IOPHCA_PWS_HRD_approved.pdf

Performance Work Statement (PWS)

GS-1811-13 Selection System

(1811-13 SS)

Performance Work Statement (PWS)

GS-1811-13 Selection System (1811-13 SS)

Vision Statement

Uses Industrial/Organizational Psychology industry standards to 1) complete a job analysis update, 2) recommend a blueprint for a comprehensive candidate evaluation process that includes a job-knowledge exam, a phone-based assessment tool, and other necessary and job-related factors, and 3) develop, implement and administer a one-hour, phone-based assessment tool (approximately 3 exercises) for the

United States Marshals Service (USMS) grade 13 criminal investigator (series 1811) position. The GS-1811-

13 workforce, to include selectees for this position, requires a strong foundation of competencies across core areas, so that resources can be redirected as needed to meet changing workloads, missions, and priorities, while still meeting the critical requirements of specialized positions.

1 Introduction

The Contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, tools materials, supervision, other items and non-personal services necessary to provide for the GS-1811-13 Selection System (GS-1811-13 SS)

, as defined in this Performance Work Statement (PWS), except for those items specified as government furnished property and services. The Contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

1.1 Objective

The objective of this contract is to update a job analysis, identify job-related components for a federal vacancy announcement certification process, and develop and administer a phone-based assessment tool that provides a talent pool of employees that can meet a wide range of mission requirements, while still allowing for individual employees and divisions to seek and maintain specialized skill sets for the GS-1811-13 criminal investigator position.

1.2 Background

The USMS primarily fills its senior technical and supervisor/management law enforcement positions with internal promotions from its current workforce. Criminal investigators (series 1811) in the USMS compete within the agency for promotion to a grade 13, 14 or 15 position.

Grade 13 criminal investigators are typically first-line supervisors in district offices or senior criminal investigators/technical specialists in areas such as court security or enforcement. GS-1811-13 positions make up approximately 30% of the law enforcement workforce, with approximately 1400 internal USMS applicants evaluated and considered for approximately 100-150 vacancies per year.

Grade 14 criminal investigators primarily serve as Chief Deputies in charge of small to medium-sized district offices, as well as Assistant Chief Deputies in larger offices. Operational positions at this grade level also serve as Branch Chiefs in Headquarters/Regional Offices or as HQ regional managers and often manage national programs.

Grade 15 criminal investigators serve as Chief Deputies in larger district offices, as well as Regional Chiefs and/or Division Chiefs in Headquarters organizations. Recently, the agency and its law enforcement officers have taken on a wide range of additional mission responsibilities, such as sex offender investigations, state and local fugitive task forces, technical surveillance and other specialized and often highly technical missions.

These additional responsibilities have impacted the GS-1811-13 position, increasing the ratio of specialty program managers as compared to first-level supervisors. Because the USMS has a large number of offices, a very broad area of responsibility, and a limited employee base, the agency is better able to serve the public with a professional law enforcement workforce that has a generalist skill set, complemented by technical expertise. At the same time, many of our GS-1811-13 employees have highly specialized responsibilities. The

USMS needs to develop a talent pool of employees that can meet a wide range of mission requirements, while still allowing for individual employees and divisions to seek and maintain specialized skill sets. This may translate to a pool of generalists that meet minimum requirements in a wide range of areas, while also having the ability to specialize in one or more technical areas.

Competition at the GS-1811-13 grade level currently follows a uniform process to evaluate candidates using scores on a job-knowledge exam, a writing skills exam, an experience-based application, performance ratings, training, education and awards. In addition, because managers in specialty areas need highly trained employees, they often request the consideration of specialized experience or training on the application to help ensure that applicants can meet their specialized requirements. Over the past few years, this has led to a pool of senior employees that may soon be too specialized to perform the full complement of mission-related job requirements, especially in times of scarce resources.

Upon contract award, the USMS shall provide the vendor with prior job analysis materials and other documents, as needed, to include the two most recent job analyses updates from 2012 and 2014. The USMS shall make available recent comments from Subject Matter Experts (SME) raters regarding recommended changes to the current experience-based application process and a career path study produced by a working group in 2010 that can provide insight into the changing environment of the GS-1811-13 position.

