Attachment A - SOW.pdf

Goddard Space Flight Center Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS)

Solicitation #80GSFC22R0003

ATTACHMENT A

Statement of Work

December 2021

GODDARD INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES (GISS) STATEMENT OF WORK

1.0 Introduction

The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) is a laboratory, located in New York, New York, in the Earth Sciences Division (ESD) of the Science and Exploration Directorate (SED) of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Its primary mission is research emphasizing a broad study of global change, an interdisciplinary research initiative addressing natural and anthropogenic changes in the environment occurring on various time scales from decades to millennia. Also, of prime concern are the climate impacts affecting Earth’s habitability. The research combines analyses of comprehensive global datasets with global models of atmospheric, land surface, and oceanic processes and includes study of past events on Earth such as paleoclimate change and the study of other planets as an aid to prediction of future evolution of Earth on a planetary scale.

Established in 1961, GISS is located near the campus of Columbia University to facilitate collaborative research programs. A joint GISS-Columbia University graduate program in Atmospheric and Planetary Science provides the opportunity for students to perform their thesis research on GISS programs. In addition, many of the full-time, on-site personnel at the GISS facility are university research scientists and post-doctoral fellows. Another important educational outreach mission of GISS is the NASA GISS Climate Change Research Initiative (CCRI), a year-long STEM engagement opportunity for NYC metropolitan area educators and graduate students to work directly with NASA scientists and lead research teams in a NASA research project. Educators participating in this opportunity will become associate researchers at the NASA GISS and STEM education experts who will integrate NASA education resources and content into their classrooms while improving STEM education within their communities.

GISS requires a mission support services contractor to perform specific functions that are not inherently governmental. This Contractor will provide support services to GISS in the following functional areas:

1. Scientific programming and analysis

2. Computer facilities support including computer security

3. Library and publications services (contract base year)

4. Project management support

The scientific programming and analysis service area are categorized into four broad areas, reflecting major GISS research programs:

1. Global Climate Modeling

2. Earth Observations

3. Climate Impacts

4. Planetary Climatology

The following brief descriptions of these areas illustrates the nature of the research efforts. Further details are provided under the Scope of Work and Performance Requirements. Although the specific areas of Scientific Computing are described below, it is not feasible to list all current or future GISS mission areas, programs, and projects.

Global Climate Modeling: The climate modeling program at GISS is primarily aimed at the development of three-dimensional coupled ocean atmosphere general circulation models (GCMs) for simulating the Earth's climate system. This also includes the development and use of a hierarchy of progressively less-complex models to aid interpretation and physical understanding.

Primary emphasis in the use of the GCMs is placed on investigation of climate sensitivity and variability, deduced in part on the comparison of model output to observation, including paleo-climate studies, remote sensing and in situ data, and on projections of decadal and centennial climate change. GCM development research focuses on sensitivity to improved parameterizations of key climate processes, including investigations of more accurate numerical methods.

Earth Observations: Accurate data are necessary for characterizing the Earth's climate and for monitoring trends in the average state of the atmosphere. Satellites provide global scale observations of changes in the Earth system on a global scale. Satellite observations are analyzed to obtain information on the Earth's surface, atmosphere, aerosols, chemistry, and clouds. Clouds are potentially the most powerful feedback mechanism in the climate system, but that feedback is still only moderately well characterized. GISS scientists analyze and process data from multiple remote sensing platforms. GISS also maintains GISTEMP, a global surface air temperature time series based on analysis of a variety of data sources, one of the most widely publicized measures of climate change.

Climate Impacts: The Climate Impacts group at NASA GISS seeks to improve understanding of how climate affects human society through assessment of the effects of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change. Impacts research includes development of a framework to analyze complex interactions among biophysical and socio-economic processes, with a particular focus on agricultural and public health impacts. Impacts research at GISS also includes climate-driven changes in extreme weather events and related hazards.

Planetary Climatology: Other planets of the solar system and planets in other stellar systems provide a broad range of conditions and regimes for which we can test our basic understanding of atmospheric processes, not the least of which are the greenhouse effect, aerosol and cloud physics, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, and ocean dynamics. GISS hosts the Resolving Orbital and Climate Keys of Earth and Extraterrestrial Environments and Dynamics (ROCKE-3D) planetary climate modeling effort, and is one of the lead centers for the NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) and the GSFC Sellers Exoplanet Environments Collaboration (SEEC), and which bring together scientists from Earth science, planetary science, heliophysics, and astrophysics to better understand the habitability of rocky exoplanets, interpret current and near-future satellite observations, and inform the design of future exoplanet observing telescope missions.

