Outreach_and_Bus_Support_SOW_2013_4_4_2013.docx

Statement of Work

(SOW)

NITAAC Market Outreach and Business Operations Support

The National Institutes of Health

NITAAC

March 13, 2013

Title: NITAAC Market Outreach and Business Operations Support

Statement of Work

1. BACKGROUND

The National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) provide Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC) for use by the NIH and all other Federal civilian and Department of Defense (DOD) agencies. NITAAC has received Executive Agent Designation from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to provide its IT acquisition services to its client agencies through three Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) vehicles. The GWAC contracts managed by NITAAC include: Chief Information Officer—Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3), Chief Information Officer—Solutions and Partners 3 Small Business (CIO-SP3 SB) and the Electronic Commodities Store III (ECS III). A follow-on contract to the ECS III GWAC is also anticipated.

By streamlining operations and increasing the efficacy and usability of these contracts, NITAAC has been able to simplify the IT procurement process between Government and industry while providing the forum to identify superior, commercially available IT solutions for their client agencies. NITAAC is a “fee for service” organization with the responsibility for delivering efficient and effective administrative services at a high level of customer service to the entire Federal government. The NITAAC program is organized by business practices that provide administrative services in the following areas of expertise:

· Executive Level Outreach

· Market Outreach

· Trade Show and Event Management

· Customer Support

· Contract Holder Outreach

· Information Technology Management and Support

· Training

· Information Technology Management Support

· Program Office Support

· Health IT Consulting and Outreach to Scientific Communities

· Finance Management

· Acquisition and Contract Support

· Supply Center Support

To support its contract management activities, NITAAC currently maintains two systems utilizing web-enabled technology to continually improve processes as new ideas and techniques evolve. NITAAC is currently using the electronic Government Ordering System (eGOS) to administer its CIO-SP3 and CIO-SP3 Small Business GWACs. The ECS III GWAC is currently supported by the Request for Quote (RFQ) System and the Vendor Portal. The NITAAC website is actively maintained to promote market outreach efforts and serves as the entry point to the contract management systems.

2. OBJECTIVES

Contractor shall:

1) Support NITAAC in all market outreach and business development activity areas, including but not limited to strategic planning, market research, communications, trade show and events management, and direct support to customers and vendors with the expressed purpose of increasing and sustaining market share. Contractor business development efforts shall specifically identify and use marketing strategies that have a proven high rate of return on investment (ROI). Provide business development services to increase and sustain NITAAC’s market share and to provide superior customer service

2) Promote NITAAC’s GWACs, efficiently manage its program, and provide reliable, friendly services to the government customers

3) Position the NITAAC GWACs as the preferred source for IT contracting

4) Support NITAAC overall business strategy by improving internal processes and procedures as measured against established performance metrics and to design and maintain a user-friendly website of the highest quality

5) Provide Financial Management services that support NITAAC day-to-day operations, produce ad hoc and periodic external reporting, and provide sound advice to NITAAC management while ensuring the integrity of financial data and quality of related processes. This objective includes delivering accurate and on-time reporting and analysis to the NITAAC Director in accordance with applicable laws, regulations and policy

3. SERVICES TO BE PERFORMED

Independently and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish all of the necessary services, qualified personnel, materials, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government, as need to provide publications support, financial services, conference support, technical support, and analytical services to the NIH Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC).

CONTRACTOR TASKS

Task Area 1: Project Management

The Contractor shall provide the technical and functional activities necessary for the management of the requirements defined in this SOW. This management shall be sufficient to ensure that this contract is performed efficiently, accurately, on time, and in compliance with the requirements of this document. The Contractor shall also ensure that a project management approach for planning, organizing and managing staff and activities under each of the efforts is in place throughout the life of these requirements. Specifically, the Contractor shall designate a single on-site Project Manager to oversee this task and supervise staff assigned to this task. The Project Manager shall be responsible for the quality control for all services provided and on any products developed under this contract. This includes guaranteeing that all Contractor on-site personnel have appropriate training and credentials for their position. The Project Manager shall prioritize work by exercising good workload management judgment and routinely eliciting feedback from the NITAAC COR.

