Draft PWS 12AUG2022.pdf

Performance Work Statement

The Contractor shall furnish the necessary personnel, materials, equipment, services and facilities (except as otherwise specified) to perform the following support services:

ADMINISTRATIVE AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FOR COASTAL FELLOWSHIP

PROGRAMS

BACKGROUND

Guiding the conservation and wise management of the nation’s coastal resources is a primary function of the federal government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This is accomplished through a variety of mechanisms, including collaboration with other federal agencies, state and local coastal resource management programs, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions and private industry. The NOAA Office for Coastal Management (Office) brings federal, regional, state, local, international, private, and nongovernmental entities together in strategic short- and long-term partnerships to direct knowledge, technical capacity, and financial resources to important coastal and ocean issues.

Current programmatic directions reflect the Office’s primary interest in addressing priority issues identified by constituents and partners, Congress, the Administration, the Department of Commerce, and NOAA-wide strategic planning teams. The Office emphasizes three priority outcomes: healthy coastal ecosystems, resilient coastal communities, and vibrant and sustainable coastal economies. Products and services are tailored primarily to meet the needs of the coastal resource community. As part of the emphasis on coastal issues, the Office pursues strategies that will improve general understanding, as well as the ability to manage, protect, and utilize valuable coastal resources.

OVERALL SCOPE OF SERVICES

The Office coordinates and leads four fellowship programs, two of which are covered under this Statement of Work.

Coastal Management Fellowship Program Since 1996, the Office has coordinated the NOAA Coastal Fellowship program. This program provides professional on-the-job education and training opportunities for post-graduate U.S. citizen students in coastal resource management and policy and provides specific technical assistance for state/territory coastal zone management (CZM) programs. Highly qualified, recently graduated masters, doctoral, and professional degree recipients (fellows) are matched with state/territory CZM programs around the mainland U.S., the Pacific and the Caribbean for two years. State/territory CZM programs provide project proposals in a competition for placement of one of the fellows. All states and territories with federally approved coastal zone management programs (there are 34 approved CZM programs) are eligible to submit one project proposal annually for the program. The States include Alabama, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Also included are the territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Although Alaska does not participate in the federal coastal zone management program, beginning in 2023 they will also be eligible to receive a fellow.

Funding for this program comes from both the Office and, since 2022, from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. Up to nine states/territories are selected to host a fellow each year. For two years, selected fellows work on the substantive state/territory-level coastal resource management issues identified by the selected states/territories’ proposals. Past projects have included providing underserved communities in Delaware with resources and tools to adapt to climate change impacts, developing resources for vulnerable communities in Hawaii that require support for coastal hazard adaptation, and providing data, tools, and resources to practitioners and landowners addressing Lake Superior erosion. Since its inception in 1996, the program has matched 123 post-graduate students with 26 State/Territory CZM programs.

Digital Coast Fellowship Program In 2012, the Office initiated another two-year fellowship program, the Digital Coast Fellowship Program.

This program was modeled after the Coastal Fellowship program, but instead of placing fellows at state/territory CZM offices, this program places three fellows with our Digital Coast partners. Digital Coast is a NOAA-sponsored website, managed by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management and first released in 2007. It was developed to meet the unique needs of the coastal management community. The website provides coastal data and the tools, training, and information needed to make these data useful.

The Digital Coast Partnership is a group of eight national organizations that represent the primary website users and keep the effort focused on customer needs. They work with NOAA to ensure coastal managers have the relevant data, tools, training and information needed to make informed decisions about our nation’s coastal resources. The eight partners include: American Planning Association, Association of State Floodplain Managers, Coastal States Organization, National Association of Counties, National Estuarine Research Reserve Association, National States Geographic Information Council, The Nature Conservancy, and Urban Land Institute.

While the Coastal Fellows are selected each year (so that at any one time, there are up to 18 coastal fellows, nine in their first year and nine in their second), Digital Coast Fellows are selected every other year (in the even years). Just like the state/territory hosts for the coastal fellowship program, Digital Coast Partners submit a proposal to host a fellow, and three partners are competitively selected.

Finalists for the Digital Coast Fellowship are drawn from the same pool of nominees submitted by state Sea Grant offices. In the even years, the pool of finalists selected increases from 18 to 24 to allow for the selection of up to three Digital Coast fellows at the matching workshop for a total of 12 selected fellows (nine Coastal fellows and three Digital Coast fellows). The three Digital Coast Fellows are considered as part of the same cohort as the Coastal Management Fellows and are provided with all the same professional development opportunities, pay, and benefits (with one exception, see travel funding).