Job Analysis Update for the 2012 USMS Merit Promotion Exam, July 30, 2012.

Job Analysis Update for the 2014 USMS Merit Promotion Exam, May 6, 2014.

Development of a Writing Skills Test for the 2014 U.S. Marshals Service Criminal Investigator Merit Promotion

Exam, July 29, 2014.

1.3 Scope

The scope of the GS-1811-13 SS is for the contractor to work with the USMS to identify GS-1811-13 job requirements, define a job-related application and certification process, and develop and administer a competency-based phone assessment tool (approximately a one-hour assessment with three exercises) to replace the current application and rating benchmarks.

The GS-1811-13 SS contract shall be executed in four (4) Phases done concurrently or logically.

Phase Timeline (C is contract award date and NTE is not to exceed)

Standard

Phase I: Update the Current GS-

1811-13 Job Analysis

Not to exceed three (3) months from contract award.

- Update the current job analysis of the GS-1811-13 position (first-line supervisor/senior professional/ criminal investigator) for use in designing the phone-based assessment tool and produce a job analysis report of job tasks, critical incidents, and required competencies and behaviors (Prior job analysis reports will be made available upon contract award.)

Phase II: Design a job-related application and certification process for use in filling vacant

GS-1811-13 positions in the U.S.

Marshals Service

Not to exceed five (5) months from contract award.

Design a job-related application and certificate process for identification of highly qualified candidates for vacant GS-1811-13 positions. This process must give due weight and consideration to already existing scores from a job-knowledge exam, the phone-based assessment developed as part of this contract, and any other job-related or required (i.e., performance appraisals and incentive awards) evaluation factors.

Phase III Not to exceed eight (8) months from contract award.

- Produce a phone-based assessment tool for both gathering

(e.g., role-plays) and evaluating

(benchmarks/scoring) candidate competencies for the GS-1811-13 position

- Phone Assessors – to be provided by vendor

- Format – candidate interacts over phone call with assessor/ole player to evaluate candidate’s job-related competencies using tools such as role plays, in-box exercises, etc.

Length - approximately one hour of interaction with candidate completing 2 – 3 role play exercises

Phase IV: Vendor preparation for administration of phone assessments

Not to exceed nine (9) months from contract award.

- Vendor preparation to administer phone interviews, to include system set-up for scheduling and candidate identity verification, training vendor-provided and managed assessors, procedures for transferring scores to USMS, candidate feedback, etc.

Phase V – Vendor administration and refresh of phone assessments

(FY16-Option Year 1; FY17 Option

Year 2; FY18 Option Year 3)

Option Year 1 – to be exercised in

FY16 pending availability of funds

– approximately half-year of administering assessment following completion of Phase IV.

Option Year 2 – to be exercised in

FY17 pending availability of funds

– full year of administering assessments plus training of replacement assessors as needed

Option Year 3 – to be exercised in

FY18 pending availability of funds

– full year of administering assessments plus phone assessment refresh

Vendor identified per candidate fee to schedule phone assessments with candidates, administer one hour assessment with vendor provided assessor/role player;

evaluate candidate competencies using benchmarks; provide USMS with candidate performance/scores; and provide basic performance feedback to candidate.

Expected candidate volume is approximately 1000 USMS employee candidates per full assessment year (note- USMS projects fewer candidates in FY16 due to assessment development timeline)

Option Year 3 Refresh – administration of exercises to

USMS candidates, plus refresh of assessment.

Refresh to consist of a) job analysis update, b) either replacement of one exercise or slight modifications of all three, and

c) update of benchmarks as needed, and d) training of assessors on refreshed exercises and benchmarks.

1.4 Period of Performance

The period of performance (POP) shall be for four (4) years months and/or until all Phases are complete The

POP reads as follows:

Option Date

Base Year 15 June 2015 – 16 June 2016

Option Year I ???16 June 2016 – 15 June 2017

Option Year II

Option Year III

1.5 Monthly Billing Cycle

The monthly billing cycle will be as follows: The Contractor will bill the USMS, as outlined by the chart below.

If the below dates fall on a Holiday, the preceding business day shall be the date of the monthly review and the billing are due All monthly invoices must be submitted and reviewed by the COR prior to submission for payment. Payments will be made according to the Prompt Payment Act.

