B02 - PWS - CFPS and SaDS.pdf

Farm Production and Conservation FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center

Performance Work Statement (PWS) for

Common Farm Program System (CFPS) & Subsidy and Disaster Systems (SaDS)

1. Background and Purpose The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Services Agency (FSA) administers and manages farm commodity, disaster, and loan programs as authorized by Congress through a network of federal, state, and county offices. FSA’s administrative and programmatic functions are supported by a large network of automated systems maintained by the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Business Center (FBC) Information Solutions Division (ISD). FBC ISD is also responsible for developing Information Technology (IT) support for new programs, replacing existing programs, modernizing existing platforms and systems, and maintaining existing systems. FBC is responsible for an increasing number of web applications resulting from on-going efforts to modernize program delivery to the web environment. FSA has a need to develop modernized solutions to meet the needs of the nation’s farmers and ranchers and the county office users that support them, and to provide support for domestic and international food aid efforts via cost effective Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) centric Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)/hybrid solutions that integrate custom software components to maximize the benefits of both COTS and custom development platforms.

The primary FBC ISD operations are located in Washington, DC and Kansas City, MO, with additional offices in St.

Louis, MO and Fort Collins, CO. Disaster Assistance & Risk Program and Insurance Delivery and Producer Sustainment Section is responsible for an increasing number of web applications resulting from on-going efforts to move software to the web environment. The Disaster Assistance & Risk Program and Insurance Delivery and producers Sustainment Section has a need to develop new web applications and modernize existing applications.

FSA IT strategic principles begin with the following four principles and shall be integrated into the work associated with this Performance Work Statement (PWS):

Ensure Operational Availability, Security and Integrity – to provide uninterrupted, efficient, and secure operations for FSA’s system users and customers Simplify and Improve the FSA IT Portfolio – to reduce system complexity and risk while enabling more rapid program delivery, new customer functionality, and increased access to data Partner on High Impact / Cross Agency Programs – to provide self-service options for customers, reduce redundant

USDA systems, and increase USDA shared services Enhance Key IT Planning and Delivery Disciplines – to improve the planning, project management, and communication needed for cost-effectively delivering the work

This PWS supports the efforts of FSA in developing and maintaining IT projects authorized in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill) and other legislation and regulations, including future Farm Bills. The Farm Programs Delivery (FPD) effort, on behalf of the Program Delivery Division (PDD) supports a variety of Farm Programs Systems, including several key shared services. Many of these services are leveraged by other USDA agencies. The scope of projects associated with this spans the following categories: implementation of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Farm Bill); supporting ad hoc legislation; modernization of Farm Programs; and normal enhancements and modifications. All web applications are currently hosted in the USDA Enterprise Data Center in Kansas City or within the USDA Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud and have been constructed following FSA Standards using .NET, JBoss, JAVA, and SQL Server. The USDA FBC ISD Service Delivery and Operations Branch (SDOB) provides oversight to the effort on this PWS.

2. Objective and Scope The objective of this PWS is to provide technical support services for the delivery of consistent, modern, and cost-effective business solutions for FSA and other agencies that FSA partners with today and in the future. The primary scope will include technical services such as: requirements determination; analysis; design; configuration;

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center construction; unit, and integration testing; deployment support; maintenance support; and production support of existing and new custom, COTS, or hybrid systems, hereafter referred to as Farm Programs (FP) Systems, to support IT projects authorized as follows:

AGRICULTURE IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2018 (Farm Bill) and future farm bills: New farm programs or changes to existing farm programs systems will be identified and implemented and technical support for these will be required by this PWS.

AD HOC LEGISLATION: There is the potential that in addition to the work related to Farm Bill, other legislation will be passed requiring implementation of new programs or changes to existing programs.

This PWS will support FSA efforts to develop, modernize, enhance, and maintain new and existing systems to support these IT projects including, but not limited to, the following:

CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT OF FARM PROGRAMS: FSA is continuing to standardize and streamline program delivery, as well as business processes in order to try to make more resources available to USDA customers. The focus will be on smaller projects that bring rapid and cost-effective delivery of business benefits.

These projects will be proposed and prioritized by FSA executive leadership through the FBC IT road mapping process. As part of this process, technology choices such as COTS vs custom development will be driven based on formal alternative analysis performed by the Government and its representatives.

MAINTENANCE AND ENHANCEMENT OF FARM PROGRAM SYSTEMS: Support services are required for projects related to the normal maintenance and enhancement activities associated with existing FSA applications.

This support is required to address production problems, including poor performance experienced by the user community. Additionally, based on historical data, the existing web applications will require some degree of enhancement to implement new functionality or logic identified by the business sponsors. The support services for maintenance and enhancement activities include but are not limited to Disaster Assistance I& Risk Program and Insurance Delivery and Producer Sustainment Section systems. The scope of this PWS includes support of any Farm Program owned projects prioritized through FSA and FBC road mapping efforts as well as the development of Farm Program portions of cross cutting initiatives.

