Attachment 1 - Performance Work Statement (PWS).pdf

B.3 PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT dated 14 September 2023

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

VISN-10 Annual Report for Public Affairs Office

14 September 2023

1. GENERAL. This is a non-personnel services contract in which the contractor shall provide the VISN-10 Annual Report to the Public Affairs Office (PAO) at VISN-10 on a firm-fixed price basis. The government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein.

BACKGROUND: Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN) – VISN-10 provides personalized, proactive, patient-centered care to more than 685,000 Veterans throughout the lower peninsula of Michigan, Ohio/Northern Kentucky and Indiana. The purpose of the VISN-10 annual report is to provide all stakeholders a summary of the organization, leadership and accomplishments of the various VA medical centers within VISN-10.

1.1 SCOPE SUMMARY. The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items necessary to provide the VISN-10 Annual Report to Public Affairs Office (PAO) at VISN-10 in Ohio as established in this Performance Work Statement (PWS) and in accordance with terms and conditions established herein.

1.2 PERIOD OF PEFORMANCE. The periods of performance for the base and all option periods for this contract are summarized as follows:

Base Period (CLIN-0001): 29 September 2023 to 15 January 2024

1.3 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

1.3.1 Federally Recognized Holidays. The service provided by the contractor is anticipated to be unaffected by Federally recognized holidays in accordance with the terms and conditions established in this PWS to include but not limited to the following:

New Year’s Day Labor Day Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday Columbus Day President’s Day Veteran’s Day Memorial Day Thanksgiving Day Juneteenth Christmas Day Independence Day

1.3.2 Hours of Operation. The business hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 0800-EST to 1630- EST, except on Federally recognized holidays.

1.3.3 Place of Performance. The contractor shall furnish provide services in accordance with the terms and conditions of this contract as requested by the authorized government representative(s) designated in writing by the GOVERNMENT PM and/or CO IAW the procedures specified within this PWS for the following location:

Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN) – VISN-10 11500 Northlake Drive Cincinnati, OH 45249

1.3.4 Type of Contract. The government intends to award a single-award firm-fixed price (FFP) contract for the effort specified herein. The base and option periods (if any) specified in the PRICE/COST SCHEDULE shall be exercised at the discretion of the government. The authority that will be utilized to award this effort is FAR Part

13.5 (Simplified Procedures for Certain Commercial Items).

1.3.5 Security Requirements and Background Checks. Not Applicable.

1.4.12.1 VAMC/VAACC Identification Badges: No.

1.4.12.2 PHYSICAL Security: Not Applicable.

1.4.12.3 Key Control: Not Applicable.

1.4.12.4 Lock Combinations: Not Applicable.

1.3.6 Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings. The contractor agrees to attend any post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 42.5. The contracting officer, government program manager, and other government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the contractor’s performance. At these meetings the contracting officer will apprise the contractor of how the government views the contractor’s performance and the contractor will apprise the government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues. These meetings shall be at no additional cost to the government.

1.3.7 Government Program Manager (Government PM). The government PM will be identified by the cognizant government contracting officer (CO) in writing. The PM monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration. The PM is authorized to perform the following functions: assure that the contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract: maintain written and oral communications with the contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract that are within scope: monitor contractor’s performance and notifies both the contracting officer and contractor of any deficiencies; coordinate availability of government furnished property and provide site entry of contractor personnel. The PM shall be specified in writing by the CO and is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting contract.

1.3.8 Key Personnel. The following personnel are considered key personnel by the government: Project Manager/Alternate Project 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.

1.3.9 Contractor Travel: Not Applicable

1.3.10 Other Direct Costs: Not Applicable

1.3.11 Data Rights: Not Applicable

1.3.12 Organizational Conflict of Interest: Not Applicable

1.3.13 Phase-In /Phase-Out Period: Not Applicable

2. DEFINITIONS AND ACRONYMS

2.1. DEFINITIONS: Not Applicable

2.2. ACRONYMS: Not Applicable

3. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES: No government furnished equipment (GFE) will be provided for this requirement.

