DRAFT - FAS Aquisition and Ordering Systems (AOS) Support PWS.docx

Performance Work Statement (PWS) for General Services Administration (GSA), GSA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)

Title: Acquisition & Ordering Systems (AOS) Acquisition ID: 47QFEA26K0008 Solicitation ID: TBD Award PIID: TBD

Issued by:

GSA Federal Acquisition Service Assisted Acquisition Services - Civilian - S1D1 Address: TBD

GSA Acquisition Team Contracting Officer: Amanda Ayers amanda.ayers@gsa.gov

Contract Specialist: Rafael Santana rafael.santana@gsa.gov

Project Manager: Michael Stamerra michael.stamerra@gsa.gov

SECTION 2 – DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

2.1 BACKGROUND

The Office of Acquisition Information Technology (IT) provides IT support for Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) and other portfolios within the General Services Administration (GSA). The applications developed and maintained by the Acquisition IT Services organization are used by business portfolios within GSA, customer agencies, the vendor community and the general public. This Contract principally supports systems that perform Acquisition and Ordering functions for FAS. The applications supported by this Task Order (TO) are essential to daily operations, organizational goals and future growth of multiple FAS Offices.

The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) is dedicated to cutting costs and promoting efficiency for our customers and the American people. FAS provides a vast array of innovative products, services, and solutions across government at the best value possible. Its continuum of offerings span:

· Procurement and online acquisition tools

· Motor vehicle management

· Supply Chain

· National Stock Number Management

· Billing and Obligation/de-obligation activities

· Transportation

· Technology

· Travel

More information on FAS is available here: https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organization/federal-acquisition-service

The Office of Acquisition IT Services (FAS IT), within GSA IT, is organized as follows:

● Center for FAS Managed Services Systems (IDQA)

○ Fleet Systems Division (IDQAA)

○ Personal Property and Travel and Transportation Systems Division (IDQAC)

○ Integrated Award Environment Systems Division (IDQAB)

● Center for FAS Acquisition Systems (IDQB)

○ E-Commerce & Catalog Systems (IDQBA)

○ FAS IT Modernization Platforms Service (IDQBB)

○ Cloud Integration Shared Services (IDQBC)

○ Contract Lifecycle Systems Division (IDQBD)

○ Market Research and Digital Experience Services (IDQBE)

○ Assisted Acquisition Systems (IDQBF)

○ Supply and Order Management Systems Division (IDQBG)

FAS organizations and their stakeholders are the primary users and program offices for the application portfolios that require support under this TO.

2.1.1 PURPOSE

The purpose of this Task Order to support the GSA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), Acquisition IT Services organization, by providing services that support the operation, Site Reliability Engineering, minor enhancements, and ongoing agile development of new business system features of selected systems within the GSA IT, Office of Acquisition IT Portfolio.

2.1.2 AGENCY MISSION

GSA’s mission is to deliver the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to the Federal Government and the American people. The role of GSA IT is to provide the organization with a focused portfolio of applications that enable GSA to meet growth objectives in an agile, and efficient manner. The Acquisition IT Services (IQ) Organization within GSA IT provides the Federal Acquisition Service with strategic and tactical IT business solutions to enable GSA to effectively serve its customers. The Organization develops, manages, and operates a variety of major applications as part of its mission and business functions. The IT solutions must align with the business needs and mission to be effective and flexible enough to support the changing business environment.

The GSA OCIO Office of Acquisition IT Services’ vision is to increase efficiencies through new and innovative approaches for managing the current application environments. Recommending and or leveraging enterprise wide solutions and services, in addition to utilizing cloud computing solutions that lend themselves to immediate or eventual porting to cloud-based infrastructure and/or Platforms as a Service (PaaS) with minimum rework in architecture or design required. In accomplishing this, several factors shall be taken into consideration including:

1. Operational Excellence - Operate and Maintain all applications based on the Application Inventory and Profile provided as an attachment.

2. Performance - remove performance bottlenecks/inefficiencies to allow for scalability.

3. Elasticity - ability to scale up and/or down.

4. Resilience - incorporate capabilities for monitoring, alerting, and reporting on key functions and processes of the system to ensure they’re executing as designed, and to perform auto failover capabilities in case of malfunction.

5. Security - security built into application. Less reliance on perimeter defenses such as firewalls and intrusion detection.

2.2 SCOPE

This Performance Work Statement (PWS) defines selected acquisition and program support objectives for Operations and Maintenance (including bug fixes) and minor application enhancements support. GSA is a Product based organization following a Development, Security, and Operations (DevSecOps) Methodology rather than a Systems based development organization. This TO shall provide personnel to support the GSA systems and environments identified within Section 9, Attachment A.

