Drug & Alcohol Compliance Audit Program

STATEMENT OF WORK

BACKGROUND

As a part of the Congressionally-mandated substance abuse management program, within the United States (U.S.) Department of Transportation (DOT), Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA’s) Office of Transit Safety and Oversight (TSO), the Government ensures their grantee’s compliance through a drug and alcohol testing audit program. The program began in 1997. FTA seeks to complete audits on FTA grantees to achieve an optimum mitigation of risk from drug use and alcohol misuse in the transit industry. The Contractor provides auditing services, and assists with audit selection, auditor training, transit grantee training, and technical assistance to support the drug and alcohol testing compliance audit program.

The Contractor will support FTA and the USDOT Volpe Center (Volpe), in developing the audit schedule and conducting audits, an industry training conference, internal auditor training, and providing technical assistance each year.

The normal audit requirement is for 30 on-site audit trip weeks (audit events) per year, with as many as three 5307 grantees and/or larger contractor audits conducted per trip.

For larger 5307 grantees (e.g., greater than 75 safety-sensitive employees), contractors may be included in the audit, reducing the number of grantees audited that week.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this requirement is to support the mission of TSO with a Drug and Alcohol Testing Audit and Review Program to continuously monitor grantees to ensure they and their safety-sensitive Contractors, service agents, and sub-recipients meet regulatory requirements; and to provide technical assistance and outreach to the industry. In addition, the objectives are to ensure well trained auditors with consistent application of regulatory requirements and interpretations as well as effective risk management in regards to the audit selection in each contract year.

TASKS

CONTRACT LINE ITEM NUMBER (CLIN) 001 – Conduct Drug and Alcohol Testing Compliance Audits/Reviews

The Contractor shall provide the personnel, materials, and equipment necessary to conduct 30 audit events (primarily on-site with virtual as needed) for this tasking. The Contractor shall support FTA in its planning and oversight efforts to develop a comprehensive Drug and Alcohol Regulatory Oversight Audit Program. This task will address the development and implementation/oversight activities of the audit process. The Contractor audit events, and the audit process will be in three (3) phases, as indicated in the Deliverables and Delivery Schedule. (Pre-Audit, Audit, Post-Audit)

Task 1: Conduct Drug and Alcohol Testing Compliance Audits The central component of the audit process is the on-site visit by the Contractor and a federal representative to the grantee, sub-recipients, safety-sensitive contractors, and service agents. The audit team typically consists of three to five staff: with a duration of typically one week on-site, depending upon size of grantee. The audit process shall be in three phases (Pre-Audit, Audit, Post-Audit). Activities will include but are not limited to the following:

· As part of audit logistics planning, the audit staff/team leader will send (via email and/or phone) notifications and request for documents, records, and other materials to the grantee (not less than six (6) weeks and not more than seven (7) weeks in advance of entrance meeting/interview of the audit).

· Develop audit agendas/schedules to include the time and locations for audit interviews, records review, mock collections, as well as report and chart production. The schedule must be made available no less than 30 days in advance of the entrance meeting for federal representative travel coordination. It is recognized that the schedule will continue to develop as the audit approaches and the audit team leader consults with the grantees, however, the latest iteration of the schedule must always be available on the Auditor’s travel site.

· Pre-audit notes must include an overview of the travel logistics for sub-teams, an analysis of the employer’s previous years Drug and Alcohol Management Information System (DAMIS) results, hours of service, and program attributes, for example does the transit property have a zero tolerance or 2nd chance policy in regard to positive test or alcohol violations, Contractor performance, and general pre-audit findings

· Coordination of logistics with federal representative staff (FTA headquarters and or regional staff and USDOT Volpe staff) including completion, attachment of correspondence, and inclusion of all elements of the pre-audit portfolio into the drug and alcohol auditor travel site found here https://transit-safety.fta.dot.gov/auditorsite/, in concert with timing of grantee notification.

· Perform pre-audit review, analysis of policy and other materials, and recording the results in data files uploaded to Substance Abuse Management Oversight and the drug and alcohol auditor’s site.

· Audit staff will arrange and complete, via telephone or other electronic medium, interviews of grantees, Contractor personnel, multiple safety-sensitive Contractors, as well as service agents, such as (Medical Review Officer (MRO) and Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) for compliance with USDOT and FTA D&A Testing Regulations (49 CFR Parts 40 & 655).

