LEAF PWS_Draft for RFI.docx

Light Electronic Action Framework

VA-27-00002271

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

Office of Information & Technology Office of Information Technology Operations and Services

Light Electronic Action Framework

Date: July 17, 2026

VA-27-00002271

PWS Version Number: 1.0

Contents

BACKGROUND

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information & Technology (OIT), Office of Information Technology Operations and Services (ITOPS) strives to provide high quality, effective, and efficient Information Technology (IT) services to those responsible for providing care to the Veterans at the point-of-care as well as throughout all the points of the Veterans’ health care in an effective, timely and compassionate manner. VA depends on Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) systems to meet mission goals.

The VA Light Electronic Action Framework (LEAF) is a highly adaptable VA-owned and developed process improvement software that enables VA employees to rapidly digitize existing business processes. LEAF’s source code is owned by VA and soley leverages open-source software within its technology stack. Today, LEAF is a mature, operational product that has an active monthly user base of over 250,000 internal VA employees and manages over 7,000,000 VA business transactions annually. The platform helps VA medical centers, program offices, and project teams process simple requests (e.g., approval to travel), complex needs (e.g. Full Time Equivalent (FTE) backfills), and is flexible enough to be applied to any set of business processes.

The LEAF Platform is based on two web application components that operate in tandem, the Request Portal and Nexus Applications. The Request Portal enables VA staff to create forms, design workflows, and identify process-specific user groups, while the Nexus enables VA medical facilities and program offices to centrally manage groups and optionally utilize a GUI-driven organizational chart. The Request Portal utilizes data from the Nexus for added utility, such as “smart” routing based on organizational hierarchy. VA facilities will typically have a single Nexus and multiple Request Portals.

The LEAF platform is built using PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) technology, Go Programming Language, and uses MySQL (Structured Query Language) as its data store within FedRAMP authorized Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). The platform is currently deployed with the VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) and uses VA Platform One containerization technology based on Open Container Initiative (OCI) compliant engines such as Red Hat OpenShift. The platform’s login infrastructure is integrated with the VA Active Directory to provide a unique seamless user authentication mechanism using a combination of Windows Authentication, Client Certificates, and OAuth 2.0 providers such as Microsoft Entra ID. The LEAF platform leverages observability tools using log parsing and process analysis tools such as Dynatrace to monitor system health metrics. The platform uses a representational state transfer (REST) style application program interface (API) for interfacing with other websites or applications, and JavaScript is used extensively on the client side to drive a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) 5 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) based user interface. The platform’s automated test suite utilizes Go testing and benchmarking conventions, as well as Microsoft Playwright for end-to-end testing.

APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

In the performance of the tasks associated with this Performance Work Statement, the Contractor shall comply with the following:

1. “Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014”

2. Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Publication 140-3, “Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules”, March 22, 2019

3. FIPS Pub 199. “Standards for Security Categorization of Federal Information and Information Systems,” February 2004

4. FIPS Pub 200, “Minimum Security Requirements for Federal Information and Information Systems,” March 2006

5. FIPS Pub 201-3, “Personal Identity Verification of Federal Employees and Contractors,” January 2022

6. 10 U.S.C. § 2224, "Defense Information Assurance Program", as amended

7. 5 U.S.C. § 552a, as amended, “The Privacy Act of 1974”

8. Public Law 109-461 (P.L. 109-461), Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 2006, as amended, Title IX, Information Security Matters

9. 42 U.S.C. § 2000d “Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964”, as amended

10. VA Directive 0710, “Personnel Vetting Program,” September 8, 2025, https://www.va.gov/vapubs/index.cfm

11. VA Handbook 0710, “Personnel Vetting Program,” September 8, 2025, https://www.va.gov/vapubs/index.cfm

12. VA Directive 6102, “Internet/Intranet Services,” August 5, 2019

13. 36 C.F.R. Part 1194 “Information and Communication Technology Standards and Guidelines,” as amended

14. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, “Managing Federal Information as a Strategic Resource,” July 28, 2016

15. 32 C.F.R. Part 199, “Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS)”, as amended

16. NIST SP 800-66 Rev. 2, “Implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule: A Cybersecurity Resource Guide,” February 2024

17. 45 C.F.R Parts 160 and 164, Subparts A and E, the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”); and 45 C.F.R. Parts 160 and 164, Subparts A and C, the Security Standard (“Security Rule”); as amended

18. Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 794d), as amended

19. Homeland Security Presidential Directive (12) (HSPD-12), August 27, 2004

20. VA Directive 6500, “VA Cybersecurity Program,” February 24, 2021 (see VA NOTICE 24-18, dated September 27, 2024, “Update to VA Directive 6500 Cybersecurity Program”, and VA Notice 25-07, dated 3/18/25, “Amending VA Directive 6500 to incorporate M-24-15”)