The Project Manager will coordinate with Government staff and other contractors to ensure smooth integration of the requirements in this SOW into NITAAC program activities. The Project Manager shall recommend and implement streamlined processes to reduce costs where possible without sacrificing the quality or timeliness of deliverables.

a. The Contractor shall submit to the COR for review and approval a Project Management Plan (PMP) describing the management approach, organizational resources, and management controls that will meet the cost, performance, and schedule requirements. Specific details of each task will be provided by the Government.

The Project Manager shall include a documented plan for controlling the quality of the tasks defined. This plan shall include a risk assessment analysis in the provision of the effort and is subject to the approval of the NITAAC COR. The Project Manager shall also establish written quality control procedures that are communicated to both the Contractor personnel and the NITAAC COR. At a minimum, the Contractor shall provide NITAAC with quality control measures that will ensure two levels of review of all deliverable products; one at the analyst level and another at the COR level. An additional level of review may be required to determine feasibility of any major project effort as mutually agreed to by the NITAAC COR and the Contractor Project Manager.

b. The Contractor shall meet weekly with the COR and/or his or her designated alternates and present the current status of tasks, milestones and issues. The Weekly Progress Report shall address progress made against in-process projects and the status of day-to-day support services operations, and include: accomplishments, problems encountered and action taken, open issues and recommended solutions and work plans for next reporting period.

c. The Contractor shall meet quarterly with the COR and/or his or her designated alternates to review and discuss the Quarterly Status and Analysis Report. This report presents the quarterly status of all active task area efforts to meet the strategic objectives and recommends additional actions to be taken. Any open issues and recommended solutions shall also be covered. The report shall include information regarding Market Outreach efforts, such as statistical data about events and trainings, and the leads that result in sales, as well as the cancellations. All return on investment (ROI) analysis based on the review of business development activities will be reported. This report will serve as the basis to determine the quarterly overall effectiveness of the Market Outreach and Business Operations Support Team.

d. The Contractor shall meet annually with the COR and/or his or her designated alternates to review and discuss a summary of all task area outcomes for the year. This report presents the annual status of all task area efforts to meet the strategic objectives and recommends additional actions to be taken for the following year. It shall also include any open issues and recommended solutions. This report will serve as the basis to determine the overall effectiveness of the Market Outreach and Business Operations Support Team for the year.

Task Area 2: Executive Level Outreach and Business Development

Meeting with Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and high level acquisition decision makers has been a key element in realizing the success of the NITAAC program. Expert knowledge of how to reach out to multiple Government organizations is imperative. Also, as many of NITAAC’s high level customers work in the DOD IT arena, intimate knowledge of DOD acquisition practices is required. In order to effectively and efficiently conduct executive level outreach under performance of this requirement, a Top Secret security clearance is required to gain access to certain agencies, commands and special DOD programs (e.g. Department of Energy (DOE), National Security Agency (NSA), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Using their ability to make contact with these audiences, the Contractor shall

a. Perform outreach and arrange meetings with high level decision makers of interest to bring new customers to the NITAAC program

b. Possess in-depth knowledge of the differences between the NITAAC vehicles and other agency- and government-wide IDIQ contracts for IT products, services and solutions

c. Locate potential business opportunities by contacting potential partners

d. Initiate marketing strategies and coordinate actions to influence the market

e. Understand how the NITAAC GWACs can help meet customer needs

f. Build and strengthen relationships with senior acquisition professionals and CIOs

g. Determine the full realm of business development opportunities, techniques, and mechanisms in the Federal IT marketplace

h. Assess the market share of federal IT procurement users currently using NITAAC contracts, and provide analyses and advice based upon their findings. This includes research to determine current level of market share and projected market share goals. Additionally, the Contractor shall use this information to generate baselines and develop the appropriate performance measures.

