Draft Benefits Enterprise Services PWS_RFI.docx

Benefits Enterprise Services TAC Number: VA-25-00006417

TRANSFORMATION TWENTY-ONE TOTAL TECHNOLOGY NEXT GENERATION (T4NG)

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Office of Information & Technology Benefits and Memorials

Benefits Enterprise Services

Date: November 1, 2024

VA-25-00006417

Task Order PWS Version Number: 0.1

Contents

BACKGROUND

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information & Technology (OIT), Software Product Management (SPM) Office, Benefits and Memorial Services (BAM) Portfolio’s mission is to deliver world-class, innovative systems that ensure reliable, secure, and seamless delivery of benefits and services directly to Veterans and their families. The BAM Portfolio serves the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA) to develop and manage advanced technology solutions. The BAM Portfolio provides technology solutions to improve benefit claims processing, case management, and benefits and service delivery. The BAM Portfolio collaborates with Business lines to identify and validate business needs, prioritize initiatives to fulfill those needs, oversee the work, and validate whether the work meets the business needs upon delivery. The BAM Portfolio provides direction on product management and ownership, overarching prioritization, and execution.

VA OIT BENEFITS INTEGRATION PLATFORM

The Benefits Integration Platform (BIP) is the centerpiece for the BAM Portfolio to provide modern benefits architecture and engineering solutions, services, and data. BIP is a multitenant platform that can be leveraged by other VA products to reduce development costs and provide quicker to market solutions to better serve our Veterans. BIP is currently deployed in the VA Enterprise Cloud Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud environment, adheres to Zero Trust security principles, and provides modern platform tooling, automation, and development frameworks that provides patterns for building well-integrated, well-structured, and standardized (e.g., OpenAPI Specification-based) Application Programing Interfaces (API) and applications. APIs and automation improve accessibility to benefits related data, hastens benefit claims processing, streamlines appeals management, and enhances overall VA benefits service delivery. The BAM Portfolio Product teams use the BIP to deliver on top priorities to support VBA and NCA missions, drive application modernization efforts, and ensure common data sharing – thereby providing a standardized approach to software delivery and the decommissioning of legacy systems. Portfolio-level common service solutions, platform, frameworks, accelerators, and APIs, provide the modern technical foundation necessary for automation and innovation including the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

VISION-DRIVEN EXECUTION

The BAM Portfolio uses vision-driven-execution to enhance the digital experience for Veterans and VA business partners by executing a clear vision, roadmap, resource plans, and metrics of success. The portfolio vision is to pursue excellence in the way BAM envision, plan, prioritize, resource, and execute IT services and support. The Portfolio has the following goals:

· Strategy: Develop a clear vision and roadmap with prioritized strategic outcomes. Maintain continuous strategy-to-execution alignment. Align investment decisions with strategic goals and utilize an agile approach to allocate resources.

· Modern Architecture: Shrink monolithic and stove-piped products to develop and grow portfolio-wide benefits, appeals, and memorials data and services that supports Veteran benefits claims processes.

· Efficiency: Reduce duplicative efforts and develop cross-cutting services and authoritative data to enable faster progress toward achieving strategic goals.

· Collaboration: Continuously improve customer and end user experiences. Promote collaboration and cross-functional teams.

· Agility: Agile, iterative approach to data-driven informed decision making.

BAM PORTFOLIO PRODUCT LINES

VA OIT is organized to enable Portfolio Management, Product Line Management, and Product Management. BAM Portfolio, Product Line, and Product teams are comprised of cross-functional individuals with shared responsibility and skills that allow them to build, deploy, monitor, and operate products through entire lifecycle from conception to retirement. Product management organizes work by outcomes and uses lean agile methodology to support rapid value delivery. Product Management Development, Security, and Operations a.k.a. DevSecOps (DSO) teams, referred to as Product teams, are led by a VA OIT Product Manager (VA PM), supported by a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), and may include team members from OIT and the business, as well as the teams that will be performing under this TO to provide customer-centric iteratively-developed solutions to keep up with changing customer needs. Product teams may encompass one or more software application systems to enable legacy systems modernization.

BAM Portfolio includes, but is not limited to, the following Product Lines. As the BAM Portfolio continues to evolve, products may be added or removed from the BAM Portfolio Product Lines throughout the life of this Task Order.

Benefits Integration and Administration (BIA) Product Line: The BIA Product Line’s mission is to deliver high-quality platform, data, business intelligence and automation, and administrative products and services that serve as a foundation to our VA partners’ efforts to deliver benefits to Veterans. The product line accomplishes this by closely collaborating with its VA partners, including the C&P and MBS product lines, to make methods for delivering benefits as seamless, efficient, and effective as possible.

