PWS_LASPS_-_Draft_as_of_2019125.pdf

January 15, 2018 Amend 3

Performance Work Statement (PWS) For

Defense Acquisition University (DAU) Foundational Learning Directorate (FLD)

Learning Assets and Systems Program Support (LASPS)

Task Order Type: Hybrid (Time and Materials & Firm Fixed Price)

1.0 BACKGROUND

The Defense Acquisition University (DAU), located at Fort Belvoir (Virginia), coordinates the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition education and training program to meet the training and performance support requirements for over 163,000 military and civilian personnel serving in acquisition positions worldwide. Through its dispersed campus, the DAU provides a full range of basic, intermediate, and advanced courses to support the career goals and professional development of the acquisition workforce. Further, the entire Federal Government’s workforce, defense industry partners, and foreign acquisition professionals use DAU’s learning and training materials.

DAU’s mission is to provide a global learning environment to develop qualified acquisition, requirements, and contingency professionals who deliver and sustain effective and affordable warfighting capabilities This overarching construct, when operational, addresses multiple aspects of the mission, including certification and career advancement training, continuous learning, performance support, knowledge dissemination, and research and analysis of Defense acquisition policy issues.

There are several program areas (Acquisition and Program Management; Engineering and Technology, Information Technology (IT); Production, Quality and Manufacturing (PQM);

Engineering (ENG), Science and Technology Manager (STM); and Test and Evaluation (T&E);

Contracting, Industrial Property, Purchasing, Small Business, and Contacting Officer Representative; Business, Cost Estimating, and Financial Management; and Logistics and Sustainment) that make up the DAU curriculum. There are 15 Acquisition and Sustainment (A&S) workforce career fields. With the exception of the Auditing Career field, for which training is provided and managed by the Defense Contract Auditing Institute, these career fields were grouped in to the program areas to facilitate the effective management of all learning assets development within DAU. A description of each of the program area and courses are available in the DAU catalog (http://icatalog.dau.mil/).

DAU executes the development and delivery of products and services across the enterprise through the Acquisition Learning Model (ALM). The ALM consists of three primary areas, including

• Formal Certification and Continuous Learning

• Workflow Learning through Job Support Tools & Knowledge Sharing

• Performance Learning through mission-specific consulting

DRAFT

http://icatalog.dau.mil/

Training courses offered at DAU were established as a result of Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA), which identifies — by career field and certification level — education, training, and experience requirements for all DoD A&S workforce members. DAU assets are accessible to all workforce members anytime, anywhere. Currently, two formal training components of the ALM (training and continuous learning) pertinent to this task order are described below.

• Training – DAU offers over 100 online and classroom certification, assignment-specific, and executive/leadership courses with case-based instruction aimed at developing critical thinkers. More than 1,200 course offerings are delivered yearly in a classroom setting at one of seven regional campuses, 10 satellite locations, College of Contract Management, Defense Systems Management College-School of Program Managers (DSMC-SPM), or via the Internet. Courses are also taught at customer sites. Course offerings are listed at http://icatalog.dau.mil/onlinecatalog/tabnav.aspx.

• Online Learning – DAU offers online learning opportunities designed to help employees maintain currency and meet the DoD requirement to complete 80 Continuous Learning Points every two years. At the end of FY 2018, the DAU included over 245 self-paced online learning modules (OLTs) and 750,000 module graduates per year, which address topics important to the DoD A&S community.

DAU continually modernizes learning assets, performs process improvement activities, and increases its delivery capabilities to improve effectiveness and efficiency to ensure its training is congruent with the policy, mission, and occupational needs of the community it serves.

DAU’s Foundational Learning Directorate (FLD) is responsible for supporting DAU business units in designing, developing, implementing, and sustaining learning solutions through the use of subject matter expertise, adult learning theory and learning technologies. FLD also manages the DAU learning development and delivery systems and faculty performance development.

For FY 18, the summary metrics pertinent to this requirement are provided below:

• Produced 191,957 course graduates (44,180 classroom and 147,777 online)

• Presented 5,370,120 course hours of DAWIA training (2,419,552 classroom and

2,950,568 online)

• Facilitated 3,320,314 continuous learning hours with 722,659 continuous learning module completions

• Hosted 116,260 registered users of the Acquisition Community Connection who made

84,448 knowledge contributions during 111,451 contact hours

• Enabled 19.3 million Defense Acquisition Portal page views and 6.85 million Acquisition

Community Connection page views

Please review the DAU Website: http://www.dau.mil/ for a greater perspective on DAU. In particular, review DAU’s Strategic Plan in determining DAU’s path of current and future operations.

http://www.dau.mil/

The development process between online and instructor-led training contain minor distinctions, but they all comply with DAU Directives. The directives ensure that all of DAU’s learning assets and systems, regardless of delivery method, meet relevant, high-quality, and effective training standards and that DAU responds to its key stakeholders.