These technical support services include the following specific objectives:

Support of FSA movement to unified responsive user experience for national, state, and county office staff, as well as producers directly.

Continual improvement of FSA systems, as well as support of FBC to new and emerging technologies, such as, Single Page Applications.

Support FSA and FBC drive to reduce costs and time to market in highly dynamic environment.

Support of FSA and FBC efforts to deliver mission critical Farm Programs.

Support of a move toward customer centric systems.

Support for the Service Center Modernization Initiative including reduction of needed trips by the producer to the local Service Center.

Support modification of business processes and rules to meet current program needs.

Interface with the National Payments System and other required accounting applications, resolving material weaknesses related to reporting obligations.

Facilitation of data quality, data entry integrity, and accuracy during field operations.

Improved stability in the Web Farm and movement of applications to new and emerging technologies.

Generation of standardized reports.

Compliance with Government requirements and initiatives (i.e., eGov, accessibility standards).

Protection of personally identifiable information.

Support of FSA FBC ISD IT road mapping objectives.

All necessary audit functionality and increased service and data sharing with partner agencies.

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Ensuring continuity of operations in all systems and environments by ensuring the data is kept synchronized regardless of environment or system source of entry and reduces technical service costs associated with administration of the different programs.

The technical support tasks shall be performed primarily on the FSA and FBC chosen platform consisting of Java EE Server, with JBoss, and supporting existing and new FSA administered Farm Programs software. Farm Programs may require technical support for new development, maintenance, enhancement, and improvement to the performance of existing applications.

2.1 Common Capabilities and Programs or Systems

Below is a representative, but not all inclusive, list of FSA capabilities and programs or systems that the Contractor shall support:

Farm Program Capabilities

FSA Business Partner Information

- Service Center Information Management System (SCIMS) – JAVA, .Net

- Representative Link Manager Systems (RLMS) - .Net

- Subsidiary / Eligibility – JAVA

- Direct Attribution – JAVA

- Farm Operating Plan (Business File) – JAVA

Farm Records Management (FRM) - JAVA Agricultural Risk Coverage/Price Loss coverage (ARC/PLC) – JAVA Application Obligation Service - JAVA Common Payment Framework – JAVA Common Payment Reports – JAVA Common Payment System - JAVA Fruits and Veggies (FAV) - JAVA The Natural Disaster Relief Programs (NDRP) and Payments

- Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) - JAVA

- Livestock Forage Program (LFP) - JAVA

- Tree Assistance Program (TAP) - JAVA

- Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP) – JAVA

National Crop Table (NCT) - JAVA Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Programs (NAP) – JAVA Systematic Tracking for Optimal Risk Management (STORM) - JAVA Emergency Relief Program (ERP) – JAVA Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP) – JAVA Coronavirus Food Assistance Programs (CFAP) - JAVA

Most applications have been constructed following the FSA Reference Architecture and using the Java EE and Java development standards.

2.2 Constraints and Minimum Requirements

The Contractor shall use, and comply, with the FBC (FSA) System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) software development methodology. The SDLC defines system development activities, documents, deliverables, and artifacts required to be performed throughout the phases of the project. All Contractor performance shall ensure that:

a) The system shall conform to the FBC (FSA) infrastructure.

b) The system shall enforce security to meet FBC (FSA)’s implementation of the Federal Information Security

Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) standards.

c) The system shall be constructed in a way to secure it from the top 10 Security Threats defined by the Open

Web Application Security Project (OWASP).

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center

d) The system shall be constructed and packaged using FBC (FSA) standard tools for automated builds. This build process shall produce a quality report containing automated integration tests and unit tests that cover at least 80% of the code, unless specified differently in the Work Definition Form (WDF) and approved by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

e) The system shall not compromise the security of external interfacing systems at FBC (FSA).

f) The system shall be implemented without significant disruption of operations.

g) The project plans shall be maintained and tracked in the Government determined application, currently MS

Project.

h) New application development projects shall include a project kickoff meeting per SDLC guidelines and will involve key stakeholders from across the agency including, but not limited to, Shared Services Section, Client Experience Center (CEC), Customer Needs Management Branch (CNMB), Service Strategy and Planning Branch (SSPB), and Information Assurance Branch (ISB) among others.

i) Required SDLC artifacts shall be determined based upon the project risk assessment and project size with guidance from the AO.

j) Adhering to the SDLC, the individual phases shall be completed and required work products shall be produced and uploaded to the FBC (FSA) designated SDLC artifacts repository.

k) All Web applications shall be completed using the FBC (FSA)’s standard tools.

l) Service Level Agreements shall be defined for new Web applications prior to development. Ongoing development efforts shall include required application upgrades in response to Agency standards changes (e.g.