The BIA Product Line’s centerpiece product is BIP. BIP is a modern Kubernetes, Docker, and Jenkins based Platform as a Service PaaS that resides within VAEC in the AWS GovCloud environment. It enables teams to quickly, easily, and securely develop, build, deploy, scale, and manage container-based applications in a multi-tenant cloud environment. Furthermore, it currently hosts VBMS components, Memorial Benefits Management System (MBMS) components, and various services and APIs within its production cluster.

Other notable products within the BIA Product Line include Corporate Database (CRP), VBA Data Warehouse (VD2), and Benefits Enterprise Platform (BEP). CRP acts as a repository for most benefits related data. Over 40 distinct applications, including VBMS, connect to CRP to read and write benefits related data.

VBA and NCA will continue to position itself to leverage BIP, CRP, and the system integration and automation capabilities provided by the BIA Product Line. As a result, these strategic systems and capabilities must continue to evolve and mature to meet the growing needs of stakeholders. To do this, tooling and frameworks within BIP will be enhanced and expanded to provide a more robust feature set for tenants.. Furthermore, the BIA Product Line will develop new APIs and automation that improve accessibility to benefits related data, hastens benefit claims processing, streamlines appeals management, and enhances overall benefits and service delivery.

Compensation and Pension (C&P) Product Line: The C&P Product Line includes a suite of systems driving VBA's core modernization efforts, leveraging integration of more functionalities into VBMS, increasing utilization of cloud-based commercial products, enhancing currently integrated systems, standardizing record sharing between federal agencies, and replacing or retiring as many legacy systems as possible. To provide benefits in a secure and timely manner, significant enhancements to the Compensation Service (CS) and Pension & Fiduciary (P&F) Service require digital modernization of the IT environment. Additionally, diminishing knowledge of legacy systems within VBA underlies the urgency for these CS and P&F’s decommissioning efforts. As such, CS and P&F: The intent is to retire the graphical user interfaces (GUI) for the following Veterans Service Network (VETSNET) components: Share, Search and Participant Profile (SPP), VETSNET Modern Award Processing Development (MAP-D), VETSNET Awards.

VBMS is undergoing a business transformation initiative supported by technology and designed to improve VBA service delivery to Veterans. It is a holistic solution that integrates a Business Transformation Strategy (BTS) to address process and people, along with a 21st century, web-based paperless claims processing system. VBMS is an online electronic work environment (EWE) designed for processing C&P claims. Beyond claims processing, VBMS consists of a Document Repository that electronically replaces the older paper folder used to track and store Veteran Claims Evidence, a National Work Queue (NWQ) which manages and distributes the claims workload to field users, a correspondence tool to create, send and track communications to the Veteran, a system to manage fiduciaries for disabled Veterans, a rating feature set that allows for Disability Benefit Questionnaire (DBQ) exam results to be requested and processed through a complex schedule of rules to determine issues and service connection, and an awards module to award the Veteran benefits and send the information to Treasury through the eMPWR-VA for Veterans to receive payment for benefits. The hardware and software associated with these functions are located in the government cloud and consist of customized software complimented by some COTS products to provide a homogeneous system for VBA to process C&P claims.

Compensation and Pension Record Interchange (CAPRI) is a GUI for Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VistA) Automated Medical Information Exchange (AMIE II) menu options. CAPRI supports Compensation and Pension exam management. The CAPRI software acts as a bridge between VBA and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) information systems. It offers VBA Rating Specialists help in building the rating decision documentation through online access to medical data. It offers extensive reporting functionality to aid CS & Patient Financial Services (PFS) in the administration of Veterans' CS & PFS benefits. CAPRI will eventually be replaced, but it must be maintained and supported until the last VistA instance is converted..

The CAPRI Proxy Server, located at AITC, is an essential component of the CAPRI system architecture. It provides secure socket layer (SSL) communication to Data Access Services (DAS) during the transmission of Disability Benefit Questionnaires (DBQs) and other clinical and service treatment documents to DAS for VBMS. Currently CAPRI generates approximately 9,000 to 9,500 documents daily to DAS via the CAPRI Proxy Server. The CAPRI Proxy to DAS interface was designed to support a potential capacity of 90,000 transactions per week at less than 1MB per transaction. The CAPRI end users create DBQs and PDFs using existing processes in CAPRI. Once the DBQs and PDF documents are signed off by clinicians in CAPRI, CAPRI automatically sends the files to DAS and ultimately to VBMS. As an enabler of CAPRI process, the CAPRI proxy server must be maintained and supported until all VistA instances have been converted to the new VA Electronic Health Record Manager (EHRM).