2.0 Scope of Work

The basic objectives of this mission support services contract are to provide scientific programming and analysis for specific GISS research programs, and support services for the computer facility, technical library (contract base year), and project management support.

The scientific programming and analysis functions are integral parts of the respective research programs – Global Climate Modeling, Earth Observations, Climate Impacts and Planetary Climatology, whereas the other services support functions are required to maintain and manage the facility used in performing research.

To fulfill the mission support services requirements, the Contractor shall furnish comprehensive support services that include project management and coordination. The Contractor shall have full authority and responsibility to manage the support services in accordance with the specified performance requirements and run the entire program in a coordinated and responsible fashion. The Contractor is given responsibility for ordering and maintaining an inventory of supplies used in these various duties and authority to perform travel necessary to render support at off-site locations and to obtain necessary professional information by attendance at professional meetings and conferences.

3.0 Performance Requirements

The performance requirements for this support services contract are characterized by functional service areas: scientific programming and analysis, computer facility services, library services (contract base year), and program management. The scientific programming and analysis function directly supports efforts grouped into four research areas:

1. Global Climate Modeling

2. Earth Observations

3. Climate Impacts

4. Planetary Climatology

3.1 Functional Service Areas

3.1.1 Scientific Programming and Analysis

The Contractor shall perform scientific programming and analysis in support of the specified research programs at GISS. The work involved in the specified research areas requires substantial use of computers and appropriate numerical techniques and processing methods. Some of the research areas entail mathematical representations of linear and nonlinear physical systems expressed in terms of partial differential or integral-differential equations that are solved by numerical computations. Other areas involve data processing and visualization development, numerical simulation of remote sensing observations using radiative transfer modeling and interpretation of measurements to analyze spacecraft instrument performance. The work of the

Contractor includes the consideration of the numerical stability and accuracy of the solutions and model simulations. Development of appropriate numerical methods for the various applications shall emphasize the most efficient use of the computational facilities available to GISS personnel.

Scientific programming and analysis extend into programming techniques and detailed understanding of computer usage. When a mathematical formulation of the physical problem is completed, the analyst works with the programmer in carrying the solution through to the final numerical or visual display, including all details of programming and coding. The function includes the design coding, detailed flow charting, debugging and documentation of scientific programs, as well as the construction of final program systems for production running. Programs shall encompass such areas as pattern recognition, numerical modeling and simulation of physical systems, image data analysis, dynamic interaction with graphic displays, processing, and maintenance of large information libraries on various storage media and data reduction and archiving. Coding is done primarily in the FORTRAN-90 language, with use of C, C ++, and Python for some applications.

The programming function also includes the running of production programs, the development of scripts and running procedures, the monitoring of the status of the various physical models as they progress through their computational cycles, and the communication of results of these runs to the scientific staff. If in the course of this work, problems arise due to changing experimental evidence or theoretical scientific emphasis, the Contractor shall respond to the needs of the research project by expanding and modifying programs to meet the new situation and to ensure the timely completion of these efforts by utilizing additional project support where appropriate. Scientific programming includes the maintenance and documentation of completed codes adequate to assure mission continuity. Included program maintenance are the responsibility for incremental changes in established programs, the creation of minor utility programs needed for larger production jobs, and support in improving and updating, where necessary, the documentation of established programs.

Global Climate Modeling

Research at GISS on global climate relies on a constantly developing array of general circulation models (GCMs). These complex computer programs numerically solve the fundamental equations describing the conservation of mass, energy, momentum, etc., for each atmospheric gridbox in a three-dimensional array, while considering the transfers among gridboxes. They must also address, usually in a parameterized form, the physical processes within the gridboxes, including sources and sinks of quantities. The GISS climate GCM is under continual development to improve the overall capability of realistically simulating present climate and potential climate changes. Much of this ongoing development is focused on examining the sensitivities to parameterizations of sub-grid physical processes, such as radiative transfer, clouds and moist convection, aerosols and chemistry, boundary-layer turbulence, ground hydrology, the carbon cycle, the dynamics of the ocean-ice system, and air-surface interactions. This process typically involves control runs with a current-version GCM that are compared to experiment runs with the modified parameterization. Owing to sometimes complex interrelations, this may entail an iterative process involving more than one physical parameterization. In many cases, this model development leverages increases in available computational capability to introduce additional complexity.

