NLM_Customer_Service_PWS_1.pdf

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

PROVIDING REFERENCE AND CUSTOMER SERVICES SUPPORT TO USERS OF THE

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

Part 1

General Information

1. GENERAL: This is a non-personal services contract to provide reference and customer service support to users of the National Library of Medicine programs and services. The Government shall not exercise any supervision or control over the contract service providers performing the services herein. Such contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Contractor who, in turn, is responsible to the Government.

1.1 Description of Services: Contractor will provide support services to NLM Reference and Customer Services by providing staff who will respond to customer inquiries and provide users with quality health information, and sound technical advice. The Contractor shall provide all services as defined in this Performance Work Statement except for those items specified as government furnished property and services. The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

1.2 Background: Customer service inquiries are received and responded to in the Access Program, Engagement Branch, at the National Library of Medicine. Since 1999, contract staff have assisted in triaging and responding to incoming correspondence, telephone calls and providing in-person library services. NLM Reference and Customer Services handles thousands of information requests from customers worldwide requiring in-person and web support for NLM programs and services including but not limited to: MEDLINE, PubMed, NCBI databases, ClinicalTrials.gov, MedlinePlus, the NLM Catalog, ALMA, Citing Medicine, IndexCat, MeSH Browser, and the NLM Classification. Customers include health professionals, researchers, students, patients, and consumers who use NLM services for their health information needs. Inquiries and requests for library materials arrive through e-mail, telephone, postal mail, fax, and in-person visits. Inquiries include requests for information about diseases or drugs, how to obtain copies or scans of journal articles and other library materials, how to find clinical trials, citation verification, correction of possible database data errors, assistance with DOCLINE and interlibrary loan, statistics and other research and reference questions.

1.3 Objectives:

• NLM Customer Service helps NLM carry out its mission of enabling biomedical research, supporting health care and public health, and promoting healthy behavior by providing access to biomedical and health information across the country in partnership with over 6,000-member National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NNLM).

1.4 Scope:

• Contractor shall provide services responding to customer inquiries received by the NLM.

• Contractor will respond to service requests that come in via phone, e-mail, fax, postal mail, chat, onsite or other communication channels according to NLM triage policies and procedures.

• Contractor will respond to requests and refer the remainder to experts or other product specialists at NLM by assigning requests using the customer relationship management system.

• Telephone interactions will be logged into the customer relationship management system as the calls are received.

• Contractor will reply to telephone and all forms of written inquiries about access to and use of the NLM databases and general medical reference resources including consumer health resources. The response may be a simple fact, a referral to another NLM program area specialist or to regional libraries, a consumer health Web site, or a search strategy using NLM web-based databases. It may include the use of appropriate NLM FAQs, stock replies, and other Web pages.

• Contractor will use a variety of resources, including, but not limited to, NLM’s products/services and databases, publications, collections, online catalog, NLM & NIH Web pages, and customer services internal resources to respond to service requests.

• Contractor shall handle all requests by responding within 3 business days of the initial request or refer requests to subject area experts according to NLM triage policies and procedures.

• Contractor shall provide monthly and quarterly reports and shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program.

• Contractor will also assist with related customer service activities including contributing to stock replies/FAQs, writing and editing knowledge base articles, providing reports of handled cases and testing established, new, or improved NLM products and services.

1.5 Period of Performance: The period of performance shall be for one (1) Base Year of 12 months and

(4) twelve-month option periods.

1.6 General Information

1.6.1 Quality Control: The Contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of substandard performance of services. The contractor’s quality control program ensures that the work complies with the requirement of the contract. The Quality Control Plan (QCP) shall be submitted with the contractor’s proposal. Three copies of a comprehensive QCP shall be submitted to the Contracting Officer (CO) and Contracting Officer Representative (COR) within 5 working days when changes are made thereafter. After acceptance of the quality control plan, the Contractor shall receive the CO’s acceptance in writing of any proposed change to the Quality Control system.

1.6.2 Quality Assurance: The government shall evaluate the Contractor’s performance under this contract in accordance with the Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). This plan is primarily focused on what the Government must do to ensure that the contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards. It defines how the performance standards will be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

1.6.3 Recognized Holidays: Contractors do not work on observed Federal holidays. The Contractor shall schedule a sufficient number of individuals to cover the service desk needed so breaks are taken without a lapse of telephone, desk, or email coverage. Contractor staff shall not report early or stay late.

