Attachment 1 6913G621D300001 SOW.pdf

Mission Information Technology Support Services Contract Number 6913G621D300001

SECTION C – DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW)

MISSION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SERVICES (MITS)

C.1 BACKGROUND

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) established the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) in 1970 to serve as a Federal resource positioned to provide world-renowned, multidisciplinary, multimodal transportation expertise on behalf of the U.S. DOT’s operating administrations, the Office of the Secretary, and external organizations. The Volpe Center’s extensive cross-modal partnerships have led to innovative solutions that have advanced national and global/international transportation systems for the public good. As a leader in transportation systems, analysis, and innovation, the Volpe Center is flexible and responsive to the needs and strategic goals of the U.S. DOT and the priorities of the Secretary of Transportation.

The Volpe Center’s wide scope of capabilities include:

Safety and Security Assessments: Conducting assessments of safety programs across all modes and developing methods and models to measure the effectiveness of safety initiatives.

Applied Data Science: Using advanced data and image analysis, and visualization tools and methods, to help solve transportation challenges.

Human Factors Research and Design: Pioneering new relationships between humans and policies, processes, automation, and technologies, to improve transportation safety, security, and productivity with due concern for unintended consequences.

Economic and Policy Analysis: Leveraging multimodal policy, economic expertise, and understanding of U.S. DOT and the transportation industry to support policies that achieve U.S. DOT and sponsor goals.

Systems and Infrastructure Modernization and Optimization: Improving the safety and efficiency of vehicles, systems, and infrastructure on national and global transportation networks.

Engineering and Technology Deployment to Enhance Transportation: Performing engineering and safety analyses of air, surface, and marine systems and infrastructure to help prepare the nation for future transportation systems.

Impartial Investigations and Program Evaluations: Providing an objective federal perspective in assessing crashes, data, and research and program effectiveness to inform decision making and future actions.

Knowledge Transfer and Capacity Building to Maximize Impact: Scaling best practices to quickly address new topics and strengthening the capacity of the transportation workforce through education and training.

The U.S. DOT Volpe Center (located in Cambridge, Massachusetts) supplements its world-class Federal team with contractors and subject matter experts, forming a collaborative and vibrant culture of thought leadership and meaningful engagement in professional and technical expertise to anticipate and address emerging and future challenges.

C.2 SCOPE OF WORK

The objective of this contract is to provide Mission Information Technology Support Services (MITS) to a variety of Volpe Center projects that cut across all modes of transportation for DOT and non-DOT organizations, including other federal agencies, foreign, state, and local governments, and private organizations authorized by the Transportation Systems Center working capital fund (49 U.S.C. §328).

MITS will support the Volpe Center in fulfilling its mission as a federal partner by the Volpe Center quickly responding to sponsor needs and emerging transportation challenges as well as efficiently utilizing available high demand skills across the project portfolio.

The Contractor shall provide resouces, including skilled personnel, with capabilities and experience relating to existing technologies and methodologies that address current transportation systems issues as well as cutting edge technologies and methodologies that show promise in transforming the future of the transportation systems enterprise, including systems/analytics and cloud computing systems technology.

The Contractor will bring a knowledge of and experience in transportation systems and functions to the work requirement in the functional areas below outlined.

C.2.1 TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENTS AND MODERNIZATION

Contractor support in this functional area includes the application of theoretical and practical analysis techniques to the assessment of transportation and logistics-related technology and associated technology policy and/or institutional innovations. The Contractor support shall be required in the assessment of new information system development methodologies and tools, new technologies, Information Technology (IT) standards, and software and hardware for use in future system designs for a particular mode of transportation. Contract provided skills may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

C.2.1.A Information System Development Methodology Assessment

Contractor provided skills may be required for the identification, assessment, development, and implementation of new and improved approaches to information strategic planning, return-on-investment (ROI) analysis, and systems development and integration. New approaches are becoming available as a result of research and the availability of more powerful equipment, software, and group facilitation methods. Contractor shall provide support in assessment and evaluation of these new approaches and industry best practices represent an essential capability within this area.

