LINCS_Online_Portal_DRAFT_PWS_-_20140206.docx

Attachment A ED-VAE-14-Q-0007 U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education Division of Adult Education and Literacy Technical Support for LINCS Online Portal

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

With the recent release of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies, (PIAAC) demonstrating the direct relationship between skills and economic security, health, and educational advancement, there is even more urgency to address the needs of low-skilled learners and equip the teaching workforce to help such students achieve their academic and economic goals. The PIAAC is a direct assessment conducted with nationally representative samples from 23 countries from adults ages 16 through 65. The PIAAC assessment focuses on the working-age adult population, and measures cognitive and workplace skills necessary for successful participation in the 21st century society and global economy. In the U.S., 5,000 individuals were surveyed to create a nationally representative dataset. On three domains (literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving in a technology-rich environment), the U.S. average performance is significantly lower than the international average. Within domains, the U.S. profile shows a large portion of adults with skills below Level 2, which is considered “low-skilled”, and small percentages of adults with strong skills in the upper level. In the literacy domain, the U.S. average percentile performance is 270; the international average is 273. It is estimated that 36 million Americans are low-skilled in literacy (OECD, Time for the U.S. to Reskill?, 2013), yet the current federally-funded, state-administered adult education system in the United States has the capacity to serve just under 1.8 million adults annually. The system serves students in widely varying instructional settings from community college campuses and dedicated learning centers to borrowed spaces in satellite communities, and with a majority part-time teaching workforce.

In such a distributed and varied environment, technology is key to reaching both the instructors with professional development and for the instructors to expand learning opportunities for students. The U.S. Department of Education published the National Educational Technology Plan in 2010 to examine how technology could transform American education. The Office of Vocational and Adult Education published in 2013 as draft for discussion a report examining the implications of the national plan for the adult education field. In Connected Teaching and Personalized Learning, the authors examine possible short and long-term solutions to leveraging technology to improve instruction, expand the reach of programs, improve productivity, and provide learning opportunities on-demand for learners and teachers.

The LINCS.ed.gov infrastructure represents a commitment by the Department to deepen the use of technology in adult education. The LINCS system supports instructors, instructional and administrative leaders, researchers, professional training and curriculum developers, and learners. With this new procurement, the Department seeks to expand and enhance the current functionality, utilizing the best solutions to meet the goals as described in this performance work statement.

A. Background The LINCS system is the main vehicle used to disseminate information and professional development materials intended to improve the quality of instruction for low-skilled adult learners. LINCS[footnoteRef:1] is recognized as a national resource for national, state, and local community level programs in adult education and literacy. The system consists of a number of adult education and literacy related websites, databases, an online community forum, and a learning management system[footnoteRef:2]. [1: http://lincs.ed.gov/ ] [2: The LINCS Learning Portal uses the National Training and Education Resource’s (NTER) open source, web-based learning platform: https://www.nterlearning.org/ and the national user group community at http://ntercom.org.

The LINCS websites were designed to increase access to the highest quality information available for dissemination to adult education teachers, adult education administrators, service providers, adult education students, and the general public. The system provides extensive information and communication services for adult and literacy providers (in the United States and in English speaking nations via the Internet.)

The LINCS web services and network equipment are housed at a co-location facility that provides a secure environment and Internet access. The system is set up as a “private” cloud with separate virtual machines (VM) for the components. Currently, the LINCS equipment is located in a secure facility in Annapolis, MD. This contract will explore the feasibility of moving the LINCS System to cloud services.

The LINCS system includes:

1. LINCS: http://lincs.ed.gov

2. LINCS Community of Practice (https://community.lincs.ed.gov/)

3. LINCS Learning Portal (http://lincs.ed.gov/courses)

4. America’s Literacy Directory: http://literacydirectory.org/

5. Assessment Strategies and Reading Profiles: http://lincs.ed.gov/readingprofiles/index.htm

6. English Language and Civics (EL/Civics): http://www.elcivicsonline.org/

7. Student Achievement in Reading (STAR): http://startoolkit.org/

8. Adult Education Content Standards: http://www.adultedcontentstandards.ed.gov/

9. Teaching Excellence for Adult Literacy (TEAL): https://teal.ed.gov/ There are also four (4) internal sections: one (1) development or staging server; two (2) database interfaces for America’s Literacy Directory Program Information and an online system to document Resource Collection reviews; and two (2) wikis for system documentation and partner collaboration.