2.3 CURRENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)/NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

The systems supported by this Task Order are listed in Attachment A

2.4 OBJECTIVE

This TO requires services support for the operations and maintenance of the existing systems and minor enhancements for systems and subsystems identified in Attachment A - Acquisition and Ordering Systems List. Unless directed otherwise by the Government, the Contractor shall use current GSA systems and tools for program and product management.

2.5 TASKS

2.5.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR TASKS 1 THROUGH 4

These general requirements are to be applied across all tasks, subtasks, and technical service areas:

2.5.0.1 SUBTASK 1 - SUBCONTRACT MANAGEMENT

The Contractor shall be fully responsible for management, control, and performance of any Subcontractor used on this contract. If a Subcontractor is being used, the Prime Contractor must inform the Government. Use of a Subcontractor on the Contractor’s team shall not relieve the Prime Contractor of responsibility or accountability in the execution of this TO. The contractor shall obtain advance approval from the Government before a new subcontractor is added to the prime contractor’s team. Subcontractors may not be allowed to further subcontract work without advanced approval of the Government. If a request for approval is made to the Government, it shall provide justification that includes the benefits to the Government of approving the request.

2.5.0.2 SUBTASK 2 – BUSINESS RELATIONS

A primary element of project success is the business relationship between the Contractor and Government representatives. Within this context the Government will monitor the Contractor’s contribution to business relations and provide feedback when required. The Contractor shall make every effort to establish and maintain clear and constant communication channels with the Government primaries (Contracting Officer (CO), Contracting Officers Representative (COR), and Government Technical Representative)) of this TO for the purpose of:

● Promptly identifying PWS and/or business relationship issues of controversy and the bilateral development and implementation of corrective action plans.

● Ensuring the professional and ethical behavior of Contractor personnel.

● Maintaining effective and responsive Subcontractor management.

● Ensuring the Contractor support team is fully aware and engaged in strengthening the interdependency that exists between the Contractors and their Government counterparts.

2.5.0.3 SUBTASK 3 – CONTRACTOR RESPONSE

The contractor shall ensure prompt response to Government inquiries, requests for information or requests for contractual actions.

2.5.0.4 SUBTASK 4 – TEAM CONTINUITY AND EMPLOYEE RETENTION

The Government recognizes the benefits in maintaining the continuity of contractor team members. These benefits include but are not limited to retention of corporate knowledge, minimizing contractor familiarization, maintaining/increasing performance levels, schedule adherence and preserving organizational interfaces developed over time. These benefits also accrue to the Contractor. Within the context of effective and efficient personnel management, the Contractor shall take reasonable and appropriate steps to retain the qualified employees staffed against this TO to maintain continuity and performance while effectively reducing costs borne by the Government.

2.5.0.5 SUBTASK 5 – PROFESSIONAL APPEARANCE

Contractor employees shall present a neat and professional appearance appropriate to the work being performed at all times when interacting with Government representatives, working in Government facilities, or representing the Government at meetings or before third parties.

2.5.1 TASK 1 – PROVIDE PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The contractor shall provide project management support under this TO. This includes, but is not limited to, management and oversight of all activities performed by contractor personnel, including subcontractors, to satisfy the requirements identified in this Performance Work Statement. The contractor shall identify a TO Manager as key personnel by name who shall provide management, direction, administration, quality control, and leadership of the execution of this TO. The contractor shall schedule meetings and provide deliverables in accordance with the deliverables table and QASP.

The Contractor shall be solely responsible for managing the work performed in the execution of this TO. This includes the responsibility to:

● Assign appropriate resources to each task

● Maintain clear organizational lines of authority

● Ensure effective TO task management and administration

● Establish and use proven policies, processes, analyses, and best practices

The Contractor shall maintain project milestones for each assigned task. The Contractor shall update Government representatives on work progress and task milestones in the Monthly Status Report (MSR).

2.5.1.1 SUBTASK 1 – MEETING OBJECTIVE

To accomplish the Meeting Objectives of this TO, the Contractor shall participate in the following meetings. Nothing discussed in any meetings or discussions between the Government and the Contractor shall be construed as adding, deleting, or modifying contractual agreement without written authorization from the Contracting Officer. The contractor shall take meeting minutes and will provide if requested. .

2.5.1.1.1 COORDINATE A PROJECT KICK-OFF MEETING

Within five (5) business days following the TO award date (or other time mutually agreed between the parties), the Contractor representatives will meet, unless otherwise directed by the Government, at GSA headquarters (1800 F Street NW, Washington DC 20405) with the Government representatives, to discuss the contractor’s understanding of the requirements, goals and objectives of this TO.

