Attachment_1_-_Statement_of_Work.docx

Statement of Work U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Evaluation of Fair Employment Practices Agencies May 9, 2023

Background The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC), Office of Inspector General (OIG) is seeking a Contractor to perform an evaluation of the EEOC’s Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPA). The Contractor shall perform the evaluation in accordance with the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation (QSIE), issued by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, in December 2020.

https://www.ignet.gov/sites/default/files/files/QualityStandardsforInspectionandEvaluation-2020.pdf

Description of the EEOC The EEOC is responsible for enforcing Federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.

The EEOC is a bipartisan commission composed of five presidentially appointed members; a Chair, a Vice Chair, and three Commissioners. The Chair is responsible for the administration and implementation of policy, and for the Commission’s financial management and organizational development. The Vice Chair and the Commissioners participate equally in developing and approving the EEOC policies, issuing charges of discrimination where appropriate, and authorizing the filing of lawsuits. In addition, the President appoints a General Counsel, who is responsible for conducting litigation under the laws enforced by the Commission.

The EEOC has 53 field offices and has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. The field offices are composed of 15 District Offices, 9 Field Offices, 15 Area Offices, and 14 Local Offices. Field, Area, and Local offices work under the direction of a District Director.

At the end of FY 2022, the EEOC had 2,041 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. The EEOC’s website http://www.eeoc.gov contains additional information about the EEOC.

EEOC’s Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPA)

Many states and localities have their own laws prohibiting employment discrimination and their own agencies responsible for enforcing those laws. These agencies are often referred to as Fair Employment Practices Agencies (FEPAs). FEPA funding for fiscal year (FY)2023 is $31.5 million. EEOC’s Office of Field Programs manages the State and Local and Tribal Programs (SLTP) which provides oversight for the FEPAs. The STLP Director, with the assistance of a deputy director and staff analysts, develops the annual program budget requirements, sets national program policies and procedures, monitors program performance on the national level and provides technical support and guidance to the EEOC field offices and FEPAs. SLTP headquarters ensures all federal contracting requirements are met relative to certification of contracting officer representatives in field offices and federal contractor requirements/registrations relative to those with whom EEOC SLTP contracts.

Section 709 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) encourages the EEOC to cooperate with the FEPAs. The EEOC has contracts and work-sharing agreements with approximately 90 FEPAs nationwide that process more than 48,000 employment discrimination charges annually.[footnoteRef:2] Work sharing agreements identify which agency will initially investigate and resolve a charge. EEOC requires work sharing agreements as a condition of its charge resolution contracts with FEPAs. These charges raise claims under the state and local laws prohibiting employment discrimination, as well as the federal laws enforced by the EEOC. The contracts and work sharing agreements outline EEOC’s and the FEPAs’ obligations and responsibilities, including their duties relating to data the EEOC shares with the FEPAs. [2: Work sharing agreements to identify which agency will initially investigate and resolve a charge. EEOC requires work sharing agreements as a condition of its charge resolution contracts with FEPAs. FEPA contracts are 3 years, base and two option years.]

To facilitate the assertion of employment rights, EEOC and the FEPA each designate the other as its agent for the purpose of receiving and drafting charges, including those that are not jurisdictional with the agency that initially receives the charges. The EEOC's receipt of charges on the FEPA's behalf will automatically initiate the proceedings of both EEOC and the FEPA for the purposes of Section 706(c) and (e)(1) of Title VII. This delegation of authority to receive charges does not include the right of one agency to determine the jurisdiction of the other agency over a charge. Charges can be transferred from one agency to another in accordance with the terms of work sharing agreements.

Prior OIG Evaluations of FEPA In 2011, the OIG funded a contractor-led evaluation of EEOC’s FEPA program which resulted in nine recommendations. The report recommended improvements in effectiveness of FEPA management, both the management of the agreements, including payments, and ensuring quality of the charges that FEPAs perform.[footnoteRef:3] Some of the recommendations were implemented after the report was issued. [3: https://oig.eeoc.gov//sites/default/files/audits/EEOC%20Final%20Report31611.pdf]

Prior OIG products: Report 2010-009-AEP - Evaluation of the Management of the EEOC’s State and Local Programs | EEOC Office of Inspector General

Objectives The purpose of this evaluation is to assess key aspects of EEOC’s FEPA management activities, Specifically, the questions the evaluation seeks to answer are:

1. Does EEOC effectively certify and reevaluate FEPA’s?

2. Does EEOC establish, meet, and manage performance goals and metrics of FEPA program activities?

3. Does EEOC provide effective oversight of FEPA case quality?

4. Does EEOC establish and maintain effective relationships/coordination with the FEPAs?

To successfully address those issues, the contractor needs to, at a minimum:

1. Describe and assess EEOC’s standards, SOPs and implementation for the FEPA certification and reevaluation process.

2. Describe and assess EEOC’s FEPA program goals, performance metrics, and how this information is used to make improvements.

