DRAFT Performance Work Statement -National Cooperative Education Statistics Systems Contract

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

DRAFT PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE EDUCATION STATISTICS SYSTEMS CONTRACT (NCESS)

I. PURPOSE

The U.S. Department of Education (ED), National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has the need for a procurement to provide a broad spectrum of support to the two Cooperative Systems at NCES, the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) and the National Cooperative Education Statistics System (NCESS), herein referred to as the Cooperatives, and their deliberative and working entities including the National Forum on Education Statistics (Forum), the various other committees and subcommittees, task forces, and working groups that support the efforts of the Cooperative Systems and other meetings and conferences that support the development and collection of administrative record data, as the need arises. This is a Small Business Set-Aside. ED anticipates awarding an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with Firm-Fixed Price Task Orders. The Period of Performance is a 12-month base period with four 12-month option periods. The applicable NAICS Code is 541611- Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services.

II. LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY

Section 157 of The Education Science Reform Act of 2002, authorized the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to develop federal-state-local cooperatives in the area of elementary/secondary and postsecondary education. The purpose of the cooperatives is to improve the quality, comparability and utility of elementary/secondary and postsecondary data for institutional, local, state and national education decision-making.

III. SCOPE OF WORK

The contractor shall provide logistical support for the Cooperative. The contractor shall also furnish the necessary personnel, material, equipment, services and facilities to provide information services, communications service, planning, research, training, and writing.

IV. START UP

The Government will hold a one-day Kick off meeting within one week after the award date. The contractor shall identify the staff members to attend the Orientation meeting. The meeting will be held at the NCES offices in Washington, DC. ED expects all contractor staff to start work by the contract award date; thus, the meeting will provide an orientation for the contractor and the NCES Task Leader to discuss specific tasks, timelines and requirements, with the expectation that the contractor will be responsible for conveying this information to their staff members.

V. TRANSITION PERIOD

The contractor shall allow sufficient staff time to become familiar with on-going activities being performed by another contractor. Because arrangements for meetings and preliminary work (e.g., announcements, invitations, agendas, arranging for speakers, etc.) must be done far in advance of the actual meetings, it is anticipated that the former contractor may have already made initial arrangements for several meetings when this award is made. In order for the contractor to assume responsibility for such meetings (final travel arrangements, if necessary, provision of meeting support, traveler reimbursement, and/or summary reports), it is necessary to allow for a "transition" period so that a smooth transition may be made from one contractor to another. It is imperative that attendees at cooperative meetings, to the extent possible, not realize that a changeover has taken place.

VI. LOGISTICS SUPPORT AND SERVICES CATEGORIES

The contractor shall provide five (5) types of logistics support. The specific tasks the contractor shall perform shall include but not be limited to such activities as described below:

Technical Assistance

The contractor shall support NCES efforts to provide technical assistance to the states, the District of Columbia, and the outlying areas as well as other entities, such as local school districts or postsecondary institutions that provide NCES with data. This technical assistance shall occur within the framework of one or both of the Cooperative Systems and may continue programs that have already been established by one or both of the Cooperative Systems. The contractor shall work with NCES to develop, implement, or maintain a technical assistance program that may include, but is not limited to such activities as:

· Identify technical assistance needs of NCES, state data coordinators, and other data providers related to NCES survey activities and the use of new technology for data submission, retrieval, and/or analysis;

· Provide expertise either through the contractor’s in-house staff or through contractual or consulting arrangements on system software development and automation feasibility;

· Develop and disseminate standards and methodologies for electronic data submission, retrieval, and transmission; and

· Assists personnel (e.g., state coordinators, institutional respondents) responsible for reporting NCES data in the use of operational technology, data editing, error resolution, data transmission, and timely report preparation.

