FEMA_RFI_HSFE90-14-I-0018_Attachment_A_TSA_SOO.pdf

Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) Program Statement of Objectives

Procurement Sensitive

1. Description

The FEMA Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) program provides eligible individuals or family survivors of Presidential Declared disasters or emergencies temporary sheltering through a lodging provider participating in the Program. The length of stay is based on the TSA Program guidelines with the cost of the room and taxes paid to the lodging property by FEMA. The authority for this program is under Section 403, 42 U.S.C. 5170b and Section 502, 42 U.S.C. 5192, Category B, Emergency Protective Measures of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster relief and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended.

2. Scope

Upon the Presidential declaration of a major disaster involving an anticipated displacement, under the Interim Policy, Transitional Sheltering Assistance for Displaced Individuals and Households Program DAP9443.2;

Transitional Sheltering Assistance (TSA) is intended to provide short-term lodging to those residents from identified areas who cannot return to their homes for an extended period of time, (i.e., 5-14 days with a potential extension of 30 days but not to exceed 6 months from the date of declaration) because their community is uninhabitable or their home is inaccessible.

The TSA transitional sheltering strategy is to provide short term sheltering accommodations for disaster/emergency survivors within twenty four hours of the TSA program activation. The assistance is provided until such time as the authorities advise that it is safe to return or until other temporary housing can be provided to them.

FEMA Requires the TSA Lodging management contractor to quickly secure accommodations for people displaced by disasters or emergencies under CFR 44, 206 Subpart D Federal Assistance to Individuals and Households 206.117 Housing Assistance. The accommodations will encompass the full range of safe, secure lodging/housing for individuals, families, and pets and be in a wide variety of locations. The outcome of this support will also provide safe, affordable lodging/housing in a cost-effective manner.

The contractor shall provide a secure website for access to the accommodations secured as part of this contract with multiple access points available by user role.

3. Objectives

3.1. Eligible Survivors Database

The contractor shall maintain a database of eligible survivor information to support the National Emergency Management Information System (NEMIS) interface and database requirements is necessary for the TSA program’s administration and data exchange process. Refer to Attachment #1 – JADE and TSA Contractor Interface Control Document

This component, accessible by FEMA, shall include protected survivor administrative TSA data and eligibility information accessible by FEMA.

Data requirements are populated into the FEMA NEMIS system and shall have real time updating capability of the survivor’s records in NEMIS and in the website.

Total number of nights, lodging dates (even if not concurrent) and bill amount is needed.

The contractor shall be required to maintain password controlled access for FEMA usage to retrieve reports and edit individual records exported to the contractor.

FEMA shall have edit rights over individual record eligibility dates and additional room authorizations. This would not be accessible by the public.

The contractor shall provide technical feedback and advice to FEMA on system modifications to both the National Emergency Management Information System (NEMIS) and the contractor’s system to improve coordination and data sharing between the agency and the contractor.

The FEMA user shall have the ability to enter custom extension dates (extensions of less than 2 weeks).

The system shall record the most recent extension end date.

The system shall record number of rooms currently occupied as well as the number of currently checked-in survivors.

The system shall allow reporting on Eligibility codes for TSA, TSA Reimbursement, and payments made to a 3rd party on an applicant’s behalf.

The system shall allow, on rare occasions, a registration to be manually added to the system upon

FEMA Headquarters approval.

3.2. Direct Pay to Hotels and/or Applicants

The contractor shall implement a direct pay process in which payments can be made to an approved lodging provider on behalf of FEMA for eligible guest stays or directly to the applicant. Direct pay will use the current maximum lodging per diem rate for the lodging locality as identified by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).

3.2.1. The contractor shall establish data connectivity with NEMIS to populate the following:

Application Update (i.e. change the Item name to lodging property, a denial code) See list of Denial

Codes Start and end dates for billing and payment purposes Update survivor name, DOB, last 4 numbers of SSN Authorized Status (Y/N) Limit a survivor’s eligibility to a specific lodging property Authorize food allowance or additional funds for kitchenette room (for use on rare occasions) should catastrophic disaster related circumstances require this assistance Authorize pet deposit Adjust number of eligible rooms TSA Reimbursement directly to an applicant

FEMA staff will see a specific denial code provided by FEMA and assigned by the contractor.

NEMIS should display the code and sub code (i.e. code V4 for hotel reported dates as inaccurate, or D3 for date range invalid) used when TSA Reimbursement is implemented.

These codes will be provided by FEMA and assigned by the contractor. Multiple denial codes can be applied to a single receipt.

3.3. Data Export (Contractor to FEMA). Refer to Attachment #1 – JADE and TSA Contractor Interface Control Document.

The data export from the contractor to FEMA needs to be configurable to occur every fifteen minutes.

Data export should include applicant level information for hotel stay and billing.

Data export should include a separate data file for hotel data.

Data should be exported in format that is able to update NEMIS.

Data export should include applicant level data per stay for reimbursement including denial reason.

Name, address, city, state, zip code and phone number

3.5 Lodging Recruitment

3.3.1. The contractor shall identify and recruit prospective lodging properties that provide safe and secure lodging for disaster survivors.

3.3.2. The contractor shall develop a recruitment plan for heightened disaster activity as well as preparatory/on-going recruitment efforts.

3.3.3. All interested lodging partners must certify their facility is licensed, registered and in compliance with the industry standards for lodging properties.

All lodging partners are encouraged to comply with the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of

1990 and register for the Hotel-Motel National Master List at http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/hotel/

3.3.4. The contractor shall develop a method to validate the following:

The physical presence and business type legitimacy of the lodging provider Guest occupancy of TSA eligible applicants to ensure check-out is accurate Suitable lodging verifications including, but not limited to the following amenities: beds, heat, chairs, cleanliness, phone lines, phones, internet service, security measures, locking doors, and clearly identified type of restroom facilities (i.e. private or shared)

Acceptable invoicing and payment arrangements for individual lodging properties to reduce the risk of fraud

3.3.5. Activity shall be required to solicit new hotels to participate in the Transitional Sheltering Assistance program and verify continued participation of existing hotels. The contractor shall report all hotel solicitation activity within five days of request from FEMA in a mutually agreed upon format including the following solicitation stipulations:

New Lodging Properties Identify and attempt no fewer than 5 outbound calls to 500 hotel properties that have not signed up to participate in the program Provide the name and location of contacted hotels Provide the context of the hotel’s responses Count calls as complete following 5 unsuccessful calls to establish contact

Existing Lodging Properties Identify and attempt no fewer than 5 outbound calls to 100 hotel properties with an existing

ELA Account to verify continued participation, or not, and update the hotels online status.

Provide the name and location of contacted hotels.

Provide the context of the exchange with the hotel.

Count calls as complete following 5 unsuccessful calls to establish contact http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/hotel/

3.6 Hotel/Motel Participation and Administration

Upon notification from FEMA, the contractor shall notify national hotel chains and other lodging properties in the area of FEMA’s intent to activate Transitional Sheltering Assistance and to be prepared to accept eligible disaster survivors.

The contractor shall provide the lodging properties with contact information regarding how to register and participate in the Transitional Sheltering Assistance Program. To ensure maximum participation, a variety of communication methods shall be used (email, fax, internet, website, etc.).

The contractor shall provide FEMA with a complete list of properties and room availability when TSA is activated.

The contractor shall request each participating lodging property submit invoices on a minimum 30 day billing cycle for TSA eligible room charges.

FEMA will provide the TSA designated geographic area at the time of activation. Within 7 days of activation, the contractor shall demonstrate evidence that 90% of the lodging properties within the identified geographic area have been contacted.

The contractor shall establish and maintain a fully equipped Emergency Lodging Support Center that is available to lodging providers.

Support Center staff shall be available by a toll free number, internet access and email support on a 24/7 basis or as determined by program implementation need.

The support center shall be fully operational within 24 hours of FEMA’s TSA activation.

Within 7 days of TSA activation the contractor’s support center will be staffed with appropriately trained and equipped representatives to answer 90% of all inbound calls within 15 minutes.

Operating hours may be re-evaluated during decreased volume periods.

The contractor is required to support 25,000 room transactions within three (3) days and 100,000 room transactions within fourteen (14) days for CONUS supported disasters. The contractor shall maintain support of peak volumes of room transactions of up to 100,000 rooms per night for an average of 90 days. For OCONUS TSA activations the contractor will establish a FEMA approved specific service level for each of the OCONUS States and US Territories.

FEMA’s TSA eligibility for individual survivors may extend up to six months, or as identified by the Assistant Administrator of FEMA’s Individual Assistance Recovery Directorate.