C.2.1.B Technology Assessment

The Contractor shall provide the resources and skills to evaluate the emergence of new computer equipment and peripherals, enterprise communications systems, wireless data communications systems and services, new operating systems, applications software, and other technologies (e.g., electronic commerce, object technology, smart cards, wireless (WiFi) to include Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC)/Bluetooth/Global Position System (GPS)/Tire Pressure Monitoring System(TPMS)/Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP)/Software Defined Radio (SDR), access control and intrusion detection, embedded systems technology, vehicle networks (CAN/Local Interconnect Network (LIN)/Flexray/Autosar/Automotive Ethernet), virtual computing and cloud technologies) plus technologies such as those highlighted in Other Specialized Areas (below). These products are integral to the improvements in the transportation enterprise. As required, Contractor shall provide skills in the assessment and evaluation of new products and methods of technology application within the context of a particular transportation context (i.e., freight movements, security of GPS signals, etc.), including technology directions relevant to the Volpe Center’s projects.

The Contractor shall provide the skills to support technology insertion and enabling technologies, including automatic identification technology (AIT); radio frequency identification devices (RFID); smart cards; card readers/terminals; and integration and customized services (i.e., cameras, signal transmission media, monitors, displays and peripherals, access control technologies, light detection and ranging [LIDAR], radar, and acoustic data sensors, video recognition and image processing technologies, biometrics, and other data carrier and associated acquisition devices). Skills may also be required in analyzing, designing, and deploying virtualized server environments and analyzing and making recommendations for requirements for “cloud computing” as well as potential trade off analysis between these approaches. As require, Contractor shall provide skills relative to “big data analytics” tools and processing using dynamically scalable data server technology and/or services.

The Contractor shall support under this area also may be required for non-DOT programs, including technology programs at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) involving experimental aircraft, experimental pilot training, drones / unmanned vehicles, aircraft acoustics, innovative navigation, and space travel.

Examples of Technology Assessment areas that Contractor shall support include:

Information Distribution, Warehousing, and Distributed Databases

Projects at the Volpe Center increasingly deal with the storage and dissemination of large quantities of data at or across remote locations. Regardless of physical location of information, it is essential that organizations have full access to data. Database technology is approaching the capability of providing full database services over a dispersed heterogeneous network of computers. As this technology becomes available, its application to projects may be a high priority. Under this area, the Contractor shall provide technical supportto determine the concepts, applications, and methodologies for distributing information.

For information distribution and warehousing, the contract shall provide data management support, including assisting in requirements analysis; and design, development, installation, operation, and maintenance of data warehousing systems; decision support systems; and distributed databases. Technical services and database management support may be required in support of data collection, preparation, coding, transcription, entry, and processing. Data may be collected from a variety of sources, including interviews, documentation review, and electronic media.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Expert Systems

Projects at the Volpe Center increasingly utilize the application of AI as a means of meeting project requirements. Expert systems, voice recognition, semantic inference, virtual reality, and robotics capabilities are in increasing demand. Contractor support with these technologies is likely to help evaluate the feasibility of using AI approaches and robotic system applications (e.g., distribution, fault detection, crash avoidance, advanced vehicle control, and asset management).

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Electronic Map Data

The Volpe Center currently uses GIS to conduct a wide variety of transportation-related analyses at the local, regional, national, and worldwide levels. An increasing number of Volpe Center staff and projects are coming to rely on these technologies to support various aspects of the decision-making process. Contractor technical support may be needed to use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) GIS software to work with existing geospatial datasets, develop new geospatial datasets, and conduct complex geospatial analyses, resulting in cartographic, tabular, and statistical products. Customization of COTS GIS software may also be required for developing custom GIS desktop or web-based solutions. In addition, as required, customization to support electronic map data and systems that are increasingly being used not only to assist in navigation and delivery of traffic information but also as a convenient interface mechanism for sharing or delivering spatial reference data used to enhance transportation system operations and management through shared situational awareness of prevailing and predicted conditions.

