26QE069_PWS_Draft_062926.pdf

CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION (CUI)

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION – SEE FAR 2.101 & 3.104

CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION (CUI)

SOURCE SELECTION INFORMATION – SEE FAR 2.101 & 3.104

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Department of War Education Activity

4800 Mark Center Drive

Alexandria, VA 22350

DRAFT

DEPARTMENT OF WAR EDUCATION ACTIVITY (DoWEA)

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

FOR

Consortium Membership and Assessment Licensing

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Agency

The Department of War Education Activity (DoWEA) is one of only two federally-operated school systems.

DoWEA plans, directs, coordinates, and manages prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs in

161 fully accredited schools that serve approximately 66,000 children of active-duty military and DoW civilian families. Our curriculum, resources and student achievement scores on standardized assessments compare favorably to those of high-performing US public school systems.

Operating as a field activity of the Office of the Secretary of War (Personnel and Readiness), DoWEA is overseen by a director located at our headquarters in Alexandria, VA. DoWEA’s schools are organized into three geographic areas: Americas, Europe, and Pacific. In the Americas, DoWEA operates 50 schools located in seven states, Puerto

Rico, and Cuba. In Europe and the Middle East, DoWEA operates 64 schools located in Germany, England, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Bahrain, and Italy. In the Pacific, DoWEA operates 46 schools located in

Korea, Japan (mainland and Okinawa), and Guam. Finally, DoWEA operates a fully accredited virtual high school with teaching hubs in the Americas, Europe, and Pacific.

1.2 Background

The purpose of this contract is to secure institutional procurement of agency-wide membership and comprehensive intellectual property (IP) licensing from an assessment ecosystem consortium. This agreement establishes the agency as an active member eligible to utilize the full repository of evidence-based assessment infrastructure, test blueprints, computer-adaptive content banks, accessibility accommodations frameworks, and online educator toolsets.

This PWS is strictly for Consortium Membership and Assessment Licensing. Physical hosting, student data integration, localized test administration, scoring operations, and customer help-desk delivery are explicitly excluded from this scope and will be executed by the agency's independently procured third-party test delivery service provider, currently Pearson.

As a reminder, FAR Clause 52.212-4(q) requires the contractor to "comply with all applicable Federal, State and local laws, executive orders, rules and regulations applicable to its performance under this contract." DoWEA is a DoW field activity, providing education from pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

Executive Order 14168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological

Truth to the Federal Government, and Executive Order 14190, Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12

Schooling, are particularly applicable to DoWEA contracts.

1.3 Scope

DoWEA requires membership in an Assessment System Consortium that includes member participation in policy decisions, technical licensing, and continuous maintenance of core assessment assets to support the agency's comprehensive educational assessment strategy. The assessment shall align with DoWEA’s following needs:

(1) assessment measures DoWEA standards in ELA/Literacy and Mathematics; (2) assessment shall be hosted in DoDEA’s third-party test delivery service provider currently Pearson; and (3) summative and interim adaptive assessments for grades 3 through 7 in ELA/Literacy and Mathematics.

DoWEA expects to award one contract for a 5-year base period. The table below shows the estimated annual enrollment of students in grades 3 to 7 who will be taking the test.

Base Year

1 Estimate

Base Year

2 Estimate

Base Year

3 Estimate

Base Year

4 Estimate

Base Year

5 Estimate

Grand

Total

Number of

Students 26,421 26,421 26,421 26,421 26,421 132,105

2 REQUIREMENTS (OBJECTIVES)

2.1 Objective 1, Consortium Membership

This objective is to obtain membership in a consortium

2.1.1 Task 1, Consortium Membership—The Contractor shall provide DoWEA membership in a consortium for assessment licensing. The membership offers the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities that other states are given to include that of any and all policy decisions. The membership shall:

2.1.1.1 Include ongoing and regular discussions with member states/territories that cover a wide range of mutual interests regarding the development and revision of policies and principles of the members that inform collective decision-making.

