HE1254-21-Q-0015 draft PWS.pdf

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Department of Defense Education Activity 4800 Mark Center Drive

Alexandria, VA 22350

24 Mar 21 1

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Partnership with an Organization Focused on Using ISTE Standards to Improve Classroom Instruction

1. General Information and Scope of Work

1.1 Agency: For school year (SY) 2020-21, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) will provide PK-12 instruction to approximately 66,000 dependents of military and civilian employees. Student enrollment is based primarily on deployment of military troops worldwide. In the Americas, DoDEA operates 50 schools located in seven states, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. In Europe and the Middle East, DoDEA operates 64 schools located in Germany, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Bahrain and Italy. In the Pacific, DoDEA operates 45 schools located in Korea, Japan (mainland and Okinawa), and Guam. DoDEA's curriculum, resources and student achievement scores on standardized assessments compare favorably to those of high-performing US public school systems. In addition, DoDEA operates fully accredited Virtual High School with teaching hubs in each DoDEA region: Americas, Europe, and Pacific.

1.2 Background: The International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) standards help educators and education leaders worldwide prepare learners to thrive in work and in life. Although DoDEA adopted the ISTE standards in 2017, DoDEA has neither implemented systemic professional learning nor benefited from any partnership with an ISTE-focused multi-state organization. DoDEA has never procured a contract for membership in or partnership with an organization using ISTE standards to improve classroom instruction

1.3 Scope of Work: DoDEA requires a partnership with an organization focused on using ISTE standards to improve K-12 classroom instruction in which all DoDEA school-level and above-school-level educators and leaders may participate. DoDEA educators and leaders need access to relevant, high quality professional learning related to the ISTE standards, current and emerging education technology topics and issues. DoDEA educators and leaders will gain access to benefits afforded ISTE members including but not limited to, participation in virtual courses, professional learning networks and interaction with other K-12 educators and leaders on issues related to teaching and learning with technology. DoDEA expects to award one contract for a base year and four option years

2. Requirement (Objectives)

2.1 (Objective 1) Partnership, Courses, and Conferences

Partnership with an organization focused on the ISTE standards will improve instruction and help prepare students for college and careers. The courses and conferences will provide educators professional learning and cross-pollination opportunities, both of which will ultimately help improve instruction and student learning and achievement.

The tasks listed below are provided to help the contractor in gaining a better understanding of the requirements in order to successfully meet the objective. The tasks are not all inclusive as the contractor is expected to develop the total solution for meeting all the requirements of the objective in accordance with a performance-based approach.

24 Mar 21 2

Supporting Tasks (Objective 1)

Task 1, Partnership—The Contractor shall:

1) Provide DoDEA all the rights and privileges accorded to its other district-level partners. DoDEA cannot accurately estimate the number of active ISTE members that will participate. The expectation is that the number of school-level and above-school-level active ISTE members will increase steadily over time. However, the actual number of members will always be a small fraction of the total teaching workforce.

2) Provide, upon written request from the contracting officer’s representative (COR), a list of DoDEA educators who have become members, including their email addresses and the name of their school and/or DoDEA district.

Task 2, Courses—The Contractor shall provide either (1) 50-75 free seats in ISTE’s Digital Learning Pathways courses which are self-paced, online professional learning or (2) 50 free self-paced, on demand mini-courses.

Task 3, Conferences—The Contractor shall:

1) Provide 15 free registrations to the annual in-person ISTE conference each year of the contract.

Each in-person conference registration can be exchanged for one ISTE U long courses if a person cannot attend the in-person conference. If the conference is conducted virtually, 30 free registrations shall be provided.

2) Provide, upon written request from the COR, a list of DoDEA educators registered for in-person or virtual conferences or registered for an ISTE U long course as a replacement for the in-person conference. Note: This request only relates to DoDEA participants who register as part of the Partnership, per Task 3 (1).

Note: Per Federal government regulations, DoDEA will pay the travel and per diem expenses of its employees to any of the Contractor’s conferences and/or professional learning events.

Task 4, Meetings—The Contractor shall:

1) Medium and Minutes: Provide the medium through which each meeting occurs, record each meeting’s minutes, and submit them to the COR within two business days of the event.

2) Post-Award Conference: Participate in a video- or teleconference with the COR five business days after award IAW FAR Subpart 42.5.

3) Other Post-Award Meetings: Meet with the Contracting Officer (KO), COR, and/or other Agency personnel, as appropriate, to review Contractor performance, as required by DoDEA. The KO may discuss the Agency’s view of Contractor performance, and the Contractor shall apprise the Agency of any problems being experienced. The Contractor shall take appropriate action to resolve any outstanding issues the Agency raises.

4) Attendance: Attend virtual meetings at no additional cost to the Government. Note: Costs associated with attendance at face-to-face meetings, if any, shall be handled/paid for as stated in the contract.

Task 5, Service Contract Reporting (SCR)

Not Applicable

2.2 Performance Standards and Acceptable Quality Levels

24 Mar 21 3

2.2.1 Performance Standard: Tasks shall be completed by the required completion date.

2.2.2 Acceptable Quality Level: Ninety-five percent of tasks shall be completed by the required completion date. The remaining five percent shall be completed no later than ten days after their due date.

3 Constraints

3.1 Place of Performance: Work shall be performed at the Contractor’s facilities and conference sites.

3.2 Liaison—The Contractor shall:

1) Provide a person to be responsible for the performance of work. The liaison’s name shall be designated in writing to the Contracting Officer. The liaison shall have full authority to act for the Contractor on all contract matters relating to the daily operation of this contract. S/He shall have at least one year of experience working in a similar role.

2) Notify the COR in writing regarding the personnel change ten business days in advance of the change. If the liaison is changed post-award, the replacement shall meet or exceed the qualifications and experience of the person assigned upon contract award.

3.3 Holidays and Hours of Operation

1) The liaison shall be available during the hours of 9AM to 3PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), except for Federal holidays and Federal government closures/shutdowns. The following list shows recognized Federal holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

2) Although there are different time zones within Europe and the Pacific and different hours for specific schools throughout DoDEA, the normal business hours for the regions roughly correspond to the following: Americas, 0700-1500 EST; Europe, 1300-2100 EST; and Pacific, 2000-0400 EST

3.4 Availability: The Contractor shall make all resources available for the life of the contract.

3.5 Anti-Bias, Diversity, and Inclusion—The Contractor shall provide resources free of age, racial, color, national origin, disabling conditions, sexual, gender, religious, and ethnic bias and present balanced coverage of multi-cultural contributions and representation, where appropriate.

3.6 Privacy—The Contractor shall:

1) User Accounts: Ensure, if feasible, that individual accounts possess unique login credentials that do not require the use of personally identifiable information (PII), i.e., first & last name and any other unique personal identifiers, to access online content.

2) Contractor Personnel: Ensure personnel assigned to this contract take proper precautions to protect information from disclosure. Collect and/or store all agency-owned or agency-controlled PII in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C, which may be found at the following URL: http://www.archives.gov/about/laws/privacy-act-1974.html.

3) Privacy Training: Ensure Contractor staff who have access to DoDEA’s student, teacher and/or staff personally identifiable information take the DoD Privacy Act/Personally Identifiable Information (PA/PII) training before gaining access to the data and yearly thereafter. Provide copies of the certificates of completion to the COR which can be audited at any time by the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) or his/her designee.

3.7 Section 508 Compliance—Ensure Contractor resources, wherever applicable, meet the following requirements:

24 Mar 21 4

1) IT Requirement: Ensure that all electronic hardware and software that is procured under this contract/purchase order comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, (29 U.S.C. 794d) and the Architectural & Transportation Barriers Compliance Board Electronic Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Standards (36 CFR part 1194). More information may be found at https://www.section508.gov.

2) Deliverable Requirement: Ensure the following occur:

Outputs/deliverables do not adversely affect accessibility features of existing EIT technologies.

EIT related to the requirements of the contract are accessible to people with disabilities, per 29

U.S.C 794(d).

Outputs/deliverables including functional performance, information, documentation, and support requirements are considered. Standards from 36 CFR Part 1194 Subpart B, C and D apply to this acquisition.

3.8 Optical Character Resolution (OCR): The Contractor shall provide, upon request, two digital OCR copies of print materials in one or more of the following formats:

Digital Accessible Information System/National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) with cascading style sheet HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Portable Document Format (PDF), (unlocked, embedded fonts, single page) Rich Text Format (RTF)/Word document

3.9 Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI): The Contractor (including any subcontractor) personnel performing work under this contract may receive, have access to, or participate in the development of, proprietary or Privacy Act information (e.g., personal information, education, etc.) may create a current or subsequent OCI as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5. Whenever the Contractor becomes aware that such access or participation may result in actual or potential OCI, the Contractor shall (1) immediately notify the Contracting Officer (KO) in writing and (2) promptly submit a plan to the KO to avoid or mitigate any such OCI. Note: The KO will unilaterally determine if the Contractor’s plan is acceptable. If the KO determines the plan cannot satisfactorily avoid or mitigate an OCI, s/he may implement other remedies to include prohibiting the Contractor’s further participation in contracted requirements.

4 Government-Furnished Resources

None

5 Contract Deliverables

Milestone/Deliverable Word / Excel

Digital Copies

Task /

PWS

Planned

Frequency

Membership Yes Yes Task 1 (1) Three business days after receipt of contract or exercise of Option.

List of DoDEA Members Yes Yes Task 1 (2) Five business days after receipt of written request from COR

Courses Yes Yes Task 2 Ongoing Conferences Yes Yes Task 3 (1) Ongoing

Calendar of Events/Milestones Yes Yes Task 3 (2) Five business days after receipt of written request from COR

Post-Award Conference Yes Yes Task 4 (2) Five business days after award Other Post-Award Meetings Yes Yes Task 4 (2) As scheduled post-award

Liaison Yes Yes PWS 3.2 Post-award conference and ongoing thereafter

6 Acronyms and Definitions

24 Mar 21 5

CCRS College and Career Ready Standards DoD/DOD Department of Defense DFARS Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement EIT Electronic Information Technology

FAR Federal Acquisition Regulations IAW In Accordance With PA/PII Privacy Act/Personally Identifiable Information QASP Quality Assessment Surveillance Plan SCORM Shareable Content Object Reference Model

Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) – Basic structural element in a procurement instrument describing and organizing the required product or service for pricing, delivery, inspection, acceptance, invoicing, and payment.

The use of the term “line item” includes “subcontract line number”, (SLIN), as applicable.

Contracting Officer (KO) – The only individual with expressed authority to obligate (bind) the Government by means of entering, administering, and terminating contracts within the limits of the authority delegated via a Contracting Officer’s warrant.

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) – Qualified and trained Government employee, nominated by the requiring activity (RA) and appointed in writing by a KO primarily to perform specific technical or administrative functions on a specific contract(s); serves as the ‘eyes and ears’ of a KO to assure the Government’s best interests are protected via the terms and conditions of the contract(s) appointed. COR’s do not have authority to obligate (i.e., bind) the Government.

Contractor - Supplier or vendor having a contract to provide specific supplies or service to the Government. The term used in this contract refers to the prime.

Deliverable – Usually physically delivered items but may include such items as digital documents/reports.

Performance Requirements Summary (PRS) – Tabular listing of performance objectives and standards that provides the basis for a meaningful QASP.

Performance Work Statement (PWS) - A statement of work for performance-based acquisitions describing the required results in clear, specific and objective terms with measurable outcomes.

7 Performance Requirement Summary (PRS) and Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

7.1 Performance Requirement Summary (PRS)

Performance Objective

Performance Standard AQL Inspection Method

* Unless specified otherwise, possible ratings are as follows: exceptional, very good, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory, per FAR 42.1503, Table 42-1, “Evaluation Ratings Definitions”.

Task 1, Partnership All tasks completed within the required timeline

100% compliance with the

PWS

COR inspection

Task 2, Courses All tasks completed within the required timeline

100% compliance with the

PWS

COR inspection and participant feedback

Task 3, Conferences All tasks completed within the required timeline

100% compliance with the

PWS

COR inspection and participant feedback

Task 4, Meetings All meetings conducted as required by DoDEA

No more than one meeting per year must be rescheduled

COR inspection

7.2 Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

Not Applicable

24 Mar 21 6