Reference Architecture, Information Bulletins).

m) JAVA systems delivered shall be J2EE™.

n) All documentation, artifacts, and evolving code shall be stored in the approved FBC (FSA) Repositories, such as SharePoint, Subversion, Bitbucket, or JIRA.

o) Customization to COTS packages shall contain automated integration tests and unit tests that cover at least

80% of the code unless specified differently in the Work Definition Form (WDF).

p) Systems and applications shall adhere to Section 508 Guidelines and pass accessibility tests.

q) Systems and applications shall adhere to the FSA Software Quality Standards.

r) Systems shall be implemented without unplanned disruption of operations.

s) The technical solution of tasks shall adhere to SDLC artifacts and be generated in accordance with associated policy, procedure, or Work Definition Forms that are reviewed, negotiated, and signed by the COR, FSA and FBC Owner, and the authorized Contractor representative.

t) All application development projects shall comply with SDLC guidelines.

u) Screen mockups and system design documents shall be used to help clarify requirements and gain consensus from assigned Business Sponsors, technical, and certification testing staff.

3. Current Challenges The below list identifies and depicts some of the current challenges associated with the overall technical environment.

a) Providing scalability necessary to meet the increasing demands from ongoing modernization efforts, including requirements identified by FSA and other Service Center Agencies, Natural Resources Conservations Service (NRCS), and Rural Development (RD).

b) Reconciling competing needs and priorities to support requirements from the Service Center Agencies.

c) Managing the differences in the development of applications such as languages, standards, , FBC (FSA)

Reference Architecture, and frameworks.

d) Automating technical services previously performed during farm visits.

e) Managing, maintaining, and meeting Farm Program delivery dates for Mission Critical Farm Programs.

f) Applications are hosted at the Kansas City Web Farm. The Web Farm Systems use SQL Server, Oracle, or

DB2 databases as repositories for data.

g) Number of Business Partners contributing to the design and development of Farm Program Systems.

h) Data collections and data verification requirements for new databases.

i) Moving to a unified responsive user experience.

j) Reducing the number of deployment components within infrastructure.

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center

k) Expanding support of the Business in development of common processes that can then be automated.

4. Applicable Regulations and Documents The following documents (versions current at time of award) are incorporated with the same force and effect as if provided in full text. Succeeding revisions may be substituted or incorporated as required with full notice and disclosure to the Contractor. The Government will provide access to available documents and technical information as required and upon Contractor request for the performance of this PWS.

a) FBC (FSA) Information Bulletins (IB) and Technical Information Advisory (TIA) documents.

b) Departmental Information Processing Standards (DIPS), manuals, circulars, and user requirements.

c) FBC (FSA) SDLC documentation for web applications, to include supplements.

d) FBC (FSA) Standards Guide.

e) FBC (FSA) Security Standards.

f) Farm Programs Development Standards.

g) United States Department of Agriculture Office of Procurement and Property Management AGAR Advisory

No. 81, Revision.

h) FBC (FSA) Enterprise Architecture principles, standards, and guidelines.

i) Federal CIO’s 25 Point Plan.

j) Digital Government Strategy.

k) Other policy, procedural, or technical documentation as the Government may deem necessary in order to conduct work under this contract.

Note: In the case the solution being delivered is for a partner Agency, FBC (FSA) standards may be substituted with partner Agency standards.

5. General Requirements This section describes the general requirements for this effort. The following sub-sections provide details of various considerations on this effort.

5.1 Non-Personal Services

The Government shall neither supervise contractor employees nor control the method by which the contractor performs the required tasks. Under no circumstances shall the Government assign tasks to, or prepare work schedules for, individual contractor employees. It shall be the responsibility of the contractor to manage its employees and to guard against any actions that are of the nature of personal services or give the perception of personal services. If the contractor believes that any actions constitute, or are perceived to constitute personal services, it shall be the contractor's responsibility to notify the Contracting Officer (CO) immediately.

5.2 Business Relations

The Contractor shall successfully integrate and coordinate all activity needed to execute the requirement. The contractor shall manage the timeliness, completeness, and quality of problem identification. The contractor shall provide corrective action plans, proposal submittals, timely identification of issues, and effective management of subcontractors. The contractor shall seek to ensure customer satisfaction and professional and ethical behavior of all contractor personnel.

5.3 Contract Administration and Management

The following subsections specify requirements for contract, management, and personnel administration.

5.3.1 Contract Management

The contractor shall establish clear organizational lines of authority and responsibility to ensure effective management of the resources assigned to the requirement.

