Draft Wx SOW 06252020.pdf

Aviation Weather Technical and Engineering Support Statement of Work

06/25/2020

1.0 Scope

The Aviation Weather Office requires support to conduct work for the development of new and enhanced aviation weather capabilities and systems, the sustainment and transition of legacy National Airspace System (NAS) subsystems, and other weather efforts. The Contractor must provide support to the Aviation Weather Offices’, under the Portfolio Management and Technology Development Directorate, to improve sensing, processing, forecasting, integration and dissemination of weather information to reduce the impact of weather on NAS operations. This support must be met by means of engineering and other technical resources and experience necessary to research, design, develop and test weather capabilities and to evaluate and maintain weather systems and capabilities designed and developed outside the Aviation Weather Office. Such programs will include, but are not limited to:

• Common Support Services Weather (CSS-Wx)

• Reduced Weather Impact (RWI)

• NextGen Surveillance and Weather Radar Capability (NSWRC)

• NextGen Weather Processor (NWP)

• Enterprise Architecture (Weather)

• System Wide Information Management (SWIM)

• Weather Observation Improvements (WOI)

• Optimization of weather observation network

• Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS)

• Aviation Weather Demonstration and Evaluation Services (AWDE)

• Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology (OFCM) related activities

• Route Availability Planning Tool (RAPT)

• Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP)

• Legacy weather programs (e.g., WARP, ITWS, RVR)

• Aviation Weather Display (AWD)

• Trajectory Based Operations (TBO)

• Enterprise Information Management (EIM)

• Other weather systems/capabilities.

The FAA reserves the right to accomplish any work within the scope of this contract either by government personnel or by another separate contract at the discretion of the FAA.

1.1 General Tasks

General tasks for this statement of work (SOW) include such activities as:

• Weather Related Concept, Technology and Capabilities Research

• Concept and Capability Prototype and Exploration/Demonstration

• Test and Evaluation for Weather Systems and Capabilities

• Post Deployment and NAS System Sustainment Support

• Weather Laboratory, Test-Bed and Infrastructure Maintenance and Support

• Program/Project Management Support

Specialized Labor Categories may be required to support these tasks.

2.0 Specific Tasks

2.1 Aviation Weather Concept, Technology and Capability Research

The contractor must perform the following tasks in support of weather related concept, technology and capabilities research:

• Evaluate weather related technologies for potential future use in the NAS

• Conduct engineering trade studies

• Develop weather product evaluation protocols and procedures for conducting demonstrations, evaluations, and needs analyses in operational and laboratory environments

• Conduct user evaluations of weather capabilities and products to assess operational effectiveness and suitability and provide feedback and recommendations for capability refinement and improvement

• Conduct meteorological evaluations of weather capabilities and products to assess performance

• Research advances in technology, identify and/or evaluate technological solutions, develop tools, and software/hardware evaluation methodologies and procedures

• Develop technical papers, reports, presentations, and other documents as required

• Monitor related industry advances in technologies, tools, and methodologies for use in weather research and development

2.2 Concept and Capability Exploration, Development and Demonstration

The contractor must provide the following tasks in support of concept capability prototype and exploration and demonstration:

• Develop concept of operations (CONOPS) documents

• Conduct analysis and develop and document functional, operational and performance requirements

• Conduct concept maturity and technology exploration, evaluation and demonstration

• Plan and execute alternative analysis studies to identify and evaluate technological and architectural solution options

• Develop technical papers, reports, presentations, and other documents as required

• Conduct engineering trade studies in support of requirements development, verification and validation

• Design, develop, model and/or simulate prototype systems and capabilities to support requirements refinement/validation, risk mitigation, feasibility assessment, and capability demonstration

• Define baseline of appropriate NAS performance metrics and assess operational impact of new weather solutions as related to NAS performance

• Perform evaluation of prototype source code and documentation to assess maturity, maintainability, and readiness for tech transfer and/or Government Furnished Information (GFI) release

• Perform radar and system engineering in support of the development of new radar technologies including the integration of radar subsystems (e.g., digital signal processing, radar controller, antenna array)

• Develop tools to support the evaluation of weather and aircraft surveillance radar systems and capabilities

2.3 Life-cycle and Implementation

The contractor must perform the following tasks in support of acquisition and implementation:

• Provide system engineering, software engineering and meteorological expertise to support the design, development and integration of aviation weather systems

• Provide hardware/software engineering expertise to support the evolving NAS weather development efforts

• Support weather functional analysis and development of operational, functional, interface and performance requirements

• Provide engineering support for vendor or field/external lab activities

• Develop software source code and documentation for weather capability prototypes

• Develop and maintain enterprise services for collecting, archiving, integrating, replaying and visualizing weather information to support NAS system acquisition efforts

2.4 Test and Evaluation for Weather Systems and Capabilities.

The contractor must perform the following tasks in support of test and evaluation for weather systems and capabilities:

• Develop Test and Evaluation Master Plans (TEMP).