3.4. Public Facing Component

The contractor shall provide a public facing website containing an up-to-date list of TSA participating hotels in Contiguous United States (CONUS) and Outside the Contiguous United States (OCONUS). Individual eligible applicants shall be able to easily access a user-friendly landing page to search for appropriate lodging providers and specific amenities such as ADA accommodations, pet friendly properties, and other amenities.

3.4.1. The website will contain a list of TSA participating hotels with vacancy status updated in increments of fifteen minutes to an hour to allow all systems to replicate and ensure secure data transfer. Real time replication is preferred.

3.4.2. The public facing website shall be capable of supporting 3,750 concurrent users.

3.4.3. The font size will meet the standards set forth by FEMA, work with assisted technology, and be 508 compliant.

3.4.4. The site shall have a user-friendly landing page and navigation. The landing page shall include search function instructions, the FEMA Helpline number, and a link to access TSA Eligibility information on www.disasterassistance.gov.

3.4.4.1. Search functions shall include:

The location of the identified participating lodging properties pinpointed on a mapping application Driving directions to desired lodging property An administrative means to limit search capability to specific geographical areas per disaster

3.4.4.2. The site search capabilities of the website will include these filtering options:

City State Zip Code Hotel Name Radius Search by 10-25-50-100 mile radius options

3.4.4.3. The site search capabilities of the website will include these filtering amenities if available:

Pets allowed yes/no ADA accommodations Link to hotel website address National website link An indicator of vacancy with the number and type of rooms available or no vacancy

3.4.4.4. The site search will return the following data for every hotel:

Hotel name Hotel Phone number Hotel City, State, Street Address and Zip Code Hotel Status; Accepting/Not Accepting Guests

4. Reporting

Reporting capability and responsibility will be shared between FEMA and the contractor. The contractor shall supply required data to be utilized in FEMA report development as described in the Data Exports section, Attachment #1 – JADE and TSA Contractor Interface Control Document and/or as specified at the time of implementation for each TSA activation.

Reports may include:

http://www.disasterassistance.gov/

Daily Tracking of Checked Out and Checked In (not possible without above changes to update check–in and check-out dates in timely fashion) The import from the contractor must contain contractor the date of update to their records. The contractor import record shall contain date of update for accurate accountability for currently checked in applicants.

Checked in by hotel county

Performance of a new TSA disaster compared to TSA Gustav-Ike

Counts of applicant reasons for ineligibility for extension per scrub (for easier data pulls, would include adding a field to the tables for ineligible reason-otherwise, it involves sorting through scrub files)

Count of registrations ever checked in and amount spent total and per disaster by county

Currently Checked In

Hotel Information for applicants who were not extended

Hurricane <insert name> FEMA Hotel Assistance Report (Complete weekly report with counts of extended or not extended by reason)

Participating Hotel information to include name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number, unique identification code, room quantity by size(e.g. one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom, etc) and amenities (e.g. kitchenette, ADA equipped, pets allowed)

Monthly report on expired checks. The contractor will have 30 days from that report to reissue new checks to hotels and have them cashed or return the funds to Smart Link.

Hotel Availability Report - available to FEMA on an ADHOC basis prior to and throughout Hurricane

Season (May - November)

Audit reports shall be provided on an as-needed basis. It is expected that from three to five reports for audit purposes will be requested for any disaster where TSA is implemented

5. Security

The contractor shall identify SFTP ability, and will comply with all applicable Federal, Department of Homeland Security, and FEMA information Systems and related laws, regulations, policies, and procedures including: (1) Capital Planning and Investment controls; (2) Enterprise Architecture; (3) Cyber Security; and (4) Project Management and any other reporting requirements requested by FEMA.

The contractor will develop and operate a system of records covered by the Privacy Act, to ensure information is secured and treated accordingly, as referenced in Clause 52.224-1, Privacy Act Notification, and 52.224-2, Privacy Act.

5.1. Confidentiality of Information

The Contractor shall be given access to sensitive or proprietary business, technical, or financial information belonging to the Government or other companies. The Contractor shall, after receipt thereof, treat such information as confidential and not appropriate such information to its own use or disclose such information to third parties unless specifically authorized by the Contracting Officer in writing. The foregoing obligations, however, shall not apply to information that:

At the time of receipt by the Contractor, is in the public domain Is published by others after receipt thereof by the Contractor or otherwise becomes part of the public domain through no fault of the Contractor.