To date, 15 Digital Coast fellows have been selected. They have worked on a variety of projects such as supporting coastal communities for enhancing resilience through the Community Rating System, assessing and raising awareness of county coastal management policies and disaster spending, and increasing communication networks with Alaskan communities to map 66,000 miles of coastline, and seeking engagement, inclusion, and equity among partners to enhance data sharing and access.

Other Information For the majority of fellows, they reside at the host site for their entire two years. In very rare instances, a fellow will reside in a location outside of the host site, either temporarily or for the duration of their fellowship, due to extraordinary circumstances such as a family emergency or health reasons. In these cases, the fellow will coordinate requests and approvals with the host, the contractor, and NOAA.

If a fellow goes out on extended leave, due to an extraordinary situation such as a medical condition or birth or adoption of a child, the fellow will be allowed to extend their fellowship by the number of weeks they are on leave.

All fellows are required to work full time, no part-time work is allowed. Fellows follow the policy of the host office regarding telework.

Most fellows are expected to start on or around August 1 but their exact start date is negotiated with the fellow, host, the contractor, and NOAA.

If a fellow resigns during their fellowship, NOAA will coordinate with the host and contractor regarding replacement of the fellow.

REQUIREMENTS

The Office requires the contractor to administer all the pay and benefits (including health insurance and paid annual and sick leave) to the Coastal Management and Digital Coast Fellows.

The selected contractor shall have the ability to administratively manage the fellows who are located in different locations across the U.S. and in the Pacific and Caribbean Islands. The contractor must have a network of contacts in universities, including Minority Serving Institutions and the ability to widely advertise the program to locate interested fellowship candidates. The administrator must also have the ability to provide expert professional development services (such as leadership, management, and facilitation) to the fellows through annual training and career counseling and be available to answer fellow’s professional development questions.

SCOPE OF WORK

1. The contractor shall administer the Fellowship programs to include:

a. Payment of annual salary of $42,000 (gross) to each fellow. The salary may be adjusted in the future based upon the salary of other comparable fellowship programs. The federal government provides $34,500 annually while the host provides the other $7,500 annually.

In the second year of the fellowship, those fellows that qualify (based on the location of the host site) may be provided with a locality pay or a cost of living adjustment. The adjustment will be based on the current Federal Employees General Schedule Locality Pay Tables.

b. Arrangement and payment of medical insurance (100% by the contractor) to include both physical and mental health coverage. Keep in mind that some fellows may be located on a Caribbean or Pacific island so medical insurance may need to be addressed in a separate way for them. Also payment of worker’s compensation insurance, state and federal income tax withholdings, and FICA withholdings to each fellow. Worker’s compensation and liability insurance coverage shall also be provided for the fellows that may be going out on state-operated boats or driving state-owned vehicles.

c. Arrangement for and payment of annual and sick-leave, minimum of 15 personal days per year and 11 federal holidays. Note that in those instances where a state holiday exists that is different from a federal holiday, the fellow can either swap a federal holiday for the state one, or telework from home on the state holiday. Also note on those days where host-site workers are not working due to inclement weather or due to mandatory host furlough days, the fellows shall have the ability to telework from home.

d. Reimbursement for professional development travel (transportation including airfare, rental, or mileage for personal vehicle, lodging, per diem, and miscellaneous expenses) to also include professional development courses and textbooks. Fellows are required to attend several meetings and conferences each year and are provided additional travel funds for their own professional development. For Coastal Management fellows, they are provided up to $8400 total for their two years to cover both the required meetings and their professional development. For Digital Coast fellows, because there are several additional required meetings for them to attend during their fellowship, they are provided up to $11,600 total for their two years to cover both their required meetings and their professional development. This difference in travel reimbursement is the only difference in benefits between the two programs. For either program, if a fellow is located in Alaska or on a Pacific Island, NOAA will determine if they receive additional travel funds to cover expenses associated with traveling from those states and territories.

e. Relocation allowance of $1,000 per year. This money is used to help move the fellow to their host site in the first year and then move the fellow from their host site at the end of the fellowship. If a fellow is located in Alaska or on a Pacific Island, NOAA will determine if they may receive additional relocation funds to cover expenses associated with traveling to those states and territories.

f. Reimbursement to newly selected fellows to cover their airfare (or mileage if driving) to make a visit to their host site. The site visit normally occurs in May, June or July prior to the fellow’s start of the fellowship in August. The contractor will be responsible for only reimbursement of travel expenses related to getting to and from the site visit. All other expenses associated with the site visit will be covered by the host and reimbursed directly from the host to the fellow. NOAA will not be responsible for paying any other costs associated with the fellow’s visit to their selected host site.

g. Reimbursement of travel for all fellowship finalists (up to 18 in the odd years and up to 24 in the even years) to attend the matching workshop (four to five days in duration) in Charleston, South Carolina each April/May.

