O D_Reqs_-_Sec_7_-_Technical_Operations_Support_final_v.3_UPDATED_2-28-14.pdf

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-1 Tech Operations Support

Section 7. Technical Operations Support Solicitation ED-FSA-14-R-0013

7.0 Overview

7.0.1 Purpose and Objectives

The purpose of Technical Operations Support is to address FSA’s requirement to deliver operations and maintenance, infrastructure, system enhancements, new award year release, and training support for the O&D System and related components (i.e., Loan Distribution Engine, O&D Web, Applicant Web, O&D Reporting Module, etc.). The major objective is to ensure a stable, secure, and robust application platform and infrastructure layer to support the O&D System functionality and performance levels necessary to meet the needs of the O&D user base in an efficient and cost effective manner.

7.0.2 Scope

Technical Operations Support is divided into three main areas, including:

• Systems Operations and Maintenance (O&M) support, which covers high level operations/functions required to control access to the O&D System and its various components, to provide O&M support for the O&D System’s development, testing, and production environments, to manage change requests, and to perform configuration management;

• Infrastructure Support, which includes data center infrastructure and management support; and,

• Enhancement Support, which includes technology enhancements, application enhancements, and new award year releases; and, government furnished property and equipment, which is provided for informational purposes and may not reflect FSA’s To-Be requirements.

7.0.3 O&D Functional Framework

Figure 7-1 illustrates the role of the Technical Operations Support function in the Origination and Disbursements Functional Architecture. The following support functions shall be responsible for ensuring effective operations and maintenance and enhancement of O&D system, environment, and infrastructure:

• Systems Operations and Maintenance shall address FSA’s requirement to provide operations and maintenance support for the O&D System, LDE System, O&D Web, Applicant Web, TEACH Web, O&D reporting system, and O&D system interfaces.

• Infrastructure Support shall address FSA’s need to provide support to the O&D Data Center, O&D Operations Center, and Customer Service Center.

• Enhancement Support shall address FSA’s need to update and enhance the O&D System based on, but not limited to: feedback from the user community—students, Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-2 Tech Operations Support schools, parents, partners; externally imposed requirements from other Federal agencies; changes in business needs, priorities or strategy; proactive changes to improve performance; and, responses to problems in the current production systems if it requires a modification to a requirement or adds a new requirement.

• Government Property and Equipment is provided for informational purposes and reflects more of a legacy and/or current state view of the O&D System and its supporting components, infrastructure, technologies, applications, hardware, and software. FSA’s approach to many of the topic areas covered in this section is evolving and will be more accurately and fully covered in future documentation prepared by FSA (e.g., Statement of Work, Solicitation Documents, etc.).

Figure 7-1: FSA Origination & Disbursement (O&D) Framework

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7.1 Systems Operations and Maintenance

7.1.1 O&D Operations and Maintenance Support

O&D Operations and Maintenance Support addresses FSA’s requirement to provide operations and maintenance support for the O&D System, O&D Web, Applicant Web, O&D Reporting Module, O&D Operations Portal, and O&D system interfaces. FSA requires services to help prepare for and to participate in daily production meetings to review the current status of the O&D production environment, report problems/incidents, and discuss upcoming O&M and enhancement tasks and activities. All O&M standard operating procedures (SOP) shall be fully documented, maintained under configuration management, and made available on the O&D Operations Portal.

A. Maintenance of Enabling Technologies

FSA requires services to ensure the maintenance of the tools and technologies used to support and facilitate the development, testing, and management of the O&D system and related components.

B. User Access Maintenance FSA requires services to ensure appropriate user access to the O&D system, perform quarterly reviews of user member access, and take corrective actions, as required.

Services are required to produce system access artifacts (forms needed to access the system). Beginning in May 2013, O&D Web will no longer be used to create new users or conduct password maintenance. All O&D Web users will be required to register through the Federal Student Aid Participation Management System. All O&D Web password maintenance will be done via the current process using the Access and Identity Management System (AIMS) website.

C. Performance Monitoring and Capacity Planning

FSA requires services to conduct performance monitoring and capacity planning for the O&D System and related components.

7.1.2 Change Management

When all baselined deliverables and work products have been met, any enhancements shall be considered new requirements brought forth through the Change Management Process.