The ultimate objective of GISS global climate research is to simulate with a quantifiable level of confidence, past, present, and potential future climate states. Present and shorter-term past climate simulations are compared with historical records with the objectives of validating the performance of the climate model and of better understanding the causes of the climate changes observed thus far. Longer-term past climate simulations are compared with climate inferred from paleo-climate studies. This permits for example, an examination of larger climate changes than those that occurred in historical records. Projections of future climate changes are focused on estimating potential impacts and on discerning those changes associated with anthropogenic forcings, such as increasing greenhouse gases, changing atmospheric composition, and changes in land use/land cover.

Another aspect of climate model development is in adding or modifying the variables that constitute the model diagnostics, namely, the many derived quantities that are used to illustrate and understand the behavior of the instantaneous model atmosphere-ocean system and the climate as represented by appropriate time and spatial averages. Some climate experiments suggest new diagnostic information that may be useful in interpreting results or new ways of presenting existing diagnostic information that may be desirable. New approaches for display of diagnostic quantities often are prompted by the capability of newly acquired hardware or the desire to place results on-line for easier access.

Specific detailed activities supporting the Global Climate Modeling research are:

1. Continue ongoing progress in the design, programming, implementation and testing of changes to be included in the next version of the climate GCM. Carry out specific analyses of climate simulations and perform additional simulations. Collaborate with software experts at GSFC to improve the model computing speed with multiple-processor computers.

2. Support the continuing identification, development, and implementation of new diagnostics for the GISS climate models.

3. Continue the development, implementation, and testing of improved parameterizations. For all parameterization developments, maintain appropriate documentation of the tests and the evaluation of model performance.

4. Support the effort to contribute GISS model results to relevant databases as required through international and national intercomparison projects. Support full archiving of code, analysis scripts and data in support of open science.

5. Support the effort to complete a systematic general documentation of the core GISS climate model.

Earth Observations

The primary emphasis of Earth Observations research at GISS is the ongoing development and enhancement of datasets that are necessary for characterizing the Earth's climate and for discerning and monitoring changes in the climate. Observations from satellites provide the potential for obtaining information on the Earth system on a global scale. Specific GISS research involves the airborne Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP), the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, and analysis of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology (ISCCP), CloudSat/Calipso and DSCOVR datasets among others. A significant aspect of the research using these satellite data sets is the study of how such data compares with and supports data acquired using ground-based measurements and field experiment data. Since a fundamental objective of this effort is to develop data sets that characterize the basic modes of variability of the climate state and reveal changes in the climate, substantial emphasis is placed on data mining and data organizing methods that facilitate comparison with climate model outputs and non-satellite data sets. This effort therefore includes the development of appropriate techniques for creating observational metadata and climate model diagnostics data sets that are optimized for comparison and process understanding studies and, in some cases, are intended to encourage new measurement strategies and techniques.

Specific activities supporting the Earth Observations research are:

1. Continue support for the ongoing production of the GISTEMP global surface air temperature time series, which is used in assessing realism of climate simulations.

2. Provide support for web page development to update and expand the on-line data sets for observed and simulated products.

3. Continue the development of the algorithm package for processing the expected data from future missions, and the development of data mining techniques to produce metadata for model evaluation and process understanding.

4. Continue support for field campaign deployments of the Research Scanning Polarimeter and processing of data acquired.

5. Generate data sets of diagnostics from climate model simulations for community access in graphical and digital format via the GISS web site and in appropriate digital format for downloads.

Climate Impacts

Specific activities supporting climate impacts research are:

1. Continue ongoing progress in the design, programming, implementation and testing of changes in the GCM that influence and interact with climate impacts.

2. Carry out specific analyses of climate simulations and perform additional simulations applying to Climate Impacts.

3. Compare ground-based climate impact measurements with satellite date.

These tasks involve collaboration with researchers in Earth observation measurements and GCM development. Contractor support in scientific programming and analysis provides benefit across several climate impacts research initiatives. Urban, agricultural, and ecosystem applications all require climate information and scenarios drawn from large datasets and model outputs, requiring clear archive organization, as well as processing tools that can easily identify and visualize key variables in different temporal and spatial scales. Programs are required both for the generation of input datasets for impacts models (e.g., crop models or sea-level inundation models) and the creation of easy-to-understand visuals for our group's publications.

