Editorial Service PWS.docx

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

CIVIL AREOSPACE MEDICAL INSTITUTE

TECHNICAL EDITING SUPPORT FOR FAA AAM-500 AEROSPACE HUMAN FACTORS RESEARCH, AAM-600 AEROSPACE MEDICAL RESEARCH DIVISION, AND AAM-003 OFFICES OF THE DIRECTOR

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

May 18, 2022 i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction This effort requires a Support Services Contractor to provide technical editorial and publishing support to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI).

The FAA CAMI is the medical certification, education, research, and occupational medicine wing of the Office of Aerospace Medicine (AAM) under the auspices of the FAA’s Office of Aviation Safety (AVS). The mission of the Aerospace Human Factors Research Division (AAM 500) is to promote civil aerospace safety through excellence in aerospace human factors (HF) research. The Division conducts research that focuses on improving human performance, efficiency, and safety. The Aerospace Medical Research division executes the FAA’s Aeromedical Research Program, which focuses on safety sensitive personnel and airline passenger health, safety, and performance in current and forecasted future civilian aerospace operations. This program involves aerospace-relevant applied research in the biomedical, biodynamics and survivability/cabin safety sciences. The division also supports ongoing operational safety functions through its radiobiology and fatal accident medical case review/toxicological analysis programs. The Aerospace Medical Research Division (AAM-600) accomplishes the following core functions in support of the FAA’s aviation safety mission:

· Conducts research into the epidemiology of aircraft accidents and studies performance decrements resulting from disease processes to determine their effects on aviation

· Conducts research into environmental factors influencing human physiology and performance in aviation environments, with a primary focus for on the study of protective breathing equipment for use in emergency situations aboard aircraft

· Conducts research to determine how human factors stressors change gene expression and correlate changes in gene expression to human performance in the aviation domain

· Conducts research into novel ways for quantifying and visualizing risk within the aviation medicine environment

· Evaluates the impact protection potential of new materials and structures for aircraft, and provides equipment and crash expertise for protection and survival research programs

· Conducts research studies and tests pertaining to the emergency evacuation of aircraft, onboard aircraft emergency equipment and its effectiveness, the effectiveness of cabin air crew training, passenger education, water evacuations and survival, and post-crash survival The Safety Risk Management (SRM) team in the Offices of the Director of the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (AAM-003) performs data analyses using established Safety Management System methods to provide evidence based reports for the purpose of meeting a short-term (within a year) request that comes directly from the Federal Air Surgeon (FAS). These types of studies include querying and merging FAA-owned datasets to examine patterns and changes in the airmen population. Generally, these types of studies compare changes in demographic and medical characteristics of the airmen population using existing data to influence policy changes.

Scope The contractor must provide quality technical editing services to the Civil Aerospace Medical Institution (CAMI) AAM-500 Aerospace Human Factors, AAM-600 Aerospace Medical Research Division, and AAM-003. The contractor must furnish and make available all personnel, supplies, equipment, materials, data, facilities, and services necessary to assist in accomplishing its mission. As directed by the FAA, the contractor may also be required to interface with FAA authors, Technical Monitors, and Contracting Officer’s Representatives (COR).

Period of Performance The government is seeking a 5 years contract (twelve (12)-month base with four (4) one (1)-year renewable options. The anticipated Period of Performance outlined in the table below:

Note: The Period of Performance may be adjusted based on contract award.

Requirements The contractor must provide all of the necessary technical editing services support such as: planning, organizing, managing, coordinating, and tracking (e.g., report management, cost/schedule/performance measurement, risk management, component procurement management, system engineering management, resource management, data management) required to perform all of the activities successfully as required in accordance with this PWS.