B. Purpose and Objectives The contractor shall maintain, develop, enhance, and update the LINCS Online Portal system of websites, web-based tools, databases, and database search engines, streaming media, etc.

ED requires technical expertise to establish and maintain hardware and software to support its web services offered through the URLs listed above 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The system is expected to be efficient and responsive to users’ needs, adaptable to changing requirements, and updated when new upgrades to hardware or software are required.

The contractor shall support OVAE’s technology projects and provide technical assistance for web development, system operations, infrastructure, database, and security compliance supports. It is anticipated that a transition phase will take place during the first month of the contract in order to ensure a smooth transfer of the site from the current contractor without a lapse in service.

In meeting the goals and objectives of this Performance Work Statement (PWS), the contractor shall:

a. Ensure that the LINCS Online Portal remains fully functional and stable; updates to websites and all required system, hardware and software upgrades are completed in a timely manner.

b. Maintain a high quality of support for the LINCS Online Portal administrators, LINCS, OVAE and external partners, course developers, and users. Responsibilities include responding to technical problems, providing user assistance technical assistance, and supporting ED and LINCS partners.

c. Install and maintain all LINCS Online Portal hardware components and ensure that the system meets all relevant and required Federal Government and ED security and accessibility requirements.

C. Legislation Authority This project is authorized under Title II, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Public Law 105-220, Section 243, National Leadership Activities. Section 243 allows the Secretary of Education to establish and carry out a program of national leadership activities to enhance the quality of adult education and literacy programs nationwide.

D. Scope of Work The contractor shall be responsible for performing all phases of work associated with the major activities under this contract, which includes services necessary to provide a full range of application design, development, and maintenance support. Primarily, but not exclusively, services provided will focus on applications supporting the LINCS system.

All services provided and products delivered must comply with the Government security, Section 508 and architecture requirements.

The period of performance shall be twelve (12) months base period with four (4) twelve (12) month option periods. The option periods shall be at the discretion of the ED.

The contractor is required to provide the services described in Section E. Tasks of this PWS. The contractor shall work in coordination with ED leadership and staff, especially during the development phases of all tasks, and the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) will be involved in the review of all deliverables.

E. Tasks The contractor (for the purposes of this PWS, contractor includes contract key personnel and all sub-contractors, as needed) shall carry out the following tasks:

Manage the Project The contractor shall manage the project to maximize the effective use of Information Technology (IT) and automated systems and support to provide management and technical assistance to the LINCS Online Portal. It is expected that the contractor shall use project management tools to facilitate and monitor projects and progress.

Task 1 is comprised of two sub-tasks that support the overall project management:

Conduct Meetings

a. For the initial kick-off meeting: The contractor shall meet with the COR, the Contracting Officer (CO), Contract Specialist (CS), and other ED staff in the Washington, DC area within five (5) business days following the award date of this performance-based contract. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss upcoming tasks and the goals and phases of this project, review key target dates and deliverables, and the scheduling of activities and other issues related to the conduct of work. The contractor shall submit to the COR for review a draft agenda for the meeting. The COR shall review the draft agenda and provide feedback. The contractor shall submit to the COR a summary of the meeting no later than two (2) business days after the meeting. The summary shall include, at a minimum, the revised agenda, meeting notes, and the schedule of deliverables, as well as any other items discussed and agreed upon during the meeting. The COR shall review the meeting summary materials and provide feedback to the contractor within one (1) business day.

b. For transition meetings: The contractor shall attend meetings to discuss transition of the systems as detailed in Task 2. These meeting will identify and address issues regarding the transition of LINCS system. The contractor shall submit summary notes and action plans for transition, as detailed in Task 2.

c. For progress meetings: The contractor shall schedule regular conference calls with the COR and other appropriate staff to discuss upcoming tasks and the goals and phases of this project, review key target dates and deliverables, discuss issues and challenges, and the scheduling of activities. The contractor’s progress, management, technical support services (if any), integrated logistics support, administrative, assurance of compliance with contract requirements, program status, funding, problem identification and resolutions shall be agenda items. Actual versus expected performance of each area shall be addressed. The contractor shall prepare presentation materials providing an overview of all agenda items. The contractor shall provide the COR with agenda items one (1) business day prior to the meeting. The contractor shall contact the COR via telephone or e-mail when significant issues or risks emerge to discuss possible solutions or actions required. The contractor shall document meeting notes and action items and share this information with the COR (see Task 1.2).

d. For change control or in-process review meetings: These meetings will be held on a monthly basis or as needed basis, at a date mutually agreed upon. The contractor shall prepare the agenda and presentation for these meetings. These meetings shall assist ED in managing the changes required to keep the LINCS system current with operation needs and the components of LINCS aligned with each other and to review progress at critical points to evaluate status, identify and mitigate risks, and to make final decisions were applicable. The contractor shall document action items in the monthly progress reports (see Task 1.2).

e. For collaboration meetings: The contractor shall attend the Annual LINCS System meetings to collaborate and coordinate LINCS efforts to disseminate evidence-based professional development and instructional resources. The contractor shall also participate in conference calls with the LINCS RPDC, LINCS Resource Collection contractor and ED, as needed, not to exceed two meetings per month. The contractor shall document action items as related to the LINCS Online Portal Contract.

f. Requirements meetings: The contractor shall participate and provide technical information and requirement to LINCS and OVAE partners who provide data and information to the LINCS system. The contractor shall expect approximately 4-5 calls per quarter. The contractor shall provide a list of technical options available to LINCS and OVAE partners, such as process and technical requirements for project landing pages, micro-groups, private groups (more information found in Task 5). The contractor shall document action items in the monthly progress reports (see Task 1.2).

1.2. Ensure Accountability through Reporting

The contractor shall submit all reports to the CO, CS, and COR via email. The COR will review each quarterly report and provide comments to the contractor within (10) ten business days of receipt.

a. Monthly Progress Reports: The contractor shall prepare monthly progress reports due to the COR, within ten (10) business days of the end of each quarter, starting in July. These monthly progress reports shall identify and discuss any guidance that may be needed from the COR. The contractor’s Project Director shall prepare this report. These progress reports shall:

· Provide a factual summary description of operation and maintenance activity for each task during the reporting period, including major activities and accomplishments;

· Specify the extent to which the project is on schedule and variances between work scheduled and work performed;

· Identify and discuss significant challenges, issues, risks that arose, significant deviations or problems that were encountered, and how they were addressed or any proposed corrective actions;

· Note the types of technical assistance activities that were conducted, the dates and duration of the activities, who conducted the activities, the purpose, and the results of the activities;

· Provide a brief highlight of the activities planned for the next reporting period;

· Prepare system use and web statistic reports. The contractor shall provide a mechanism to track system usage and provide on-line reporting capability.

· Reports shall be shared with interested parties as needed.

Should a significant problem arise, the contractor shall notify the COR within one (1) business day to determine the action that should be taken. If there are problems/issues with the schedule of activities or deliverables, the contractor shall describe the plan for solving the problems.

Deliverables:

Transition the LINCS system The contractor shall develop a phased transition plan at the beginning and end of the contract performance period.

1. Start of LINCS contract The contractor shall be responsible for ensuring the orderly transfer of the LINCS system, including all business process, data, etc. from the incumbent contractor with assistance from the COR, and any other ED staff identified by the COR, during a three (3) month transition period defined by ED. This period could occur during the first three months of the base year contract. The contractor shall meet with the COR and other ED staff, and representatives from the incumbent contractor to develop a transition plan prior to the initiation of the transfer. The plan shall include all necessary actions to transfer the LINCS system business processes, documentation, data and component systems from the incumbent contractor to the new contractor with appropriate data validation, testing and training activities. The plan shall include specific roles and responsibilities of the transition team. The plan shall be updated as needed, during the transition period. The contractor shall perform testing and shall be responsible for resolving production support issues. The contractor shall ensure that knowledge transfer from the current contractor occurs within the transition period. The contractor shall provide regular updates to the COR regarding the transition.

2.2. Analysis of the transition of servers to a cloud environment:

The contractor shall provide support to analyze the feasibility of transitioning the LINCS system to a cloud environment.

a. Investigate, provide an analysis, and make recommendations regarding a solution to move into a Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Compliant Cloud Service Providers (CPS). The contractor shall provide a findings report to the COR along with recommendations for transition, by end of Option Year 1. In addition, the contractor shall provide a briefing for ED staff to discuss findings, implications and recommendations.

b. Optional task: Implementing the transition of servers to a cloud environment: Upon approval of the FedRAMP CPS recommendation, the contractor shall prepare a plan, timeline, and cost estimate for implementation of the recommendation in periods 02 and 03. The contractor shall coordinate with the COR and ED’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to ensure successful transition. The contractor shall ensure that any proposed changes to the system align with Federal Cloud Computing Technologies (http://www.nist.gov/itl/csd/cloud-110111.cfm) and that all FISMA requirements remain in place.

2.3. End of contract transition

The contractor shall be responsible for ensuring the orderly transfer of the LINCS system, including all business process, data, etc. to ED or to another contractor during a three-month transition period, defined by ED. This period could occur during the last three months of the base year or sub-sequent option years. The contractor shall submit a draft transition plan prior to the initiation of a transfer. The plan shall include all necessary actions to transfer the business processes, documentation, data and systems from one party to another with appropriate data validation, testing and training activities. The plan shall include specific roles and responsibilities of the transition team. The plan shall be updated as needed. During the transition period, the contractor shall perform testing and shall be responsible for resolving production support issues. The contractor shall provide knowledge transfer to ED and/or another contractor. The contractor shall ensure that the LINCS system is fully integrated into the next iteration of LINCS.

Deliverables:

IT Service Requirements The contractor shall provide IT management support and service for the LINCS systems, software servers (database, web servers, application enablers), operating systems, hypervisors/virtual machines, hardware and network infrastructure that are included in the contractor’s boundary and will specifically describe the responsibilities for maintenance. The contractor shall review the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) and update it as needed. The contractor shall also provide information regarding security and 508 compliance and identify any high-level risks that may impact the systems.

1. System infrastructure The contractor shall be responsible for providing continuous support for general UNIX, LINUX, and Microsoft system administration, system security, system maintenance, software/hardware purchases and upgrades, monitoring the LINCS Online Portal servers and the maintenance of all LINCS Online Portal websites. The support provided shall encompass active management of the LINCS Online Portal system applications and databases in production, development and testing stages. The contractor shall build in scalability when developing, maintaining and enhancing the systems. The contractor shall also provide information regarding security and 508 compliance.

a. Provide infrastructure support: The contractor shall develop and implement an operations and maintenance strategy for the LINCS Online Portal that will result in maximum system availability and efficiency, as well as reduced operation costs over time.

The LINCS Online Portal shall operate seamlessly under the existing platform, which includes the hardware, software and network components. This service shall encompass managing the LINCS Online Portal application and databases in production, development and test environments and facilitating and auditing means of pull/push data transfers among system components. The contractor shall ensure that the hardware and software maintain current levels (n-1, where n = most current technologies). The contractor shall maintain the LINCS Online Portal platform at current or greater levels of operation, conducting all necessary corrective and adaptive systems maintenance tasks in order to ensure maximum system availability to all users. The contractor shall prepare a set of written recommendation for improvements and enhancements that will prevent the system’s obsolescence at the end of each year. The recommendations shall be submitted to the COR for review and discussion near the end of each performance period. Upon approval, the contractor shall implement the recommendations and provide status reports within the monthly progress reports and update meetings to the COR.

b. Provide hosting services: The contractor shall maintain dedicated government furnished servers and server space to support the LINCS Online Portal system at the contractor’s facility or an alternative co-location site. The contractor shall monitor and provide secure facilities with appropriate back-up power capability to protect against outages and downtime. The LINCS Online Portal system shall be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The contractor shall maintain a 99.9% uptime rate for all websites. The contractor shall maintain and update redundant/mirror systems, in case of emergencies.

c. Ensure security: The LINCS Online Portal system should be accessible and available to users, the contractor shall guard against unauthorized activity and technical failures. The contractor shall provide for regular/routine back-ups of data, intrusion detection measures, and/or processes to alert personnel of potential security problems. The contractor shall ensure that a firewall and protocols are utilized to maintain security of the servers and the LINCS Online Portal system. The contractor shall monitor the firewall and the servers and notify the COR when power outages, hardware failures, software failures, network connectivity failures or suspicious activities are encountered. (For more on FISMA see Task 3.3.)

3.2. Hardware maintenance and operations support:

The contractor shall be responsible for providing hardware technical support for servers, and is responsible for monitoring performance of installed applications. The contractor shall also administer vendor changes/patches and conduct performance testing.

a. Monitor and maintain systems: The contractor shall monitor the LINCS Online Portal system applications and servers to ensure availability. The contractor shall maintain current levels of hardware and software (n-1, where n = most current technologies) that may include, but not be limited to: upgrades, fixes, and updated security system patches. The contractor shall diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve hardware, software, or other network and system problems, and replace defective components when necessary. The contractor shall comply with technology refresh requirements as required by ED to ensure security requirements and service level agreements (SLA) are met. The contractor shall develop and implement a plan to recover the system, within 1-3 hours of potential shutdown, to bring the system up within 24 hours. If shutdowns occur, the contractor shall inform the COR within two hours and provide updates on the status of the system every four hours, until the system is brought back up to capacity. The contractor shall generate reports that detail usage statistics, problems and fault records, service levels and performance measurements at the end of every month. General system use information and web statistics data should be included in the monthly progress reports (Task 1.2).