2.1.1.2 Afford members the right to participate in work groups and advisory groups that provide actionable data for assessment policy and practices for longitudinal planning that will positively impact student learning.

2.1.1.3 Provide established rules/processes to address concerns by members, so input (e.g., questions, comments and/or recommendations) are applied in the products, services, policy, and operations of the membership.

2.1.1.4 Provide national comparisons of student performance in academic proficiency and mastery utilizing the same metrics and assessment tool.

2.1.2 Task 2, Core Asset Licensing and Assessment Blueprints —The Contractor shall:

2.1.2.1 Summative Assessment: Provision of valid, reliable, and legally defensible computer-adaptive summative assessment items for English Language Arts (ELA)/literacy and mathematics across Grades 3–7, fully aligned to college- and career-ready standards and blueprint.

2.1.2.2 Interim Assessment Access: Delivery of non-secure and flexible assessment resources, including and Interim Assessment Blocks (IABs), to gauge student mastery and track learning growth granularly throughout the academic cycle.

2.1.2.3 Formative Instructional Ecosystem: Licensing and full access keys to the online Tools for

Teachers platform, providing educators with pedagogical resources, peer-vetted lesson plans, and actionable formative assessment strategies.

2.1.3 Task 3, Accessibility, Accommodations, and Universal Design Frameworks—The Contractor shall:

2.1.3.1 Maintain, update, and license the complete Smarter Balanced Usability, Accessibility, and

Accommodations Guidelines.

2.1.3.2 Provide structured digital packages containing embedded universal tools (e.g., calculators, digital note-taking, highlighters), designated supports (e.g., text-to-speech, translated glossaries), and formal accommodations (e.g., American Sign Language, Braille, closed-captioning).

2.1.3.3 Ensure all licensed items conform structurally to modern accessibility protocols to facilitate accurate implementation by third-party delivery platforms.

2.1.4 Task 4, Technical Architecture and Interoperability Packages—The Contractor shall:

2.1.4.1 Provide comprehensive documentation, application programming interfaces (APIs), data dictionaries, and item packaging formats strictly compliant with global industry standards

(e.g., IMS Global / 1EdTech).

2.1.4.2 Deliver test packages, scoring keys, item metadata, and configuration parameters in a standardized format ready for transfer into the agency's separate third-party test delivery platform.

2.1.5 Task 5, Research, Validations, and Governance Support—The Contractor shall:

2.1.5.1 Provide full psychometric oversight, verification data, alignment studies, and scale maintenance documentation required to defend the legal and rigorous standards of the assessment results.

2.1.5.2 Grant the agency active voting seats and participation rights within the member-led consortium governance structure to influence future development pipelines, framework shifts, and item bank expansions.

2.2 Objective 2, General Requirements

2.2.1 Task 1, Technical Support: The Contractor shall provide industry-standard technical support for its digital resources for the life of the contract via telephone or email within one business day from the initial contact to include but not limited to assisting with service problems, product setup, upgrades, and troubleshooting.

2.2.2 Task 2, Meetings: Attend virtual meetings at no additional cost to the Government and provide the medium through which each meeting occurs, record each meeting’s minutes. Submit the draft minutes to the COR within two business days of the event and finalize the minutes two business days after receipt of written feedback from the COR.

2.2.2.1 Post-Award Conference: Participate in a video- or teleconference with the Contracting Officer

KO and COR five business days after award. IAW FAR Subpart 42.5.

2.2.2.2 Other Post-Award Meetings: Meet with the KO, COR, and/or other Agency personnel, as appropriate, to review Contractor performance, as required by DoWEA. 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.

2.2.2.3 Kick Off Meeting: Meet with DoWEA project team to establish project governance and communication protocols with the Contractor, align their annual asset release timeline with the Agency's academic testing windows, and finalize the data integration schemas required for the third-party delivery vendor to successfully ingest the licensed assessment packages.

2.2.2.4 Project Meetings: Meet with DoWEA project team as needed to address logistical preparedness, communication, and other matters associated with successful delivery of product and service.