Technical Support Tasks The Contractor must satisfactorily edit technical documents for publication, which may include technical reports, technical notes, journal articles, and presentations. The contractor must edit as necessary for clarity and accuracy to prepare documents for publication. Additionally, the editor must apply a consistent set of style and grammar to documents to ensure quality. All Contractors assigned to this contract will fluently read, write and speak the English language. The contractor must provide the following:

A. The Contractor will perform editorial tasks including but not limited to:

1. Proofread, recommend revision, and edit technical information to improve clarity, punctuation grammar, and content;

2. Appropriately format/apply style guidance (OAM technical report, journal, etc.);

3. Verify all citations and bibliography as applicable.

B. The Contractor will verify assigned personnel have the requisite knowledge, experience, and technical skills as specified in Appendix A throughout the contract period of performance.

C. Editors must be physically located in the United States and be U.S. Citizens or permanent U.S. residents. Additionally, any potential editor must pass a background check as directed by the FAA. This includes, but is not limited to, remote workers/telework.

D. Prepare an automated technical report template formatted per FAA CAMI specifications for use by the acquiring agency. The technical reports template must contain a consistent set of style, grammar, and punctuation practices that must be applied to all documents.

E. For technical reports, the Contractor must use the automated technical report template developed by the contractor for this function.

F. The Contractor must ensure that all documents are Section 508 Compliant as outlined in Para 3.2.

G. The Contractor must be capable of editing multiple technical documents concurrently. The division produces approximately 50-60 complex technical documents annually. The average length is 20-30 pages, 8-12 figures, and 6-8 tables. At any given time, up to 5 technical documents in various editing stages may be in the system. The contractor must maintain sufficient staff levels to successfully respond to an influx of technical documents, as well as potential temporary gaps in service when no reports are submitted for editing.

H. The editing process starts when the COR transfers the document to the POC designated by the Contractor. The editing process is complete when the document is submitted to the COR and accepted by the FAA as ready to publish. The Contractor shall notify the COR if the total edit time, including administrative supports, exceeds 24 work hours. The Contractor must ensure that processing each document does not exceed 14 business days, excluding response time from the FAA. If the 14-business-day limit is not feasible, the Contractor must contact the COR and receive FAA approval for an extension.

I. The Contractor must define the process for when a document requires expedited processing; expedited typically means a 24-48 hour turn-around.

J. The Contractor must maintain a document management process that captures revision history, comments, and document status. The document management process must be approved by the COR before being used by the Contractor.

K. The Contractor must provide the COR a weekly status report of all documents in the system.

Section 508 Compliance

Per AMS Policy Para 3.2.2.9, the FAA must comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 in developing, procuring, maintaining or using electronic and information technology. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 applies to all new procurements after June 21, 2001. Section E205.4 Accessibility Standard of the Revised Section 508 Guidelines requires that Electronic content shall conform to Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and Conformance Requirements in WCAG 2.0. See Reference: https://www.access-board.gov/ict/

Process Improvement A. The Contractor must review the technical editing report process and tools on a quarterly basis; assess for improvements, and provide recommendations to the FAA.

B. The Contractor must provide and/or conduct briefings on any project information as required by the COR. The contractor's attendance on all meetings must first be approved by the FAA prior to attendance.

Customer Support The contractor must provide group training to CAMI personnel on the use of the FAA Report Template and Instructions on an as needed basis. All training must be coordinated in advance with the COR and Contracting Officer. The contractor must establish a process to support CAMI personnel in developing and preparing in-house technical reports. The process must include, at minimum, a dedicated customer support email inbox and/or phone number.

Program Management The Contractor must:

A. Efficiently and effectively manage the performance under this contract to ensure all the necessary technical, business, and administrative planning; organizing; managing; coordinating; and tracking (e.g., cost, schedule, deliverables), performance management, risk management, component procurement management, system engineering management, resource management, data management, and subcontract management required to perform all the activities successfully as required in the PWS. The project manager is the primary point of contact for work to be performed under the resultant contract. The program manager must keep the COR informed of any potential problems and make recommendations for solutions.

B. Ensure that assignments are completed in a thorough and timely manner and prepare written documentation of accomplishments. The FAA requirements in performing this contract demand that the Contractor's technical and administrative services support the level of expertise and experience requires; demonstrated performance of contractor personnel providing the services must be at the highest level of providing quality support.

