DHS Communication Access II - PWS (Draft).pdf

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS)

June 2021 1

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Agency Wide Strategic Sourcing Vehicle

COMMUNICATION ACCESS SERVICES I I (CAS)

Services for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Blind Communities

DHS Performance Work Statement (PWS)

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Performance Work Statement (PWS) For Communication Access Services (CAS)

1.0 General

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requires Communication Access Services (CAS) to support effective communication and accessibility for individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing (HH), DeafBlind, Blind, have speech disabilities, or otherwise require communication access support during routine operations, emergency operations, disaster operations, continuity operations, public-facing engagements, internal operational activities, trainings, meetings, conferences, stakeholder coordination activities, investigations, law enforcement activities, employee accommodations, and other mission-related activities throughout the United States and its territories.

This BPA is a DHS-wide enterprise vehicle available for use by authorized DHS Components and offices in support of operational accessibility and communication access requirements. Services under this BPA may support headquarters activities, field operations, geographically dispersed activities, employee accessibility requirements, recurring accommodations, recurring operational activities, virtual or hybrid operational environments, continuity operations, surge operations, and other mission support requirements.

DHS requires communication access services to be delivered in diverse operational environments and settings by qualified personnel possessing varying levels of security clearances, certifications, technical capabilities, specialized skillsets, language capabilities, accessibility expertise, and operational experience as identified within this PWS and associated BPA call orders.

Communication access services under this BPA may support one-time assignments, short-duration assignments, recurring assignments, ongoing employee accommodations, recurring meetings, recurring training activities, operational support activities, or other continuing accessibility requirements. When supporting recurring assignments, the Contractor shall make reasonable efforts to maintain continuity of assigned personnel to promote effective communication access, operational efficiency, and service quality. When personnel substitutions become necessary, the Contractor shall take reasonable measures to facilitate transition activities and minimize disruption to ongoing services. Nothing in this requirement shall be construed as guaranteeing the continued availability of any specific individual or communication access personnel.

The Contractor shall furnish all personnel, supervision, equipment, materials, transportation, technology, operational support capability, deployment capability, staffing capability, management capability, and other resources necessary to perform the services described within this PWS and associated BPA call orders unless otherwise specified as Government furnished.

Services under this BPA may include, but are not limited to:

• Sign Language Interpretation

• Video Remote Interpretation (VRI)

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• Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART)

• Captioning Services

• Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) Support

• DeafBlind Communication Support

• Tactile and ProTactile Communication Support

• Braille Transliteration

• Audio Description Services

• Reader Services

• Accessibility Support Services

• Desktop Publishing and Section 508 Compliance Support

• Specialized multilingual, trilingual, International Sign (IS), foreign sign language, Indigenous language, Tribal language, rare language, low-resource language, or culturally specific communication support

Detailed service requirements, staffing requirements, personnel qualifications, continuity requirements, operational response expectations, deployment requirements, security requirements, service delivery expectations, performance standards, and place of performance requirements will be identified at the BPA call order level.

Nothing within this BPA guarantees BPA call order awards, work volume, minimum usage, staffing utilization levels, revenue, future workload, or exclusive use by any DHS Component.

1.1 Background

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Components require Communication Access Services (CAS) to support effective communication, accessibility compliance, operational coordination, public engagement, employee accessibility needs, disaster operations, training activities, conferences, webinars, meetings, and other mission-related activities conducted in onsite, virtual, remote, hybrid, mobile, field-based, and geographically dispersed operational environments.

DHS Components require qualified communication access support services including, but not limited to, American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, Certified Deaf Interpretation (CDI), Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART), captioning services, multilingual accessibility support, tactile interpretation, DeafBlind support services, and other auxiliary communication services necessary to support compliance with applicable federal accessibility laws, regulations, policies, and operational requirements.

Historically, Components across DHS have independently supported accessibility and communication access requirements for internal operational activities, employee support services, public-facing engagements, trainings, emergency operations, disaster response activities, leadership briefings, stakeholder engagements, conferences, and operational coordination efforts. Operational demand for communication access services has continued to increase due to expanded virtual operations, hybrid work environments, geographically dispersed personnel, public accessibility expectations, emergency management operations, and evolving enterprise accessibility requirements.

DHS requires a flexible enterprise-wide contract solution capable of supporting routine and surge operational requirements across multiple Components, geographic regions, operational environments, and mission activities simultaneously. Services may be required throughout the United States and its territories, including geographically isolated operational areas, rural communities, Tribal communities, U.S. territories, Pacific territories, disaster-affected

Learn more at fema.gov August 2027 4 locations, and other locations where qualified communication access providers may have limited availability.

