DRAFT SOW_CCH Web Mgt Tool Dev 22Jul22.pdf

US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Statement of Work

Caribbean Climate Hub

Website Maintenance & Online Tool Development

22 Jul 2022

Contents Project Website maintenance and online tool development for the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

2.0 Background

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks

4.0 Government Furnished

5.0 Deliverables / Schedule

6.0 Travel

7.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

8.0 Security Requirements

9.0 Data Rights

10.0 Section 508 – Electronic and Information Technology Standards

Project Website maintenance and online tool development for the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

This contract will provide support for the maintenance of a web site that has complex functions -some of which are unique to the organization and require integration of web design and programming skills, maintaining interactive maps and associated geospatial datasets, and monitoring, processing and responding to a diverse set of end users. The services needed are a site that communicates news items, shares documents, has readability and ease of use, has a recognizable look and continuity among the many aspects of the site. The primary tasks are 1) to provide monthly recurring services required including: downtime response, daily backups, software updates, health monitoring, service monitoring, responsiveness to issues/requests, database monitoring, server optimization, server hardening, and enhanced security; and 2) enhance and further develop the Caribbean Hub Farm Planning Tool and Agricultural Statistics Tool and develop a spatial data visualization tool.

2.0 Background

The Institute is a unit of the Forest Service within the US Department of Agriculture. The Institute includes representation and functions within the Forest Service Deputy Areas of Research and Development, State and Private Forestry, International Cooperation and Administration, and serves as the headquarters for the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub. Institute personnel include scientists, technicians, program managers, and administrative personnel.

Members of the broader Institute community span a wide range of knowledge and skills, including natural and social scientists, natural resource managers, education outreach and technology transfer specialists, technicians, as well as contracted professionals, students and volunteers. Together these people engage with an equally diverse network of external collaborators from the public, private, and non-profit sectors, in order to implement programs and carry out the Institute mission

The influence of the Institute stretches throughout Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, to people and organizations across the United States, and internationally to people and organizations in Latin America and around the globe. Institute science integrates long-term scientific studies with applied investigation, quantitative modeling, and landscape analysis to better understand tropical forest systems and the effects of human-induced pressures, predict future scenarios, devise effective management and governance strategies, and promote sustainable natural resources stewardship.

The Institute Headquarters has 50,000 square feet of modern, state-of-the-art facilities that are secure, functional, accessible, and that service the scientific community of the Institute and its collaborators. The Headquarters complex houses the Institute’s Headquarters building, a Forest Service National Library, a Chemistry Laboratory, a Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory, a technology transfer conference center, and a multipurpose building that houses a dormitory, a gym, general storage area, office space, and lunch area.

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks

The primary goals of the contract are to 1) Maintain and enhance development of the bilingual (English/Spanish) USDA Caribbean Climate Hub website by ensuring functionality and facilitating and assisting with new content additions by the Hub staff; and 2) Increasing the functionality of two online tools created by the Hub: The Farm Planning Tool and the Agricultural Statistics Tool. Additionally, the contractor will create a geospatial viewing platform where all geospatial layers developed by the Climate Hub can be visualized and downloaded. Tools will be bilingual and allow for overlaying layers, zoom, and extracting information from user defined areas of interest and uploaded shapefiles

Specifically, the contractor will:

1. Ensure existing website features are functioning properly, including maps, databases, resource uploading/downloading and forms.

2. Respond to issues/outages within 24hrs of notification (24 hrs a day/365 days per year), ensuring issues have been addressed and corrective actions initiated [Notification by Contracting Officer’s Representative (CO), Contracting Officer (CO), or assigned Contract Specialist (CS)/Purchasing Agent (PA)].

3. Ensure contract is supported by qualified Key Personnel, regardless of vacation, sick leave, weekends, holidays, etc., to ensure continuous support (24 hrs a day/365 days per year). Contract shall have a maximum of 2 assigned Key Personnel to ensure consistency with support and communication.

4. Ensure maintenance and backups to web, database, and geospatial data servers.

5. Maintain English and Spanish versions of sites.

6. Ensure page and content templates are functioning optimally.

7. Test site on multiple devices/browsers to see if there are issues on particular platform.

8. Provide maintenance to email site member accounts – control Spam.

9. Ensure that notifications are working properly.

10. Update Farm Planning Tool to include additional geospatial layers related to climate projections, investigate expansion to the US Virgin Islands.