The contractor shall schedule, coordinate, and host a virtual Project Kick-Off Meeting (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 1). The meeting will provide an introduction between the contractor personnel and Government personnel who will be involved with the TO. The meeting will provide the opportunity to discuss technical, management, and security issues, and travel authorization and reporting procedures. At a minimum, the attendees shall include Key Contractor Personnel, representatives from the directorates, other relevant Government personnel, and the Contracting Officer’s Representative.

At least three business days prior to the Kick-Off Meeting, the contractor shall provide a Kick-Off Meeting Agenda (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 2) for review and approval by the COR prior to finalizing. The agenda shall include, at a minimum, the following topics/deliverables:

1. Points of contact (POCs) for all parties

2. Personnel discussion (i.e., roles and responsibilities and lines of communication between contractor and Government)

3. Staffing Plan and status

4. Transition-In Plan (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 3) and discussion

5. Security discussion and requirements (i.e., building access, badges, Common Access

a. Cards (CACs)), including completed security packages for Key Personnel (KP)

6. Invoicing requirements

7. Transition discussion

The Government will provide the contractor with the number of Government participants for the Kick-Off Meeting and the contractor shall provide sufficient copies of the presentation for all present.

The contractor shall draft and provide a Kick-Off Meeting minutes report (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 5) documenting the Kick-Off Meeting discussion and capturing any action items.

2.5.1.1.2 AD HOC TECHNICAL / WORK STATUS / ADMINISTRATIVE / MONTHLY MEETINGS

The Contractor shall, if requested by the Government, participate in monthly status meetings or ad hoc technical meetings or ad hoc work status meetings at a mutually agreeable time and place to discuss tasking, work progress, technical problems, performance issues, or other technical matters. During these meetings the Contractor shall at least provide accomplishments, problems and issues and planned actions. The Contractor shall take minutes of these meetings and deliver them with the Monthly Status Report. These meetings will occur at a time and place mutually agreed upon by the parties. Note that meeting notes are not required for the daily scrum meetings.

2.5.1.1.3 ADMINISTRATIVE MEETINGS

The CO may require the authorized Contractor representative to meet or participate in a teleconference with authorized Government personnel as often as deemed necessary to discuss TO performance or administrative issues. The Contractor may also request a meeting with the CO when deemed necessary. The content of meetings shall be documented in writing. Minutes shall be approved by both parties and shall be included in the Government contract file.

2.5.1.2 SUBTASK 2 – PREPARE A MONTHLY STATUS REPORT (MSR)

The contractor PM shall provide a MSR (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 10) by the tenth calendar day of each month via ASSIST and email to the COR.

1. Activities during the reporting period, by application, which shall include on-going, new completed and planned (30/60 day outlook) activities; progress to date on all above mentioned activities; and cost and schedule performance. The cost and schedule shall include planned versus actuals for each system. Contractor shall also provide details of work execution and system performance (e.g., Cost and Schedule and other performance metrics to be determined after TO award) to be reported into the GSA Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) reporting system as requested.

2. The contractor shall provide monthly reporting on Service Level Agreement (SLA) metrics and facilitate a process to review and update the SLAs on a regular basis.

3. Summarize the impacts of any new software released, and the business value of the releases to GSA and/or the Government as a whole.

4. Problems and corrective actions taken. Also include issues or concerns and proposed resolutions to address them.

5. Personnel gains, losses, vacancies (including durations of vacancies), and status (security clearance, etc.).

6. Government pending actions required for the contractor to perform assigned work. For example, software was required/requested and not provided.

7. Summary of trips taken, conferences attended, etc. (if requested, attach Trip Reports to the MSR for the reporting period).

8. Accumulated invoiced cost for each Contract Line Item (CLIN) through the previous month, reported by Application.

9. Projected costs of each CLIN for the current month, reported by Application.

10. Estimated costs at completion of the current period of performance reported by Application (Base or Option Period).

11. Significant High and Critical Program Risks Summary.

12. Summary of Security Vulnerabilities and Trends by Application.

13. Root Cause Analysis for all system malfunctions.

If requested by the Government, convene a Monthly Status Meeting with at a minimum the Government Project Manager (PM), Technical Point of Contact (TPOC) and COR. The purpose of this meeting is to present the MSR in order to ensure all stakeholders are informed of the monthly activities and provide opportunities to identify other activities and establish priorities, manage costs, and coordinate resolution of identified problems or opportunities.