Contractors shall maintain the capability to recruit, coordinate, and deploy qualified personnel nationwide, including remote, rural, Tribal, territorial, and disaster-affected locations.

Operational requirements may involve uncommon communication methods, multilingual accessibility support, Indigenous or Tribal language coordination, foreign sign language support, geographically dispersed meetings, field deployments, emergency activations, National Special Security Events (NSSEs), disaster operations, and high-volume surge activities requiring rapid staffing coordination and operational responsiveness.

This effort is being pursued to establish a scalable, operationally responsive, and accessible enterprise contract vehicle capable of supporting DHS mission requirements while improving operational flexibility, staffing capability, regional responsiveness, surge support capability, and accessibility service coordination across DHS Components.

1.2 Scope

1.2.1 All DHS Components and their warranted ordering offices are authorized to issue call orders for Communication Access Services (CAS) under this BPA in support of mission requirements within the scope of this Performance Work Statement (PWS). This BPA is a DHS-wide enterprise vehicle available for use by authorized DHS Components and offices throughout the United States and its territories.

1.2.2 The scope of this PWS covers DHS Communication Access Services (CAS) for individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing (HH), DeafBlind, Blind, or have speech disabilities under the General Services Administration (GSA) Professional Services Schedule (PSS) and Special Item Numbers (SINs) 382-1, 382-2, and 382-5 under Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) 541930.

1.2.3 The PWS establishes reduced requirements for BPA holders under the Small Business (SB) evaluation track only. BPA holders under the unrestricted (UNR) evaluation track shall provide the full scope of services described herein.

1.2.4 DHS requires these services to be performed in diverse operational environments and locations by personnel possessing varying levels of security clearances, qualifications, skills, certifications, and operational experience as identified within this PWS and associated BPA call orders.

1.2.5 Unless otherwise stated, references throughout this BPA to operational environments include onsite, remote, virtual, hybrid, mobile, field-based, temporary, emergency, continuity, disaster, and geographically dispersed operational environments.

1.2.6 Operational support requirements, staffing requirements, accessibility support requirements, deployment requirements, operational timelines, reporting requirements, service quantities, operational response timelines, security requirements, and operational procedures may vary between DHS Components, geographic regions, operational conditions, emergency operations, and BPA call orders based on mission requirements and Component operational needs.

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1.2.7 References throughout this BPA to surge operations include emergency operations, disaster operations, continuity operations, contingency operations, National Special Security Event (NSSE) support, incident response operations, and other time-sensitive operational requirements identified by the Government.

1.2.8 The Contractor shall furnish all personnel, supervision, equipment, materials, transportation, technology, software, communication platforms, and other resources necessary to perform the services described in this PWS and associated BPA call orders unless otherwise specified as Government furnished.

1.2.9 While this PWS identifies the overall scope of work, general requirements, key personnel, minimum personnel qualifications, and proficiency requirements, detailed descriptions of work, specialized skillsets, operational requirements, service delivery expectations, deployment requirements, security requirements, reporting requirements, and place of performance requirements will be identified at the BPA call order level. Specific staffing quantities, operational response requirements, deployment timelines, service delivery expectations, operational procedures, and performance standards may vary by BPA call order.

1.2.10 Services under this BPA may support multiple DHS Components, headquarters activities, internal operational activities, employee accessibility requirements, trainings, conferences, webinars, leadership engagements, stakeholder coordination activities, field operations, public-facing operational requirements, emergency operations, contingency operations, disaster operations, continuity operations, and other operational environments utilizing Government-approved communication and collaboration platforms identified at the BPA call order level.

1.2.11 This is a partial small business set-aside. DHS intends to establish multiple-award BPAs under two evaluation tracks: a Small Business (SB) track and an unrestricted (UNR) track.

1.2.12 Contractors under the SB track (comprised of small business concerns only) shall provide the services identified within their BPA, which may include any of the seven service categories identified in Section

2.2 for locations within the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, as identified in BPA call orders.

Contractors under the SB track are not required to provide communication access personnel with secret or top-secret clearances or provide services within U.S. territories.

1.2.13 Contractors under the UNR track (comprised of large businesses, other-than-small businesses, and small business concerns) shall provide the full scope of communication access services identified herein for locations throughout the United States and its territories as identified in BPA call orders. This shall include providing communication access personnel with secret or top-secret clearances.

1.2.14 Additional BPA call order requirements shall remain within the scope of services established under this BPA and applicable underlying GSA Schedule authorities.

1.2.15 BPA awards do not guarantee BPA call order awards, minimum quantities, staffing utilization levels, revenue, operational volumes, deployment volumes, or future workload requirements.