In the case of the virtual instructor-led training (VILT), interaction between/among students and the instructor is central to the design of the courses. These facilitated, real-time virtual courses are currently administered through the Blackboard Learning Management System (LMS) and include opportunities for faculty-student interaction and a discussion board for threaded asynchronous discussions, announcements, and team subgroups.

DAU has deployed a new LMS, Cornerstone On Demand (CSOD), in FY18. With the deployment of the new LMS, the learning assets categories will changed to online training (OLT) (previous DLs and CLs), Instructor Lead Training (ILT) and Virtual ILT (VILT). In all cases, instructors interact with students by providing feedback on progress, assessments, and assignments to ensure students are achieving learning objectives. DAU uses multiple development environments and collaborative tools. These include, but are not limited to Development and Revision Tool (DART – Composica), Adobe Suite/Dreamweaver, and Blackboard content system. DAU provides access to contractors for enterprise level tools/systems such as DART and Blackboard.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

DAU seeks dynamic team leadership to support the mission and respond to ongoing changes to the world-class learning assets, systems and processes. The primary objectives for this task order are to obtain contractor expertise to:

1. Provide program management support that includes proper tracking, data analysis, reporting, and continual process improvement.

2. Provide independent learning asset verification and validation support

3. Provide learning asset sustainment support

4. Provide implementation, maintenance, operation and sustainment support (e.g.

learning systems operations support, training, business process reengineering, system testing, etc.) of the DAU integrated learning systems environment to meet customer learning and support needs.

5. Provide administrative expertise

6. Provide expertise on special projects in response to emerging requirements, innovations for learning assets, expectations, trends, and technologies that support learning and business assets development and delivery across all DAU mission areas.

3.0 SCOPE

The scope of this effort requires the contractor to provide the following support to the DAU

FLD:

a. Program Management (PM) support

b. Learning Asset Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) (including 508 compliance accessibility) and asset sustainment support and review support

c. DAU learning systems implementation, maintenance, operations and sustainment support (e.g. Composica, Blackboard, CSOD)

d. Executive Administration support

e. Learning Assets Development and Sustainment Support

f. Transition Plan and Execution

4.0 TASK REQUIREMENTS

4.1 Program Management (PM) Support (Firm Fixed Price-FFP)

4.1.1 Management Activities

The contractor shall provide all necessary personnel, material, administrative, financial, and managerial resources necessary for the support of this task order including projects tracking, data analysis, reporting, and recommendations. The contractor shall proactively support DAU in the monitoring of assigned tasks, milestones, and deliverables. The contractor shall report on schedule, cost, GFE/GFI and performance risk areas to the appropriate DAU personnel, and report potential risk events promptly, as well as make recommendations for continual process improvements. The contractor shall provide deliverables and documentation to the Government sufficient for the Government to understand, track, and evaluate all effort of this order.

The Government reserves the right to request project plans for specific individual task assignments as appropriate. Those individual task assignment project plans shall include the pertinent cost, schedule, performance milestones, and deliverables for the project. When individual task assignment plans are required, a request will be sent via email from the DAU COR to the contractor’s Task Order Manager. The contractor shall provide the individual project plan within seven (7) calendar days after the Government’s request. The plan shall be finalized via mutual agreement of the parties following review to include any Government suggested revisions. Final acceptance of the plan shall be provided by the DAU COR via email to the contractor’s Task Order Manager with a copy to Contracting Officer (CO). The Contractor shall be responsible for performing in strict accordance with all accepted project plans.

The contractor shall, as needed, meet with DAU personnel to assess task order requirements and when requested provide work statements, and a formal level of effort to meet said requirements.

The contractor shall ensure that priorities for assigned tasks are coordinated with DAU production managers, operations manager; and where conflicts arise, brought to the attention of DAU program manager.

As requested by the government, the contractor shall provide an individual task assignment project plan for each project that shall include the appropriate cost, schedule, performance milestones, and deliverables.

The contractor shall advise and provide innovative solutions, in consultation with DAU, on the latest trends and developments in learning development and delivery, learning tools and technologies, business processes, and best practices.

4.1.2 Kick-Off Meeting

The contractor shall participate in a Government-scheduled Kick-Off Meeting after task order award within 10 days of the award. Key personnel shall participate in the Kick-Off Meeting.

The purpose of this Kick-Off Meeting is to (1) aid both the Government and contractor personnel in achieving a clear and mutual understanding of all requirements, and achievable deliverables within funding constraints; and (2) identify and resolve potential problems. The contractor shall be prepared to discuss any issues requiring clarification and gather information necessary for the Project Management Plan and Transition Plan.

The Kick-Off Meeting shall include, but not be limited to, the following topics:

• Task Order Overview

• Program Review

• IV&V of learning assets

• Operations and Systems Support

• Existing and Planned Applications and Technical Initiative

• Business Management (contracting and financial matters)

• Personnel and Physical Security Issues

The contractor shall begin preparation of a Transition Plan and Project Management Plan immediately following successful completion of the Kick-Off Meeting.