Real-time Data Capture, Management, and Analysis

Increasingly, IT is being sought to enable dynamic transportation systems monitoring and management. If required, Contractor will provide support for the development of information systems and data environments for the collection, management, integration, and application of real-time transportation data or data sets to manage transportation operations under normal and adverse circumstances. The Contractor shall provide support for integration or fusion of disparate data from multiple sources as required to provide insightful situational awareness and computer-aided reasoning (based on faster than real- time modeling and simulation) and networked information communications capabilities to convey unified control information to travelers, operators, and traffic management and control devices moving within or intending to engage the transportation system.

C.2.1.C Standards Assessment

The Contractor shall developscalable, evolutionary systems in which the risk of obsolescence is minimized. This development approach requires the Contractor to assesst and adhere to a wide variety of standards, including, but not limited to, the digital interchange of text, image, audio, video, voice, and traditional data; general purpose multi-user operating systems; and digital communications along with open data, open software, and open platform principles and technologies. This approach may require Contractor support to interpret and apply existing and emerging standards, including analysis and documentation to support standards development.

C.2.1.D Methodology Application and Software Process Improvement

The Volpe Center shall require Contractor support in its efforts to improve the government’s awareness of and capability to apply particular information system development methodologies or to apply the guidelines or industry-wide standards such as the ISO-9000, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) or the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). Contractor skills shall be required for the preparation of project management plans and documents that follow designated methodologies or standards; the preparation of such documents as tailored process guidelines, risk management plans, and software process improvement plans; or working with Volpe Center software development projects toward achieving ISO, ITIL or CMMI compliance or compliance with internal Volpe Center process improvement initiatives.

C.2.2 SYSTEM ANALYSIS, DEVELOPMENT, DEPLOYMENT, FIELD SUPPORT,

AND ANALYTICAL RESEARCH ANALYSIS

Contractor shall provide support in this sub-area, in the definition and development of prototype concepts and in the definition, development, deployment, and field support of stand-alone and integrated systems and/or applications and will be executive information systems, decision support systems, safety management systems, analytical and logistics support systems, transaction processing systems, modeling and/or simulation systems, traffic and traveler information systems, or command and control systems, including motor vehicle safety and embedded electronic systems. Contractor shall provide capabilities to develop, maintain, and upgrade system components, COTS products, non-developmental items, and/or custom-developed components throughout the sequence of life cycle phases of IT development.

Contractor support shall be required for the planning, concept of operations development, systems engineering, integration, installation, and deployment of existing and proposed information systems. This support may be required for single stand-alone systems or multiple information systems in an integrated environment, including mobile data networks. This support may be applied within a large complex system development effort or across many such systems, including mobile computing and information networks.

This support may also cut across transportation modalities and involve COTS, non-developmental items, and/or custom-developed components. Integration may evolve over time during the migration from the existing systems infrastructure to the proposed systems architecture. Contractor support of systems analysis, development, deployment, field support and analytical research activities may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

C.2.2.A System Analysis and Planning

Contractor skill sets shall be required to support transportation IT system and application analysis and planning activities. These skill sets include the development of application architectures and analysis of system components and their inter-relationships. Typical activities in this area include, but are not limited to, analyzing current systems and operations; developing alternative system and software solutions (as well as existing commercially and/or Government available software/systems); developing high-level conceptual designs, and human-centered user interfaces;

assisting in requirements analysis; preparing project baseline analyses and advanced cyber-security protection; performing feasibility studies and cost benefit analyses; performing function point analysis; developing system implementation plans; preparing implementation risk/mitigation plans; and identifying applicable Government standards, policies, and guidelines.

When performed as an integral part of an existing task, Contractor support may be required to address sponsoring organizations’ specific business, economic, and/or institutional issues as these issues relate to the sponsors’ domain or specific transportation operation. In this area, Contractor support is needed to (1) assit in requirements analyses for the design, development, implementation, deployment, or maintenance of IT systems; (2) address economic and/or financial considerations associated with the design, development, implementation, deployment, or maintenance of an IT system; (3) conduct business case analyses and/or organizational productivity analyses associated with the IT system at hand; and (4) measure performance, effects, and results of IT systems. This support requires gathering, compiling, and analyzing data and applying an understanding of transportation operations and systems as well as stakeholder and end-user community needs and current operations. This Contractor support also requires expertise in transportation industry analysis as specifically applied to mission-related IT system design, development, implementation, deployment, and maintenance