21. VA Handbook 6500, “Risk Management Framework for VA Information Systems VA Information Security Program,” February 24, 2021 (see VA Notice 25-01, dated October 15, 2024, “Update to VA Handbook 6500 Risk Management Framework for VA Information Systems VA Information Security Program”, and VA Notice 25-06, dated 3/18/25, “Amending VA Directive 6500 to incorporate M-24-15”, VA Notice 25-16, dated September 15, 2025, “Amending VA Handbook 6500 to Replace Enterprise Mission Assurance Support Services Tool With Office of Information Technology Governance Risk Compliance Tool, and VA Notice 25-17, dated September 22, 2025, “Rescission Of Office Of Information Security (OIS) Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) Memorandum – Requirements of Proper Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) Completion)

22. VA Handbook 6500.2, “Management of Breaches Involving Sensitive Personal Information (SPI),” June 30, 2023

23. VA Handbook 6500.6, “Contract Security,” March 12, 2010 (see VA Notice 24-12, dated April 22, 2024, “Update to VA Handbook 6500.6, Contract Security, Appendix C VA Information and Information System Security/Privacy Language For Inclusion Into Contracts, As Appropriate”)

24. VA Handbook 6500.8, “Information System Contingency Planning,” March 25, 2025

25. VA Handbook 6500.10, “Mobile Device Security Policy,” February 15, 2018 (see VA NOTICE 25-10, dated June 9, 2025, “Use of Personally Owned Mobile Devices Policy Amendment of Department of Veterans Affairs Handbook 6500.10”, and VA Notice 25-15, dated August 22, 2025, “Update to VA Handbook 6500.10 Mobile Device Security Policy”)

26. VA Handbook 6500.11, “VA Firewall Configuration,” August 22, 2017

27. OIT Process Asset Library (PAL), OIT Process Asset Library.

28. One-VA Technical Reference Model (TRM) (reference at https://www.va.gov/trm/TRMHomePage.aspx)

29. VA Directive 6508, “Implementation of Privacy Threshold Analysis and Privacy Impact Assessment,” October 15, 2014

30. VA Directive 6510, “VA Identity, Credential and Access Management,” September 3, 2024

31. VA Handbook 6510, “VA Identity, Credential and Access Management,” September 27, 2024

32. VA Directive and Handbook 6513, “Secure External Connections,” October 12, 2017

33. VA Directive 6300, “Records and Information Management,” September 21, 2018

34. VA Handbook, 6300.1, “Records Management Procedures,“ March 24, 2010

35. NIST SP 800-37 Rev 2, “Risk Management Framework for Information Systems and Organizations: A System Life Cycle Approach for Security and Privacy,” December 2018

36. NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5, “Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations,” September 23, 2020 (includes updates as of 12/10/2020)

37. VA Directive 0735, “Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) Program,” October 26, 2015

38. VA Handbook 0735, “Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) Program,” March 24, 2014

39. OMB Memorandum 05-24, “Implementation of Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12 – Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal Employees and Contractors,” August 5, 2005

40. OMB Memorandum M-19-17, “Enabling Mission Delivery Through Improved Identity, Credential, and Access Management,” May 21, 2019

41. OMB Memorandum, “Guidance for Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12 Implementation,” May 23, 2008

42. Federal Identity, Credential, and Access Management (FICAM) Architecture, June 30, 2023 (FICAM Architecture (idmanagement.gov))

43. NIST SP 800-116 Rev 1, “Guidelines for the Use of Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Credentials in Facility Access,“ June 2018

44. NIST SP 800-63 Rev 4, 800-63A-4, 800-63B-4, 800-63C-4, “Digital Identity Guidelines,” August 1, 2025

45. NIST SP 800-157, “Guidelines for Derived PIV Credentials,” December 2014

46. VA Memorandum, VAIQ #7100147, “Continued Implementation of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12),” April 29, 2011 (reference https://www.voa.va.gov/documentlistpublic.aspx?NodeID=514)

47. IAM Identity Management Business Requirements Guidance document, May 2013, (reference Enterprise Architecture Section, PIV/IAM (reference https://www.voa.va.gov/documentlistpublic.aspx?NodeID=514)

48. VA Memorandum “Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Logical Access Policy Clarification,” July 17, 2019, https://www.voa.va.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DocumentID=4896

49. Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 Core Guidance Documents, https://www.cisa.gov/publication/tic-30-core-guidance-documents

50. OMB Memorandum M-19-26, “Update to the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Initiative,” September 12, 2019