1.2.15 The Government reserves the right to obtain any combination of Communication Access Services (CAS) from one or more BPA holders based on mission requirements, operational needs, geographic

Learn more at fema.gov August 2027 6 considerations, staffing availability, surge capability, technical capability, past performance, accessibility requirements, security requirements, pricing considerations, or other ordering factors determined by the Government.

1.2.15 Nothing in this BPA shall be construed as requiring the Government to obtain all service categories from a single BPA holder.

1.2.16 Nothing within this BPA authorizes the Contractor to independently determine operational priorities, operational tasking, accessibility support requirements, or mission activities without Government direction.

1.3 Objective

The objective of this effort is to establish a DHS-wide enterprise contract vehicle capable of providing scalable, operationally responsive Communication Access Services (CAS) supporting DHS Components during routine operations, surge activities, emergency operations, disaster response activities, trainings, conferences, meetings, webinars, public-facing engagements, employee accessibility support activities, and other mission-related operations.

The Contractor shall provide qualified communication access personnel and accessibility support services including, but not limited to, American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation, Certified Deaf Interpretation (CDI), Video Remote Interpreting (VRI), Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART), captioning services, multilingual accessibility support, tactile interpretation, DeafBlind support services, and related auxiliary communication services necessary to support effective communication and accessibility compliance across onsite, virtual, remote, hybrid, mobile, field-based, and geographically dispersed operational environments.

The resulting contract vehicle will support DHS operational flexibility, accessibility compliance, regional responsiveness, staffing scalability, surge support capability, and enterprise-wide communication access coordination across DHS Components and operational environments throughout the United States and its territories.

Nothing within this BPA shall be construed as creating an employer-employee relationship between the Government and Contractor personnel. Contractor personnel shall remain under the supervision and control of the Contractor.

1.4 Applicable Documents

The following documents, laws, regulations, policies, standards, and guidance are applicable to this requirement and shall be complied with, as applicable, during contract performance.

a. Federal Laws, Regulations, and Policies

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, as amended

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, including Section 504 and Section 508

29 U.S.C. § 794d — Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards

36 CFR Part 1194 — Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards and Guidelines

Homeland Security Act of 2002

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Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) of 2006 Executive Order 13166 — Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency DHS Accessibility Compliance Policies and Guidance DHS Sensitive Systems Policy Directive 4300A

DHS 4300A Sensitive Systems Handbook Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) Privacy Act of 1974

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as applicable

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation (HSAR)

b. Accessibility Standards and Guidance

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA

FCC Closed Captioning Standards and Requirements

National Association of the Deaf (NAD) Interpreter Standards and Guidance, as applicable

Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) Code of Professional Conduct and Certification Standards, as applicable

c. Operational and Technical Guidance

DHS Component-specific operational guidance, accessibility policies, security procedures, and BPA call order instructions, as applicable

Platform-specific accessibility requirements associated with virtual meeting systems, webinar platforms, video teleconference systems, and operational communication environments identified at the BPA call order level

Only applicable portions of the above documents shall apply to the specific services requested under individual BPA call orders issued against this BPA. Contractors shall comply with the latest versions of all applicable laws, regulations, standards, policies, and guidance in effect at the time of BPA call order performance.

1.5 Performance Requirements Summary

This contract includes a Performance Requirements Summary (PRS) located at Section 10.0 of the Performance Work Statement (PWS). The PRS establishes the required performance standards, surveillance methods, operational expectations, and service requirements applicable to services performed under this contract.

The PRS shall serve as a primary tool for inspection, surveillance, quality assurance, operational monitoring, and acceptance of services performed under the contract. The Government reserves the right to reject services, personnel, deliverables, or accessibility support activities that fail to meet contract requirements, accessibility standards, operational expectations, or BPA call order requirements.

Contractor performance will be evaluated against the performance standards, responsiveness requirements, staffing requirements, surge support capability, accessibility compliance requirements, and operational service requirements identified within the PRS. Additional BPA call order-specific performance standards, deployment timelines, reporting requirements, and surge support requirements may be established at the BPA call order level.

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The BPA-level COR and Component-designated CORs, ordering officials, or Government representatives shall monitor contractor performance through operational reviews, surveillance activities, service tracking, staffing validation, quality reviews, reporting requirements, and evaluation of contractor responsiveness during routine and surge operations.

Failure to maintain required operational responsiveness, staffing capability, accessibility compliance, deployment support, or surge support capability may constitute unacceptable performance and may result in corrective action or other contractual remedies as determined by the Contracting Officer.