• Develop test plans, procedures and reports for capability and system testing

• Conduct capability and system testing and evaluation to determine meteorological, operational and engineering performance acceptability

• Conduct user evaluations of weather capabilities and products to assess operational effectiveness and suitability

• Provide technical and engineering support for vendor test activities including off-site locations

• Participate in and/or conduct test planning activities and readiness reviews

2.5 Post Deployment and NAS System Sustainment Support

In support of post deployment and NAS sustainment support the contractor must perform the following tasks:

• Evaluate operational and/or technical issues related to deployed systems and provide recommendations for problem resolution

• Support post-deployment engineering, test and evaluation activities as required

• Monitor systems operations and provide on-call operational support as required

• Support system and capability transition activities

2.6 Weather Laboratory, Test-Bed and Infrastructure Maintenance and Support.

In support of weather laboratory, test-bed and infrastructure maintenance and support the contractor must perform the following tasks:

• Provide hardware, software and communications engineering expertise for establishment, operation and maintenance of laboratory capabilities to support aviation weather research, capability development, test, evaluation and demonstration efforts

• Provide engineering support for installation and test of weather sensors on laboratory, airport, and other field locations

• Provide system administration, network administration and technical support for weather laboratories

• Provide support for weather laboratory data ingest, management, archiving and dissemination

2.7 Program/Project Management Support.

In support of Program/Project management support, the contractor must perform the following tasks:

• Provide project management support for weather projects including development, maintenance and execution of project plans

• Develop and manage project schedules

• Track and report project activities, action items and risks including development of project status reports, briefings and other project-related documentation

• Provide input for level of effort estimates for project activities

• Develop and manage project Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)

2.8 Program Management Office (PMO) Support.

In support of the PMO, the contractor must perform the following tasks:

• Provide support for FAA Acquisition Management System (AMS) activities including development of AMS artifacts (e.g., Safety Risk Management Plan, Integrated Logistics Support Plan, JRC Briefing Package, etc.)

3.0 Schedule

The period of performance of this contract is for five years.

4.0 Deliverables

The Contractor must provide support to the FAA in the writing and/or reviewing of FAA program documentation. All documents prepared by the Contractor must be on the behalf of the FAA and the Contractor may not independently publish or distribute any document without prior written permission from the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR)/Alternate COR (ACOR). The Contractor must review and provide written comments on the technical accuracy and completeness of each document. No documents, reports, information, etc. may be released to the public or provided to any party other than the FAA and it’s contractors without written approval of the COR/ACOR.

The Contractor must provide status reports, progress reports, and other deliverables as required in a format proposed by Contractor and agreed to by the Government, detailing major activities, accomplishments, resources utilized and problem areas pertaining to the reporting period and plans for upcoming reporting period.

All references to days are in calendar days.

4.1 Contract Level Data Deliverables

The following table lists all required contract level data deliverables applicable to this Task Order:

Deliverable Title

TO SOW

Reference Para

Frequency Date Due Acceptance Criteria

Documentation As Required

No later than (NLT) Within 10 business days from request from the COR

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format

Monthly Status Report

Monthly

NLT 10 business days after submission of each monthly invoice

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format Task Order Closeout Plan/Report

1 Time

NLT 4 weeks prior to end of Task

Order

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format

4.2 Technical Deliverables

The following table lists all required technical data deliverables applicable to this Task Order:

Deliverable Title

TO SOW

Reference Para

Frequency Date Due Acceptance Criteria

Project schedules and updates

2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7

As Required NLT than 5 business day from request from the

COR.

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format

Meeting documentation and minutes, action items and presentations

2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 2.7

As Required NLT 10 business days from the request from the

COR.

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format.

Requirements Management Plan

2.2, 2.3, 2.4 As Required NLT 10 business days from the request from the

COR.

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format.

Requirement Traceability Matrix

2.2, 2.3, 2.4 As Required NLT 10 business days from the request from the

COR.

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format.

Evaluation Scripts / Evaluation Cases

2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

As Required No later than 10 business days from the request from the

COR.

Accurate data submitted on time in the

COR approved format

Evaluation Plans

As Required No later than 10 business days from the request from the

COR.

