eContent RFI.docx

THERE IS NO SOLICITATION AT THIS TIME. This request for capabilities information does not constitute a request for proposals; submission of any information in response to this market survey is purely voluntary; the government assumes no financial responsibility for any costs incurred. Your responses may be shared with all stakeholders, thus the information received will not be considered proprietary.

If your organization has the potential capacity to perform these contract services, please provide the following information:

Cover Sheet - 1 page

Please provide the following information:

0. Organization name, address, and web site.

0. Point of contact to include e-mail address and telephone number.

0. Business size (large or small). If small, please provide type of small business.

0. North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) that best fits these task areas.

0. If applicable, GSA contract number, schedule, and SIN category.

RFI responses are limited to 25 pages. Capability Statements will not be accepted.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is issuing this RFI in accordance with FAR 15.201(e). The agency does not intend to award a contract but rather gather information on capability, delivery and other market information pertinent for acquisition planning. The result of this market research will contribute to determining the method of procurement and identifying parties having an interest in and the resources to support this requirement for the following:

1. BACKGROUND

VA currently provides their workforce with access to commercial online learning materials, including digital books and web‑based courseware, as part of its Talent Management System (TMS 2.0). VA’s online learning content supports a broad range of technical, leadership, professional development, and mandatory training needs. This RFI seeks feedback from industry on available commercial capabilities, emerging technologies, and market solutions that could enhance or supplement VA’s existing learning ecosystem. As of May 2026, these courses and materials represented approximately 53 percent of the total web/computer-based courses available in the VA Talent Management System (TMS 2.0).

1. OBJECTIVE OR SCOPE OF EFFORT

The purpose of this Request for Information is to find offerors, specifically Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs) and other small businesses (small business, women-owned small business, HUBZone small business) and also other large businesses, to be able to provide access to online educational content that will be made available from the VA (via TMS 2.0) and to provide related support services for those products. Support services include importing content into TMS 2.0, or follow-on Learning Management System of Record, assigning VA-defined competencies to the courses, creating and revising course catalog documents that serve as aids to TMS 2.0/LMS users in identifying and selecting courses, consulting with the VA workforce groups on how their training needs can be met by using the online courses and digital books provided via the contractor, providing orientations to the VA workforce groups regarding using catalog aids and other reference documents for accessing the online courses and digital books, and assisting in developing communications targeted to the VA workforce about these products and to facilitate their use.

Solutions sought include online courses and digital online books where subject areas covered are pertinent to VA job-specific skill development topics and as well as general learning topics such as personal well-being. The content may also include job aids, reference materials of an educational nature, video educational content, and other courseware objects that are not complete courses but that supplement online, blended or classroom training

Depending on the course goals and requirements, other features may include interactions such as knowledge checks, scored testing, show me demonstrations, try-me exercises, and acknowledge and acceptance of rules and policies to evaluate student understanding and/or acknowledgement of the material covered. There may be help screens and/or modules to assist the student with questions or missed concepts and a test-out option.

Support activities sought include updating and replacing content, and reporting data on technical access issues encountered by VA personnel reported to the contractor's help desk provided on a recurring basis.

1. Required Services The government is seeking information on access to learning content and the provision of ongoing technical and program management support for up to 250,000 unique users, with an option to purchase additional licenses in increments of 10,000—prorated over the annual term based on user demand. The requested content should also allow for the addition of new or replacement courses to the content library throughout the term.

Content Requirements VA is seeking courseware, digital books, and other learning/development assets covering, at a minimum, the following topics:

0. Information Technology

0. AI, cloud, data science, machine learning, big data

0. Programming, web development

0. Network/system administration

0. Software testing, GIS, RPA

0. Agile development

0. Digital Automation, Designing Digital Experiences, Digital Transformation Strategy

0. Building Microservice Architecture

0. Cybersecurity

1. Identity/access management

1. Incident response

1. Vulnerabilities, malware, insider threats

1. Security awareness

1. Privacy

0. Business / Contracting / HR / Finance / Accounting/ Legal

2. Program & project management

2. Business analysis

2. Performance management

2. International travel, telework, No FEAR, marketing

2. Customer experience/service

0. Leadership Development

3. Team building, communication, mentorship

3. Conflict management, strategic thinking

3. Accountability, political savvy

3. Emotional intelligence

3. Executive presence

3. Leader as a motivator, digital leader, adaptive leader

0. Office Productivity Tools

4. Microsoft Office, Adobe, Tableau, Salesforce, ServiceNow

0. Occupational Health & Safety

5. PPE, bloodborne pathogens, asbestos, mold, spills

5. Fire safety, electrical safety, lab safety

5. Infectious diseases, injury and illness prevention, first aid

5. Lockout/tagout, slips/trips/falls, pandemics

0. Office Administration Skills

6. Office Software Tools such as Microsoft Advanced Word, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel;

6.

