Attachment_1_PWS_K-12 Digital Learning Resources.pdf

Attachment 1

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Department of Defense Education Activity 4800 Mark Center Drive

Alexandria, VA 22350

13 Jul 21

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

K-12 Digital Learning Focus

1. General Information and Scope of Work

1.1 Agency

1.1.1 For school year (SY) 2021-22, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) will provide PK-12 instruction to over 69,000 dependents of military and civilian employees. Student enrollment is based primarily on deployment of military troops worldwide. In the Americas, DoDEA operates 50 schools located in seven states, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. In Europe and the Middle East, DoDEA operates 64 schools located in Germany, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Bahrain and Italy. In the Pacific, DoDEA operates 45 schools located in Korea, Japan (mainland and Okinawa), and Guam. DoDEA's curriculum, resources and student achievement scores on standardized assessments compare favorably to those of high-performing US public school systems. DoDEA also operates a full time K-12 virtual school option with teaching hubs in each DoDEA region: Americas, Europe, and Pacific. The virtual high school is fully accredited.

1.1.2

Table 1: School Year 2021-22 Enrollment Projections, April 2020 (rounded to the nearest 50)

Grade Students Grade Students Grade Students Grade Students

K 6,900 4 5,850 8 4,400 12 2,750

1 6,800 5 5,750 9 3,650 K-12 Total

65,750 2 6,500 6 5,350 10 3,250

3 6,500 7 5,050 11 3,000

1.1.3 Military-connected students experience high mobility rates across the nation and throughout the world. Therefore, DoDEA makes a concerted effort to establish a worldwide systemic education network, mitigating the transitional barriers to military-connected students’ success.

1.1.4 DoDEA has adopted College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) in mathematics, literacy, the arts, social studies, and science, which are rigorous, research-based, and reflect the knowledge, skills and dispositions students need for success in college and/or careers and are aligned with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), National Core Art Standards (NCAS), Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, and Society for Health and Physical Education Standards (SHAPE AMERICA).

DoDEA has also adopted the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students.

1.2 Background

Prior to 2018, DoDEA supplemented the core curriculum with a variety of online subscriptions and services that were purchased in a non-systemic manner. In 2018 DoDEA awarded a contract that replaced these piecemeal procurements with one enterprise license for our K-6 students and teachers, which was expanded to serve all of our secondary students and teachers. Since that contract is expiring, DoDEA is now seeking a new contract for a K-12 solution.

1.3 Scope of Work

DoDEA requires a web-based, vendor-hosted instructional tool to assist K-12 teachers in providing multi-modal content that includes access to various media, authoring tool, lesson plans, and means to differentiate instruction. The proposed solution will be used in DoDEA’s 159 brick-and-mortar schools and one virtual school, which together serve approximately 66,000 K-12 students and will include related professional learning. DoDEA expects to make one award for a base year and four option years.

2 Objectives (Requirements)

2.1 Objective 1: K-12 Digital Supplemental Education Content: Provide access to K-12 supplemental education content as described in the Scope of Work (PWS 1.3) and related professional learning.

Task 1, Access and Design—The Contractor shall:

1) Provide access for approximately 66,000 K-12 students and their teachers in 159 brick-and-mortar schools and one virtual school.

2) Provide resources with the following instructional characteristics:

a. Meet, as appropriate/applicable, the content standards listed in PWS 1.1.4.

b. Provide multi-modal instructional content, including a library of age-appropriate K-12 instructional videos for the content areas listed in 2c.

c. Provide age-appropriate, interactive, K-12 instructional content, at a minimum, for English language arts/literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, health education, fine arts, and social emotional learning (SEL).

d. Provide a repository of video segments and full-length videos.

e. Provide an authoring tool that allows users to create, combine and share content.

f. Health education content and resources shall reflect current health issues, concerns, challenges both nationally and globally

g. Content and resources must be current, culturally responsive, and diverse.

h. Provide content designed for English language learners.

i. Include a Spanish version of the program

j. Enable teacher to assign work to individuals, small groups, or the entire class.

k. Provide usage data so that DoDEA can track the extent of K-12 usage by school.

Task 2, Virtual Professional Learning—The Contractor shall:

1) Provide synchronous webinars that provide a general overview of the available resources as well as guidance regarding navigation.