51. OMB Memorandum M-08-23, “Securing the Federal Government’s Domain Name System Infrastructure,” August 22, 2008

52. Sections 524 and 525 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, (P.L. 110–140), December 19, 2007

53. Section 104 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, (P.L. 109–58), August 8, 2005

54. Executive Order 13221, “Energy-Efficient Standby Power Devices,” August 2, 2001

55. Executive Order 14148, “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” dated January 20, 2025

56. VA Directive 0057, “VA Environmental Management Program,” October 25, 2022

57. OIS VAIQ #7424808 Memorandum, “Remote Access,” January 15, 2014, https://www.voa.va.gov/DocumentListPublic.aspx?NodeId=28

58. Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, 40 U.S.C. §11101 and §11103

59. “Veteran Focused Integration Process (VIP) Guide 4.0,” March 2021, https://www.voa.va.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DocumentID=4371

60. VA Memorandum “Proper Use of Email and Other Messaging Services,” January 2, 2018, https://www.voa.va.gov/DocumentListPublic.aspx?NodeId=28

61. “Product Line Management Transformation Playbook” version 3.1, August 2023, https://www.voa.va.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DocumentID=4946

62. NIST SP 500-267B Revision 1, “USGv6 Profile,” November 2020

63. OMB Memorandum M-21-07, “Completing the Transition to Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6),” November 19, 2020

64. Social Security Number (SSN) Fraud Prevention Act of 2017

65. Section 240 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) 2018, March 23, 2018

66. C.F.R Title 15 Part 7, “Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) Supply Chain”, as amended

67. Executive Order 14028, “Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity,” May 12, 2021, https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2025/01/16/executive-order-on-strengthening-and-promoting-innovation-in-the-nations-cybersecurity/

68. OMB Memorandum M-22-09, “Moving the U.S. Government Toward Zero Trust Cybersecurity Principles”, January 26, 2022, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/M-22-09.pdf.

69. NIST SP 800-52 Revision 2, “Guidelines for the Selection, Configuration, and Use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) Implementations

70. OMB M-26-05, “Adopting a Risk-based Approach to Software and Hardware Security,” January 23, 2026

71. OMB M-21-31, “Improving the Federal Government’s Investigative and Remediation Capabilities Related to Cybersecurity Incidents,” August 27, 2021

72. NIST SP 800-88 Revision 1 “Guidelines for Media Sanitization,” December 2014

73. CISA Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 19-02: “Vulnerability Remediation Requirements of Internet-Accessible Systems,” April 29, 2019, BOD 19-02: Vulnerability Remediation Requirements for Internet-Accessible Systems | CISA

74. CISA BOD 22-01: “Reducing the Significant Risk of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities,” November 3, 2021, BOD 22-01: Reducing the Significant Risk of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities | CISA

75. CISA BOD 23-01: Improving Asset Visibility and Vulnerability Detection on Federal Networks.” Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), BOD 23-01: Improving Asset Visibility and Vulnerability Detection on Federal Networks | CISA

76. VA Directive 6550, Pre-Procurement Assessment and Implementation of Medical Devices/Systems, June 03, 2019

77. VA Memorandum, “VA Security Controls,” January 17, 2025, https://www.voa.va.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DocumentID=5010

78. E.O. 13960, “Promoting the Use of Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence in the Federal Government,” December 3, 2020

79. E.O. 14319, “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government,” July 23, 2025

80. OMB Memorandum M-25-21, “Accelerating Federal Use of AI through Innovation, Governance, and Public Trust,” April 3, 2025

81. OMB Memorandum M-25-22, “Driving Efficient Acquisition of Artificial Intelligence in Government,” April 3, 2025

82. OMB Memorandum M-26-04, “Increasing Public Trust in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Through Unbiased AI Principles,” December 11, 2025

83. P.L. 118-187, Source Code Harmonization and Reuse in Information Technology (SHARE IT) Act, December 23, 2024

84. VA Directive 6066, “Protected Health Information (PHI) And Business Associate Agreements Management”, September 2, 2014

SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor shall provide software development/review, enhancement, server operations, maintenance, database refactoring, remediation, user interface design, user experience, communications, outreach, coaching, and deployment support services for VA’s LEAF Platform. The Contractor shall also provide operations and maintenance support for the LEAF platform, as well as those requirements developed under this PWS.

ORDER TYPE

The effort shall be proposed on a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) basis.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

PERFORMANCE PERIOD

The Period of Performance (PoP) shall be one (1) 12-month Base Period with two (2) 12-month Option Periods and six (6) Optional Tasks. The overall Period of Performance shall not exceed 38 months.

There are 11 Federal holidays set by law (USC Title 5 Section 6103) that VA follows:

Under current definitions, five are set by date:

If any of the above falls on a Saturday, then Friday shall be observed as a holiday. Similarly, if one falls on a Sunday, then Monday shall be observed as a holiday.

The other six are set by a day of the week and month:

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Tasks under this PWS shall be performed at Contractor facilities. The Contractor shall identify the Contractor’s place of performance in their proposal submission.