5.3.2 Contract Administration

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center

The contractor shall establish processes and assign appropriate resources to effectively administer the requirement. The contractor shall respond to Government requests for contractual actions in a timely fashion. The contractor shall have a single point of contact between the Government and Contractor personnel assigned to support contracts or task orders. The contractor shall assign work effort and maintaining proper and accurate time keeping records of personnel assigned to work on the requirement.

5.4 Subcontract Management

The contractor shall be responsible for any subcontract management necessary to integrate work performed on this requirement and shall be responsible and accountable for subcontractor performance on this requirement. The prime contractor will manage work distribution to ensure there are no Organizational Conflict of lnterest (OCI) considerations. Contractors may add subcontractors to their team after notification to the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO) or Contracting Officer Representative (COR).

5.5 Working with Technical Points of Contact (TPOCs)

The COR may work with other Government personnel to monitor technical progress. The Contractor must work with other Government personnel, as designated by the COR, in review of specified requests and implementation of the specified task assignment request. Any actions resulting from such interactions that affect the contract or scope of work, or administrative issues, including work schedules and resources, must be documented, and reported to the COR and the CO, as appropriate, for approval before being implemented by the Contractor. The Contractor must bring problems or potential problems affecting performance to the attention of the COR as soon as possible. Verbal reports must be followed up with written reports, when directed by the COR, within twenty-four (24) hours. Only the CO may take action affecting the contractual relationship between the Government and the Contractor, including interpreting or changing the terms and conditions of the contract. The Contractor must not contact nor take direction from unauthorized FPAC employees, under any circumstances. The Contractor must direct all written and/or oral communications, throughout the project life cycle, to the CO and the COR.

5.6 Key Capabilities/Personnel

The Government has identified the following capabilities as critical to program delivery success. The contractor shall provide these capabilities throughout the full period of performance of this Task Order.

The Contractor shall provide the necessary resources and infrastructure along with knowledge, skills, certifications, and experience to manage, perform, and administer the contract requirements.

5.6.1 Program Management

The Contractor shall provide Program Management to include the management and oversight of all activities performed by Contractor personnel, including subcontractors, to satisfy the requirements identified in this PWS.

Program management shall be based on industry best practices processes, such as the Project Management Institute's PMBOK® using an Agile approach and Program Management Institute’s Standard for Program Management. The following proficiency and experience underly this capability:

• Leading cross-functional project teams on complex projects.

• Agile Scrum development methodology.

• Organizing and managing multiple complex and interrelated project tasks.

• Communicating at senior levels within a customer organization.

• Orchestrating the customer and Contractor personnel through formulation, execution, review, and validation of task plans and deliverable items.

5.6.2 Project Management Leadership

The Contractor shall provide Project Management to include the management and oversight of projects performed by Contractor personnel, including subcontractors, to satisfy the requirements identified in this PWS.

Project management shall be based on industry best practice processes, such as the Project Management Institutes PMBOK® using an Agile approach and the Project Management Institute's Standard for Program Management using an Agile approach. The following proficiency and experience are indicative of ability to provide this

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center capability successfully:

• Knowledge of Agile development methodology

• Organizing and managing multiple complex and interrelated project tasks.

• Communicating at senior levels within a customer organization.

• Meeting with customer and Contractor personnel to formulate and review task plans and deliverable items.

5.6.3 Systems Development Leadership

The Contractor shall provide Systems Development leadership responsible for workflow definition, process improvement, technical and external consultant management, data analysis, and problem resolution. Inherent in this capability is the ability to think creatively and interpret the meaning of process information for others according to requirements. The following proficiency and experience are indicative of ability to provide this capability successfully:

• Knowledge of Agile Scrum development methodology.

• Directing teams in the implementation of new or enhanced technical capabilities within a customer organization.

• Providing analysis related to the design, development, and integration of hardware, software, man-machine interfaces, and all system level requirements to provide an integrated IT solution.

• Formulating and defining a system's scope and objectives based on both user needs and a thorough understanding of business systems and industry requirements.

5.6.4 Systems Architect Leadership

The Contractor shall provide Systems Architect leadership responsible for the architecture and design of applications developed/modified under this PWS. The following proficiency and experience are indicative of ability to provide this capability successfully:

• Traditional and Agile frameworks in a highly dynamic development environment.

• Architectural requirements for large scale information technology and database system comprised of a multi-tier architecture and the integration of highly complex commercial software products and custom code in JAVA, JBoss, SQL Server, and AWS environments.

• Developing and architecting Java/J2EE applications.