2) Base Year: Provide two synchronous webinars for educators annually, each of which shall be delivered three times during the normal school hours of each region: Americas, Europe, and Pacific. See PWS 3.3.2 for the normal school hours of each region.

3) Option Years: Provide one synchronous session for educators annually, each of which shall be delivered three times during the normal school hours of each region: Americas, Europe, and Pacific.

4) General

a. The exact dates and times of the webinars will be determined by the contracting officer’s representative (COR) in consultation with the Contractor(s) post-award. Note: The webinars may be presented on separate days or one full day.

b. Topics will be determined post-award by the COR but will likely include best instructional practices and strategies to differentiate instruction.

c. Record each professional learning session and make available to DoDEA’s for at least one calendar year

Task 3, Meetings—The Contractor shall:

1) Medium and Minutes: Provide the medium through which each meeting occurs, record each meeting’s minutes, and submit them to the COR within two business days of the event.

2) Post-Award Conference: Participate in a video or teleconference with the COR within five business days after award.

3) IT Meeting: Convene a video or teleconference with DoDEA Information Technology staff within ten business days after award, per Technical Exhibit #1.

4) Attendance: Attend virtual meetings at no additional cost to the Government.

Task 4, Delivery of Digital Resources: The Contractor shall deliver web-based materials (such as access codes) three days after receipt of delivery order.

2.2 Objective 2: Technical Requirements: The Contractor shall comply with the applicable technical requirements detailed below.

2.2.1 Task 1: Cloud Security Requirements—The Contractor shall:

2.2.1.1 Ensure all online resources, cloud-based services and instructional software meet the Department of Defense (DoD) and DoDEA Cybersecurity requirements as defined below. Note:

Software, cloud services and associated websites are rigorously tested to ensure no security risks are posed to DoDEA infrastructure and its users.

2.2.1.2 Complete the Cloud Services questionnaire that was submitted as part of the proposal submission and provide copies of and/or access to any software in the proposed solution.

2.2.1.3 Ensure vendor content accessible from the web is compatible with the following browser platforms: Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome and Edge, Edge Chromium. Ensure that any applicable STIGs are implemented.

2.2.1.4 Provide a plan of actions and milestones (POA&M) to mitigate any cybersecurity findings resulting from non-compliant and/or vulnerable components within 30 calendar days of written notification from DoDEA.

2.2.1.5 Participate, as needed, in interviews and deep system architecture inspections. Note: Per DoD policy for cloud-based services, DoDEA conducts a supplemental series of validations, which closely mirror the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Internet Cloud vetting processes. Contractor participation/cooperation is normally required to complete this process.

2.2.2 Task 2: Data Management Requirements—The Contractor shall:

2.2.2.1 Provide a mechanism for batch administration and automation of routine data management tasks via flat file import, or representational state transfer (REST) based web service application programming interfaces (APIs). The mechanism shall provision and manage data objects within the Contractor’s system, including but not limited to organizational structures, student accounts, staff accounts, courses, and class rosters.

2.2.2.2 Provide all necessary documentation and assets to facilitate batch administration and automation of routine data management tasks, including but not limited to roster template files (i.e., comma separated value templates); data element/field definitions documentation;

data interchange formats and schemas (XML/JSON); and/or data dictionaries for the purpose of mapping organizational student information system (SIS) data to the Contractor’s required input formats.

2.2.2.3 Provide a single point of contact to support DoDEA in performing the required data integration activities within the Contractor’s system.

2.2.2.4 Configure DoDEA enterprise within its system and/or databases as the appropriate organizational entity (i.e., region, district, school) upon a request in writing from the contracting officer’s representative (COR). Note: DoDEA’s organization hierarchy consists of the following: one system, three regions, eight districts, 62 communities, and 160 schools, including the K-12 virtual school programs.

2.2.2.5 Participate in a technical meeting with DoDEA within ten business days after award for the purposes of preparing for onboarding of new services and initial configuration of administrator-level accounts.