New Year’s Day Labor Day Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday Columbus Day (Indigenous Peoples’ Day) President’s Day Veteran’s Day Memorial Day Juneteenth Day Thanksgiving Day Independence Day Christmas Day

1.6.4 Hours of Operation: The contractor staff is responsible for conducting business Monday through Friday except Federal holidays, or when the Government facility is closed due to local or national emergencies, administrative closings, or similar Government directed facility closings such as a furlough.

Telework will not be allowed under these conditions, unless needed for recalled staff and excepted activities. The Contractor must always maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons. When hiring personnel, the Contractor shall keep in mind that the stability and continuity of the workforce are essential.

Core times for staffing are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. through 5: 00 p.m., although some contractors may start earlier or work later within the 7:30 am and 6 pm time window if approved by the Contract Project Manager and COR. Contract staff shall also work regular hours in the Reading Room at the information desk.

1.6.5 Place of Performance: Contractor will perform the work under this contract at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at 8600 Rockville Pike, Bldg. 38 in Bethesda, MD. Telework one day per week and on an ad hoc basis under extraordinary circumstances is permissible under this contract. The Contractor will set its company’s general telework policies and procedures. However, telework options or schedules must be agreed upon by the COR and Contractor Project Manager.

1.6.5.1 Telework: Following are procedures to determine telework options for contract staff during times of inclement weather:

• The Contract Team Lead will check with OPM and NIH administration to determine the operating status.

• Once the operating status is determined, the Contract Team Lead will contact the Contractor staff to communicate NLM's operating status, as well as the ability or not of Contract staff to telework that day, depending on the status and whether coverage is needed for the Reading Room information desk.

• The Contract Team Lead will then inform the Contract Project Manager and the COR of staff availability and will secure coverage for team scheduled shifts.

• The above procedures will be followed any day that the federal government announces a change in operating status.

1.6.5.2 Site Closures: If the contractor has employees assigned to NLM-occupied space and the space is unavailable due to an unexpected NLM closure or early dismissal, the contractor employee may telework or continue to work on site, unless all personnel must leave the site. An attachment is provided of the Advance Understanding dealing with contract work and work stoppage if a Continuity of Operations (COOP)/Event-is declared. The Contractor is responsible for contacting and dismissing their staff. During the COOP event, FAR Clause 52.242-15, Stop Work Order, is automatically implemented. The contractor employees may work on contract related work in an alternate location only if authorized by the COR. The COR may decide to authorize an alternate work location based upon programmatic need.

1.6.6 Type of Contract: The government will award a firm fixed price contract.

1.6.7 Security Requirements: Contractor staff performing work under this contract must have or obtain the required security clearance as determined by the federal agency and must maintain the level of security required for the life of the contract. Contractor staff must also complete mandatory security and other training mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes of Health. NIH will revoke any computer access for contractor staff who fail to complete any mandatory training.

1.6.7.1 Physical Security: The Contractor shall be responsible for safeguarding all government equipment, information and property provided for Contractor use. At the close of each work period, government facilities, equipment, and materials shall be secured.

1.6.7.2 Key Control. The Contractor shall establish and implement methods of making sure all keys/key cards issued to the Contractor by the Government are not lost or misplaced and are not used by unauthorized persons. NOTE: All references to keys include key cards if applicable. No keys issued to the Contractor by the Government shall be duplicated. The Contractor shall develop procedures covering key control that shall be included in the Quality Control Plan. Such procedures shall include turn-in of any issued keys by personnel who no longer require access to locked areas. The Contractor shall immediately report any occurrences of lost or duplicate keys/key cards to the Contracting Officer.

1.6.7.2.1. In the event keys, other than master keys, are lost or duplicated, the Contractor shall, upon direction of the Contracting Officer, re-key or replace the affected lock or locks; however, the Government, at its option, may replace the affected lock or locks or perform re-keying. When the replacement of locks or re-keying is performed by the Government, the total cost of re-keying or the replacement of the lock or locks shall be deducted from the monthly payment due the Contractor. In the event a master key is lost or duplicated, all locks and keys for that system shall be replaced by the Government and the total cost deducted from the monthly payment due the Contractor.

1.6.7.2.2. The Contractor shall prohibit the use of Government issued keys/key cards by any persons other than the Contractor’s employees. The Contractor shall prohibit the opening of locked areas by Contractor employees to permit entrance of persons other than Contractor employees engaged in the performance of assigned work in those areas, or personnel authorized entrance by the Contracting Officer.