4.1.3 Project Management Plan

The contractor shall develop and maintain, throughout the task order period of performance, a Project Management Plan (PMP) that shall be used as a foundation for information and resource management planning. The contractor shall deliver the final PMP to the Government within 45 calendar days (21 days draft) after Task Order award.

The PMP shall include, but need not be limited to, the following:

• Status of current and planned tasks and subtasks

• Base schedule overlaid with actual schedules, for each task

• Project Organization

• Project Transition Processes and Schedule

• Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Process Management and Control

• Overall Organizational Structure

• Project Responsibilities to include process flowcharts for all major tasks

• Task dependencies and interrelationships

• Contractor personnel assignments and duration (Staffing Plan)

• Deliverables (draft, interim, final, etc.)

• Contingency Plans (where appropriate)

• Contractor travel information

• Quality Control plan

• Risk Management plan

• Subcontract Management (organization of personnel, software and hardware)

• Monitoring mechanisms including Program Metrics

• Automated Tools, Techniques, and Methods

The contractor shall keep the PMP up-to-date, ensure it is accessible electronically at any time, and be prepared to brief any PMP content to the Government at short notice (within 24 hours).

The project management plan shall be updated as required, and reviewed semi-annually in conjunction with In Progress Reviews (IPRs). The Government reserves the right to request project plans for specific individual task assignments as appropriate. The PMP shall be used as a foundation for the Status Report.

4.1.4 Task Level Management

For Task areas 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, and 4.5, as requirements come up, DAU will provide the contractor, or the contractor may be asked to capture, articulated requirements into a tasking document. The Government will issue this requirement as a Technical Direction Letter (TDL) that defines the project scope, objectives, desired outcomes, and timeframes for completion of the work.

Within seven (7) business days after receipt of the TDL, the Contractor shall create and submit a Level of Effort/Project Plan defining the approach to the work defined in the TDL. The Contractor’s Project Plan shall detail:

a. Methods to be used to complete the work.

b. Tasks and activities to be undertaken to complete the work consistent with the scope of the Government's TDL.

c. Cost estimate/spend plan showing specific resources to be used and effort to be applied to the work on the basis of the labor mix established in the Contractor's successful price proposal for this task order.

d. Schedule and milestones for completing the work in required timeframes.

e. Deliverables to be produced with corresponding due dates listed on the Schedule.

Reporting methods for communicating project status and progress information to stakeholders shall be incorporated into the Monthly Status Report per PWS 4.1.6 and be reflected in the Invoice as individual project line items so they can be tracked.

The Contractor shall submit a Draft Project Plan to DAU for review and shall incorporate changes to the plan based on DAU comments. The Contractor shall not proceed with performance until DAU has reviewed and approved the Final Project Plan.

4.1.5. In-Progress Reviews (IPRs)

In addition to the specific deliverables and associated reviews listed, the contractor shall schedule, organize and present In-Progress Reviews (IPRs), not less than semi-annually, during the period of performance of the order. The method of presentation shall be in the contractor’s project plan. The objectives of these reviews are to track progress of the project, present ideas for improvement, and identify and resolve issues.

The contractor shall submit to the DAU COR an "Action Item Report" fifteen (15) calendar days after the meeting has taken place that documents what was agreed to by the Government and contractor; and what the contractor is doing to resolve outstanding issues. Recommended changes to the Task Order to improve service or reduce costs that result from IPRs, shall be made in writing and submitted separately to the COR and Contracting Officer. However, no such proposed changes shall become a part of the Task Order, except by written modification of the Task Order by the Contracting Officer.

The IPRs shall also include a performance review. The contractor shall support and participate in this task order performance evaluation conducted by the Government. The contractor shall present the following at each review:

• Data collected from the contractor’s continuous evaluation of the various DAU programs being supported by the task order using benchmarks and metrics designed to improve the program’s quality, capture user-satisfaction, and cost effectiveness

• Results from Quality Control assessment, including information on "lessons learned"

• Review of all products and milestones to verify effectiveness and timeliness

• A report of contractor recommendations to the Government on changes to the Task Order for improving the overall quality of the DAU Learning Asset Development program, including recommendations made during the performance period to the Government regarding changes that would likely result in/has resulted in improved management and/or service.

4.1.6 Monthly Status Report (MSR)

The contractor shall provide monthly project status reports to track project status, issues, and progress. The contractor shall include, at a minimum, the following information in the project status report:

• Overall status of services and capabilities, including financial status (hours, personnel, and costs against CLINs/tasks). CLINs/tasks shall be divided into tasks/sub-tasks as directed by the government.

• Billing and accounting reports to include, for labor hours items, hours worked by labor category and staff person for the reporting period, and for reimbursable travel costs to identify the appropriate travel approval/trip report as well as the actual costs.