0. Professional Development

7. Interpersonal Skills

7. Communication Skills

7. Virtual collaboration

7. Stress management

7. Time management

7. Empathy

7. Effective writing Professional Development Formats Required

7. Microlearning

7. Broadcast/multimedia courses

7. Digital books, audiobooks, summaries

7. Hands-on labs

7. Business/leadership simulations, pre-programmed and/or using artificial intelligence

7. Skill gap assessments

7. Synchronous, virtual instructor-led training

7. Web-based courseware

Virtual Instructor-Led Training

Live and recorded interactive webinars presented by subject matter experts on a multitude of skills and subject areas.

Simulations The courseware may provide simulations for instructional subject areas as part of the courses provided such as practice labs and an AI engine which interacts with the learner through predeveloped conversations between the AI agent and the human.

Vendor must provide information about courses removed and corresponding replacement courses, as well as new courses so that the information can be communicated to VA personnel.

Course Format and Technical Requirements

Courses need to use a common content communication standard or supportable API to enable:

1. Automated content deployment and updates to the TMS 2.0/LMS library;

1. Content launch from VA’s TMS 2.0/LMS seamlessly using SAML Single Sign On with the option for username/password; and

1. Communication of course progress by the learner, and delivery of completion and score data to TMS 2.0/ LMS instantly and automatically whether completed in the VA network or directly on the Vendor’s platform.

All content must be accessible via, and playback be functional on, VA’s standard computer desktop configuration and mobile devices.

Client Operating Systems include but are not limited to:

1. Windows

1. Mac Browsers include but not limited to:

1. Edge

1. Chrome VA's Talent Management System (TMS) – Learning Management System (LMS) Support

The Vendor's content must be web based and accessible from TMS 2.0 or the Learning Management System of Record. To facilitate updates of courseware to the TMS 2.0/LMS the vendor is to provide data to VA and/or its TMS 2.0/LMS vendor in the following manner:

1. Flat files with course and content object metadata that get processed via connector;

1. Creation of log files for any errors in processing;

1. Creation and delivery of notification to the appropriate VA email group (TBD) listing additions and errors;

1. Monitor any automated processes developed for integration with TMS 2.0/LMS and report and respond to any process failures or errors within 24 hours, delivering a notification to the appropriate VA email group (TBD) including an error log file and a report listing the affected Items.

The vendor is required to provide competency mapping between their courseware and VA competency models.

COMMUNICATION AND USER ADOPTION SUPPORT

The contractor will provide guidance and specific sample communications, following award, on how to communicate the availability and purpose of the content to personnel to promote usage of the content.

1. REHABILITATION ACT, SECTION 508 COMPLIANCE

All Information and Communications Technology (ICT) content, platforms, and roles must comply with the following: 1) 36 CFR 1194 (Section 508 standards from 2018 or later) 2) WCAG 2.0 applicability (or higher) 3) Provide documentation for ACR/VPAT.

Courseware and the site must be compliant with Revised Section 508 Standards (36 CFR 1194, Appendices A, C, and D) and align with FAR Subpart 39.2 of the Rehabilitation Act as determined by the VA 508 Program Office available here: https://www.acquisition.gov/far/subpart-39.2 All federal agencies, when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology, are required to give disabled personnel and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.

The contractor will be required to validate compliance through an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) using the current VPAT template as seen on Section508.gov https://www.section508.gov/buy/define-accessibility-criteria/

VA DIRECTIVE 6102 COMPLIANCE

The Contractor shall ensure that all proposed and developed websites, web applications, digital content, and related services for the Department of Veterans Affairs comply with VA Directive 6102, Internet and Intranet Services, VA Handbook 6102, and all associated guidance published by VA Web Governance (including accessibility requirements under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 794d) available here:

https://digital.va.gov/web-governance/standards-and-policies/governing-va-and-federal-policies/ https://www.access-board.gov/ict/ .

Digital Content & eBooks Request for Information (RFI) Capabilities Statement — Questions for Industry The following questions are organized by topic. Please respond to each, referencing the corresponding question number in your index. Where a question addresses an integration, licensing, security, or accessibility capability, please distinguish between what you provide today "out of the box" versus what would require custom development, subcontracting, or a partner.

A. Capacity, Licensing, and Pricing

1. Describe your ability to provide up to 250,000 unique annual licenses. Address the license tiers you offer, your estimated per-user cost at each tier, and your ability to support incremental requests (e.g., additional blocks of 10,000 licenses) prorated over the annual term based on demand.

2. Define how your licensing model counts a "user" (e.g., named user, concurrent user, annual active user, or registered user). State the point at which a license is considered consumed.