Base-lined deliverables and work products include software that has been released to production, requirements documentation, user manuals for internal use, school facing technical documentation (e.g., technical references, guides, desk references) and test plans and test scripts. Base-lined work products or deliverables have passed quality checks, have been approved by the FSA Program Managers and System Owners and are under version control. This process does not include communicating and resolving defects found during testing or in production. Defects are managed via the change configuration management process.

FSA requires support of the FSA Change Management Process, which is managed by FSA’s Change Management Division. While FSA tracks and maintains all change requests in the FSA Change Management Database, FSA requires that the service provider separately track

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-4 Tech Operations Support all O&D System change requests in an O&D Change Request Tracking System that is available for FSA review on a real-time basis. The O&D Change Request Tracking System shall include all Open Change Requests (i.e., those that have been submitted to FSA staff for analysis), Closed Change Requests, and all Authorized Change Requests (i.e., those that have been authorized through the Change Management Process). FSA requires that changes be managed from request through closure or release to production.

A. Change Management Process

FSA requires services to facilitate the O&D Change Management Process as directed by FSA and the Change Management Board (CMB). The trigger for entry into the Change Management Process is the identification of a business need or priority to modify existing requirements or to implement new requirements. Once a change request (CR) enters the process, the CR moves through the approval stages and, if approved, the implementation stages. A CR exits the process when a decision is made to either reject or defer the change or the change has been successfully deployed and can be closed.

Once a change request has been accepted for analysis by the CMB Board, the COR requests the service provider to perform an impact analysis and rough order of magnitude (ROM) estimate. FSA requires that the impact analysis and corresponding ROM be submitted within the standard timeframes set by FSA. If the service provider is unable to meet the standard timeframe, FSA requires notification of the new timeframe. Once the change request receives final approval and upon authorization from the COR, the service provider implements the approved change request in compliance with the system enhancement process. FSA has indicated that they would like for the actual cost of the enhancement to be within a pre-defined percentage (e.g., < 10%) of the original ROM.

7.1.3 Configuration Management

All O&D System components and documentation shall be under strict configuration management. FSA requires services to organize, coordinate, and implement the migration of O&D application code and to maintain complete and updated documentation on system configuration. Following authorization of a system enhancement by the CMB, FSA requires services to include the system enhancement in configuration management. FSA also requires services to maintain the Configuration Management Plan for the O&D System, LDE System, LDE Loan Consolidation System, Applicant Web, and TEACH Web and to maintain and use the configuration management tools, policies, and practices. FSA requires adherence to the FSA configuration management process.

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7.2 O&D Infrastructure Support

O&D Infrastructure Support addresses FSA’s need to provide support to the O&D Data Center, O&D Operations Center, and Customer Service Center. Infrastructure shall also include supporting the LDE Loan Consolidation System related infrastructure, which includes components hosted by the O&D Data Center and the O&D Operations Center.

7.2.1 O&D Data Center

FSA requires data center hosting services for the O&D System necessary to process Direct Loans, Pell Grants, ACG, National SMART, IASG Grants, TEACH Grants, O&D Web, Applicant Web, and the O&D Reporting Module. Operations and maintenance of the O&D Data Center includes:

• Database Administration

• Messaging Capability

• Environment Support

• Capacity Monitoring

• System Processing & Monitoring (DASD / MIPS)

• Data Archiving

7.2.2 O&D Virtual Data Center Support

FSA requires services to serve as the liaison between FSA and the Virtual Data Center (VDC) and to coordinate and manage the resolution of technical issues with the Virtual Data Center hosting provider for the studentloans.gov and teach-ats.ed.gov websites. In addition, FSA requires testing support for the VDC software, 90 day password, and monthly patch upgrades.

7.3 System Enhancements

The System Enhancements function supports FSA’s need to update and enhance the O&D System based on, but not limited to: feedback from the user community—students, schools, parents, partners; externally imposed requirements from other Federal agencies; changes in business needs, priorities or strategy; proactive changes to improve performance; and, responses to problems in the current production systems if it requires a modification to a requirement or adds a new requirement.

Proposed system enhancements shall be approved using the established FSA Change Management Process. Before analyzing and sizing the proposed system enhancement(s), approval from the Change Management Board shall be obtained. Once a system enhancement analysis and sizing results have been approved by the Change Management Board and authorized by the Contracting Officer, services shall be required to develop and implement the system enhancement. FSA requires support services for up to 3 major releases per year and 6 major system enhancements per year. In addition, FSA requires full disclosure of technical and cost information on any performance improvement enhancements proposed by the contractor. FSA will approve all performance improvement enhancements prior to development and implementation.