C.2.2.B Proof of Concept (Design, Development, Test, and Evaluation)

Contractor skill sets shall be required for the planning, design, development, testing, and evaluation of innovative or prototype system concepts and/or Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) for transportation systems. The proof of concept area requires skill sets for support in requirements analysis, planning, design, development, test planning, test execution, and test evaluation to assess compliance with the functional, data, technical, and security requirements established within the conceptual system baselines. Activities in this area may include the definition of innovative IT and/or connected transportation requirements, technologies, and processes as well as building and testing innovative concept prototypes that explore the viability of implementing new tools, techniques, and processes. A concept development project may incorporate “cutting edge” technology insertions into new or existing IT, transportation system, and/or connected transportation functionality (e.g., new decision support tools, safety data analytics, vehicle data acquisition, and analysis tools) or it may evaluate significant technology changes or upgrades to sponsor legacy systems (e.g., introduction of mobile computing and communication technology platforms).

C.2.2.C Research and Requirements Analysis

Contractor skill sets shall be required for measuring the conformance of estimated system events and comparing them to actual events for purposes of determining how well systems are performing through research analysis. Support may involve detailed analysis of various data sets to measure conformance windows (e.g., time events or position events) in order to provide recommendations for improved decision making-related requirements or analysis reports.

Contractor skill sets shall be required for the definition of system and software functional requirements, data requirements, and other non-functional requirements (e.g., usability, performance, security, user interface, etc.) resulting from structured analysis, data modeling, entity relationships, functional decomposition, understanding information flows within the enterprise, business process analysis, organizational modeling, functional modeling and analysis, inventory of existing data stores, end user surveys, workshops, and other related concepts. Support may involve detailed analysis of complex and/or connected transportation systems. Requirements elaboration may be accomplished using traditional analysis methods or a rapid prototyping environment.

Requirements analysis activities may include functional, data, and technical integration activities.

For functional integration, skill sets may be required to perform an analysis of and define the requirements for compatible functional interfaces between or among the functions performed on separate systems or within major modules. For data integration, skill sets may include the ability to perform reconciliation of semantically and structurally inconsistent information and data element definitions across multiple systems or system modules. For technical integration, skill sets may be required to develop requirements for compatible logical and physical interfaces between systems or subsystems, including requirements for local and wide area network (LAN and WAN) systems, wireless data networks, storage area networks (SAN), virtualization and cloud services, and other cutting edge technologies.

Contractor skill sets shall be required to perform an analysis of and define the requirements for logical and physical system security needs, including security requirements for compliance with system Security Assessment and Authorization (SA&A), privacy protection, trustworthy system concepts, cooperative systems governance, disaster recovery, and continuity of operations plans.

C.2.2.D Design of Information Systems and Work Systems

Contractor skill sets shall be required for developing a description of the hardware, software, data, and systems configurations that satisfy functional and data requirements and other considerations, including cost constraints, available technologies, and associated price/performance realities.

Designs may address data structures, process modeling, process automation, user interfaces, security constraints, and compatible functional interfaces between or among the functions performed on separate systems or within major modules. Software, database, and hardware design specifications developed in accordance with applicable standards, Internet Engineering Task Force, or other accepted international, industry, and/or open standards, along with general workflow specifications, are examples of primary products of this activity. As with assisting in requirements analysis (see c. above), hardware/software system design may be accomplished across a variety of development methodologies and fixed and mobile platforms and technologies, including embedded vehicle systems.

Contractor skill sets shall be required for technical integration, including the ability to design compatible logical and physical interfaces between systems or subsystems, including the Internet, LAN and WAN networks, and cloud-based and embedded systems.

C.2.2.E System Engineering, Development, and Integration

Contractor skill sets shall be required for the development of new systems or for the integration of existing systems/components. Skills in this area require knowledge of different data types, database systems, data modeling, various coding languages, and a variety of user interface techniques (e.g., character mode, client-server windows, web-based pages, and mobile wireless devices) for software development and system integration as well as skill in using machine-generated coding methods and technology. System engineering and development activities may require the implementation of tools and techniques for component configuration management;

error correction; special system diagnostic support; performance improvement; Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL) for data loading; and capacity management. System integration activities may include technical integration functions. Skill sets for this function may include the ability to perform development of compatible logical and physical interfaces between systems or subsystems, including LAN and WAN as well as embedded and machine-to-machine systems.