TRAVEL

The Government anticipates travel under this effort to perform the tasks associated with the effort, as well as to attend program-related meetings or conferences throughout the PoP. Include all estimated travel costs in your firm-fixed price line items. These costs will not be directly reimbursed by the Government.

The total estimated number of trips in support of the program related meetings for this effort is one. All travel must be approved by the Contracting Officer (CO) or Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) in advance and in writing. Anticipated locations include the following, estimated at two days in duration and for three people:

1. Washington, DC

SPECIFIC TASKS AND DELIVERABLES

The Contractor shall use an Agile Development Methodology and follow the Digital Services Playbook as described at https://playbook.cio.gov/#plays_index_anchor.

The Contractor shall perform the following:

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

CONTRACTOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN

The Contractor shall deliver a Contractor Project Management Plan (CPMP) that lays out the Contractor’s approach, timeline, and tools to be used in execution of the contract. The CPMP should take the form of both a narrative and graphic format that displays the schedule, milestones, risks, and resource support. The CPMP shall also include how the Contractor shall coordinate and execute planned, routine, and ad hoc data collection reporting requests as identified within the PWS. The initial baseline CPMP shall be concurred upon and updated in accordance with Section B of the contract. The Contractor shall update and maintain the VA Program Manager (PM) approved CPMP throughout the PoP.

Deliverable:

A. Contractor Project Management Plan

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall provide the COR with Progress Reports every two weeks in electronic form in Jira or VA Preferred tool. The report shall include detailed instructions/explanations for each required data element, to ensure that data is accurate and consistent. These reports shall reflect data as of the last day of the preceding two weeks.

The Progress Reports every two weeks shall cover all work completed during the reporting period and work planned for the subsequent reporting period. The report shall also identify any problems that arose and a description of how the problems were resolved. If problems have not been completely resolved, the Contractor shall provide an explanation including their plan and timeframe for resolving the issue. The report shall also include an itemized list of all Information and Communication Technology (ICT) deliverables and their current Section 508 conformance status. The Contractor shall monitor performance against the CPMP and report any deviations. It is expected that the Contractor will keep in communication with VA accordingly so that issues that arise are transparent to both parties to prevent escalation of outstanding issues.

Deliverable:

A. Progress Report

TECHNICAL KICKOFF MEETING

A technical kickoff meeting shall be held within 10 days after award. The Contractor shall coordinate the date, time, and location (which may be virtual) with the Contracting Officer (CO), the VA PM, the Contract Specialist (CS), and the COR. The Contractor shall provide a draft agenda to the COR and VA PM at least five (5) calendar days prior to the meeting. Upon Government approval of a final Kickoff Agenda, the Contractor shall distribute to all meeting attendees.

During the kickoff-meeting, the Contractor shall present, for review and approval by the Government, the details of the intended approach, work plan, and project schedule for each effort via a Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Contractor shall update the presentation with a final slide entitled “Summary Report” which shall include notes on any major issues, agreements, or disagreements discussed during the kickoff meeting and the following statement The Contractor shall prepare and distribute the final updated Kickoff Presentation and meeting minutes to the CO, COR and all attendees within three (3) calendar days after the meeting.

DELIVERABLES:

A. Kickoff Agenda B. Kickoff Presentation

CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

The Contractor shall:

1. Identify the standard and unique aspects of configuration management to be performed for LEAF by establishing a Product Configuration Management Plan (CMP) and shall meet CMP requirements within task 5.5. The Contractor shall reflect all CMP required activities and standards in the CMP plan while determining the unique aspects of the product which require individualized procedures.

2. Recommend a List of Configuration Items to be placed under configuration and change control. The Contractor shall identify types of configuration items pertaining to each system component to be placed under configuration management. Based on CMP requirements, and the unique needs or nature of each component, the Contractor shall determine the components that must be under configuration control.

3. Use GitHub or VA preferred to as the repository for all software source code and electronic artifact configuration and version management. The Contractor shall use the VA preferred tool to manage change, activity, issue, action, risk, and other project data as prescribed by VA standards and processes. If assigned a project using tools that are being deprecated, the Contractor shall migrate projects that use other Change and/or Configuration Management tools to the VA preferred tool.

4. Use ServiceNow Continuous Authorization and Monitoring or system designated by VA to store and track security related artifacts and documentation relating to the product Authority To Operate (ATO).

5. Ensure that all project software and non-software artifacts are versioned correctly according to VA standards and follow a build/release promotion versioning approach which identifies all major, minor, and update changes to the components.

6. Create Project and Product Artifacts baselined and versioned in the CM repository in order to allow the tool to show active and past histories of the check-ins and check-outs of all software components, data, and software project engineering documents. Maintain all baselines of software, software builds, and electronic artifacts in the GitHub repository, labeling updates and versions according to the product CMP.