The Government may evaluate Contractor performance in accordance with applicable FAR requirements, DHS procedures, Component acquisition procedures, BPA call order requirements, and CPARS guidance. Component CORs, ordering officials, or designated Government representatives shall provide contractor performance feedback to the BPA-level COR to support contractor performance evaluations, acquisition planning, responsibility determinations, option considerations, CPARS assessments, and future ordering decisions.

The PRS constitutes a material component of this contract and shall not be modified without prior written approval of the Contracting Officer.

1.6 General Requirements

References throughout this BPA to surge operations include emergency operations, disaster operations, continuity operations, NSSE support, contingency operations, and other time-sensitive operational requirements.

1.6.1 DHS Components require communication access services supporting routine operations, emergency operations, surge activities, employee accessibility support requirements, trainings, conferences, meetings, webinars, public-facing activities, stakeholder engagements, field operations, disaster operations, and other mission-related requirements performed across onsite, virtual, remote, hybrid, mobile, field-based, and geographically dispersed operational environments.

1.6.2 The Contractor shall provide qualified communication access personnel meeting the requirements identified in Section 4, applicable BPA attachments, and BPA call orders. Specialized qualifications, certifications, clearances, deployment requirements, staffing requirements, and operational requirements may be established at the BPA call order level.

1.6.3 The Contractor shall maintain operational capability sufficient to support routine operations, surge operations, continuity operations, National Special Security Events (NSSEs), disaster operations, and time-sensitive operational requirements. The Contractor shall maintain capability sufficient to support accelerated staffing coordination, deployment activities, reassignment activities, operational scalability, staffing replacement activities, and continuity of accessibility support operations during surge activities.

1.6.4 The Contractor shall maintain continuity of operations procedures, staffing contingency procedures, backup communication methods, operational redundancy capability, deployment support capability, and secure communication capability sufficient to support uninterrupted contract performance during

Learn more at fema.gov August 2027 9 emergencies, technology disruptions, infrastructure outages, environmental conditions, security incidents, or surge operations.

1.6.5 The Contractor shall maintain operational communication capability available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year inclusive of weekends and holidays. The Contractor shall maintain capability to receive, acknowledge, coordinate, schedule, deploy, and support BPA call order requirements during routine and surge operations.

1.6.6 The Contractor shall maintain operational points of contact available to coordinate scheduling activities, staffing issues, deployment coordination, operational escalations, and urgent accessibility support requirements. Current operational contact information shall be maintained throughout the period of performance.

1.6.7 The Contractor shall remain fully responsible for the performance, qualifications, operational responsiveness, compliance, and management of all subcontractors, staffing partners, communication access personnel, and support personnel performing services under this BPA.

1.6.8 The Contractor shall maintain staffing capability, recruitment capability, deployment support capability, operational resources, and regional recruitment networks sufficient to support assigned operational areas, geographically dispersed operational environments, regional operational requirements, and BPA call order requirements. The Contractor shall maintain demonstrated operational capability and regional familiarity sufficient to support the operational areas, accessibility support requirements, deployment requirements, and language ecosystems for which the Contractor receives BPA awards.

1.6.9 When operationally feasible, the Contractor shall prioritize recruitment and deployment of locally available communication access personnel within the impacted operational area or declared state for onsite operational support requirements. When qualified local resources are unavailable or insufficient, the Contractor shall notify the Government and may utilize remote accessibility support capability or expand staffing support to neighboring states, regional staffing areas, or national staffing resources as approved at the BPA call order level.

1.6.10 The Contractor shall maintain staffing procedures sufficient to support recruitment, coordination, and deployment of qualified personnel capable of supporting rare, specialized, multilingual, foreign sign language, Indigenous, Tribal, geographically isolated, low-resource, dialect-specific, or culturally specific accessibility support requirements identified at the BPA call order level. Such requirements may require additional staffing coordination, recruitment efforts, operational lead time, or alternative support approaches based on operational conditions and personnel availability.

1.6.11 The Contractor shall ensure deployed personnel meet applicable certification, licensure, qualification, clearance, and professional requirements associated with the operational location and BPA call order requirements. The Contractor shall maintain procedures sufficient to identify staffing limitations, deployment constraints, certification requirements, operational impacts, and staffing alternatives associated with contract performance.

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1.6.12 The Contractor shall maintain accurate and supportable operational representations regarding staffing availability, staffing depth, surge capability, deployment readiness, subcontracting resources, accessibility support capability, platform capability, interpreter connectivity performance, and operational response capability throughout the period of performance. The Government reserves the right to validate operational capability, staffing availability, surge readiness, deployment capability, and accessibility support capacity during performance through operational reviews, staffing validation activities, reporting requirements, demonstration exercises, or surveillance activities.