· The audit staff shall conduct mock collections at contracted and directly operated collection sites and medical facilities. The audit staff will conduct a records review of the Custody and Control Forms, as well as, all alcohol testing forms of all testing types; including pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, return-to-duty, and follow-up drug and alcohol tests noting any areas of non-compliance. The audit staff shall perform a certification review of service agents and review grantee training.

· The audit staff shall produce a final report (hardcopy and electronic) with FTA cover letter to be provided to the grantee on the day of the audit exit meeting. The Contractor will provide hardcopies of the final report (up to a maximum of 12 copies) to each attendee present at the exit meeting, as appropriate. The electronic copy shall be distributed to the FTA Program Manager, the FTA Regional Administrator or Contact, the Drug and Alcohol Compliance Audits Program Manager at the USDOT Volpe Center, the audit’s Federal Representative, and other FTA staff as identified by the COR on the evening before the presentation to the grantee, or as soon as possible, if that is not possible. The electronic copy must also be uploaded to the FTA Drug and Alcohol Auditor website.

· The audit team leader is also responsible for uploading all SAMO software elements and follow-up correspondence on the FTA Drug and Alcohol Auditor website. The Contractor should use electronic means of storage as much as possible and encourage the auditees to respond to the audit findings with scanned material as opposed to hardcopy. All response material received electronically, must be uploaded to the FTA Drug and Alcohol Auditor website site.

· The audit team will develop and adhere to a process of follow-up phone calls, letters, and other communications; technical assistance support with grantees; and interim compliance reports to the grantee. The compliance reports will be of two types: “continuing concerns” or “acknowledgement of compliance.” The scheduled “continuing concerns” letter will take place at FTA/Volpe staff approved successive intervals until compliance is attained. Once compliance is achieved, the “acknowledgement of compliance” letter will be issued. The FTA Program Manager or Federal Representative must provide approval before either letter is issued.

· The electronic compliance reports shall be distributed to the FTA Program Manager, the FTA Regional Administrator or Contact, the Drug and Alcohol Compliance Audits Program Manager at the USDOT Volpe Center, the audit’s Federal Representative and other FTA staff as identified by COR/PM.

· The Contractor must also update The Oversight Tracking System (OTRAK) on a quarterly basis with original number of audit deficiencies from the final audit reports and the subsequent compliance interval date(s).

· The Contractor shall complete the post-audit phase of the audits currently in process.

· The audit team leader and the federal representative will work in concert to finalize deficiency/finding determinations and language used in the final audit report. The audit team leader shall defer to the federal representative in the event of policy decisions and or regulatory interpretation disagreements. They may also contact the COR at any time there are questions regarding the content or style of the final audit report.

· The Contractor shall independently, and not as an agent of the Government, furnish the necessary personnel, labor, equipment (laptops), services, materials, and supplies, except as otherwise noted, to perform the work set forth below. All work under this contract will be monitored by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR).

· The Contractor shall enter travel logistics 45 days prior to commencement of the audit/review into the Drug and Alcohol Program Management/Travel website, hosted by the Volpe Center for FTA through the DAMIS Program. The FTA/Volpe Center will establish accounts and furnish username/passwords for Contractor use.

· The Contractor shall in coordination with the FTA COR/PM and Volpe Center staff, develop the schedule of audits/reviews on an annual basis.

CLIN 002 - Conduct Drug and Alcohol Training

The contractor must provide support concerning the following:

· National Conference

The Contractor shall provide at least eight (8) staff members to participate in a Drug and Alcohol National Conference. The three-days conference will cover the content of the audits with identified deficiency and compliance trends, new best practices, regulatory interpretations, and other issues as specified by FTA. The Contractor will perform tasks as directed by the FTA and may include registration assistance, conducting presentations, monitoring presentations and policy review.

· One-Day Seminars

The Contractor shall deliver up to eight one-day, in person, instructor-led seminars on Drug and Alcohol Testing Regulations for transportation employers, safety-sensitive transportation employees and service agents.

