Performance_Work_Statement_MSR012.pdf

Amendment 1 Attachment 1

HSCG23-15-R-MSR012

TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND RESEARCH SUPPORT

SERVICES FOR THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

OFFICE OF STANDARDS EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

1.0 GENERAL.

1.1 SCOPE. The purpose of this PWS is to obtain technical writing and documentation, administrative, and research services in support of the United States Coast Guard Office of Standards Evaluation and Development. The Contractor’s tasks include assisting the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in the drafting, editing, and documentation for all stages of USCG standards development and regulatory action documents. To a lesser extent, the Contractor shall provide general regulatory research in support of Executive Orders (EO) 12866 and 13563 for regulatory development standards, Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) burden analysis, Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) small entity analysis, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental impact assessments. This research will include basic internet and information research, spreadsheet manipulation of industry population and cost data, literature searches, and the documentation of the analytical and technical findings.

The Contractor will assist with projects included in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (see PWS 2.2) or related to other USCG regulations. Related projects can be new regulations or projects in support of the USCG’s regulatory program.

1.2 BACKGROUND. The Office of Standards Evaluation and Development (CG-REG) is under the Standards Directorate (CG-5PS) for the USCG Assistant Commandant for Policy and Planning (CG-5). CG-REG supports CG-5's development of marine safety, security, and environmental regulations. CG-REG develops these regulations based on consultation with the Office of Regulations and Administrative Law (CG-0943) and subject matter experts, the Marine Safety and Security Council (MSSC), the maritime industry, international organizations, and other government entities. Most of these regulations originate from mandates and directives from Congress and the President, or are the result of negotiations by the government at the United Nation’s International Maritime Organization (IMO).

CG-REG provides expert advice on regulatory process requirements, optimum development strategies, dissemination of policy and public information, and problem resolution. CG-REG represents the USCG before a variety of public and private organizations. CG-REG manages development of most regulatory projects within the USCG, identifying necessary regulatory projects, establishing goals for their development, and managing available resources. CG-REG is the Office tasked with developing, documenting and issuing regulatory development analyses in accordance with EOs 12866 and 13563, PRA burden analysis associated with collections of information, RFA small entity analysis, and NEPA environmental impact assessments, for rulemakings. The range of support that CG-REG provides depends upon the requirements of each individual project. Projects can consist of any combination of the following: technical writing; project management (subject matter intensive); regulatory development (strategy development and coordination of rulemaking activities); economic, environmental, technical and data analysis; research; and administrative support.

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Historically, drafting, editing and documentation (technical writing) tasks have been approximately 80% of Contractor tasking with research and other technical analysis encompassing about 20% of the tasking.

2.0 REQUIREMENTS. (Historically, CG-REG has 75 individual rulemaking projects each year)

2.1 DOCUMENTATION AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT SERVICES.

The Contractor shall provide technical writing documentation and administrative support to the USCG, including, writing, editing, data processing, note-taking, and filing and processing regulatory documents.

2.1.1 The Contractor shall provide technical writing documentation, editing, and research support in the drafting and editing of various documents for regulatory actions. Examples of regulatory actions include: advance notices of proposed rulemaking, notices of proposed rulemaking, interim rules, final rules, in-house studies, congressional reports and memoranda, concept papers, and work plans.

2.1.1.1 The Contractor shall prepare documents for submission to the Federal Register. The Contractor shall use plain English to draft simple and easy to understand documents when drafting or editing regulatory documents for the Federal Register, as promoted by the 1998 Presidential Memoranda Plain Language in Government Writing. The Contractor shall use proper formatting and grammar as outlined in the latest Federal Register Document Drafting Handbook and the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual.

2.1.2 The Contractor shall provide administrative support services for CG-REG. This is to support CG-REG in maintaining the administrative record for rulemaking as required by the Administrative Procedure Act. This includes maintaining physical and digital regulatory documents such as regulatory text, preambles, and economic and environmental supporting documents. Examples of administrative support services include: data entry, proofreading, copying, collating, assembling, mailing, filing, and formatting publications and documents supporting the USCG regulatory program.

2.1.2.1 The Contractor shall support with developing formal electronic presentations regarding documents found in 2.1.1 for CG-REG utilizing Microsoft (MS) Power Point. This requirement is served in briefing other offices or at public meetings on a rulemaking. It is strictly performed as an as needed capacity depending on the project and shall not exceed more than 4 or 5 electronic presentations a month.

2.1.2.2 The Contractor shall maintain and update the CG-REG reference library.

2.1.2.3 The Contractor shall support the USCG in preparing documentation, editing, and correspondence for various annual steering and advisory committee meetings that provide input to current and future USCG regulatory actions.

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2.1.2.4 The Contractor shall be responsible for the preparation of material (e.g., documents discussed in 2.1.1) for inclusion on CG-REG website.

2.1.2.4.1 The Contractor shall submit website changes to CG-REG for concurrence and uploading to the website. This includes uploading of regulatory documents and updating office information such as a staff registry.