3. VA's licensed population is primarily VA employees but must also include a limited number of non-employee support personnel — specifically VA help desk support contractors and your own support/administrative staff who require access for troubleshooting and maintenance. Describe how your model accommodates this. Is administrative or support-account access counted against the licensed user pool, or can it be provisioned separately at no additional cost?

4. Describe your process and typical lead time for mid-term license true-ups and incremental additions.

5. What pricing model do you recommend for a population of this size (e.g., per-user, per-content-library, tiered, or enterprise/unlimited)? What factors drive cost most significantly — user count, content breadth, content formats, or live/synchronous offerings?

6. Provide a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) annual cost for the licensing and services described in this RFI.

B. Content Breadth and Ownership

7. What proportion of the required topic library do you own or produce directly, versus license or aggregate from third-party providers?

8. Map your catalog against the specific topics and subtopics listed in this RFI. Identify any topic areas or subtopics where your coverage is limited or absent.

9. Are there any content formats in the required list — including AI-driven business/leadership simulations, hands-on practice labs, digital/audio books and summaries, and synchronous virtual instructor-led training — that you would not supply directly and would need to subcontract or partner to provide?

10. What is the total number of courses and content assets in your offering? Please break this down by content format (courses, microlearning, digital books, labs, simulations, VILT).

11. What additional content topic areas do you provide that are not listed in this RFI but may be relevant to VA's workforce?

12. Describe how you handle content lifecycle communication — how you notify VA of retired courses, corresponding replacement courses, and new additions.

C. Content Currency and Remediation

13. Describe your content refresh and currency guarantees. When a course becomes outdated due to a change in Federal law, Executive Order, or regulation, what is your committed remediation timeline, and what interim measures (flagging, suppression, learner notice) do you apply while remediation is pending?

14. The draft PWS permits a vendor to decline remediation if the vendor deems it "commercially unreasonable." Under what circumstances would that occur for your content? When you cannot or will not remediate, what alternatives do you propose so that VA is not left hosting non-compliant or outdated content?

D. Live / Synchronous Instructor-Led Training

15. The draft requirements reference "live events" and synchronous virtual instructor-led training (VILT) but do not bound the scope. Describe what VILT is included in a standard license (e.g., number of sessions, seats per session, scheduled versus on-demand) versus what is priced separately.

16. Describe the delivery platform for your VILT and how recordings are made available to learners who cannot attend live.

E. LMS Integration and Technical Requirements

17. Describe the integration methods your content supports (e.g., SCORM version(s), xAPI/Tin Can, AICC, LTI, direct API). Specify which are supported today without custom development.

18. Describe your prior experience integrating content with SAP SuccessFactors specifically. Identify implementations where you integrated with SuccessFactors without requiring custom development.

19. Describe how you support SAML Single Sign-On content launch, with a username/password fallback option.

20. Describe how you deliver course progress, completion, and score data back to an LMS — the mechanism, the latency (real-time versus batch), and whether completion posts automatically and immediately whether the learner completes on the VA network or directly on your platform.

21. Describe your automated content deployment and update process to an LMS library, including flat-file/connector processing, error log creation, and error/exception notification to a designated VA email group. What is your committed timeframe to detect and respond to integration process failures?

22. This effort includes an optional task to transition to a different Learning Management System of Record. If VA migrated off SuccessFactors, describe what would change in your integration effort and the extent to which your content operates LMS-agnostically. Identify the tasks you would expect to be added to a PWS to support integration with a second LMS.

23. Confirm compatibility and functional playback across VA's standard configurations: Windows and Mac desktops; Edge and Chrome browsers; and mobile devices (via mobile LMS, dedicated application, and/or standard web browser).

24. Describe your competency-mapping capability — how you map your courseware to VA competency models and Federal frameworks (e.g., OPM Executive Core Qualifications) and how you support learning paths for Federal occupations and industry certifications.

F. Data Rights and Return of Data

25. At contract end or termination, describe the formats in which you can export VA-specific data — completion records, competency mappings, catalog metadata, and learner activity. Identify any data or configuration that would remain proprietary or subject to lock-in.

26. Describe any VA-specific data (as distinct from your own intellectual property) that would be created or configured during performance, and confirm your ability to return it in an importable format.

G. Security, FedRAMP, and Authority to Operate

27. State your exact current FedRAMP status (Authorized, In Process, Ready, or none), your FedRAMP Marketplace listing if applicable, and your authorized impact level (e.g., Moderate). If not currently authorized, state your specific commitment and timeline to achieve authorization.

28. Confirm whether your solution holds FedRAMP authorization at the FISMA-Moderate level or higher, and identify the U.S. Federal agency sponsor or JAB authorization if applicable.