· Annual Auditor Team Workshop

The Contractor shall assist the FTA Program Manager and Volpe Center Staff to conduct an annual two-day workshop session to update all audit team members (FTA, USDOT Volpe Center and Contractor staff) on topics to include but not limited to new procedures (audit software and travel site), regulations, current processes, lessons learned and current industry trends/issues.

The Contractor shall provide materials and topics to the COR 30-45 days prior to the two-day workshop for review and approval. The COR will provide written comments within seven (7) days to be incorporated into the final training material.

CLIN003 - Annual Audit Planning

The contactor must provide support concerning the following:

The Contractor shall assist FTA Program Manager and Volpe Center staff in developing an annual Drug and Alcohol (D&A) Grantee Recipient Audit Mix, designed to minimize D&A related risks from the transit industry.

CLIN004 - Provide Technical Assistance and Program Management Support

The Contractor will provide technical assistance to the PM/COR, FTA HQ, OST Office of D&A Policy & Compliance (ODAPC), FTA regional staff, USDOT Volpe Center, and/or FTA grantees as determined by the COR. This technical assistance will include training, training materials, policy review(s), and auditing support to the above parties to facilitate understanding and increase compliance with drug & alcohol testing requirements, regulations, program implementation, interpretations, etc. This is to help FTA and the Department in aiding grantees, their Contractors and service agents in achieving compliance and reducing deficiencies outside of the normal D&A auditing process as described in CLIN 0001.

The Contractor will provide up to four two-day, on-site Go-Teams for identified issues and/or program management support, as determined by FTA. The team will be comprised of one or two staff members. This shall include associated preparation and follow-up. The Go-Team shall inspect for example, national third-party administrators (TPA), operations Contractors, and collection sites that provide service for FTA-regulated clients. The Go-Teams may also be used to inspect grantees and/or their Contractor/service agents on issues, accident, or event basis as determined by the COR.

The Contractor will coordinate with the FTA Program Manager and Volpe Center staff to identify and author up to six articles for FTA’s D&A Regulation updates quarterly newsletter. Topics can include but are not limited to trending industry issues, common audit findings, regulation updates, amendments and or interpretations, and current industry frequently asked questions. Articles are subject to review and approval by FTA and Volpe staff.

The Contractor may also use these resources in part to aid the COR in developing and prototyping new review techniques and data analysis to target audits more effectively.

CLIN 005: Other Direct Costs (ODCs) and Travel Only

ODCs concerning associated work which are considered allowable and within scope of this requirement shall be billed against this specific CLIN. All travel must be necessary as well as within scope of this requirement. Also, the Contractor must adhere to the federal travel regulations concerning per diem etc. All costs associated with this specific CLIN must be supported with documentation such as receipts etc. to be considered for review and payment by the Government. The Contractor must ensure all materials and ODC’s are within scope of the requirement, and all incurred cost are fair and reasonable prior to purchase. An example of an acceptable ODC would be printing of material as requested by FTA. Also, all ODCs must be those which directly relate to performance of the requirement.

DELIVERABLES AND DELIVERABLE SCHEDULE

CLIN 0001: Drug and Alcohol Testing Compliance Audits

Phase 1: The Auditor shall develop audit agendas and schedules. The Auditor shall provide a pre-audit notification letter to the grantee.

Phase 2: The Auditor shall produce a final report (hard and electronic copy) with FTA cover letter and response software.

Phase 3: The Auditor will deliver a continuing concerns or final compliance letter to the grantee.

30-90 days prior to audit event

Exit Meeting or last day of audit event

30-90 days after completion of on-site audit event

COR or COR designee via email

Acceptance Criteria: The deliverables will be deemed acceptable for review by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) as Microsoft (MS) Office Word documents.

CLIN 0002: Workshop

The Auditor shall provide a draft agenda and other meeting materials.

Acceptance Criteria: The deliverables will be deemed acceptable for review by the COR as MS Office Word documents.

30-60 days prior to Workshop

CLIN 0003: Audit Planning

The Auditor will deliver a final audit schedule no later than 7 days after the audit schedule planning meeting.

The Auditor will establish an FTA OTrak account and enter all final audits into OTrak and the FTA Auditors website.

Acceptance Criteria: The deliverable will be deemed acceptable for review by the COR as MS Office Word documents.