Date Actions

10th Day of the Month Monthly meeting to review performance and estimated accrual of billing hour Billing

25th Day of the Month Billing

1.6 Type of contract

The USMS will award a.

1.7 Place of Performance

Where does the USMS want this to happen? The majority of the contract will be performed at the contractor’s facility, to include administration of the phone assessments. Meetings with USMS to include subject-matter experts may periodically occur at USMS facilities.

1.8 Contracting Officer Representative (COR)

The COR will be identified by a separate letter. The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration. The COR is authorized to perform the following functions: assure that the

Contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract; perform inspections necessary in connection with contract performance; maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract; issue written interpretations of technical requirements, including Government drawings, designs, specifications; monitor Contractor's performance and notifies both the CO and Contractor of any deficiencies; coordinate availability of government furnished property, and provide site entry of Contractor personnel. A letter of designation issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, states the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially with regard to changes in cost or price, estimates or changes in delivery dates. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting order.

1.9 Identification of Contractor Employees

? Not required? All contract personnel shall wear a uniform and/or equivalent that identify the contractor personnel to avoid creating an impression in the minds of the members of the public that they are Government officials.

All contract personnel attending meetings, answering Government telephones, and working in other situations where their status is not obvious to third parties are required to identify themselves as such to avoid creating an impression in the minds of members of the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by the Contractor are suitably marked as Contractor products or that participation is appropriately disclosed.

Specifically for written communication, to include any and all memoranda, letters, e-mails, publications, abstracts, manuscripts, business cards, etc. the signature block will read Name, Title (Position), Contracting

Company, Address, Office Numbers, E-mail Address

1.10 Organizational Conflict of Interest

An offeror shall identify in its proposal, quote, bid, or any resulting contract, any potential or actual

Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest (OCCI) as described in FAR Subpart 9.5. This includes actual or potential conflicts of interests of proposed subcontractors (subs). If an offeror identified in its proposal, quote, bid or any resulting contract, a potential or actual conflict of interests the offeror shall submit an Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest Plan (OCCIP) to the CO. The OCCIP shall describe how the offeror addresses potential or actual conflicts of interest and identify how they will avoid, neutralize, or mitigate present or future conflicts of interest.

Offerors must consider whether their involvement and participation raises any OCCI issues, especially in the following areas when: providing systems engineering and technical direction, preparing specifications or work statements and/or objectives, providing evaluation services, and obtaining access to proprietary information.

If a prime or sub breaches any of the OCCI restrictions, or does not disclose or misrepresents any relevant facts concerning its conflict of interest, the Government may take appropriate action, including terminating the contract, in addition to any remedies that may be other permitted by the contract or operation of law.

Be aware that offerors that develop, write, advise, provide directions, consult on, serves as a sub on, or provided input into procurement strategy, specifications, requirements, performance work statement, and/or

RFP’s for a proposed procurement could potentially be excluded from bidding or submitting a proposal to compete from the award of such procurement.

The offeror must include any individual employee who has an immediate family member that has developed, written, advised, provided directions, consulted on, served as a sub on, or provided input into procurement strategy, specifications, requirements, performance work statement, and/or RFP’s/IFB’s for a proposed procurement.

Immediate family members include grandparents, parents, in-law, sibling, spouse, child or grandchild, whether the family relationship exists by blood, adoption, or law.

The offeror shall require that all parties affiliated with its organization to regularly make full disclosure of any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest, and should describe the process and or timing for doing so to the Government.

2 General Requirements

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

2.1 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) and Contracting Officer Representative (COR) immediately.

2.2 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 as outlined in Policy 1.2, Code of Professional Responsibility.

2.3 Contract Administration and Management

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

2.3.1 Contract Management

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

2.3.2 Contract Administration

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 maintain proper and accurate time keeping records of personnel assigned to work on the requirement.

2.3.3 Personnel Administration

The contractor shall provide the following management and support as required. The contractor shall provide for employees during designated Government non-work days 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 initial and refresher training as required to meet the SOW 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).

2.4 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 Interest (OCI) considerations. Contractors may add subcontractors to their team after notification to the

Contracting Officer (CO) or Contracting Officer Representative (COR).