3. Describe and assess EEOC’s standards for case quality and implementation of the monitoring process.

4. Assess the coordination and cooperation between EEOC staff (headquarters and district) and the FEPAs.

5. Develop recommendations to improve EEOC’s management of the FEPAs.

Scope The scope includes the EEOC FEPA program goals and objectives, performance metrics, standards and documentation related to FEPA case quality and certification, roles, and responsibilities of EEOC (headquarters and district) and FEPA staff, and other relevant FEPA management activities in headquarters and field offices. Travel to EEOC field offices is not required but may be included in proposals.

Period of Performance The period of performance is not to exceed 280 calendar days from the date of award.

Tasks and Deliverables The following tasks will be performed by the contractor:

Task: Project Plan and Pre-evaluation Work

1. Upon contract award, within five calendar days, the contractor will participate in a kick-off meeting with the contracting officer’s representative (COR) to discuss evaluation and administrative objectives. At this meeting, the contractor shall submit the resumes for individuals scheduled to work on the evaluation. The contractor shall also submit its company’s independence statement and quality control statement.

2. Within 15 calendar days after the kick-off meeting the contractor will provide to the COR a project plan that provides a description of the tasks to complete this evaluation. The project plan shall identify the key personnel needed, including those who oversee and manage the project, as well as the primary staff expected to perform analysis of the EEOC’s social media activities. The contractor will also provide staff levels to be assigned, the number of estimated assigned hours for each staff level, timeframes for completion, and any non-staff costs required to complete the requirements. This deliverable shall include the steps, and the general approach/methodology to be employed and the processes to be undertaken to complete the evaluation in accordance with CIGIE Quality Standards for Inspection and Evaluation. In case of conflict between the project plan and the task order, the terms and conditions of the task order will prevail. All project plan deviations, adjustments, or changes must be approved by the COR. The COR will have three business days to review the project plan. If revisions are necessary, the COR will return the proposed project plan to the contractor for revision. The contractor will have two business days to address requested revisions.

Task: Entrance Conference

3. Once the project plan is accepted by the COR, the contractor will, within 10 calendar days, participate in an entrance conference. The contractor will describe the project, including the project plan, request initial documents (if appropriate), and answer any questions from agency leaders and other stakeholders.

Task: Evaluation Planning and Field Work

4. Within 10 calendar days after entrance conference, the contractor will submit a detailed evaluation plan that will include timeframes to complete fieldwork, and detailed descriptions of the methodologies used to gather and analyze data. The COR will have five business days to review the proposed evaluation plan. If revisions are necessary, the contractor will have two business days to address suggested revisions. Upon acceptance of the evaluation plan by the COR, the contractor shall commence field work as stipulated in the agreed upon evaluation plan.

Task: Status Reports

5. Once work has commenced, the contractor shall convene status meetings with the COR on a biweekly basis. The type and venue of the biweekly meeting via a method determined by the government. One day prior to each status meeting, the contractor will provide to the COR a written document detailing the status of accomplishments during the biweekly period.

Task: Findings and Conclusions

6. Within 150 calendar days after award, the contractor will provide the COR with a Microsoft Word document containing major findings and conclusions that are likely to be included in the report. The Contractor shall be prepared to conduct one additional interim briefing as needed.

Task: Stakeholder Briefing

7. Within 15 calendar days of submitting the findings and conclusions document, the contractor shall lead a briefing with evaluation stakeholders. The contractor shall present the major findings and conclusions likely to be included in the report. Fieldwork shall be completed within 12 calendar days of the briefing.

Task: Draft Report and Report Comment Period

8. Within 20 calendar days of completion of the field work associated with this engagement, the contractor shall provide the COR with an electronic copy of the draft evaluation report. The draft report shall be delivered to OIG in final release quality (i.e., fully proofread for content, punctuation, spelling, grammar, and format). In addition, the contractor shall provide a second copy of the draft report that is indexed to documents that support the results of the evaluation to include findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

The contractor shall provide the COR access to all work papers that are associated with the development of the draft report. The COR and OIG senior management will have 10 calendar days to review and provide any comments regarding the draft report to the contractor. The contractor will have five calendar days to address any comments and resubmit the draft report to the COR. Upon acceptance by the COR, the report will be submitted to stakeholders for review and comment. The stakeholders will have 15 calendar days to review and provide written comments to the COR regarding the draft report.