Task Area 3: Market Outreach

NITAAC relies heavily on market research to remain a leader in the Federal procurement marketplace. As part of this effort, the Contractor shall develop and maintain a Market Outreach Strategic Plan that identifies objectives for each of the market outreach support areas and details tactics for achieving those objectives. The strategies and tactics shall be updated as necessary to adapt with and meet the changing needs of the NITAAC program.

a. The Contractor shall support all communications activities for the program by providing creative and technical expertise to effectively and efficiently manage advertising and public relations, to include but not limited to, communication and media planning, concept development and design, publication, ad promotion, and joint advertising campaigns with NITAAC prime vendors.

b. The Contractor shall assist with developing and updating communication strategies that address a situational analysis of the Federal GWAC acquisition profile and competitor analysis (sector analysis); identify behavioral objectives and target audiences (campaign reach); consider hard-to-reach audiences; and incorporate ways of tracking and evaluating overall public relations effectiveness results in terms of both qualitative and quantitative metrics. In the Market Outreach Strategic Plan, the Contractor shall establish and document clear communications goals and performance measures, provide recommendations on new campaign ideas, and provide recommendations.

c. The Contractor shall provide professional level media writing, editing and proofing services. All written materials shall conform to NIH plain language review.

d. The Contractor shall assist NITAAC with branding, creative design support and production estimation and management of a wide range of innovative print communications, broadcast, and electronic media.

e. The Contractor shall coordinate with Contract Holders on public relations and media writing efforts.

Task Area 4: Trade Show and Event Management

Trade show and events management is focused on conferences, trade shows, and other outreach events in which coordination and logistics management support is required. The Contractor’s management of events shall include the identification of venues that provide the highest return on investment for leads developed from the events. All return on investment analysis based on the review of these events will be reported in the Quarterly Status and Analysis Reports to the NITAAC Program Director.

a. The Contractor shall be responsible for pre-exhibition promotion and business development, target audience identification, contract process training, at-show booth staffing, and post-event follow-up activities.

b. The Contractor shall provide the appropriate logistics to seamlessly manage the research, selection, scheduling, and coordination of trade shows, conferences, and other events to help promote the NIH GWACs.

c. The Contractor is responsible for maintaining the NITAAC exhibit display booth in premier condition ensuring all damage to the display be repaired upon booth being returned to the storage facility.

d. The Contractor shall set target goals and a value for each attended event and analyze whether performance targets are being met. This is achieved by collecting and maintaining event statistical data in areas such as booth traffic number of qualified leads with contact information (including agency) and major IT areas of interest.

e. The Contractor shall build on established customer relationships while introducing potential customers to the NITAAC program at conferences, tradeshows and other networking events.

f. The Contractor shall conduct briefings at non-local trade shows and conferences with Federal agencies that are geographically located near the event.

g. The Contractor shall implement and host NITAAC events such as the annual NITAAC Symposium and Contract Holder meetings.

h. The Contractor shall populate and maintain the NITAAC business development database, which tracks all event activities as well as other non-event training activities (the leads that result in sales as well as the cancellations shall be monitored and be included in the Quarterly Status and Analysis Report)

Task Area 5: Customer Support

The Contractor shall maintain a centrally managed helpdesk that the GWAC users and Contract Holders can benefit. The Contractor shall provide three levels of helpdesk support which provides resolution to questions on the NITAAC program, GWACs and competition management systems (eGOS and RFQ System). The helpdesk shall be staffed Monday through Friday between 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Contractor shall:

a. Log, track and manage all inquiries submitted to NITAAC via telephone or email through to issue resolution, identify where to route more complex questions and provide administrative support to the training team.

b. Diagnose, troubleshoot and resolve technical end-user issues, engage in online chat with customers, capture customer feedback and maintain database of frequently asked questions.

c. Implement NITAAC program goals as established by management, mange the day to day operations of the NITAAC Customer Support Center; provide daily, weekly and monthly reports on all helpdesk interactions; prepare reports and respond to data calls as requested by NITAAC program management; work with NITAAC management to draft customer service policies and procedures; advise on customer support related process improvements and assist with implementation of any government approved process changes