System engineering, development and integration skills also may require experience with Internet, intranet, portal, and desktop-based information systems; mobile computing platforms;

embedded system; vehicle controller area network (CAN) bus; and voluminous and/or streaming databases. In this area, skill sets may be required for developing visual interfaces and dashboards;

publishing interactive web-based applications; developing stand-alone desktop applications;

developing applications for collecting, displaying, and storing data; and developing database driven programs as well as the associated skills needed for programming, managing, administering, and maintaining such applications. This may require support to develop user interfaces (UI), logos, overall site branding schemas, and style guides, along with connecting the UI to middleware and back-end system components. Skill sets related to the development of applications utilizing commonly used concepts, practices, and procedures related to mobile device and website usability and accessibility (Section 508) also may be needed.

C.2.2.F System Test and Evaluation

Contractorskills shall be required to perform unit-level, module-level, and system-level testing of functional software system components, system interfaces, and underlying database processes;

logical and physical interface tests for technical component integration; user acceptance testing;

functional safety assessments, including software safety assurance validation testing; and system security tests regarding IT, embedded vehicle systems, vehicle CAN bus networks, vehicle wireless connectivity, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), cyber-physical systems, and/or connected transportation systems. The test and evaluation area requires skill sets for test planning, test execution, and test evaluation to assess compliance with the functional, technical, usability, reliability, resilience, and security requirements established as baselines, process guidelines, and standards in the requirements and design phases (e.g., International Standards Organization (ISO), NIST, DOT, Department of Defense (DoD), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Object Management Group (OMG), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Volpe Center, and Section 508 accessibility). Testing activities may require performance in laboratory, prototype, and field operational settings and conditions, including but not limited to, vehicle test tracks and geographically dispersed connected transportation test beds.

Laboratory testing and evaluation may include technical device review using specialized chemical analysis firmware and instrumentation as well as standard review protocols established by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and other Government agencies.

C.2.2.G Documentation

Contractor skills shall be required to develop and maintain system documentation and/or models throughout all phases of the development process. Documentation requirements (e.g., paper, multimedia and/or interactive methods) may include, but are not limited to, CONOPS, requirements analysis, feasibility study/cost-benefit analysis, system/subsystem design specifications, system test and acceptance procedures, lab test procedures, user manuals, malfunction and warning indicators, system administrator-level or operator-level operations and maintenance manuals, configuration control procedures, training manuals, disaster recovery plans, Continuity of Operations Plans (COOP), help desk policies and procedures, and system operation policies and procedures.

C.2.2.H Software and Database Maintenance

Contractor skills shall be required to provide maintenance support for various software applications and databases, including large-scale, naturalistic driving and other traffic- and vehicle-related databases. Typical activities in this area may include, but are not limited to, systems analysis and programming in response to production/execution failures; management of change requests, testing authorized changes, and implementing changes made to the software;

design and implementation of modifications made in response to hardware/software technology upgrades, new operating procedures, operating system changes, or DOT/Volpe Center guidelines and/or directives; design and implementation of modifications and/or enhancements made in response to approved functional requirements; performance evaluations to determine potential areas of improvement; and maintenance and upgrades to system and user documentation.

C.2.2.I Configuration Management and Quality Assurance

Contractor skills shall be required to perform system and software configuration management and software product evaluation for quality assurance. The system/software configuration control support may need to provide accounting, audits, and tracking of all the products throughout the life cycle.

Typical activities in this area require Contractor skill sets that include, but are not limited to, providing a configuration identity scheme for each unique hardware/software project; tracking project-unique hardware/software configurations (e.g., computer files, electronic media, documents, software code); establishing and implementing configuration control procedures for access and tracking of change requests, implemented changes, and version control; preparing and maintaining records of the configuration status of items under configuration control; providing support for configuration audits; establishing and implementing procedures for packaging, storage, handling, and delivery of software products; establishing quality objectives in evaluating hardware/software configurations based on the context of the quality objectives established for each project; and preparing, maintaining, and providing quality assurance records for the life of the project where no standards have been prescribed.