1.6.8 Special Qualifications: Contractor staff must exhibit familiarity with the appropriate use of a core collection of medical print or online reference tools for fact finding and for gathering the initial information needed for complex search strategies. These core biomedical materials include, but are not limited to:

AMA Directory of Physicians in the United States AHA Guide to the Healthcare Field APA PsycNet Gale Ready Reference Shelf Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) Cochrane Library DailyMed Medical Device Register PubMed MESH Database/Browser

NLM Catalog/LocatorPlus Martindale: Complete Drug Reference

Physicians Drug Reference (PDR) Index Medicus Web of Science Journal Citation Reports US Pharmacopeia/National Formulary Health Care Standards Directory Micromedex/Redbook Online Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the United States Hospital Statistics from the AHA World Health Statistics Annual NTRL (NTIS) Library Scopus

1.6.9 Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings: The Contractor agrees to attend any post award conference convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 42.5. The Contracting Officer, Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), and other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the Contractor's performance. At these meetings, the contracting officer will inform the contractor of how the government views the Contractor's performance and the Contractor will inform the Government of any problems. Appropriate action shall be taken to resolve outstanding issues. These meetings shall be at no additional cost to the government.

1.6.10 Contracting Officer Representative (COR): The COR will be identified by separate letter. The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration. The COR is authorized to perform the following functions:

• Assure that the Contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract.

• Perform inspections necessary to judge contract performance.

• Maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract.

• Issue written interpretations of technical requirements.

• Monitor the Contractor’s performance and notifies both the Contracting Officer and Contractor of any deficiencies.

• Coordinate availability of government furnished property and provide site entry of Contractor personnel.

A letter of designation issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, states the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially regarding changes in cost or price, estimates or changes in delivery dates. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the contract.

1.6.11 Key Personnel and Other Staff: The following personnel are considered key personnel by the government:

Key Personnel:

Day of Week Allowable Work Hours Type of Staff

Monday-Friday 7:30 am – 6:00 pm* Professional Librarian/Onsite Manager (Contract Team Lead)

Other Staff (not key personnel):

Day of Week Allowable Work Hours Type of Staff

Monday-Friday 7:30 am – 6:00 pm* Customer Service Contract Staff

*At least 1 staff person during the core hours of 8:30 am – 5:00 pm.

The Contractor shall provide a professional librarian who is the onsite manager and Contract Team Lead. The Team Lead shall be responsible for the performance of the work. The name of this person and an alternate who shall act for the Contractor when the Team Lead is absent shall be designated in writing to the Contracting Officer. The Team Lead or alternate shall have full authority to act for the Contractor on all matters relating to the daily operation of this contract. The Team Lead or alternate shall be available between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays or when the government facility is closed for administrative reasons.

Qualifications for all key personnel are listed below:

The Team Lead shall have a Master’s degree in Library Science or Information Science and several years of experience in an academic, health sciences library, or information center with some administrative experience and responsibilities such as personnel management and report preparation.

Contractor staff must have at least one year of reference experience in an academic or health sciences library or information center.

1.6.12 Identification of Contractor Employees: All contract personnel attending meetings, answering Government telephones, sending emails, and working in other situations where their contractor status is not obvious to third parties are required to identify themselves as such to avoid creating an impression to the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by Contractors are suitably marked as Contractor products or that Contractor participation is appropriately disclosed. All written communication from contract staff must include a signature identifying their role. Contract staff must sign with their name and: Contractor for the National Library of Medicine, NIH. This communication includes providing responses to requests via NLM's customer service channels, as well as internal and external communications.

Contractor staff must not post any communication to public email listservs, social media, or any public forum without the explicit consent of the Contracting Officer Representative (COR). If the Contracting Officer Representative (COR) consents, the Contractor staff must clearly state their position as a Contractor to avoid creating the impression that they are Government employees.

1.6.13 Contractor Travel: NLM does not require contractor travel and will not authorize nor reimburse any travel under this contract.

1.6.14 Other Direct Costs: There are no other direct costs associated with this contract. NLM considers any work-related NIH training that Contractors may attend on the main NIH campus or in other NIH-leased sites to be billable for the purposes of this contract.

