award

Not more than 240 calendar days after task order award

Not more than 30 calendar days after receiving NIST feedback.

11 Optional Task 3.1

Draft success stories Up to three (3), MS Word

Not more than 45 calendar days after the option is exercised.

12 Optional Task 4.1

Draft Playbook implementation templates

Up to three (3), MS Word

Not more than 45 calendar days after the option is exercised.

All deliverables shall be provided to the COR and to the NIST Technical Point of Contact. All materials shall be submitted to NIST via electronic submission. The COR and TPOC will provide comments on any given deliverable within 14 calendar days after receipt. The Contractor shall revise and resubmit deliverable(s) in accordance with COR and TPOC comments within 14 calendar days after receipt, unless another timeframe is agreed upon with the COR in writing. Revisions shall be made at no additional cost to the Government. The COR will provide written notice when deliverables are accepted.

Government-Furnished Property, Material, Equipment, or Information (GFP, GFM, GFE, or GFI)

The NIST Community Resilience Planning Guide, Playbook, and supplemental materials are publicly available on NIST’s Community Resilience Planning Guide website.

No government furnished property, material, or equipment will be provided. The Contractor will not have access to NIST IT Systems.

Key Personnel

The Contractor is responsible for providing appropriate staff to support the task order requirements. As part of this, one Contractor Key Personnel is required as detailed below and shall meet the minimum qualifications listed for the required key personnel position.

One (1) Structural Engineer Level III Minimum Education:

Master’s or PhD degree from an accredited college or university in Engineering, Science, Mathematics, or other related field. Minimum/General Experience: 10 years, of which 7 years are specialized in the specific field. Applies technical knowledge and judgment in a scientific or other technical field in relevant engineering principles and practices as required for technically complex assignments. Develops solutions to difficult problems. Generates concepts as evidenced by product or process improvement. Uses engineering/scientific tools to integrate requirements and solve technical problems. Utilizes tools, techniques, processes, and/or facilities, such as state-of-the-art simulation environments, laboratories, and test facilities. Contributes to the technical planning process.

Travel

No travel is required to fulfill the requirements of this task order requirement.

Invoicing

Invoices shall be submitted no later than 60 calendar days after the associated labor has been completed.

Invoices shall be submitted no earlier than seven calendar days after the monthly progress reports have been submitted to NIST for the same billing period.

Place of Performance

The place of performance shall be at the Contractor’s facility or remote work site.

Period of Performance

The period of performance shall be September 1, 2025 through March 1, 2027. Optional tasks may be exercised at the time of award or at any time throughout the base period of performance.

Risk Levels

The work to be performed under this contract is Non-IT Low Risk.