5.7 Skills Requirements

This contract requires knowledge, experience, and proficiency in the use of products and methodologies used in the FSA software development environment, including, but not limited to, the following:

Agile and Test-Driven Development Control-M, ESP, CAWA Eclipse Endevor IBM MQ Series Jasper Reports & iText Java (J2EE) JAVA, JAVA Script, JBoss

JIRA

Maven Microsoft Internet Explorer Browser versions

10.0 and later Microsoft Project Microsoft SQL 2008 R2 Enterprise Server and later

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Object Oriented Analysis and Design PKWare SecureZIP Secure Socket Layer (SSL) SOAP Technologies Struts - Tiles Subversion TCP/IP, Telnet, FTP XML, Web Services, HTML

.NET

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center

Microsoft Office 2013 and later

As software development technologies, tools, and methodologies evolve over time, the products and methodologies used in the FPAC/FSA software development environment may change. The contractor will be expected to remain current and proficient with the technologies, tools and methodologies used in the FPAC/FSA software development environment as changes occur over the life of the contract. For any new ("green field") or modernization efforts, the contractor will be expected to leverage AWS cloud native technologies that are FedRAMP approved under EAST-WEST. This includes services in scope as well as future services that receive FedRAMP approval during the execute of this vehicle.

5.8 Travel

Travel is not authorized, however if it is required with a bilateral modification the costs for travel shall be billed in accordance with the regulatory implementation of Public Law 99-234 and FAR 31.205-46 Travel Costs.

5.9 Place and time of Performance

Government stakeholders primarily work remotely. Some stakeholders may work at USDA facilities in Kansas City, Missouri, or the USDA headquarters in Washington, DC. The Government's normal duty hours are 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. local time and core work hours are 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. local time.

Contractor personnel will work primarily offsite and within the United States. Contractor personnel providing project management and supporting key capabilities will be available during Government core work hours. The Government will provide hoteling workspaces at USDA facilities in Kansas City, Missouri to supported limited onsite work and meetings when necessary.

5.10 Holidays and Administrative Leave

Federal Holidays The Contractor is hereby advised that Government personnel observe the following holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King's Birthday, President's Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. In addition to the days designated as holidays, the Government may observe the following days: any other days designated by Federal Statute; any other days designated by Executive Order; and any other days designated by the President's Proclamation. This includes Inauguration Day (Washington, D.C. metropolitan area only).

Observance of such days by Government personnel must not be a reason for an additional period of performance, or entitlement of compensation.

When the agency grants administrative leave to its employees, on-site assigned Contractor personnel may be dismissed by the Contractor. The Contractor agrees to continue to provide sufficient personnel to perform tasks already in operation or scheduled, and must be guided by the instructions issued by the COR. The Government will not pay for the labor hours during the leave granted to non-working contract personnel as a result of inclement weather, potentially hazardous conditions, explosions, and other special circumstances.

Government Administrative Leave Situations When the agency grants administrative leave to its employees, on-site assigned Contractor personnel may be dismissed by the Contractor. The Contractor agrees to continue to provide sufficient personnel to perform tasks already in operation or scheduled, and must be guided by the instructions issued by the COR. The Government will not pay for the labor hours during the leave granted to non-working contract personnel as a result of inclement weather, potentially hazardous conditions, explosions, and other special circumstances.

5.11 Personnel Administration

The contractor shall provide the following management and support as required. The contractor shall provide for employees during designated Government non-workdays or other periods where Government offices are closed due to weather or security conditions. The contractor shall maintain the currency of their employees by providing

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center initial and refresher training as required to meet the PWS requirements. The contractor shall make necessary travel arrangements for employees. The contractor shall provide necessary infrastructure to support contract tasks.

The contractor shall provide administrative support to employees in a timely fashion (time keeping, leave processing, pay, emergency needs).

5.12 Contractor Training

The Contractor shall provide fully trained and experienced support staff for performance of this contract. Training of contractor personnel shall be performed at the Contractor's expense, except when the Government changes the requirements during performance of an on-going task and it is determined to be in the best interest of the Government. This will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Training at Government expense will not be authorized for replacement personnel nor for keeping Contractor personnel abreast of advances in the state-of-the-art, or for training Contractor employees on equipment, computer languages, and computer operating systems that are available in the commercial market.

The contractor must ensure their employees (including subcontractor personnel) complete the training course(s) listed below in the frequency identified. The contractor must maintain records of course completion and provide them to the Contracting Officer or Contracting Officer Representative upon request.

Course Name Frequency (once, quarterly, annually, etc.)