The Contractor can demonstrate was already in its possession at the time of receipt thereof and was not acquired directly or indirectly from the Government or other companies.

The Contractor can demonstrate was received by it from a third party that did not require the

Contractor to hold it in confidence.

The Contractor shall obtain from each employee permitted access a written non –disclosure agreement, in a form satisfactory to the Contracting Officer, that he/she will not discuss, divulge or disclose any such information or data to any person or entity except those persons within the Contractor’s organization or the Government directly concerned with the performance of the Task Order.

6. Payment Management

An account will be established by FEMA in the SmartLink Payment Management System in accordance with Financial Management Services, a Division of Payment Management of Health & Human Services. The Contractor will be able to withdraw funds according to prescribed SmartLink procedures and as implemented by FEMA.

The Contractor shall submit a weekly Invoice Report to the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). This report will outline the funds withdrawn weekly from the Health and Human Services (HHS) SmartLink account.

The Invoice Report shall contain, at a minimum, the following fields in a Microsoft Excel format:

Invoice date Invoice number Number of room nights invoiced by disaster Invoice total by disaster Room taxes and lodging fees by disaster Average cost per room by disaster Total room nights invoiced Total Smartlink draw amount (The Smartlink amount shall be added to the import record. This will provide the ability to identify per diem amount, hotel charge to survivor, and the amount FEMA reimburses.)

The Survivor Record report shall contain, at a minimum, the following fields in a Microsoft Excel format:

Invoice date Hotel name

Hotel city Hotel state Disaster number Survivor registration number Survivor first name Survivor middle name or initial Survivor last name Date pay from Date pay through Paid amount Nights for records calculation Survivor’s qualification end date

The Contractor shall submit administrative fee invoices to FEMA on a monthly billing cycle. The invoice shall include the total amount and costs of services provided in addition to the cumulative administrative fee costs to date for the reporting performance period.

The Contractor shall establish a non-interest bearing account at a bank of its choosing. This account will allow the Contractor to draw down funds from the HHS SmartLink account to cover disbursements. Smartlink Funds shall not be comingled with company funds. Under no circumstances shall the Contractor draw against the HHS SmartLink account for the purpose of paying itself, any affiliate, subcontractor or agent, except as provided herein. Funds expended through the HHS SmartLink account will be subject authorization review.

7. Quality Management Plan

The Contractor shall establish, document, implement and maintain a quality control and assurance system. The Contractor shall provide a written quality control plan for approval by the Contract Officer Representative within 6 months of task order award that includes:

Identifying the processes needed for the quality management system; its’ components, and application.

The sequence and interaction of these processes The criteria and methods needed to ensure that both the operation and control of the verification process is effective.

Ensures the availability of resources and information necessary to support the operation and monitoring of the verification process.

Describes a quality-monitoring plan that will provide FEMA evidence that a continual quality verification program is in place.

Reports the effectiveness of the quality management system through the use of the quality policy, quality objectives, analysis of data, corrective actions, preventive actions and management review.

8. Applicable Documents

Documents applicable to this program are listed below:

Individual Identity Verification and Authentication Support Services JADE-TSA Contractor ICD (Attachment 1) DHS 4300A Sensitive System Handbook 4300A Version 6.1 or later (Attachment 2) in regards to security policies and accreditation Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002; Title II Subtitle B, of the Homeland Security Act

(Attachment 3) describing PCII procedures INTERIM SENSITIVE SECURITY INFORMATION (SSI) (Attachment 4) Policies and Procedures for Safeguarding and Control of SSI, as defined in Title 49, CFR part 1520 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-NIST Special Publication 800-63 Electronic

Authentication Guideline (Attachment 5)

9. Accessibility Requirements (Section 508)

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220) requires that when Federal agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology (EIT), they must ensure that it is accessible to people with disabilities. Federal employees and members of the public who have disabilities must have equal access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that enjoyed by non-disabled Federal employees and members of the public.

All EIT deliverables within this work statement shall comply with the applicable technical and functional performance criteria of Section 508 unless exempt. Specifically, the following applicable EIT accessibility standards have been identified:

Section 508 Applicable EIT Accessibility Standards

36 CFR 1194.21 Software Applications and Operating Systems, applies to all EIT software applications and operating systems procured or developed under this work statement including but not limited to GOTS and COTS software. In addition, this standard is to be applied to Web-based applications when needed to fulfill the functional performance criteria. This standard also applies to some Web based applications as described within 36 CFR 1194.22.