The Claims Authentication server, housed at Philadelphia Information Technology Center (PITC), is critical to the functioning of the CAPRI system. The server provides user authentication support and connectivity for VBA and remote users from multiple program offices through the VA Medical Centers’ medical records to facilitate medical data search and retrieval, C&P exam development and management. This also provides user authentication support and connectivity for the Suicide Hotline/Veteran’s Crisis Line (VCL) system, a critical service provided by VHA. It is also used by other applications critical to Veteran care (e.g. VistA Remote Access Management (VRAM), Joint Longitudinal Viewer (JLV), and Web VRAM. As an enabler of CAPRI processes, the claim authentication server must be maintained and supported until all VistA instances have been converted to the new VA EHRM.

Memorial Benefits and Services Product Line: The MBS Product Line teams with NCA to establish modern enterprise services and solutions that will increase efficacy and efficiency of memorial benefits for our nation’s Veterans. NCA oversees the largest cemetery system in the country with over four million Americans memorialized by burial in VA’s national cemeteries. The legacy Burial Operations Support System - Enterprise (BOSS-E) is a system of systems supporting all aspects of the interment and inurnment processing. BOSS-E functions supports cemeteries nationwide with over 3.7 million occupied gravesites and processes over 135,000 new interments annually. This BOSS-E legacy system consists of 14 custom-developed modules that are complex and difficult to update. Started in 1994, the BOSS-E system is no longer compatible with VA's needs. The legacy IT system fails to comply with security and accessibility requirements, lacks integration with other VA systems, and relies on manual processes. MBMS is in the process of replacing BOSS-E and its legacy applications with a more cohesive, compliant, and functional enterprise platform. To develop MBMS, VA is leveraging and expanding upon BIP functionality to incorporate NCA requirements. The goal of MBMS is to migrate the functionality of disparate systems into a single integrated enterprise platform solution which will expedite memorial benefits processing and improve the overall Veteran and family experience. MBMS will enable automation of manual NCA processes, access to authoritative data across Lines of Business (LoB) and streamline VA's management for scheduling office and cemetery operations. VA will leverage BIP shared services in order to meet the mission needs of NCA and realize cost savings by reducing duplicative and antiquated systems. MBS Product Line initiatives will develop new features that benefit eligible Veterans, spouses, dependent children, and NCA employees by integrating with appropriate BIP authoritative data sources and automating approval of benefits. Veterans and their families will have the ability to submit online self-service requests for Pre-Need or Time of Need applications for burial services and all other memorial benefits.

Enterprise Management of Payments, Workload, and Reporting (eMPWR-VA):

Enterprise Management of Payments, Workload, and Reporting (eMPWR-VA)is a financial accounting and payment application that provides fiscal and accounting transaction processing. It includes an interface with the U.S. Department of Treasury for benefits payments. a modern web-based UI, workflow and caseflow management functions, business intelligence/analytics and enhanced reporting features. eMPWR-VA integrate with Common Security Services (CSS), Share, Search and Participant Profile (SPP), Modern Awards Processing Development (MAP-D), VBMS-A, VBMS-R and Statement of Case (SOC). eMPWR-VA supports both the information gathering and budgetary requirements for the C&P Service, Education Service, Loan Guaranty and Insurance Service programs. eMPWR-VA meets the Core Financial System Requirements outlined in the Federal Financial Management System Requirements publication (FFMSR-1) authored by the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP). eMPWR-VA is designed so that it can be used by other VBA benefit programs, thus providing a single system which is fully compliant with current accounting requirements. eMPWR-VA provides the ability to perform on-line transaction processing and on-line audit functions and has automated manual review processes such as check verification, Fiscal Adjustments (FISA), and review of account with prior waiver or write off adjustments. The system interfaces daily with the Financial Management System, allows for a systematic review of client accounts, provides a business transaction boundary, and performs daily payment processing. This system provides compliance with the U S Standard General Ledger, 24 x 7 processing, graphical user interface for the finance users, and web-enabled reports.

Veterans Appeals Product Line: The Veterans Appeals Product Line provides technology solutions to support the management of Veteran Appeals. The Board of Veterans’ Appeals is committed to improve the effectiveness and timeliness of appeals for benefits and services decisions and timely resolution. IT solutions must support the Veterans’ appeals processes and supporting evidence to result in legally correct decisions in a more efficient and faster manner, reducing the cost per appeal and ultimately improving Veterans experience. Automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) will support intake decision reviews; processing of appeals from VBA, VHA, and NCA; and improve the timeliness of decisions. Virtual tele-hearing functionality will reduce or eliminate travel time and reach Veterans isolated from VA facilities. A data lake of aggregated data from disparate sources improves congressionally mandated reporting and workload management.

APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

The Contractor shall comply with the following documents, in addition to the documents in Paragraph 2.0 in the T4NG Basic Performance Work Statement (PWS), in the performance of this effort:

1. Clinger-Cohen Act Public Law 104–106

2. Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA 2014) of 2014

3. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d)

4. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) (i.e., OMB Guidance M-16-21, et al)

5. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) et al including Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) 800-218

6. VA Directive 6500, “Managing Information Security Risk: VA Information Security Program,” September 20, 2012, et al

7. VA Handbook 6500.1, “Electronic Media Sanitization,” November 03, 2008,et al

8. VA Product Line Management (PLM) Playbook V1.0, July 2020

9. VA Memorandum “Updated VA Information Security Rules of Behavior (VAIQ #7823189)”, September 15, 2017

10. VA Memorandum “Ethical Principles for Access to and Use of Veteran Data (VIEWS 01256748)”, June 24, 2020

11. The Twelve Factor App https://12factor.net/

12. The Agile Manifesto http://agilemanifesto.org/

13. The U.S. Digital Services Playbook https://playbook.cio.gov/

14. The TechFAR Hub https://techfarhub.cio.gov/

15. VA UX Style Guide https://www.va.gov/web/standards/styles.cfm

16. VA Digital Services Handbook Research and Discovery Checklist https://department-of-veterans-affairs.github.io/va-digital-service-handbook/delivery/research-and-discovery/checklist

17. The Digital Analytics Program https://digital.gov/dap/

18. VA Design System https://design.va.gov/

19. United States Web Design System https://designsystem.digital.gov/

20. VA Developer Portal https://developer.va.gov/

21. VA EA Architecture Style Guide https://vaww.ea.oit.va.gov/architecture-development-library/#asg

22. SAFe® for Government https://scaledagileframework.com/government/

23. Directive 6404VA Systems Inventory (VASI)

24. Directive 6500VA CYBERSECURITY PROGRAM

25. Directive 6517- Cloud Security

26. Directive 6517Risk Management Framework for Cloud Computing Services

27. Directive 6551Enterprise Design Patterns

28. IRS Publication 1075; Tax Information Security Guidelines For Federal, State and Local Agencies

29. VA BAM OIT Portfolio and Product Line Configuration Management (CM) Plan

30. VA OIT Risk Management Plan

31. Attachment 0001 BIA DevSecOps Application Systems Product List

32. Attachment 0002 C&P DevSecOps Application Systems Product List

33. Attachment 0003 Memorials DevSecOps Application Systems Product List

34. Attachment 0004 eMPWR- VA DevSecOps Application Systems Product List

35. Attachment Veterans Appeals DevSecOps Application Systems Product List

SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor shall provide portfolio-level technical management and coordination to further develop and provide secure, BAM architecture, engineering, solutions, services, and data. The Contractor shall provide portfolio and product line management and maintain continuous strategy-to-execution alignment in partnership with stakeholders to maximize outcomes. The Contractor shall support the intake of business needs, prioritization, and delivery. The Contractor shall support and oversee initiatives and epics through initial business need definition, prioritization, and execution. The Contractor shall identify and coordinate in accordance with internal and external dependencies, inputs, and outputs, the timeline for completion of integrated efforts, and processes to manage the overall integrated effort. The Contractor shall adhere to modern practices to continuously improve VA experiences and outcomes through a combination of people, processes, and technology.

The Contractor shall streamline benefits systems and data and improve scalability, increase availability of services, to enable secure, efficient, and effective delivery of products. The Contractor shall provide DSO product support services for BAM Portfolio, BIP, Product Lines, and Products. The Contractor shall provide dedicated teams of cross-functional staff to operate, build, maintain, and develop the BIP and BAM Portfolio and Product Line Products. The Contractor shall provide VA with iterations of Agile software development and CI/CD. The Contractor shall provide Training and Help Desk Support. The Contractor shall transition legacy systems functionality and data to BIP and decommissioning legacy systems.

The Contractor shall follow the core functions of Software Development Lifecycle Management (SDLC) and lean scaled agile framework, such as the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and other emerging innovative frameworks, to deliver a broad range of solutions. The Contractor shall blend development, security, operations, infrastructure, and architecture together to provide DSO Product support. The Contractor shall continuously improve all new and existing solutions by implementing continual configurations, capabilities, enhancements, bug fixes, proactive monitoring, testing and evaluation, business intelligence and application performance monitoring analytics, and support activities, while collaborating closely with the BAM Portfolio, Product Lines, and VA Lines of Business throughout the development process. The Contractor shall configure, develop, maintain, test, and deploy business and technology feature releases. Teams for this effort shall be composed of an evolving mix of technical and operational skill sets across agile frameworks as required to meet the necessary stage of the capability SDLC and technical nature of the capability. The Contractor shall adjust deliverables and repository tool updates to match the nature of the capability and/or SDLC frameworks.