2.2.2.5 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC): Attend one day TAC meeting to discuss DoWEA’s assessment system and initiatives. The Contactor has the option to attend virtually or in person at no cost to the government. This will be an annual event, and specific dates will be provided by DoWEA once identified.

2.3 Performance Standards and Acceptable Quality Levels (Objectives 1 and 2)

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

2.3.2 Acceptable Quality Level: See PWS Section 7, Performance Requirement Summary.

3 CONSTRAINTS

3.1 Memorandum of Agreement (MOU): The Contractor shall comply with the Smarter Balanced Assessment

Consortium (SBAC) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), attached hereto as Addendum. However, in the event of any inconsistency, conflict, or ambiguity between the terms and conditions of this Performance

Work Statement (PWS) and the SBAC MOU, the terms and conditions of this PWS shall take precedence and govern the performance of this contract.

3.2 Place of Performance: Work shall be performed at the Contractor’s facilities.

3.3 Key Functions: The Contractor shall provide the following personnel to support the provisioning of services for this contract: Liaison; Accessibility and Accommodations Specialist, Assessment Development

Specialist, Content Specialist (for ELA/literacy and mathematics) and Assessment Implementation

Specialist. They shall be available as indicated in section 3.4.

3.3.1 Liaison: Provide a person to be responsible for the performance of work. The name of this liaison and an alternate 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.

• The liaison is responsible for submitting an annual detailed project plan to DoWEA at the start of the school year. The purpose of this plan is to clearly outline the methods and timeline the

Contractor will use to complete all contract requirements. Provide regular status updates on all aspects of the project and any constraints that put any services and deliverables at risk of completion.

• The liaison is responsible for coordinating support for the contract which would include standard consortium services plus meetings with DoWEA project team as needed.

3.3.2 Assessment Implementation Specialist, Assessment Development Specialist, Accessibility and

Accommodations Specialist, and Content Specialists: Specialists will include personnel with advanced degrees who have worked at least three years with elementary and secondary school summative assessments.

3.4 Holidays and Hours of Operation

3.4.1 The liaison shall be available during the hours of 9AM to 3PM Eastern Time (ET), 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, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.

3.4.2 Although there are different time zones throughout DoWEA, the normal business hours for the regions roughly correspond to the following: Americas, 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM (ET); Europe, 1:00 AM – 9:00

AM (ET); and Pacific, 5:00 PM – 1:00 AM (ET).

3.5 Copyrights: The Contractor shall acquire all the copyrights and permissions for all resources used in the assessments so that DoDEA can use the test items in which they appear at no additional cost.

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

3.7 Privacy—The Contractor shall:

3.7.1 User Accounts: Require, wherever applicable, that individual accounts possess unique usernames and passwords that do not require PII to access online content, i.e., first & last name and any other unique personal information.

3.7.2 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.

3.7.3 Privacy Training: Ensure Contractor staff who have access to DoDEA’s student, teacher and/or staff personally identifiable information successfully complete 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.

3.7.4 Privacy Verification: Provide the COR written verification of compliance to the Privacy requirements

(listed above) 120 calendar days prior to the expiration of each year’s contract option period or annually, as required. Note: After reviewing the Contractor’s verification, DoDEA reserves the right to ask for further verification data in order for DoDEA to comply with DoD’s evolving privacy mandates.

3.8 Section 508 Compliance—The Contractor shall:

3.8.1 Background: Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of

1998 (P.L. 105-220) requires Federal agencies that develop, procure, maintain, or use information and communication technology (ICT) to ensure they are accessible to people with disabilities. Federal employees and members of the public who have disabilities must have access to and use of information/data that is comparable to people without disabilities.