Accurate data submitted on time in the

4.3 Inspection and Acceptance

Inspection and acceptance is performed by the COR on all services and deliverables.

4.4 General Acceptance Criteria

Deliverables will be inspected for content, completeness, accuracy and conformance to the applicable standards and guidelines to validate they meet the needs and requirements of the FAA. Inspection may include validation through the use of automated tools or testing. Unless further acceptance criteria is contained in section 4.1 and/or 4.2 above, the general criteria for acceptance of deliverables is described below:

1. Timeliness: Deliverables are made available to the FAA prior to or on their due date

2. Accuracy: Deliverables are accurate in technical content and adhere to accepted elements of style

3. Clarity: Deliverables are clear and concise; engineering or software development terms are used as appropriate; diagrams are easy to understand and relevant to the supporting narrative

4. Specification Validity: All Deliverables satisfy the Government's requirements, including performance metrics, where applicable.

Software Development Documentation (i.e.

Programmer’s Guide, Developer Code Standard)

As Required NLT 10 business days from the request from the

COR.

Accurate data

Engineering Trade Studies

2.1, 2.2, 2.3 As Required NLT 10 business days from the request from the

COR

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format

AMS Lifecycle Documentation (i.e., Shortfall Analyses, ConOps, Requirements Documents, etc…)

2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.8

As Required NLT 10 business days from the request from the

COR

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format

Technical Papers 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 As Required NLT 10 business days from the request from the

COR

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format

Test/Evaluation Reports

2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, As Required NLT 10 business days from the request from the

COR

Accurate data submitted on time in the COR approved format

Configuration Management/ Laboratory Description Diagrams

2.6 As Required NLT 10 business

days from the request from the

COR

Accurate data

If the Government finds a deliverable contains spelling, grammar or typographical errors, or otherwise does not conform to the required format, templates or standards, the deliverable may be rejected and returned to the Contractor for correction and resubmission.

Final acceptance will occur when all discrepancies, errors or other deficiencies identified in writing by the Government have been resolved, either through correction, document updates, or other mutually agreeable methods.

NOTE: Some due dates may be dependent on program office milestones. The COR/ ACOR will advise the contractor when dates require adjustment.

5.0 Invoicing

The Contractor must provide to the Contracting Officer (CO), COR, and ACOR (as applicable) a monthly detailed breakdown of funds expended during the reporting period, including a breakdown per Task Order and/or CLIN of the labor hours utilized by the contractor and any subcontractor, associated labor costs, materiel costs, and other direct costs incurred.

6.0 Travel

Travel will be required to FAA, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Airline Operators and vendor’s facilities to accomplish the tasks defined in section 1.1.

The Contractor must be reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations, except as stipulated in the FAA Travel Policy.

Current travel and per diem reimbursement rates may be obtained via Internet at:

https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates

Normal commuting expenses are not allowed.

The Contractor must only incur travel expenses when prior written approval is received from the COR.

Travel between the contractor's facility and the customer's location will not be reimbursed.

The contractor is authorized use of government vehicles in performance of this SOW. The authorization includes operations on the Airport Operations Area (AOA) (Non-Movement area only) subject to airport guidance, training, operations, and approval requirements. Use of vehicles is subject to possession of valid driver’s license.

Fees for required attendance at symposiums and conferences will be allowed on a case by case basis with proper justification. Prior written approval is required from the COR and CO.

7.0 Other Direct Costs (ODCs)

ODCs require approval by the COR prior to any purchase. ODC requests must include Quotes, justifications for purchase, and must be in compliance with all Mandatory Sourcing Requirements.

8.0 Government Furnished Equipment (GFE)/Government Furnished Property (GFP)

The Contractor must prepare an annual report of Government Furnished/Contractor Acquired Property (GF/CAP) in its possession and in the possession of its subcontractors. Any GFP/CAP provided to the https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates contractor related to work in this SOW must be returned to the Government in good working order. The Contractor must immediately notify the COR/ACOR when property is damaged or missing.

9.0 Hours and Work Schedules

Scheduled hours will be on an 8 or 9 hour day as driven by the SOW requirements with the core hours of 7:00a-5:00p EST/EDT Monday through Friday. Any schedule that differs from this will be handled on a case by case basis and will require proper justification and written approval from the COR.

Additional hours beyond a 40 hour workweek must be preapproved by the COR/ACOR, and will be reimbursed at the fully burdened rate in the pricing schedule.