C. Provide sufficient personnel, both in number and qualification to perform work described herein.

D. Provide sufficient oversight and supervision of the contract in order to ensure all employees are functioning within their designated labor categories and at acceptable levels of performance, and are performing their designated assignments in a timely manner and that all reporting requirements are honored. The Contractor must provide a quality assurance system to ensure the Government receives quality services as specified in the contract.

E. Participate in a Contract kick-off meeting no later than five (5) days after Contract award. The Contracting Officer will schedule and lead this Kickoff Meeting. The FAA will capture minutes and forward to all parties no later than 5 days after meeting.

F. Prepare written documentation of accomplishments for inclusion in the Monthly Status and Financial Report (MSFR) (see Section 3.8);

CDRL A001 Program Management Plan

Documentation

General Requirements The Contractor must coordinate with the COR and designated AAM 500, AAM 600, and/or AAM 003 personnel on all reports, letters, memoranda, project documentation, minutes of meetings, monthly reports, telephone conversation reports, trip reports and other documents/written material. All documents must coordinate through the COR or designee prior to distribution. Further, all documents that will be distributed outside the FAA must be reviewed for sensitive and/or classified information in accordance with the Form DD-254 issued under this contract prior to any distribution of draft or final versions of those documents.

Document Review

The Contractor must provide support to the FAA in the writing and/or reviewing of FAA program documentation. All documents prepared by the contractor must be on the behalf of the FAA and the contractor may not independently publish or distribute any document without prior written permission from the FAA. The contractor must review and provide written comments on the technical accuracy and completeness of each document. No documents, reports, information, etc., may be released to the public or provided to any party other than the FAA and it's contractors without Security Sensitive Information and classification review in accordance with the Form DD-254 and written approval of the FAA.

Sensitive Unclassified Information (SUI)

A. The Contractor will handle SUI in accordance with FAA Order 1370.121A: FAA Information Security and Privacy Program & Policy and the Privacy Act.

B. The Contractor will have established procedures for securing materials and data (re: NIST Special Publication 800-171, Protecting Controlled Unclassified information in non-federal information systems and organization) upon contract award that will include:

1. Procedures for reviewing all documents for SUI to include Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

1. Procedures for safeguarding "Confidential" and "Sensitive" materials

1. Procedures for assurance that all documents are secured at all times and are never left unattended including safeguard measures for Protected Health Information (PHI)/Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) data.

1. Procedures to prevent discussion outside of information contained on any medical or other document containing personally identifiable information (PII)

1. Procedures to prevent addresses or information from being disseminated to anyone regarding a specific individual, e.g., celebrities or dignitaries

Reporting Requirements

The Contractor will provide the following reports to the COR and Contracting Officer in Contractor format:

· Monthly Invoices within 7 days from the end of the previous month for hours incurred by contract employees itemized by position/employee.

· Document monthly reports by employee and task within 7 days from the end of previous month itemized by team.

· The Contractor must provide Monthly Status and Financial Reports (MSFRs), and any other required reports, based on the deliverables identified in this PWS. The Contractor must provide an MSFR that documents the activities of the previous month and identifies planned activities for the following month. The Contractor must deliver the reports for COR approval and must include:

· Written synopsis of work completed, work in progress, and work planned for each task;

· Hours expended by task, labor category, and personnel;

· Status of individual deliverables;

· Identification of risk areas with recommended remedial actions;

· Status of all outstanding risks identified in previous MSFRs;

· Any additional information pertinent to the Government in administering the performance of this effort or as requested by the COR;

· Projected date when 75% of funds are spent;

· Projected date when funds are exhausted;

· Other direct costs (ODCs) estimated, used, and remaining by month;

· Summary of expenditures by resource and labor category for the monthly reporting period, as well as cumulative year-to-date totals for the performance period;

· Individual contributions, including all activities supporting the PMO and stakeholders;

· Updated Master Program Schedule; and

· Updated Activity Calendar

All days are business days unless otherwise specified.

FAA General Requirements

3.9.1 Work Sites and Hours of Work

The Place of Performance is at the Contractor’s facilities as well as online via Zoom or Teams.