Method of Training

Length of Training

Completion Date

Understanding and Interrupting Unconscious Bias

Annually AgLearn 90 minutes 90 days after assignment in AgLearn

Anti-Harassment Training:

Identifying and Preventing Workplace Harassment

Annually AgLearn 60 minutes 90 days after assignment in AgLearn

Information Security Awareness Annually AgLearn 60 minutes 1 year since last completion date

USDA Records Management Annually AgLearn or paper-based

60 minutes 60 days after assignment

Section 508 Annually AgLearn 60 minutes 45 days after assignment

5.13 Onboarding

FPAC provides centralized management of the personnel onboarding process for IT service requirements. The Government will provide a centralized point of contact to the Contractor for onboarding communication. The Contractor shall identify a vendor point of contact to serve as the Contractor's primary contact for all onboarding-related communication, submit onboarding requests, and track onboarding status and open tasks. The Contractor shall submit onboarding requests via the secure FPAC-designated tool, ensuring that all onboarding request submissions are complete, accurate, and comply with direction from the Government's onboarding point of contact. The Contractor shall complete all assigned onboarding tasks within three (3) business days. Failure to complete an onboarding task within the established timeline or to communicate a reason for the delay may result in cancellation of the onboarding request. The Contractor shall communicate withdrawal of an onboarding request within two (2) days of becoming aware of a staffing change.

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center

5.14 Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)

The Government will provide the facilities, equipment, materials and services listed below without cost. The Government furnished property and services provided as part of this contract must be used only by the Contractor only to perform under the terms of this contract. No expectation of personal privacy or ownership using any USDA electronic information or communication equipment must be expected. All property at Government work sites, except for Contractor personal items will be assumed to be Government property unless an inventory of Contractor property is submitted and approved by the CO/COR. Contractor personal items do not include computers, external drives, software, printers, and/or other office equipment (e.g., chairs, desks, file cabinets). The Contractor must maintain an accurate inventory of Government furnished property.

International Travel & Government Furnished Equipment Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) may only be taken on international travel if the travel is contractually authorized and has prior approval by all required federal parties (e.g., contracting office, contracting officer's representative (COR), Federal project manager (PM), etc.). On the rare occasion GFE is approved for use during international travel, the Contractor(s) must follow all FPAC Policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

• GFE is property in the possession of, or directly acquired by, the Government and subsequently furnished to the contractor for performance of a contract. (FAR Part 45)

• In the context of GFE use, international travel is defined as travel outside the fifty (50) United States (U.S.)

and District of Columbia (DC).

• Travel to U.S. territories (e.g., Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, etc.) is considered international travel.

• FPAC does not authorize GFE for personal international travel (e.g., vacation, family emergency, etc.)

• FPAC does not authorize GFE for non-governmental business international travel (e.g., business not in direct performance of the contract for which the GFE is

5.0 Performance Requirements

The following section specifies the Performance Objectives and Performance Elements for the contract.

5.1 Program Management Support

The Contractor shall provide Program Management support under this PWS. This includes the management and oversight of all activities performed by Contractor personnel, including subcontractors, to satisfy the requirements identified in this Performance Work Statement (PWS). Program management shall be based on industry best practices processes, such as the Project Management Institute’s PMBOK® using an Agile approach.

Performance Standards and Quality Levels: These standards will be managed and monitored as described in the Contractor’s Service Level Agreement (SLA) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) responses to the PWS Requirements, as approved by the Government.

The Contractor shall complete the following requirements:

a. Identify a Program Manager (PM), by name, that shall provide management, direction, administration, quality assurance, and leadership of the execution of this PWS (see Key Capabilities/Personnel).

b. Within five calendar days of the period of performance start date, the Contractor shall schedule, coordinate, and host a PWS Kick-Off Meeting (see Deliverable Matrix) at the location approved by the Government.

At the Kick-Off Meeting, the Contractor shall initiate work on this PWS by meeting with key Client Agency representatives to ensure a common understanding of the requirements, expectations, and ultimate end products. The Contractor shall discuss the overall understanding of the tasks and review the background information and materials provided by the Client. Discussions will also include the scope of work; deliverables to be produced; how the efforts will be organized and conducted; risks and mitigation recommendations; assumptions made; and expected end results. A concerted effort shall be made to gain a thorough understanding of the Client Agency expectations. However, nothing discussed in this or in any subsequent meetings or discussions between the Client Agency and the Contractor shall be construed as adding, deleting, or modifying any requirements, including deliverable specifications and due dates.

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center

At a minimum, the Contractor shall provide the following deliverables at the Kick-Off meeting (see Deliverable Matrix):

1. Kick-Off Meeting Agenda

2. Transition-In Process Plan, to include timelines

3. Roles and Responsibilities Matrix

4. Meeting Schedule

5. Points of Contact

6. Prioritization of Contractor Activities

7. Performance Metrics/SLAs

8. Security Requirements

9. Government Furnished Information

10. Draft Program Management Plan

11. Final Quality Control Plan (QCP)

c. Prepare a Monthly Status Report (MSR) (see Deliverable Matrix) summarizing the following information by task utilizing the specified format. The Contractor shall deliver the MSR by the 10th calendar day of each month via electronic mail to the FBC COR and Technical Point of Contact (TPOC). The MSR shall include the following:

1. Personnel gains and losses, current vacancies, and staffing roster

2. Schedule to include major tasks, milestones, and deliverables; include each planned and actual start and completion dates