Upon receipt of the comments from the evaluation stakeholders, the contractor will have 5 calendar days to address all comments, incorporate evaluation stakeholders written comments into the report and submit a final report to the COR. The COR shall have seven calendar days to review. If any changes are necessary, the contractor will have two business days to address and re-submit to the COR.

Task: Final Report

9. The contractor will submit to the COR an electronic final report that is 508 compliant and using MS Word .docx format. Also, the contractor will provide an updated final report indexed to working papers and supporting documents (if there were any changes to the draft report indexed version). A final report shall be delivered to OIG in final release quality (i.e., fully proofread for content, punctuation, spelling, grammar, and format).

Task: Access to Electronic Working Papers Are Written and Electronically Stored (Computer) Records, Data, And Other Information Obtained or Created During the Evaluation.

10. The OIG will require reasonable, on-going, access to the Contractor’s supporting documentation during the evaluation to facilitate the understanding of the engagement, its progress, and conclusions, and the timely issuance of the report. The final work papers are due no later than two weeks before issuance of the final report. During the engagement, upon the request of the OIG, the Contractor shall provide access to and/or copies of supporting documentation developed for the engagement.

Before final submission to the OIG, the contractor must review and approve all work papers. Further, all quality control or similar materials used to process the report shall also be made available to OIG to facilitate this review.

The OIG may permit third-party access to these work papers for purposes of issue resolution. Therefore, the contractor shall ensure that all final work papers that the contractor deems proprietary, or that the contractor regards as privileged and confidential, are clearly marked. The OIG will remove proprietary or business-sensitive materials from the work papers prior to review by third parties.

Task: Exit Conference

11. Upon acceptance of the final report, the contractor shall participate in an exit conference where the report findings will be discussed with the evaluation stakeholders. At the exit conference, the contractor will summarize report findings and respond to stakeholder questions about the report.

Task: Post Exit Conference

12. The contractor shall be available to participate in one post-exit conference briefing within 10 calendar days after issuance of the final report.

13. Task: Invoices

(Tasks IV - 1,2, and 3)

(Task IV-4, partial)

(Tasks IV-4,5,6)

(Tasks IV-7,8,9,10)

(Tasks IV-11,12)

Total

Invoices shall be prepared based upon the contract deliverable schedule and in accordance with contractual terms.

DELIVERABLES

10 days after project plan acceptance (task IV2)

Biweekly

150 days after award

15 calendar days after submissions of finding and conclusions (task IV7)

5 calendar days of comments received from government from task IV8

14 days before completion of task IV-11 OR as requested on an interim basis by the government.

TBD by government

10 calendar days after issuance of final report (task IV9)

Representations, Certifications, and Other Statements of Offerors Or Respondents Independence The contractor, in a separate statement and within five calendar days of contract award, shall represent that it is independent with respect to the EEOC. This assurance shall address each of the following items: explanation of the firm’s current internal quality control system, including such items as staff independence requirements, and continuing professional education requirements.

Travel The COR shall review and approve all travel requested. Reimbursement will be at cost in accordance with GSAR/M 552-238-115, Special Ordering Procedures for the Acquisition of Order-Level Materials (APR 2022) Key Personnel Key personnel must be available during the period of performance of this contract and are considered essential to the work being performed under this contract. Before diverting any of the specified individuals to other projects, the contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer reasonably in advance and shall submit proposed substitution personnel to permit evaluation of the impact on the EEOC’s program and approval by the Contracting Officer and COR. The contractor shall make no diversion without the written consent of the EEOC’s Contracting Officer.

Quality Standards of Deliverables The contractor shall be responsible for ensuring that all deliverable due dates are met and that the work submitted is compliant with the terms and conditions of this task order. OIG reserves the right to reject any deliverable that, upon inspection, does not conform to the terms and conditions of this task order.

Deliverables must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. (eastern time) on the date they are due. Some deliverables (to be identified by COR) will be accepted by e-mail. If the deliverable due date falls on a holiday, the due date shall be the first business day following the holiday.

The contractor shall be responsible for notifying the CO and COR, or designated task monitor, of anticipated delays in providing deliverables on the specified due dates, along with a projected date for delivery. Late delivery shall not extend due dates for any other deliverables, nor extend the overall period of performance.

All documents shall be in accordance with the guidelines outlined in this Statement of Work and shall be delivered as specified. The acceptable quality level is zero percent deviation from the stated quality standards and deliverable due dates.

Deliverables shall be delivered in final release quality (i.e., fully proofread for content, punctuation, spelling, grammar, consistent formatting, and required format).

Acceptance of Deliverables Unless otherwise specified under this task order, the OIG will have five business days to accept or reject deliverables provided by the contractor under this task order. The OIG will notify the contractor upon acceptance of each deliverable.

If a deliverable is rejected, the contractor will be notified in writing of the rejection and the specific deficiency. The contractor shall be required to correct and resubmit the item(s) within five business days. The OIG will have five business days to review any corrected deliverables.

Security It is the policy of the EEOC to ensure that background investigations are conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 736. Suitability determinations shall be made for employment in covered positions in accordance with 5 CFR 731 (reference: http://insite/Forms/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=68173). Fitness determinations shall be made for employment in the Excepted service in accordance with 5 CFR 302.203. Fitness determinations shall be made for contract employees in accordance with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Supplemental Credentialing Standards (reference: https://www.opm.gov/suitability/suitability-executive-agent/policy/final-credentialing-standards.pdf). The EEOC shall maintain and safeguard background investigations and materials related to adjudications in strict confidence. Access shall only be granted to authorized individuals, and handled in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, 29 CFR 1611.15, and EEOC Order 530.010, Suitability Program. (Reference: http://insite/Forms/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=68173)

All personnel listed on the contractor’s or contractor’s proposed staffing list are required to have, or currently be in the process of completing, a current Background Investigation (BI). The BI must be completed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – Federal Investigative Services. The contractor must list in their proposal for each proposed staff member the type of BI the individual has completed. Contractor BI information will be verified by EEOC personnel.

The contractor is responsible for complying with all security requirements and shall ensure that its subcontractors (at all tiers) perform work under this contract comply with all the following security requirements:

A. The contractor must configure its computers that contain EEOC data with the applicable National Institute of Standards and Technology standards and ensure that its computers have and maintain the latest operating system patch level and anti-virus software level.

B. The contractor must use the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) compliant encryption (Security Requirements for Cryptographic Module) to protect all instances of EEOC's privacy information during storage and transmission.

C. The contractor must comply with applicable Federal laws that include, but are not limited to, the FISMA and the following mandated policies and standards:

a. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, Management of Federal Information Resources, Appendix III, Security of Federal Automated Information Resources.

b. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publications and Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS).

D. Incident Reporting. The contractor will immediately notify the COR of any incident that could potentially affect the privacy rights of individuals, which violates any privacy law/regulation or Federal privacy mandate as defined in NIST SP 800-122. The contractor will support the EEOC's investigation and resolution of reported incidents as requested.

E. The contractor will report immediately to the COR and the EEOC Chief Information Security Officer any threats and hazards to the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of EEOC information or the function of computer systems operated on behalf of the EEOC.

F. The work conducted by the contractor on behalf of the OIG is expressly and explicitly the property of the EEOC OIG. The contractor must not publish or disclose in any manner, the data, other information, or reports associated with work regarding this engagement without the written permission from the OIG.

Evaluation Documentaiton, Access to Evaluation Documentation, and Security of Evaluation Documentation Evaluation documentation shall be retained and safeguarded for a minimum of five (5) years by the contractor at no additional cost. Written authority must be obtained from the EEOC OIG prior to destruction of any evaluation documentation.

It is imperative that the contractor protect all evaluation documentation from unauthorized access. Conclusions and recommendations from the draft and final reports are not to be discussed with any non-OIG EEOC personnel without prior approval and presence of the COR.

Confidentiality and Nondisclosure By agreeing to this task order and/or any amendments, the contractor acknowledges, understands, and accepts the following:

1. The contractor shall presume that EEOC computer systems and storage media that they access have sensitive information and applications. The contractor will comply with the contractual security requirements.

2. Any EEOC information, software, applications, computer systems, and hardware accessed by the contractor in the performance of the task order remain the sole property of EEOC.

3. To the extent that any software or applications on EEOC systems are protected by copyright, the contractor agrees that it will not copy or disclose them without first obtaining prior written authorization from the EEOC OIG, which will be provided only where authorized under applicable copyright law.