Task Area 6: Contract Holder Outreach

The NITAAC’s prime GWAC Contract Holders are an integral part of the NITAAC program and the Contractor is expected to continually expand Contract Holder involvement. The Contractor shall work closely with the Contract Holders to enhance business development and business outreach. This includes encouraging Contract Holders to introduce prospective and existing customers to the NITAAC program and GWACs. The Contractor shall:

a. Respond to Contract Holder questions, coordinate business development activities and coordinate issue resolution with other NITAAC staff

b. Assist Contract Holders in improving their business through the NITAAC GWACs by supporting their new and existing customers

c. Leverage Contract Holder expertise and collaborate on best practices; assist NITAAC in managing Contract Holder performance; identify assessment methods to track Contract Holder accomplishments and deficiencies; recommend and, as required by the Government, implement follow-up actions

Task Area 7: Training

Training customers and Contract Holders on the benefits of using the NITAAC GWACs is an essential part of NITAAC’s business development activities. In the interest of promoting increased usage and orders, the Contractor shall perform ongoing outreach to existing customers, potential customers and Contract Holders to assure they are continually updated on the latest enhancements to the NITAAC program and systems. The Contractor shall expand customer options for training and information gathering on the NITAAC program and contracts. This includes, but is not limited to:

a. Train Federal agencies on acquisition related policy and procedures; conduct customer training sessions at Federal agencies and conferences; demonstrate task and delivery order management systems; possess in-depth knowledge of the Federal Acquisitions Regulation (FAR); experience with training and public speaking; monitor the effectiveness of the training program

b. Actively engage Federal components and NITAAC Contract Holders to schedule trainings sessions; schedule all customer training sessions and logistics; populate and maintain the NITAAC business development database; track all training activities including supporting customer training outreach activities, maintaining the training calendar, and capturing training attendee information; research Information Technology, Contracting, Procurement, and CIO contact information

Task Area 8: Information Technology Management Support

The Contractor shall provide program and information technology management support services from qualified and experienced personnel to support the planning, analysis, design, engineering, development, programming and maintenance of the NITAAC website and ordering systems.

a. The Contractor shall provide qualified and experienced personnel to perform administration, development, and technical support for maintaining the NITAAC web site. This website development work includes creatively designing and implementing improvements to layout and content. The Contractor is expected to provide creative web designs, suggestions for new uses of the web and other cutting-edge technologies to disseminate information, and to implement those innovations approved by the Government.

· Required technical experience and skills for the developer include but are not limited to in-depth knowledge of Drupal Content Management Systems (CMS), PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, GIT-SCM/Subversion, Microsoft SQL Server and the Windows Server operating system.

b. The website developer shall coordinate with the market outreach team to maintain the web site’s branding, business development content, and navigation in order to promote the use of NITAAC’s GWACs and communicate the benefits of using NITAAC services. The Contractor shall ensure on an on-going bases that the website contains message consistency, and that the most up-to-date and relevant information is posted from a business development prospective. The website developer shall also coordinate with the NITAAC government staff and other support contractors to maintain the operational business content of the site, such as contractual information and access to the GWAC ordering systems.

c. The Contractor is responsible for release management to bring website updates into the operations environment in a controlled manner to protect the production environment and keep website users’ functionality fully operational. This includes performing release management for software in its initial phase and coordinate with the Government and its IT Support Team as needed in the testing and production phases, roll out planning, communications and training (as applicable). Except for emergency fixes, releases shall be executed outside of the standard operating hours of 7:30AM to 6:00PM, Monday through Friday. The Contractor shall manage versions of code and software documentation that are released such that previous versions can be located, retrieved, loaded and executed. The Contractor shall also provide appropriate documentation to the COR.

Specific tasks include, but are not limited to:

· Ensuring the site content remains current and relevant via continuous review and update. (New announcements or news updates shall be posted within 24 hours of receipt.)

· Ensuring the website is 508 compliant and adheres to NIH, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and Federal rules and procedures regarding website content.

· Monitoring website content quality and eliminating spelling errors, broken hyperlinks and other issues.