2.2.2.6 Ensure the transfer of any Sensitive, Confidential data including but not limited to PII data be transferred in a secure means meeting any requirements set by DoDEA’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

2.2.3 Task 3: Cybersecurity Supporting Elements/Requirements and Scalability—The Contractor shall:

2.2.3.1 Comply with the same Federal law and DoD policies and guidance to which DoDEA is subject.

These requirements include but are not limited to the cybersecurity requirements defined in the following documentation:

DoD Directive (DoDD) 8500.01E, Information Assurance, which may be found at https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/850001_2014.pdf

DoD Security Technical Implementation Guidance (STIG), which may be found at the following URL: https://public.cyber.mil/stigs/downloads/

DoD Risk Management Framework (DODRMF) per DoD Instruction 8510.01 at https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/851001p.pdf?ver=20 19-02-26-101520-3004.5.2

2.2.3.2 Provide security patches/upgrades to include third-party applications in response to public-released security vulnerabilities associated with its software solution. Provide a POA&M for any security vulnerabilities within five business days of discovery. Software upgrades/patches shall be included in the licensing cost and be performed at the least disruptive times as determined by DoDEA in writing. Note: Any exception to this requirement must be approved in advance and in writing by DoDEA’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) or designated official.

2.2.3.3 Ensure that any portion of its solution that involves Internet access by DoDEA students complies with the relevant requirements of the Children's Internet Protection Act, Pub.L. 106-554, § 1(a)(4) [Div. B, Title XVII, § 1701], Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A-335.

2.2.3.4 Ensure its solution is robust enough to serve the needs of a large community of learners dispersed across the world using a variety of bandwidths and scalable to meet future growth, both in terms of instruction and the number of users.

2.2.3.5 Ensure Contractor staff who have access to DoDEA’s student, teacher and/or staff personally identifiable information take the Personally Identifiable Information (PA and PPI/PII) https://public.cyber.mil/training/identifying-and-safeguarding-personally-identifiable-information-pii/ training before gaining access to the data and yearly thereafter. Provide copies of the certificates of completion to the COR which can be audited at any time by the CISO or his/her designee.

3 Constraints

3.1 Place of Performance: Work shall be performed at the Contractor’s facilities.

3.2 Technical Support: The Contractor shall provide industry standard technical support for its digital resources for the life of the contract via telephone or email within one business day from the initial contact to include but not limited to assisting with service problems, product setup, upgrades, and troubleshooting.

3.2.1 Holidays and Hours of Operation

1) Technical Support shall be available during the hours of 9AM to 3PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), except for Federal holidays and Federal government closures/shutdowns. The following list shows recognized Federal holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

2) Although there are different time zones within Europe and the Pacific and different hours for specific schools throughout DoDEA, the normal business hours for the regions roughly correspond to the following: Americas, 0700-1500 EST and the same times for Europe corresponding to Central European Time (CET) and the same times for the Pacific corresponding to Japanese Standard Time (JST).

3.3 Anti-Bias, Diversity, and Inclusion—The Contractor shall provide resources free of age, racial, color, national origin, disabling conditions, sexual, gender, religious, and ethnic bias and present balanced coverage of multi-cultural contributions and representation, where appropriate.

3.4 Privacy—The Contractor shall:

1) User Accounts: Require, wherever applicable, that individual accounts possess unique usernames and passwords that do not require personally identifiable information (PII) to access online content, i.e., first & last name and any other unique personal information.

2) Contractor Personnel: Ensure personnel assigned to this contract take proper precautions to protect information from disclosure. Collect and/or store all agency-owned or agency-controlled PII in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C, which may be found at the following URL: http://www.archives.gov/about/laws/privacy-act-1974.html.

3) Privacy Training: Ensure Contractor staff who have access to DoDEA’s student, teacher and/or staff personally identifiable information take the DoD Privacy Act/Personally Identifiable Information (PA/PII) training before gaining access to the data and yearly thereafter. Provide copies of the certificates of completion to the COR which can be audited at any time by the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or his/her designee.

3.5 Section 508 Compliance—Ensure Contractor resources, wherever applicable, meet the following requirements:

1) IT Requirement: Ensure that all electronic hardware and software that is procured under this contract/purchase order comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, (29 U.S.C. 794d) and the Architectural & Transportation Barriers Compliance Board Electronic Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards (36 CFR part 1194). More information may be found at http://www.section508.gov.

2) Deliverable Requirement: Ensure the following occur:

Outputs/deliverables do not adversely affect accessibility features of existing EIT technologies.

EIT related to the requirements of the contract are accessible to people with disabilities, per 29

U.S.C 794(d).

Outputs/deliverables including functional performance, information, documentation, and support requirements are considered. Standards from 36 CFR Part 1194 Subpart B, C and D apply to this acquisition.