1.6.15 Data Rights: The Government has unlimited rights to all documents/material produced under this contract.

All documents and materials produced under this contract shall be Government owned and are the property of the Government with all rights and privileges of ownership/copyright belonging exclusively to the Government. All materials supplied to the Government shall be the sole property of the Government and may not be used for any other purpose. This right does not abrogate any other Government rights.

1.6.16 Organizational Conflict of Interest: Contractor and subcontractor personnel performing work under this contract may receive, have access to or participate in the development of proprietary or source selection information (e.g., cost or pricing information, budget information or analyses, specifications, or work statements, etc.) or perform evaluation services which may create a current or subsequent Organizational Conflict of Interests (OCI) as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5. The Contractor shall notify the Contracting Officer immediately whenever it becomes aware that such access or participation may result in any actual or potential OCI and shall promptly submit a plan to the Contracting Officer to avoid or mitigate any such OCI. The Contractor’s mitigation plan will be determined to be acceptable solely at the discretion of the Contracting Officer and in the event the Contracting Officer unilaterally determines that any such OCI cannot be satisfactorily avoided or mitigated, the Contracting Officer may affect other remedies as he or she deems necessary, including prohibiting the Contractor from participation in subsequent contracted requirements which may be affected by the OCI.

1.6.17 PHASE IN /PHASE OUT PERIOD: To minimize any decreases in productivity and to prevent possible negative impacts on additional services, the Contractor shall have personnel on board, during the 30-day phase-in/phase-out periods. During the phase-in period, the Contractor shall become familiar with performance requirements to commence full performance of services on the contract start date. In the event of departure of any contract staff, Contractor shall replace staff as needed with qualified staff within 2 to 3 weeks of the departure of the previous staff and ensure that new staff receives adequate training.

PART 2

DEFINITIONS & ACRONYMS

2. DEFINITIONS AND ACRONYMS:

2.1. DEFINITIONS:

2.1.1. CONTRACTOR. A supplier or vendor awarded a contract to provide specific supplies or service to the government. The term used in this contract refers to the prime.

2.1.2. CONTRACTING OFFICER (CO). A person with authority to enter into, administer, and or terminate contracts, and make related determinations and findings on behalf of the government. Note: The only individual who can legally bind the government.

2.1.3. CONTRACTING OFFICER'S REPRESENTATIVE (COR). An employee of the U.S. Government appointed by the contracting officer to administer the contract. Such appointment shall be in writing and shall state the scope of authority and limitations. This individual has authority to provide technical direction to the Contractor if that direction is within the scope of the contract, does not constitute a change, and has no funding implications. This individual does NOT have the authority to change the terms and conditions of the contract.

2.1.4. CONTRACT TEAM LEAD. The onsite manager for the Contract staff.

2.1.5. DEFECTIVE SERVICE. A service output that does not meet the standard of performance associated with the Performance Work Statement.

2.1.6. DELIVERABLE. Anything that can be physically delivered but may include non-manufactured things such as meeting minutes or reports.

2.1.7. KEY PERSONNEL. Contractor personnel that are evaluated in a source selection process and that may be required to be used in the performance of a contract by the Key Personnel listed in the PWS. When key personnel are used as an evaluation factor in best value procurement, an offer can be rejected if it does not have a firm commitment from the persons that are listed in the proposal.

2.1.8. PHYSICAL SECURITY. Actions that prevent the loss or damage of Government property.

2.1.9. QUALITY ASSURANCE. The government procedures to verify that services being performed by the Contractor are performed according to acceptable standards.

2.1.10. QUALITY ASSURANCE Surveillance Plan (QASP). An organized written document specifying the surveillance methodology to be used for surveillance of contractor performance.

2.1.11. QUALITY CONTROL. All necessary measures taken by the Contractor to assure that the quality of a product or service shall meet contract requirements.

2.1.12. SUBCONTRACTOR. One that enters into a contract with a prime contractor. The Government does not have privity of contract with the subcontractor.

2.1.13. WORK DAY. The number of hours per day the Contractor provides services in accordance with the contract.

2.1.14. WORK WEEK. Monday through Friday, unless specified otherwise.

2.2. ACRONYMS:

ACOR Alternate Contracting Officer's Representative CFR Code of Federal Regulations CO Contracting Officer CONUS Continental United States (excludes Alaska and Hawaii) COR Contracting Officer Representative CRM Customer Relationship Management FAR Federal Acquisition Regulation HHS Health and Human Services HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 NIH National Institutes of Health NLM National Library of Medicine OCI Organizational Conflict of Interest

ODC Other Direct Costs PIPO Phase In/Phase Out POC Point of Contact PRS Performance Requirements Summary PWS Performance Work Statement QA Quality Assurance QAP Quality Assurance Program QASP Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan QC Quality Control QCP Quality Control Program TE Technical Exhibit

PART 3

GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT, AND SERVICES

3. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES:

3.1. Services: The Government will provide staff to help new Contractor personnel with set-up of computer, onsite Internet connection, phone system, and training on NLM and NIH resources.