2.2 RESEARCH AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT SERVICES.

The Contractor shall support the USCG in the general research in support of regulatory analysis of the costs, benefits, and other impacts, as defined by EOs 12866 and 13563, including NEPA-related environmental assessments.

2.2.1 The Contractor shall perform research in support of assessments and studies on regulations, the marine industry, and environmental and economic impacts and issues. This support encompasses assisting USCG offices associated with rulemakings and shall be performed under the authority and guidance of applicable laws and regulations.

2.2.1.1 The Contractor shall perform research in support of initial regulatory flexibility analyses and final regulatory flexibility analyses under the authority and guidance of the Regulatory Flexibility Act as amended in 1996 by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) and EO 13272.

2.2.1.2 The Contractor shall perform research in support of Collection of Information (COI) and paperwork burden analysis. This support shall be performed under the authority and guidance of the Paperwork Reduction Act as amended and amplified in 5 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1320 and as published in 53 FR 1618.

2.2.1.3 The Contractor shall research, identify and provide recommendations for the documentation of Regulatory Assessments (RAs) and evaluations to support the promulgation of marine safety, security and the environmental protection regulatory actions.

2.2.1.3.1 The Contractor shall support the USCG in support of regulatory assessment of costs and benefits of regulatory actions. This support shall involve general research, such as, basic internet searches, spreadsheet manipulation of industry population and cost data, literature searches, and the documentation of the analytical findings.

2.2.1.4 The Contractor shall provide support to the USCG in the research and documentation of environmental analyses in accordance with the NEPA.

2.2.1.5 The Contractor shall support the USCG in support of maritime related research for the development and submittal of standards in accordance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-119, the International Standards Organization (ISO), and the IMO.

2.2.1.6 The Contractor shall support the USCG for economic and environmental analysis of USCG data from the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) data system.

HSCG23-15-R-MSR012

2.2.1.7 The Contractor shall provide the USCG on-site Information Technology (IT) support and support in using its performance measurement process through creating and maintaining an electronic library of rulemaking records, compiling information from program databases, and tracking progress of required tasks. CG-REG is currently using a system of Microsoft Project Server and SharePoint for these purposes. These systems replace the MS-Explorer folder system and migration is ongoing. Performance measurement will allow real-time management and regulatory development team visibility of tasks and their progress, as well as collaboration capabilities.

3.0 GOVERNMENT TERMS & DEFINITIONS.

3.1 CGHQ – Coast Guard Headquarters

3.2 COR – Contracting Officer’s Representative

3.3 CG-0943 – U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Administrative law

3.4 CG-REG – U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Standards Evaluation and Development

3.5 CG-REG-1 – U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Standards Evaluation and Development, Standards Evaluation and Analysis Division

3.6 DHS – Department of Homeland Security

3.7 EO – Executive Order

3.8 MISLE – Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (database system)

3.9 MSSC – Marine Safety and Security Council

3.10 NEPA – National Environmental Policy Act

3.11 OMB – Office of Management and Budget

3.12 TPM – Technical Program Managers: Two (2) Government employees designated by CG- REG and CG-0943.

4.0 ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS

4.1 POST-AWARD ORIENTATION. The Contractor shall attend a post-award orientation with the Contracting Officer and the COR not later than (NLT) seven (7) business days after the date of award. The purpose of the post-award orientation, which will be chaired by the Contracting Officer, is to discuss technical and contracting objectives of this PWS and review the Contractor's project plan. The post-award orientation may be held at the Government’s facility, or may be accomplished via teleconference.

4.2 PROJECT PLAN. The Contractor shall provide a draft Project Plan at the Kick-Off Meeting for Government review and comment. The Contractor shall provide a final Project Plan to the COR not later than five (5) business days after the Kick-Off Meeting or receipt of Government comments.

HSCG23-15-R-MSR012

4.3 MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORTS. The PM shall provide a monthly progress report to the COR via electronic mail no later than the 15th of each month. The report shall include an assessment of technical progress, schedule status, travel conducted, and any Contractor concerns or recommendations for the previous month’s period. The monthly report shall also include an electronic list of documents contract staff have worked on that have been sent to DHS for clearance at the end of each month.

5.0 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED RESOURCES AND INFORMATION.

5.1 Government Furnished Resources. The Government will provide workspace, equipment and supplies necessary to complete the on-site portion of the work.

5.2 Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan. The Contractor shall utilize the USCG list of regulatory projects from the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions and as approved by the MSSC as a tool for planning purposes.

The current Unified Agenda is accessible at http://www.reginfo.gov. Find the Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan section located in the top & center of this website and click on “Current and Past Agendas and Plans and How to Use Them”. Find the Current Agenda Agency Regulatory Entries pull-down menu and select Department of Homeland Security and click on Submit. The resulting list serves as the DHS Agenda list. Scroll down or sort the entries until “DHS/USCG” appears in the left hand column of Agenda entries. This is the beginning of the Coast Guard Agenda entries, which serves as a publicly available list of regulatory projects.

6.0 CONTRACTOR FURNISHED PROPERTY. The Contractor shall furnish all facilities, materials, equipment and services necessary to fulfill the requirements of this PWS except as noted in section 5.0.

