DRAFT_SOW_ 25JUL23_ARS1106769.pdf

STATEMENT OF WORK

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

National Agricultural Library (NAL) Knowledge Services Division (KSD)

Acquiring Software as a Service for the Ag Data Commons – National Agricultural Library’s scientific research data catalog and generalist repository

1.0 Introduction

The Department of Agriculture was established by the Act of May 15, 1862, as amended (The Organic Act of 1862), which sets forth a mission, "to acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture, rural development, aquaculture and human nutrition in the most general and comprehensive sense of those terms" and places upon the Secretary the responsibility to "procure and preserve all information concerning agriculture rural development, aquaculture, and human nutrition." The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) carries out this mission by leading America towards a better future through agricultural research and information.

ARS conducts research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national priority and provide information access and dissemination to:

ensure high-quality, safe food, and other agricultural products assess the nutritional needs of Americans sustain a competitive agricultural economy enhance the natural resource base and the environment

2.0 Scope

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agriculture Research Service (ARS) National Agricultural Library (NAL) Knowledge Services Division (KSD) is acquiring Software as a Service (SaaS) for its requirement for Agricultural Research Data Catalog and Repository Services embodied in the Ag Data Commons, a public catalog and generalist repository service for scientific data assets produced as a result of USDA-supported research. The platform must be configured to meet USDA requirements for metadata, curation, storage and publishing. The provider shall have technical expertise, experience, and resources needed for customization and operation of the platform for the National Agricultural Library. The platform must have features, supporting discoverability for open agricultural research data outputs and support the Ag Data Commons’ mission of making federally funded research data open, accessible, and machine-readable to support USDA’s research community meet both public access and open data requirements.

3.0 Period of Performance

The total period of performance if all option years are exercised: 09/30/2023-9/29/2028

4.0 Tasks

The contractor shall perform the following tasks as a part of this engagement:

A. Provide maintenance of existing public access repository and catalog capabilities and updates of configurations, necessary to meet USDA requirements. This includes but not limited to System updates for new releases.

Maintenance of the account management system integrated with the USDA eAuth SAML solution and supporting just-in-time provisioning.

Modifications needed to reflect organizational policies and practices such as list of acceptable licenses, embargo.

Possible modifications to data.gov feed, necessary to meet federal mandates.

B. Assist and cooperate in meeting requirements for SaaS operated by US government organization, this includes but is not limited to:

B1. Implement a dedicated IP for connection to USDA SMTP server in order to configure custom email address with usda.gov extension.

C. Implement usability improvements for Geospatial information entry, minimizing human error and supporting machine-readability of values in this metadata field.

D. Integrate with USDA instance of Symplectic Elements, which includes:

User alignment in both system.

Establishing appropriate metadata harvesting and depositing crosswalk workflows.

Testing for deposit and harvest and iterations prior to live deployment.

E. Provide training and consultations for utilization of new and existing features, provide technical support.

F. Report monthly on progress towards deliverables.

High-Level Requirements

The software platform for the Ag Data Commons must have an out-of-box features standard for a data catalog and generalist data repository aligned with best data management practices. The platform must provide features supporting public access and discovery of the datasets, web-based submission form, automated ingest capabilities, well documented two-directional APIs, data management, and curation workflow. The provider must have documented storage and preservation policies and procedures, based on best practices of data management and industry standards.

It is necessary that the solution is used for data management need in the same ecosystem of data providers and stewards, e.g. by other research government agencies or partner organizations or significant entities in the agricultural research community.

While some customization during the implementation phase is inevitable, resource and time constrains call for an alternative solution, which meets maximum requirement with its out-of-box features and characteristics.

Discovery and access capabilities

1. The system shall provide public access to digital object it manages.

2. The system shall provide user-friendly faceted search interface with basic and advanced search functionality, allowing for field search and inclusion of custom facets.

3. The system shall provide easily accessible Help text and pages.

4. The system shall support browsing functionality allowing for showcasing the scope and coverage by subject area and by thematic or project groupings, currently called programs, featuring resources associated with specific project, organizational unit, or otherwise meaningful group of data providers.