2.5.1.3 SUBTASK 3 – MAINTAIN MANAGEMENT PORTAL

The contractor PM shall provide real-time or near-real-time information for each project as needed. The contractor shall use the Google Suite of Tools to provide a portal that includes all deliverables such as:

1. Project description

2. Government PM and Contractor PM

3. Customer/Business owner

4. Milestones and dates (planned and actual)

5. Planned and actual costs

6. Risks and planned mitigation strategies

7. Monthly Status Reports

2.5.1.4 SUBTASK 4 – PREPARE A STAFF MATRIX

The contractor PM shall provide a Staff Matrix (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 4). The matrix shall include a complete and current list of Contractor and Subcontractor employees who are assigned to work under this TO. The matrix shall include the staffing chart showing the name of each employee, his or her position in the staffing plan, job title, and the Government’s task/office/function they are supporting. The lines of authority and responsibility of each staff member shall also be made clear to the Government. The matrix shall be updated with each change in personnel, job title, position in the staffing plan, or assignment of area of responsibility.

2.5.1.5 SUBTASK 5 – TALENT MANAGEMENT

In Agile software development and DevOps, the quality of technical talent directly determines program outcomes and mission success. Top-tier engineers can deliver significantly greater value compared to average performers through superior code quality, innovative problem-solving, and system reliability improvements that prevent costly outages. Attracting and retaining exceptional talent requires deliberate strategies, continuous learning opportunities, and a culture that values technical excellence. Poor talent management leads to technical debt accumulation, increased security vulnerabilities, missed delivery deadlines, and ultimately, mission failure. Poor talent management also reduces morale and productivity by demonstrating to the rest of the team that low performers are tolerated rather than being actively managed out of the organization. Therefore, the contractor shall demonstrate a comprehensive approach to recruiting, developing, and retaining the highest caliber professionals who can adapt to evolving technologies, collaborate effectively in Agile teams, and maintain the operational excellence our systems demand.

The contractor shall describe their approach to attracting and recruiting top-tier technical talent, including:

· Specific recruiting channels and partnerships used to identify high-caliber Agile developers, DevOps engineers, and SREs

· Technical assessment methodologies and tools used to validate candidate skills before placement

· Average time-to-fill metrics for similar technical positions over the past 24 months

· Approach to building and maintaining a qualified bench of pre-vetted candidates

The contractor shall describe their performance management approach, including:

· Performance review frequency and methodology

· Specific metrics used to evaluate technical staff performance in Agile environments

· Process for identifying and addressing underperformance (include timeline from identification to resolution)

· Examples of performance improvement plans and their success rates

· Approach to peer reviews and 360-degree feedback in technical teams

The contractors shall demonstrate how they foster technical excellence:

· Innovation programs and technical community involvement

· Internal technical knowledge sharing practices

· Recognition programs for technical achievements

· Approach to maintaining current technology skills across the team

The bidder shall provide their quality control processes for staffing:

· Vetting procedures for technical skills validation

· Reference check protocols

· Trial period or probationary processes for new team members

· Feedback integration mechanisms

· Continuous improvement processes for staffing quality

The bidder shall propose specific metrics they will track and report, to be included in the Quality Assurance Plan, which may include:

· Team satisfaction scores

· Technical skills assessment scores

· Training hours per employee

· Certification achievement rates

· Time-to-productivity for new hires

· Client satisfaction with team performance

The contractor PM shall provide a bi-annual staffing report with the following information and conduct a bi-annual talent management review with government staff:

· A list of all employees who supported the program throughout the year

· A performance assessment of each employee supporting this contract, including a list of each employee’s accomplishments, strengths, opportunities for improvement, development needs, and performance relative to their peers on the program, both within the same Labor Category and across the entire contract

· An updated individual development plan for each team member

· The most recent performance rating the employee received in the contractor’s performance management system of record

· A detailed report on the actions the PM took throughout the year to address performance concerns or issues with specific employees

· Attrition rates by labor category (voluntary, performance, other) and a complete list of employees who left the program (including the reason, voluntary, performance, other)

2.5.1.6 SUBTASK 6 – PREPARE A FUND AND MAN-HOUR EXPENDITURE REPORT

The contractor PM shall provide a Funds and Man-Hour Expenditure Report (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 9) that provides, at a minimum, the information below. The Contractor can determine the format of the report, but charges must be tracked and managed in alignment with the government’s accounting structure.

● Expenditures for labor, material, travel, and any other charges, by system/subsystem.

● Matrix of actual hours and dollars expended vs. planned and/or funded, and an explanation of significant variances between planned and expended dollars. The report shall include amounts for the current monthly reporting period and the cumulative actual vs. planned hours and dollars for the entire TO period of performance TO up to the report date.

● Burn rates for the current period and the cumulative amount for the current TO period of performance up to the report date. The information shall be presented in numerical and chart format for each CLIN.

● Crosswalk of work performed to amounts billed.