3.2 Facilities: The Government will provide cubicle space with desk, phones, computers, and other items necessary to perform the work under this contract. NIH provides free parking on campus for personnel with an appropriate vehicle registration and hang tag.

3.3 Equipment: The Government will provide computers, scanners, printers, fax machines, and other office supplies necessary to perform the work under this contract. Contractors are responsible for any government furnished equipment issued in their name.

3.4 Training: The Government and/or other contract staff will provide training on NLM databases and systems and provide the necessary training and quality review of work of new hires until they are deemed ready to handle desk services solo (with backup referrals to the COR or professional staff). Contractor may attend periodic training sessions during regular working hours.

The initial new contractor training includes, but is not limited to: software, which is provided, for handling telephone calls, NLM's Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software used for tracking and handling inquiries, NLM internal resources, NLM public Internet resources, tips & tricks for PubMed, and an overview of and policies and procedures relating to NLM programs and services. Working on the service desk in the Reading Room by any full-time professional contract staff requires additional training by Government and contract staff.

Contractor staff must also complete mandatory security and other training mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services or the National Institutes of Health. NIH will revoke any computer access for contractor staff who fail to complete any mandatory training.

3.5 Materials: The Government will provide any training manuals and workbooks, and any other materials necessary to perform the work under this contract. For example, contractor staff have access to the following and more:

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software;

• Customer service telephony;

• Desktop productivity software (e.g. word processing, spread sheet, presentation, database)

• Over 75 NLM and other vendor databases;

• The NLM general collection (over 9 million materials, including electronic resources);

• A decision tree for routing questions and a knowledge base for responding to questions that contains FAQs; stock replies, and other pages about NLM products and services;

• Second tier reference staff and other NLM expert staff; and

• NLM's search engine access to the NLM Website that patrons access 24 hrs./7 days.

PART 4

CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES

4. CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

4.1. General: The Contractor shall furnish all supplies, equipment, facilities, and services required to perform work under this contract that are not listed under Section 3 of this PWS.

PART 5

SPECIFIC TASKS

5. SPECIFIC TASKS:

5.1. Basic Services. The Contractor shall provide support services to NLM Reference and Customer Services.

Contractor staff shall respond to customer inquiries and provide users with quality health information, and sound technical advice for using NLM products and services.

5.2. REFERENCE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE

5.2.1. Contractor will reply to telephone, in-person requests, and all forms of written inquiries about access to and use of the NLM databases and general medical reference resources including consumer health resources according to current NLM policies and guidelines. Inquiries include, but are not limited to, these and other NLM products:

ClinicalTrials.gov, DailyMed, the Digital Repository, IndexCat, MEDLINE/PubMed, PubMed Central, MedlinePlus, MeSH, NLM Catalog, NLM Classification, the NIHMS, NLM Publications, UMLS, and DOCLINE. In addition, there are questions about interlibrary loan, document delivery, requests for address changes, requests for brochures and other NLM promotional materials, user ID/password problems, requests for information about diseases and therapies, reporting database errors, verifications of citations or if NLM owns a material, requests for statistical information, and other reference questions. Contract staff must learn the policies for onsite use of the collection, the difference between the journals owned vs. indexed vs. selectively indexed, use of pre-online NLM indexes, variant journal titles (such as Chinese), LIBID vs. UI vs. PMID and PMCID codes, and how to verify the date a journal was received at NLM. Acceptable responses include simple facts, referrals to another NLM program area specialist or to regional libraries, a consumer health Web site, or a search strategy using NLM web-based databases.

Responses may also include information from NLM FAQs, stock replies, and other Web pages.

5.2.2. Contractor will reassign requests that require expert level assistance to other information professionals and product/service areas across multiple NLM teams within the CRM system or forward them outside the CRM system to other experts for reply.

5.2.3. Contractor will maintain a record of each customer interaction using CRM, telephony, and library desk statistics software that NLM provides.