11. Update the Agricultural Statistics Layer to include more recent years of data from the PR

Department of Agriculture, investigate expansion to the US Virgin Islands.

12. In collaboration with the Hub staff, develop a geospatial data viewing platform for PR and the USVI that shares geospatial information on climate, land use, land cover, terrain features, agriculture, and forestry that have been developed by the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub.

4.0 Government Furnished

The contractor will work remotely, no facilities provided.

https://caribbeanclimatehub.org/ https://caribbeanclimatehub.org/farmtool/ https://caribbeanclimatehub.org/tools-apps/agricultural-statistics/

5.0 Deliverables / Schedule

Item No. Deliverable Objective Due 1 Proposed Project

Plan for website maintenance and coordination with Hub staff regarding content management.

Defining the responsibilities, timeline, risks, and milestones of contract objectives.

No later than five (5) business days after contract award

2 Twenty-four hour/seven day a week support, database monitoring, server optimization, server hardening, and enhanced security.

Functioning website. daily

3 Proposed Project Plan for tool maintenance and development – existing Agricultural Statistics Tool, Farm Planning Tool, and new geospatial data viewing platform.

Defining the responsibilities, timeline, risks, and milestones of contract objectives.

No later than fifteen (15) business days after contract award.

4 Weekly Status Report on website functionality

Report documenting tasks & issues weekly. Weekly, every Friday, by 3:00 PM EDST until the contract expires.

5 Monthly Status Report on tool development and functionality – 3 tools.

Report documenting tasks & issues weekly. Monthly, last Friday each month, by 3:00 PM EDST until the contract expires.

6 Updated Farm Planning Tool to include additional geospatial layers related to climate projections, investigate expansion to the US Virgin Islands.

Functioning tool, developed in consultation with Climate Hub staff, following planning of table 5.0 item 3.

Pilot updates within 3 months of start of contract.

Continuing maintenance and improvements through end of contract.

7 Updated Agricultural Statistics Layer to include more recent years of data from the PR Department of Agriculture, investigate expansion to the US Virgin Islands.

Functioning tool, developed in consultation with Climate Hub staff, following planning of table 5.0 item 3.

Pilot updates within 3 months of start of contract.

Continuing maintenance and improvements through end of contract.

8 New tool development – BETA version: A functioning

Functioning tool, developed in consultation with Climate Hub staff, following planning of table 5.0 item 3.

Beta version for testing within 6 months of start of contract.

Public version within 8 months of start of contract.

geospatial data viewing platform for PR and the USVI that shares geospatial information on climate, land use, land cover, terrain features, agriculture, and forestry that have been developed by the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub.

9 New tool development – Publicly accessible version of geospatial data viewing platform.

Functioning tool, developed in consultation with Climate Hub staff, following planning of table 5.0 item 3.

Public version within 8 months of start of contract, open to comment and testing.

10 New tool development – Fully functioning version of geospatial data viewing platform.

Functioning tool, developed in consultation with Climate Hub staff, following planning of table 5.0 item 3.

Fully functioning public version within 12 months of start of contract.

6.0 Travel

The contractor will not be expected to travel.

7.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

Information Technology Systems Administrator

7.1 Minimum Key Personnel Qualifications:

1) Familiarity and proven expertise in the following areas: geoinformatics, web technologies, Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI), scientist data management and publishing, and environmental management and conservation.

2) Skills in

a) Computer programming

b) Online tool developments

c) Custom software design & development

d) Custom web application design & development

e) Custom database design development & management

3) Expertise in Wordpress

4) Fluency in English and Spanish

5) Knowledge of both web development and geospatial data management

7.2 Within 30 days of contract award, Key Personnel required to exhibit the following specific knowledge and expertise:

1) Knowledge of the available spatial datasets developed by the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub

2) Familiarity with the existing website and tools, including the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub Farm Planning Tool and Agricultural Statistics Tool.

8.0 Security Requirements

LincPass not required. No access to FS network required.

9.0 Data Rights

All information produced will be for the exclusive use of the USDA Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry unless and until authorized for other uses. Publications resulting this work will recognize the contribution of the Forest Service and appropriate Forest Service personnel will be considered for authorship.

10.0 Section 508 – Electronic and Information Technology Standards Contractor will be involved in creating 508 compliant web content in Spanish and English.