In addition, the Funds and Man-Hour Expenditure Report shall include labor charges for actual hours worked and Support Items, which are authorized in the task (e.g., travel, training, etc.). Charges shall not exceed the authorized cost limits established for labor and Support Items. The government will not pay any unauthorized charges. Original receipts, travel vouchers, etc. completed in accordance with government Travel Regulations shall be maintained by the contractor to support charges other than labor hours and made available to government auditors upon request.

2.5.1.7 SUBTASK 7 – PREPARE TRIP REPORTS

Travel shall be approved in writing by the COR in advance of any travel. Travel times, other than during the standard work week, may be performed for the expeditious rendering of services, and shall be performed to the extent such travel is specifically authorized by the COR only.

Long-distance travel is considered greater than 50 miles from the contractor’s primary place of performance.

The contractor PM shall submit a Trip Report (Section 9, Attachment B) upon the completion of travel as per Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 12. The contractor shall keep a summary of all long-distance travel including, but not limited to, the name of the employee, location of travel, duration of trip, and POC at travel location. Trip reports shall also contain Government approval authority, total cost of the trip, a detailed description of the purpose of the trip, and any knowledge gained. At a minimum, trip reports shall be prepared with the information provided in the pre-approved Travel Authorization Request (TAR) (Section 9, Attachment C).

2.5.1.8 SUBTASK 8 – MAINTAIN A QUALITY CONTROL PLAN (QCP)

The contractor PM shall be responsible for quality assurance and quality control of all services performed and all items delivered under this TO.

The Contractor shall prepare and maintain a Quality Control Plan (QCP) as a guide for implementing quality assurance and quality control procedures. The Contractor shall submit the QCP to the Government for information and acceptance (Section 5.3.2, Deliverables 7 & 7.1). The Government has the right to require revision of the Contractor’s QCP should its implementation fail to control the quality of items and/or services delivered under this TO.

The QCP shall include, but is not limited to, an explanation of the processes and procedures for ensuring satisfactory performance and delivery of quality items and/or services. Additionally, as a minimum, the QCP shall include the following items.

● A description of the inspection system to cover all major services and deliverables. The description shall include specifics as to the areas to be inspected on both a scheduled and unscheduled basis, frequency of inspections, and the title of inspectors.

● A description of the methods to be used for identifying and preventing defects and deficiencies in the quality of service performed.

● A description of the records to be kept to document inspections and corrective or preventive actions taken.

All records of inspections performed shall be retained and made available to the Government upon request throughout the TO performance period, and for the period after TO completion, until final settlement of any claims under this TO.

The Contractor shall implement a quality program based on its QCP. In compliance with the QCP, the Contractor shall manage, surveil, assess, improve and/or correct TO performance to ensure the quality of the services and deliverable products.

In the event of quality concerns, identified by the Government, the Contractor shall immediately take corrective action in response to Government required changes to the QCP. The QCP shall be delivered to the Government as stipulated in the Delivery Schedule.

2.5.2 TASK 2 – TRANSITION MANAGEMENT SERVICES

Transition occurs at two key points during the period of performance: 1. Task Order award and 2. Task Order end/conclusion. At TO award, a transition must be accomplished as the Contractor transitions from the incumbent Contractor (Transition-in). At TO conclusion, the Contractor must transition to the new Contractor (Transition-out). As applicable, the Contractor will be required to provide transition plans that address the following:

2.5.2.1 SUBTASK 1 – TRANSITION IN AND OPERATIONAL READINESS

The contractor PM shall submit its Transition In Plan (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 3) in response to the Request For Quote (RFQ), and also at the project kick off meeting.

During the transition in, the contractor shall ensure that there will be minimal service disruption to GSA applications, no service interruptions to mission critical systems as identified in the Application Inventory and Profile attachment, and no service degradation during and after transition using existing tools and processes in place. All transition activities shall be completed NLT 90 calendar days after TO award; individual systems and applications may be transitioned using a staged approach. The transition in plan shall include an Operational Readiness Review (ORR) that outlines the contractor’s preparedness to assume operation of TO duties for each application listed in Attachment A. The Contractor shall assume application responsibilities and management of the systems after conducting a meeting demonstrating Operational Readiness. Written Government approval will be granted upon successful outcome of the meeting.