5. The system shall enable linkages to other scholarly data products, such as articles, methods, software, and support connectivity with Linked Open Data systems (e.g. Thesauri).

6. The system shall support linking between related datasets and support a way to link datasets in a parent-child structure.

7. The system shall support sub-repositories with their own landing pages and customizable facets.

8. The system shall enable users easily find and identify different versions of a dataset.

9. The system shall provide mechanisms to download data files singularly and in bulk.

10. The system shall have a data and metadata output in machine-readable formats, included but not limited to xml, data.json.

11. The system shall support the ability to access metadata and data through APIs (e.g. RESTful API), including access by sub-repository

12. The system shall support discoverability through such systems as Google Dataset Search, DataCite, PubAg.

13. The system shall provide dataset-level metrics, including but not limited to views and downloads, and citation information.

14. The system shall provide ability to export citations and metadata in multiple formats.

15. The system shall support indexing of a new type of tagged content for making it searchable.

Dataset submission capabilities

1. The system shall provide Web-based form for cataloging and depositing data products with validation of mandatory fields.

2. The system shall allow include multiple authors for a single dataset.

3. The system shall be based on a metadata schema compatible with major standards for scientific data repositories, including but not limited to DataCite.

4. The system shall be configurable to support Ag Data Commons metadata schema, which ensures compatibility with such standards as DataCite, ISO 19115, and Project Open Data/DCAT metadata schema needed correspondingly for DOI minting, interoperability with geospatial data systems (GeoPlatfrom, ESRI), and feed into data.gov (via data.json output).

5. The system shall support customizable validation of appropriate use of elements, fields, subfields, and values, including, but not limited to, validation of controlled vocabularies and allowable values for fields. Validation tables shall be maintained and kept up to date.

6. The system shall have built-in embargo functionality with capability to change the embargo period in accordance with agency policies.

7. The system shall allow peer review of a dataset by an external reviewer.

8. The system shall support DOI minting for deposited data.

9. The system shall support catalog functionality by allowing creation of metadata for externally stored data resources with already assigned DOIs or other identifiers, which qualify as Persistent Identifier in the federally funded research community

10. The system shall support a workflow with optional minting of DOIs for data resources.

11. The system shall automatically generate checksums for all deposited datasets.

12. The system shall provide capability to create a draft dataset with automatically pre-populated fields from an existed one and enable the user to edit it

Programmatic ingest and data exchange capabilities

1. The system shall have robust and extensive APIs for bi-directional data exchange. Specifically, for

USDA implementation of Symplectic Elements

a. The system shall support harvesting of data into Symplectic Elements and integration of it into researcher profiles in Simplistic Elements.

b. The system shall support programmatic creation of non-duplicate records from entries in Symplectic Elements.

2. The vendor shall provide support (including documentation and online forums) for APIs and web services that enable the library to extend management system functionality.

3. The vendor shall provide change control processes for APIs.

4. The system shall provide robust harvesting capabilities, aligned with best practices and ensuring repository interoperability. The system shall support the Open Archive Initiative (OAI) and implementation of the OAI-PMH service.

5. The system shall support the capability to handle large datasets, 50 GB per dataset and larger, though a mechanism allowing to overcome browser-based upload limitations.

Storage and preservation capabilities

1. The system shall be able to provide GovCloud AWS storage with sufficient space sufficient for at least 10 TB of data and the ability to provide additional storage per request.

2. The system shall be able to integrate with a USDA-managed cloud or local storage.

3. The system shall have a mechanism for verifying dataset integrity, e.g. fixity or checksums feature.

4. The system shall provide virus check of all uploaded files.

5. The system shall support versioning of datasets and provide user-friendly features such as automated generation of consistent version numbers and titles, allowing users track the history of changes.

6. The system shall support separation of archival and transactional storage. The system shall have a documented storage procedure, continuity of access, and data preservation plan.