3. Status of Deliverables

4. Cost Update to include: Accumulated invoiced cost for each CLIN up to previous month, Project cost of each CLIN for the current month, Burn Rate (direct labor, and travel funding status to be reported separately as requested by the Government)

5. Government Actions Required

6. Accomplishments by Task for MSR period

7. Task Risks, Issues, and Recommendations

8. Task Performance Metrics

9. Critical, Current, and Upcoming Projects

10. Outstanding issues and proposed resolution approaches and actions to resolve any outstanding issues

11. Listing of all training to be completed within the two month period following the end of the MSR reporting period

d. Prepare Problem Notification Reports The Contractor shall bring to the attention of the COR and the TPOC any problems or potential problems in performing assigned tasks. Subsequent to verbal notification, a written Problem Notification Report (PNR) shall be submitted to the COR within 24 hours after identification of the problem (see Deliverable Matrix).

The Contractor shall provide, in writing to the COR, the results of all meetings with the client that affect or change conditions or result in additional agreements or requirements. The Contractor shall not perform any work outside the scope or requirements of this PWS and resultant order without express written approval of the CO (see Deliverable Matrix).

5.2 Project Management Support

The Contractor shall provide IT Project Management for all Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Projects as determined and identified by FBC and FSA; and for all Development, Modernization & Enhancement (DM&E) Projects. The Contractor shall support alignment and compliance with FBC (FSA) and USDA standards, policies, processes, and procedures (for example, Enterprise Architecture and Capital Planning and Investment Control) and provide feedback

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center to support process improvement.

The Contractor shall effectively and efficiently manage schedule and performance utilizing integrated project management processes across all aspects of the subtasks and activities. The Contractor shall develop, document, and maintain an integrated program management plan for coordinating and prioritizing resources across projects within a program, managing dependencies between the projects, and the overall costs and risks of the program. The Contractor shall provide financial costs recorded, calculated, and maintained separately for Work Definitions, investments, and funding sources, as directed. This financial cost data shall be provided to the COR at the end of the life of the Work Definitions. Project Management tasks shall include, but are not limited to, the following:

Project Plan Creation and Maintenance:

The Contractor shall:

Create and maintain a project plan for each project defined by a Work Definition Form with Work

Breakdown Structure diagram, project resource assignments, and resource hours, projected task completion dates for each resource assigned, overall completion date of each project, cost, and project assumptions.

Provide an updated project plan after the analysis phase is complete or within mutually agreeable time parameters detailing the completion dates for the remainder of the project.

The project plan shall be updated weekly or as requested showing progress and task completion.

Deliver risk assessment reports, corrective action recommendations, and present briefings.

Specific project plan updates shall be provided within mutual agreeable time parameters or as detailed in the

WDF.

All project plans shall be maintained on FBC’s project management software tool, currently Microsoft

Project®.

The Contractor shall be responsible for maintaining the backlog for all projects and sprints. In addition, the Contractor shall:

a. Provide management and oversight of Contractor project resources.

b. Provide and maintain an integrated view in the approved project management application, currently

Microsoft Project® of all projects executing.

c. Provide weekly progress reports of projects in execution as well as projects in the pipeline in the approved project management application, currently Microsoft Project®. Weekly reports should include: work accomplished; milestones achieved, location in the schedule; budget status (ETC, EAC, VAC); risks and issues; and Program Manager’s summary of key notes

5.2.1 DME Projects

The Contractor shall be responsible for maintaining all Contractor project plans developed throughout the course of the TO. Contractor project plans shall be resource loaded, up to date, and stored in FBC (FSA)’s Project repository.

No local versions shall exist.

For DM&E Projects, the Contractor shall:

Support Government staff to ensure project plans are current and up to date in the FPAC Project Server repository.

Create and maintain Performance Measurement Baselines (PMB) for each project (see Deliverable Matrix).

Manage, track, and control projects such that the CPI and SPI indicators for all first and second level WBS tasks and milestones fall within 0.91 to 1.09.

Ensure all Contractors and Subcontractors use FBC (FSA) approved project policies, procedures, and templates for project artifacts.

Ensure project activities are ANSI-748 compliant.

Support FSA’s Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) Team in compliance with ANSI-748 for all investments.

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center

5.3 Requirements Activities Support

5.3.1 Requirements Definition Support

The Contractor shall participate in teleconferences and meetings with Farm Programs technical personnel, PDD personnel, NRCS Information Technology and Business personnel, and other Agency personnel as needed, in order to clarify requirements, present walkthroughs, and other meetings as required to define requirements. Requirements shall be documented and provided to the TPOC. An Issue Log related to the Requirements Definitions shall be prepared, documented and maintained using Government approved template and software, currently either Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.

