RFP Attachment 1 LRC_PWS.doc

ATTACHMENT #1

Learning Resource Center Library Services, National Emergency Training Center

U.S. Fire Administration

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

1. Overview. The LRC is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FEMA, US Fire Administration (USFA). Within USFA, the LRC is found in the National Fire Programs Directorate, Prevention and Information Branch. While the LRC’s primary mission is to provide library and information services to the NETC staff and students, it has also evolved into a National reference service on fire and emergency management topics.

This requirement is to provide library and information services and products to National Emergency Training Center (NETC) staff and students, the Nation’s fire and emergency management community, and members of the general public with an interest in fire and emergency management. The Contractor shall be responsible for providing library and information services to Learning Resource Center (LRC) users and shall provide personnel with current knowledge of standard library operations and procedures and the use of state-of-the-art technology in libraries and information centers. The primary mission of the LRC is to maintain and access an information resource base and a configuration of information services in support of National Fire Academy (NFA) and Emergency Management Institute (EMI) resident and distant courses. The LRC also provides assistance to FEMA and other DHS offices as well as to the general public in their search for useful information resources. It works also to promote the better understanding of effective ways to use these resources by NETC students, faculty and the first responder community across the United States.

The NETC Learning Resource Center (LRC) provides current information and resources on fire and emergency management subjects. With its collection of more than 160,000 books, reports, periodicals, and audiovisual materials, the LRC facilitates and supports student and faculty research and supplements classroom lectures and course materials. Users of the LRC Web site (www.lrc.fema.gov) may access the LRC's Online Public Access Catalog to perform their own literature searches. In addition to searching the collections cited above, the LRC's catalog is a unique guide to periodical literature with citations on fire, emergency response, natural disaster, and homeland security topics going back to the early 1970s and beyond.

The LRC routinely answers simple requests; e.g., an organization's telephone number and address. In response to more complex inquiries on specific subjects, the LRC will do literature searches, compile bibliographies, and, depending on length and copyright restrictions, provide documentation in the form of reports and articles.

The LRC is open to the general public; however only NETC personnel and students may borrow materials directly from the LRC. The general public can still access the LRC's collection of books and research reports by requesting interlibrary loan through their local library. Audiovisuals, magazines, and general reference materials are non-circulating. The LRC uses Cuadra Star Libraries suite, an Integrated Library System (ILS), to provide fully implemented cataloging, circulation, thesaurus, acquisitions and serials control databases and online public access catalog capabilities. The use of STAR libraries and its supporting authority files by the contractor is mandatory.

The LRC is open and ready for operations according to the following schedule:

Monday-Thursday 8:30 am – 9:00 pm

Friday 8:30 am - 5:00 pm

Saturday 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Sunday 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm

The contractor shall cease all activities and services otherwise required and listed in this statement of work, without exception, during the following periods:

Thanksgiving November 21 – 29, 2009

Christmas/New Years December 19 – 27, 2009 July 4th July 3 – 11, 2010

2. Objectives: The objective of this solicitation is to obtain library services in support of NETC staff and students, the Nation’s fire and emergency management communities and members of the general public with an interest in fire and emergency management. The contractor's management of library services shall provide evidence of its commitment to day-to-day library operations and to continually improve its effectiveness. Library services include all Tasks detailed below (Section 3), as well as in the attached Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan, and historical Levels of Effort/Levels of Production attachment.

3. Requirements.

NOTE: Library Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are available at the following website: http://www.lrc.fema.gov/downloads/LRC_SOP1.pdf

3.1 Task 1: Project administration

The contractor shall perform work in accordance with the staffing plan proposed by the Contractor and agreed to by the Government. The contractor shall determine the most effective means of accomplishing the tasks that follow, consistent with meeting the performance standards in the QASP, the library SOPs and taking into account the level of effort/production levels described in attachment B. The contractor, NOT the government, shall train personnel as necessary in all standard library operations and STAR Libraries and STAR Client.

The contractor shall meet all administrative reporting and training requirements as outlined in Sections 4 and 9 below and the QASP (Appendix D).

3.2 Task 2: Interlibrary loan (ILL) services. The contractor shall process interlibrary loan requests for borrowing and lending IAW the LRC SOP Chapter 5.

3.3 Task 3: Market, promote and provide orientations for the library program and services. The contractor shall systematically market during their orientations to and interactions with NETC students and staff the LRC’s research services, print collections and promote the availability of the LRC’s online resources IAW LRC SOP Chapter 6.

3.4 Task 4: Indexing. The contractor shall do original indexing of articles from selected fire and emergency management journals listed on the Criteria for Journals Indexed list (CIJ) in accordance with instructions found therein and IAW the LRC SOP Chapter 4, as well as the LRC Authority and Style manuals. The contractor shall also index individual journal articles identified by the COTR for inclusion in the LRC collections and acquired via document delivery. The contractor SHALL NOT perform original abstracting.

3.5 Task 5: Acquisition of Informational Materials and Resources. The Contractor shall perform the library acquisitions function in accordance with the LRC SOP chapter 1.

3.6 Task 6: Cataloging and Classification. The LRC's catalog database is part of the LRC’s Integrated Library System (ILS), known as Cuadra STAR Libraries. The contractor shall perform the cataloging and classification functions of the library in accordance with the LRC SOP chapter 2, along with the LRC Authority and Style Manuals.

3.7 Task 7: Physical Processing. The contractor shall perform the physical processing and accessioning of LRC materials IAW the LRC SOP chapter 2.

3.8 Task 8: Reference Services. The contractor shall provide library reference services in accordance with the LRC SOP chapter 6 and shall offer an interest profile service for LRC staff as detailed in Chapter 4 of the LRC SOP.

3.9 Task 9: Circulation/Access Services. The contractor shall provide circulation services to LRC services including Interlibrary Loan operations in accordance with the LRC SOP chapter 5.

3.10 Task 10: Mail Processing. The contractor shall perform mail processing as detailed in chapter 7 of the LRC SOP.

3.11 Task 11: Security. The contractor shall abide by the physical security requirements of the LRC as detailed in LRC SOP chapter 7.

3.12 Task 12. Serials Control. The contractor shall perform the serials control function of the library in accordance with chapter 3 of the LRC SOP.

3.13 Task 13 Collection Conservation and Maintenance. The contractor shall establish a systematic surveillance method for collection conservation and maintenance to include scheduled shelf readings, routine repairs of LRC materials, and shipment of damaged items to the bindery as appropriate.

3.14 Task 14 Journal article purchasing. The contractor shall process orders for selected journal and magazine articles, IAW the LRC SOP chapter 5, using government provided document delivery agents.

4. Deliverables: The contractor shall submit weekly, monthly and annual administrative reports detailing all LRC services and activities in addition to reports tied to purchasing library materials via Fedlink accounts as detailed in the QASP. The submission schedule for the administrative reports is as follows:

a) Weekly report – 12 PM each Monday. If Monday is a holiday the report is due by 12PM the following day.

b) Monthly report – COB on seventh business day of each month.

c) Annual report – COB seventh business day of October.

5. Period of Performance: The Base Period of this contract shall run for five (5) months with four (4) 1-year Option Periods.

6. Security: All materials in the LRC collections are unclassified. All materials, however, must be monitored to avoid loss. All security hardware located in the LRC remains the property of and under the control of the Government. Maintenance, installation and removal of security equipment, and expendable supplies required to operate such equipment, shall be furnished by the Government. The Government will furnish the following security systems currently owned by the Government and on-site in the Library for use by the Contractor in protecting the LRC's physical and information resources:

Physical Security System - to provide control and monitoring of before- and after-hours access to the LRC by means of a code box at the Library's main entry/exit; and to control emergency exits.

3M Tattle Tape System - to protect books and journals by a sensor/alarm system, from unauthorized removal;

Checkpoint Entrance/Exit Gates which responds to tattle tape sensors

7. Government provided Documents. The contractor shall follow the LRC Standard Operating Procedures Manual (SOP) which describes how tasks are performed. The LRC’s Authority and Style Manuals describe the rules and practices for creating bibliographic records in the LRC’s Integrated Library System, also known as Cuadra STAR Libraries. None of these documents shall be modified without the approval of the COTR.

8. Government-Furnished Supplies. The government shall purchase all library related supplies. Refer to LRC SOP chapter 7 for details.

9. Scheduled Meetings and Training. The project manager shall attend a weekly meeting with the COTR to discuss LRC statistics, ongoing projects and specific support matters. The contractor shall also ensure that all DHS/FEMA mandated training is attended and completed.

Appendix A -- Glossary

Appendix B -- Projected/historic Levels of Effort/Levels of Production Appendix C -- Government Furnishings

Appendix D -- Quality Assurance and Surveillance Plan