The contractor shall provide daily status updates to the GSA application owners, and a weekly Transition Status Report. On an application level, this report shall detail:

1. The application transition phase, as identified in the contractor’s Transition Plan.

2. Performance against the contractor’s application transition schedule.

3. Status of any in-flight or in-progress projects.

4. The contractor’s staffing status, to include security processing.

5. The contractor’s applications acceptance plan, checklist, schedule, and process.

6. Transition risk management and mitigation.

7. Coordination and activities with the previous application management contractor.

2.5.2.2 SUBTASK 2 – TRANSITION OUT

The contractor PM shall submit its transition out plan (Section 5.3.2, Deliverable 11). The Transition-Out Plan shall facilitate the accomplishment of a seamless transition-out to the incoming Contractor at the expiration of the TO. The Contractor shall provide a Transition-Out Plan NLT 90 calendar days prior to expiration of the TO. The Contractor shall identify how they will coordinate with the incoming Contractor and/or Government personnel to transfer knowledge regarding the following:

1. Project management processes.

2. Points of contact.

3. Location of technical and project management repositories.

4. Status of ongoing technical activities.

5. Appropriate Contractor to Contractor coordination to ensure a seamless transition.

6. Transition of Key Personnel

7. Knowledge transfers, Shadowing/reverse shadowing, architecture reviews, system demos.

8. Transition of current work in progress/backlog. Schedules and milestones (e.g., bug releases, minor enhancement releases, security vulnerability remediation) The Contractor shall also establish and maintain effective communication with the incoming Contractor and Government personnel for the transition-out period as required, but no less than weekly via the established weekly status meetings.

The Contractor shall implement its Transition-Out Plan, per Government approval, No Later Than (NLT) 60 calendar days prior to the end of the TO.

2.5.3 TASK 3 – APPLICATION OPERATIONS, SITE RELIABILITY, AND DEVOPS

The contractor shall implement, operate, and maintain GSA IT's applications across cloud and data center environments, providing resilient, flexible, and secure technologies and services including, but not limited to:

Core Service Areas:

1. Site Reliability Engineering & Operations

2. Agile Software Development & Development and Operations (DevOps)

3. Cloud Architecture & Migration

4. Data & Database Management

5. Security & Compliance

6. Human Centered Design, User Support, & Training

2.5.3.1 SUBTASK 1 – SYSTEM OPERATIONS & SITE RELIABILITY ENGINEERING

The contractor shall implement and maintain a modern Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) model for all systems within the scope of this task order. The contractor shall ensure reliable, secure, and efficient operations across cloud and on-premise environments while continuously improving automation and reducing manual tasks.

Core Requirements:

The contractor shall:

1. Implement SRE Best Practices

· Monitor system performance against defined Service Level Objectives (SLOs)

· Maintain system availability requirements as specified in Section 7.9.

· Implement error budgets and track reliability metrics

· Balance feature velocity with system stability

2. Provide Proactive Monitoring and Incident Management

· Design and maintain comprehensive monitoring and alerting systems

· Identify and remediate potential issues before they impact users

· Perform root cause analysis for all incidents

· Maintain incident response and escalation procedures

· Coordinate with GSA Infrastructure teams and external application teams for issue resolution

3. Automate Operations

· Identify and prioritize manual tasks for automation

· Identify and prioritize tasks for automation by analyzing recorded metrics

· Reduce toil through scripting, tooling, and process improvements

· Implement and leverage infrastructure as code practices

· Maintain automated deployment pipelines

4. Ensure System Maintenance and Compliance

· Apply security patches and updates per GSA security requirements

· Maintain compliance with Authority to Operate (ATO) requirements

· Support audit and assessment activities

5. Maintain Operational Documentation

· Create and update system runbooks

· Document all operational procedures and configurations

· Maintain architecture diagrams and system dependencies

· Ensure knowledge transfer and continuity of operations

Collaboration Requirements:

The contractor shall work collaboratively with other GSA contractors and shared service providers to:

· Understand and document system interdependencies

· Coordinate changes to prevent service disruptions

· Share knowledge and best practices

· Escalate issues to appropriate teams when necessary Deliverables:

· Monthly Application Availability Report Incident Root Cause Analysis and after action report for Priority 1 outages

2.5.3.2 SUBTASK 2 – AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT, ENHANCEMENT, AND DELIVERY

The contractor shall provide Agile software development services for new features, enhancements, modernization efforts, and technical debt reduction. All development work shall follow Agile best practices and integrate security throughout the development lifecycle.

Core Requirements:

The contractor shall:

1. Implement Agile Development Framework

· Utilize Agile Scrum as the primary framework, with Kanban or other Agile methods where appropriate

· Conduct sprint planning, daily Scrums, sprint reviews, and retrospectives

· Maintain product backlog items in GSA-provided Agile project management tools

· Define and track Agile metrics (velocity, burndown, cycle time, etc.)