3.8.2 Requirement: Ensure that products, platforms, and services delivered as part of this work statement that are ICT or contain ICT conform to the Revised 508 Standards, 36 C.F.R. § 1194.1 & Apps. A, C & D which are located at the following URL: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule/text-of-the-standards-and-guidelines.

http://www.archives.gov/about/laws/privacy-act-1974.html

3.8.3 ARS: See the attached ICT Accessibility Requirements Statement (ARS). All functional performance criteria apply when using an alternative design or technology that achieves substantially equivalent or greater accessibility and usability by individuals with disabilities, than would be provided by conformance to one or more of the requirements in Chapters 4-6 of the Revised 508 Standards or when Chapters 4-6 do not address one or more functions of ICT. The guidance is in the table below:

Applicable

Requirements Directions

Software Features and

Components

Applies to all WCAG Level AA Success Criteria, 502 Interoperability with

Assistive Technology, and 503 Applications.

Hardware Features and

Components All requirements apply.

Support Services and

Documentation All requirements apply.

Outputs/Deliverables Ensures that outputs/deliverables do not adversely affect accessibility features of the existing EIT technologies.

3.9 Optical Character Resolution (OCR): The Contractor shall provide, upon request, two digital OCR copies of print materials in one or more of the following five 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); and Rich Text

Format (RTF)/Word document.

3.10 Sharable Content Object Reference Model® (SCORM®) Compliance: Provide digital modules, if included among the proposed/required resources, that are SCORM®-compliant. Note: The Department of War

Instruction (DoWI) 1322.26 mandates that modules comply with the latest possible version of SCORM®, per https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/132226_dodi_2017.pdf?ver=2017-

10-05-073235-400.

3.11 Data & Data Rights: All resources developed from any work awarded under this contract is and shall remain the property of the Government. The Contractor shall ensure that digital rights to all visual materials embedded in the resources will be given so that DoWEA for DoWEA’s internal use only may use resources without incurring copyright costs or infringing on copyright laws. All data developed from any work awarded under this contract is and shall remain the property of the Government.

3.12 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 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 INFORMATION / RESOURCES

None

5 CONTRACT DELIVERABLES

Milestone/Deliverable Format PWS Planned

Frequency

Submit

To

Objective 1, Consortium Membership

Task 1, Consortium Membership Digital 2.1.1 Ongoing after receipt of initial delivery order (DO)

COR and customers

Task 2, Core Asset Licensing and

Assessment Blueprints Digital 2.1.2

Ongoing after completion of kickoff meeting.

COR and customers

Milestone/Deliverable Format PWS Planned

Frequency

Submit

To

Task 3, Accessibility, Accommodations, and Universal

Design Frameworks

Digital 2.1.3 Ongoing after completion of kickoff meeting.

COR and customers

Task 4, Technical Architecture and Interoperability Packages Digital 2.1.4

Ongoing after completion of kickoff meeting.

COR and customers

Task 5, Research, Validations, and Governance Support Digital 2.1.5

Ongoing after completion of kickoff meeting.

COR and customers

Objective 2, General Requirements

Task 1, Technical Support Digital 2.2.1 Ongoing after receipt of initial DO COR or customer

Task 2, Meetings Digital 2.2.2 Ongoing after receipt of initial DO COR

Constraints

Key Functions Digital 3.2 Roles provided at post-award conference

COR

User Accounts Digital 3.6.1 Ongoing after receipt of initial DO COR

Privacy Training Digital 3.6.3 Three days after receipt of a written request

COR

Privacy Verification Digital 3.6.4 120 calendar days prior to end of contract year

COR

6 ACRONYMS and DEFINITIONS

DoWEA Department of War Education Activity

PA/PII Privacy Act/Personally Identifiable Information

Contracting Officer (KO): Only individuals with the expressed authority to obligate (bind) the Government by means of entering, administering, and terminating contracts within the limits of the authority delegated via the KO’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. CORs do not have the authority to obligate

(bind) the Government.

Contractor: Supplier or vendor contracted to provide specific supplies or services to the Government—may also be referred to as “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.