36 CFR 1194.22 Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications, applies to all Web-based deliverables, including documentation and reports procured or developed under this work statement. When any Web application uses a dynamic (non-static) interface, embeds custom user control(s), embeds video or multimedia, uses proprietary or technical approaches such as, but not limited to, Flash or Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) then 1194.21 Software standards also apply to fulfill functional performance criteria.

36 CFR 1194.24 Video and Multimedia Products, applies to all video and multimedia products that are procured or developed under this work statement. Any video or multimedia presentation shall also comply with the software standards (1194.21) when the presentation is through the use of a Web or Software application interface having user controls available.

36 CFR 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria, applies to all EIT deliverables regardless of delivery method. All EIT deliverable shall use technical standards, regardless of technology, to fulfill the functional performance criteria.

36 CFR 1194.41 Information Documentation and Support applies to all documents, reports, as well as help and support services. To ensure that documents and reports fulfill the required 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria, they shall comply with the technical standard associated with Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications at a minimum. In addition, any help or support provided in this work statement that offer telephone support, such as, but not limited to, a help desk shall have the ability to transmit and receive messages using TTY.

Section 508 Applicable Exceptions Exceptions for this work statement have been determined by DHS and only the exceptions described herein may be applied. Any request for additional exceptions shall be sent to the COTR and determination will be made in accordance with DHS MD 4010.2. DHS has identified the following exceptions that may apply: 36 CFR 1194.3(b) Incidental to Contract, all EIT that is exclusively owned and used by the contractor to fulfill this work statement does not require compliance with Section 508. This exception does not apply to any EIT deliverable, service or item that will be used by any Federal employee(s) or member(s) of the public. This exception only applies to those contractors assigned to fulfill the obligations of this work statement and for the purposes of this requirement, are not considered members of the public.

Section 508 Compliance Requirements 36 CFR 1194.2(b) (COTS/GOTS products), When procuring a product, each agency shall procure products which comply with the provisions in this part when such products are available in the commercial marketplace or when such products are developed in response to a Government solicitation. Agencies cannot claim a product as a whole is not commercially available because no product in the marketplace meets all the standards. If products are commercially available that meets some but not all of the standards, the agency must procure the product that best meets the standards. When applying this standard, all procurements of EIT shall have documentation of market research that identify a list of products or services that first meet the agency business needs, and from that list of products or services, an analysis that the selected product met more of the accessibility requirements than the non-selected products as required by FAR 39.2. Any selection of a product or service that meets less accessibility standards due to a significant difficulty or expense shall only be permitted under an undue burden claim and requires authorization from the DHS Office of Accessible Systems and Technology (OAST) in accordance with DHS MD 4010.2.

10. DHS Enterprise Architecture Compliance

All solutions and services shall meet DHS Enterprise Architecture policies, standards, and procedures.

Specifically, the contractor shall comply with the following HLS EA requirements:

All developed solutions and requirements shall be compliant with the HLS EA.

All IT hardware and software shall be compliant with the HLS EA Technical Reference Model

(TRM) Standards and Products Profile.

Description information for all data assets, information exchanges and data standards, whether adopted or developed, shall be submitted to the Enterprise Data Management Office (EDMO) for review, approval and insertion into the DHS Data Reference Model and Enterprise Architecture Information Repository.

Development of data assets, information exchanges and data standards will comply with the DHS Data Management Policy MD 103-01 and all data-related artifacts will be developed and validated according to DHS data management architectural guidelines.

Applicability of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) to DHS-related components (networks, infrastructure, and applications) specific to individual acquisitions shall be in accordance with the DHS Enterprise Architecture (per OMB Memorandum M-05-22, August 2, 2005) regardless of whether the acquisition is for modification, upgrade, or replacement. All EA-related component acquisitions shall be IPv6 compliant as defined in the U.S. Government Version 6 (USGv6) Profile (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 500-267) and the corresponding declarations of conformance defined in the USGv6 Test Program.

11. Place of Performance

The primary work location will be the Contractor’s place of business, inclusive of emergency/disaster locations where Contractor’s physical presence/representation may be required (e.g. emergency situations where electronic communication channels are disrupted).

12. Government-furnished Property

There is no requirement to provide Government Furnished Property and is not applicable to this contract.