2.5 Contractor Key Personnel, Disciplines, and Specialties

The contractor shall accomplish the assigned work by employing and utilizing qualified personnel with appropriate combinations of education, training, and experience. The contractor shall match personnel skills to the work or task with a minimum of under/over employment of resources. The contractor shall ensure the labor categories as defined in the Labor Categories document labor rates, and man-hours utilized in the SOW will be the minimum necessary to accomplish the task.

The Contractor shall provide the necessary resources and infrastructure to manage, perform, and administer the contract.

The key personnel is: Industrial/Organizational Psychologist

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Design agenda and conduct Subject-Matter Expert meetings Conduct a Job Analysis Update Process.

Produce technical reports, such as job analysis reports, that meet I/O industry standards.

Identify AS-IS and TO-BE process for application and certification/best qualified processes that align with job requirements, USMS resources and federal regulations Develop realistic, job-related role-playing exercises for phone assessments.

Develop and refine competency-based behavioral benchmarks for evaluating candidate performance on phone assessments/role plays.

Produce written products that are internally cohesive across assessment exercises and the project

(e.g., use of similar terms, no contradictory statements, etc.) that require minimal or no editorial or subject-matter corrections by USMS.

Develop and conduct assessor training to produce accurate, consistent, and objective scoring by assessors

Maintain good working relationships with clients to enhance customer satisfaction and work with client management to produce reliable, valid and practical solutions.

External Requirements EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE:

Industrial/Organizational Psychology degree from an accredited college or university (Ph.D. preferred) Three or more years’ experience in applied I/O psychology analyzing jobs, developing competency assessments, etc., to include experience working with federal law enforcement organizations Ability to analyze large data sets, draw conclusions and report findings.

Experience with writing to deliver clear, concise and analytic reports and assessment role plays Experience leading subject-matter expert groups, to include working with high-level managers Ability to communicate clearly in writing and verbally.

?Must have ____________________security clearance.

2.7 Special Qualifications

2.7.1 Information Security

All persons performing under this contract shall protect and safeguard information in accordance with

Department of Justice (DOJ) and USMS directives, instructions and procedures. These same persons shall have to immediately report any deviations or violation of this guidance, or any unusual or suspicious activity to the COR and the USMS Security Office, with the Security Office taking precedence. These same persons will provide assistance and full cooperation, at no cost to the USMS, in any subsequent investigation or inquiries conducted by the USMS or other government agencies.

All Information Systems (IS) that process, store, or transmit USMS information are required to establish a process to ensure that adequate security is in place. The IS are subject to federal, departmental, and USMS policies and procedures. The Contractor shall comply with best security practices and follow the security guidelines of the approved Interconnection Agreements. The Contractor shall make reasonable efforts within the existing IT system to implement the following security controls: system security categorization, access control, awareness and training, audit and accountability, incident response identification and authentication, password management, accountability and audit trails, warning banner, assignments and segregation of system responsibilities/permission, personnel security, physical and environmental security, storage and marking.

Sufficient security standards shall be employed by the Contractor to prevent accidental disclosure, unauthorized access to data and data files, unauthorized software modification, or divulgence of confidential processing procedures.

Limited Official Use (LOU): Unclassified information that has been determined to require protection against unauthorized disclosure must be identified as LOU to ensure that all persons having access to the information are aware of the protection requirement. The method of identification of LOU material is to be marked as

“LIMITED OFFICIAL USE” on the first page of the material as a footer, or other approved areas as directed by

USMS guidance, on each subsequent page.

Material containing LOU information may further be identified by the use of Form USM-5 LIMITED OFFICIAL

USE cover sheet. The use of this cover sheet is primarily to protect against inadvertent visual disclosure of information on the first page. It can be used in lieu of the requirement to apply the LOU marking on the first page of the material. When cover sheets are used, they should be affixed to documents using staplers, so as to preclude disassociation of the document from the cover sheet. Large or otherwise voluminous quantities of unmarked LOU information housed in a protected area or in containers within a protected area need not be individually marked until the information is removed from the storage container or protected area. Protected area or containers storing information designated as LOU but not yet individually marked must be posted to identify the contents as LOU and to promulgate the requirement to mark individual records when they are removed from the container for any reason.