Planetary Climatology

The Planetary Climatology research category covers studies at GISS of the climates of other planets in the solar system as well as exoplanets. These research efforts employ remote sensing and telescope observations, and theoretical modeling of basic atmospheric processes such as aerosol and cloud physics, radiative transfer and radiation budget, surface hydrology, atmospheric dynamics and chemistry, and ocean dynamics. Past efforts using remote sensing observations included the Orbiter Cloud Photopolarimeter (OCPP) on the Pioneer Venus Mission and the Photopolarimeter/Radiometer (PPR) on the Galilee Orbiter, and the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) on the Cassini Orbiter. Current research in this area is focused on ROCKE-3D GCM modeling of solar system planets and exoplanets to understand planetary habitability. Although the emphasis is on planets other than the Earth, this research results in improved physics, observation techniques, and analyses, which may be applied to the Earth’s atmosphere and which in turn benefit from our understanding of Earth’s atmosphere, past, current, and future. Further, the outcome of research on the atmospheres of other planets can provide important insights regarding basic atmospheric processes for a range of physical conditions.

Specific detailed activities supporting Planetary Climatology research are:

1. Adapt the GISS global climate model for ROCKE-3D simulations of the early Earth, other planets, and moons in the solar system and in other stellar systems.

2. Develop ROCKE-3D diagnostics for telescope observation simulators of exoplanet transits and photometry of directly imaged exoplanets.

3. Conduct specific simulations, coupling with observation simulators, and analyses applying to Planetary Climatology.

These are tasks directly related to the Sellers Exoplanet Environments Collaboration and GISS centered ROCKE-3D GCM development.

3.1.2 Computer Facility Services

The managerial responsibility for Computer Facility Operations shall be the duty of a GSFC Contractor Systems Manager (SESDA IV – Space and Earth Science Data Analysis). The Contractor will be responsible for the GISS computer facility support services. Overall management of the of the GISS Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) computer software and hardware by all GISS Personnel is the responsibility of GISS. Through this mission support contract, GISS delegates the overall management responsibility to the Contractor.

The Contractor will be required to monitor all computing equipment and assist users to ensure proper functioning. Monitoring of computing equipment shall include identifying any problems with the operating systems that control the computer hardware and interfacing with GSFC systems particularly dealing with user interface difficulties. This shall be hands-on rather than transmitted via e-mail when applicable.

In view of the distributed nature of the computing facility, the Contractor shall maintain a reporting system that facilities rapid and accurate reporting of suspected hardware, software, and network problems by the users of the facility. Whenever computer hardware/software or network problems or malfunctions are identified, the Contractor shall assess the nature of the problem and determine the appropriate course of action to remedy the problem and above all, assist the end user with hands-on demonstrations when applicable.

For hardware malfunctions that require remedial maintenance or repair, the Contractor shall notify the respective maintenance contractor(s) in a timely fashion and ensure that appropriate access and a complete description of the problem is provided to the hardware maintenance contractor. Every quarter, or a practical time frame as determined by all the parties involved, the Contractor shall collate the completed and open tickets in the reporting system mentioned above and offer to review results with the Computer Security Official (CSO) and GISS management. The contractor shall remedy any issues in a timely fashion. For example, in less than one week after the quarterly report is complete.

The Contractor is responsible for purchasing and maintaining an appropriate inventory of all supplies necessary for the operation of the computer facility and reporting on these supply costs monthly. These supplies include but are not limited to, paper for printers, storage media and printer cartridges. These materials must be organized for rapid access, for accurate inventory and secure storage.

A key aspect of the operation of the computer facility is systems programming support. The Contractor shall provide systems programming support capable of installing, maintaining, operating, and monitoring the specific operating systems on the computers in the GISS facility. The current workstations and servers at GISS run the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. In addition to the assurance of the operating systems functioning on the respective computer platforms, the systems programming function includes ensuring that these computers and their operating systems provide for attachment to the Local Area Network (LAN) and appropriate functional interaction with other network devices such as network printers, as well as access to the NASA/GSFC CNE Network and Internet through the present wide-area network (WAN) link to GSFC. This WAN connection is also the link for remote usage of GSFC NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) computers where the total computing effort supporting GISS research is performed.