3.6 Optical Character Resolution (OCR): The Contractor shall provide, upon request, two digital OCR copies of print materials in one or more of the following formats:

Digital Accessible Information System/National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) with cascading style sheet HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Portable Document Format (PDF), (unlocked, embedded fonts, single page) Rich Text Format (RTF)/Word document

3.7 Sharable Content Object Reference Model® (SCORM®) Compliance: Ensure digital modules are SCORM®-compliant. DoD Instruction 1322.26 mandates that digital modules be developed in compliance with the latest possible version of the package. For additional information, see the following URL:

https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/132226_dodi_2017.pdf?ver=2017- 10-05-073235-400.

4 Government-Furnished Resources

None

5 Contract Deliverables

Milestone/Deliverable Task / PWS Planned

Frequency Medium/Format Submit To

Tasks 1 & 4, Access & Design and Delivery of Digital Resources

PWS Section 2.1

Ongoing three business days after receipt of the initial delivery order

Email as MS Word/ Excel attachment

COR

Task 2 Virtual Professional Learning

PWS Section 2.1

Ongoing three business days after receipt of the initial delivery order

Email as MS Word/ Excel attachment

COR

Task 3, Meetings PWS Section

2.1 As specified in the PWS

Video/Telephone COR

Task 3, Post Award Conference

PWS Section 2.1

Five Business days after contract award

Video/Telephone COR, KS, KO

Task 3, IT Meeting PWS Setion

2.1 Ten Days after contract award

Video/Telephone COR, DoDEA IT Staff

Task 5, Technical Support

PWS Section 3.2

Ongoing three business days after receipt of initial delivery order

Email as MS Word/ Excel attachment

COR

6 Acronyms and Definitions

CCRS College and Career Ready Standards DoD/DOD Department of Defense DFARS Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement EIT Electronic Information Technology FAR Federal Acquisition Regulations PA/PII Privacy Act/Personally Identifiable Information QASP Quality Assessment Surveillance Plan

Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) – Basic structural element in a procurement instrument describing and organizing the required product or service for pricing, delivery, inspection, acceptance, invoicing, and payment. The use of the term “line item” includes “subcontract line number”, (SLIN), as applicable.

Contracting Officer (KO) – The only individual with expressed authority to obligate (bind) the Government by means of entering, administering, and terminating contracts within the limits of the authority delegated via a Contracting Officer’s warrant.

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) – Qualified and trained Government employee, nominated by the requiring activity (RA) and appointed in writing by a KO primarily to perform specific technical or administrative functions on a specific contract(s); serves as the ‘eyes and ears’ of a KO to assure the Government’s best interests are protected via the terms and conditions of the contract(s) appointed. COR’s do not have authority to obligate (i.e., bind) the Government.

Contractor - Supplier or vendor having a contract to provide specific supplies or service to the Government. The term used in this contract refers to the prime.

Deliverable – Usually physically delivered items but may include such items as digital documents/reports.

Performance Requirements Summary (PRS) – Tabular listing of performance objectives and standards that provides the basis for a meaningful QASP.

Performance Work Statement (PWS) - A statement of work for performance-based acquisitions describing the required results in clear, specific, and objective terms with measurable outcomes.

7 Performance Requirement Summary (PRS) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

7.1 Performance Requirement Summary (PRS)

Performance Objective

Performance Standard

AQL

Inspection

Method Task 1, Access & Design and Task

4, Delivery of Digital Resources

Tasks completed within required timeline

Access 24-7-365, except scheduled downtimes

COR

inspection and stakeholder feedback

Task 2, Virtual Professional

Learning

Tasks completed within required timeline

Product Training available 24- 7-365, except scheduled downtimes

No more than one professional learning session per year shall be rescheduled due to Contractor inability to present

COR

inspection and stakeholder feedback

Task 3, Meetings Tasks completed within required timeline

No more than one meeting per year shall be rescheduled due to Contractor inability to present

COR

inspection

Task 5, Technical Support

Tasks completed within required timeline

95% of phone or email inquiries shall be resolved in 1-2 business day; the remaining 5% shall be resolved in five business days.

COR

inspection and stakeholder feedback

7.2 Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP): The Government will utilize a QASP to monitor the contractor’s performance on the contract. The QASP is a living document and can change at any time during the life of the contract. As such, the Government reserves the right to unilaterally edit the QASP at the Government’s discretion.