29. Describe your typical timeline to achieve an agency Authority to Operate (ATO), and whether you hold reciprocity from prior Federal ATOs that could accelerate a VA ATO. Note: the base period of performance is 12 months; describe how you would achieve or maintain authorization within that window.

30. Describe your compliance with applicable SaaS security configuration requirements, including USGCB/FDCC and SCAP where applicable.

31. Describe your ability to meet the security, custodial, incident-reporting, and personnel-security obligations in the draft PWS (aligned to VA Directive/Handbook 6500 series). Identify any requirement you would take exception to or need clarified.

H. Section 508 / Accessibility

32. Are your courses and materials Section 508 compliant? If not all, state what proportion of your offerings conform to WCAG 2.0 AA (or higher) with a current Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) on file, and identify the topic areas covered by both conformant and non-conformant content.

33. For content that is not yet conformant, provide your remediation roadmap and timeline.

34. Describe your accessibility testing program: the automated tools you use (e.g., Axe, WAVE, Lighthouse), your manual testing methods (keyboard navigation, screen reader, color contrast, form labeling, focus management), user testing with assistive-technology users, and whether your testers hold Trusted Tester, IAAP, or comparable certification.

35. Confirm your ability to self-certify conformance and deliver full testing artifacts (methodology, test environment details, and pass/fail status by success criterion) with each ACR submission, on a schedule that does not depend on VA-side review to be considered delivered.

36. Describe your process for maintaining accessibility conformance across software updates, patches, and new releases, including regression testing and advance notice to the Government of releases that may affect conformance.

37. Describe your mechanism for end users to report accessibility barriers, your acknowledgment and remediation timeframes, and your ability to provide the Government a periodic summary of reported issues and resolution status.

I. Service Levels and Performance Remedies

38. Describe the service-level agreements standard in your commercial contracts, including committed system uptime/availability, help desk response and resolution times, and completion-data posting reliability.

39. Describe the SLA credits or other remedies you offer for missed service levels — for example, credits for downtime, failed or delayed completion posting to the LMS, or delayed content updates. Identify remedies you offer short of content removal or contract termination.

40. Describe your help desk model: hours of operation, channels, escalation path, and how you support both VA program/administrator staff and end users.

J. Support Services and Reporting

41. Describe your support services capability across program management, technical support, and reporting. For reporting, describe your standard descriptive and inferential analytics on utilization, completions, and engagement, and your dashboard and custom-reporting capabilities.

42. Describe the communication and user-adoption support you provide following award — sample communications, job aids, knowledge articles, and catalog aids to promote content usage in the field.

K. VA Directive 6102 and Web Governance

43. Describe how you comply with VA Directive 6102 (Internet and Intranet Services), VA Handbook 6102, and associated VA Web Governance guidance for websites, web applications, and digital content.

L. Experience, Business Size, and Small Business Participation

44. Describe your experience providing content and support services to Government agencies, and your capability to provide timely, quality quotes and support.

45. Provide your business size. If small, provide your small business type(s) (SDVOSB, VOSB, WOSB, HUBZone, other small business).

46. If you are an SDVOSB or VOSB, can you comply with VAAR Clause 852.219-75 (Limitations on Subcontracting — Certificate of Compliance)? Describe how you would meet the limitations on subcontracting given that a portion of the required content may be licensed or aggregated from third parties.

47. Identify the NAICS code(s) that best fit this requirement, and any alternative NAICS codes you would recommend.

48. If applicable, provide your GSA contract number, schedule, and SIN category.

M. Market Feedback on the Requirement (Open)

49. Identify any requirement in the draft PWS or this RFI that you believe unnecessarily limits competition, is written to a single vendor's product architecture, or that only one provider could reasonably meet. Explain why and suggest alternative language.

50. Identify any requirement that is ambiguous, internally inconsistent, unbounded (e.g., lacking a defined quantity, unit, or metric), or that you could not price with confidence as written. Specify what additional information you would need.

51. The draft PWS states requirements such as "no failed implementations" and "industry-leading functionality." Are these requirements you can attest to as written? If not, propose language that captures VA's underlying intent while remaining measurable and achievable.

52. The draft PWS commits VA to review a sample of new, revised, and legacy content per product, modality, role, and platform, and reserves VA's right to perform independent accessibility testing. Describe how you would structure accessibility deliverables so that the vendor bears the affirmative burden of demonstrating conformance, with VA review as a verification right rather than a precondition to acceptance.

53. Provide any other questions, feedback, suggestions, or relevant compliance considerations for this procurement (e.g., SDVOSB subcontracting limitations, alternative acquisition approaches, licensing models, or content-delivery models VA should consider).

This request for capabilities information does not constitute a request for proposals. Submission of any information in response is voluntary; the Government assumes no financial responsibility for costs incurred. Responses may be shared with all stakeholders; information received will not be considered proprietary.