4. The contractor will access, or be provided access to, EEOC information, software, applications, computer systems, and hardware only to the extent necessary and only for the purpose of performing the task. The contractor will take reasonable steps to ensure that it will allow only those contractor employees who need to see EEOC materials to perform the requirements of the task order to do so. This agreement also applies to any other EEOC systems or data to which the contractor may have access, or which may be disclosed to the contractor.

5. The contractor will not authorize anyone other than those individuals who require information to perform under the task order to access, disclose, modify, or destroy the information, software, or applications on EEOC systems provided or accessed under this task order without prior written authorization of the EEOC OIG. The contractor will refer all requests or demands for production of or access to EEOC data and systems, including court orders, to the EEOC’s OIG COR for response.

6. Except as authorized under this task order, the contractor and its employees shall not make any copies of any EEOC information, including software or applications that are copyrighted. Any copies made by the contractor shall be identified as EEOC property and handled as sensitive information under this nondisclosure agreement.

7. Except to the extent necessary to perform the task order, any information that the contractor and its employees learn from and about EEOC data and EEOC computer systems shall not be recorded, and such information, whether recorded or not, shall be handled as sensitive information under this agreement. The contractor may not use or disclose these data except as the contractor is permitted to use or disclose EEOC sensitive information under the task order and this nondisclosure agreement.

8. Upon completion or termination of the task order for any reason, the contractor will immediately deliver all nonpublic EEOC records, data, copies of EEOC records and data, software and equipment, and information about EEOC data and systems recorded or documented by the contractor to the EEOC’s OIG COR. The contractor shall retain nonpublic copies of any of these documents or data necessary to support evaluation report conclusions.

9. The contractor will be responsible for the actions of all individuals provided to work for the EEOC OIG under this task order.

Removal from Duty Clause The CO, with input from the COR and the designated EEOC Security Officer, may request that the contractor immediately remove any contractor personnel from working on the contract should it be determined that those personnel are unfit to perform on the contract. The EEOC OIG will provide the contractor, in writing, the specific reasons for removal of an individual. The contractor must comply with these requests.

Admninistrative Support for Awardee

· Providing office space (if necessary), office furnishings, and access to relevant EEOC systems. The contractor is responsible for its own office supplies, personal computers, calculators, etc.

· Coordinating access to requested documentation

· Facilitating, if necessary, interviews with proper EEOC individuals

· Coordinating field visits

· Providing building access

Section 508 Requirements Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d) requires federally procured Information and Communication Technology (ICT), also referred to as Electronic and Information Technology (EIT), to provide disabled Federal employees with access to and use of information that is comparable to information provided to nondisabled Federal employees. Section 508 also requires Federal agencies to provide disabled public citizens with access to and use of information that is comparable to information provided to nondisabled public citizens. For additional information see Section508.gov.

The U.S. Access Board is an independent Federal agency that established the standards for federally procured ICT products and services. ICT includes software, hardware, electronic content, support documentation, and services. For more information, see the U.S. Access Board’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards and Guidelines (36 CFR Part 1194).

The following requirements from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards and Guidelines (36 CFR Part 1194) apply to electronic content:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, Level A and AA Guidelines Chapter 3: Functional Performance Criteria Chapter 6: Support Services and Documentation Requirements

When the service provider provides electronic content development or remediation services pursuant to this contract, the service provider shall ensure that the electronic content fully conforms to the applicable ICT Standards and Guidelines prior to delivery and before final acceptance.

The service provider shall ensure the personnel providing the labor hours possess the knowledge, skills, and ability necessary to address the applicable ICT Standards and Guidelines defined in this contract and shall provide supporting documentation upon request.

The service provider shall test and validate electronic content, including Microsoft Office and PDF documents, for conformance to the ICT Standards and Guidelines in accordance with the

Harmonized Testing Guidance from the Accessible Electronic Documents (AED) Accessible Community of Practice (ACOP). The service provider must describe the test process and provide the testing results to the agency upon request.

Before acceptance, the agency reserves the right to perform independent testing to validate the electronic content provided by the service provider conforms to the applicable ICT Standards and Guidelines.

After final acceptance of products or services, including updates and replacements, if the service provider claims its products or services satisfy the applicable ICT Standards and Guidelines specified in the statement of work and the contracting officer determines that any furnished product or service is not in compliance with such requirements, the contracting officer will promptly inform the service provider in writing of the noncompliance. The service provider shall, at no cost to the agency, repair or replace the non-compliant products or services within the period specified by the contracting officer.