Electronically transmitted messages or data containing LOU information will be preceded by the term “Limited

Official Use” at the beginning of the text.

Encryption: Encryption technology shall be applied to the following during transmission: password and symmetric or private asymmetric keys from their point of origin to their destination; activities of a system administrator or for system maintenance that could affect the security of another networked system, packets transmitted on wireless network segments; classified information using equipment and keying material approved by the National Security Agency (NSA) (Type 1 products).

Encryption technology shall be applied to the following while they are electronically stored: passwords, symmetric or private asymmetric keys, information, applications, and databases stored on laptop computer.

SBU IT systems employing encryption shall comply with applicable Federal Information Processing Standards

(FIPS) publications and guidelines for encryption, except in those situations where encryption products or technologies are prohibited from exportation or deployment in a foreign country, across a national boundary, or in cooperation with a foreign country. In those cases, other compatible encryption technology can be considered upon a favorable determination of their protection by the DOJ CIO.

Waivers for use of noncompliant encryption must be approved in writing by the DOJ CIO.

2.7.2 Data Rights

All products generated by the Contractor shall be provided with unlimited rights to the USMS. This shall include, but is not limited to, all briefs, proposals (both verbal and written), source code and executable, documents, and hardware. All information, techniques, strategy, and derived components that are associated to this effort shall also be provided with unlimited right to the Government.

All deliverables and work under any resultant contract shall be in accordance with FAR clause 52.227-14.

Rights in Data – General.

The Contractor shall be prepared to provide all associated documentation to include: requirements definition documentation, requirements traceability matrix, user’s guides, configuration and installation guides, runtime interface document, version description documents, release notes, test plans, test procedures, test reports, change requests, software description document, system security authorization agreement, system and deployment schedules, work plans, transition plans, interface control documents, training management plan, and other documentation as required by USMS ITD and ITD/MSD policies and directed by the COR.

All 1811-13 SS products and results are the property of the USMS. 1811-13 SS results cannot be sold or shared with other vendors for statistical purposes, or to create or add to mailing lists.

2.7.4 Emergencies

While in USMS facilities, or other government facilities on the behalf of the USMS and as part of this contract, the Contractor shall comply with posted evacuation procedures and instructions provided by security and emergency management personnel.

2.7.5 Employment of Foreign Nationals

In compliance with Section 24, Personnel Security, foreign nationals are not authorized to access or assist in the development, operation, management or maintenance of Department of Justice IT systems including all component systems and systems that house DOJ information unless a waiver is granted by the Head of the

Component, with the concurrence of the Department of Justice Department Security Officer (DSO) and the

Chief Information Officer (CIO).

2.8 Physical Security

The Contractor shall be responsible for safeguarding all the USMS equipment, information and property provided for use. At the close of each work period, the USMS facilities, equipment, and materials shall be secured and accounted for.

3 Specific Tasks:

3.1 The Contractor shall provide service the GS-1811-13 SS as outlined by the Phased

Operation (Section 1.3):

3.1.1 Phase I: Update the Current GS-1811-13 Job Analysis

3.1.1.1: SME Meeting to be completed by the contractor no later than six (6) weeks after contract award.

Update the current job analysis of the GS-1811-13 position (first-line supervisor/senior professional/ criminal investigator) for use in designing the phone-based assessment tool and the GS-1811-13 candidate application and certification/best-qualified list components and process.

(Prior job analysis reports, current experience-based application rating guides, and prior competency-based benchmarks for structured interviews will be made available upon contract award.)

3.1.1.2: Job Analysis Report

Produce a job analysis report of job tasks, critical incidents, and required competencies and behaviors for the GS-1811-13 position that documents the job-relatedness of the competencies to be measured by the phone assessment and the application process

3.1.2 Phase II: Design a job-related application and certification process for use in filling vacant GS- 1811-13 positions in the U.S. Marshals Service

3.1.2.1: Work with SME and USMS Management team to identify which job-related components, and the associated weight of each component, should be included in a merit-based system to identify the list of best-qualified candidates for each GS-1811-13 USMS vacancy.

This process must give due weight and consideration to already existing scores from a job-knowledge exam, the phone-based assessment developed as part of this contract, and any other job-related or required (i.e., performance appraisals and incentive awards) evaluation factors.