Curation and administration capabilities

1. The system shall provide account management system allowing review and approval of accounts of

USDA and non-USDA affiliated users.

2. The system shall support integration of the account management system with agency SSO (e.g. eAuth) and just-in-time provisioning

3. The system shall have permissions management supporting curation workflow and various user roles

4. The system shall support customized .gov email address, able to connect to a federal mail server

5. The system shall provide a content (accompanying program and thematic pages, policy, and technical documentation, help information etc.) management functionality for content segments with descriptive information about sub-repositories, etc.

6. Aggregated usage and impact report function with capability to create custom reports

7. The system shall have a capability to integrate and update subject- and agency-specific taxonomies/controlled vocabularies

8. The system shall support for linking authors to ORCiD

Ease of customization

The system shall have features allowing for customization through a UI-based configuration management in admin module for additional metadata fields, update of existing and integration of new controlled vocabularies.

The provider shall have technical expertise, experience, and resources for migrating data, customizing the platform to meet NAL’s requirements at the time of deployment, as well as for proving ongoing technical support for maintaining core and custom functionality.

Ecosystem/Sustainability The system shall have publicly available roadmap, and regular release of features and enhancements based on community feedback. It shall be built on modern technologies and have a continuous forward-looking development process with planned release and updates for user community.

5.0 Deliverables

Deliverable Submitted To Due By Project Management Plan and Schedule Contracting

Offer’s Representative

(COR),

NAL Product Lead (Product owner), NAL IT services lead (Technical lead)

30 days after contract award

Project Risks COR, Product owner, Technical lead

30 days after contract award

Task A Provide maintenance of existing capabilities, necessary to meet USDA requirements, and system updates for new releases

COR, Product owner, Technical lead

Ongoing

Task B Assist and cooperate in meeting requirements for SaaS operated by US government organization.

COR, Product owner, Technical lead

Ongoing, to be performed in parallel with other tasks

Task B1. Implement a dedicated IP for connection to USDA SMTP server in order to configure custom email address with usda.gov extension

COR, Product owner, Technical lead

Immediately upon award

Compliance review of Task B COR, Product owner, Technical lead

As required

Design Review of Task B Product owner, Technical lead

As determined by the project schedule

Task C Implement usability improvements for Geospatial information entry

COR, Product owner, Technical lead

As determined by the project schedule, can be performed in parallel with other tasks

Design Review of Task B Product owner, Technical lead

As determined by the project schedule

Compliance review of Task B COR, Product owner, Technical lead

As determined by the project schedule

Task D Integrate with USDA instance of Symplectic Elements

COR, Product owner, Technical lead

As determined by the project schedule

Design Review of Task C Product owner, Technical lead

As determined by the project schedule

Compliance review of Task C COR, Product owner, Technical lead

As determined by the project schedule

Task E Provide training and consultations for utilization of new and existing features, provide

COR, Product owner, Technical

Ongoing

6.0 Coordination of Work

The contractor shall perform all work described in this Statement of Work in accordance with all applicable Federal, State, and local laws, regulations, codes, technical specifications, manufacturers guidelines, USDA, REE, and the ARS mission.

7.0 Facility Security Requirements

All contractor personnel who work at USDA must have approval for facility access. Prior to work starting, the contractor must supply the names of those employees selected to perform the work. Due to security requirements, pre-notification of all visitors to the USDA George Carver Center (GWCC) facility is required.

Anyone requiring access must notify the OCIO prior to arrival to this location.

8.0 Primary Area of Contract

This requirement will be met by providing software as a service and contract work will be executed at the vendor’s location.

9.0 Government Supplied Resources

Non-admin/user-level access to the legacy system (DKAN)

10.0 Information Sensitivity

The contractor shall adhere to the Privacy Act, Title 5 of the U.S. Code, Section 552a and applicable agency rules and regulations. The Contractor Program Manager shall ensure that all contract personnel take the required USDA Privacy training.