APPLICABILITY

This Task Order (TO) effort PWS is within the scope of the following T4NG Basic PWS paragraphs:

4.2 Systems/Software Engineering

4.2.1 Design and Development

4.2.2 Architecture Development

4.2.6 Web Application Design and Development

4.2.8 Human-Computer Interaction

4.2.9 System/Software Integration

4.2.10 Modeling and Simulation

4.2.12 Engineering and Technical Documentation

4.2.13 Current System and Data Migration

4.3 Software Technology Demonstration and Transition

4.4 Test & Evaluation

4.8 Operations and Maintenance

4.8.4 Security Management

4.8.7 Service/Help Desk/Call Center Support

4.8.9 License Maintenance

4.9 Cyber Security

4.9.3 Assessment and Authorization

4.9.4 Security Operating Support

4.10 Training

ORDER TYPE

The effort shall be Firm Fixed Price (FFP) with a Cost Reimbursement line item for Travel.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

PERFORMANCE PERIOD

The Period of Performance (PoP) shall be one (1) 12-month base period with four (4) 12-month Option Periods, along with five (5) optional tasks for additional Product Systems Teams, Agile Development Teams, Help Desk Support, Training Teams, and Transition Out Support.

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Efforts under this TO shall be performed at Contractor facilities. The Contractor shall identify the Contractor’s place of performance in their Task Execution Plan submission.

TRAVEL OR SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

The Government anticipates travel to perform the tasks associated with the effort, as well as to attend planning and program-related meetings or conferences throughout the PoP. Travel and per diem shall be in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) and requires concurrence in advance of travel arrangements by the VA PM and COR. The Contractor shall provide cost estimates with each travel request. Each Contractor invoice must include copies of all receipts that support the travel costs claimed in the invoice.

Local travel within a 50-mile radius from the Contractor’s normal duty location is considered the cost of doing business and will not be reimbursed. This includes travel, subsistence, and associated labor charges for travel time. Travel performed for personal convenience and daily travel to and from work at the Contractor’s facility will not be reimbursed. Travel, subsistence, and associated labor charges for travel time for travel beyond a 50-mile radius of the Contractor’s facility may be authorized on a case-by-case basis and must be pre-approved by the COR.

CONTRACT MANAGEMENT

All requirements of Sections 7.0 and 8.0 of the T4NG Basic PWS apply to this effort. This TO shall be addressed in the Contractor’s Progress, Status and Management Report as set forth in the T4NG Basic contract.

GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY

The Government has multiple remote access solutions available which include Citrix Access Gateway (CAG), Palo Alto Global Protect, Site-to-Site Virtual Private Network (VPN), and RESCUE VPN.

The Government’s issuance of Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) is limited to Contractor personnel requiring direct access to the network to development environments; install, configure, and run Technical Reference Model (TRM) approved software and tools.

When necessary, the Government will furnish laptops for use by the Contractor to access VA networks, systems, or applications to meet the requirements of this PWS. The overarching goal is to determine the most cost-effective approach to providing needed access to the VA environment coupled with the need to ensure proper change management principles are followed. Contractor personnel shall adhere to all VA system access requirements for on-site and remote users in accordance with VA standards, local security regulations, policies, and rules of behavior. GFE shall be approved by the COR and VA PM on a case-by-case basis prior to issuance. The Government will not furnish the software, or licenses thereto, for any applications that are not on the TRM or that are not used on Government laptops

Based upon the Government assessment of remote access solutions and requirements of this TO, the Government estimates that the following GFE will be required by this TO:

1. Laptops

The Government will not provide IT accessories including but not limited to Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots/wireless access points, additional or specialized keyboards or mice, laptop bags, extra charging cables, extra Personal Identity Verification card readers, peripheral devices, or additional Random Access Memory (RAM). The Contractor is responsible for providing these types of IT accessories in support of the TO as necessary and any VA installation required for these IT accessories shall be coordinated with the COR.

The Status of Government Furnished Equipment Report under the T4NG Basic Contract requirements is applicable to this TO and shall be delivered to the COR.

VA Handbook 6500 Addendum B requirements have been tailored to reflect the security and privacy requirements of this specific TO.

POSITION/TASK RISK DESIGNATION LEVEL(S)

The position sensitivity and the level of background investigation commensurate with the required level of access for the following tasks within the PWS are:

Position Sensitivity and Background Investigation Requirements by Task

The Tasks identified above, and the resulting Position Sensitivity and Background Investigation requirements identify, the Background Investigation requirements for Contractor individuals, based upon the tasks the particular Contractor individual will be working. The submitted Contractor Staff Roster must indicate the required Background Investigation Level for each Contractor individual based upon the tasks the Contractor individual will be working, in accordance with their submitted proposal.