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O&D Trading Partner and Servicer enhancements requiring changes to the O&D System and the LDE System will be managed and funded via the system enhancement process.

FSA or Chief Information Officer initiated ever-greening activities and infrastructure changes shall be managed and funded via the system enhancement process. Once the service provider receives requirements from FSA, services shall be required to follow the defined system enhancement process to create a technical and price proposal for these items.

7.3.1 System Enhancement Process

For systems enhancements requested by FSA, the following systems enhancement process and work products shall be required:

A. Requirements Gathering and Analysis

FSA requires services to conduct a requirements definition process for a major system enhancements release approved by FSA. Activities shall consist of gathering requirements, requirements analysis and sizing, and creation of Requirements Definition Documents.

B. Requirements Definition Document (RDD)

FSA requires services to prepare Requirement Definition Documents (RDDs) in the most current O&D RDD format. RDDs shall be submitted to FSA for review and comment.

C. General Design Document

FSA requires services to create a General Design document consisting of the functional system design using the approved RDD. The General Design document shall be reviewed and approved by FSA.

D. Detailed Design Document

FSA requires services to create a Detailed Design documents based on the approved General Design documents.

E. Code and Component Test

FSA requires services to modify the O&D System and create new components as outlined in the General Design and the Detailed Design documents.

F. Assembly Test Planning

FSA requires services to prepare the assembly test environment and data, create assembly test scenarios, and create the assembly test plan.

G. Assembly Test Execution

FSA requires services to migrate code changes to the assembly test environment, execute application modules tests via assembly test scenarios, document the results, and obtain internal approval of successful execution.

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H. Product Test Planning

FSA requires services to plan the product test and regression test, which will verify the RDDs and the General Design documents. Services shall be required to create script summary documents, detailed test scripts, and plan test data setup.

I. Product Test Execution

FSA requires services to execute the product test as planned to verify system functionality and requirements, and identify and log any issues for remediation via the break/fix process.

J. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Intersystem Test (IST)

FSA requires services to develop UAT plans, test scripts, and use cases. In coordination with FSA, services shall be required to conduct UAT in conjunction with the completion of the product test phase and to document the results. Services shall also be required to support the UAT scripts to verify business requirements as stated in the RDDs and identify/log any issues for remediation via the break/fix process.

FSA requires services to provide FSA with a sandbox testing environment and tools to submit batch and single submission data. In addition, FSA requires services to provide third party vendors with the ability to test their systems prior to the implementation of enhancements.

FSA requires services to develop and execute IST plans to verify new functionality with the EDExpress and other systems based upon the approved RDD and General Design documents. The IST scripts and execution results shall be reviewed and approved by

FSA.

FSA requires services to develop and execute Intersystem Testing plan with the Servicers to support the confirmation of the new Common Servicing Schema in the new Release. FSA shall work with the Servicers to schedule their availability for IST.

K. Technical Architecture Support

FSA requires services to provide technical architecture support to the development, testing, and implementation of the approved RDDs and General Design documents.

L. Customer Service Readiness

FSA requires services to provide Customer Service readiness activities for new system enhancements for up to 300 schools.

M. Work Products and Deliverables:

Standard work products and deliverables for system enhancement activities shall include, but not be limited to the following:

Work products:

• Requirements Definition Document

• General Design Document

• Detailed Design Document

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• UAT and IST Plans

• Requirements Traceability Matrix

Deliverables:

• Requirements & General Design Performance Report

• Detailed Design Performance Report

• Code & Component Test Performance Report

• Assembly Test Performance Report

• Testing and Implementation Performance Report

All work products and deliverables shall be made available to FSA on the O&D Operations Portal and shall not be proprietary in nature.

7.3.2 New Award Year Software Release Support

The Award Year for Federal Student Aid Programs runs from July 1 through June 30. Each year, FSA establishes a New Award Year within the O&D System to reflect updates to policies, school setup, programs, records, funding limits, time periods, system parameters, etc. In essence, the New Award Year Software Release represents a new instance of the O&D System and database tables, which must be tested with schools and numerous system interfaces. New Award Year services include requirements planning, New Award Year release development, testing, and implementation, infrastructure upgrades, and program management support.