• Reports of any trips taken during the reporting period.

• All reports of financial status and charges shall clearly map to invoices, including travel and other direct costs.

• Progress during the reporting period with respect to performance metrics.

• A graphic with a spread sheet as data showing predicted and actual running monthly expenditures over the period of the task.

• Status of tasks.

• Status of Funds by major task item (and task assignments) as applicable.

• Planned support activities and status of all products/working papers, including planned delivery date and actual and/or anticipated delivery date, if applicable.

• Reflect any new projects (e.g. special projects) initiated during the month of the performance period.

• Potential Risk Areas and Risk Events: Identification of any risk areas or events (including problem notification reports), outstanding issues or any occurrence that may impact cost, schedule, or performance and recommendations as to their resolution concerning the problems submitted during the interim, plus any corrective action that was taken (or should be taken) to correct identified risks.

• Proposed recommendations for improvements/enhancements to service, technical capabilities, management procedures, etc. as appropriate.

• Adjunct reports such as activity reports and technical reports and logs, shall be supplied as supplements.

• Signature spaces for the DAU PMs and the contractor.

• The contractor shall electronically submit the MSR to the Contracting Officer and DAU

COR each month with their monthly invoice by the 15th of the month through DAU system.

4.1.7 Contractor Quality Control Plan

The contractor shall provide a Quality Assurance Control Plan (QCP) describing how they plan to ensure the quality of performance and deliverables. The QCP shall also describe the contractor’s approach to cost and schedule management of all tasks for this Task Order. The contractor shall update their QCP on a semi-annual basis to account for any performance issues that arise under the Task Order. All updates shall be provided to the Government for review.

4.1.8 Risk Management Plan

The contractor shall employ a comprehensive and proven risk management approach and employ a formal Risk Management Plan (RMP) that details (a) a routine and regular process involving both the contractor and the Government program staff to identify, analyze, prioritize and detail appropriate and agreed upon responses to the highest priority risks and (b) the work products that result from performance of the process. The format for the risk management plan shall follow the DoD risk management guidelines.

4.1.9 Problem Notification Report (PNR)

The contractor shall submit a Problem Notification Report (PNR) to the DAU COR and CO within 24 hours of the contractor encountering a problem or risk event that significantly impacts the cost, schedule, or performance of the task order (or any deliverable or project under the task order). See below for a PNR template. All PNRs must be tracked in the monthly status report (MSR) and through in-progress reviews (IPRs) until the Government agrees they are resolved.

The PNR shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

1. Nature and sources of problem:

2. COR was verbally notified on: (date)

3. Is action required by the Government? Yes or No

4. If YES, describe Government action required and date required:

5. Will problem impact delivery schedule? Yes or No

6. If YES, identify what deliverables will be affected and extent of delay:

7. Can required delivery be brought back on schedule? Yes or No

8. Describe corrective action needed to resolve problems:

9. When will corrective action be completed?

10. Is increase cost to the Government anticipated? Yes or No

4.2 Learning Asset IV&V and Sustainment Support (FFP)

The focus of this task is for the contractor to provide 1) independent validation and verification (IV&V) support associated with new development, maintenance, and major revision across the DAU portfolio of learning assets, and 2) maintenance of existing learning assets.

DAU requires IV&V and sustainment tasks with the following labor categories/skill sets: Senior Level QA Specialist, Middle Level QA Specialist, Senior Level Training Specialist/Instructional Systems Designer, Middle Level Training Specialist/Instructional Systems Designer, Web Designer/Application Programmer, Senior Level QA Specialist and Middle Level QA Specialist.

For, maintenance, the contractor shall provide expertise in the support, course updates and improvement related to learning asset IV&V, delivery, and sustainment.

The DAU designs, delivers and maintains a large portfolio of learning assets that include formal and informal training products such as certification courses (OLTs, ILTs, VLTs), job support tools, videos, podcasts, and various other training aids in web-based and document forms through the DAU learning management systems (LMSs) and websites. This portfolio of learning assets grows continually through the analysis and development efforts in-house and contracted out. In addition, the learning assets are reviewed on a regular basis for revisions and maintenance. Reference the DAU icatalog for the number and types of course (online/classroom) offerings at http://icatalog.dau.mil/onlinecatalog/tabnav.aspx.

http://icatalog.dau.mil/onlinecatalog/tabnav.aspx

For IV&V, the contractor shall provide, at minimum, the following:

• Technical support for primarily OLTs, ILTs, VILTs, but may expand to other assets as

DAU mission and environment changes. This includes loading and testing assets in the DAU integrated learning system.

• Document reports of issues (as appropriate), recommend alternatives to correct the identified issues in the assets or systems they are to be delivered from, and (as necessary), collaborate with other contractors to resolve the issues.