7. Maintain versioning in Github, and update System Design Document (SDD) as needed when significant architectural changes are completed. An example of such architectural change includes supporting network connections from the public Internet.

8. Establish and maintain status reporting on change and configuration management activity, such as reporting in ServiceNow (SNOW) or VA designated system, and ensure the VA preferred tool to store data records and artifacts are filed and updated daily.

Deliverables:

A. Product Configuration Management Plan B. System Design Document

LEAF PLATFORM DEVELOPMENT/BUG FIXES AND ENHANCEMENT SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide agile software development services for the enhancement and remediation of the LEAF platform. In coordination with the VA PM/COR and LEAF Technical Director, the Contractor shall utilize the existing LEAF Development Backlog for the generation of Epics and User Stories for each sprint, which shall be approximately two weeks in duration. The current LEAF enhancement backlog has been provided as Attachment A – LEAF Backlog Examples. The enhancement backlog shall be a living document updated by the Contractor, maintained in JIRA or VA preferred tool. As new enhancements are added, the Contractor, in coordination with the VA PM/COR, shall reprioritize new enhancements against the current, identified enhancements, in accordance with Section 5.2.1 Agile Requirements Elaboration and incorporate the new enhancements through Section 5.2.2 Agile Build and Development.

Examples of enhancements to the LEAF Platform include:

1. Addressing user interface issues;

2. Improving platform stability;

3. Improving business process workflow tools;

4. Improving form creation tools;

5. Providing additional platform features;

6. Remediating issues identified through testing and reviews.

7. Developing prompts and validation harnesses to steer output from Large Language Models The Contractor shall provide developer support for escalated SNOW support tickets (or designated ticketing system) and provide resolution in accordance with the current Service Level Agreement. The current Service Level Agreement requires tickets to be resolved within 5 days, or classify the ticket as a software bug within 5 days. Software bugs must be added to the LEAF development backlog and prioritized alongside new enhancements in coordination with the VA PM and LEAF Technical Director. Currently approximately 97 support tickets are resolved by the development team per month within 5 days of assignment, and 5 support tickets are classified as software bugs per month.

Following each LEAF platform version release, the Contractor shall triage all bugs in the software from identification to resolution and associate the bug with its related enhancement where applicable. As each bug is identified, by end-users or Contractor, it shall be added to the LEAF development backlog and prioritized alongside new enhancements, in coordination with the VA PM and LEAF Technical Director.

The Government estimates that approximately 10 bug fixes will be resolved by the Contractor per month. Examples of previous bug fixes are attached as Attachment B – LEAF Bug Fix Examples.

The Contractor shall provide the following levels of support: Major, Moderate, Minor Enhancements, and After-Hours Support as defined below:

a) Minor enhancements impact the Presentation Tier of the application and do not typically require the development of complex logic. An example of a Minor enhancement is LEAF Development Backlog item LEAF-6408 (Attachment A – LEAF Backlog Examples), which will improve the user experience for workflow creation.

b) Moderate enhancements impact the Presentation and/or Business Logic Tiers of the application and may involve the development of complex custom logic. An example of a Moderate enhancement is LEAF Development Backlog item LEAF-4774 (Attachment A), which will enable the system to generate a “plain English” summary of a flowchart optimized for human interaction and group review.

c) Major Enhancements consist of layers of new functionality or value-add sub-modules to LEAF Applications. For example, one Major enhancement in the LEAF Development Backlog item LEAF-3613 (Attachment A – LEAF Backlog Examples) is to develop the ability for facilities and program offices to design their own email templates in LEAF. The email template system will require a content editor and multiple presentation-layer options (e.g. email delivery scheduling and additional business logic) to be made available to the LEAF administrator.

Major enhancements impact all three-tiers of an application, Presentation, Business Logic, and/or Data. Due to the layered functionality often involved, Major Enhancements may be spread across multiple sprint cycles.

d) After-Hours Support is defined as performing technical support outside of standard business hours. Standard business hours are 9:00AM-5:00PM EST. An example of After-Hours Support is LEAF Development Backlog item LEAF-1640 (Attachment A – LEAF Backlog Examples), which requires service downtime in to upgrade capacity in a Cloud Service Provider environment.

The Contractor shall be responsible for completing the following minimum number of Minor/Moderate/Major enhancements throughout the PoP outlined in Table 2. The different levels of support are exchangeable with approval from the VA PM/COR.