1.6.13 The Contractor shall maintain quality control procedures sufficient to monitor staffing performance, operational responsiveness, scheduling activities, deployment coordination, accessibility support quality, platform functionality, and BPA call order performance requirements. Quality control reports shall be provided in accordance with Section 13.2 and applicable BPA call order requirements.

1.6.14 Communication access services may be required at Government facilities, contractor facilities, telework locations, temporary operational locations, disaster facilities, operational field sites, conference locations, public-facing operational environments, and other locations identified at the BPA call order level throughout the United States and its territories.

1.6.15 The Contractor shall maintain telecommunication capability, secure electronic communication capability, internet connectivity capability, virtual communication capability, and compatibility with Government-approved communication and virtual meeting platforms utilized during BPA performance.

1.6.16 The Contractor shall provide and maintain a secure web-based portal sufficient to support BPA call order tracking, operational reporting, staffing visibility, service tracking, operational status reporting, and performance reporting requirements identified by the Government. Additional portal and reporting requirements may be established at the BPA call order level.

1.6.17 The Contractor shall clearly identify administrative fees, after-hours charges, cancellation charges, rush fees, travel costs, platform usage fees, and pricing assumptions associated with services provided under this BPA. Travel costs shall not be charged unless specifically authorized at the BPA call order level and shall comply with applicable travel regulations.

1.7 Ordering Guide

The Communication Access Services Ordering Guide is incorporated by reference and provides ordering procedures, BPA call development guidance, competition requirements, ordering templates, pricing instructions, and administrative instructions applicable to BPA calls issued under this BPA. Ordering activities shall comply with the current CAS Ordering Guide when issuing BPA calls.

BPA call orders may establish call-order-specific requirements, including service type, location, geographic service area, place of performance, staffing requirements, response time, period of performance, security requirements, travel requirements, deliverables, acceptance criteria, and authorized pricing terms.

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Geographic, regional, location-specific, or hard-to-fill location pricing may be established in the BPA pricing schedule or applicable BPA call order when necessary to account for local labor conditions, qualified personnel availability, travel burden, licensure or certification requirements, disaster conditions, territorial locations, remote locations, or other mission-related staffing constraints. Such pricing shall apply only when expressly authorized in the BPA pricing schedule or applicable BPA call order.

Pricing Category Description

Standard Location Rate Applies to locations where qualified local or regional personnel are generally available.

High-Cost / Hard-to-Fill Location Rate Applies to locations with limited qualified personnel, higher local labor costs, unique licensure requirements, remote geography, or recurring staffing difficulty.

Emergency / Disaster Location Rate Applies only when authorized for disaster, emergency, continuity, incident response, or surge operations.

Travel / Deployment Costs Separately reimbursable only when pre-approved by the Government and supported by documentation.

1.8 Service Categories and Ordering Structure

The service category structure identified below supports standardized ordering, pricing, reporting, utilization tracking, and performance management across DHS Components. Corresponding CLIN and SubCLIN structures may be established within the BPA Schedule, pricing attachment, and BPA call orders.

Service Categories and Ordering Structure

FOR DHS-STRATEGICALLY SOURCES LANGUAGE SERVICES

Communication Access Service (CAS)

CLIN's Sub-CLIN Service Required Unit

CLIN 0001 – SIGN LANGUAGE

INTERPRETATION SERVICE

0001AA ASL Interpretation – Onsite Hour 0001AB ASL Interpretation – Hybrid Hour 0001AC ASL Interpretation – Virtual Hour

CLIN 0002 – OTHER SIGN

LANGUAGE SERVICES

0002AA Puerto Rican Sign Language Hour 0002AB Mexican Sign Language Hour 0002AC International Sign Language Hour 0002AD Other Requested Sign Language Systems Hour

CLIN 0003 – SPECIALIZED

INTERPRETATION SERVICES

0003AA Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) Hour 0003AB DeafBlind Support Services Hour 0003AC Tactile Interpretation Services Hour

CLIN 0004 – REMOTE ACCESS

SERVICES

0004AA Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) Minute

0004AB

Communication Access Realtime Translation

(CART)

Hour

CLIN 0005 – ACCESSIBLE

COMMUNICATION SERVICES

0005AA Audio Description Services Hour 0005AB Braille Transliteration Page 0005AC Reader Services Hour

CLIN 0006 – SECTION 508 &

ACCESSIBILITY SUPPORT

SERVICES

0006AA Desktop Publishing & Section 508 Compliance Hour

0006AB

Accessibility Consultation & Technical

Assistance Hour

0006AC Accessibility Support Specialists Hour

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Service Categories and Ordering Structure