C.2.2.J Site Installation

The physical installation of software, database, hardware, and communication infrastructure is critical to the success of information systems and networks. Skill sets may be required to support the installation of network capabilities (from installing network cables and equipment to network software configuration); installation of physical security components and site customization; and set up of hardware, software, and security components such as access control lists, networked cameras, and integrated intrusion detection systems.

Contractor skills shall be required to support the IT infrastructure of sponsoring organizations by specifying, configuring, installing, integrating, and testing all required components, computers, facilities, equipment, embedded control processing units (CPU), and systems; providing training;

and furnishing integrated logistics support, both for fixed locations and mobile platforms.

C.2.2.K System Deployment and Field Support

This area encompasses several activities that are needed to support system deployment and the orderly transfer of organizational responsibility once system operational capability has been established and accepted. Field measurement activities in the areas of transportation noise, air quality, dose response, and user statistics are also covered under this area. Activities in this area generally are targeted to transferring operations and information about the system to a variety of stakeholders to establish the operational status of the new system.

Contractor skill sets in this area shall be required to support end- user, operator, and administrator training (e.g., paper or multimedia); data collection, security, and storage; data conversion process development and implementation; communication of the operational status of the new system to personnel responsible for interfacing applications and systems; support for system SA&A; and support for the development of system disaster recovery plans and continuity of operations plans.

Contractor skill sets shall be required for the short-term management and operation of system facilities and users during start-up operations, initial system integration, and/or transitional periods. Configuration management, error correction, special system diagnostic support, performance improvement, and capacity management are examples of activities included in this area for which skill sets may be required. Specialized deployment plans, field support plans, field measurement plans, and safety and risk mitigation strategies are developed as part of the overall project plan. As part of various field measurement projects, contractor staff may be required to travel extensively to measurement sites in the continental US, Hawaii, Alaska, and international locations including Europe and Asia.

C.2.3 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURES AND FRAMEWORK

The Contractor shall provide support for the formulation, execution, and management of strategic and tactical plans supporting the definition of clear business goals and objectives, identifying risk factors and mitigation strategies, identifying and selecting appropriate IT architectures, developing operational concepts, and aligning the use of IT with departmental and/or agency strategic goals and architectures.

Such projects may require extensive, technology-supported collaboration among geographically dispersed participants. Typically, this work includes performing infrastructure scans, supporting outreach activities to sponsors and stakeholders, and developing an assessment of the market and other institutional forces that drive the organization’s mission and functions. Work also may require identification of information flows, systems, and business processes within an organization through specialized studies, reviews, and analyses. In addition, efforts may require assessment of effectiveness and suitability of systems (particularly of new and emerging systems) and knowledge and application of best practices and metrics for measuring system and process effectiveness. System framework activities may include, but are not necessarily limited to, support in the following areas:

C.2.3.A Strategic Planning

Strategic planning is an organization’s process of defining its strategy or direction and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people.

When performed as an integral part of an IT task, skills may be required to help sponsoring organizations address broad near-term (i.e., 1-5 years) and long-term (i.e., 5-10 years) issues and focus on critical functional goals and objectives.

C.2.3.B Information System Architectures

In the life cycle evolution of IT tasks, skills may be required to help organizations develop near-term (i.e., 1-5 years) and long-range (i.e., 5-10 years) business and technical architecture plans for IT investments that conform to business goals, transform the organization, and meet client acceptable risk levels. The plans are used for the analysis of existing systems and the implementation of future systems. These architectures provide a basis to develop and maintain systems, subsystems, and modules in a predictable manner. Such plans may address enterprise models, data architectures, application software architectures, hardware and network architectures, and systems technology architectures such as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reference models for guiding long-term system planning, development, technology insertion, and technology refresh as well the U.S. National Intelligent Transportation Systems Architecture and Standards, inclusive of the Connected Vehicle Reference Implementation Architecture.