SPECIFIC TASKS AND DELIVERABLES

The Contractor shall use an agile approach to continuously deliver value outcomes across the BAM Portfolio, Product Lines, and Products. The Contractor shall provide expertise and IT support for Products and Software Tools identified in Attachments 0001 – 0005 Application Systems Product List. The Contractor shall provide portfolio and product line management and coordination of all activities across products to ensure quality delivery and performance. The Contractor shall provide support for requirements management, security, quality, compliance, automation, customer-centric, product usability, and support portfolio and product line processes and governance. The Contractor shall provide centralized communications to maintain continuous and seamless operation, delivery, and strategy-to-execution. The Contractor shall provide support for portfolio, product line, and product business and technical requirements intake demand management. The Contractor shall support an Intake Review Board (IRB) and requirements management processes that demonstrates traceability of demand requests, with VA priority strategic objectives, VA investments, and metrics for measuring and reporting execution, outcomes, value, and end-user satisfaction. The Contractor shall provide architecture and engineering support to enable secure BAM enterprise solutions, services, and data. The Contractor shall identify, enable, implement, and expand utilization of benefits common services and solutions. The Contractor shall implement a strategy to re-use and share capabilities across products to realize the BIP capabilities and economies of scale by utilizing modular design patterns. The Contractor shall provide recommendations that offers innovation and improves the User Experience (UX) to include decreased systems overlap, elimination of siloed systems and data, and improved use of authoritative data and data integrations. The Contractor shall develop, operationalize, and maintain business intelligence data for the portfolio and product lines to enable data driven decisions and support decommissioning efforts. The Contractor shall deliver cross-cutting tools for analytics, provide data analysis, data migration, data aggregation, and introduce emergent data practices such as pattern recognition and data mining.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

TRANSITION SUPPORT FROM BID TO BES (BASE PERIOD ONLY)

In accordance with a Government-approved plan, the Contractor shall assist the Government in implementing a complete transition from the previous task order. The Contractor shall provide transition support, in coordination with the Government staff and predecessor staff and management as required to take over analysis, management, operation, existing business functions and applications, requirements gathering, design, development and testing of all BAM Product Line Products under the previous task order.

TRANSITION STRATEGY AND SCOPE

The scope for BAM Product Line Products transition includes a thorough review of products including key milestones, operation and maintenance tasks, requirements, agile development, support teams, and backlog priorities.

The Contractor shall deliver an overall Transition Strategy, which shall include, but is not limited to:

· Understanding and transition of the support services

· Understanding of the existing policies and procedures

· Understanding of the baseline metrics and statistics

· Transition of historic data

· Transition of collective and comprehensive Product tools’ data and accounts

· Understanding of the business and/or technical documentation

· Understanding of the team, tools, methodologies, and business processes

· Transfer of GFE and Government Furnished Information

· Transition approach

Deliverables:

A. Transition Strategy

TRANSITION TIMELINE

The Contractor shall provide a transition timeline that completes all transition work within a 180-day calendar period, after which the Contractor is fully able to assume all work on the BAM Product Line Products. The timeline should indicate important milestones, key resources and identify key dependencies. Once the timeline is approved, the Contractor shall provide a detailed project plan for tracking the progress of the Transition.

Deliverables:

A. Transition Timeline B. Transition Project Plan

TRANSITION METHODOLOGY

The Contractor shall implement a transition methodology that ensures a smooth transition while acquiring program knowledge of the BAM Portfolio. The Contractor shall describe an approach to acquire the necessary knowledge, including an understanding of the business functions, the technical architecture, the software, and development approach employed for the BAM Portfolio. The Contractor shall identify key roles and responsibilities for Contractor team members and the Government during the transition.

Deliverables:

A. Transition Methodology B. Transition Roles and Responsibilities

TRANSITION RISKS AND MITIGATION STRATEGY

The Contractor shall define a Risk Management Approach and shall identify likely transition risks to the BAM Portfolio and each product as a result of the transition. The Contractor shall provide mitigation strategies for these risks. The Contractor shall log the risks in the BAM Portfolio risk log.

Deliverables:

A. Transition Risk Management Approach B. Transition Risk Log Updates

PORTFOLIO AND PRODUCT LINE MANAGEMENT

The Contractor shall plan, coordinate, execute, and report on all tasks and activities performed under this TO. The Contractor shall provide portfolio and product line management and maintain continuous strategy-to-execution alignment in partnership with stakeholders. The Contractor shall ensure compliance, measure performance, and report on program activities.

The Contractor shall deliver a Contractor Portfolio and Product Line Management Plan (CPLMP) to convey the Contractor’s approach on how it plans to provide the project management for the performance of this TO. In addition, the CPLMP shall include a section for the Portfolio and each Product Line which will contain information about the applicable contract line items, standing meetings, processes that vary from the overall contract management strategies, and how the Contractor intends to coordinate and execute planned, routine, and ad hoc data collection reporting requests as identified within the PWS. The Contractor shall provide portfolio-level strategic organization, coordination, and execution. The Contractor shall effectively respond and manage demand changes. The Contractor shall provide resource management and execution plans and portfolio-level priority and capacity views.