· Minimize work in progress (WIP) and deliver incremental value

2. Manage Development Lifecycle

· Requirements Analysis: Collaborate with stakeholders to define user stories and acceptance criteria

· Design: Create technical designs aligned with GSA enterprise architecture

· Development: Write secure, maintainable code following GSA IT and coding standards

· Testing: Implement comprehensive testing strategies (see Testing Requirements below)

· Deployment: Utilize environment appropriate Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, feature flagging and other advanced deployment strategies (canary, A/B, Blue/Green) for automated deployments

· Documentation: Maintain technical documentation throughout the lifecycle, and mitigate existing documentation gaps

3. Provide Estimates and Planning

· Conduct system and security impact analysis for all requested work

· Provide Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimates including level of effort and cost

· Upon request, submit ROM to Government for approval/disapproval before proceeding

· Recommend optimal technical approaches, development accelerators, test automation techniques, and other recommendations to develop projects in the most efficient and effective manner possible

· Plan releases in coordination with stakeholders

4. Ensure Security and Compliance

· Implement secure coding practices

· Utilize static and dynamic code analysis tools

· Resolve security vulnerabilities per GSA policy timelines

· Ensure Section 508 compliance for all user interfaces

· Maintain code in GSA approved repositories

· Maintain compliance with CIO 2100.1Q (GSA Information Technology (IT) Security Policy)

Testing Requirements:

The contractor shall implement a comprehensive testing strategy including, but not limited to:

1. Automated Testing

· Unit tests with appropriate code coverage

· Integration tests for all Application Programming Interfaces (API) and interfaces

· Automated regression test suites

· Performance and load testing

2. Manual Testing (where necessary)

· Functional testing against acceptance criteria

· User acceptance testing support

· Exploratory testing for edge cases

· Cross-browser and device compatibility testing

3. Specialized Testing

· Security testing and vulnerability scanning

· 508 accessibility compliance testing

· Performance testing against defined benchmarks

· Integration testing with connected systems

· AI/ML Model evaluation, training and testing

· Document and maintain all test results in the GSA approved Configuration Management System

Configuration Management:

The contractor shall:

· Maintain all code and documentation in GSA approved configuration management systems

· Ensure traceability from requirements to test results

· Support configuration audits for major changes Development Standards:

The contractor shall:

· Follow GSA enterprise architecture guidelines

· Utilize GSA approved technology stacks and platforms

· Maximize code reuse and leverage existing services

· Implement microservices and API-first design where appropriate

· Ensure all code is peer-reviewed

· Use GSA approved/provided Artificial Intelligence (AI) Code assistants Outputs:

· Sprint demos and continuous deliveries per agreed cadence

· Release notes and deployment documentation

· Updated technical architecture and design documents

· Test results and coverage reports

· Agile metrics and progress reports for each sprint or program increment where applicable

· ROM estimates and impact analyses for enhancement requests

2.5.3.3 SUBTASK 3 – ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT & INFRASTRUCTURE (SHARED RESPONSIBILITY MODEL) The contractor shall manage application-level environment configurations and coordinate with infrastructure providers to ensure all development, test, staging, and production environments support the full application lifecycle. Environment management operates under a shared responsibility model where infrastructure providers (GSA IT Infrastructure and/or Cloud Services team(s)) manage underlying infrastructure while the contractor manages application-specific configurations and deployments.

Shared Responsibility Framework:

The contractor shall:

1. Understand and Execute Shared Responsibilities

· Review and maintain understanding of control responsibility for infrastructure services consumed by systems within the scope of this contract

· Execute all application team responsibilities as defined in the appropriate control responsibility matrix

· Coordinate with infrastructure and cloud service providers to on shared controls

· Proactively partner and collaborate with infrastructure and cloud service providers to resolve issues and achieve optimal outcomes that are in the best interest of GSA Core Requirements:

The contractor shall:

1. Coordinate Infrastructure Requirements

· Define application infrastructure requirements and partner with GSA infrastructure and cloud service providers to select optimal infrastructure services for each system

· Submit infrastructure and cloud service requests through appropriate channels

· Participate in capacity planning with infrastructure and cloud service teams

· Validate infrastructure changes don't impact applications

· Maintain infrastructure dependency documentation

2. Manage Application Configurations

· Maintain application-specific configurations

· Implement configuration management best practices

· Ensure configuration consistency across environments

· Document all environment-specific settings

· Manage application secrets and credentials

3. Monitor Application Health

· Configure application-level monitoring and alerts

· Integrate with infrastructure monitoring platforms

· Collaborate with infrastructure and cloud service providers to distinguish between application and infrastructure issues

· Coordinate incident response across teams

· Maintain application performance baselines Cloud-Specific Responsibilities:

When operating in cloud environments, the contractor shall:

· Leverage cloud-native services per the appropriate control responsibility matrix