FOR DHS-STRATEGICALLY SOURCES LANGUAGE SERVICES

Communication Access Service (CAS)

CLIN 0007 – TRAINING &

PROGRAM SUPPORT

0007AA Training & Awareness Support Services Hour 0007AB Accessibility Program Management Support Hour 0007AC Accessibility Technology Support Hour

CLIN 0008 – SURGE TRAVEL

0008AA

Emergency / Disaster Surge Accessibility Support

Hour

0008AB Travel / OCONUS / Mission Support Lot

The CLIN structure is provided for ordering, pricing, reporting, utilization tracking, and performance management purposes. BPA call orders may utilize one or more CLINs and SubCLINs based on operational requirements.

Actual quantities, periods of performance, funding, locations, staffing requirements, response time requirements, security requirements, travel requirements, and deliverables shall be established at the BPA call order level.

The Government reserves the right to add, remove, consolidate, subdivide, or otherwise modify CLINs and SubCLINs through BPA modification when necessary to support evolving operational, accessibility, statutory, regulatory, or mission requirements.

2.0 Task and Requirements

2.0 Scope of Services

2.0.1 The Contractor shall provide Communication Access Services (CAS) supporting DHS Components, operational offices, headquarters activities, employee accessibility support requirements, trainings, conferences, meetings, webinars, stakeholder engagements, public-facing activities, investigative activities, law enforcement support activities, operational briefings, field operations, emergency operations, disaster operations, continuity operations, National Special Security Events (NSSEs), screening operations, processing operations, operational coordination activities, and other mission-related requirements identified at the BPA call order level.

2.0.2 Services under this BPA may support operational, administrative, public-facing, employee-facing, internal agency, external stakeholder, law enforcement, investigative, field-based, emergency management, operational coordination, continuity, or mission-support activities identified at the BPA call order level.

Services under this BPA may be performed onsite, remotely, virtually, through hybrid operational support models, mobile environments, field-based operational environments, temporary operational locations, emergency operational environments, contingency operational environments, disaster operational environments, continuity operational environments, or geographically dispersed operational environments throughout the United States and its territories.

2.0.3 The Contractor shall provide qualified personnel, operational support capability, staffing capability, deployment capability, accessibility support services, technical support capability, operational coordination capability, and associated resources necessary to support BPA call order requirements in accordance with this PWS, applicable BPA attachments, and BPA call orders. Personnel performing

Learn more at fema.gov August 2027 13 services under this BPA may include employees, subcontractors, independent contractors, staffing partners, or other qualified personnel under the Contractor's management, supervision, and control. The Contractor shall remain fully responsible for personnel qualifications, certifications, performance, conduct, operational compliance, accessibility support requirements, security requirements, and BPA call order requirements regardless of employment classification or workforce model utilized.

2.0.4 The Government reserves the right to issue BPA call orders supporting any DHS Component, operational office, headquarters organization, field operation, or supported mission activity within the scope of this BPA. BPA awards do not guarantee BPA call order awards, minimum quantities, staffing utilization levels, or future workload volumes. Additional operational requirements, staffing requirements, deployment requirements, certifications, qualifications, response timelines, reporting requirements, deliverables, travel requirements, technical requirements, accessibility requirements, or performance standards may be established at the BPA call order level subject to Contracting Officer approval and COR coordination, as applicable.

2.0.5 BPA call orders may be issued for individual communication access service categories, multiple service categories, integrated communication access solutions, or Component-specific accessibility support requirements based on mission needs.

2.0.6 The Government reserves the right to combine, separate, or reconfigure service requirements among BPA holders at the call order level.

2.1 Task One: Program Management and Operational Coordination The Contractor shall provide program management, staffing coordination, scheduling coordination, deployment coordination, operational communication support, technical coordination support, reporting support, invoice support, and operational oversight necessary to support BPA call order requirements.

The Government reserves the right to reassign onsite communication access personnel, interpreters, CART personnel, or other assigned personnel to alternate operational support activities within the same operational period when originally scheduled operational activities are delayed, canceled, modified, concluded early, underutilized, or no longer operationally required.

Reassignment activities shall not constitute additional billable minimum charges, cancellation charges, reassignment charges, or additional deployment charges unless additional operational support hours exceeding the originally approved operational support period are authorized by the Government.

Communication access personnel assigned to operational activities involving recording activities, public dissemination activities, livestreaming activities, media production activities, training recordings, or archived operational content may still be required to provide services regardless of participant attendance levels.

2.1.1 Operational Coordination

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2.1.1.1 The Contractor shall provide transition support activities necessary to ensure continuity of operations during BPA award, BPA call order transition, onboarding, offboarding, transition-out activities, or Government-directed operational transitions.