In accordance with the VA Business and IT Priorities and in coordination with Product teams, the Contractor shall develop and maintain roadmaps, i.e., Portfolio, Product Line, Product, Solution, and Service level, and associated documentation to enable full visibility and transparency of all work from user-stories through epics up to the strategic objective priorities and roadmaps.

Prioritization of the specific functionality and tasks will be determined by VA OIT Portfolio Managers, Product Line Managers, PMs, and CORs, prior to the Sprint and PIs. All Contractor-proposed improvement activities will be provided as an epic to the VA PM for approval and prioritization. The Contractor shall not operate independently to determine improvement projects to be developed, and all projects supported by this PWS must be approved in advance by the VA PM.

Except as noted below, for each deliverable that is provided as a word-processor-type or diagram document (i.e., not as data entered into a database or repository or as a spreadsheet), must be provided in both an editable format (e.g., Microsoft Word, Gliphy, Visio) and in a non-editable format (e.g., Portable Document Format [PDF], image files). For deliverables that are updated periodically, differences from the prior version shall be indicated in the editable format by using change tracking.

Deliverables:

A. Contractor Portfolio and Product Line Management Plan (Due 30 days after award and updated quarterly throughout the PoP) B. Portfolio Roadmap (Due 90 days after award and updated quarterly throughout the PoP) C. Product Line Roadmap (Due same as “B”) D. Product Roadmap (Due 90 days after award and updated quarterly throughout the PoP) E. Solution Roadmap (Due same as “D”) F. Service level Roadmap (Due same as "D")

TECHNICAL KICKOFF MEETING

A technical kickoff meeting shall be held within 10 days after TO award. The Contractor shall coordinate the date, time, and location (which may be virtual) with the Contracting Officer (CO), as the Post-Award Conference Chairperson, the Contract Specialist (CS), Portfolio leadership, VA PMs, and CORs. The Contractor shall provide a draft agenda to the CO, CORs, and VA PMs at least five (5) business days prior to the meeting. Upon Government approval of a final agenda, the Contractor shall distribute it to all meeting attendees.

During the kickoff-meeting, the Contractor shall display the Kickoff Presentation which includes the details of the intended approach, work plan, and project schedule for each effort. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Contractor shall update the Kickoff Presentation with a final slide entitled “Summary Report” which shall include notes on any major issues, agreements, or disagreements discussed during the kickoff meeting and the following statement: “As the Post-Award Conference Chairperson, I have reviewed the entirety of this presentation and assert that it is an accurate representation and summary of the discussions held during the Technical Kickoff Meeting” The Contractor shall submit the final updated presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint format to the CO for review and signature within three (3) business days after the meeting. The Contractor shall distribute the Kickoff Presentation to all attendees within three (3) business days after approval.

Additionally, technical kickoff meetings shall be held within 10 days of award for all Optional Tasks, including award of a new or renewal of an Optional Task for continuation of support services. The CO and CS need not attend these subsequent meetings or approve the summary.

DELIVERABLES:

A. Kickoff Presentation (Due three business days after the Technical Kickoff meeting occurs)

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Monthly Status Report The Contractor shall deliver Monthly Status Reports. These reports shall provide accurate, timely, and complete product/project information. The detail and technical level of this report shall be appropriate for VA management and shall summarize, not replicate, the information contained in the Sprint Review. This report shall reflect data as of the last day of the preceding month. Change tracking, except where noted, is not required. The Monthly Status Report shall include the following data elements for the Portfolio, each Product Line, and Product:

a) High-level schedule and milestones from the current reporting period (i.e., the prior month) through two months in the future

b) Epics or similar work completed and in progress

c) Work planned for the subsequent two months, when applicable

d) Value Outcomes maps

e) System and Agile Development Team staffing, with changes from prior month indicated through change tracking

f) Risks and Issues

a. Contract-related issues uncovered during the month and especially highlight those areas with a high probability of impacting schedule or performance goals and their likely impact on same

b. Explanations for any unresolved issues, including possible solutions and any actions required of the Government and/or Contractor to resolve or mitigate the issue, including a plan and timeframe for resolution

c. Status on previously identified issues, actions taken to mitigate the situation and/or progress made in rectifying the situation

g) Original schedule of project management deliverables and the corresponding deliverables made during the current reporting period

h) Software licenses at or nearing end of life and software security certificates nearing expiration

DELIVERABLES:

A. Monthly Status Report (Due by the 10th of the month for the prior month)

Workforce Staffing Updates The Contractor shall enter the data pertinent to their workforce into the approved VA repositories (e.g., Account Provisioning/De-Provisioning System (APDS), VA Contract Management Tool (VCMT)). This includes Initial onboarding and ongoing changes to demographic information and GFE assignments as well as changes to workforce and COR assignments.