5.3.2 Requirements Analysis

The Contractor shall analyze and produce, for review and approval, system design artifacts as required in the WDF. All other artifacts shall be developed to adhere to the FPAC SDLC. The platforms used include, but may not be limited to, Java, JBoss, or COTS packages.

5.4 Systems Development Support

5.4.1 System Design

All construction for new Systems and modifications made to existing Systems shall be accomplished following FBC (FSA) standards. All construction for new Systems and modifications made to existing Systems shall be developed using Government current approved platforms, such as, but not limited to, JAVA, JBoss, COTS packages, or hybrids. The Contractor shall be responsible for all work products identified in the SDLC and as required by the Work Definition Form. The Contractor shall write or modify all code using programming techniques or industry appropriate technologies and as required by the Work Definition Form. The Contractor shall deliver all required SDLC artifacts, conduct quality reviews, code reviews, performance reviews, and shall ensure code is designed and modified in compliance with FSA Farm Program performance standards as outlined in the Farm Program Software Quality Guidelines. The Contractor shall adhere to all architectural designs as recommended by the Enterprise Applications Architect. The Contractor shall follow the FPAC Change Management Process.

The Contractor shall provide a high-level or detail level overview presentation of the System structure, Project Plan, page designs, report formats, User Interface scripts, physical storage requirements, process logic, physical data model, data structure, and data flow as identified in the System life cycle methodology for software to Government technical personnel for review and approval, as required.

Application programs shall be designed to take advantage of state-of-the-art hardware and software capabilities. All functions relating directly to the structuring of programming runs and the identification of programs and modules within programs making up the application shall be identified.

5.4.2 Web Based Software Construction

All construction for new Systems and modifications made to existing Systems shall be accomplished following FPAC standards. All construction for new Systems and modifications shall be developed using Government current approved platforms, such as, but not limited to, JAVA, JBoss, COTS packages, or hybrids. The Contractor shall be responsible for all work products identified in the SDLC and as required by the Work Definition Form. The Contractor shall write or modify all code using programming techniques or industry appropriate technologies and as required by the Work Definition Form. The Contractor shall deliver all required SDLC artifacts, conduct quality reviews, code reviews, performance reviews, and shall ensure code is designed and modified in compliance with FSA Farm Program performance standards as outlined in the Farm Program Software Quality Guidelines. The Contractor shall follow the FPAC Change Management Process.

All User Interfaces shall be constructed to comply with FPAC standards and supplemented by Farm Program (FP) standards including the USDA Style Guide, FPAC Style Guide, and be in compliance with Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

Any deviations from the Reference Architecture, Common Application Framework, or the FP standards shall have an

FSA | NRCS | RMA | Business Center approved waiver before being implemented. The Contractor shall develop and submit documentation to support the waiver approval process as required.

The Contractor shall implement the automated build processes for Enterprise Archive (EAR) files and for automated testing. The Contractor shall support other automation technologies such as automated deployments into Java EE Server environment. The Contractor shall:

Develop, document, and use automated builds to remove the potential for human error.

Comply with and document Source Code Management processes to ensure repeatability of builds.

Include the use of automated testing framework to increase Quality of Applications.

Use Quality Reports, providing transparency of an application’s condition to Development Leads and

Management.

Develop, document, and deliver code using the automated testing process and technologies demonstrating at least

80% of internal code tested.

All code shall conform to FPAC standards and the FPAC Implementation Standards. If there is a coding area or situation not addressed in the FPAC Standards or Information Bulletins, the Contractor shall follow a Government approved industry standard for the technology platform including but not limited to Java and JBoss. Questions concerning the interpretation of the identified standards shall be documented and submitted to the COR. The COR will obtain a clarification from SSPB. The Contractor shall inform the COR of any unanticipated project requirements introducing new technology in USDA Service Centers. The Contractor shall not implement any changes without prior approval of the CO and COR impacting scheduled deliveries or project cost.

5.4.3 Unit, Integration, and System Testing

The Contractor shall be responsible for unit, integration, string, and system testing of all new Systems and for all changes or enhancements made to the applications, as required. The Contractor shall also be responsible for constructing real world testing scenarios. Test results shall be reviewed by the Contractor to determine and confirm all requirements have been satisfied and that no adverse changes have been inadvertently made to existing functionality.

The Contractor shall NOT transfer any code, test scenarios, or test results to Acceptance Testing until the Government has reviewed the System, or process, and the COR, or designated Government Technical Lead, has authorized the move to Acceptance Testing.

The Contractor shall implement automated testing processes and technologies in compliance with FPAC standards while constructing the application.

Perform and document automated testing to remove the potential for human error.

Develop, document, and deliver software using the automated and manual testing processes to deliver defect free and production ready software to Shared Services Section (SSS) for certification.

Formalize and document…