5.2.4. Contractor will assist with related customer service activities including contributing to stock replies/FAQs/knowledge base articles and testing established, new or improved NLM products and services.

Specifically, Contractor will report any need for additional stock answers or frequently asked questions for the knowledge base to the Team Lead.

5.2.5. Contractor will help staff the information desk in the Reading Room, as needed.

5.2.6. The Government expects contractor staff to stay current on new reference tools, databases, and NLM products and services.

5.2.7. The Contractor will ensure a representative or delegate such as the Contract Project Manager or a company delegate meet with and engage with contract staff virtually or onsite at least once a month.

5.2.8. The Government may require Contractor to assist in OMB-cleared customer service surveys of services over a specified number of weeks or months to help assess overall service satisfaction and to identify needed areas of training.

5.3. ONSITE CONTRACTOR MANAGEMENT

5.3.1. The onsite Contract Team Lead, in addition to responding to customer service inquiries as described above, shall also:

1. Provide customer service system training for new contract staff. New staff will have 2 weeks of training for telephone and e-mail services. The Team Lead must maintain adequate service desk staffing during this training. Occasionally, the Team Lead must ask the COR or other Reference staff for assistance.

2. Attend regularly scheduled meetings with the Reference COR. To avoid the appearance of personal services under this contract, work requirements shall flow only from the COR or designate to the Team Lead and from the Team Lead to the Contractor staff.

3. Conduct regularly scheduled meetings with Contractor staff. Monitor, evaluate and mentor Contractor staff. This includes quality review of their work for technical errors such as those resulting in returned correspondence, errors in classification of queries and correspondence, appropriate reassignment or referral of queries, and appropriate content of responses. Report problems to the COR and evaluate where individual or group training is needed or where additional stock replies, disclaimers, or FAQs are needed.

4. Develop and write 508 compliant training manual materials for new Contractor staff to be kept on NLM shared drives and internal electronic sources, such as the NLM wiki.

5. Provide ongoing training and dissemination of information to Contractor staff as necessary. The dynamic nature of the work involved in this contract (e.g., new versions of PubMed; new software bugs/fixes, new online catalog features and new or changed databases) requires modifying or developing new responses for customer inquiries.

6. The Team Lead will also create and make available deliverables such as monthly staff scheduling calendars, quarterly (the federal quarters of Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec, Jan-Mar, and Apr-Jun) progress reports and other forms as required in the contract. Monthly Contractor staff schedules are due at least one week before the beginning of the upcoming month. Progress reports should be available within 5 business days after the reporting period ends.

7. The Team Lead will schedule Contractor staff to ensure coverage despite unexpected or planned absences. Due to the specialized training necessary for the successful performance of this contract, all staffing will be derived from the regular pool of staff working on this contract. Biweekly or monthly staff schedules will be provided to the COR least one week prior to scheduled duty times. Daily changes in staffing will be reported prior to the first scheduled duty time that day to the COR after the change has been approved by the Contract Project Manager.

8. Contractor shall replace contractor staff as needed with qualified staff within 2 to 3 weeks of the departure of the previous staff and ensure that new staff receives adequate training.

9. Use customer service reporting software to generate standard and ad-hoc reports on such issues as customer support activity workload, customer complaints, comments, and suggestions for service improvements. Reports may be requested at any time by the COR in response to NLM program area and senior staff requests.

10. Track and report on issues, trends, and new problems to the COR as specified in the schedule of reports or as problems occur.

PART 6

APPLICABLE PUBLICATIONS

6. APPLICABLE PUBLICATIONS (CURRENT EDITIONS)

6.1. The Contractor must abide by all applicable regulations, publications, manuals, and local policies and procedures. Specific guidelines that Contractor staff follow are the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) Health and Medical Records Guidelines, the Medical Library Association’s Code of Ethics for Health Sciences Librarianship, and the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) Digital Reference Guidelines. Contractor staff are also expected and will be evaluated on specific NLM Reading Room and correspondence policies, procedures, and triage instructions. NLM will provide access to these documents to Contractor staff.

http://www.ala.org/rusa/resources/guidelines/guidelinesmedical http://www.mlanet.org/page/code-of-ethics http://www.mlanet.org/page/code-of-ethics https://www.ifla.org/publications/ifla-digital-reference-guidelines?og=8708

PART 7

ATTACHMENT/TECHNICAL EXHIBIT LISTING

7. Attachment/Technical Exhibit List:

7.1 Attachment 1/Technical Exhibit 1 – Performance Requirements

7.2 Attachment 2/Technical Exhibit 2 – Deliverables Schedule Attachment

Exhibit 1

7.1 Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)

Required Services (Tasks)

Performance Standards

Acceptable Quality Levels

Methods of

Surveillance

Incentive (Positive and/or

Negative) (Impact on Contractor Payments)

Administer quality control program in accordance with QCP (PWS section 5.3).