Table 2 –Enhancements Support

Enhancements Minimum Number of Moderate Enhancements Minimum Number of Major Enhancements Estimated Number of Instances of After-Hours Support

AGILE REQUIREMENTS ELABORATION

The Contractor shall complete an initial backlog grooming session, prior to each build, with the VA team to properly understand and elaborate business Agile requirements. The outcome of this session shall be a complete review of, and agreement to, the initial user stories, including user stories added as a result of backlog grooming by decomposing epics into stakeholder needs, business requirements, business rules, requirements visualizations and user story elaborations.

The Contractor shall:

1. Ensure all epics are included and executed as appropriate within the overall agile backlog grooming effort.

2. Populate the backlog during an initial planning session identifying all features the team considers relevant to building the product. The backlog serves as the primary source for all program requirements and user stories, and the team shall prioritize the contents.

3. Establish initial unit of measurement based on level of effort (e.g. Story Points) as the estimated relative complexity of user stories.

4. Facilitate any stakeholder briefings, meetings and/or elicitation sessions.

5. Execute requirements reviews with stakeholders and record results of reviews using the VA preferred tool, updating requirements data as a result of the reviews.

6. Identify the development and test environment access that is needed at least 30 days prior to development start.

7. Input and maintain all epics, stakeholder needs, visualizations, stories, and other sources of requirements information for functional and non-functional requirements in the VA preferred tool. All requirements data is under change control and is fully linked to work items that show traceability to design changes, configurable items, test cases and test results.

8. Identify partner dependencies required to meet program objectives

AGILE BUILD AND DEVELOPMENT

The Contractor shall continuously support the iterative build and development methodology described below to complete all epics and user stories identified in the backlog.

BUILD PLANNING

The Contractor shall develop a Build Plan prior to the start of each build, within JIRA or VA preferred tool. Each build shall be no longer than four (4) weeks in duration and shall be made up of individual sprints. The Contractor shall maintain the product backlog, continuously, for each build, in every release and throughout the life of the period of performance within JIRA or VA preferred tool. All activity scheduled in each build and backlogs shall be captured and have status showing all work items, changes, impediments, and retrospectives. All data and artifacts in JIRA or VA preferred tool shall be fully linked to requirements data and test data. Each build shall be fully tested by the Contractor and shall end in a new release candidate. Build planning shall consist of the following:

1. Teams shall review, elaborate, and prioritize the backlog. This backlog grooming shall occur continuously throughout the build to ensure the customer’s highest priorities are being met.

2. Initial Design Review, facilitated by the Contractor, with stakeholders to achieve consensus on design.

3. Backlog grooming and Build Planning sessions, facilitated by the Contractor, that outline the intent of the build, and are not a formal commitment. The Contractor shall update the resulting stories in JIRA or VA preferred tool.

4. User interface design and User Experience Planning sessions, facilitated by the Contractor, that outline analysis and recommendations of the build, and are not a formal commitment. The Contractor shall update the resulting stories in JIRA or VA preferred tool.

5. Identification of the epics and user stories to be completed within the build and any potentially missing related stories, the agreement of acceptance criteria of the build, and readiness to begin build.

6. Identification of field sites, test environments, acceptance criteria, and ATO requirements.

SPRINT PLANNING

Once the JIRA stories are completed and accepted, the Contractor shall initiate Sprint Planning for the first Sprint of the build. All activity scheduled in each sprint and backlog shall be captured in JIRA or VA preferred tool and have status showing all work items, changes, impediments, and retrospectives. All data and artifacts in JIRA or VA preferred tool shall be fully linked to requirements data and test data.

The Contractor shall:

1. Initiate and participate in a Sprint Planning Meeting, at the beginning of each sprint. The Contractor shall update the Build Plan in JIRA or VA preferred tool at the conclusion of the Sprint Planning.

2. Support, coordinate and provide input for the Sprint Acceptance Criteria in JIRA or VA preferred tool. The Sprint Acceptance Criteria shall be coordinated and approved by the LEAF Technical Director for every sprint.

SPRINT EXECUTION

All activity executed in each sprint shall be captured and have status showing all work items, changes, risks, issues, impediments, and retrospectives. All data and artifacts in JIRA or VA approved tool shall be fully linked to requirements data and test data. The Contractor shall deliver all Source Code developed under this Task Order. All project artifacts and delivered source code shall be under change and configuration management as specified by the COR-approved Product Configuration Management Plan developed under Section 5.1.5.

The Contractor shall:

1. Provide a certified Scrum Master to provide the following functions included, but not limited to; facilitate all ceremonies, ensure JIRA or VA preferred tool is updated daily, enforce scrum framework, track and assist with removing impediments.

2. Develop the features and capabilities as stories in JIRA or VA preferred tool that were established in the Sprint Plan.

3. Complete sprint development including disciplined testing (unit, functional, regression) and reviews as a continuous process, to avoid finding issues at the end of sprint development.