ONBOARDING

The Contractor shall manage the onboarding of its staff. Onboarding shall include steps to obtain a VA network and email account, complete training, initiate background investigations, and gain physical and logical access, which may include elevated privileges to the necessary development and test environments for the various systems to be enhanced.

A Contractor Onboarding POC shall be designated by the Contractor who tracks the onboarding status of all Contractor personnel. The Contractor Onboarding POC shall be responsible for accurate and timely submission of all required VA onboarding paperwork to the COR or his/her onboarding designee. The Contractor shall be responsible for tracking the status of all their staff’s onboarding activities. This shall include VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness training, Rules of Behavior, fingerprints, background investigation submission and status, GFE request, signature for GFE, Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card, Active Directory account, Remote Access Request, Elevated Privileges Request per environment, VA Tools training, and any other information deemed necessary for tracking by the Contractor, VA PM, or COR.

PROGRAM INCREMENT PLANNING

Program Increment (PI) Planning sessions are typically two- to four-day, cadence-based, face-to-face and/or hybrid virtual events that serve as the foundation of aligning teams on shared value outcomes and vision.

The Contractor shall create a PI Planning Process document to record the processes required to plan, communicate, and execute PI Planning sessions including dependencies, risks and issues, timelines, logistics and content for activities. The Contractor shall follow those processes to plan, manage, facilitate, and execute quarterly PI Planning sessions. The Contractor shall orchestrate collaboration, provide transparency, and adapt to dynamic priorities and conditions.

The Contractor shall create draft PI plans with VA PMs and obtain approval from them in advance before sharing this or any information with the Business stakeholders.

During PI planning, the Contractor shall create PI objectives that:

a. Provide a common language for communicating with business and technology stakeholders to include the value outcomes

b. Collaborate, contribute, and validate with the VA PM the establishment of Key Performance Indicators (KPI)’s, definitions of done, and additional reporting metrics

c. Create the near-term vision, which teams shall align to and develop during the PI

d. Document internal and external dependencies, requests, risks, and issues

Post PI planning the Contractor shall:

a. Provide a PI Out Brief Executive Summary which includes detailed summation of PI Commitments, alignment to VA strategic priorities, and value outcomes.

b. Provide PI Commitment Plans which illustrates how commitments align with strategic objective priorities, and value outcomes.

c. Provide PI Commitment Assessment Status Reports of teams’ progress to execute and deliver on commitments including burndown charts at the completion of every other Sprint

DELIVERABLES:

A. PI Planning Process Document (Due two months prior to first PI Planning event and updated quarterly during the PoP) B. PI Planning Out Brief Executive Summary (Due two business days after the last day of each PI Planning event) C. PI Commitment Plan (Due same as B) D. PI Commitment Assessment Status Reports (Due one week after every two Sprints)

RISK MANAGEMENT

The Contractor shall assist VA PMs in conducting Risk Management and document risks using VA approved processes and SDLC tools. The Contractor shall submit all risks to the VA PM within three days of risk discovery. The Contractor shall facilitate and participate in Risk Management by identifying, reviewing, and documenting risks and issues using the approved VA management tools. The Contractor shall work in accordance with the VA OIT Risk Management Plan to identify, analyze, respond, manage, and monitor risks.

ARCHITECTURE SUPPORT

The Contractor shall develop architecture in accordance with VA policy, Federal law, best practices, and portfolio and product line guidance. The Contractor shall ensure secure, efficient, innovative, and holistic design, development, execution, and maintenance of VA’s strategic and mission priorities necessary to support delivery of service to Veterans. The Contractor shall facilitate architectural collaboration to ensure consistency and re-usability across the portfolio products and common architectural concepts including emerging designs and tradeoffs that may be implemented upon government approval. The Contractor shall provide documentation and artifacts that includes details necessary to satisfy the VA Systems Inventory (VASI), VA information assurance systems, VA FINOPS systems, VA / Federal Enterprise Architecture mandates, and to satisfy Authority to Operate (ATO) requirements.

Architecture Documentation Artifacts: The Contractor shall develop, execute, deliver, update, and maintain Portfolio, Product Line, Product, and Tenant Architecture documentation, artifacts, and databases inclusive of systems, services, and data.

The Contractor shall adhere to the recommendations contained in the VA EA Architecture Style Guide (ASG). The Contractor shall upgrade legacy and existing product documentation artifacts and databases to comply with the ASG standards as the functionality is modified. In addition to overarching BIP architecture, BIP Tenant architecture needs to be represented at the Product Line and Product levels.

The ASG includes, but is not limited to, the following artifacts:

1. Strategy Domain (Capability to Organizational Development Mapping, Capability to Operational Activities Mapping)

2. Data and Information Domain(Conceptual, Logical, and Physical Data Models which include entity-relationship diagrams and data element dictionaries)

3. Business Domain (Operational Resource Flow and Operational Rules Model)

4. Systems and Application Domain (Systems Interfaces,…