Contractor follows QCP.

100% Periodic meetings with COR to review findings from QC activities.

Provide additional option year for maintaining acceptable quality standards for this and all other required services and tasks under this contract until the final option year.

Provide positive CPARS evaluation for maintaining acceptable quality levels for this and all other required services and tasks under this contract.

Contractor Team Lead must submit a monthly report of tickets handled via phone call, email, Web form, or any needed communication sources. (PWS section 5.3.)

Report accurately depicts monthly solved or handled ticket numbers.

95% Monthly report review by COR

See Row 1 incentive.

Reports submitted within 5 business days after the end of the previous month.

100%

Performance Standards

Acceptable Quality Levels

Methods of

Surveillance

Incentive (Positive and/or

Negative) (Impact on Contractor Payments)

Contractor Team Lead must submit a quarterly report of tickets handled via phone call, email, Web form, or any needed communication sources. (PWS section

Report accurately depicts monthly solved or handled ticket numbers.

95% Monthly report review by COR

See Row 1 incentive.

Reports submitted within 4 business days after the end of the previous quarter.

100%

Contractor Team Lead must publish a monthly schedule for the contractors and distribute it to the COR.

Contractor Team Lead must submit the schedule at least 1 week before the start of each month.

100% COR checks receipt of schedule monthly

Performance Standards

Acceptable Quality Levels

Methods of

Surveillance

Incentive (Positive and/or

Negative) (Impact on Contractor Payments)

Contractor Team Lead must provide customer service and other system and policy training to new contract staff. Federal staff may assist in this training. Contractor Team Lead must keep training document current. Document must be 508 compliant Word document kept in NLM shared drive.

Contractor Team Lead will provide 2 weeks of training for new contractor staff using current 508 compliant Word training document.

100% COR reviews training checklist.

See Row 1 incentive.

Contractor staff will maintain an acceptable level of quality and accuracy on customer cases.

Contractor staff will maintain a 90% or higher score when solving customer tickets or interactions based on staff adherence to the correspondence guidelines and standard operating procedures.

100% COR and NLM staff participate in quarterly reviews of Contractor staff solved ticket data.

These reviews are a sampling of tickets during the quarter.

NLM staff score the samples and average them.

See Row 1 incentive.

Contractor staff will staff the information desk in the Reading Room or arrange for coverage during planned absences.

Contractor staff will provide information desk and on-call reference coverage and will arrange for coverage for planned absences according to the published desk schedule.

100% COR reviews schedule.

Performance Standards

Acceptable Quality Levels

Methods of

Surveillance

Incentive (Positive and/or

Negative) (Impact on Contractor Payments)

Information desk – provide assistance to Reading Room patrons.

Examples of assistance include but are not limited to material requests, verification of citations, assistance with scanning and handling delicate materials, research assistance, and technical assistance.

Contractor staff will provide assistance to Reading Room patrons including but not limited to material requests, verifications of citations, assistance with scanning and handling delicate materials, research assistance, and technical assistance.

100% COR reviews monthly reports

See Row 1 incentive.

Enter accurate information desk statistics.

Contractor staff will enter accurate Reading Room statistics using question tracking software.

95% COR reviews spreadsheets.

`TECHNICAL EXHIBIT 2

DELIVERABLES SCHEDULE

Deliverable Frequency # of Copies Medium/Format Submit To Monthly Contractor staff schedule

Monthly – at least 1 week before the beginning of the upcoming month.

1 Excel file Mabel Mendez mabel.mendez @nih.gov

Monthly Progress Report

Monthly - within 5 business days after the end of the previous month.

1 Word document Mabel Mendez mabel.mendez @nih.gov;

Quarterly Progress Report

Quarterly - within 5 business days after the end of the previous quarter.

1 Word document Mabel Mendez mabel.mendez @nih.gov;

Information Security and Physical Access Reporting Requirements

On an as-needed basis

1 Word document Mabel Mendez mabel.mendez @nih.gov;

7.1 Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP)