Performance Work Statement - DAMES IDIQ - DRAFT 10232026.pdf

FA7014‐XX-X-XXXX

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

FOR

Data & AI Mission Expert Services (DAMES) IDIQ

AT

PENTAGON

28 September 2026

DRAFT

Contents

SECTION I

1.0 DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

1.1 General

1.2 Background

SECTION II

2.0 TASK AREA DESCRIPTIONS

2.1 Data Acquisition, Preparation & Architecture for Enterprise Analytics and AI

2.2 Enterprise Analytics and AI Solutions and Engineering

2.3 Data and AI Governance

2.4 Advanced Analytics, Applied AI, and Decision Advantage Capabilities

2.5 Data and AI Environment Development

2.6 Deliverables

2.6.1 Program Management Plan

SECTION III

3.0 SERVICE SUMMARY

SECTION IV

4.0 DELIVERABLES

SECTION V

5.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT, MATERIAL,

INFORMATION, OR SERVICES

5.1 Government Furnished Property, Equipment, Material, Information, or Services. .. 15

SECTION VI

6.0 GENERAL INFORMATION

6.1 Scheduling Concerns

6.2 Kickoff Meeting/Orientation Meeting

6.3 Transition-In Plan

6.4 Transition-Out Plan

6.5 Quality Control

6.6 Emergency Operations/Mission Essential Personnel

6.7 Contractor Manpower Reporting Application (CMRA)

6.8 Security Instructions

6.9 Travel

6.10 Employee Accountability & Turnover

6.11 Miscellaneous Paragraphs

SECTION VII

APPENDIX 1

1.0 DEFINITIONS, ABBREVIATIONS, AND ACRONYMS

2.0 ACRONYMS

SECTION I

1.0 DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

1.1 General. The Department of the Air Force Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Officer (DAF CDAO in SAF/CND), pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 9014 and 44 U.S.C. § 3520, and as authorized by Headquarters Air Force Mission Directives (HAF MDs), assists the Secretary of the Air Force (SecAF), Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF), and Chief of Space Operations

(CSO) in leading, reviewing, and ensuring the optimization of data and Artificial Intelligence

(AI) integration across all domains. To support these statutory and operational mandates, the

DAF CDAO requires highly specialized Subject Matter Expert (SME) support. This Data & AI

Mission Expert Services (DAMES) contract will provide advanced data analytics and AI integration to support the warfighting and business missions of the DAF.

1.1.1 Scope. The scope of this effort is to provide SMEs to perform data preparation, data architecture, agile algorithm solutions, data governance, and conduct data analytics using state-of-the-art mathematical, machine learning, and comprehensive AI techniques.

1.2 Background. This requirement is derived from DAF CDAO Mission Directives and Data and AI Strategies mandating the broader DAF community to utilize data and AI as strategic assets. The DAF CDAO's primary role is to ensure that timely high-quality data and AI capabilities are available to internal and external stakeholders in order to fulfill mission requirements. Guided by Visible, Accessible, Understandable, Linked, Trustworthy, Interoperable, and Secure (VAULTIS) data principles DAF CDAO is pursuing the creation of a robust and agile data ecosystem to empower decision-makers at all echelons, treating data as a strategic asset accessible by self-service tools. The DAF’s data landscape is being modernized by streamlining data discovery and accessibility, enhancing data trust and interoperability, and increasing data-driven decision-making. Likewise, the DAF is moving to an AI-first force leveraging intelligent automation, predictive analytics, and autonomous capabilities made possible by the proliferation of big data, cloud computing, and deep learning which requires a secure data, technology, and infrastructure foundation as well as access to an AI-literate workforce and industry expertise. DAMES is intended to further the DAF’s decision superiority and operational agility through access to advanced data and AI capabilities.

SECTION II

2.0 TASK AREA DESCRIPTIONS

The Contractor shall provide all services, materials, supplies, equipment, and project supervision, as required in connection with this Performance Work Statement (PWS). The following requirements apply to all network classifications up to TS/SCI and associated connections. The

Contractor must be able to operate and sustain this work wherever needed on networks such as

Non-Classified Internet Protocol Router (NIPR), Secret Internet Protocol Router (SIPR), Joint

Worldwide Intelligence Communications System (JWICS), Air Force Secure Communications

Infrastructure (AFSCI), CENTRIX, Defense Radio Enterprise Network (DREN), Secure-DREN

(S-DREN), and other forward-deployed environments.

2.1 Data Acquisition, Preparation & Architecture for Enterprise Analytics and AI. The

Contractor shall perform tasks necessary to acquire, engineer, and architect data into secure, machine-actionable, and AI-ready formats. The Contractor shall develop scalable technical architectures to enable frictionless consumption of curated datasets by analytical systems, data scientists, and autonomous AI agents across cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments at multiple security classification levels up to TS/SCI. Activities include, but are not limited to, establishing automated multi-source ingestion pipelines (batch, streaming, and event-driven);

implementing semantic data fabric and metadata layers; engineering feature stores and vector databases for AI and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) consumption; executing automated data quality, anomaly detection, and data curation routines; generating, validating, and benchmarking synthetic data sets for AI training where operational data is sparse or restricted; standardizing multi-modal schemas into high performance formats; and enforcing cross domain security tagging and attribute based access controls across all security tiers.

2.1.1 Data Acquisition. The Contractor shall perform or facilitate services relating to well-managed coordination between data originators and data system owners as necessary to acquire or connect to operational systems for data analysis purposes. This includes, but is not limited to, developing relationships with data originators and system owners to facilitate the exposure of

DAF data across the enterprise; editing the documentation outlining procedures and agreements between data originators, system owners, DAF CDAO, and authorized consumers; producing technical justification for product acquisition including both software license procurement and cloud environment hosting costs; communicating data extraction/movement standards, and/or contributing to the technical extraction of data sources from source databases and Authoritative

Data Sources. This requirement includes Data Transport at multiple security classification levels.

2.1.2 Data Preparation. The Contractor shall execute advanced data preparation, curation, and labeling tasks to transform raw, disparate data into AI ready and analytically exploitable assets.

In accordance with (IAW) the Federal Open Data Act, the Contractor shall establish automated data pipelines optimized for AI model ingestion. These tasks include, but are not limited to: data feed automation using industry standard tools, data tagging, metadata tagging, data export standards, data quality application and business rule creation, data munging and wrangling in support of machine learning tools and techniques, and performing advanced Extract-Transform-

Load activities to maximize dataset exploitability. The Contractor shall comply with Department of Defense and Joint Force Headquarters data practices as well as inform DAF data preparation and modeling best practices across enterprise.

2.1.3 Data and AI Environment Architecture. The Contractor shall architect and optimize scalable technical infrastructure supporting enterprise analytics, distributed model training, fine tuning, and low latency inference workloads. The Contractor shall identify, configure, and integrate infrastructure components including accelerated computing resources, containerized orchestration frameworks, vector storage, model registries, and Application Programming

Interface (API) gateways. Architectures shall prevent resource contention between heavy training and inference jobs and transactional or operational systems. Solutions must align with modern DAF and Department of War (DoW) Software Factory and DevSecOps baselines.

2.1.4 Technical, Education, and Training Services. The Contractor shall offer technical advisory, education and training services relating to data preparation and modeling ensuring raw data is being effectively transformed into an exploitable information asset. The Contractor shall possess extensive expertise in Extract-Transform-Load and data modeling. The Contractor shall inform

DAF data preparation and modeling best practices across enterprise. This requirement applies to any network classification or connection.

2.2 Enterprise Analytics and AI Solutions and Engineering. The Contractor shall design, develop, fine tune, test, deploy, and maintain AI and advanced algorithmic capabilities across unclassified and classified environments. The Contractor shall implement industry standard AI frameworks utilizing DevSecOps pipelines to ensure rapid, auditable, and repeatable delivery from experimentation to production. Capabilities shall include:

2.2.1 Advanced AI/Machine Learning (ML) Modeling & Algorithmic Design: Applying supervised, unsupervised, reinforcement learning, deep neural networks, and probabilistic modeling to address operational Air Force mission challenges. Where applicable to the task and required by the Government, the Contractor shall implement metadata and ontology artifacts and systems in accordance with applicable DoW and DAF standards and guidance to support data discoverability, semantic interoperability, provenance, and reuse.

2.2.2 Foundation Models, Generative AI, and RAG: Developing, adapting, and deploying

Generative AI capabilities, including task-specific Small Language Models (SLMs) and enterprise Foundation Models (LLMs); engineering low-latency RAG architectures with semantic indexing, dynamic vector search, and reranking pipelines; and constructing governed autonomous agentic workflows to support mission analysis and decision-making.

2.2.3 End-to-End MLOps Pipeline Integration: Establishing automated Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, Continuous Training (CI/CD/CT) pipelines. The Contractor shall maintain central model registries tracking model provenance, data versions, hyperparameter artifacts, software dependencies, and performance benchmarks.

2.2.4 Inference Optimization and Deployment: Deploying optimized model serving infrastructure (utilizing frameworks such as LLM, TensorRT, ONNX, or Triton) to ensure scalable, resilient, and cost-effective execution across enterprise cloud and contested edge environments.

2.2.5 Analytics Partnerships. The Contractor shall evaluate new data science/analytics products and vendor frameworks for relevance and usability/insertion into the data environment. The

Contractor shall also provide engineering estimates for network capacity requirements, cost/budget estimates for mission problem sets provided, and support for the definition and execution of data-centric use cases including staffing with data science experts engaged and knowledgeable in functional communities and capable of solving complex mission problems using appropriate data analysis techniques to include compilation, aggregation, linear programming, complex statistical analysis, visualization, machine learning, artificial intelligence, Generative AI/LLMs, and other advanced analytical processes and tools.

2.2.6 Data Service Operations. The Contractor shall influence and/or establish DAF best practices in data environment development, capability exposure, and system sustainment measures. All solutions developed shall result in a capability force multiplier to the DAF. The

Contractor shall develop web services exposing, communicating and exploiting data capabilities to the DAF systems development and analytical communities enabling data integration and analysis across the enterprise to enable data-driven decisions at all levels. The Contractor shall develop, collect, and report metrics on the state of DAF enterprise datasets as they are managed across the air, space, and cyberspace domains, collected or federated to the enterprise, and reported to the DoW in compliance with the OPEN Data Act. The Contractor shall support operational issue resolution with the capabilities deployed in support of the execution of use cases. The Contractor shall establish a data operations center for centralized issue management, reporting, and resolution. The Contractor shall operate an issue management system for data-related activities across the DAF enterprise and generate regular (weekly, monthly) metrics against the data-related activities across the enterprise.

2.2.7 Data Service Sustainment. The Contractor shall provide senior product expertise, security patch administration, and Risk Management Framework (RMF) artifact creation for capabilities deployed across the DAF enterprise. The Contractor shall support the Certification and

Accreditation (C&A) of environments enabling data preparation and analysis environments designed to transform DAF data into strategic assets. The Contractor’s efforts shall include, but are not limited to, C&A artifact development and process oversight. The Contractor shall provide mission user familiarity training on the data management capabilities deployed and educate potential users on how to take maximum advantage of the capabilities for their specific mission vertical and/or problem space.

2.3 Data and AI Governance. The Contractor shall provide technical and policy expertise to establish, execute, and mature integrated Data and AI Governance frameworks across the DAF enterprise. The Contractor shall operationalize the DoW and DAF Data and AI strategies across all contract activities. The Contractor shall support governance processes for metadata and ontology standards, implementation, stewardship, and lifecycle management, as directed by the

Government. The Contractor shall develop data maturity models that account for the entire lifecycle, conduct maturity assessments, develop data models that support data management, apply design concepts to create reliable data storage environments, apply metadata management principles and develop data quality techniques that ensure data is fit for its intended purposes.

The Contractor shall provide expertise in the areas of data stewardship, ownership, and data management policy that enable decision makers at all levels to make better operational and strategic decisions, including the establishment of responsible AI frameworks and AI readiness assessments. The Contractor shall author policy documents essential to strategic concept adoption and operational and tactical execution success for the DAF Enterprise. Documentation will include, but is not limited to, Information System Security Manager (ISSM) Entity

Relationship Diagrams (ERD), enterprise data dictionary, metadata repositories, and data environment standard operating procedures. The Contractor shall support senior leader governance forums and facilitate large, recurring, multi-organization, multi-level collaborations to iteratively improve the understandability, provenance, registration, tagging, publication, protection, consumption, exploitation, and weaponization of DAF and all-source data needed to enable DAF functions and missions. The Contractor shall provide secretariat support for established Governance fora including managing membership rosters, regular communications across the governance structures, addressing appropriate General Officer and Senior Executive

Service protocol actions, coordinating, collecting, generating and distributing read-ahead materials, and publication of minutes, lessons learned, and tracking action items following events.

2.4 Advanced Analytics, Applied AI, and Decision Advantage Capabilities. The Contractor shall develop, operationalize, and maintain advanced analytical solutions and AI-enabled decision-support tools across all DAF mission domains. The Contractor shall use state-of-the-art mathematical, machine learning, AI, and generative AI/LLM techniques to analyze, exploit, and improve understanding of data within individual mission domains and across the DAF enterprise, improving operational effectiveness and supporting data-driven decision-making. The Contractor shall provide support for complex analysis of multiple data sets across a diverse range of mission functional areas. The Contractor shall develop dynamic visualizations exploiting available, curated data sets using a variety of visualization tools or custom-developed scripts to meet mission needs and provide continually current mission dashboards for Commanders at all levels across the DAF Enterprise. The Contractor shall guide the Government’s capabilities to achieve various levels of technical sophistication ranging from business intelligence to state-of-the-art applied mathematical, machine learning/artificial intelligence techniques, and broad AI integration.

2.5 Data and AI Environment Development. The Contractor shall perform or facilitate services relating to developing solution architectures based on cloud-agnostic, vendor-agnostic, open-source, requirement-driven data, analytics, and AI environments. The Contractor shall support enterprise-quality capabilities that enable the secure development, testing, deployment, monitoring, and sustainment of data pipelines, analytic products, ML models, generative AI capabilities, RAG applications, and other Government-approved AI-enabled services. The

Contractor shall develop solution architectures and technical roadmaps that support the full data and AI lifecycle, including data ingestion, storage, processing, discovery, access, curation, feature engineering, model development, training, fine-tuning, testing, evaluation, deployment, inference, monitoring, retraining, retirement, and records retention. Solutions shall support authorized users across approved cloud, hybrid, on-premises, edge, and multiple-security-level environments, as directed by the Government.

The Contractor shall develop and maintain technical requirements documents, architecture artifacts, project management plans, implementation plans, and cost estimates for new or enhanced data, analytics, and AI products and services. The Contractor shall identify and address gaps that limit the usability, interoperability, security, performance, resilience, or responsible employment of enterprise data and AI capabilities. The Contractor shall apply agile and

DevSecOps practices for all new or enhanced capabilities, consistent with Government-approved development, cybersecurity, architecture, and operational guidance.

The Contractor shall develop DAF best practices and provide technical advice to enable scalable data and AI infrastructure without adversely affecting mission, business, transactional, or operational systems. The Contractor shall coordinate environment-development activities with

Government-designated data owners, system owners, cybersecurity personnel, platform providers, users, and other stakeholders.

Where appropriate to the task and required by the Government, the Contractor shall use digital engineering and model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools, including Systems Modeling

Language (SysML) or successor standards, to develop and communicate data, analytics, AI, infrastructure, interface, and solution-architecture requirements. These artifacts will improve traceability among mission needs, requirements, data flows, interfaces, architectures, risks, and implementation decisions.

2.5.1 Data and AI Environment Management. The Contractor shall document, establish, operate, and improve the operational and support capabilities required to sustain enterprise data, analytics, and AI environments. Support shall include configuration management, asset and license management, release and change management, user and service-account management, requirements management, service management, incident and problem management, operational metrics reporting, performance monitoring, capacity planning, backup and recovery planning, and continuity support.

The Contractor shall implement and sustain data and AI operations practices, including DataOps, MLOps, and, when applicable, LLMOps, to provide repeatable, auditable, secure, and scalable delivery of data and AI capabilities. The Contractor shall support lifecycle management for datasets, data pipelines, analytic products, feature stores, vector stores, models, prompts, AI application components, application programming interfaces, and associated infrastructure.

The Contractor shall support Government-directed model and application registries, version control, provenance tracking, configuration baselines, and documentation sufficient to identify the data, code, model artifacts, dependencies, evaluation results, approvals, deployment status, and performance history associated with operational AI capabilities. The Contractor shall monitor deployed data and AI services for availability, reliability, performance, data drift, model drift, security events, and other operational conditions that may affect mission utility or trustworthiness.

The Contractor shall provide operational metrics, dashboards, and reports addressing environment health, service availability, delivery cadence, deployment status, data quality, model performance, usage, resource consumption, incidents, risks, and remediation status, as directed by the Government. The Contractor shall support Government-directed configuration-control and change-management processes and shall not deploy, modify, or retire production capabilities without Government authorization.

2.5.2 Applied Research, Development and Testing.

The Contractor shall identify requirements; plan and conduct research, prototyping, analyses of alternatives, data development, experimentation, and testing; and recommend new or improved tools, techniques, methodologies, architectures, and practices that enhance DAF data, analytics, and AI capabilities. Activities may range from business intelligence and advanced analytics to

ML, generative AI, RAG, natural language processing, computer vision, predictive analytics, decision support, and other Government-approved AI approaches.

The Contractor shall conduct research and development activities using proven, state-of-the-art, and novel approaches to improve the exploitation of DAF enterprise data and sustain mission effectiveness. The Contractor shall evaluate emerging data and AI technologies, platforms, frameworks, and methods for mission relevance, interoperability, cybersecurity, scalability, maintainability, cost, usability, and alignment with Government-approved architecture and strategy.

The Contractor shall develop and execute Government-approved test and evaluation approaches for data and AI capabilities. Testing shall address, as applicable, functional performance, data quality, accuracy, reliability, robustness, latency, scalability, interoperability, cybersecurity, privacy, safety, user experience, explainability, traceability, bias or other undesirable performance characteristics, and operational suitability. The Contractor shall document test objectives, datasets, methods, results, limitations, risks, recommended mitigations, and readiness determinations for Government review.

The Contractor shall support the development, curation, tagging, labeling, validation, and management of datasets necessary for analytics and AI research, development, testing, evaluation, and operational use. When directed by the Government, the Contractor shall develop synthetic, anonymized, or otherwise approved representative datasets to support testing and experimentation when operational data is unavailable, restricted, insufficient, or unsuitable for the intended purpose.

2.6 Deliverables. The Contractor shall provide task order deliverable(s) in a format mutually agreed upon by the Government and the Contractor. The Contracting Officer does not require copies of listed deliverables with the exception of the Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs). If a deliverable due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the Contractor shall submit the deliverable on the last workday prior to the due date.

2.6.1 Program Management Plan. The Contractor shall provide a draft Program Management

Plan at the time of the kickoff meeting.

SECTION III

3.0 SERVICE SUMMARY

The Contractor service requirements are summarized into performance objectives that relate directly to mission essential items. The performance threshold briefly describes the minimum acceptable levels of service required for each requirement and will be assessed on an

“Acceptable” or “Unacceptable” basis. These thresholds are critical to mission success.

Performance

Objective PWS Paragraph Performance Threshold

Method of

Surveillance

SS 1 – Data

Acquisition, Preparation, and

Architecture

2.1, 2.1.1–2.1.4

Data sources, pipelines, metadata, data-quality controls, and technical architectures are delivered in accordance with Government-approved requirements and schedules. Data products are secure, discoverable, interoperable, machine-actionable, and suitable for authorized analytics and AI use.

Periodic Surveillance;

Review of

Deliverables;

Demonstration

SS 2 –

Enterprise

Analytics and

AI Solutions and Engineering

2.2, 2.2.1–2.2.7

Analytics, algorithms, AI/ML models, generative AI applications, RAG capabilities, and associated

DevSecOps/MLOps artifacts meet Government-approved functional, security, performance, documentation, and sustainment requirements.

Capabilities are tested and delivered in accordance with approved task-order requirements.

Periodic Surveillance;

Review of

Deliverables;

Demonstration;

Acceptance Testing

SS 3 – Data and

AI Governance 2.3

Data and AI governance products, maturity assessments, policy recommendations, data-management artifacts, AI-readiness assessments, and responsible-AI frameworks are accurate, actionable, aligned with Government direction, and delivered

Periodic Surveillance;

Review of

Deliverables according to approved schedules.

SS 4 – Data

Analytics and

Artificial

Intelligence

2.4

Analyses, visualizations, dashboards, decision-support products, and AI-enabled analytic capabilities meet documented mission needs, use approved data sources and methods, and are delivered according to Government-approved requirements and schedules.

Periodic Surveillance;

Review of

Deliverables;

Demonstration

SS 5 – Data and

AI Environment

Development

2.5, 2.5.1–2.5.2

Data, analytics, and AI environment architectures, operational capabilities, lifecycle-management processes, research products, prototypes, and test results are complete, technically sound, secure, maintainable, and aligned with Government-approved requirements, architecture, and delivery schedules.

Periodic Surveillance;

Review of

Deliverables;

Demonstration;

Acceptance Testing

SS 6 – Program

Management and Task-Order

Deliverables

2.6, 2.6.1

The Program Management

Plan, status reports, meeting materials, task-order deliverables, schedules, risk information, and other required management artifacts are complete, accurate, and submitted by the required due dates. The Contractor identifies risks, dependencies, and issues early and provides timely recommended corrective actions.

Periodic Surveillance;

Review of

Deliverables

SECTION IV

4.0 DELIVERABLES

The Contractor shall provide task order deliverable(s) in a format mutually agreed upon by the

Government and the Contractor. The Contracting Officer does not require copies of listed deliverables with the exception of the NDAs. If a deliverable due date falls on a weekend or holiday, the Contractor shall submit the deliverable on the last work day prior to the due date.

The following enumerated deliverables are not expected to change. Due Date intervals are not expected to change but actual dates may need to be revised depending on actual contract/task order start dates.

4.1 A Monthly Status Report will be furnished for all projects due on the 10th business day of each month followed by a Monthly Status Meeting to be scheduled the following week. Minutes for these meetings are due within no later than one business day after the meeting.

DELIVERABLE PWS

PARA

DUE DATE DELIVERY

Task Deliverables 2.1 –

2.5

2.1-2.5 As specified in Task Order In a format acceptable to the Government and as specified in the Task

Order

Draft Program

Management Plan

(PMP)

2.6.1 Submitted at Kickoff

Meeting

By email to the

Contracting Officer’s

Representative (COR) in

Microsoft Word format

Monthly Status Report 4.1 10th business day of each month

By email to the COR in

Microsoft Word format

Monthly / Technical

Meeting

Minutes/Reports

4.1 No Later than (NLT) one

(1) business days after the meeting

By email to the COR in

Microsoft Word format

Kickoff Meeting

Agenda

6.2 NLT 3 days after contract

award

By email to the COR in

Microsoft Word format

Transition-In Plan 6.3 Submitted at Kickoff

Meeting

By email to the COR in

Microsoft Word format

Transition-Out Plan 6.4 NLT 90 days prior to contract expiration

By email to the COR in

Microsoft Word format

Quality Control Plan 6.5 Submitted at Kickoff

Meeting and annual revisions submitted 15 days after OY award.

By email to the COR in

Microsoft Word format

Trip Reports 6.9.5 5 Days after completion of

TDY

By email to the COR in

Microsoft Word format

IAW AFH 33-337

DELIVERABLE PWS

PARA

DUE DATE DELIVERY

Employee List 6.10 Upon Request By email to COR in MS

Excel

Key Personnel Resume 6.10.2 At Kickoff meeting and 3 days prior to new hire

By email to the COR in

MS Word or PDF format

SECTION V

5.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT, MATERIAL,

INFORMATION, OR SERVICES

5.1 Government Furnished Property, Equipment, Material, Information, or Services. The

Government will not furnish property or services for this requirement.

5.2 Contractor Acquired Property. The Contractor will not be required to acquire any property.

SECTION VI

6.0 GENERAL INFORMATION

6.1 Scheduling Concerns.

6.1.1 Duty Hours. The Contractor shall have access to Government facility five days per week, Monday through Friday, eight hours a day, except when the Government facility is closed due to local or national emergencies, administrative closings, or similar Government directed facility closings, unless otherwise approved. Contractor personnel are expected to conform to customer agency normal operating hours; however the Contractor may be required access to Government facility outside of duty hours based on the customer agency’s needs. As a baseline, Contractor personnel shall work 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week. Compensatory time arrangements are permissible for temporary spikes in worktime; but overtime pay is prohibited without COR and

CO approval. Federal Holidays shall be observed in accordance with Office of Personnel

Management policy.

6.1.2 Core Duty Hours and Base Shutdown/Inclement Weather. Core duty hours are 0800 -

1600, Monday through Friday (excluding federal holidays). The Contractor shall follow guidance of the installation containing their place of performance to determine reporting schedules whether due to a base closure or inclement weather. The website for guidance regarding status of performance for work to be performed in the National Capital Region (NCR) is http://www.opm.gov/status/.

6.2 Kickoff Meeting/Orientation Meeting

6.2.1 The Contractor shall schedule and coordinate a Project kick-off Meeting no later than

(NLT) five (5) calendar days after contract award at the location approved by the Government.

The meeting will provide an introduction between the Contractor personnel and Government personnel who will be involved with the contract. The meeting will provide the opportunity to discuss technical, management, and logistic issues; travel authorization; communication process between Government and Contractor; and reporting procedures. At a minimum, the attendees shall include key Contractor personnel, DAF CDAO personnel and other key Government representatives, and the COR. The Contractor shall provide a Kick-Off Meeting Agenda that will include, but not be limited to, the following.

• Introduction of personnel

• Overview of project tasks

• Review of organization (complexity)

• Schedule (shows major tasks, milestones, and deliverables; planned and actual start and completion dates for each)

• Communication Plan/lines of communication overview (between both Contractor and

Government)

• Discussion of draft Program Management Plan (PMP)

• Travel notification and processes

• Government-furnished information (GFI) http://www.opm.gov/status/

• Security requirements (Building access, badges, Common Access Cards (CAC))

• Analytical Support Status Accreditation (ASSA) Documentation

• Invoice procedures

• Monthly meeting dates

• Reporting Requirements, e.g. Monthly Status Report (MSR)

• POCs

• Roles and Responsibilities

• Overview of incoming Transition Plan to include process, timeframes, and status

• Prioritization of Contractor activities

• Any initial deliverables

• Other logistics issues

• Quality Control Plan (QCP)

• Sensitivity and protection of information

• Additional issues of concern (Leave/back-up support)

6.2.2 The Contractor shall provide a draft copy of the agenda NLT 3 days after contract award for review and approval by the COR prior to finalizing. The Government will provide the

Contractor with the number of participants for the kick-off meeting and the Contractor shall provide sufficient copies of the presentation for all present.

6.2.3 The Kickoff Meeting location will be held at the Government’s facility or another designated location and the date and time will be mutually agreed upon by both parties.

6.3 Transition-In Plan

6.3.1 The Contractor shall provide a Transition-In Plan at the Kickoff Meeting; the plan shall facilitate the accomplishment of a seamless transition from the incumbent Contractor (if applicable) and incoming Contractor. The Contractor shall identify how it will coordinate with the incumbent Contractor and Government personnel to transfer knowledge regarding the following:

• Project management processes

• Points of contact

• Location of technical and project management documentation

• Status of ongoing technical initiatives

• Transition of key personnel

• Schedules and milestones

• Actions required of the Government

• Coordination of IT related programs, issues

6.3.2 The Contractor shall also establish and maintain effective communication with the incumbent Contractor and Government personnel for the period of the transition via weekly status meetings per the COR’s direction.

6.3.3 Incumbent employees may be interviewed for possible employment by the incoming

Contractor; however, the employees will have the first right of refusal.

6.4 Transition-Out Plan

6.4.1 The Contractor shall provide a Transition-Out Plan NLT than 90 calendar days prior to expiration of the contract. The plan shall facilitate the accomplishment of a seamless transition from the incumbent to and incoming Contractor (if applicable). In addition, the Contractor will continue to accomplish all tasks as outlined in the contract during this period. The Contractor shall identify how it will coordinate with the incoming Contractor and Government personnel to transfer knowledge regarding the following:

• Project management processes

• Points of contact

• Location of technical and project management documentation

• Status of ongoing technical initiatives

• Transition of key personnel

• Schedules and milestones

• Actions required of the Government

• Coordination of IT related programs, issues

6.4.2 The Contractor shall also establish and maintain effective communication with the incoming Contractor and Government personnel for the period of the transition via weekly status meetings.

6.4.3 Current employees under this contract may be interviewed for possible employment by a succeeding Contractor; however, the Contractor will have the first right of refusal. The current

Contractor will release any employee who chooses to be employed by a succeeding Contractor.

The current Contract will assist by orienting assigned employees of the succeeding Contractor during the last 30 days of the period of this contract, if so directed by the CO. The Government shall make available to such employees existing Government Furnished Property listed under

Section V of this PWS. Items that are not accountable, such as desks, chairs, telephones, and other normal office equipment and office supplies during the orientation period, will only be transferred to the incoming Contractor if items were solely purchased by the current Contractor’s company.

6.5 Quality Control.

6.5.1. Quality Assurance. The Government shall rely on the Contractors’ existing quality assurance system as the method to ensure that the requirements of the contract and performance thresholds are met; however, the Government reserves the right to monitor and evaluate the quality of services provided and compliance with the contract terms and conditions at any time.

6.5.2. Quality Control Plan (QCP). The Contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed IAW this PWS, applicable laws and regulations, and best commercial practices. The Contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services with special emphasis placed on those services listed in this PWS. The Contractor’s quality control program is the means by which it assures itself that the work complies with the requirement of the contract.

6.6 Emergency Operations/Mission Essential Personnel.

6.6.1. Continuation of Essential Contractor Services During Crisis. All services in this PWS

HAVE NOT been defined or designated as essential services for performance during crisis IAW

Defense Federal Acquisition Regualtions (DFARs) 252.237-7023, “Continuation of Essential

Contractor Services.”

6.7 Contractor Manpower Reporting Application (CMRA)

6.7.1 The Contractor shall report ALL labor hours (including subContractor labor hours) required for performance of services provided under this contract via the secure Contractor

Manpower Reporting Application (CMRA) data collection site. The Contractor is required to completely fill in all required data fields at: http://www.ecmra.mil. Reporting inputs shall be for the labor executed during the period of performance for each Government fiscal year (FY), which runs 1 October through 30 September. While inputs may be reported anytime during the

FY, all data shall be reported not later than 31 October of each calendar year. The Contractor may direct questions to the CMRA help desk.

6.7.2 SubContractor Input in CMRA: Prime Contractors are responsible to ensure all subContractor data is reported. SubContractors will not be able to enter any data into CMRA, but will enter their information into a Bulk Loader spread sheet available from the AF CMRA helpdesk. SubContractor shall fill in columns A-C then return it to the AF CMRA helpdesk after it's completed and a technician team will enter the information into CMRA.

6.8 Security Instructions

6.8.1 Physical Security. The Contractor shall safeguard all Government property, documents and controlled forms provided for Contractor use and adhere to the Government property requirements contained in this contract. At the end of each work day, all Government facilities, equipment, and materials shall be secured by a Government POC. Contractors are not allowed to secure Government facilities, equipment, and materials.

6.8.2 Access Control. The Contractor shall establish and implement methods of ensuring that no building access instruments issued by the Government are lost, misplaced or used by unauthorized persons. Access codes shall not be shared with any person(s) outside the organization. The Contractor shall control access to all Government provided lock combinations to preclude unauthorized entry. The Contractor is not authorized to record lock combinations without written approval by the Government COR. Records with written combinations to authorized secure storage containers, secure storage rooms, or certified vaults, shall be marked and safeguarded at the highest classification level as the classified material maintained inside the approved containers.

6.8.3 Pass and Identification Items. The Contractor shall ensure the pass and identification items required for contract performance are obtained for employees and non-government owned vehicles.

6.8.4 Retrieving Identification Media. The Contractor shall retrieve all identification media, including vehicle passes, from employees who depart for any reason before the contract expires.

6.8.5 Traffic Laws. The Contractor and its employees shall comply with base traffic regulations.

6.8.6 Weapons, Firearms, and Ammunition. Contractor employees are prohibited from possessing weapons, firearms, or ammunition, on themselves or within their Contractor-owned vehicle or privately-owned vehicle while on any Government facility.

6.8.7 Communications Security (COMSEC). Contractors may require access to COMSEC information on Air Force installations. The Contractor shall not require a COMSEC account.

Access shall be controlled by the sponsoring agency. Access to COMSEC material by personnel is restricted to US citizens holding final US Government clearances. Such information is not releasable to personnel holding only reciprocal clearances. If it is determined the Contractor is required to access COMSEC information, the necessary training information and courses shall be provided by the COR. The DD Form 254 shall give further instructions on safeguarding and managing COMSEC material.

6.8.8 Contractor Identification. All Contractor personnel shall wear the Air Force issued

Common Access Card at all times when away from their immediate work area so as to distinguish themselves from Government employees. When conversing with Government personnel during business meetings, over the telephone or via electronic mail, Contractor personnel shall identify themselves as a Contractor to avoid situations arising where sensitive topics might be better discussed solely between Government employees. Contractors shall identify themselves on any attendance sheet or any coordination documents they may review.

Electronic mail signature blocks shall identify their company affiliation. Where practicable, Contractors occupying collocated space with their government program customer should identify their work space area with their name and company affiliation or as a minimum “Contractor” after name.

6.8.9 Drug, Tobacco, and Alcohol Use Policy. The consumption of alcoholic beverages or illegal drugs by Contractor personnel, while on duty, is strictly forbidden. Contractor shall immediately remove any employee who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

6.9 Travel

6.9.1 Local Travel. Local travel to attend meetings or events may be required at no cost to the

Government. Travel within the National Capital Region commuting vicinity is considered a cost of doing business and shall not be separately reimbursed.

6.9.2 CONUS Travel: Prior to travel, the Contractor shall coordinate with, and receive approval from, the COR at least 10 business days prior to trip.

6.9.3 OCONUS Travel: (e.g., to EUCOM and/or PACOM Area of Responsibility) Prior to travel, the Contractor shall coordinate with, and receive approval from, the COR at least 20 business days prior to trip. Theater Business Clearances shall be obtained, as necessary, prior to travel.