7 days after audit planning meeting

30 days after audit planning session

COR or COR designee via email

CLIN 0004: Technical Assistance and Program Management Support The Auditor will provide technical assistance to include training, training materials, and policy review.

Newsletter topic

Newsletter articles

Acceptance Criteria: The deliverable will be deemed acceptable for review by the COR as MS Office Word documents.

As Assigned

2 weeks after initial request

3 weeks after topics assigned COR or COR designee via email

COR or designee via email

CLIN 005 Travel/ODC

DAILY HOURS OF PERFORMANCE

None

TELEWORKING

All Contractor personnel must be telework ready. All work conducted concerning the requirement must be performed within the United States and its territories. Performance sites may include but not limited to the following: The Contractor’s primary or remote offices, FTA HQ office etc.

While working off-site at their own facilities or other off-site locations, Contractor personnel must, always, follow the identification requirements and observe all safety and security regulations of the location where work is being conducted. In the event of inclement weather, building closures, national emergencies, and/or other events impacting agency needs, the Contractor is authorized to telework concerning work discussed and approved by the FTA Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and the FTA Contracting Officer (CO). Authorization to telework must be done in writing specifically if for work that is typically performed on-site at FTA Headquarters or periodically at their other off-site location. If some of the work is typically performed on-site periodically at FTA Headquarters or at their off-site company’s location, telework rules and restrictions are at the discretion of the FTA CO whom will consult with the respective FTA COR regarding the technical nature, scope of the work, expectations of work products submitted for review etc. schedule and work assignments must be discussed with the COR and CO prior to commencement of it.

At times, some work may be requested to be properly coordinated for re-scheduling by the Contractor for a later date etc. Changes to telework rules and restrictions under special circumstances as previously mentioned such as national emergencies may also be implemented by either verbal direction or followed by an official modification to the contract.

OBSERVANCE OF LEGAL HOLIDAYS, ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE AND EXCUSED ABSENCES

The Government hereby provides notice and Contractor hereby acknowledges receipt that Government personnel observe the listed days as holidays:

In addition to the days designated as holidays, the Government observes the following days: Any other day designated by Federal Statute, Executive Order or by the President’s Proclamation.

It is understood and agreed between the Government and the Contractor that observance of such days by Government personnel shall not otherwise be a reason for an additional period of performance, or entitlement of compensation. In the event the Contractor's personnel work during the holiday, they may be reimbursed by the Contractor, however, no form of holiday or other premium compensation will be reimbursed either as a direct or indirect cost, other than their normal compensation for the time worked. This provision does not preclude reimbursement for authorized premium pay, if applicable to this requirement.

QUALITY CONTROL/ASSURANCE

The Government intends to do quality assurance to monitor the quality and timeliness of the Contractor’s performance. The oversight concerning quality assurance from the Government in terms of monitoring will help to ensure that service levels are reached, and the required levels are effectively maintained throughout the contract term. Further, the Government’s quality assurance monitoring will provide the COR with a proactive way to avoid unacceptable or deficient performance and provides verifiable input for the required past performance assessment record that will be entered the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS). Thus, the Contractor must ensure that tasks performed, and their deliverables meet the Government’s acceptance.

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

· The Contractor shall use electronic means of storage. All grantee responses in hardcopy, shall be scanned for archiving. The audit team leader is also responsible for uploading all audit notifications, final reports, SAMO database elements, auditee follow-up SAMO responses, continuing concerns letters, and compliance letters in the FTA Drug and Alcohol Auditor website.

· The Contractor shall ensure sensitive information is not stored, processed, or transmitted on a publicly available system (via the internet) without the appropriate controls in place and specific authorization from the FTA Chief Information Officer and/or Chief Information Security Officer.

· The Contractor shall not release, publish, or disclose agency information to unauthorized personnel, and shall protect such information in accordance with the provisions of applicable laws and regulations governing the confidentiality of sensitive information.

· Section 508, Compliance of the Rehabilitation Act, requires agencies and their Contractors to buy electronic and Information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities.

· The Contractor shall immediately inform the FTA Program Manager and Federal Team Lead when a grantee is unresponsive or uncooperative to a request during any phase of the audit process.