C.2.3.C Organizational Integration

Contractor skill sets for this area shall include the ability to perform analysis, design, development, and implementation of organizational structural changes that encourage coordination and cooperation among multiple units to gain from technical or functional integration. Contractor skills shall be required to help organizations obtain maximum benefits from technologies and systems promoting information sharing. Skills also may include experience with workflow automation, Internet and intranet content management, and multimedia interactive training.

C.2.4 LAB FACILITY AND OPERATIONS SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide support for the realignment, operation and management of Volpe and/or sponsor IT assets, including, but not limited to, hardware support, computer operations support, and help desk support. Varying levels of coverage may be required, ranging from support during “traditional” work hours (7 a.m. to 5 p.m. five days per week) to continuous 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week (24x7) support. Support may be required to staff and manage help desk services for facility operations, systems, and individual software applications. Sub-areas may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following functions:

C.2.4.A System Operations and Administration

Contractor skill sets shall be required to support, operate, and maintain a sponsor’s IT assets.

Assets vary by sponsor organization and may include enterprise class and server-based systems in a clustered or distributed network, special purpose computer systems (e.g., vehicle data acquisition and system monitoring equipment; software assessment systems; embedded control systems; and/or position, navigation and timing systems), application development hardware/software platforms, and web/application servers. Typical activities in this area may require skill sets that include, but are not limited to, providing up to 24x7 operations support of the IT assets; providing support for operations during “operator-unattended” mode for operations that are not 24x7; installing and configuring new system platform acquisitions with the required operating system and application software and databases; coordinating networking, security, and application system issues with the respective technical staff contacts prior to connection to the sponsor’s network; training and cross-training technical support staff in the essentials of the various system configurations as well as their associated subsystems; testing and implementing new versions of host operating systems, system software, data patches, and security patches;

monitoring system performance through the use of innovative tools such as dashboards;

identifying system bottlenecks or abnormalities and offering suggestions for improving system performance; initiating remedial hardware/software maintenance action and initiating failure recovery procedures when failures occur or there are indications of impending failure; ensuring file integrity through the performance of daily/weekly/monthly back-up, fail-safe, and file recovery procedures based on Standard Operating Procedures; implementing physical and information security and safety procedures and revising the procedures when new policies are issued; making recommendations to enhance reliability and availability to end users and reduce operating costs; operating and maintaining peripheral subsystem equipment; maintaining logs and records; maintaining, managing, and controlling a data media library for the storage of essential file back-ups both at on-/off-site locations in accordance with the sponsor’s/the DOT’s policies;

administering procedures for establishing and terminating institutional system user accounts and associated privileges; establishing system/user authenticators and allocating systems resources;

performing daily monitoring of systems activity to ensure that the integrity of system's use is maintained in accordance with the sponsor’s/the DOT’s IT security policies and procedures; and establishing preventive maintenance schedules and ensuring that preventive maintenance schedules are met.

C.2.4.B Help Desk Support

Contractor skill sets shall be required to support, maintain, manage, and/or administer help desk facilities for local and remote end-users of facilities and/or systems managed for a sponsor.

Typical activities in this area may require skill sets that include, but are not limited to, operating and managing the performance of a full-featured help desk to handle calls about problems with computing resources, software applications, databases, and/or systems that require up to continual 24x7 support; establishing, using, or maintaining an automated database system for recording, tracking, and reporting problems and subsequent resolutions; providing status reports on help desk activities; integrating and coordinating help desk activities with the sponsor’s network, desktop, or email functions, as appropriate, to ensure timely and effective accomplishment of required services; developing, updating, and maintaining policies and procedures for help desk operations in conformance with sponsor documentation standards; providing end-user follow-up on problems to confirm and document problem resolution; and providing guidance and recommendations on new help desk technologies.

C.2.5 MITS MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

The Contractor shall perform the necessary management and administration functions required for effective contract and task order performance. The Contractor shall provide effective leadership, planning, management, quality control, direction, and supervision of work activities and personnel needed for effective performance. Contractor required activities include, but are not limited to, technical leadership, project management, financial and administrative management, and rapid response to task order request for proposal (TORFPs). The Contractor’s management team shall participate in meetings with the ID/IQ Volpe Center CO and COR in order to monitor performance.