2.1.1.2 The Contractor shall cooperate with successor contractors and the Government to minimize disruption to DHS operations.

2.1.1.3 The Contractor shall coordinate staffing assignments, deployment activities, scheduling activities, operational communications, accessibility support requests, operational escalations, technical coordination activities, and BPA call order support activities associated with BPA call orders.

2.1.1.4 Recurring Assignments and Continuity of Service: The Contractor shall coordinate staffing assignments and scheduling activities in a manner that promotes continuity of service for recurring assignments, ongoing employee accommodations, recurring meetings, recurring training activities, recurring operational support activities, or other continuing accessibility support requirements identified at the BPA call order level. The Contractor shall make reasonable efforts to maintain continuity of assigned personnel when operationally feasible and consistent with mission requirements.

2.1.1.5 When personnel substitutions become necessary due to staffing availability, leave, illness, emergency circumstances, deployment requirements, security requirements, or other operational considerations, the Contractor shall take reasonable measures to facilitate transition activities, transfer operational knowledge, and minimize disruption to ongoing services. Nothing in this BPA shall be construed as guaranteeing the continued availability of any specific individual, interpreter, CART provider, accessibility specialist, captioner, or communication access professional.

2.1.1.6 The Contractor shall maintain operational points of contact available during routine operations, surge operations, emergency operations, disaster operations, continuity operations, National Special Security Events (NSSEs), law enforcement operations, and time-sensitive operational activities.

2.1.1.7 The Contractor shall maintain the capability to support routine operations, surge operations, emergency operations, continuity operations, disaster operations, National Special Security Events (NSSEs), and other time-sensitive requirements.

2.1.1.8 For disaster operations, emergency operations, continuity operations, surge activities, and other urgent mission requirements, the Contractor shall make reasonable efforts to identify, coordinate, and provide qualified personnel within forty-eight (48) hours of Government request, subject to personnel availability, geographic location, communication modality requirements, security requirements, and other operational considerations.

2.1.1.9 The Contractor shall maintain staffing, recruitment, subcontracting, and resource management processes sufficient to support rapid response requirements, multiple simultaneous assignments, geographically dispersed operations, and increased demand resulting from emergencies, disasters, continuity operations, or other surge events

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2.1.1.10 The Government reserves the right to modify, reassign, prioritize, delay, suspend, cancel, or redirect operational support requirements, staffing assignments, deployment activities, accessibility support activities, or scheduled services based on evolving mission requirements, operational conditions, security considerations, funding availability, or Government operational priorities.

2.1.1.11 The Contractor shall maintain operational communication capability sufficient to support coordination activities, staffing activities, scheduling activities, deployment activities, technical support activities, and accessibility support operations associated with BPA performance.

2.1.1.12 The Contractor shall not incur costs exceeding authorized BPA call order requirements without prior written Government approval.

2.1.1.13 The Contractor shall obtain prior Government approval before implementing staffing changes, deployment changes, schedule changes, technical changes, travel activities, subcontractor substitutions, or operational changes impacting accepted BPA call order requirements when such approval is required under the BPA call order.

2.1.1.14 For recurring assignments identified at the BPA call order level, the Contractor shall promptly notify the COR or designated Government representative of known staffing conditions, service disruptions, or personnel availability issues that may materially affect continuity of service and shall coordinate appropriate corrective actions when operationally required.

2.1.2 Staffing Capability

2.1.2.3 The Contractor shall maintain staffing capability, recruitment capability, deployment support capability, operational resources, staffing contingency capability, and regional recruitment networks sufficient to support assigned operational areas, geographically dispersed operational environments, regional operational requirements, and BPA call order requirements.

2.1.2.4 The Contractor shall maintain demonstrated operational capability and regional familiarity sufficient to support the operational areas, accessibility support requirements, deployment requirements, regional language support requirements, and specialized accessibility support requirements for which the Contractor receives BPA awards.

2.1.2.5 The Contractor shall maintain capability sufficient to support routine operations, surge operations, emergency operations, continuity operations, disaster operations, law enforcement operations, operational support activities, mission-support activities, and time-sensitive operational support requirements identified at the BPA call order level.

2.1.2.6 The Contractor shall maintain capability sufficient to support operational environments associated with headquarters operations, field operations, law enforcement activities, public-facing activities, internal agency activities, employee accessibility support requirements, continuity operations, and emergency operations identified at the BPA call order level.

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2.1.2.7 The Contractor shall remain fully responsible for subcontractor performance, subcontractor compliance, staffing availability, certification compliance, operational responsiveness, and deliverable quality associated with BPA performance.