4. Initiate and conduct daily scrums (typically 15 minutes) to show the team progress, impediments and daily plans.

5. Update JIRA or VA preferred tool daily, to include progress on tasks during sprints, blockers and dependencies.

6. Coordinate and support demonstration of the sprint activities with the project team and Users at the end of each sprint. This is termed a Sprint Review and will result in Customer Acceptance of the Sprint.

7. Initiate and facilitate a Sprint Retrospective at the end of the Sprint to capture team performance lessons learned. The Contractor shall document lessons learned in JIRA or VA preferred tool.

Deliverable:

A. Source Code

TESTING

The Contractor shall adopt agile best practices for integration testing such as automated unit testing, as well as pre-production environment testing into each agile development sprint and build.

The Contractor shall conduct tests (e.g. unit, functional, accessibility, system, reliability, usability, interoperability, regression, security, performance) throughout the development lifecycle (e.g. user story, sprint, build, release) using industry best practices of continuous integration methods and automated regression testing utilities using VA preferred tools.

The Contractor shall conduct testing related to non-functional requirements, (e.g. load, performance, API response time, installation, back-out, and rollback).

The Contractor shall maintain a record of performance metrics such as API response performance to track improvement or regressions over time within the LEAF Development Environment. The metrics must be generated from within the LEAF Development Environment or VA preferred tool. Metrics shall include formatted results from the LEAF Development Environment’s benchmark suite, such as a time series visualization of response time across multiple builds.

The Contractor shall document the Test Plan and Evidence of Execution in the LEAF source code repository, following the templates and data requirements appropriate for each test purpose appropriate to each phase of development.

The Contractor shall support maintaining the compliance of security, accessibility, performance, technical standards, architectural compliance, latency requirements, user acceptance and initial operational capability tests, audits, and reviews. The Contractor shall support Security scanning in collaboration with VA Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) with methods such as infiltration testing (WASA), static code analysis tools (Fortify or VA preferred tool). The Contractor shall support Accessibility reviews in collaboration with the VA Section 508 Office by utilizing a variety of tool based and manual reviews, scan web applications and other technologies used for user interfaces. The Contractor shall support Performance testing using load testing and technical analysis of capacity planning data submitted by the project team. The Contractor shall support Architectural compliance assessments in collaboration with VA Office of Information Technology through submission of design materials to confirm compliance with allowed enterprise architecture.

The Contractor shall ensure all test and compliance review planning and execution details and their testing and compliance results are entered and maintained in JIRA or VA preferred tool and under version control in GitHub. The Contractor shall provide Test Execution Data and Artifacts, including such items as scripts, configurations, utilities, tools, plans and results, for each release. The Contractor shall ensure that results of all assessments of the project performed by the Contractor or by VA offices are consolidated into JIRA or VA preferred tool for planning and status reporting.

The Contractor shall document test results for each build within a Product Readiness Review, logged in VA GitHub Enterprise or VA preferred tool. The Product Readiness Review documents changes within a build, including a brief non-technical explanation of each change, analysis of potential impact to other areas of the platform, and test procedures.

When a defect is identified during testing, the Contractor shall analyze the impact and severity of defect and determine remediation requirements. The Contractor shall record defects in JIRA or VA approved tool, selecting the appropriate severity level. The Contractor shall support the Project Manager for prioritizing the defect in the sprint backlog. Based on prioritization, the defect could be entered into the current sprint or entered into the backlog.

The Contractor shall ensure JIRA data is up-to-date on a daily basis so that VA stakeholders can access accurate and timely status.

Deliverables:

A. Product Readiness Review B. Record of API performance metrics over time C. Test Plan and Evidence of Execution for each release

RELEASE SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide Sprint Demos and release the approved features at the end of each 2-week sprint. The approved features ready for deployment are defined as “a Sprint Story that successfully went through an approval process in GitHub or VA preferred tool and the LEAF Technical Director or delegate”.

The Contractor’s planning and calendaring process for release shall be in JIRA and shall be updated bi-weekly.

The Contractor shall develop and maintain the Production Operations Manual (POM). The POM shall include regular maintenance and operations information; Responsibility, Accountability, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) information; process flowcharts; dataflow diagrams; key monitoring indicators; and troubleshooting information. The POM shall be delivered electronically on the LEAF Wiki and shall be maintained as a “living document” throughout the Task Order.

The Contractor shall develop a Deployment and Installation Guide to include back-out and rollback procedures, a listing of any changes to Security Keys that impact an end user’s ability to access and perform a system function, Technical Manual, System Security Guide, System Contingency Plans, and Disaster Recovery Plan.

The Contractor shall develop a User Manual which addresses procedural information for the business users on daily operational use of the software.

The Contractor shall provide all required documentation and receive approval for ATO as specified in section 5.3.