10.0 Definition of Labor Categories

Labor Category and Skill Level Descriptions

LABOR CATEGORIES

Category Number Labor Title/Skill Definition Position

Level Position Title Years of Relevant

Experience*

Degree Requirements (from an accredited college or university)

Relevant Experience Requirements and Other Information

Substitutions

Notes: * Work experience that is not relevant to the labor category definition will not be considered in the "Years of Relevant Experience" calculation) ** The Program Manager labor category will not be a direct charge to this contract and will be considered part of the contractor’s indirect cost *** The Systems Engineer Level 1 labor category is considered a Key Position

N/A Not Applicable TBD To be determined

1 PROGRAM MANAGER

Provides overall management of personnel working on individual CLINs. Develops monthly reports that include Task Order accomplishments, breakdown of labor hours and funds expended during the reporting period, and issues. Ensures timeliness, accuracy and clarity of Task Order deliverables and addresses resource needs.

N/A Program Manager ** 15+ Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field

2 SYSTEMS ENGINEER

Provides support in the application of state-of-the-art technology to meet the mission requirements of the Customer, the transition of existing discrete architectures to common platforms, including architectural assessment of existing platforms and identification

1 Systems Engineer - Level 4 0-5 Bachelor’s Degree in

Engineering (electrical, electronic, or aeronautical), Mathematics, Computer Science, or Physics

Master's Degree in related field may be substituted for Bachelor's degree and 5 years experience.

2 Systems Engineer - Level 3 6-14

3 Systems Engineer - Level 2 15-19

Number Labor Title/Skill Definition Position

Level Position Title Years of Relevant

Experience*

Degree Requirements (from an accredited college or university)

Relevant Experience Requirements and Other Information

Substitutions and evolution depiction of the target system. Provides full lifecycle support including design, maintenance, software, hardware, information flow, security, risk/vulnerability assessment, fault tolerance, training, deployment, and decommission.

4 Systems Engineer - Level 1 *** 20+

3 RADAR SYSTEMS ENGINEER

Provides expertize in the area of radar system research, design, engineering, radar system architecture development, and radar system design of electronically scanned radar systems.

Provides planning, execution, and management of research and development programs focused on cost risk reduction for complex electronically scanned radar systems as well as radar modeling techniques;

Provides expertise in the development of operational concepts and requirements for adaptively scanning, multi-mission radar systems (e.g., aircraft and weather surveillance and tracking); Provides support in the design and evaluation of digital signal processing systems, radar controllers, and other radar subsystems; Provides expertise in the analysis of advanced digital signal processing techniques for both aircraft and weather to improve radar performance.

1 Radar Systems Engineer - Level 3 5-14

Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related physical science (e.g., Physics or Meteorology)

2 Radar Systems

Engineer - Level 2 15-19

3 Radar Systems Engineer - Level 1 20+

4 SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Number Labor Title/Skill Definition Position

Level Position Title Years of Relevant

Experience*

Degree Requirements (from an accredited college or university)

Relevant Experience Requirements and Other Information

Substitutions

Provides skilled assessments regarding current, state-of-the-art and industrial trends in the computer field. Designs and implements computer algorithms, reviews existing legacy code systems, and provides recommendations in emerging computer technology.

1 Software Engineer - Level 4 0-5

Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, software engineering or related field substituted for Bachelor's degree and 5 years experience.

2 Software Engineer - Level 3 6-14

3 Software Engineer - Level 2 15-19

4 Software Engineer - Level 1 20+

5 HUMAN FACTORS SPECIALIST

Performs human factors engineering functions for computer human interface (CHI) analyses, assessments of suitability and effectiveness, workload or situation awareness studies, human-in-the-loop scenarios, ergonomics, and kinematics.

1 Human Factors Specialist - Level 3 0-5

Bachelor's Degree in applied or experimental psychology, human factors, ergonomics, or industrial engineering.

substituted for Bachelor's degree and 3 years experience.

2 Human Factors Specialist - Level 2 6-10

3 Human Factors Specialist - Level 1 10+

Master's Degree in applied or experimental psychology, human factors, ergonomics, or industrial engineering.

Bachlor's Degree in related field with 15+ years of specialized experience in aviation or weather systems and assessments may substituted for a Master's Degree and 10 years experience

6 METEOROLOGIST

Provides skilled support in meteorology to support development, evaluation, and analyses of weather

1 Meteorologist - Level 4 0-4 Bachelor's Degree in

Meteorology

Number Labor Title/Skill Definition Position

Level Position Title Years of Relevant

Experience*

Degree Requirements (from an accredited college or university)

Relevant Experience Requirements and Other Information

Substitutions data and products, including graphics, text, and binary weather products.

2 Meteorologist - Level 3 5-14

Master's Degree in related field may be substituted for Bachelor's degree and 3 years experience.