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

7 PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT SUMMARY and QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN

7.1 Performance Requirement Summary (PRS)

Performance

Objective

Performance

Standard Acceptable Quality Level

Method of

Surveillance Inspector

Objective 1, Consortium Membership with a Summative Alternate Assessment

Task 1, Consortium

Membership

Completed in required timeline

100% PWS-compliant

Review of documentation and participation

COR &

customers

Task 2, Core Asset

Licensing and

Assessment Blueprints

Completed in required timeline

100% PWS-compliant

Review of documentation and performing test administration

COR &

customers

Performance

Objective

Performance

Standard Acceptable Quality Level

Method of

Surveillance Inspector

Task 3, Accessibility, Accommodations, and

Universal Design

Frameworks

Completed in required timeline

100% PWS-compliant Use of the system and platform

COR &

customers

Task 4, Technical

Architecture and

Interoperability

Packages

Completed in required timeline 100% PWS-compliant

Use of the system and platform

COR &

customers

Task 5, Research, Validations, and

Governance Support

Completed in required timeline

Draft: 80% correct

Final: 100% correct except for possible errors in grammar and formatting

Interaction with

Contractor in development and implementation

COR &

customers

Objective 2, General Requirements

Task 1, Technical

Support

Completed in required timeline

Acknowledge receipt of request within two hours. Resolve 90% of requests in one business day.

Resolve the remaining 10% in five business days.

Normal usage of digital resources and customer complaints

COR &

customers

Task 2, Meetings Completed in required timeline

100% PWS-compliant Initial and random inspections

IT

Constraints

Key Functions

Completed in required timeline

100% PWS-compliant

Normal usage and customer complaints

COR &

customers

User Accounts

Completed in required timeline

No more than one certificate per year sent to the COR more than three business days from the date of the COR’s request for it.

Receipt of a copy of the certificate

COR &

PII

Specialist

Privacy Training

Completed in required timeline

Submitted 120 calendar days prior to the end of each contract year.

Written verification of compliance

COR &

PII

Specialist

Privacy Verification

Completed in required timeline

100% PWS-compliant

Written receipt of their roles and qualifications and of proposed changes

COR

7.2 Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP): The Government utilizes the QASP to monitor Contractor performance and may unilaterally update the QASP throughout the contract period.

Technical Exhibit #1 - TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall comply with the applicable technical requirements detailed below.

1.1 Software and Cloud Security Requirements—The Contractor shall:

1.1.1 Ensure all online resources, cloud-based services and instructional software meet Department of War

(DoW) and DoWEA cybersecurity requirements as defined below. Note: Software, cloud services and associated websites are rigorously tested to ensure no security risks are posed to DoWEA infrastructure and its users.

1.1.2 Complete the Cloud Services questionnaire that was submitted as part of the proposal submission and provide copies of and/or access to any software listed in the proposed solution.

1.1.3 Ensure its content accessible from the web is compatible with the following browser platforms: Google

Chrome, and Edge. Ensure that any applicable STIGs are implemented.

1.1.4 Provide a plan of actions and milestones (POA&M) to mitigate any cybersecurity findings resulting from non-compliant and/or vulnerable components in 30 calendar days of written notification from DoWEA.

1.1.5 Be able to meet Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) Moderate Impact standards for all proposed software/digital resources and ensure that any third-party resources that are part of its proposed solution also meet the FedRAMP Moderate Impact standard. For more information on FedRAMP, see www.fedramp.gov. Participate, if required, in interviews and deep system architecture inspections.

▪ Per DoW policy for cloud-based services, DoWEA conducts a supplemental series of validations, which closely mirror the FedRAMP Internet Cloud vetting processes. Contractor participation/cooperation is normally required to complete this process.

1.2 System Requirements—The Contractor shall:

1.2.1 Provide, per Section 1.1 (above), any software installed and/or accessed in or by a DoWEA system, network whether stand-alone or web-based, is compatible with the standards cited herein.

1.2.2 Provide minimum desktop/server system technical specifications, reference architectures, networking specifications and diagrams, and applicable systems configuration documentation for the proposed solution.