FSA requires services to enhance the O&D System to be capable of processing Pell Grant, ACG*, National SMART Grant*, IASG Grant, TEACH Grant and Direct Loan originations and disbursements for Award Years to be specified by FSA.

* Note: ACG and National SMART processing is included only for Award Years 2006- 2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011. This applies to all subsections below.

FSA requires services for the design, coding, testing, and implementation of the O&D System and business changes necessary to process Pell Grant, ACG, National SMART, IASG and TEACH Grant, and Direct Loan origination and disbursement records and data for the Award Years to be specified by FSA.

The New Award Year Software Release's scope does not include the implementation of changes (system and business) required to implement new or modified laws or regulations governing Pell, ACG, National SMART, IASG Grant, TEACH Grant and Direct Loan origination and disbursements. If changes to laws or regulations are identified, services shall be required to conduct an impact analysis and provide FSA with a price proposal for the work.

Service delivery methods shall follow Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), Application and Software Maintenance, Change Management, and Software Quality Assurance processes.

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-9 Tech Operations Support

A. Requirements Planning

Requirements planning analysis shall identify the specific O&D System and business enhancements required to support the Award Years provided by FSA for Pell Grant, IASG, TEACH Grant, ACG and National SMART Grant and Direct Loan originations and disbursements.

B. Requirements Gathering and Analysis

Requirements analysis shall consist of requirements management, conducting requirements sessions, preparing requirements tracking summary, requirements analysis and sizing, creation of a requirements definition documents, and conducting performance capability planning. FSA requires the identification of all changes required of O&D Trading Partner systems during the New Award Year Requirements Phase.

i. Requirements Management

FSA requires services to conduct the planning and project management activities associated with the Release Year Requirements phase and weekly status reports outlining the progress of this activity. The Requirements effort will be limited to the system modifications required to process Pell Grant, ACG, National SMART, IASG Grant, TEACH Grant, and Direct Loan for a New Award Year and will not include other new application functionality or system enhancements.

ii. Requirements Sessions and Requirements Tracking Summary (RTS) Maintenance

FSA requires services to plan, execute, and attend both internal and FSA sponsored breakout sessions necessary to determine the Award Year release requirements and maintain the RTS. FSA requires submission of the RTS 10 days after all requirements have been identified.

iii. Requirements Analysis and Sizing

FSA requires an internal analysis and sizing of requirements identified in the previous activities. Requirements Analysis and Sizing are only applicable for new application functionality associated with a New Award Year Release, but are not required activities to develop and implement a New Award Year Release.

iv. Requirements Definition Document (RDD)

FSA requires that a Requirements Definition Document be prepared and submitted to FSA for review and approval. The RDD shall be used to create the Release Plan.

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v. Capacity and Performance Analysis Planning

FSA requires that Capacity and Performance Analysis be conducted to assess system performance for the New Award Year. Services are required to conduct Capacity Analysis Planning activities each New Award Year Release. Services are also required to conduct Performance Analysis Planning activities for all New Award Year Releases.

C. Award Year Release

FSA requires services to design, code, test, and implement Award Year Releases for the Award Years provided by FSA so that the O&D System is capable of processing Pell Grant, IASG Grant, TEACH Grant, ACG, National SMART Grant and Direct Loan origination and disbursement records and data.

FSA requires support to implement modifications to its technical and business operations required to support the Award Years provided by FSA. Award Year Release activities are listed and defined below.

i. Release Management

FSA requires status updates for each phase of the software development lifecycle. All activities associated with the Award Year Release will be included in the project briefing.

ii. General Design

FSA requires General Design Documents consisting of the functional system design. These documents shall be reviewed and approved by FSA.

iii. Detailed Design Document

FSA requires Detailed Design Documents based on the Requirements and the General Design Documents. These documents shall be reviewed and approved by FSA.

iv. Code and Component Test

FSA requires services to modify the existing O&D Front End, Back End, Web, Reports, and Transformation code, and create new components as outlined in the General and Detailed Design Documents.

There is also a requirement to create the Award Year Release Technical Reference Deliverable and obtain approval from FSA. In addition, FSA requires services to facilitate the publication of the Direct Loan and Pell Grant Combination System Supplement, and Direct Loan Tools section of the Technical Reference. The service provider shall not be responsible for writing or maintaining these volumes as they are currently provided by FSA.

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v. Assembly Test Planning

FSA requires services to prepare the Assembly Test environment and data, create Assembly Test scenarios, plan shakeout activities, and create the Assembly Test Plan.

vi. Assembly Test Execution

FSA requires services to migrate code changes to the assembly test environment, execute application module tests via Assembly Test scenarios, document the results, and obtain internal approval of successful execution.

vii. Product Test Planning

FSA requires services to plan the System test, End to End test, and Regression test which will verify the New Award Year Release functionality and existing functionality. This includes the creation of detailed test scripts and planning test data setup. FSA shall review and approve test scripts prior to test execution.

viii. Product Test Execution

FSA requires services to execute the Product Test as planned to verify system functionality and requirements, and identify and log any issues for remediation via the break/fix process. Services are required to facilitate and support FSA review and approval of agreed upon test results prior to implementation of the release. FSA requires services to provide subject matter expertise to facilitate FSA review and approval of the test results.

ix. User Acceptance Test Planning

FSA requires services to develop User Acceptance Test (UAT) test plans, test scripts, and use cases to verify the New Award Year Release functionality and business scenarios. Services are required to support the definition of data needs, data generation, and environment availability for the User Acceptance Test. The UAT test scripts and results shall be reviewed and approved by FSA.

FSA would like to request the creation of a sandbox testing environment and associated tools to test the new release. In addition, FSA would also like to provide O&D trading partners with the ability to test their systems prior to the implementation of the New Award Year Release. FSA would like to have thorough testing of batch and reports processing.

x. User Acceptance Test Execution

FSA requires that User Acceptance Testing be completed in a defined period prior to implementation of the release. FSA requires facilitation and support for the execution of User Acceptance scripts by FSA to verify business requirements as stated in the Requirements Definition Document. FSA requires services to manage the User Acceptance test process for FSA, including identification/logging of any issues for remediation via the break/fix process.

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xi. Intersystem Test (IST)

FSA requires services to plan and execute Intersystem Tests to verify trading partner connectivity, environment setup, and new Award Year Release functionality interaction with external systems. The IST test scripts and execution results shall be reviewed and approved by FSA.

xii. Performance Test

FSA requires the planning and execution of Performance Testing to verify performance impacts associated with system changes.

xiii. Operational Impacts

There is a requirement to conduct the New Award Year Operations Maintenance Request (OMR), coordinate New Award Year Setup with the Financial Management System (FMS), update New Award Year Production Reports, and update Production Operation Procedures for the New Award Year.

xiv. Technical Architecture Support

FSA requires services to manage the Mainframe (Endeavor) and Midrange Server Configuration, and configure and support the testing environments and the revisions of the data generators for the Award Year Release.

xv. School and Vendor Test Planning

FSA requires services to review the O&D Technical Reference for School and Vendor testing, prepare the test environment for testing, create the test scenarios, and plan the environmental readiness activities.

xvi. School and Vendor Test Support

FSA requires services to support the resolution of issues encountered during the execution of the Phase 2 and Unstructured portions of School and Vendor testing for the New Award Year Release.

D. Infrastructure Upgrades

FSA requires an analysis of O&D System capacity, performance, and infrastructure for New Award Year Releases. These activities are outlined below.

i. Capacity Analysis

The Capacity Analysis shall assess the technical infrastructure capacity required to support additional Award Years based on the current utilization and estimated future volume. This includes an attempt to identify capacity utilization improvements for the purpose of helping to reduce future infrastructure and capacity requirements.

The Capacity Analysis shall occur annually. This shall include a capacity planning and ever-greening analysis that would assess the required capacity necessary to implement the current Award Year Release and maintain the current service

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-13 Tech Operations Support standards. FSA shall not be required to fund any ever-green and increase capacity. However, if the FSA chooses to fund the ever-greening effort or increase capacity the required capacity analysis and ever-greening implementation shall be implemented using the approved system enhancements process.

ii. Performance Analysis

Performance Analysis is required to analyze the application architecture and code to identify and implement performance improvements that would enable the system to more efficiently process records for additional Award Years.

iii. Infrastructure Upgrades

For New Award Year Releases, upgrades to the O&D infrastructure hosted at the O&D Data Center (labor and Other Direct Costs) are not included. This infrastructure includes the O&D System, O&D Web site, and reporting infrastructure. If infrastructure upgrades are determined necessary or requested by the Government, they will be defined and priced via the system enhancements process. If additional infrastructure upgrades are identified for New Award Year Releases and the Government chooses to not fund the upgrades, the Government shall negotiate new operating service delivery standards.

• Reporting Infrastructure Software Upgrades: FSA requires the use of the existing O&D reporting infrastructure software version until the COTS vendor no longer supports the current software version or FSA requests a reporting infrastructure software upgrade. If reporting infrastructure software upgrades are determined necessary by the Contractor or requested by the Government, the upgrade (including COTS software license costs) will be defined and priced via the system enhancements process.

E. Implementation

Implementation services are required to perform the activities required to implement a New Award Year Release. These activities are outlined below:

i. Implementation Management

Implementation Management is responsible for planning, project management, and status reporting for activities required to implement New Award Year Software Release.

ii. Implementation Sessions and Plan

FSA requires preparation and submission of an Award Year Release Implementation Plan for FSA review. The Plan shall consist of an Implementation Planning Task List, a schedule of the tasks to be completed prior to and during implementation weekend, and implementation support for specific program and external system processes. FSA requires services to coordinate release activities with the O&D Data Center, the Customer Service Center, and the FSA Virtual Data Center (VDC). FSA is responsible for FSA

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-14 Tech Operations Support implementation communications and for the coordination of implementation activities with the FSA CIO, internal and external trading partners, Policy, Liaison, and Implementation (PLI), and FSA entities.

FSA shall provide Internal and External Trading Partner subject matter experts, when requested. These subject matter experts shall participate during the implementation planning of the New Award Year Release.

iii. PRR Preparation and Meetings

FSA requires a complete and detailed Production Readiness Review (PRR) document, including the User Acceptance Test results summary. FSA requires services to support a preliminary PRR meeting, as requested. There is a requirement to submit the test summary to FSA for review at the final PRR meeting.

iv. Migration Planning

Migration Planning requires the preparation and execution of the steps necessary to install the New Award Year Release software via configuration management processes in the production environment. FSA requires a detailed Hour by Hour Plan.

v. New Award Year Setup (NAYS) Support

FSA requires support services to facilitate the process for FSA to conduct NAYS, support FSA NAYS funding scenarios in production, and coordinate with Trading Partners for New Award Year processing.

vi. Implement the Release

FSA requires services to execute the New Award Year Software Implementation Plan and verify that the tasks have been completed successfully and that the dependencies are met.

vii. Post-Implementation Verification (PIV) Planning

FSA requires the creation and development of a Post Implementation Verification Plan. The plan shall be reviewed by FSA.

viii. Post-Implementation Verification (PIV) Execution

FSA requires services to execute the PIV Plan to verify the implementation was successful. The service provider shall review the results of these activities with FSA. PIV Execution is limited to the Implementation weekend.

ix. Security Risk Assessment

As part of the Award Year Release implementation, a Security Risk Assessment is required to verify that the O&D System is compliant with FSA adopted security and privacy standards.

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F. Program Management Support

Program Management Support is required for all activities related to the New Award Year Release development effort.

Program management shall consist of program management support services, service management, contract management, quality management, and resource management.

i. Program Management

FSA requires program management oversight support for each phase of the New Award Year Release.

ii. Service Management

FSA requires services to define and document services delivered to FSA by verifying that appropriate processes and lines of communication exist between the service provider and key internal and external stakeholders.

iii. Contract Management

FSA requires services to monitor and maintain contract compliance information regarding the contract, communicate any contractual obligations to the necessary recipients, develop and implement contractually compliant contract management processes, and support subcontracts required for the delivery of the New Award Year Release in accordance with contract requirements.

iv. Quality Management

FSA requires the creation and execution of a sound and thorough Quality Management Approach to validate expectations and quality objectives, and to ensure that program requirements are defined, understood, implemented, and actively managed.

v. Resources Management

FSA requires services to track and manage the acquisition and alignment of dedicated program resources to support the New Award Year Release.

G. New Award Year Release Deliverables

FSA requires the deliverables and work products outlined below for each New Award Year Release.

i. New Award Year Release Deliverables

FSA requires the following New Award Year Release deliverables for each New Award Release Year that is exercised:

• New Award Year Requirements Tracking Summary

• O&D Technical Reference (Award-Year Specific)

ii. New Award Year Release Work Products

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FSA requires the following New Award Year Release work products for each New Award Release Year that is exercised:

• Requirements Definition Document

• Release Plan and Schedule

• Capacity Analysis

• New Award Year Setup General Design Document

• New Award Year Detailed Design Document

• Test Scripts for User Acceptance Test/ End to End Test

• Requirements Traceability Matrix

• User Acceptance Test Plan

• User Acceptance Test/ End to End Test Results

• Intersystem Test Results

• Implementation Plan

• Hour by Hour Migration Plan

• Post-Implementation Verification Plan

• Production Readiness Review Presentation

7.3.3 New Enhancements and Release Training

FSA requires services to provide documentation and training in support of System Enhancements, including New Award Year Releases. FSA requires services to draft release documentation based on project summaries, provide documentation for internal review, submit documentation for FSA sign-off, and provide documentation and/or training to customer service representatives. FSA would like significantly enhance training capability and effectiveness for O&D by creating and maintaining a complete demo site of the O&D System and related system components. Users of the demo site would include schools, Federal Student Aid, third party vendors supporting schools, and customer support.

There is a requirement to determine the type of training required, the subject matter, review and accuracy of training material, and delivery of training and/or documentation to customer service representatives.

The following process shall be used for review of New Award Year Release Training:

1. Submission of new release training materials to FSA for approval,

2. FSA’s review and approval (to be completed within 7 business days),

3. If FSA’s review and approval is not completed and Federal Student Aid signoff is not provided within 7 business days, then the rollout of New Award Year Release training to Customer Service Representatives will be delayed and will not occur until after such signoff is provided, and,

4. The service provider shall be entitled to rely on all decisions and approvals of authorized FSA representatives in connection with the Contract.

Computer Based Training Updates

FSA requires services to update the existing Computer Based Training (CBT) Tool to reflect any changes made to current Award Years. The tool shall provide a high-level overview of the basic functionality of the O&D System, O&D Web, system reports, and Applicant Web (i.e., StudentLoans.gov and teach-ats.ed.gov). Users of the Computer Based Training include schools, Federal Student Aid, third party vendors supporting schools, and

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-17 Tech Operations Support customer support. The overviews shall be uploaded to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site each year following the Award Year Release implementation.

7.3.4 Award Year Close Out

FSA has a requirement to ensure that O&D has the capability of retrieving and transmitting all loan and grant information (including origination, disbursement and adjustment records as well as p-notes) to Servicers and/or FSA staff at any time after the end of an Award Year.

If any data necessary to accomplish this task is in an archived state, the system must have the capability of retrieving the data within a 48 hour time frame.

7.3.5 Data Archive Support Services

FSA requires the capability to archive and easily retrieve O&D data. Archive functionality shall be developed, operated, and maintained in compliance with FSA’s O&D data archiving requirements. FSA staff shall have the ability to easily retrieve data from the archive system and make student and funding adjustments in completely closed award years. The execution of O&D data archiving shall be coordinated with and under the supervision of the FSA Production Operations Lead. If necessary, data archiving functionality and execution will be modified to maintain the O&D Service Delivery Standards.

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7.4 Government Furnished Property and Equipment

The following section is included in this document for informational purposes only and may not represent FSA’s To-Be business requirements. It is important to note that this information may reflect more of a current state view of the O&D operating environment and its supporting components, infrastructure, technologies, applications, hardware, and software than a desired future-state.

FSA’s approach to many of the topic areas covered in this section is evolving and will be more accurately and fully covered in an acquisition documentation prepared by FSA (e.g., Statement of Work, Performance Work Statement, or Statement of Objectives).

7.4.1 Telecommunications

FSA shall provide all telecommunications infrastructure and all network services currently in place and required in the future, to maintain communications between the O&D Data Centers, O&D Operations Centers, Customer Support Centers, Virtual Data Center (VDC), and O&D Disaster Recovery Center. This includes all routers, hubs, and communication lines for both voice and data. FSA shall provide the same telecommunications capacity that exists today with future changes only as agreed to by the Contractor. FSA shall also provide access to and use of all existing toll free and existing international numbers to support the delivery of O&D services.

FSA shall provide telecommunications capacity for the O&D Data Center, Virtual Data Center, O&D Customer Support Facilities, and O&D Operations Center.

7.4.2 Hosting Services

FSA shall provide hosting services for the O&D Web Support Services, and the O&D Transformation code located at the VDC. FSA has expressed an interest in moving these applications to the O&D Data Center.

Disaster recovery, failover, and backup services shall be provided by the appropriate FSA hosting facilities. FSA shall provide disaster recovery, failover, and backup services for the O&D Web Modules, ESB based applications (including O&D Transformation Code) hosted in their facility. In an event of a disaster recovery FSA is only responsible for recovery of the hardware, application, and data that has been backed up and place in the Vaults.

Support shall be available in the event of a disaster to test the applications after the system, data, and application has been recovered. Support shall assist in testing the O&D Web Modules and O&D Transformation Code once FSA’s VDC infrastructure is operational.

7.4.3 Software

FSA shall be responsible for providing software licenses and maintenance for any system software in the ITA/ESB to support the O&D Web Modules, and O&D Transformation applications hosted by the VDC.

FSA shall continue to provide access to the ESB Message Status Inquiry Tool for the investigation of O&D Interface issues. FSA shall also continue to provide access to the CCM Change Request Tool to log change requests for software hosted at the VDC.

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-19 Tech Operations Support

For the O&D Web Modules, and ESB based databases (including O&D Transformation Code) hosted at FSA’s Virtual Data Center, Federal Student Aid shall provide all database software and database management services as it relates to O&D operations. These services shall include migration, backup, recovery, and restore services. Federal Student Aid shall provide 24 hour 7 days per week support for these database related services.

For the O&D Web Modules, Data Archive, and ESB based software (including O&D Transformation Code) hosted at the VDC, Federal Student Aid will continue to provide enterprise software management, configuration management and change control tools, operations, and technical support services. The Government will provide 24x7 support for these services.

7.4.4 Hardware

FSA shall be responsible for providing system hardware and hardware maintenance for any hardware in the ITA/ESB to support the O&D Web Modules, and O&D Transformation applications hosted by the VDC.

7.4.5 Correspondence Costs

Federal Student Aid shall be responsible for providing forms, reimbursement for postage, and the Customer Support Center postage machine used in sending school and borrower mail.

7.4.6 O&D Printed Brochures / Materials

FSA shall provide all O&D related printed brochures / materials and all domestic postage necessary to ship theses items to Federal Student Aid’s customers.

7.4.7 Pre-printed Forms, Inserts, and Inbound Correspondence

The Government will provide all pre-printed forms and inserts for O&D correspondence packages. Any new forms or inserts, or changes to existing forms or inserts will be incorporated through the system enhancements process.

7.4.8 Pell Grant, ACG, National SMART, TEACH Grant and Direct Loan Program Information Federal Student Aid shall provide Pell Grant, ACG, National SMART, TEACH Grant, and Direct Loan operational information required to process Pell Grants, ACG, National SMART Grants, TEACH Grants, and Direct Loans. This includes information that is currently provided from the Pell Operations and Direct Loan Operations such as projected volumes, Pell Payment Schedule, Direct Loan limits, etc.

7.4.9 Integrated Technical Architecture Support Services

FAS shall provide all Integrated Technical Architecture hardware, software, operations and technical support services, and product support. The support provided shall be 24 hours per day 7 days a week support.

Federal Student Aid, O&D To-Be Requirements 7-20 Tech Operations Support

7.4.10 Enterprise Application Integration Support Services

FSA shall provide Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) enterprise services. ESB enterprise services shall include hardware, software, adapters, operations, and technical support services. The support provided shall be 24 hours per day 7 days a week.

7.4.11 Student Aid Internet Gateway Mailbox Service

FSA shall provide the Student Aid and Internet Gateway (SAIG) services. SAIG Mail boxing services includes operations, and technical support. FSA shall also provide 24 hours 7 days a week support this service.

7.4.12 O&D Web Modules, Data Archive, and O&D Transformation Code Infrastructure Components Federal Student Aid shall provide O&D Web Modules, Data Archive and O&D Transformation Code data center infrastructure components (including COTS system and application specific software monitoring operations management, network, security, backup, restore, and recovery hardware and software).

7.4.13 Virtual Data Center Monitoring Toolset

FSA, through the Virtual Data Center (VDC) provider, shall provide read-only, monitoring tool access for O&D Web Modules including Web Usage data for concurrent use by the O&D production operations team. Federal Student Aid shall provide monitoring services and Web usage data through the same toolset provided to all other Federal Student Aid application Contractors who have application residing at Federal Student Aid’s Virtual Data Center.

7.1.3 Configuration Management