The design of the MITS statement of work includes and utilizes non-IT requirements as a management component supporting the technical project lifecycle that will be supported through the MITS contract vehicle. Non-IT project requirements such as, technical oversight, resource utilization, and quality control are incorporated within the project scope with the goal of creating a cohesive technical and management approach. Separating these non-IT requirements creates risk to the project schedule and cost by imposing an arbitrary split between the project management and the performance of the technical work.

C.3 SUSTAINABLE ACQUISITION REQUIREMENT

To the maximum extent possible and consistent with FAR Part 23, the Government requires during the performance of the work under this SOW the Contractor(s) to provide or use products that are: energy efficient (ENERGY STAR® or Federal Energy Management Program (FEMA) – designated); water-efficient; bio-based; environmentally preferable (e.g., EPEAT-registered, or non-toxic or less toxic alternatives); non-ozone depleting; or made with recovered materials. Unless otherwise identified in this SOW, each recovered material or bio-based product provided and delivered must meet, but may exceed, the minimum recovered materials or bio-based content of an EPA- or USDA-designated product. The sustainable acquisition requirements specified herein apply only to products that are required to be: (1) delivered to the Government during contract performance; (2) acquired by the Contractor for use in performing services (including construction) at the Federally-controlled facility; (3) furnished by the Contractor for use by the Government; or (4) specified in the design of a building or work, or incorporated during its construction, renovation, or maintenance.

C.4 TRANSITION

This requirement is to transition work from the Volpe Center’s existing Support Onsite For Information Technology Services (SOFITS) Contract DTRT5715D30017 Task Order 6913G620F400129, which expires on September 30, 2021, to MITS. The Contractor shall provide all resources required to complete transition on a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) basis to transfer the work from SOFITS to MITS and to ensure that the Contractor can achieve satisfactory performance at the end of the transition period. The Contractor shall be staffed and prepared to perform at 100% effort by the end of the transition period. The transition period shall not exceed sixty (60) calendar days.

Transition Plan: The Contractor shall develop a Transition Plan to document how it will transition related work from the existing SOFITS Task Order to this effort.

During the transition period, the Government intends to issue approximately 50 Task Order Request for Proposals (TORFPs) for submission of proposals by the Contractor. The Government also intends to award these task orders to transition the work in order for the Contractor to begin performance on October 01, 2021. The approximately 50 Task Orders are only representative of the quantity of Task Orders to be issued during the transition period. Task Orders will continuously be issued throughout the life of MITS.

The Government will review the Transition Plan and return the Plan to the Contractor for further refinements and editing, as necessary, within 7 calendar days after award of the Transition Task Order.

The Contractor shall submit the Final Transition Plan within 3 calendar days after receipt of the Government’s review.

The Final Transition Plan shall include the following:

1. Key transition personnel;

2. Management organization, authorities, and lines of reporting during the transition from the incumbent contractor to the successor contractor;

3. Understanding of current workload, status of ongoing projects, and milestones;

4. Plan to initiate and continuously coordinate with the Volpe Center;

5. Communication strategy with key stakeholders (e.g., incumbent contractor management and staff, COR and Task Order CORs (TOCORs), and the CO and Task Order COs (TOCOs);

6. Transition Schedule that identifies specific tasks to be performed, for the response and execution of the estimated 50 Task Order Request for Proposals (TORFPs); and

7. Risk mitigation strategy during the execution of transition, including minimizing disruption to ongoing tasks, the plan for mitigating any potential project disruptions, and a staffing plan, if necessary, including retention of incumbent staff for continuity.

Upon approval of this deliverable by the CO and COR, the Contractor’s Transition Plan shall serve as the basis upon which performance will be tracked, reported, and measured for acceptance.

Weekly Updates: The Contractor shall provide weekly updates on the progress of transition via e-mail to the Contracting Officer (CO) and the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

Transition Manager: The Contractor shall appoint and identify to the Government a Transition Manager with the authority to act upon the Government’s requirements and accomplish all work necessary to successfully facilitate contract transition. The Transition Manager must possess a demonstrated ability to successfully lead transition efforts on multiple large scale professional support services programs.