As part of the systems programming function, the Contractor is expected to maintain a thorough knowledge of operating systems, compilers, and system utility programs for all computers in the GISS facility and to conduct evaluations of the configurations of such software-hardware combinations including new releases in order to provide recommendations regarding changes or new implementations needed to maintain compatibility and optimal performance.

In coordination with the GISS CSO, the Contractor shall also provide technical support including services as necessary relating to definition, technical evaluation and pricing of hardware/software, and maintenance for the GISS computing facility. They shall support GISS management and CSO in developing overall planning for evolution of the computer facility that provides continuing improvements by taking advantage of hardware and software technology developments. After any basic set-up and installation that may be provided by the OEM or hardware vendor for new hardware obtained for the GISS facility, the Contractor shall be responsible for completing the hardware installation including attachment to the LAN if appropriate and for the installation of any operating system and other requisite software. They must also ensure backups to the non-ACES backup servers (located at GISS and GSFC) are functioning and that the backup servers are in good working order and that backup retrieval is tested on a quarterly basis.

The Contractor shall establish and operate the NASA Video Teleconference Service (ViTS) at GISS. This may include setting up and operating the ViTS space, recording the conference, monitoring for audio and video quality, assisting with Internet connections, and providing administrative and clerical support. Contractor shall also be responsible for any other Teleconferencing software. For example, Adobe Connect, Google Meet, Teams, WebEx etc. as required by GISS employees.

The Contractor is responsible for informing users of the features and capabilities of the GISS computing facility through the maintenance of a library of manuals and documentation as well as individual hands-on assistance and appropriate on-line information and help functions. Systems programming and technical support staff are expected to support scientific applications programmers in diagnosing program execution problems that appear to be attributable to hardware, operating system, or network problems. The Contractor shall also provide support in evaluating and optimizing the efficiency of applications programs running on current GISS facility computers and is responsible for operational testing and providing support in reprogramming codes for newly acquired computer systems.

The Contractor shall be responsible for developing and maintaining appropriate procedures to ensure the security of the GISS computing facility. Standard procedures for authorizing GISS personnel for use of the computing facility will be developed and maintained in accordance with GSFC controlling the firewall. The Contractor shall report to the contract technical monitor and to the GISS staff member designated as the CSO, any situation, incident or actual violation that may or does constitute a security threat to the GISS computer facility. In addition, the Contractor shall provide support to the CSO in preparing required reports and certification documents regarding the GISS computer facility IT security, plans and procedures as well as any security incident or violation reports. Furthermore, GISS requires that all contractor data operations are strictly conducted according to Federal Regulations in conjunction with and approval of the civil servant

CSO.

3.1.3 Library Services (Contract Base Year)

The Contractor shall manage, staff, operate, and provide specialized services for an earth and space science library that services the GISS research staff for contract base year. The library is staffed from 9:00am to 5:30pm on weekdays. The Contractor shall be responsible for a monthly report of library expenses with cumulative totals for the year and projected future expenses for the remainder of the year. In recent years, such expenses have been as high as 126K in a contract year but are likely to decrease in the future as agency-wide solutions are developed.

The Contractor shall be responsible for compliance with and documentation of NASA’s scientific and technical information (STI) document availability authorization (DAA) process for contract base year. The Contractor shall maintain documentation of abstracts of all conference papers and presentations, conference proceedings, journal articles, presentations and non-published STI. In addition, the Contractor shall publish an annual in-house synopsis of all research publications in an applicable medium.

The contractor shall only provide library services for the contract base year. At the end of the base year these services will be provided via a NASA agency-wide solution.

3.1.4 Program Management

The Contractor shall provide overall program management for the mission contract effort. This support shall entail the appropriate planning and coordination necessary for the Contractor staff to perform the various functional support activities for specific contract work required. The routine administration of contract effort includes the assignment and tracking of actions and preparation of reports as required by the contract. The Contractor shall prepare and submit an appropriate personnel safety and health plan as required by the contract and shall ensure that all elements of the work in this mission contract are performed in accordance with that plan.

The Contractor works with the Facility Operations Manager (FOM) to ensure all aspects of the GISS facility are in compliance with appropriate physical safety regulations. The Contractor shall also work with the GISS FOM to provide support and coordinate GISS facility operational activities with Columbia University and the General Services Administration, including building interior modifications and office reconfigurations.