2. The contractor shall have a mechanism in place to accept matching funds from the host. Each year the hosts are required to provide $7,500 towards the fellow’s salary and expenses associated with the above. This money must be transferred directly to the contractor from the host. The host may provide $7,500 per year or provide $15,000 in the first year to cover both years

3. The contractor shall provide a Project Manager to work directly with the fellows on all administrative functions.

a. The Project Manager shall attend the matching workshop in late April/early May each year (to be held in Charleston, South Carolina) to answer questions from fellow finalists on the contractor’s role in the administration of the fellowship. This will include information on salary pay schedule, reimbursement mechanisms, and health benefits.

b. The Project Manager shall attend the biennial (on the odd years) summer meeting of the fellows (which occurs in Charleston, South Carolina) to answer any questions the fellows may have on fellowship administration.

c. The Project Manager shall attend the required winter conferences the fellows attend each year. These conferences are the Social Coast Forum (in even years) and the Coastal GeoTools conference (in odd years). Currently the Forum and Geotool are held in Charleston, South Carolina, but the locations may change in the future. The fellows attend the conferences and following the Social Coast Forum, the fellows stay for an additional day for a fellows meeting.

d. The Project Manager shall attend, as appropriate, regularly scheduled (usually every other month) virtual one-hour meetings with the fellows that are organized by NOAA.

4. The contractor shall assist with publicity and marketing of the fellowship to universities by providing information to websites, e-mail list serves, and university contacts throughout the United States. It is expected that the contractor will have established relationships with universities and e-mail list serves, and access to appropriate websites for posting of fellowship information. The Office will provide copies of all marketing material, such as brochures, flyers, and posters to the contractor to use for publicity and marketing of the fellowship program. The Office has a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the fellowship programs. As such, the contractor shall ensure that Minority Serving Institutions with applicable graduate programs, including the social and physical and biological sciences, communications, public health, environmental sciences, marine affairs, and coastal sciences are provided information about the fellowship programs.

5. The contractor shall provide an annual report to include start date and expected end date of each fellow, notable achievements over the past year, concerns or issues and how they were addressed (or planned to be addressed); recommendations on professional development needs or training of the fellows; and other activities or issues over the past year including a list of fellowship meetings attended and the contractor roles and responsibilities at those meetings, and recommendations for future interaction with fellows.

Optional Requirement

1. The contractor shall provide a professional development trainer to provide career counseling and training to the fellows. This trainer shall:

a. provide separate virtual two-hour training sessions following the matching workshop to provide mentor and mentee training to the mentors and new fellows. This training shall describe the mentoring relationship and the expectations of being a mentor or a mentee.

b. provide a virtual two-hour communication style training to the matched fellow and mentor following the matching workshop

c. provide a virtual one- to two-hour refresher mentor training, to the first year mentors at the end of year one of the two-year fellowship. This training shall be a refresher for the fellowship mentors, to remind them of the mentoring relationship and the expectations of being a mentor.

d. provide an eight-hour to ten-hour course(s) on professional development and career planning to the fellows during their biennial (held on the odd years) summer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. This course shall be tailored to the needs of the fellows.

e. provide a three-to four-hour course on professional development and career planning to the fellows during their winter meeting in Charleston following the Social Coast Forum (held in the even years). This course shall be tailored to the needs of the fellows.

f. provide one-on-one career counseling to fellows towards the end of their fellowship. This one-on-one career counseling might include answering career questions, reviewing resumes, and offering resources. It is not anticipated that this follow up will exceed three hours per fellow.

g. serve as a reviewer for the host (state and Digital Coast partners) and candidate (to identify fellow finalists) proposals. NOAA will identify other reviewers for the host and candidate proposals.

DELIVERABLES AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Following is a schedule of deliverables, including administrative deliverables, required during the period of performance of this contract:

Item Description Quantity Due Date Deliver To Reference

1 Annual Report 1 60 days prior to the end of each contract year

COR and Contracting Officer

FELLOWS TERM OF PERFORMANCE

The fellowship program provides the fellows a 24-month opportunity. Historically thirty-five percent (35%) of the fellows have left earlier than their 24-months. Of those ones that have left early, they have left, on average, 4.5 months early. As a result, the government reserves the right to decrease the number of fellows anytime during the performance of the contract without incurring additional costs.

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

The Assessment and Authorization (A&A) requirements of Clause 48 CFR 1352.239-72 do not apply, and a Security Accreditation Package is not required.