· All Contract personnel attending meetings, answering questions/inquiries, and or working in situations where their Contractor status is not obvious to third-parties are required to identify themselves as Contractors/auditors for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), to avoid creating an impression in the minds of the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure all documents or reports produced by the Contractor on behalf of the FTA are suitably marked as Contractor and sent from the Government issued email address.

· All Contract personnel attending meetings, answering questions/inquiries when not tasked to do so by FTA will identify themselves as staff of their company and not as Contractors/auditors for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

· The Contractor shall copy the FTA Program Manager and Volpe Center Drug and Alcohol Compliance Audits Program Manager on all responses to grantees questions/concerns, which occur outside of the normal audit process.

· The Contractor shall use laptops at a minimum running Windows 10.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS:

The Contractor shall upload the following documents into the FTA Drug and Alcohol Program Management Auditors Travel Website

REPORT/DOCUMENT FREQUENCY DATE DUE

Audit Notification Letter every audit One week after letter delivery Final Audit Agenda before every audit Thursday prior to entrance meeting Audit Information Sheet before every audit Thursday prior to entrance meeting Pre-Audit SAMO export before every audit Thursday prior to entrance meeting Final Audit Report after every audit prior to audit exit meeting Continuing Concerns Report as needed per audit 60 days after audit response Acknowledgement of Compliance after every audit 60 days after audit response

REPORT/DOCUMENT FREQUENCY DATE DUE

Progress Report monthly 15th of each month

The Contractor shall provide in writing, to the FTA COR, the following submittal with the required information and within the time specified for each report as follows. The reports shall contain, the following information:

Project Name

· Description of Project Activity

· Progress of the Project, including period, cumulative and year-to-date costs

· Narrative discussion of work planned for the next month

· Documentation of significant problems encountered, if any

The Contractor is expected to perform at the highest levels of professional and technical competence in performing acquisition related tasks to achieve FTA’s stated objectives.

It is expected that the Contractor shall work closely with FTA staff to ensure all assigned tasks conform to the task descriptions and work objectives stated herein. For work, the contracted personnel must be responsive daily, qualified to perform the work at hand and accountable for all work products in a timely manner.

In addition, all work must also meet the following criteria:

• Accuracy – All work shall be accurate in presentation and technical content

• Copy/Edit – All work shall be copy/edited for formatting, properly revised due to its content, style and accuracy.

• Completeness – All work shall be comprehensive and fully developed. All contents shall be well written and submitted on a timely basis 95% of the time.

• Clarity – All work shall be clear and concise free of grammatical and punctuation errors.

• Promptness – The Contractor shall report for meetings on time and shall stay for the entire duration.

• Quality Assurance/Quality Control – Contractor shall employ adequate quality assurance/quality control methods to ensure all activities and deliverables meet the performance requirements.

CONTRACT TYPE

Labor Hour

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance for of this requirement will be one year base period and four one (1) year option periods.

GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY, if applicable

Government Issued ID: The Contractor shall establish and implement methods of making sure all ID cards issued to the Contractor by the Government are not lost or misplaced and are not used by unauthorized persons. The Contractor shall develop procedures covering ID control that shall be included in the Quality Control Plan. Such procedures shall include turn-in of any issued ID’s by personnel who are no longer required ID’s. The Contractor shall immediately report any occurrences of lost or duplicate ID’s to the COR or the Contracting Officer.

The Contractor shall prohibit the use of Government issued ID’s by any persons other than the Contractor’s employees assigned under the contract.

Government Issued Federal email accounts:

The Contractor will be issued a government Contractor email account to communicate drug and alcohol audit activities.

Government Issued Password Protected Account for Drug and Alcohol Auditors Site: The Contractor will be issued a password protected account to access the Drug and Alcohol Auditors site. The Contractor shall develop procedures to secure the issued password. The Contractor shall immediately notify the audit site manager, when the password is lost or forgotten, to be issued a new password.

Other Resource Concerns or Special Conditions, if applicable

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS/CONDITIONS

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS, if applicable

• The Contractor’s staff shall be required to sign non-disclosure certificate prior to commencing the start of work on this contract.

• Contractor shall be required to ensure that there are no conflicts of interests (either organizational or personal). If any conflict of interests is identified, the Contractor must submit an Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) Mitigation Plan to the Contract Specialist with copy to the Contracting Officer for his/her review and approval.

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