· Measuring and reporting on website usage statistics, and providing recommendations for increasing traffic

· Coordinating with NITAAC staff for content or linked document updates on an ongoing basis

· Coordinating with NITAAC IT support staff as needed to support access to the GWAC ordering systems through the website

· Responding to customer and vendor help tickets regarding website content or issues

· Maintaining a test environment for review and sign-off by appropriate staff before release to the production website

d. The contractor shall maintain and improve (if required) the NITAAC systems providing the ability to compete and manage delivery orders using the ECS III contract as well as provide customer support and issue resolution to NITAAC, Federal users and Contract Holders. This may include enhancements to the systems as required. The systems interface with the NIH SMTP mail server and must comply with DHHS security policies.

· ECS III RFQ System:

The ECS III Quoting System is a web based application that supports the process of creating RFQs by customers, allowing contractors to enter quotes, and providing a mechanism for the customer to select the winning bidder. Functionality is divided up by role. The major roles and associated functions are described below:

· Customer – Create and manage RFQs and delivery orders

· Contractor – Submit quotes, order reporting, Sales reporting, Payment reporting, view orders and lost orders

· Finance – Reconcile order reports, Reconcile payment report, Finance reporting

· NITAAC Contracting Officer – Generate reports

· Electronic Technology Refreshment Proposal (TRP) Information Management System II ( eTIMS II System):

a. eTIMS Vendor Portal The eTIMS vendor portal helps ECS III prime contractors to upload their proposals in the proposed format and view the status of their proposals. It provides automated data quality checks and displays the result instantaneously to the contractor if any data validation error occurs so that the contractor can perform the corrective action and upload. This portal will enable the contractor to view the current status of their proposal and perform actions based on their proposal status. The external users for this portal will be the prime contractors on ECS III contract who will have limited privileges as Vendor roles.

b. eTIMS Support Team Portal eTIMS II Support Team Portal which uses the same database helps the ECS III support team at NITAAC to review the received proposal and approve/disapprove the individual CLINS under the proposal. Only NITAAC internal users will have access to this application and will perform the role of Support team reviewer, QC, CO and admin roles.

c. Electronic Electronic Technology Refreshment Proposal (TRP) Information Management System I (eTIMS I Workflow) eTIMS I is a client server system. It is a prototype to assist in the management and tracking of TRP processing workflow. This system still exists even after eTIMS II was brought live is because of some of the features like completing the determination process and tracking the NBS mod number which are not implemented in eTIMS II.

d. Reports The reports listed in file ECSIII_Reports.xls are generated periodically from RFQ and eTIMS system. The document provides the details on the location and report generation methods for the following reports.

· ECS III Weekly Activity Report

· ECS III Monthly Dashboard

· ECS III Weekly Order Report

· CO TRP Mod Status Report

e. Overview of Technology Used The technology used to develop and enhance the applications is as follows:

Task Area 9: Business Analyst and Program Office Support

The Contractor shall support the NITAAC Program in overall management of NITAAC operational functions, including general improvements to IT-related technical and functional activities. The Contractor shall support the full range of activities as described in this SOW, including new and in-process projects, support for program/system evaluation and implementation, ongoing analyses, planning and evaluation, management and operations guidance, and any other activities necessary to the conduct of OD NITAAC business activities. Qualified personnel must be provided by the Contractor to attend key meetings, provide thought leadership, deliver advice, as well as draft and produce briefings, analysis reports, procedural documents, and other deliverables as directed by the COR or other designated OD official(s). The Contractor shall use professional best practices and have knowledge of applicable Government, NIH, and OD regulations, policies, and standards. The Contractor shall also meet other requirements as directed by and mutually agreed with the COR.

These activities include but are not limited to:

a. Reporting and analysis of orders placed through the GWAC vehicles

b. Supporting data call needs as requested by NITAAC management

c. Establishment of Standard Operating Procedures for NITAAC in support of the organization and its ability to effective manage and run its programs

d. Ensuring quality measures with respect to operations and software development

Task Area 10: Health IT Consulting and Outreach to Scientific Communities

The Contractor shall consult on health IT matters and perform outreach to scientific communities of interest to the program. The development of effective strategies for leveraging NITAAC’s health IT offerings for decision making and for penetrating scientific communities across the government is required. These activities include but are not limited to:

a. Supporting NITAAC efforts to build creative new partnerships and communication strategies that help ensure an expanded NITAAC customer base to encompass scientific program personnel with needs for health IT within the NIH, the DHHS, and beyond

b. Assisting NITAAC with developing clear methods to expand awareness of the value and utility of the NITAAC vehicles, to ultimately increase its customer base and provide outstanding value to Health IT government communities

c. Providing advice and guidance on developing and implementing knowledge management and decision intelligence tools or processes including dashboard, visualization, analytic tools, etc.