Training

The contractor shall provide a variety of training as required, including but not limited to the following:

· Identify training needs of NCES and data providers related to NCES survey activities and the use of new technology;

· Work with NCES in developing training components for NCES’ annual conferences. This shall include identifying the theme and content of the training sessions, designing the training sessions, and developing and preparing the necessary materials;

· Develop workshop-training packages, including multimedia presentations to assist states and institutional respondents in providing information for, or using, new or enhanced data collections and information retrieval and computer systems for data collections and reporting as they are developed and implemented; and

· Coordinate with NCES in preparing presentations for meetings, including the writing and design of graphics (for slide show presentations using PowerPoint or similar packages), hardcopy handouts, and development/production of audio and video components, as appropriate.

· Develop training modules and informational materials to accompany NCES surveys that shall familiarize respondents with data quality standards, confidentiality procedures, and other technical requirements.

Research, Development and Informational Support

Using its information retrieval capabilities, the contractor shall provide research and information support. These services shall include, but not be limited to the following:

· The contractor shall research the literature and prepare background studies and briefing papers on specific topics and issues to support the deliberations of any one or both of the two cooperatives, meetings—such as the National Forum on Elementary and Secondary Statistics or the Postsecondary Cooperative’s Executive Committee meetings—including meetings of their subcommittees, task forces, or working groups;

· Either with in-house staff or by contractual arrangement with recognized national experts, the contractor shall prepare concept papers on designated subjects and issues, as requested. These shall include policy studies, topical issue briefs, feasibility or needs assessments, status or synthesis reports, information processing studies or projects for education data reporting, analysis reports and other studies not requiring extensive new data collection. They may, however, require interviews or focus groups or other techniques appropriate to obtaining expert opinion on the topics to be researched;

· The contractor shall prepare general informational materials such as newsletters, issue briefs, and brochures to apprise the relevant community (elementary/secondary education or postsecondary education) of the Cooperatives’ work; and

· Arrange for the services of subject-matter experts to prepare commissioned papers on education issues, serve as facilitators or presenters in meetings, and/or serve as trainers in NCES sponsored workshops. The contractor shall contact the individuals, establish delivery schedules and procedures for work products, prepare the consultant agreement, and make the designated payments.

General Administrative Support

The contractor shall provide a wide variety of administrative support to NCES and to both of the Cooperative Systems, including their various committees and subcommittees, and any other groups or task forces identified by NCES as performing work related to the mission of one or both of the Cooperatives. In conjunction with this area of work, the contractor shall:

· Provide media services, such as laptop computers, projectors, flip charts, telephone and Internet services, and microphones, in support of meetings or other Cooperative activities;

· Develop and maintain mailing lists in support of each of the two Cooperatives;

· Assists NCES with planning, logistics, and graphic materials (e.g. programs, agendas, flyers, brochures, PowerPoint presentations, banners, signs, posters, handouts) needed for conferences and meetings with its various audiences, including education researchers, education media, and others concerned with education issues;

· Provide expert graphic design support using software such as Adobe InDesign software in coordination with the graphic designer;

· Prepare documents for printing through the Government Printing Office, including preparing printing specifications, completion of appropriate GPO printing forms with all necessary information;

· Review blue proofs and color match prints from printers of print materials to ensure they meet GPO printing requirements;

· Prepare materials to be incorporated on the IES website and other websites in compliance with IES web requirements and electronic information technology regulations;

· Deliver the print and web-ready production materials to the COR/Task Leader for implementation;

· Prepare, reproduce, and disseminate materials and arrange telephone conference calls and video conferences; and

· Arrange for the services of subject-matter experts identified by the contractor and/or the contracting officer's representative (COR) to prepare commissioned papers on education issues, serve as facilitators or presenters for meetings, or serve as trainers in NCES sponsored workshops. The contractor shall contact the individuals, establish delivery and reproduction schedules and procedures for those papers, and distribute those papers to individuals identified by the COR. The contractor shall handle all necessary logistics in support of such experts, including payment within agreed upon timeframes specified by each subtask.

Conferences/Meetings/Workshops/Support

Conferences, meetings, and workshops are a vital communication medium between NCES and its many and varied constituency groups and are, therefore, a key element in the operation of each of the two Cooperatives. Contractor shall provide logistics support for meetings which will vary in size from the annual NCES Data Conference of 700 or more participants to task forces or working group meetings of 10 or fewer individuals. The nature of the work of Cooperative requires several annual meetings.

Each of these meetings is detailed in Section VII, Part C – Conferences/Meetings of the Cooperatives and Appendixes A and B.

VII. ANTICIPATED EXTENT OF WORK

A. Management

During the contract year, the Contractor shall provide administrative and logistical support for up to 20 meetings. This contract shall have multiple task orders going on simultaneously. Thus management of the work is critical to the success of the overall contract and to each of the task orders.

B. Communication

The Cooperatives are composed of specialized, geographically diverse groups that require the ability to communicate information, ideas, and documents. The contractor shall support communication mechanisms that will facilitate discussion among working groups as well as the editing, sharing, and storing of documents. The contractor shall use such technological services and provide ongoing technical support and troubleshooting in a timely manner. In addition, the contractor shall provide training, answer user questions, resolve user problems, and facilitate use of the communication software.

Working groups of the Cooperatives often require document collaboration. While work on publications often occurs at working meetings, at other times several group members collaborate on a specific section outside of a meeting. In such cases, the contractor shall host real-time, online document collaboration with document mark-up ability, voice conferencing transcript and note print out, and audio taping ability.

The contractor shall provide technical support staff and equipment, including laptops and projectors, to support concurrent sessions of the larger meeting components of the Cooperatives.

C. Conferences/Meetings of the Cooperatives

The contractor shall develop training components and materials as needed and provide logistics and conference support for the following conferences and meetings.

1. Two meetings of the National Forum on Education Statistics are held each year in February and July. Each meeting will have 100-120 participants, with approximately 80 participants requiring travel support. Each meeting is held for 2 days. One shall be planned in conjunction with the NCES Annual Summer Data Conference that is held in July. The other shall be planned in conjunction with the Management Information Systems (MIS) Conference and/or another meeting held in February.

2. A Management Information Systems (MIS) Conference is held annually in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in the month of February for 3 days with approximately 100 concurrent sessions. The MIS Conference is a professional conference that is offered for state and local education agency information managers. Anticipated attendance is 700, with approximately 80 participants requiring travel support.

3. The NCES Annual Summer Forum and Data Conference is a 3-day meeting that shall occur in July of each year in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It will involve about 700 participants of whom 80 will be travelers. Of the anticipated 100 concurrent sessions, several will be held exclusively for training individuals who provide elementary/secondary fiscal and non-fiscal data at the state level.

4. State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) P-20W Best Practice Conference is a 3-day meeting held annually in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area in the month of February involving 300 participants, approximately 5-20 of whom will be travelers.

5. Three NPEC meetings to take place in Washington, DC, each involving about 24-30 participants, approximately half of whom are travelers. Each meeting is expected to be 1 day in length.

6. Four to six NPEC Working Group meetings to take place in Washington, D.C., each involving about 10-15 participants, approximately half of whom are travelers. Each meeting is expected to be 1.5 days in length.

7. Four to six NPEC Expert Panel meetings to take place in Washington, D.C., each involving about 10-20 participants, approximately half of whom are travelers. Each meeting is expected to be 1 day in length.

The work to be undertaken in support of the above referenced conferences and meetings shall include but not be limited to the following:

a. Execute a site search for suitable meeting sites, entering into formal agreements for facilities as necessary and assuming responsibility for all other physical detail of the work to be performed. The contractor shall obtain written bids from a minimum of 3 hotels and shall select the hotel/locations best suited for the conference. The contractor shall deliver a short report, along with recommendations as to which hotels are best for NCES purposes, to the Task Leader for final site selection.

b. Establish a master billing account for meeting room rental charges, sleeping room charges for sponsored attendees and any other pertinent charges. The contractor shall provide the hotels with the names of the sponsored participants who are attending. The contractor shall ensure that individuals assigned to this work shall be available to answer questions from hotel staff relative to the facilities contract.

c. Provide media services, including computer/audio visual equipment rental; connectivity for internet access; technical support for connectivity management for all meetings.

d. Make all necessary travel arrangements for sponsored participants as indicated in the task order. The contractor shall instruct meeting participants to phone a designated contact person to obtain prepaid airline tickets (when air travel is warranted). The contractor shall be billed directly for airfare and hotel, thereby reducing the out-of-pocket expenses incurred.

e. Provide on-site assistance at all meetings, such as on-site registration, meeting moderation or facilitation, and note taking or transcription services, as needed. The contractor shall ensure that individuals assigned to this work shall be available to take care of any last minute demands of the meeting/conference.

f. Develop the programmatic aspects of the Summer Data Conference and the Management Information Systems Conference by working with the NCES Task Leader to announce the meeting; issue a call for papers reflecting the conference theme; review proposals and recommend what presentations should be accepted; and organize the presentations in content-specific tracks, including a logical progression of presentations within individual tracks.

g. Write a conference program for the Forum on Education Statistics, the Summer Data Conference and the Management Information Systems Conference that includes a synopsis of presentations and a topical index to sessions.

h. Collect copies of the Summer Data Conference and the Management Information Systems Conference session presentations to be incorporated on the NCES post-conference Web page, hosted on the NCES server that serves as not only conference proceedings, but also gives conference participants access to download presentations. PowerPoint presentations are edited, and reviewed for FERPA compliance.

i. Evaluate the Forum on Education Statistics, the Summer Data Conference and the Management Information Systems Conferences to determine strengths and weaknesses of the content and recommend ways to improve future conferences.

j. Compile and maintain mailing lists in support of the meetings/conferences including attendees, consultants, speakers, and other individuals, and conduct related tasks including the development of pre-meeting materials via e-mail for participants.

k. Provide logistics and meeting support for any follow-up meetings with state representatives. This includes travel support, securing hotel reservations, and purchasing supplies, and materials.

D. Position Papers, Brochures, and Statistics in Brief Reports

Either with in-house staff or by contractual arrangement with recognized national experts, the contractor shall prepare concept papers on subjects and issues such as the ones listed in Appendixes A and B. In addition to in-depth research on the topic, some of these shall require interviews, focus groups, or other techniques appropriate to obtaining expert opinions on the topics to be studied.

E. Workshops

As noted previously, NCES has a long history of conducting workshops to provide training in the provision and/or use of NCES data. The workshops in this task shall be organized as stand-alone meetings in which NCES staff shall work with the contractor to identify specific attendees, and the contractor shall then prepare announcements that are distributed to potential participants, obtain responses to its announcement, and tailor the workshop to those who plan to attend. The contractor shall provide media services, including computer/audio visual equipment rental; connectivity for internet access; and technical support for connectivity management for all meetings.

F. Mailing Lists

The contractor shall provide on-going communication mechanisms for the two Cooperatives. This includes but is not limited to creating and maintaining mailing lists, directories of state education representatives, local education representatives, various survey coordinators, and others who are members of or work with the Cooperatives.

A. The contractor shall be responsible for maintaining a full understanding of all pertinent federal and state laws and regulations, as well as ED requirements, and ensuring that all aspects of the work of this contract shall be in compliance as changes occur.

B. All contractor services shall be provided from and within the United States.

C. The development and design of materials shall be accomplished in accordance, with the IES Style Guide, the Guide to Publishing at the U.S. Department of Education and in consultation with ED and its partners. For matters of style not addressed by the ED guide, the contractor shall use the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/pagedetails.action?granuleId=&packageId=GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2008&fromBrowse=true).

D. Data usage shall be in full compliance with privacy and other data use regulations, e.g., the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), FERPA (20 U.S.C. 1232g; 34 CFR 99), Part E, Section 183 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-279), Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1986 as Amended, and Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001.

E. Any data quality programs shall be consistent with the ED implementation Guide for Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001.

F. The following Policy, Directive, and Federal Acts and Statutes govern records management:

4. Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 1220-1238.