Deliverables:

A. Production Operations Manual (POM) B. Deployment and Installation Guide C. User Manual

RELEASE AND DEPLOYMENT SUPPORT

Release and deployment support begins upon successful completion of the first release and ends after the warranty period of the final release is completed.

For a period of 90 days after the final release is completed, including after the period of performance, the Contractor shall warrant all requirements and deliverables in the scope of this Task Order. Defects may be identified by the Government and its designees, to include all necessary personnel as designated by the PM/COR. For each defect identified, the Contractor shall triage the defect, identify a resolution for the defect, and provide a plan for resolution, in JIRA or VA preferred tool. Following PM/COR approval of the Contractor Defect Resolution Remediation Plan, the Contractor shall execute the approved plan to include the remediation of defects.

The Contractor shall assure that all software products meet all agreed to functional and technical requirements and are free of all defects in accordance with the severity thresholds illustrated in Table 1:

Table 1 - Acceptability of Known Defects at Time of Release

Examples: Defect in system configuration that allow a security breach, or system event causes essential or end-to-end application failure.

Examples: Failure in LEAF workflow transaction processing, incorrect, or incomplete, incorrect or incomplete data is displayed on-screen or in a report, an edit is missing against invalid data, or invalid edits occur against valid data

Examples: valid data is not accepted, data recorded to the database is incorrect or incomplete, incorrect, or incomplete data is displayed on-screen or in a report, an edit is missing against invalid data, or invalid edits occur against valid data

4 - Low

Fewer than five severity 4 defects, each taking no more than 4 hours of coding to fix and cumulatively not taking more than a total of 80 hours (including test and release) Accepted defects will be added to the ticket backlog for and Business Owner prioritization triage (given low severity, many such defects may only be addressed opportunistically, by eventual age out closure, or acceptance of the defect).

Deliverables:

A. Defect Resolution Remediation Plan

LEAF SYSTEM OPERATIONS SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide Agile system operations services for deployment, administration, monitoring, maintenance, and security remediation of IT infrastructure and systems for the LEAF platform. In coordination with the VA COR/PM, the Contractor shall utilize observability tools such as Dynatrace or VA preferred tool to identify issues or areas of improvement and coordinate enhancements in accordance with Section 5.2 LEAF Platform Development/Bug Fixes and Enhancement Support.

The Contractor shall maintain accurate reporting of LEAF platform metrics such as availability of the platform to customers, and application response times in Dynatrace or VA preferred tool.

The Contractor shall maintain LEAF platform availability of no less than 99.5% per calendar month, excluding Government-approved scheduled maintenance windows. Scheduled maintenance windows shall be communicated to the VA PM/COR and LEAF user community no less than 72 hours in advance via GovDelivery announcement. The Contractor shall notify the VA PM within one (1) hour of any unplanned system outage affecting core LEAF functionality. Monthly availability metrics shall be included in a System Response Time Monthly Report.

The Contractor shall maintain a monthly 90th percentile response time of under 500ms for the LEAF Application Programming Interface, excluding Large Query responses.

Deliverables:

A. System Response Time Monthly Report

LEAF AUTHORITY TO OPERATE SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide support for LEAF’s ATO documentation and activities related to VA’s ATO requirements and achieving an approved ATO decision duration of over one year. VA will require approximately three documents per month. These documents are outlined in the list below and will be determined by the VA PM/COR.

1. Mitigations Plan of Action & Milestones;

2. Privacy Threshold Analysis;

3. Privacy Impact Assessment;

4. Data Use Agreement;

5. Risk Assessment;

6. Signature Authority;

7. System Attestation Memorandum;

8. Disaster Recovery Plan;

9. Incident Response Plan;

10. Information System Contingency Plan;

11. Configuration Management Plan;

12. Business Impact Analysis;

13. Any additional ATO Paperwork.

The Contractor shall coordinate with VA Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to include the following items, ideas, or information into the ATO documentation:

1. Use visuals to help communicate complex topics (figures, tables, and graphics);

2. Use plain English, i.e. active voice, gender neutral language, communicate the intended message clearly and concisely.

3. Use multiple formats, including JIRA, Microsoft (MS) Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Portable Document Format, as necessary for the ATO documentation.

4. Meet Section 508 requirements and enhance where applicable.

5. Enhance the existing file naming conventions for program electronic documents.

6. Collect, develop and/or edit content, where necessary.

In support of the ATO process, the Contractor shall be responsible for remediation of any documentation deemed unacceptable by the VA.

Deliverable:

A. Monthly ATO Documentation

LEAF COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH SUPPORT SERVICES

The Contractor shall provide communications and outreach support services for the LEAF community, applying subject-matter expertise in content development, editorial, graphic design, and instructional media to grow platform awareness, adoption, and engagement.