3.1. Services: Not applicable

3.2 Facilities: Not applicable.

3.3 Utilities: Not applicable.

3.4 Equipment: Not applicable.

3.5 Materials: Not applicable.

3.6 Information: The government shall provide the information necessary for the contractor to write the VISN-10 annual report.

4. CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

4.1 General: The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items necessary to perform all services under this contract as defined in this PWS and in accordance with the terms and conditions of this contract.

4.2. Materials, Supplies and Equipment: The contractor shall provide the VISN-10 report to PAO.

5. REQUIREMENTS – SPECIFIC TASKS:

5.1 INSTRUCTIONS – SPECIFIC TASKS: The contractor shall reference PWS ATTACHMENT A in drafting the draft and final deliverable for this requirement which is a historical copy of a VISN-10 annual report. The contents for the VISN-10 annual report shall include the following VA Medical Centers and facilitates within VISN-10:

- VISN-10

- Cincinnati VAMC

- Chillicothe VAMC

- Dayton VAMC

- Columbus VAACC (Wylie P. Chalmers VAACC)

- Cleveland VAMC (Louis Stokes VAMC)

- Indianapolis VAMC (Richard L. Roudebush);

- Ann Arbor VAMC (Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Kettles VAMC)

- VA Northern Indiana Health Care System

- Detroit VAMC (John D. Dingell VAMC)

- Battle Creek VAMC

- Saginaw VAMC (Aleda E. Lutz VAMC)

5.1.1 SPECIFIC TASK 1: The contractor shall attend a kick-off meeting with the government program manager (PM) and government contracting officer (CO) on 29 September 2023.

5.1.2 SPECIFIC TASK 2: The contractor shall draft a letter from the VISN-10 Director which will be incorporated within the cover of the VISN-10 annual report. The contractor shall not plagiarize the example letter provided in PWS ATTACHMENT A, however, may utilize it for reference in drafting the cover letter for this requirement.

5.1.3. SPECIFIC TASK 3: The contractor shall utilize the information provided by the government PM to create a 2-page summary with the VISN-10 annual report for each facility to include facts, figures and accomplishments.

5.1.4. SPECIFIC TASK 4: The contractor shall design, edit and refine the raw data provided by the government program manager (PM) into a polished VISN-10 annual report in compliance with the needs of the government PM.

5.2 ASSUMPTIONS:

5.2.1. ASSUMPTION 1: The government PM will gather information necessary for the contractor to write the VISN-10 annual report from each medical facility and provide it to the contractor.

5.2.2. ASSUMPTION 2: The government PM will provide the necessary pictures of each facility, Director of VISN-10 and Directors of all VA medical centers to the contractor for incorporation into the VISN-10 annual report.

5.2.3. ASSUMPTION 3: The contractor shall ensure that all general pictures and/or artwork utilized are open source with no proprietary restrictions. Furthermore, the contractor is hereby notified that all rights to the VISN-10 annual report to include all contents within this report will become the sole property of the United States Government upon final acceptance by the government program manager.

5.3 DELIVERABLES:

5.3.1. DELIVERABLE 1: 1ST DRAFT VERSION of the VISN-10 Annual Report in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word which is due not later than 15 November 2023 to the government PM. The contractor shall make all updates, corrections and/or adjustments to this draft version of the VISN-10 annual report requested by the government PM.

5.3.2. DELIVERABLE 2: FINAL DRAFT VERSION of the VISN-10 Annual Report in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word which is due not later than 30 November 2023 to the government PM. The contractor shall make all updates, corrections and/or adjustments to this draft version of the VISN-10 annual report requested by the government PM.

5.3.3. DELIVERABLE 3: FINAL VERSION of the VISN-10 Annual Report in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word which is due not later than 15 December 2023 to the government PM. The contractor shall make all updates, corrections and/or adjustments to this draft version of the VISN-10 annual report requested by the government PM.

6. OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

6.1 Quality Control: The contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS. The contractor shall identify and define the management concept for ensuring compliance with all contract requirements. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor will have an on-going quality assurance and /or quality improvement program designed to objectively and systematically measure, assess, and improve performance to enhance patient care and all patient care services. The contractor’s quality control program is the means by which the contractor assures that all work complies with the requirement of the contract. The contractor shall provide a copy of the QCP with their offeror as specified by the Contracting Officer and upon request thereafter. After acceptance of the quality control plan, the contractor shall immediately notify the contracting officer of any proposed changes to their quality control program and submit a change request in writing to the contracting officer. The contractor shall furnish copies of these records if requested by the Contracting Officer, GOVERNMENT PM or individual(s) designated by the GOVERNMENT PM and/or CO in writing. The contractor’s quality control program shall include the following:

6.2 Quality Assurance. The government shall evaluate the contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan. This plan 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).

6.3. INVOICING PROCEDURES, BILLING RATES AND MANDATORY REPORTS. The contractor shall comply with the terms and conditions established in this contract for invoicing procedures, billing rates and mandatory reports which shall include the following:

6.3.1. Invoicing Procedures. The contractor shall submit invoices only upon completion of work authorized by a government representative designated by the contracting officer in writing. The contractor shall only invoice for authorized work completed not-to-exceed (NTE) the amounts established in the PRICE/COST SCHEDULE for this contract. The contractor shall ensure all invoices reference the following information to be considered for payment by the government:

Contract Number Purchase Order (PO) Number

7. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

7.1 Performance Requirements Summary: The performance requirements are the thresholds of minimum acceptable levels of service critical to successful performance of this contract which are summarized as follows:

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY

Performance Objectives

Performance Standard Acceptable Quality

Level (AQL)

Method of Monitoring

1) Timeliness All deliverables specified within this PWS shall be completed on the date(s) specified in this PWS.

Failure to perform may result in a contract termination IAW FAR 52.212‐4(m).

100% Compliance

The PM, COR and/or government representative designated in writing by the CO will conduct random checks to ensure compliance with this performance standard.

2) Ad Hoc Reports

The contractor shall provide ad hoc status reports as requested by the government as specified in accordance with the terms and conditions established in the contract.

95% On‐Time

The PM, COR and/or government representative designated in writing by the CO will conduct random checks to ensure compliance with this performance standard.

3) Invoicing Accuracy, Timeliness and Billing Errors

The contractor shall submit invoices in a timely manner for work performed on a monthly basis in the arrears not later than 2 weeks after performance in accordance with the PRICE/COST SCHEDULE, the PWS and the overall terms and conditions established in the contract.

98% Compliance

The PM, COR, and/or government representative designated in writing by the CO will conduct random checks to ensure compliance with this performance standard.

4) Compliance with English Language Requirement

The contractor shall ensure that all employees are fully proficient in the English language at a level sufficient to seamlessly perform all services required in accordance with the terms and conditions of this contract.

100% Compliance

The PM, COR, an/ or government representative designated in writing by the CO will conduct random checks to ensure compliance with this performance standard.

5) Compliance with FAR 52.219‐14 Limitations on Subcontracting Requirements

The contractor shall submit confirmation of compliance with the FAR 52.219‐14 ‐‐ Limitations on Subcontracting requirement that “at least 50 percent of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the concern” as specified by the Contracting Officer (CO) in writing within four (4) hours of request.

100% Compliance

The Contracting Officer (CO) will conduct random compliance checks with the contractor as necessary.

6) Compliance with DOL Wage Determination Labor Rate Requirement

The contractor shall submit confirmation of compliance with the current Department of Labor (DOL) wage determination (WD) hourly rate if requested by the Contracting Officer (CO) in writing within four (4) hours of request which may include an itemized list of the hourly rate being paid for all employees performing services under this contract.

100% Compliance

The Contracting Officer (CO) will conduct random compliance checks with the contractor as necessary.

NOTE: The performance of these requirements by contractor will be documented by the government in the CPARS system based on the contractor’s ability to comply with the terms and conditions established in the contract.

8. PWS ATTACHMENT A (Historical VISN-10 Annual Report): PWS ATTACHMENT A is a historical copy of a VISN-10 annual report is provided as a reference document for this requirement.