· Implement cloud-specific application architectures

· Coordinate with cloud service teams for platform services

· Optimize application resource utilization On-Premise Specific Responsibilities:

When operating in GSA data centers, the contractor shall:

· Work within allocated infrastructure resources

· Coordinate with GSA IT Infrastructure team for changes

· Follow data center-specific procedures and policies

· Participate in data center maintenance windows Coordination Requirements:

The contractor shall:

· Participate in regular coordination meetings or touch points with infrastructure teams

· Maintain clear communication channels for incident response

· Document all infrastructure dependencies and requirements

· Submit infrastructure change requests with appropriate lead time

· Provide application requirements for disaster recovery planning Output:

· Provide up to date environment inventory and configuration documentation

· Review environment health and utilization reports from infrastructure and cloud services providers and recommend changes as necessary Deliverables

· Capacity Planning Recommendations (at least annually, more frequent where necessary)

2.5.3.4 SUBTASK 4 – DATA AND DATABASE MANAGEMENT

The contractor shall provide comprehensive data and database management services to ensure data integrity, availability, performance, and security across all supported applications. The contractor shall implement modern data management practices aligned with GSA's enterprise data strategy.

Core Requirements:

The contractor shall understand and execute shared responsibilities:

Cloud-Specific Database (DB) Responsibilities:

When operating in cloud environments, the contractor shall:

· Leverage and implement cloud database architectures

· Coordinate with cloud service teams for platform services

· Manage and optimize application level database utilization

On-Premise Specific DB Responsibilities:

When operating in GSA data centers, the contractor shall coordinate with GSA IT Infrastructure team on the following :

· Work within allocated infrastructure resources

· Coordinate with GSA IT Infrastructure team for changes

· Follow data center-specific procedures and policies

· Participate in data center maintenance windows

· Coordinate with data warehouse team to migrate data from on-premise databases

The contractor shall:

1. Database Administration and Operations

· Maintain high availability and disaster recovery configurations

· Continually track database performance and develop optimization strategies.

· Manage database security, access controls, and encryption

· Perform database maintenance tasks (indexing, statistics, cleanup)

· Plan and execute database upgrades and patches

· Review and request high availability and disaster recovery configurations

2. Data Architecture and Design

· Design and maintain logical and physical data models

· Ensure data architecture aligns with GSA enterprise standards

· Implement data integration patterns and services

· Document data lineage and dependencies

3. Data Quality and Integrity

· Implement data quality monitoring and reporting

· Maintain referential integrity and business rules

· Perform data profiling and anomaly detection

· Coordinate data cleanup and remediation efforts

· Establish data quality metrics and targets

4. Performance Management

· Monitor and tune database performance

· Implement caching strategies where appropriate Implement caching and partitioning strategies where appropriate

· Optimize data access patterns and queries

· Perform capacity planning for data growth

· Maintain performance baselines and trends

5. Backup and Recovery

· Implement and test backup strategies per GSA requirements

· Maintain recovery point and recovery time objectives

· Perform regular recovery drills

· Document and maintain recovery procedures

6. Data Migration activities

· Develop and implement the necessary procedures for migrating data from on-premise databases to the data warehouse.

· Provide and apply best practices for data analytics, data visualization, and business intelligence solutions.

· Support data modernization and migration efforts Data Governance Support:

The contractor shall:

· Support data classification and handling per GSA policies

· Implement data retention and archival procedures

· Ensure compliance with privacy and data protection requirements

· Maintain data dictionaries and metadata

· Support data sharing initiatives across GSA systems Integration Requirements:

The contractor shall:

· Design and maintain data integration interfaces

· Support real-time and batch data synchronization

· Implement API-based data services where appropriate

· Ensure data consistency across integrated systems

· Monitor and troubleshoot data flow issues Outputs:

· Review and report on all defined database performance metrics (daily operational rhythm)

· Data quality metrics and remediation plans

· Database maintenance schedules and completion reports (based on maintenance schedule).

· Ensure that all updates to the database architecture (including the data dictionary) are thoroughly documented for every feature developed during the agile delivery cycle (every feature release, if applicable)

· Backup and recovery test results (per ATO requirements)

2.5.3.5 SUBTASK 5 – CLOUD SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT & OPERATIONS

This contract supports cloud based applications which may vary in maturity from legacy, n-tier to more modern software architectures (containerized, serverless, etc.). The contractor shall design, implement, and operate cloud-native applications leveraging a GSA approved cloud services provider. The contractor shall follow cloud-native principles and maximize reuse of existing cloud ecosystem capabilities while ensuring scalability, security, and cost optimization.

Core Requirements:

The contractor shall:

1. Implement Cloud-Native Architectures

· Implement, operate, and maintain applications…