11.0 Section 508 – Accessibility of Electronic and Information Technology

This contract vehicle is subject to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 749d) as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220). The Revised Section 508 Standards, which consist of 508 Chapters 1 and 2 (Appendix A), along with Chapters 3 through 7 (Appendix C), contain scoping and technical requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) to ensure accessibility and usability by individuals with disabilities. Compliance with these standards is mandatory for Federal agencies subject to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d).

Each ICT product or service furnished under this contract shall comply with the Revised Section 508 ICT Accessibility Standards at a minimum, as specified in the contract. If any furnished product or service is determined to be noncompliant, the Contracting Officer will notify the Contractor in writing. The Contractor shall, without charge to the Government, remediate or replace the noncompliant products or services within a specified timeframe as determined by the Government in writing. If such remediation or replacement is not completed within the time specified, the Government shall have the following recourses:

technical support lead Task F Report monthly on progress towards deliverables

COR, Product owner, Technical lead

Ongoing, starting a 30 days after award of contract

1) Cancellation of the contract, delivery, task order, purchase, or line item without termination liabilities; or

2) In the case of custom ICT being developed by a contractor for the Government, the Government shall have the right to have any necessary changes made or repairs performed by itself or by another firm for the noncompliant ICT, with the contractor liable for reimbursement to the Government for any expenses incurred thereby.

The contractor must ensure all noncompliant ICT products and services are provided pursuant to extensive market research and exhibit the highest level of compliance while satisfying the contract requirements.

For every ICT product or service accepted under this contract by the Government that does not comply with the Revised Section 508 Accessibility Standards, the contractor shall, at the discretion of the Government, remediate or upgrade the item with a compliant equivalent product or service, if commercially available and cost neutral, on either a contract specified refresh cycle for the product or service, or on a contract effective option/renewal date, whichever shall occur first.

Section 508 Compliance

Vendors, contractors, and their respective ICT products and services shall comply with the following standards, policies, and procedures. In the event of conflicts between the referenced documents and this contract vehicle, the contract vehicle shall take precedence.

1) Revised Section 508 ICT Accessibility Standards

2) Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d)

3) Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 39.2

4) USDA Section 508 Departmental Regulation

Additionally, all contract deliverables are subject to these standards.

All ICT products and services, regardless of format, must conform to the applicable Section 508 standards to allow Federal employees and members of the public with disabilities equivalent access to and use of information and data provided to those without disabilities.

All contractors, sub-contractors, and consultants are responsible for preparing or posting content must comply with the applicable Section 508 accessibility standards and, where applicable, those set forth in the referenced policy or standards document. Remediation of any noncompliant ICT or materials as set forth in this contract vehicle shall be the responsibility of the contractor, sub-contractor, or consultant. According to the Access Board’s Section 508 Scoping Requirements The following Section 508 provisions apply to the products and/or services identified in this contract vehicle:

ꞏ C202 Functional Performance Criteria: Where the requirements in Chapters 4 and 5 do not address one or more functions of telecommunications or customer premises equipment, the functions not addressed shall conform to the Functional Performance Criteria specified in Chapter 3.

ꞏ C203 Electronic Content: Electronic content that is integral to the use of telecommunications or customer premises equipment shall conform to Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements in WCAG 2.0.

ꞏ C204 Hardware: Where components of telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment are hardware, and transmit information or have a user interface, those components shall conform to applicable requirements in Chapter 4.

ꞏ C205 Software: Where software is integral to the use of telecommunications functions of telecommunications equipment or customer premises equipment and has a user interface, such software shall conform to C205 and the applicable requirements in Chapter 5. WCAG Conformance: User interface components, as well as the content of platforms and applications shall conform to Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements in WCAG 2.0.

ꞏ C206 Support Documentation and Services: Where support documentation and services and provided for telecommunications equipment and customer premises equipment, manufacturers shall ensure that such documentation and services conform to Chapter 6 and are made available upon request at no additional charge.

In addition, vendors and contractors shall comply with the standards, policies, and procedures below for all ICT pursuant to this contract:

ꞏ For Custom ICT Development Services, the vendor or contractor shall ensure the ICT fully conforms to the applicable Revised Section 508 standards prior to delivery and before final acceptance.