3.1.2.2: Work with SMEs and USMS management team to define the process for collecting this information from candidates/assessing candidates, for compiling the information to determine the certificate/best-qualified list, and for sharing it with the USMS management team for selection consideration.

Whenever possible, provide suggestions for identifying tool(s) to automate the process.

3.1.2.3: Provide a professionally formatted one to two page summary of recommendations for consideration by USMS management team.

3.1.3 Phase III: Produce a job-related, phone based assessment tool to gather and evaluate candidate competencies for GS-1811-13 positions

The phone-based assessment will include approximately 1 hour of candidate contact time and will include three exercises. As outlined in Phase IV and Phase V, it is assumed that the contractor will provide the phone assessors and will administer the phone assessment. The USMS currently prefers that the assessment should be designed so that each USMS candidate interacts with at least two role-players who will complete separate benchmark ratings. (This requirement is open to negotiation based on contractor and SME input.)

3.1.3.1. Produce an outline of the proposed phone-based assessment tool to include a one-to two paragraph summary of each of the three proposed role-paying exercises, the competencies to be evaluated, and a synopsis of how the benchmarks will be used to evaluate candidate competencies.

3.1.3.2: Upon approval by USMS of phone based assessment tool proposal in 3.1.3.1., hold a SME meeting to fully define the three role-playing phone assessment exercises to include role-player scripts, competency-based benchmarks for candidate evaluation, etc.

3.1.3.3: Produce a final phone assessment report that documents the participation of USMS SMEs (e.g., SME meeting agenda, SME qualifications/experience, etc.) and a final version of the phone assessment exercises, compet3ncy benchmarks, scoring worksheets, etc. for USMS review and approval.

3.1.4 Phase IV: Vendor preparation for administration of phone assessments

Vendor preparation to administer phone interviews, to include system set-up for scheduling and candidate identity verification, training vendor-provided and managed assessors, procedures for transferring scores to

USMS, candidate feedback, etc.

3.1.4.1: Work with USMS management to define the administrative process for administration of the phone-based assessments, to include scheduling, verifying candidate identity, transferring scores to USMS, candidate feedback, etc.

3.1.4.2: Develop training agenda and materials for phone assessors provided by vendor.

3.1.4.3: Deliver training to contractor-provided phone assessors and provide USMS with a plan for quality control of assessor performance as role-player and assessor.

3.1.5 Phase V: Vendor administration and refresh of phone assessments (FY16-Option Year 1; FY17 Option Year 2; FY18 Option Year 3)

Contractor will administer phone assessments to include managing the candidate scheduling process, training and providing phone assessors and phone lines, using benchmarks to evaluate candidate performance, and providing scores to USMS and feedback to candidates.

Expected candidate volume is approximately 1000 USMS employee candidates per full assessment year.

Depending on process design decisions made in Phase II, demand for scheduling phone assessments may peak for approximately one month 3 – 4 times per year.

3.1.5.1 – Option Year 1 – Administer phone assessments to USMS candidates starting approximately May

2016 timeframe for one year. Per candidate administration fees to include quality control of assessor performance and occasional training of new assessors as needed to meet USMS scheduling demand.

3.1.5.2 – Option Year 2 – Administer phone assessments to USMS candidate starting May/June 2017

3.1.5.3 – Option Year 3 –

3.1.5.3. a.: Refresh phone assessment to include a) job analysis update, b) either replacement of one exercise or slight modifications of all three, c) update of benchmarks as needed, and d) training of assessors on refreshed exercises and benchmarks.

3.1.5.3. b: Administer refreshed phone assessments to USMS candidates starting May/June 2017

4 Special Requirements

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

4.1 Security and Safety

Assessment Exercise Security - To be provided by vendor at phone assessment site(s).

Assessment Registration and Identify Verification:

On a periodic basis, the USMS will provide the vendor with a list of names and Personal Identification

Numbers (PIN) of employees eligible to participate in the phone assessment.

When scheduling the phone assessment, USMS candidates will provide name, PIN number, phone number for assessment, and email address for distribution of candidate feedback.