2.1.2.8 The Government reserves the right to reject personnel who fail to meet BPA requirements, security requirements, qualification requirements, or operational requirements, qualification requirements, certification requirements, conduct requirements, security requirements, confidentiality requirements, accessibility support requirements, or deployment requirements identified under this BPA or BPA call orders.

2.1.3 Local Recruitment and Deployment Support

2.1.3.1 When operationally feasible, the Contractor shall prioritize recruitment and deployment of locally available communication access personnel within the impacted operational area, declared State, territory, Tribal area, or specific location identified by the Government for onsite operational support requirements.

2.1.3.2 The Contractor shall confirm availability and secure qualified communication access personnel locally within the State, territory, Tribal area, operational area, or specific location identified by the Government for onsite operational support requirements when operationally feasible.

2.1.3.3 When qualified local personnel are unavailable or insufficient to support operational requirements, the Contractor shall notify the Government and may utilize remote accessibility support capability or expand staffing coordination to neighboring states, regional staffing areas, or national staffing resources subject to Government approval at the BPA call order level, as applicable.

2.1.3.4 Local staffing support requirements may include Government facilities, processing centers, operational facilities, detention environments, field offices, conference locations, screening locations, temporary operational sites, continuity facilities, public-facing operational environments, or other operational locations identified at the BPA call order level.

2.1.3.5 The Contractor shall maintain documentation sufficient to support staffing outreach, local recruitment efforts, staffing coordination activities, interpreter availability, and deployment coordination associated with onsite operational support requirements.

2.1.3.6 The Contractor shall maintain procedures sufficient to support staffing substitutions, reassignment activities, replacement personnel coordination, deployment coordination, and continuity of accessibility support operations when assigned personnel become unavailable.

2.1.3.7 Interpreter substitutions, staffing replacements, reassignment activities, or deployment changes impacting accepted assignments shall be coordinated with the Government and COR, as applicable, in accordance with BPA call order requirements.

2.1.3.8 The Contractor shall ensure deployed personnel meet applicable certification, licensure, qualification, confidentiality, clearance, conduct, and professional requirements associated with the operational location and BPA call order requirements.

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2.1.4 Surge Operations Support

2.1.4.1 The Contractor shall maintain operational capability sufficient to support temporary increases in staffing requirements, accessibility support requirements, deployment activities, operational support activities, emergency operations, continuity operations, disaster operations, law enforcement operational surges, National Special Security Events (NSSEs), or other mission-related surge requirements identified at the BPA call order level.

2.1.4.2 The Contractor shall maintain procedures sufficient to support accelerated staffing coordination, staffing replacement activities, reassignment activities, deployment coordination, operational scalability, and continuity of accessibility support operations during surge activities.

2.1.4.3 The Contractor shall not provide unfunded surge support services without prior Government authorization.

2.1.4.4 Surge staffing activities expanded staffing support activities, reassignment activities, deployment activities, or temporary operational support activities outside approved BPA call order requirements shall require prior Government approval.

2.1.4.5 Additional surge staffing support, emergency deployment support, reassignment activities, temporary operational support activities, or expanded accessibility support requirements outside approved BPA call order requirements shall require prior Government approval.

2.1.4.6 The Government may establish surge staffing quantities, temporary staffing requirements, surge operational periods, staffing reassignment requirements, deployment requirements, or expanded operational support requirements at the BPA call order level.

2.1.5 Operational Responsiveness

2.1.5.1 The Contractor shall maintain operational communication capability available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and 365 days per year inclusive of weekends and holidays.

2.1.5.2 The Contractor shall maintain capability to receive, acknowledge, coordinate, schedule, deploy, and support BPA call order requirements during routine and surge operations.

2.1.5.3 The Contractor shall notify the Government of staffing limitations, deployment delays, technology disruptions, infrastructure outages, security incidents, operational interruptions, labor shortages, environmental conditions, emergency conditions, or operational conditions impacting contract performance.

2.1.5.4 The Contractor shall coordinate operational issues, staffing limitations, deployment delays, service disruptions, technology disruptions, or operational impacts with the Government and COR, as applicable, in accordance with BPA call order requirements.

2.1.5.5 Failure to provide qualified personnel, maintain required operational capability, support assigned operational requirements, or fulfill accepted BPA call order requirements may be considered a performance deficiency and may impact performance evaluations, future BPA call order considerations, or continued BPA eligibility.

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2.1.6 Continuity of Operations

2.1.6.1 The Contractor shall maintain continuity of operations procedures, staffing contingency procedures, backup communication methods, operational redundancy capability, deployment support capability, technical…