3 Meteorologist - Level 2 15-19 Master's Degree in related field may be substituted for Bachelor's degree and 5 years experience. 4 Meteorologist - Level

1 20+

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

SPECIALIST

Performs administrative computer system design, implementation, physical and operational support.

Information Technology Specialist - Level 3

0-6 Must possess system knowledge applicable to large-scale information networks with emphasis on system design, analyses, and security evaluations.

Information Technology Specialist - Level 2

7+

Information Technology Specialist - Level 1

4+ Associate's Degree in relevant field

8 SUBJECT MATTER SPECIALIST

Provides expert level services in a particular discipline to fulfill specific requirements of the Government

N/A Subject Matter Specialist TBD

Qualifications for the specialized labor category will be determined by task requirements

9 TASK LEAD

Number Labor Title/Skill Definition Position

Level Position Title Years of Relevant

Experience*

Degree Requirements (from an accredited college or university)

Relevant Experience Requirements and

Provides overall management of deliverables and personnel working in a technical environment on individual CLINs.

N/A Task Lead

The Government may consider this function to be a co-lateral duty of another labor category designated under the individual CLINs.

10 PROJECT ANALYST

Provides overall tracking, identification, development, and analysis of project activities and milestones. Reports and coordinates schedules within the organization and be able to brief management on project status, potential problems, alternative resolutions and their impact on project schedules and milestones.

N/A Project Analyst

Must demonstrate five (5) years relevant work experience utilizing Microsoft Office Suite applications.

11 TECHNICAL PROFESSIONAL

Provides expertise in the application of state-of-the-art technology to meet the mission requirements of the Customer, including:

• System architecture assessments

• System deployment and decommissioning

• Data analysis

• System algorithms

• Assessment of legacy code for re-programming

• System procedural implementation and performance evaluation

N/A Technical Professional

Must demonstrate ten (10) years relevant work experience

Number Labor Title/Skill Definition Position

Level Position Title Years of Relevant

Experience*

Degree Requirements (from an accredited college or university)

Relevant Experience Requirements and

12 TECHNICIAN

Provides critical electrical/mechanical/fabrication skills suitable for maintaining Customer designated infrastructure.

N/A Technician

Must demonstrate six (6) years relevant work experience.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

SPECIALIST

Provides expertise in FAA Air Traffic Control operations, policies, and procedures.

N/A Air Traffic Control Specialist

Must demonstrate a minimum of ten (10) years active, full performance level

(FPL) ATC

experience in any of the following environments:

terminal, enroute, or oceanic. Equivalent experience in the military or international air traffic environment will be accepted.

14 SENIOR AVIATION ANALYST

Number Labor Title/Skill Definition Position

Level Position Title Years of Relevant

Experience*

Degree Requirements (from an accredited college or university)

Relevant Experience Requirements and

Researches and analyzes technical and regulatory documents and apply data from those documents to the development and evaluation of weather requirements, products and systems.

Consults on technical, legal, and regulatory aviation issues related to specific weather requirement tasks.

Knowledge of various aviation areas including operations and regulatory process for air carrier, corporate, helicopter and UAS operators.

N/A Senior Aviation Analyst

Bachelor's Degree in relevant field plus a minimum of ten (10) years of direct aviation experience concerning flight operations, and as appropriate, experience as a pilot with commercial or air transport ratings.

PRINCIPAL RESEARCH

SCIENTIST/ENGINEER

Provide overall management of personnel working in a technical environment on individual task.

Provides planning, execution, and management of research and development programs focused on cost risk reduction for complex electronically scanned radar systems as well as radar modeling techniques.

Must be proficient in Government contracts and design standards, planning tools (i.e., work breakdown structures, Gantt charts, critical path analyses, PERT charts, etc.), and report development with expertise in radar system research, design, engineering and architecture development.

N/A Principal Research Scientist/Engineer 20+

Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related physical science (i.e., Physics or Meteorology) substituted for Bachelor's Degree and 5 years expereience.

OPERATIONS RESEARCH

ANALYST

Number Labor Title/Skill Definition Position

Level Position Title Years of Relevant

Experience*

Degree Requirements (from an accredited college or university)

Relevant Experience Requirements and

Conducts quantitative analyses using operations research tools, economics, and other quantitative techniques in the areas of procedural implementations and performance issues.

N/A Operational Research Analyst 5+

Bachelor's Degree in operations research or industrial engineering, or applicable science (e.g., Meteorology)

Final acceptance will occur when all discrepancies, errors or other deficiencies identified in writing by the Government have been resolved, either through correction, document updates, or other mutually agreeable methods.