When taking the phone assessment, USMS candidates will provide the Personal Identification Number

(PIN) to verify identity, and will confirm email address for candidate feedback.

Score reports to the USMS will include candidate name and PIN.

4.2 Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings

The Contractor agrees to attend any post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 42.5. The CO, COR, and other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the Contractor to review the

Contractor's performance. At these meetings the CO and/or COR will apprise the Contractor of how the

Government views the Contractor's performance and the Contractor will apprise the Government of problems, if any, being experienced. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues. These meetings shall be at no additional cost to the Government.

The post award conference shall be no more than two (2) weeks after contract award. The USMS shall provide the 2010 career path study, and two (2) job analyses reports completed in 2012 and 2014 that include detailed job tasks and competencies.

4.3 Government Furnished Items and Services

4.3.1 Equipment

The Government will provide the prior job analysis, application and interview benchmarks that might be of use to the contractor for completion of the job analysis and assessment exercises, test questions and answers, eligibility lists, and format for test score results for individuals, the customer satisfaction survey questions, and the results of the appeals board.

The USMS will provide the vendor with a list of eligible employees to include first name, middle initial, last name, and PIN. Upon registration, employees will provide contact information required by the vendor, such as email addresses, phone numbers, etc.

4.4 Contractor Furnished Items and Responsibilities

4.4. 1 Materials

The Contractor shall provide, if not provided by the USMS as outlined in this SOW section 3, Government furnished equipment, furnish materials supplies, and equipment necessary to meet the requirements in this

SOW, at no cost to the USMS.

The contractor will provide assessors, as well as phones and phone lines.

4.4.2 Facilities

The Contractor will provide the necessary workspace for the Contractor staff, including phone assessors, to provide the support outlined in the SOW to include desk space and other items necessary to maintain a secure test environment.

4.4.3 Utilities

The contractor shall provide all utilities in the facility to be available for the Contractor’s use in performance of tasks outlined in this SOW. The Contractor shall instruct employees in utilities conservation practices. The

Contractor shall be responsible for operating under conditions that preclude the waste of utilities, which include turning off the water faucets or valves after using the required amount to accomplish cleaning vehicles and equipment.

4.4.4 Equipment

The Contractor will provide all equipment for the Contractor’s use in performance of tasks outline in this SOW.

4.5 Quality

This section describes the Quality Control components for this effort. The following sub-sections provide details of various considerations on this effort.

4.5.1 Quality Control

The Contractor shall develop and maintain an effective Quality Control Program (QCP) to ensure effective quality services are performed in accordance with this SOW. The Contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-reoccurrences of defective services. The Contractor’s QCP is the means by which the Contractor ensures that the work complies with this contract.

The QCP shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer (CO) and Contracting Officer Representative (COR) for review within five (5) calendar days after contract award. The CO and COR will have five (5) calendar days from the receipt of the QCP to review for acceptance. Any changes to the plan during the period of the contract shall be provided to the CO and COR for review no later than ten (10) business days prior to the effective date of the change. The CO and COR will provide approval and acceptance of the changes to the

QCP within ten (10) business days from date of receipt. The QCP, at a minimum, shall include delivery reports for both warehouse and mail services.

The QCP will also address, if needed and directed by the COR, the information collected in compliance with the President’s Management Agenda for improving productivity, controlling costs, and implementing the responsibilities of the E-Government Results Act of 2002. This information provides the input into the continuing review of the government staffing, methods of operations, and support required to accomplish the organizational mission. To assist in the collection of workload and staffing data associated with human capital and organizational review, the Contractor, at no cost to the USMS, may be asked to complete a variety of workload forms and participate in interviews when requested.

5 Deliverables

The contractor shall provide deliverables. Deliverables shall be specified by the government.

Deliverables Frequency # of Copies Medium/Format Submit to

Weekly Activity Report: To show the status of the Phases and the tasks.

Weekly by Close of Business Monday for the preceding week

One (1) Electronic COR

Quality Control Plan Five (5) calendar days from the award of the contract

One (1) Electronic COR

Billing Monthly. 25th of the month.*

Two (2) Hardcopy and Electronic

COR

* The vendor will provide the USMS with an itemized bill that includes the name, unique registration id, registration date, exam site, and exam test date for each individual test taker.