The contractor shall ensure Property Custodian receives new equipment, and Property Custodian is supported for tagging and entering into the inventory database and updating inventory as necessary.

Contractor Project Manager also provides support to GSFC personnel in the triennial inventory validation. Movement of equipment and office furniture associated with office assignments or re-assignments are performed as needed.

The GISS facility typically hosts meetings or conferences that require audio-visual equipment set up, room layout, registration procedures including badge preparation and coordination with lobby security personnel for visitor clearances. The Contractor assists SESDA IV with IdMAX in accordance with GSFC security requirements. This includes, but not limited to, communication with GISS staff and potential visitors/employees on building entry policies and regulations as directed by NASA Protective Services. The Contractor shall request and gather information for IdMAX data entry and check all foreign national documents for legitimacy, making sure they are not expired, including passports, visa/esta, work authorization files, etc. The Contractor shall ensure all forms are filled out correctly and monitor the start and end dates of applicants. The Contractor shall set up Enrollment and Exit paperwork and update status changes, keeping and maintaining IdMAX foreign national policy changes.

In addition, the Contractor shall provide support for occasional off-site conferences or workshops co-sponsored by GISS including support for field deployments in support of observational field campaigns as well as airborne experiments.

The Contractor shall also provide support in the development, implementation and evaluation of community outreach and educational programs through the CCRI and other initiatives.

4.0 Electronic Information Technology Accessibility Compliance

Since the performance requirements for the Contractor include support for developing and maintaining the GISS web site, the Contractor shall be required to meet the appropriate standards for Electronic Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility (Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended by the Workforce Improvement Act of 1998) Compliance. Section 508 requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use EIT, Federal employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access and use by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities. It also requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a federal agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities. The EIT Accessibility standards apply to Software Applications and Operating Systems (1194.21) and Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications (1194.22). In its performance of the support services for GISS, the Contractor shall meet the EIT Accessibility standards for all services associated with Software Applications and Operating Systems and Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications. To comply with the Section 508 Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards, the contractor shall perform all work required under this contract in compliance with the following technical standards delineated in Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 36: Part 1194.21Software Applications and Operating Systems and Part 1194.22 Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications.

Specific requirements for Section 508 compliance associated with Software Applications and Operating Systems are: (a) When software is designed to run on a system that has a keyboard, product functions shall be executable from a keyboard where the function itself or the result of performing a function can be discerned textually; (b) Applications shall not disrupt or disable activated features of other products that are identified as accessibility features, where those features are developed and documented according to industry standards. Applications also shall not disrupt or disable activated features of any operating system that are identified as accessibility features where the application programming interface for those accessibility features has been documented by the manufacturer of the operating system and is available to the product developer; (c) A well-defined on-screen indication of the current focus shall be provided that moves among interactive interface elements as the input focus changes. The focus shall be programmatically exposed so that assistive technology can track focus and focus changes; (d) Sufficient information about a user interface element including the identity, operation and state of the element shall be available to assistive technology. When an image represents a program element, the information conveyed by the image must also be available in text; (e) When bitmap images are used to identify controls, status indicators or other programmatic elements, the meaning assigned to those images shall be consistent throughout an application's performance; (f) Textual information shall be provided through operating system functions for displaying text. The minimum information that shall be made available is text content, text input, caret location and text attributes; (g) Applications shall not override user selected contrast and color selections and other individual display attributes; (h) When animation is displayed, the information shall be displayable in at least one non-animated presentation mode at the option of the user; (i) Color coding shall not be used as the only means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response or distinguishing a visual element; (j) When a product permits a user to adjust color and contrast settings, a variety of color selections capable of producing a range of contrast levels shall be provided; (k) Software shall not use flashing or blinking text objects or other elements having a flash or blink frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz; (l) When electronic forms are used, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.

Specific requirements for Section 508 compliance associated with the Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications are: (a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided; (b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation; (c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup; (d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet; (e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map; (f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape; (g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables; (h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers;(i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation;(j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55Hz; (k) A text-only page with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with these provisions, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The context of the text only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes; (I) When pages utilize scripting languages to display content or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology; (m) When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with Section 508 technical standards for software applications; (n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues;

(o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links; and (p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.