5. Title 18, USC 2071.

G. The contractor shall also comply with the following guidelines for records management:

IX. DELIVERABLES

A. General Milestones and Deliverables

Because of the nature of the work, milestones and deliverables will be determined by each individual task order/subtask. However, in most instances, the deliverables will be a final report and monthly progress and cost reports. Often intermittent drafts will be expected and scheduled as milestones toward timely completion of the final deliverables.

The following activities are examples of what may be required for the various work orders, but only those relevant to the specific task will be included:

1. A plan describing the work to be accomplished and outlining the approach to the work within five working days after receiving a task order/subtask. This plan would include an estimated budget, a schedule, and a staffing plan. The budget would provide a detailed breakdown of the costs projected for the subtask; the schedule would indicate on a monthly basis the planned goals and deliverables for the project and the planned staffing to achieve them. The staffing plan would list each staff member by name as well as by the staff member's projected number of hours, labor category, and his/her specific function. The budget should be provided to the COR in a Microsoft Excel file and the plan should be provided to the COR in a Microsoft Word file.

2. A detailed outline of the report. Once the outline is accepted by the COR, the schedule for the first and subsequent drafts of the report would be dependent on the type and complexity of the report.

3. Draft versions of plans and reports to be reviewed by the COR and by any other reviewers designated by the COR, such as the relevant Cooperative committee or working group. The contractor shall incorporate the reviewers' comments and, if necessary, produce another draft for review. One paper copy of the drafts and the final plan or report would be submitted to the CO, COR and five paper copies to the Task Leader unless otherwise specified in the subtask.

4. Drafts and final reports of all training materials developed for data users, data providers, or data collectors including scripts, audio-visual materials, and workbooks for NCES review.

5. Draft and final minutes, summary reports, and/or an evaluations report of

B. Monthly Progress/Status Reports

The contractor shall submit a monthly report before the 15th including but not limited to the following:

1. Information is to be organized on a task order/subtask and activity basis, describing:

a. The progress on each task order/subtask and/or activity;

b. Accomplishments associated with each task order/subtask and activity for the month;

c. Problems that have been resolved or are in need of resolution;

d. A discussion of the work to be performed during the next monthly reporting period;

e. Expected future technical and budgetary problems; and

f. Proposed solutions to these problems;

2. A staff loading report, prepared and signed by the Project Director, summarizing actual personnel assignments for the month just completed, showing for each named individual the hours charged by task order/subtask, and projecting for the following month similar assignment information;

3. An exhibit of expenditures for the relevant month and for all expenditures to date segregating project costs by individual and by subtask;

4. A table of costs by task order/subtask in which the columns include the following: (1) Task Order Number; (2) Task order title; (3) Task order end date; (4) Total amount of task; (5) Amount of funds spent that month; (6) Amount of funds spent to date;

(7) Amount of funds remaining; and (8) Percent of funds remaining. See below for an illustrative format:

Illustrative Format of the Table of Costs by Task Order/Subtask

Total

The contractor shall submit one copy of the monthly report to the NCES COR, CS, CO, and the Task Leaders. The contractor shall ensure that the time period covered in the monthly report is the same time period as that for the invoice. The Government will then know exactly what it has purchased during the relevant period. The contractor shall submit a detailed accounting of all costs incurred on the contract on a monthly basis and shall submit documentation of the costs, such as invoices and receipts. These reports shall be submitted to the COR, CO, CS and Task Leaders no later than the 15th of the month for activities and costs that occurred in the previous month.

C. Travel Requirements

All contractor travel incurred as part of the work will be reimbursed in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations. Long distance travel must be authorized by the COR prior to incurring costs. Requests for travel shall include the name of the person traveling, the travel destination, dates of travel, mode of transportation, and estimated costs by cost type. Local travel is authorized for meetings and performance of the task related activities for contractor personnel for other than the primary work site. Local travel is defined as all travel within a fifty-mile radius of client site or within a fifty-mile radius of the contractor’s facility when the client site is outside the state (excluding normal commuting travel).