d. Assisting NITAAC in conceptualizing strategies that can be put in place to ensure implementation of an efficient, effective, and consistent methodology for assessing the merit of the health IT aspects of offerors’ proposals for future program GWACs

Task Area 11: Finance Management

Contractor shall provide financial management support to the NITAAC Program in a manner that ensures the quality of all deliverables and processes performed. This includes working jointly with NITAAC staff and external entities to effectively resolve any financial issues, assisting in the development and documentation of internal management controls for the services being provided, and helping to ensure the standardization of financial data.

a. Track Contract Holder sales and fee payments, reconciliation of sales and fees, collections and various financial recordkeeping; work directly with Contract Holders and customers in reconciling delivery orders and any associated modifications; assist Contract Holders with sales reporting and fee payments; track modifications to delivery orders; maintain electronic and paper finance records

b. Perform day-to-day management of NITAAC financial systems operations in the areas of sales reconciliation and fee collection; responsible for quality control and quality assurance and in overall management of these activities and reporting on them to NITAAC management; support process improvement of related financial operations, recommend operational controls, and participate in NITAAC system development efforts to support improvements to financial IT systems, ensuring integration of financial management systems and controls; tracking Contract Holder fee payments and coordinating with the NIH Office of Financial Management as needed; ensuring financial records and systems meet Government generally Accepted Accounting Practices; supporting OMB reporting

Task Area 12: Acquisition and Contract Support

The Contractor shall provide personnel and resources as appropriate to provide efficient and cost effective task- and delivery order level acquisition support services to NITAAC customers through in-depth knowledge of information technology (IT) and the policies and procedures in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).

a. The Contractor will provide requirements documents support in all areas of the acquisition phase including statement of work reviews

b. The Contractor shall provide acquisition strategy support including approaches, options, strategies, risk identification, contracting methods through developing guides and templates based on best practices in the realm of IT acquisitions; advise NITAAC management on policy relevant to IT acquisitions, GWACs and the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).

c. The Contractor shall provide pre-award support services for new contracts including; acquisition planning support; requirements development; market research; sources sought notice development; business case development; source selection plans; debriefing support

d. The Contractor shall provide post-award support on the ECS III, CIO-SP3, CIO-SP3 Small Business GWACs including contract administration; contract modification

e. The Contractor shall provide input for OMB reports

Task Area 13: Supply Center Support The contractor shall provide support in maximizing the marketing and business development outreach for the NIH Supply Center and two self-service stores. The DLS business development effort must continuously and expertly advance outreach to the appropriate target Institutes and audiences to achieve the following:

1. Increase awareness in the NIH Supply Center to perspective NIH users

1. Communicate the benefits and advantages of the NIH Supply Center services

1. Demonstrate the ease of use and convenience of the NIH Supply Center

1. Differentiate the NIH Supply Center services from competing services

1. Increase market share of the NIH Supply Center through increased business development activities

1. Increase recognition and repeated use of the NIH Supply Center

1. Through marketing awareness of DLS and the NIH Supply Center, assist in the increase of revenue to the NIH Supply Center through new customer usage of the Center

1. Procure associated marketing materials required to promote NIH Supply Center

1. Procure IT products as requested to support the Business Development and Marketing outreach for the NIH Supply Center

Task Area 14: Transition Task

The Contractor shall participate in transition activities associated with the hand-off of service responsibilities both at contract start-up and immediately prior to contract expiration. In the start-up activities, the Contractor will be the recipient of information from both the outgoing service contractor and from the Government. In the close-out activities, the Contractor shall be the information provider to the Government and to any other agents designated by the Government.