ꞏ For Installation, Configuration, and Integration Services, the vendor or contractor shall not install, configure, or integrate the equipment and software in a way that reduces the level of conformance with the applicable Revised Section 508 standards.

ꞏ For Maintenance, Upgrades, and Replacements, the vendor or contractor shall ensure maintenance upgrades, substitutions, and replacements do not reduce the original level of conformance with the applicable Revised Section 508 standards at the time of the contract award.

ꞏ Service Personnel are ensured by the vendor or contractor to possess the knowledge, skills, and ability necessary to address the applicable Revised Section 508 standards and shall provide supporting documentation upon request.

ꞏ When providing Hosting Services, the vendor or contractor shall not reduce the existing level of conformance of the electronic content with the applicable Revised Section 508 standards.

ꞏ When purchasing ICT where 1) Section 508 validation is not possible prior to award, 2) the ICT will be changed after the award, or 3) ICT will be hosted in a third-party environment, the vendor or contractor shall test and validate the ICT solution for conformance to the Revised Section 508 standards, in accordance with the required testing methods as defined by the agency.

ꞏ The vendor or contractor shall document and maintain information regarding the measures taken to ensure compliance with the applicable requirements. This documentation includes but is not limited to testing records, product demonstrations, and reported defects by end users and testers.

ꞏ Prior to acceptance, the vendor or contractor shall provide an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) for each ICT item that is developed, updated, and/or configured for the agency, and when product substitutions are offered. The ACR should be based on the latest version of the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) provided by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI). To be considered for award, an ACR must be submitted for each ICT item, and must be completed according to the instructions provided by the ITI. Note: A supplemental ACR may be required if the agency has additional or stricter accessibility requirements than what is outlined in the VPAT.

ꞏ Prior to acceptance, the agency reserves the right to require a full working demonstration of the completed ICT item to demonstrate conformance to the agency’s accessibility requirements in addition to independent testing to validate.

ꞏ In the case of non-compliance where the vendor or contractor claims its products and/or services satisfy the applicable Revised Section 508 standards specified in the contract vehicle, the contracting officer will promptly inform the vendor or contractor in writing of the non-compliance. The vendor or contractor shall, at no cost to the agency, repair or replace the non-compliant products or services within the period specified by the contracting officer.

All Information and Communications Technology (ICT) subject to the Revised Section 508 standards will be evaluated for Section 508 conformance and usability. The test must be administered by a Federal Section 508 Testing Center. All maintenance for ICT that requires upgrades, modifications, installations, repairs, and purchases shall adhere to the Revised Section 508 standards.

12.0 Compliance with Internet Protocol Version (IPv6)

This contract involves the acquisition of Information Technology (IT) that uses Internet Protocol (IP) Technology. In order to comply with OMB Memorandum M-05-22, Transition Planning for Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) issued on August 2, 2005, the contractor agrees that: (1) all deliverables that involve IT that uses IP (products, services, software, etc.) will comply with IPv6 standards set forth in the USGv6 Profile (NIST Special Publication 500-267) and interoperate with both IPv4 and IPv6 systems and products; and (2) it has IPv6 technical support for such deliverables. If the contractor plans to offer a deliverable that involves IT that is not compliant with these requirements, the contractor agrees to obtain the Contracting Officer’s approval before starting work on the deliverable.

13.0 Protection of Information

Information about USDA networks and/or the security posture of any USDA information assets gathered or created under this SOW is sensitive but unclassified information. It is anticipated that this information will be gathered, created, stored within the primary Government work location. If contractor personnel must remove any information from the primary work area for any reason, the information must remain in the possession of the contractor at all times or locked in a secure location. If contractor personnel are away from primary work area for any reason, they must secure any hardcopy information by storing the information in a locked shelf or drawer and or use a password protected screen saver if the information is on a computer. Prior approval must be obtained prior to the removal of any materials from their work area.