The contractor shall conduct IV&V activities of assigned learning assets in accordance with DAU procedures and standards. The contractor shall identify and implement improvements in the quality assurance process that ensures the learning asset content, design, technical and functional requirements are met. The contractor shall document the conformance level identified in the review as well as provide consultation to DAU internal/external customers on how to modify products to meet conformance standards. Online products require review of Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)-conformant learning assets developed in DART and other tools (as approved by DAU) to ensure the 1.) Learning object technology conforms with the DAU Learning management system (LMS) operational requirements and the latest approved SCORM specification as implemented by DAU and DAU specifications and management procedure, and are 2.) Section 508 compliant - and documented in a report submitted to DAU.

Reviews include, at a minimum, name/number of the asset reviewed, reviewer name, date conducted, procedures followed, and specific feedback. NOTE: DAU recommends www.section508.gov/content/learn and www.w3.org/WAI/ for more information.

The contractor shall comply with all federal laws, regulations and industry standards as identified in the DAU development guides and technical specification standards, and develop associated standards as necessary. For example:

• The design, development, and testing of SCORM-conformant learning assets using DART (Composica – development tool) and other tools as approved by DAU toward development and testing of learning assets to ensure conformance to the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM).

• Application of the latest accessibility and compliance standards (e.g. Section 508) to DAU developed learning assets. Note - All assets, whether developed or hosted by DAU go through 508 compliance validation before deployment.

The contractor shall identify and remediate defective learning products stemming from IV&V reviews, Tier II reporting, and other DAU sources, including change requests submitted by DAU faculty to maintain learning assets currency. For example, graphic updates, audio and video files updates, creation of print files, 508 updates, template updates, etc.

Work submitted by other vendors will be sent back to appropriate contractor for corrective action. If necessary, any proprietary tools needed to assist in any corrective action would require DAU approval.

The contractor shall maintain configuration management, archiving responsibilities, and retirement activities of learning assets. The contractor shall provide support and expertise toward

DRAFT

http://www.section508.gov/content/learn http://www.w3.org/WAI/ continual improvement of standards, tools and workflows associated with effectively managing this function.

The contractor shall conduct inventory assessment on existing documentation to identify current state and any missing documentation that is essential to conducting V&V and sustainment operations. The assessment shall be submitted 60 days after task order award, and reported on a quarterly basis.

The contractor shall conduct data analysis, report on system and learning asset trends, and provide corrective action recommendations. The contractor shall report on systemic and specific learning asset issues on a monthly basis.

The contractor shall provide learning assets issues tracking and resolution, as well as configuration management. The contractor shall support the tracking and reporting of performance metrics for all learning assets with respect to number of rework and other metrics.

DAU uses various tools to collect learner feedback. This section is referencing the contractor responsibilities to track performance metrics related to rework of courseware changes due to contractor defect.

Historical IV&V Data FY16 244 learning assets FY17 191 learning assets FY18 187 learning assets

Historical Maintenance & Sustainment Data

FY16 83 courses ranging from minor change request (CR) fixes to major revision/development

FY17 121 courses ranging from minor CR fixes to major revision/development

FY18 144 courses, ranging from simple CR fixes to complex revision/new development

DAU anticipates a 20% increase above FY18 figures through FY20, and stable thereafter.

4.3 Learning Asset Systems Upgrade, New System Implementation, Operations, and

Maintenance Support (FFP)

The contractor shall provide support for the upgrade, implementation, operation, and maintenance of the DAU integrated learning environment’s assets development and delivery systems. At time of release of this PWS, the learning design and delivery systems/tools include the CSOD learning management system, Blackboard learning and content system, the Development and Revision Tool (DART)-Composica, and the courseware change request (CR) tool. The DAU environment includes operational support of Cornerstone On Demand (CSOD) learning management system, and the future organizational selection of systems and tools that meet the current needs of the DAU learning ecosystem.

4.3.1 Operations Support

The contractor shall provide support for the learning asset systems implementation, maintenance, operations and sustainment activities of the learning systems that support the DAU learning ecosystem. Specifically in the areas of learning asset development (e.g. courseware development tools) and learning asset delivery (e.g. learning management systems). The contractor shall maintain up-to-date operations documents on current LMS functionality (including likely future enhancements) from the viewpoint of each different user perspective—student, faculty, etc. The contractor shall conduct a yearly inventory assessment on existing documentation to identify current state and any missing documentation that is essential to operations. The assessment (and proposed modifications and updates) shall be submitted 60 days after task order award and reported at a minimum on a yearly basis and additionally as needed.

The contractor shall provide Tier II support for all tickets escalated from the DAU Help Desk (Tier 1 – operated by government and external support personnel) and other DAU stakeholders.

Support includes reviewing the nature of the ticket, assessing whether an issue is due to system problems, learning asset specific, customer side organization related (e.g. Navy/Marine Corp Intranet blockage of a plug-in or upgrade of a plug-in), or other variables and either restoring service by resolving the issue or providing a work-around. If the issue cannot be resolved or a work-around provided, the contractor shall then route ticket(s) to appropriate tier III Government personnel for further action.