a. Contract Phase-In Services: In order to ensure continuity of services, the Government will require the Contractor to provide transition training and services beginning on the earliest mutually agreeable date. During this period, staff from the incumbent contract shall be available to familiarize and train the new Contractor staff with operations. The Contractor’s transition plan shall provide adequate coverage to ensure uninterrupted service to NITAAC, its customers and Contract Holders, be effectively and efficiently administered, and be completed within a reasonable timeframe. The successor Contractor shall cooperate fully with the incumbent Contractor, as directed by the COR, to ensure that all services continue without interruption.

i. Attend background briefings on NITAAC past marketing outreach efforts and business support operations.

ii. Attend meetings intended to communicate the relevant technical aspects of the NITAAC program, such as, the GWAC ordering systems and project/effort tracking databases.

iii. Attend NITAAC management status and planning meetings to become acclimated to the NITAAC environment, responsibilities, objectives, and plans.

iv. Attend technical working meetings associated with new NITAAC developments and activity planning.

v. Negotiate a mutually acceptable schedule for the generation and production of recurring reports with the NITAAC Program Manager.

b. Transition Plans: The Contractor shall submit a transition plan that details the methods that will be used to ensure a smooth transition from the incumbent Contractor’s operation to sole operation by the Contractor. At a minimum, the plan shall include:

i. A milestone chart detailing time lines and stages on transition from the effective date of the contract performance until the Contractor assumes sole responsibility for providing services

ii. An organizational chart that displays internal and external organizational relationships. The organizational chart shall identify the individuals by name (at all levels) who will be responsible for the transition and their respective roles; detail the lines of communication and how the Contractor will interface with NITAAC during this phase of contract performance.

iii. Methods to orient and educate incumbents/new hires about the Contractor’s NITAAC’s processes

iv. Plans to communicate and cooperate with the current incumbent Contractor

v. How and to what extent the Contractor proposes to utilize incumbent private providers

vi. If the Contractor proposes to use its own network of private providers in addition or instead of incumbent private providers, how it proposes to train those providers on this requirement

vii. Timelines for bringing on new providers, which include securing an approved subcontract agreement

viii. Plans to review plans with designated NITAAC staff to gain clear understanding of specific customer needs

c. Contract Phase-Out Services: At the end of this contract, if deemed necessary by the government, the Contractor shall provide similar transition/phase-in/phase-out training and support to the successor Contractor (refer to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Clause 52.237-3 Continuity of services).

i. Provide briefings and other familiarization to the Successor. The Government and its representatives will act as a third party in all meetings and communications between the incumbent and successor contractor specific to knowledge exchange. The Contractor shall provide walkthroughs of the processes and provide hands-on training for the systems applicable to this task and any reconciliation tools.

ii. Create and deliver a Closing Transition Plan for turning all support operations over to a Successor.

iii. Participate in a formal turnover of responsibilities to the Successor contractor.

iv. Deliver the up-to-date NITAAC documentation to the government for purposes of turnover to the Successor and familiarization of the Successor with NITAAC operations.

v. Deliver a comprehensive list of all incomplete tasks, both in process and backlogged.

vi. Generate and deliver a plan for the completion of work prior to the expiration of the Contractor’s contract period of performance.

vii. Support knowledge exchange activities. The nominal requirement for this task is that of being available to answer questions, provide IDs and passwords for non-personal account access, provide access to software and documentation, and brief the successor contractor on the status of work not completed.

4. DELIVERABLES AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The contractor shall submit deliverables that are clear, concise, and complete, and that conform in format and structure to standards that shall be agreed to in advance between the Contractor and the COR. All written deliverable products shall be delivered in draft form for Government review and comment. The Government shall have five (5) working days to review and comment. Final copies shall be delivered in five (5) working days after receipt of Government comments. The detailed requirements of reporting deliverables may be adjusted based on operating experience and Government approval.

The delivery schedule of key written management products is specified in the delivery schedule table contained in this Section. Other written and technical deliverables will be delivered according to the schedules identified in approved Project Management Plans developed as part of this SOW.

4.1 Delivery Schedule Table

a.

b.

1.

2.

Page-12