1.2.3 Provide software that is compatible with the following minimum baseline:

Specifications Minimum

Memory 4 GB

Hard Drive 100 GB

Processor Intel® Core™ i5-8365U Processor 8th Generation (up to 4.1GHz, 6MB cache) equivalent or better (Must show benchmark/passmark scores)

Video Graphics Integrated Intel HD Graphics 620 (1920x1080) equivalent or better

Operating System Windows 11

Browser Environment Chrome, Edge, Edge Chromium

1.2.4 Provide software that is completely functional on a standard DoWEA desktop without the need or requirement for administrative-level user rights and/or permissions or the requirement to use or insert external media to execute the software.

1.2.5 Provide software that does not require modifications to folder permissions while executing.

1.2.6 Provide, if applicable, software packages that support unattended installation methods used by enterprise software packaging and deployment systems.

▪ DoWEA currently distributes software packages via Microsoft’s System Center Configuration Manager

(SCCM) and Microsoft Intune.

▪ All older 16-bit software are automatically denied.

1.3 Data Management Requirements—The Contractor shall:

1.3.1 Provide a mechanism for batch administration and automation of routine data management tasks via flat file import, or representational state transfer (REST) based web service application programming interfaces

(APIs). The mechanism shall provision and manage data objects within the Contractor’s system, including but not limited to organizational structures, student accounts, staff accounts, courses, and class rosters.

1.3.2 Provide all necessary documentation and assets to facilitate batch administration and automation of routine data management tasks, including but not limited to roster template files (i.e., comma separated value templates); data element/field definitions documentation; data interchange formats and schemas (XML/

JSON); and/or data dictionaries for the purpose of mapping organizational student information system

(SIS) data to the Contractor’s required input formats.

1.3.3 Provide a single point of contact to support DoWEA in performing the required data integration activities within the Contractor’s system.

1.3.4 Configure DoWEA enterprise within its system and/or databases as the appropriate organizational entity

(i.e., region, district, school) upon a request in writing from the contracting officer’s representative (COR).

Note: DoWEA’s organization hierarchy consists of the following: one system, three regions, nine districts, 62 communities, and 161 schools, including the K-12 virtual school programs.

1.3.5 Participate in a technical meeting with DoWEA within ten business days after award for the purposes of preparing for onboarding of new services and initial configuration of administrator-level accounts.

1.3.6 Ensure the transfer of any Sensitive, Confidential data including but not limited to PII data be transferred in a secure means meeting any requirements set by DoWEA’s Chief Information Security Officer

(CISO).

1.4 DoWEA Software License Keys: The Contractor shall provide (1) license keys and electronic downloads for software required under this Contract to the COR and (2) software directly to DoWEA schools, districts, or regions only if explicitly required to do so in the contract or in writing by the COR.

1.5 Cybersecurity Supporting Elements/Requirements and Scalability—The Contractor shall:

1.5.1 Comply with the same Federal law and DoW policies and guidance to which DoWEA is subject that include but are not limited to the cybersecurity requirements defined in the following documents:

▪ DoW Directive (DoWD) 8500.01E, Information Assurance, be found at the following URL:

https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/850001_2014.pdf.

▪ DoW Security Technical Implementation Guidance (STIG), which may be found at the following

URL: https://public.cyber.mil/stigs/downloads/.

▪ DoW Risk Management Framework (DOWRMF) per DoW Instruction 8510.01, which may be found at https://www.esd.whs.mil/Portals/54/Documents/DD/issuances/dodi/851001p.pdf?ver=2019-02-

26-101520-3004.5.2.

1.5.2 Provide security patches/upgrades to include third-party applications in response to public-released security vulnerabilities associated with its software solution. Provide a POA&M for any security vulnerabilities within five business days of discovery. Software upgrades/patches shall be included in the licensing cost and be performed at the least disruptive times as determined by DoWEA in writing. Note: Any exception to this requirement must be approved in advance and in writing by DoWEA’s Chief Information Officer

(CIO) or designated official.

1.5.3 Protect DoWEA data against all cyberattacks, notifying DoWEA within 72 hours of an identified and confirmed breach/intrusion.

1.5.4 Perform security incident investigations upon identification of an event or at the request of DoWEA.

1.5.5 Address all information assurance vulnerability messages (IAVM) in the defined timelines to include IA vulnerability alerts (IAVA), IA vulnerability bulletins (IAVB), and technical advisories (TA).

1.5.6 User passwords must not be readable by anyone having access to the system.

1.5.7 Ensure any portion of its solution that involves Internet access by DoWEA students complies with the relevant requirements of the Children's Internet Protection Act, Public Law 106-554, § 1(a)(4) [Div. B, Title XVII, § 1701], Dec. 21, 2000, 114 Stat. 2763, 2763A-335. All Contractor personnel that have access or may potentially have access to DoWEA data in any form shall be US citizens. Note: If its solution does not involve Internet access by DoWEA students, please ensure the following are included:

1) Maintaining system security IAW the latest versions of the (1) DoW Cloud Computing Security

Requirements Guide, (2) Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and (3) Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).

2) Providing a solution robust enough to serve the needs of a large community of learners dispersed across the world using a variety of bandwidths and scalable to meet future growth, both in terms of instruction and the number of users. In addition, provided solutions shall be applicable to the digital learning environment of the DoWEA Virtual School.

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

1.6 Program and System Integration—The Contractor’s solution shall:

1.6.1 Provide Single Sign-On (SSO) Capabilities / Platform which (1) integrates with an Industry Standard SSO login solution. (ClassLink, Google, Azure, etc.); (2) supports Oauth 2.0, Security Assertions Markup

Language (SAML) for integration with Azure, or Google; and (3) authenticates using Azure Active Directory

(AD) or Google AD. Authenticates using Azure Active Directory (AD) or Google AD.

1.6.2. Support industry-standard data rostering standards via ClassLink and standard data formats such as

OneRoster.

1.6.3. Ensure that data storage, handling, and security meet the following minimum standards:

1) DoWEA’s information and data shall be secured in data center located in the United States.

2) The system, including its server(s) and network devices, shall be in an environmentally controlled and secure facility under controlled circumstances (e.g., using authorized personnel access lists, ID cards, entry logs, etc.).

3) All Contractor personnel that have access or may potentially have access to DoWEA data in any form shall be US citizens, including any third-party penetration (PEN)/security testers.

4) All data transit shall be secured with Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption.

5) All data at rest shall be secured with Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)-256 encryption.

1.6.4 Ensure that data integration includes the following:

1) Automated industry standard form of data integration using Representational State Transfer Application

Program Interface (RESTful API), Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), or Secure File Transfer

Protocol (SFTP) data sets (ClassLink, OneRoster, etc.).

2) Encryption of DoWEA’s data at rest to include unique encryption keys for each customer on systems hosting multiple customers.

3) Notification of DoWEA in writing within 72 hours of any changes made to corporate policies for data protection.

4) Use of only masked student data in a non-production environment.

5) Integration scheduling that meets DoWEA’s required timeframes.

6) Provision of fully automated data uploads per Agency schedule(s) and Agency requirements.

7) Support of SFTP capabilities using a single set of login credentials.

8) Provision of a single data set of DoWEA information. Note: The Contractor’s solution shall support

DoWEA at all levels: school, community, district, region, and system/state.

9) Maintenance of a backup and restore plan for DoWEA data in the event of a disaster.

10) Provision of detailed feedback of what caused errors if an integration transmission results in errors.

1.6.5 System Features—The system shall:

1) Allow user accounts to be created automatically based on a file provided by DoWEA either nightly or on another pre-determined scheduled feed.

2) Allow DoWEA to be able to choose the format of user login identification, e.g., an email address, and be able to create manual accounts, if needed.

3) Require the user—for manually created accounts—to reset the password on the user’s initial login or, upon request, a password reset.