The contractor shall use the DAU electronic support system (ESS), currently BMC Footprints Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) tool, to track all issues submitted to Tier II and respond within metric parameter established within established service level agreements (SLAs). The contractor shall provide support in mining and analyzing the DAU ESS data for trends (e.g. did the source of issues for a customer happen during the time a set of learning assets or system upgrades were deployed).

The contractor shall follow DAU established workflows and escalation procedures. As an example, Appendices E and F provide examples of typical tier II workflow for courseware related issues and data for FY16-FY18 on tickets escalated from Tier I to Tier II. During the FY18 calendar year there were approximately 1,600 ticket escalations from Tier I to Tier II.

The contractor shall maintain all assigned Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) documentation and associated workflows, maintain configuration management, and make updates a minimum of once a year, more frequently depending on the nature of the changes required.

The contractor shall provide continuous support of the systems by providing a Tier II technical support interface between Tier I help desk, faculty, staff, learning asset developers, system managers, and system contractors when directed. This support shall include the following tasks:

• Provide training on system functions.

• Adjust account privileges and roles.

• Upload and test learning products (e.g. courses, continuous learning modules, new types of learning assets as identified).

• Conduct testing and system upgrade support.

• Maintain and update, as tasked, information assurance (IA) documents (e.g. system, architecture, technical, and operational view diagrams).

• Develop, and/or update test plans, use cases and test scripts (as required).

• Conduct unit, sub-system functional, and/or full system, end-to-end, interface, user acceptance, and regression testing.

• Analyze, triage, and track defects.

• Design and develop, or update, training materials (e.g. manuals, micro videos, frequently asked questions, and Knowledge based articles for ESS) on an as needed basis.

For operations reporting, the contractor shall provide the following support:

1. Support report requests and changes to existing reports and dashboard

2. Ensure Quality Control metrics are monitored monthly and submitted as part of the MSR.

To accomplish the operations support tasks described in this section (4.3.1), the contractor must provide resources specific to Help Desk operations, Composica (DART) Specific Support, and Special needs within the entire LMS operations realm (e.g. emerging requirements like Mission Assistance support, Hosting courseware in LMS, expanding operational expectations, new technology testing, etc.)

Support for operations and Tier II support is expected Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. -5 p.m. EST onsite.

4.3.2 Business Analytics SharePoint (SP) Support (Optional) (Firm Fixed Price) The contractor will perform the following tasks:

• Analyze the business units (BU) and centers organization, design and implement internal and external sites and subsites to support the BU needs and needs of its customers

• Execute day-to-day support and maintenance of the site/ subsites

• Implements approved design and workflows

• Create and maintain system documentation such as Standard Operating Procedures

(SOPs) for managing the sites/ subsites, Site development documents, and configuration management control

• Train the BU in the use of SP, SOP, and document management process

• Perform and coordinate QA and testing of the SP sites

• Collaborate with internal resources to ensure streamlined with proper standards and branding guidelines

• Maintain configuration control of SP sites and subsites

• Coordinate with IT on use of standard templates, configurations, and customizations

4.3.3 Business Intelligence (BI) Analysis, Data Visualization Development, Report Writing, and Report Building Support (Optional) (Firm Fixed Price) The contractor will perform the following tasks:

• Support PRM in the development and interpretation of requirements for DAU reporting and visualizations.

• Maintain inventory and configuration management on existing and newly developed visualizations, metrics, applications, QVDs, and reports, collectively referred to as “BI assets”.

• For new development or changes to BI assets, test, manage, and track the collection of comments and approvals from the SMEs/Business process owners and manage the release of approved BI assets into the production environment.

• Analyze and provide recommendations on the organizational structure and delivery methods of the production BI assets.

• Manage, configure, and track the associated roles, permissions, and data governance associated with the BI assets.

• Develop work instructions or training materials on how to access and use BI assets.

• Lead any remaining analysis or refinement of the requirements definition of a business intelligence project to capture the needs of DAU stakeholders. Lead or participate with DAU’s technical business intelligence team to create the extraction, transformation, and loading of the data into the data warehouse or ODS.

• Either upon migration of system data into the data warehouse or ODS or the direct loading of data by the analyst, lead in the preparation/development of dashboards, reports, and other BI assets to present this information to the end users. Stakeholders and systems include Scheduling and Student Services (SSS), DAU Business Center (BC), Financial Management (FM), Faculty and Staff, and other DAU and DoD customers.

• Work with PRM SMEs on the development and refinement of BI assets to support current business intelligence operations at DAU.

• Create and manage documentation and data such as data dictionary report/ dashboard master, and data structures in the tools

• Test and evaluate alternative solutions, recommend changes, and implement approved changes/ solutions

• For BI assets, interview and capture requirements from system user stakeholders for business intelligence and reporting needs

• Develop requirements definition of an ODS and business intelligence project to capture the system stakeholders

• Develop reports for the systems utilizing SSRS or other similar reporting tool

• QA and test BI assets s, make corrections

• Create, maintain, and update the system BI assets as required by stakeholders

• Configure, manage, and test the roles and permissions on the system reports and dashboards

• Develop BI assets using DAU’s software tools

• Training on the usage, execution, development, design, and modification of BI assets

• Attend annual Qlik User Conference (OPTIONAL – Covered under Travel CLIN)

4.3.4 Systems Testing Support & PRM Business Analytics & Systems Support (Optional) (Firm Fixed Price)

4.3.4.1 Systems Testing Support

The contractor will perform the following tasks:

Test Planning – DAU requires contractor to assist DAU in generating a detailed User Acceptance Test Plan that covers version upgrades and/ or enhancements to or the addition or deletion of automated business processes

• Review existing Test Plan(s) and identify gaps, as well as, provide recommendations for improvement

• Assist DAU in planning & coordinating test resources and activities

• Configure ESS/ Footprints for collecting and managing system defects

Test Script Identification and Generation – For each upgrade or change in the system or process, DAU will estimate based on the requirements the approximate number of test scripts to be generated and executed during User Acceptance Testing for each version roll out. Test Scripts will need to test business requirements (which may include Section 508 compliance), data conversion, product customizations and interfaces with other systems. Specifically, DAU requires the vendor to:

• Assist DAU with determining what test scripts are needed to fully test the requirements during Quality Assurance and User Acceptance Testing

• Draft initial set of test scripts to be used for User Acceptance Testing

• Review test scripts with functional SMEs

• Finalize test scripts based on feedback from SMEs

• Generate scripts and map scripts to System Requirements to ensure all requirements are fully tested

• Create test data as appropriate

User Acceptance Testing Execution Support – In support of version upgrades or changes, DAU requires the vendor to:

• Execute UAT test scripts.

• Appropriately document & categorize issues using the DAU designated tool and reporting appropriately.

• Coordinate resolution with system owner.

• Coordinate the retesting of issues identified.

• Coordinate and participate in End to End testing of the interfaces.

• Perform regression testing.

• Perform ad-hoc (non-scripted) testing.

• Participate in end to end, day in the life testing.

• Update DAU ESS bug tracker with identified defects.

• Work with system owners, 3rd party vendors, and users to triage defects.

4.3.4.2 PRM Business Analytics & Systems Support

The contractor will perform the following tasks:

• Analyze DAU processes for automation.

• Assist in gathering and developing requirements.

• Document To-Be and As-Is process flows and maintaining their currency.

• Document and review system documentation and standard operating procedures (SOP) for accuracy and currency.

• Work with system users and developers to design automated flows or assess changes required due to changes in other processes or system upgrades.

• Support the systems help desk:

o Bringing them under the DAU enterprise tier 1 umbrella o Use of DAU enterprise tool ESS/ Footprints o Responding to user inquiries

• Test and evaluate alternative solutions, recommend changes, and implement approved changes/solutions

Experience

• Proficiency with interviewing and documenting requirements

• Proficiency in communicating business requirements into technical requirements

• Proficiency in documenting system functionality and processes

• Experience with Appian Business Process Modeling tool and Qlik BI tool, preferred

4.3.5 System Integrator Support (Optional)

The contractor will provide resource that will be responsible for the management and coordination of a) Integrations within and between in-house developers and third parties for the purpose of functional optimization of DAU’s registration and other administrative systems, and

b) Data within and between DAUs enterprise Business Intelligence (BI) tool set in support of DAU’s mission.

The following key task areas and activities are expected to support this requirement:

Provides Subject Matter Expertise (SME) in the systems used by DAU for Integrated

Learning Environment, Student Registration System, Transcripts, Grades, Business

Center, Finance & Budgeting systems, DAU and AT&L data warehouse including database structures, use of data for reporting, and system integrations with other internal and external systems.

Leads the strategy, plans development, and implements new or changes to integrations within or between systems listed in the first bullet to in-house and external custom and/or COTS systems, including such systems as DoD Human Resource systems, DAU identity management systems, and other Component systems.

Provides SME support to ensure data is available and accessible on the DAU enterprise BI and Data Visualization tool set.

Provides SME support, develops appropriate documents, and configures systems relative to data governance within and between systems and the DAU data warehouse including systems roles and permissions, application, and data infrastructure.

Designs ETL processes and develops source to target data mappings. Reviews ETL processes, and recommends optimizations processes and maintenance, and ensures implementation is completed according to schedule.

Ensures the definition and implementation of infrastructure service level agreements required for solution development and implementation.

Assesses system and system technical documents and propose recommendations to Program Manager for best practices for ease of Maintenance and Functional use for integrations and BI tool.