Support facility hours of operations must be maintained and be consistent with Government personnel working Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) unless otherwise specified. Primary hours of operations are 6:00am to 6:00 pm.

3.9.2 Contractor Furnished Property and Services

Contractor must provide all workspace, equipment, software, office supplies, and related services necessary to perform assigned tasks for work performed at the contractor's designated facility(ies).

1.1.1

Electronic Communications The Contractor must assure an electronic means for communicating with FAA personnel. The Contractor must ensure that the communications are compatible with the FAA's electronic mail system that is currently Microsoft Office 365 Outlook. The Contractor must also ensure that the Contractor's electronic mail has the capability to receive and retrieve attachments.

Miscellaneous The following requirements apply for tasks related to staffing support:

· The Contractor will verify candidates have the requisite knowledge, experience, and technical skills as specified in Appendix A.

· The Contractor will ensure employees continue to meet qualifications as specified in Appendix A throughout the contract period of performance.

· Contractor employees will be proficient using email and Microsoft Office products (i.e., Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.).

· Contractor personnel will be capable of working independently and in coordination with federal government employees in accomplishing assigned work.

1. Status Update Meeting The program manager or project lead must be required to meet, at the discretion of the CO or COR, with the CO or COR at any time during the term of any identified task. These meetings will include the Primary Author when required.

1. Progress/Compliance All applicable FAA Orders and FAA Acquisition Management System (AMS) policies, guidelines and processes must be used. The Contractor must research and employ appropriate FAA Orders, where necessary, under the guidance of the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The Contractor must ensure all work is in full compliance with:

· FAA standards and guidelines

· CAMI policies, regulations, directives and procedures

· FAA AMS guidelines

Websites:

· Orders and Notices:

http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/orders_notices/index.cfm/go/document.list/parentTopicID/184

· Forms:

http://www.faa.gov/library/forms/

· AMS Guidelines:

http://fast.faa.gov Acronyms

Attachment A: Labor Categories/Personnel Requirements

Required Labor Categories Resumes should be submitted for the following labor categories listed below. Key Personnel resumes submitted must meet the minimum qualifications in accordance with the Contract with additional experience requirements stated herein.

CLIN 0001: Administrative Project Manager (Key Personnel*) (LCAT 7003C) Duties: Responsible for managing editing process, monitoring and reporting progress, management of acquisitions and resources, and control of financial and administrative aspects of the project with respect to delivery order requirements.

Qualifications: The candidate must possess, at minimum, a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in a technical or management field and must have at least ten (10) years of relevant experience. At least five (5) years of experience in aviation technology is preferred.

CLIN 0002: Senior I Writer/Editor (LCAT 7044C) Duties: Provides support to read and edit highly technical materials for publication. This may be reports, technical notes, presentations, technical journals, or training documents.

Qualifications: The candidate must possess, at minimum, a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Education, English, journalism, history, political science, engineering, applied sciences, or equivalent degrees. The candidate must have at least five (5) years of experience in writing/editing technical documents and must have experience with Microsoft Office 2016 and Microsoft Office 365. Candidate with technical background in aviation is preferred. Attachment B - Supplies and Services Template has been updated to reflect 4 part-time Senior I Writer/Editor categories with 425 hours/year each. This totals 1,700 hours per year.

CLIN 0003: Intermediate II Computer Specialist (LCAT 7015C) Duties: Responsible for developing and/or improving editing tools.

Qualifications: The candidate must possess, at minimum, a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Computer Science, Engineering, Math, or equivalent degrees. The candidate must have experience with advanced features of Microsoft Word and Powershell Scripting Language or similar languages.

CLIN 0004: Administrative Support III (LCAT 7075C) Duties: Assists Administrative Project Manager where capable in administrative functions including but not limit to receiving and distributing technical reports, documenting technical reports and labor hours, coordinating for travel and training. May support weekly status reports.

Qualifications: The candidate must possess, at minimum, a High School diploma or GED and must have at least six (6) years of relevant experience.

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