6.9.4 Further guidance for Contractor travel can be found at

https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/faqctr.cfm.

6.9.5 Trip Reports: Following each trip, the Contractor shall prepare and deliver Trip/After

Action Reports to the COR IAW AFH 33-337. The trip report shall be completed in accordance with DAF CDAO guidance.

6.10 Employee Accountability & Turnover

6.10.1 Staffing of Contractor Personnel. Contractor shall provide a stable workforce, throughout the duration of the contract, by maintaining a 10% or less employee turnover rate. No positions shall remain vacant for more than 20 working days. The Government shall not be billed for positions left vacant over 20 working days unless the vacancy is due to Government delay and otherwise approved by the CO.

6.10.2 Key Personnel.

(a) Key personnel will be identified at the Task Order level.

The Contractor agrees that personnel may not be removed from the contract work or replaced without compliance with paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section. The Contractor shall provide Key

Personnel resumes to the COR at the Kickoff Meeting and prior to new hires.

(b) If one or more of the key personnel, for whatever reason, becomes, or is expected to become, unavailable for work under this contract for a continuous period exceeding 30 calendar days, or is expected to devote substantially less effort to the work than indicated in the proposal or initially anticipated, the Contractor shall immediately notify the contracting officer and shall, subject to the concurrence of the contracting officer, promptly replace the personnel with personnel of at least substantially equal ability and qualifications.

(c) Each request for approval of substitutions must be in writing and contain a detailed explanation of the circumstances necessitating the proposed substitutions. The request must also contain a complete resume for the proposed substitute and other information requested or needed by the contracting officer to evaluate the proposed substitution. The contracting officer and the project officer shall evaluate the Contractor's request and the contracting officer shall promptly notify the Contractor of his or her decision in writing.

(d) If the contracting officer determines that suitable and timely replacement of key personnel who have been reassigned, terminated, or have otherwise become unavailable for the contract work is not reasonably forthcoming, or that the resultant reduction of productive effort would be so substantial as to impair the successful completion of the contract or the service order, the contract may be terminated by the contracting officer for default or for the convenience of the https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/faqctr.cfm

Government, as appropriate. If the contracting officer finds the Contractor at fault for the condition, the contract price may be equitably adjusted downward to compensate the

Government for any resultant delay, loss, or damage.

6.10.3 Contractor professionalism. The Contractor shall:

• Present a professional appearance and maintain professional demeanor and conduct at all times.

• Conduct their work assignments IAW project schedules

• Function effectively and efficiently during extended periods of high pressure and stress.

• Function as an integral member of a team of highly trained professionals responsible for the safety and security of DAF personnel and resources.

6.11 Miscellaneous Paragraphs.

6.11.1 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). All official Government records affected by this contract are subject to the provisions of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. 552/DoD 5400.7-R/AF Supplement).

Any request received by the Contractor for access/release of information from these records to the public (including Government/Contractor employees acting as private citizens), whether oral or in writing, shall be immediately brought to the attention of the CO for forwarding to the

AFDW FOIA Manager to ensure proper processing and compliance with the Act.

6.11.2 Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). The Contractor shall comply with DoD

Instruction 5200.48, Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). This regulation sets policy and procedures for the handling, transmitting, safeguarding, and marking of CUI, which replaces the legacy For Official Use Only (FOUO) designation.

6.11.3 Privacy Act. Work on this contract may require that personnel have access to information protected by the Privacy Act. Contractor personnel shall adhere to the Privacy Act, Title 5 of the

U.S. Code, Section 552a and applicable agency rules and regulations when handling such information.

6.11.4 Records. All records created and received by the Contractor in the performance of this contract shall be maintained and readily accessible. Records shall remain the property of the

Government.

6.11.5 Safety Concerns. The Contractor is solely responsible for compliance with OSHA standards for the protection of their employees. The Government is not responsible for ensuring that Contractors comply with “personal” safety requirements that do not present the potential to damage Government resources.

6.11.6 Project Policy. The Contractor shall comply with all industry standards. All work shall be done in accordance with all federal, local, and state laws and regulations.

6.11.7 Inherently Governmental Functions. The Contractor shall not perform inherently

Governmental functions as defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 7.5 in relation to this PWS.

6.11.8 Ethics. The Contractor shall not employ any person who is an employee of the US

Government if employing that person would create a conflict of interest. Additionally, the

Contractor shall not employ any person who is an employee of the Department of the Air Force, either military or civilian, unless such person seeks and receives approval according to DoDD

5500-7, Joint Ethics Regulation.

6.11.9 Professional Appearance of Work Space. The Contractor shall keep work space areas neat and orderly and avoid conditions leading to safety violations.

6.11.10 Non-Personal Services. The Government shall not supervise or task Contractor employees in any manner that generates actions of the nature of personal services, or that creates the perception of personal services. It is the responsibility of the Contractor to manage its employees directly and to guard against any actions that are of the nature of personal services, or give the perception of personal services to the Government or to Government personnel. If the

Contractor feels that any actions constitute, or are perceived to constitute personal services, it is the…