7.0 REFERENCES.

7.1 Federal Register Style Manual

7.2 Federal Register Document Drafting Handbook

7.3 Government Printing Office Style Manual

7.4 Regulatory Development and Review, USCG HQINST M16703.1

7.5 Executive Order 12866

7.6 International Standards Organization

7.7 Office of Management and Budget: Circular A-4, "Regulatory Analysis"

7.8 Office of Management and Budget: Circular A-119, " Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Standards" http://www.reginfo.gov/

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7.9 Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S. Code; as amended)

7.10 Small Business Administration: “A Guide for Government Agencies: How to Comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act”

7.11 Executive Order 13272

7.12 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Procedures and Policy for Considering Environmental Impacts, COMDTINST M16475.1C, U.S Coast Guard

7.13 Strunk and White Elements of Style

7.14 U.S. Code Annotated (USCA), Title 46

7.15 Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions website:

http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain

7.16 Executive Order 13563—Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, January 18, 2011 (http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain;jsessionid=738403EF086F62B6A6666CD559 D5906F?operation=OPERATION_GET_AGENCY_RULE_LIST&currentPub=true&agencyCo de=&showStage=active&agencyCd=1600&Image58.x=25&Image58.y=16) http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain;jsessionid=738403EF086F62B6A6666CD559D5906F?operation=OPERATION_GET_AGENCY_RULE_LIST&currentPub=true&agencyCode=&showStage=active&agencyCd=1600&Image58.x=25&Image58.y=16 http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain;jsessionid=738403EF086F62B6A6666CD559D5906F?operation=OPERATION_GET_AGENCY_RULE_LIST&currentPub=true&agencyCode=&showStage=active&agencyCd=1600&Image58.x=25&Image58.y=16 http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain;jsessionid=738403EF086F62B6A6666CD559D5906F?operation=OPERATION_GET_AGENCY_RULE_LIST&currentPub=true&agencyCode=&showStage=active&agencyCd=1600&Image58.x=25&Image58.y=16

8.0 DELIVERABLES.

ITEM PWS DELIVERABLE / EVENT DUE BY

1 4.1 Post-Award Orientation

Not later than seven (7) business days after award.

2 4.2 Draft Contractor Project Plan

Kick-Off Meeting.

3 4.2 Final Contractor Project Plan

Not later than five (5) business days after receipt of Government review.

4 4.3 Monthly Progress Reports Not later than the 15th of each month.

5 4.3 Monthly Update On Rules Sent To DHS For Clearance. Not later than the 10th of each month.

6 2.1.1 Regulatory Actions Document Preparation

IAW Regulatory Development Project Schedule (see PWS 7.15)

7 2.2.1.1 Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

IAW Regulatory Development Project Schedule (see PWS 7.15)

8 2.2.1.1 Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

IAW Regulatory Development Project Schedule (see PWS 7.15)

9 2.2.1.2 COI and paperwork burden analysis support

IAW Regulatory Development Project Schedule (see PWS 7.15)

10 2.2.1.3 RA recommendations IAW Regulatory Development Project Schedule (see PWS 7.15)

9.0 PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY (PRS).

The PRS table below reflects deliverables considered by the USCG to be most important for successful performance of this PWS. This includes the expected standards of performance and Positive and Negative Incentives for not meeting those standards. Government will establish a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) that is not part of this PWS, in order, to monitor PRS items described in the table below.

SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND RESEARCH SUPPORT SERVICES FOR

THE USCG OFFICE OF STANDARDS EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Objectives Required Service Performance Standard Positive or Negative Incentives

1. Timely receipt of documents, submittal of deliverables

Provide all documents IAW timelines set in Section 8.0 of this PWS.

Contractor shall be responsible for furnishing prompt responses of less than one hour for informational and clarification requests of submitted deliverables on an ongoing basis

100% on time delivery of documents.

Exceeding standards of performance may result in a rating of Exceptional for Schedule on Contractor’s annual past performance assessment.

If deliverables are late, acceptance of Contractor’s invoice may be delayed causing payment to be delayed.

Recurring schedule variance may jeopardize the exercise of remaining options.

HSCG23-15-R-MSR012

SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND RESEARCH SUPPORT SERVICES FOR

THE USCG OFFICE OF STANDARDS EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Objectives Required Service Performance Standard Positive or Negative Incentives

2. Quality Deliverables.

Contractor shall quality deliverables. This is a key element of Contractor performance that substantively contributes to successful outcome of project

(PWS 2.0)

Deliverables shall be free of typographical errors and misspellings. No more than one inconsistency will be permitted per deliverable.

All deliverables must comply with PWS section 7.0 “References” to be accepted.

Exceeding standards of performance may result in a rating of Exceptional for Quality on Contractor’s annual past performance assessment.

If deliverables requires correction, acceptance of Contractor’s invoice may be delayed causing payment to be delayed (deliverables will not be accepted if the government official has to return the deliverable to the contractor more than twice for revisions).

Recurring poor quality may jeopardize the exercise of remaining options.