Develops system integration documents such as SRS, SDD, ICDs, Test Readiness Reviews (TRRs), and others in accordance with AT&L Life Cycle Management system.

Develops level of efforts for systems, integration, web service tasks, and data refresh such as development, testing, and documentation of the web service.

Leads the testing of systems, integration, and web service including writing use cases, developing scripts and testing the systems.

Supports the testing process by tracking all bugs / defects (excluding those relating to portal development); working with Functional Leads, Functional Analysts and other subject matter experts to prioritize their resolution; and overseeing the resolution process.

Works with the Data Conversion and Data Refresh manager to ensure proper conversion of data and refresh from legacy systems, data warehouse, or other source data systems.

Manages and ensures the resolution of system, integration / interface / data conversion and reporting team risks, issues and problems.

Reviews all work performed / delivered by team members and vendors (including Functional Analysts and other SMEs assigned to support integration activities).

Understands and documents interface architecture and tools as well as configuration and data conversion target schemas and tools.

Updates integration / interface documentation to reflect specification changes as result of testing / deployment activities. Maintains configuration control of all integrations documentation and configurations.

Provides systems analyst expertise to support identification of defective and/or inefficient processes, system maintenance and implementation of enhancements to the systems by:

developing and documenting “as is” and “to be” processes or environments, developing methodologies to highlight issues, developing and conducting software training, planning and conducting process review meetings.

Reviews and analyzes help desk data to identify system and training issues; perform data quality analysis to support ongoing efforts to modernize the student registration and management systems.

Works closely with and act as a liaison to DAU Business Units, the military services and 4th estate acquisition career management organizations, and 3rd parties in documenting SLAs, standard operating processes, service interface agreements, data integration support, resolving system problems, and disseminating system information.

Manages operations and maintenance of the system governance, roles and permissions, system integrations including triaging and prioritizing error logs, working with others to resolve, and maintaining configuration management.

Manages System Change Requests (SCR) and error code maintenance and remediation for interfaces including analysis and recommendation of path forward. Documents changes, and conducts periodic tests and audits.

Provides status reports to the Project Manager and to develop and update project plans in MS Project and include resource estimates.

Develops project plans for upgrades and changes. Maintain and monitor project schedule and action items which require coordination or input. Coordinates with appropriate offices/ personnel to maintain status and assure timely task completion. Maintain task log, checks for compliance with original tasking and identify problem areas.

Prepares documents using MS Excel, MS Word, MS Project, MS PowerPoint and MS Visio. Works with large amounts of data, importing & exporting data, using csv files, data transfers; maps out complex systems interface documentations, workflows; prepares use cases, test scripts, and runs tests; and identifies potential root causes, develops and manages project plans for remediation and enhancements.

Prepares and maintains graphical representations, documentation, including data dictionaries and definitions and configuration management of system interconnections between the DAU internal systems such as datamart, BI tool, ATLAS, STARS, Blackboard, etc. and external systems such as ATRRS, DCPDS and DTS as DAU continues to maintain and evolve its systems and moves into future development stages.

Supports system administration, develops end-user reports, develops metrics to measure quality of the data, and identifies problem areas.

Prepares and maintains system/operational documentation for system processes and review processes and recommend improvement.

Tests system functionality and interconnections as features become available or after periods of system maintenance.

Assists departments in understanding system functions and processes, and provides guidance in business process or interface redesign.

Tests and evaluates alternative solutions, recommend changes, and implement approved changes/ solutions.

4.3.6 System Upgrades and New Implementation (Firm Fixed Price) In FY18 a new learning management system (LMS) replaced the legacy system (For example, replacement of Blackboard). The new LMS is a cloud-based solution that DAU will not customize. Future upgrades and implementations may occur as DAU continues to look at changes to the business and learning ecosystem, new integrations with Legacy Systems, Integrations with new systems, and/or significantly enhanced systems for improvements to such capabilities as security protocols, usability, mobile application, and business intelligence. For these types of projects, the contractor shall provide the following support:

1. Provide general administration support to and participate as a member of the assigned implementation team.

2. Act as a liaison to other campus departments in providing production support, resolving system problems, and disseminating system information.

3. Prepare and maintain project/system documentation and presentation materials in various modalities (enterprise tool, MS Office applications, etc).

4. Support implementation team in administrative tasks such as: scheduling, meeting organization, tracking and managing action items, and developing and updating project/system documents.

5. Provide analysis on data and management issues to provide background information, materials, and recommendations as needed for comparative analysis and decision making on diverse issues affecting the project.

6. Maintain and monitor project action items which require coordination or input.

Coordinate with appropriate offices to maintain status and assure timely task completion.

Maintain task log, checks for compliance with original tasking and identify problem areas.

7. Attend meetings with project team, takes notes, and disseminates to other attendees clarifying task requirements, leads, and due dates.

8. Develop reports, presentations, and/or proposals for internal and/or external audiences.

Formally transfers technical or administrative knowledge to others through writing…