1. Travel Documentation Requirements

Separate worksheets shall be submitted for contractor travel. The contractor shall identify all current and past travel on the project and the total project costs billed. The listing shall include separate columns and totals for the following, at a minimum as applicable:

· Current invoice period

· Number of Persons traveling

· Days of travel

· Travel dates

· Number of days being charged per diem

· Per diem rate used (hotel)

· Total per diem charged (hotel)

· Per diem rate used (meals)

· Total per diem charged (meals)

· Transportation costs

· Other costs

· Total charges

D. Guidelines for Acceptance and Revision of Reports

Guidelines for acceptance and revision of reports are as follows:

Electronic copies of the deliverables should be submitted to the CO, CS, COR, and the Task Leaders.

1. Written Acceptance/Rejection by the Government

The Government will review and verify that the original comments have been resolved with the contract deliverable(s) as re-submitted. The Government will provide the contractor written notice of acceptance/rejection or request for extension within 15 working days or 3 weeks after receipt of each re-submitted deliverable. Absent written notification, deliverables will be construed as accepted. All notifications of rejection will be accompanied with an explanation of the specific deficiencies causing the rejection.

2. NCES Review and Approval Process

Throughout the contract, the NCES COR and the task leader will review contractor procedures and products. NCES recognizes the importance of providing a timely review of these products in order that the contractor maintains the schedule. Three weeks or 15 working days from date of receipt by NCES is the average time required by NCES to review contractor products, although this time period shall vary with the length and importance of the product and the number of reviewers.

Each report submitted by the contractor that is scheduled to be an NCES publication shall adhere to NCES standards and may undergo NCES' adjudication process (http://nces.ed.gov/StatProg/reviewAdj.asp), although Cooperative products generally have a somewhat abbreviated review process. This process usually takes from 6 to 12 weeks from date of receipt by NCES depending on the quality of the draft submitted to NCES.

The formal NCES adjudication process has several steps. First, a draft is reviewed and approved by the NCES COR; it is then reviewed and approved by the program staff. Once it receives program approval, the draft is sent simultaneously to division review, the chief statistician for technical review, and an outside review panel selected by the COR. After responding to comments from those reviewers and final approval by the chief statistician, the report goes to the Office of the Commissioner (OC). Once approved there, it goes to IES for review by either internal IES staff or, additionally, an external panel, depending on the type of publication and topic.

At each stage of review, reviewers are asked to comment on the report in writing. The contractor addresses all suggestions, either to indicate how they will respond to recommendations, or explain why they will not be implemented. Once the review changes are approved, the contractor makes the changes as approved and submits the revised report for review prior to the next review level. When all necessary approvals are received, the contractor prepares the report in camera-ready copy for publication by NCES. The final camera-ready copy shall also comply with NCES Web requirements as instructed by the COR and the NCES Webmaster. (An abbreviated review process can end with branch and division review. Whether or not the product receives a full or abbreviated review depends on the type of product.)

3. Written Deliverables

Deliverables shall be formatted using the contractor’s best commercial practices. The contractor’s Project Director and a Senior Analyst shall review, approve, and sign all draft and final documents before being delivered to the U.S. Department of Education.

4. Notice Regarding Late Delivery

The contractor shall notify the COR as soon as it becomes apparent to the contractor that a scheduled delivery will be late. The contractor shall include in the notification the rationale for late delivery, the expected date for the delivery and the project impact of the late delivery. Such notification in no way limits the Government's right to any and all rights and remedies up to and including termination.

XI. CONTRACTOR PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

The contractor shall have the capabilities and resources to carry out the objectives of this statement of work to provide NCES with technical and logistics support for its two Cooperative Systems and research and program development for its two Cooperative Systems. The contractor shall possess competencies and substantive subject expertise necessary to do the following:

A. Review relevant research literature and conduct background studies;

B. Present summaries of relevant data and literature, graphic displays and tabulations of data, and reports on statistical analyses;

C. Develop training materials including multimedia presentations, for both self and classroom instruction;

G. Provide a wide variety of administrative and logistical support services;

J. Prepare concept papers on education-related subjects and issues;

L. Develop protocols and other materials for focus groups, case studies and other similar methods of individualized data collection; and

M. Conduct focus groups, case studies or other similar methods of individualized data collection.

For certain activities, the contractor may not possess the necessary level of expertise in all areas required to complete the subtask. With guidance and input from NCES, the contractor shall, in such cases, contract for such high-level expertise with outside parties.

The contractor shall work with the COR and designated NCES staff throughout the conduct of each task order/subtask. The contractor shall designate one person as Project Director. This person shall oversee all contractor activities with regard to this contract and shall ensure the timely and satisfactory completion of all subtasks. The project director shall review each deliverable for appropriateness and accuracy of statistical procedures, organization, and clarity of presentation before its submission to NCES. The project director may designate task leaders as appropriate, but shall have overall responsibility to the COR.

XII. SECURITY CLEARANCE REQUIREMENTS

Security Clearance Requirements

NCES/IES defines a position that uses any NCES personally identifiable data as a medium level security risk. Low risk is people who perform administrative support and have no contact with data. Each position shall undergo security level access clearance. The following link discusses security requirements for using NCES data and defines procedures for both public use and restricted use data: http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/rudman/toc.asp.

Department Security Requirements

The contractor and its subcontractors shall comply with Department Security policy requirements as set forth in the following:

· The Statement of Work of this contract

· Department Security Requirements (307-13)

· Privacy Act Notification (52.224-1)

· Compliance with Privacy Act (52.224-2)

· Privacy or Security Safeguards (52.239-1)

· Rights in Data - Special Works (52.227-17)

The contractor may request copies of the above referenced documents by contacting the Contract Specialist via phone at 202-245-6176 or via e-mail at Lenox.Coles@ed.gov.

Contractor employee positions required under this contract and their designated risk levels (Attachment G) :

Moderate Risk (MR)

· Project Director

· Senior Analyst

· Statistician

· Senior Statistical Analyst

· Junior Statistical Analyst

· Data Systems Specialist

· Training Developer

· Web Applications Developer

· Senior Conference/Meeting Manager

· Junior Conference/Meeting Manager

· Education Research Specialist

· Education Research Assistant

· Secretary

Low Risk (LR):

· Editor

All contractor employees must undergo personnel security screening if they will be employed for thirty (30) days or more, in accordance with Departmental Directive OM:5-101, "Contractor Employee Personnel Screenings." The type of screening and the timing of the screening will depend upon the nature of the contractor position, the type of data to be accessed, and the type of information technology (IT) system access required. Personnel security screenings will be commensurate with the risk and magnitude of harm the individual could cause.

The contractor shall:

· Ensure that all non-U.S. citizen contractor employees are lawful permanent residents of the United States or have appropriate work authorization documents as required by the Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Appeals, to work in the United States;

· Ensure that no employees are assigned to High Risk designated positions prior to a completed preliminary screening;

· Submit all required personnel security forms to the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) within 24 hours of an assignment to a Department contract and ensure that the forms are complete;

· Ensure that no contractor employee is placed in a higher risk position than that for which he or she was previously approved, without the approval of the Contracting Officer or his or her representative, the Department Personnel Security Officer, and the Computer Security Officer;

· Ensure that all contractor employees occupying High Risk designated positions submit forms for reinvestigation every five (5) years for the duration of the contract or if there is a break in service to a Department contract of 365 days or more;

· Report to the COR all instances of individuals seeking to obtain unauthorized access to any departmental IT system, or sensitive but unclassified and/or Privacy Act protected information;

· Report to the COR any information that raises an issue as to whether a contractor employee's eligibility for continued employment or access to Department IT systems, or sensitive but unclassified and/or Privacy Act protected information, promotes the efficiency of the service or violates the public trust;

· Withdraw from consideration under the contract any employee receiving an unfavorable security clearance adjudication determination;

· Officially notify each contractor employee if he or she will no longer work on a Department contract; and

· Abide by the requirements in Departmental Directive OM:5-101, "Contractor Employee Personnel Screenings."

Further information including definitions of terms used in this clause and a list of required investigative forms for each risk designation are contained in Departmental Directive OM:5-101, "Contractor Employee Personnel Screenings."

Failure to comply with the contractor personnel security requirements may result in a termination of the contract for default.

XIII. CONFIDENTIALITY, SECURITY & OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Overview of IES Confidentiality Statute

· Confidentiality of Individuals and Institutions

NCES assures participating individuals and institutions that any data collected conforms to the IES standards for protecting the privacy of individuals as required by Section 183 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-279):

“. . . all collection, maintenance, use, and wide dissemination of data by the Institute, including each office, board, committee, and Center of the Institute, shall conform with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, which protects the confidentiality rights of individual respondents with regard to the data collected, reported, and published under this title].” (Section 183)

Under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002), all individually identifiable information about students, their families, and their schools shall remain confidential. To this end, this law requires that no person may:

· Use any individually identifiable information furnished under the provisions of this section for any purpose other than statistical purposes for which it is supplied, except in the case of terrorism;

· Make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular person under this section can be identified; or

· Permit anyone other than the individuals authorized by the Commissioner to examine individual reports.

Further, individually identifiable information is immune from legal process, and shall not, without the consent of the individual concerned, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any action, suit, or other judicial or administrative proceeding, except in the case of terrorism. Employees, including temporary employees, or other persons who have sworn to observe the limitations imposed by this law, who knowingly publish or communicate any individually identifiable information will be subject to fines of up to $250,000 or up to 5 years in prison, or both (Class E felony).

· Protection and Security of Data The confidentiality of individually identifiable information contained in project documents, data, and other information supplied by the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education (NCES/ED) or information acquired in the course of performance under this contract where the information was furnished under the provisions of Section 183 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 is a material aspect of the contract and must be maintained, secured, and protected from disclosure as provided in Section 183. The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) also applies.

The contractor shall enforce strict procedures for assuring confidentiality. These procedures shall apply to all phases of the project and should include but not be limited to: information used to locate study respondents, data collection in the field, coding and editing phases of data prior to machine processing, safeguarding response documents, and maintenance of any respondent follow-up information. Contractor shall physically separate the identifying data required for any follow-up from data required for research purposes.

The contractor shall be familiar with and comply with:

1) The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a),

2) Confidentiality Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-347, Title V, Subtitle A, “Confidential Information Protection”),

3) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99),

4) The Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552),

5) Part C of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-279),

6) Part E, Section 183 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-279),

7) No Child Left Behind Act (20 U.S.C. 70),

8) USA Patriot Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-56),

9) Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Federal Statistical Confidentiality Order of 1997,

10) OMB Guidance of 7/12/2006 on the Reporting of Incidents Involving Personally Identifiable Information (M-06-19), http://www.whitehouse.gov/OMB/memoranda/fy2006/mo6-19.pdf ,

11) OMB Guidance of 5/22/2006 on Safeguarding Personally Identifiable Information (M- 06-15) http://www/whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2006/m-06-15.pdf,

12) Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-347, Title III),

13) Any new legislation that impacts the data collection through this contract.

The contractor shall maintain the confidentiality of all documents, data, and other information supplied by NCES/ED or acquired in the course of performance of this contract, except for any documents or other information specifically designated as non-confidential by NCES/ED. The contractor shall take such measures as are necessary to maintain the required security and protection of confidential information (see section Data Security Plan). The contractor shall be prepared to develop compliance procedures in cooperation with the COR concurrently with the development of the study design.

Data Security Plan

· Definition of Personally Identifiable Information and Direct Identifiers

The term “personally identifiable information” (hereinafter PII) means any information about an individual maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and information which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, social security number, date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, biometric records, etc., including any other personal information which is linked or linkable to an individual.