b. Maintain documentation: The contractor shall provide technical system documentation for the LINCS Online Portal system and its components, as well as installation and configuration guides, user-training manuals, and security procedures. The documentation shall describe the system configuration and services and components required to maintain the LINCS Online Portal system. The contractor shall also include and update, as needed, the LINCS Online Portal system architecture and data flow. The documentation shall be updated on a regular basis and be accessible to ED at any time. Contractors shall share documentation with appropriate communities and participate in associated User Groups as appropriate to benefit open source products, such as NTER, Moodle, etc.

3.3. FISMA Authority to Operate:

The contractor shall assure the proper administration of the LINCS Online Portal Websites by continuing to comply with the Department’s IT security policy requirements as set forth in the Handbook for Information Assurance Security Policy and related Federal and Department procedures and guidance. The contractor shall comply with IT security requirements in the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars, Presidential Directives, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) standards and guidance. The contractor shall consult federal policies regarding external websites at http://www2.ed.gov/internal/extsite-tips.html.

In order to comply with OMB M-05-04, a contractor must use only .gov, .mil, or Fed.us domains unless the agency head explicitly determines another domain is necessary for the proper performance of an agency function. For the LINCS site and any new sites, the contractor shall put into place a .gov domain name. http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/reqs_bestpractices/omb_policies/domains.shtml.

The contractor shall continue to assure the successful certification and accreditation (C&A) of the LINCS Online Portal system and its component systems. To this end, security controls shall be designed and implemented in the systems consistent with the current revision of NIST 800-53 – Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems identified for the appropriate impact level of the systems. The contractor shall coordinate with ED’s OCIO on the Security Testing and Evaluation (ST&E) process.

The contractor shall develop and maintain system security and C&A documentation to document the implementation of the security controls for the systems and the contractor shall be available for interviews and demonstrations of security control compliance to support the certification and accreditation process. The contractor shall develop, maintain and update all required documents of the C&A package, including but not limited to: System Security Plan (SSP), Risk Assessment (RA), Contingency Plan (CP), Configuration Management Plan, Security Assessment Plan, and Security Assessment Report. Currently, the LINCS system has been designated as LOW impact level systems. The ATO for the LINCS system will need to be renewed in January 2016. If the development of a new system is rated as a moderate or high impact system, vulnerability scanning and penetration testing shall be performed by the Department’s Certification Review Group as part of the certification and accreditation process. Appropriate agreements will be reviewed and signed before any scanning or testing occurs. The contractor shall test the system security controls, as well as the contingency plan on an annual basis and provide the results to the OVAE COR.

All physical access to contractor (and subcontractor) sites where records containing personally identifiable information (PII) are present shall be maintained, controlled and monitored by contractor security personnel. The contractor shall employ systems and procedures that offer a high degree of resistance to tampering and circumvention. The security system shall limit data access to contract staff on a "need to know" basis, and control individual users' ability to access and alter records within the system and establish similar sets of procedures at their sites to ensure confidentiality of data.

The contractor shall ensure that data types are secure and that any PII is encrypted. The contractor shall certify that the systems are compliant with FIPS 140-2.

The contractor shall provide IPv6 technical support for system development, implementation and management. (For more information, please see page 21.) Currently, the LINCS Online Portal system is IPv6 compliant. Additionally, if the contractor’s (or any subcontractor’s) system uses Windows XP or Vista, the system will need to continue to meet or exceed configuration settings and use energy star settings.

Because of the system and infrastructure changes, the contractor shall update the LINCS Security documentation in tandem with system upgrades. The contractor shall work with OVAE and with ED’s OCIO to ensure that LINCS is fully compliant and that the LINCS Authority to Operate is maintained.

Deliverables:

Updates regarding system infrastructure, hardware, operations, and FISMA shall be included in the monthly progress reports under task 1.2.

Provide Web Design, Database Support and Application Development This task is comprised of three sub-tasks. The contractor shall provide web design, database support and application development for the LINCS system. The contractor shall perform all web development in compliance with the e-gov[footnoteRef:3] technical standards. The contractors shall use responsive design principles and provide development and support for mobile (smartphone and tablet) native applications (e.g. iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows phones, etc.). The contractor shall utilize the Content Management System (CMS) and provide limited access to the CMS to other contractors and grantees, upon approval from the COR. [3: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/e-gov/ ]

The LINCS Online Portal shall comply with the following:

· LINCS Online Portal websites must have a .gov domain name (OMB Memorandum M-05-04). In order to comply with OMB M-05-04, a contractor must use only .gov, .mil, or Fed.us domains unless the agency head explicitly determines another domain is necessary for the proper performance of an agency function. For the LINCS site and any new sites, the contractor shall put into place a .gov domain name. http://www.usa.gov/webcontent/reqs_bestpractices/omb_policies/domains.shtml.

· The website must demonstrate affiliation with ED; the contract number shall be displayed on the main pages of the system.

· The website must display a disclaimer or warning when a user follows a link from the LINCS Online Portal to a non-Government website.

· A disclaimer shall be displayed when logging onto the password protected websites or databases that the site is Department funded and subject to monitoring.

· All web and software developed under this work statement shall comply with Section 508 of the “Americans with Disabilities Act” technical standards for web and software accessibility located at 36 CFR 1194.21 and 1194.22.

4.1. Web Design, Development, Maintenance and Support

Website development shall include website maintenance, enhancement and updates. The contractor shall propose processes for development, and review and approval, along with timelines (for larger projects, if necessary), for website development and enhancements. The contractor shall be required to provide testing and deployment of new web services and capabilities.

The contractor shall ensure that the website is accessible and intuitive for the intended audience. The website shall be monitored on a daily basis and content should be updated, as needed. The contractor shall work with the COR on developing new websites/web pages for the LINCS system.

LINCS serves as the main system for OVAE projects. The contractor shall provide a list of options and requirements forms to other OVAE project contractors and provide support for uploading or posting their information to LINCS. The projects will typically need to upload a document, create a landing page and secondary pages. The LINCS Technical contractor shall work with the COR and the other contractors. If additional work is required, the contractor shall provide a price list that will be used to price such additional work for Adult Education and Literacy projects, and for other OVAE offices using the LINCS system, based on approval by the COR.

The contractor shall continue to assure that web pages conform to the standards for web accessibility under Section 508 located at 34 CFR 1194.22. Interfaces to all databases developed/updated under this PWS shall meet the Section 508 accessibility requirements for software applications and operating systems located at 34 CFR 1194.21.

4.2. Database Development and Support

The contractor shall provide technical assistance for the LINCS Online Portal databases, which will include maintenance, development, enhancements and supports. The contractor shall also review the current search capabilities and make recommendations for increasing search functions and capabilities within the first eight (8) months of the contract. The contractor shall provide technical support in the development of metrics, data analysis and testing.

The LINCS Online Portal contains two databases that the contractor shall provide support for: Resource Collection Information System and the America’s Literacy Directory. The contractor shall use current technologies to automate searches to populate the databases. The contractor shall also work with ED and content experts to implement a training evaluation system database. The contractor shall also support the design and development or installation of a compatible enterprise solution for an automated evaluation database for LINCS training events, including unique sets of evaluations collected from in-person events, online courses, and virtual live events (such as webinars).

The LINCS Online Portal also contains a Literacy Thesaurus[footnoteRef:4] (LT). The contractor shall review the LT tool and provide recommendations for upgrades to ensure search engine optimization. The contractor shall provide support to ensure that data submitted to databases or the LINCS collections are appropriately tagged. [4: http://lincs.ed.gov/literacy-thesaurus/lt.cgi

4.3. Applications, Development, and Support:

The contractor shall review current software requirements and provide an analysis and recommendations for design, coding, testing and implementation. The contractor shall provide consultation and support services for software development and ensure that they are in compliance with e-gov regulations. The contractor shall provide technical assistance for new application developments, utilizing open source codes to develop additional databases as required for the project. This will also include an online community of practice, using social media technology, and a learning management system to provide online learning. Currently, most OVAE projects are using National Training and Education Resource (NTER) open source and Moodle. The contractor shall work with the COR and the LINCS partners in conceptualizing new applications, as needed to support LINCS.

a. LINCS Community support: The contractor shall provide support for the LINCS Community platform, managers, subject matter experts and users. Currently, the LINCS Community uses Drupal 7. The contractor shall respond to request for technical assistance, review activity and features and make recommendations to improve communication and collaboration to the LINCS Community forum annually.

b. The LINCS Learning Portal: The contractor shall provide support for managing, maintaining and enhancing the LINCS Learning Portal. The contractor shall provide data on enrollment, progress, and completion for online courses. The contractor shall also coordinate with national NTER partners. The contractor shall work with course developers, course facilitators and users.

c. LINCS Search functionality: The contractor shall provide support for managing, updating, and proposing improvements to the LINCS search functionality to improve search engine optimization as well as content management and delivery of search returns that integrate and organize the various types of content (resources, online courses, community discussions, etc.) The contractor shall provide analytics on search terms, search results, and user navigation behaviors (click paths) to inform suggested improvements.

d. Development of new LINCS applications: such as a system to collect evaluation of professional development data, update of legacy sites, etc.

Deliverables:

· Information on Web Design, Development, Maintenance and Support; Database Development and Support and Application Development and Support shall be included in the monthly progress reports under Task 1.2.

Technical Assistance and Partner Support The contractor shall provide support services for LINCS Online Portal users, LINCS partners, content developers and subject matter experts. Services may include technical support in developing products, systems and reports. The contractor shall provide a plan for responding to technical assistance support for the system, based on technical needs, document and track requests, and provide ED with access to data. Information on types of technical assistance provided should be included in the monthly progress reports under Task 1.2.

Upon approval of the plan, the contractor shall provide technical assistance for the LINCS system in the following areas:

· Project management: support shall include detailed planning and coordination to promote the optimal performance and efficiency for this PWS. The contractor shall provide advice, recommendations and strategies to improve the system.

· Security and FISMA: The contractor shall provide support to ensure that the LINCS system and its components are compliance with Federal Government IT and ED requirements. The contractor shall ensure that power users of the LINCS system are aware of security issues and are provided with security training on an annual basis.

· LINCS YouTube: The contractor shall manage the LincsEd[footnoteRef:5] YouTube account and ensure that material posted to the LINCS-ED channel is compliant. Channel: The contractor shall provide support for the managing and maintaining the LINCS YouTube Channel. Support may include collaborating with other partners to upload videos and to ensure videos are compliant. [5: http://www.youtube.com/user/LincsEd ]

· User assistance support: The contractor shall serve as the centralized point of contact for LINCS users. The contractor shall respond to inquiries about LINCS technical issues, using various methods of communication based on customer support needs (email, telephone, etc.) while meeting or exceeding proposed levels of service. The contractor shall establish a system to route inquiries to appropriate content experts to offer support in the following areas.

· Support shall include ED staff, LINCS partners, ED project staff, and the general public. Technical assistance shall be provided for the LINCS Online Portal, including the Community and the Learning Portal, how-to-guides, tools to help navigating the systems, and help in finding information within the system.

· Support for the LINCS Community and Learning Portal members.

· Support for content management systems.

· Support for LINCS and OVAE partners who provide data to the LINCS system.

· Support for Resource Collection Information Collection System (RCIS), America’s Literacy Directory (ALD) and the Literacy Thesaurus.

· Training support: The contractor shall provide annual training related to system elements and requirement for power users of the system (ED staff, LINCS partners – contractors, and grantees). The contractor shall also assist content experts with regards to technical issues for public users.

Deliverables:

5.1. Plan and processes for technical assistance requests

Number and type of technical requests, as well as training support, shall be included in should be included in the monthly progress reports under Task 1.2.

Portal Sites for Diverse Audiences The contractor shall work with ED and other LINCS-related contractors and grantees to develop portal pages and sites that cater to new audiences, such as adult education teachers or adult learners or students. The contractor shall coordinate with ED and provide a plan, initial design concepts to ED for approval, prior to implementation.

6.1. For teachers:

The contractor shall work with ED and other LINCS-related contractors and grantees to provide development areas or a sandbox of the Learning Portal for teachers to practice building online courses as well as a public-facing teacher-to-teacher course-development and course-share site for fully publically available mini-courses for adult learners, outside of the LINCS Learning Portal. The teacher portal LMS shall be a clone and stay in sync with the current LINCS Learning Portal LMS code and functionality. Currently, through OVAE-sponsored professional development, adult educators are being taught how to build high-quality learning experiences in the LINCS Moodle instance. The sandbox space requested is for teacher use in those courses. The mini-courses developed by teachers for their own adult students will be made available to the public with CC-By[footnoteRef:6] licensing through the teacher portal created through this contract. [6: See: http://creativecommons.org/about/license/ ]

6.2. For adult learners:

The contractor shall work with ED and other LINCS-related contractors and grantees to explore options and make recommendations for a student-facing portal that caters to adults with low literacy and/or low proficiency in English. The objective of this task is to a) create a student-facing page that provides direct access to existing learning opportunities that are hosted outside of LINCS (such as other federally developed or freely available sites, courses, and social platforms) and b) consider means of providing real-time social online learning opportunities such as e-mentoring and e-tutoring. The contractor shall coordinate closely with recommendations from ED and other LINCS stakeholders and contractors on the development of both the page user-interface and architecture, and on the options for the social space.

Deliverables:

NOTES:

All major products and deliverables will need explicit clearance by Office of the Assistant Secretary, ED/OVAE, prior to public release. All reports shall conform to the guidelines stated in ED’s Guide to Publishing at the U.S. Department of Education at www.ed.gov/offices/OPA.

The Department of Education recommends the following sources for editing: for spelling – Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, for abbreviations, capitalization, dates, numerals, usage and titles – Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual, and for bibliographies and footnotes – Chicago Style Manual.

(2) The contractor shall provide all deliverables (all products and web materials) intended for posting on the ED website in accordance with the following:

· must meet the requirements for posting content stated in the ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies at http://www.ed.gov/internal/wwwstds.html.

· must be user-ready and 508 compliant. (All on-line materials developed under this work statement will meet the standards for accessibility established by the Section 508 technical standards for Internet applications at 36 CFR 1194.22 http://www.section508.gov/. Although social media sites are not 508 compliant, the contractor shall ensure that the same information is available in a 508 compliant environment.

· must be an electronic file in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) containing a copy of the deliverable with the same layout and pagination as the printed version (current specifications for PDF files are defined in the ED.gov Style Guide at http://www.ed.gov/internal/styleguide/index.html);

Note: Large documents for which the PDF file exceeds five megabytes in size shall also be provided in multiple PDF files that subdivide the document into logical units each smaller than one megabyte.

· an electronic copy of the deliverable (two copies if on disk or CD-ROM), including all files complete with any embedded links and objects (e.g., an Excel spreadsheet table embedded in a Word document), in formats defined on the ED website’s list of acceptable electronic formats (a current list is maintained at http://www.ed.gov/internal/styleguide/index.html) in editable form suitable for (a) conversion to HTML and web graphic formats or (b) posting as-is (e.g., accessible Word or PDF documents);

· final versions of all electronic files that contain the exact same content as the final printed deliverable, including any galley proof changes;

· a printed or electronic plain text document accompanying the electronic files that includes the following information: title and description of the product; file name and format for each file, including embedded charts, tables, and images; if multiple files, explanation of component pieces and how they fit together to form the complete product; contact information, including name, email address, and telephone number.

Deliverables that are created specifically for the web and do not have published counterparts in print form shall follow the same guidelines. Hardcopy shall be submitted along with the electronic files through appropriate Department clearance and sign-off requirements, which will be the same as or equivalent to those for publications.

Deliverables shall meet the requirements for posting on ED.gov stated in the ―ED.gov Management and Publishing Policies: http://www2.ed.gov/internal/wwwstds.html.

Compliance with ED IT Security Policy The contractor, and all sub-contractors, shall comply with the Department of Education’s IT security policy requirements, specifically those set forth in the ‘Handbook for Information Assurance Security Policy (OCIO-01)’, and other applicable procedures and guidance. The contractor, and all sub-contractors, shall develop and implement management, operational and technical security controls to assure required levels of protection for information systems. The contractor, and all sub-contractors, shall further comply with all applicable Federal IT security requirements including, but not limited to, the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) of 2002, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130 Appendix III, Homeland Security Presidential Directives (HSPD), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards and guidance, and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements and guidance.

These security requirements include, but are not limited to, the successful Security Authorization (SA) of the system (includes commercially owned and operated systems managed by the commercial vendor and its sub-contractors, supporting Department programs, contracts, and projects); obtaining a full Authority to Operate (ATO) before being granted operational status; performance of annual self-assessments of security controls; annual Contingency Plan testing; performance of periodic vulnerability scans; updating all information system security documentation as changes occur; and other continuous monitoring activities, which may include, mapping, penetration and other intrusive scanning. Full and unfettered access for the Department’s third party Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) must be granted to access all computers and networks used for this system. Additionally, when there is a significant change to the system’s security posture, the system (Federal and commercial prime- and sub- contractors included) must have a new SA, with all required activities to obtain a new ATO, signed by the Authorizing Official (AO).

System security controls shall be designed and implemented…