OHI-393-2022-0022 Resiliency Self Care Program Technical Support SOW.docx

Resiliency Self-Care Technical Training Support and Mentoring Contract XXXXXXXXXXX Attachment D.1

STATEMENT OF WORK

July 13, 2022

1 Introduction

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking technical training support services, mentoring, and consultative services to mature the Resilience Self-Care Program, CMS Customer Advocate Program (CAP), and Community of Practice (COP) with the goal to continue to refine, build, and strengthen the mental health and well-being of CMS employees that may encounter difficult or challenging customer situations when interacting with the public. Through these and other interactions, staff may experience a variety of stressors including anxiety, sadness, and challenging or unpleasant interactions. Resilience has been defined by the American Psychological Association (APA) as “the human ability to adapt in the face of tragedy, trauma, adversity, hardship, and on-going significant life stressors.” Just as someone would address physical injuries, it is imperative to seek support, alleviate symptoms of pain, and take steps to ensure recovery when faced with emotional and/or psychological challenges.

Independently, and not as an agent of the Government, the Contractor shall furnish the necessary services, personnel, materials, equipment, and facilities, not otherwise provided by the Government, as needed to perform this contract.

1.1 Background

CMS’ customer-facing components are responsible for providing customer service by responding to written, telephonic, and electronic inquiries from Medicare beneficiaries and their representatives. In some instances, inquirers contact several CMS components throughout the agency repeatedly. These individuals may have multiple questions about CMS programs and may be difficult to assist and/or unwilling to accept resolutions provided. These individuals may benefit from a designated CMS staff member, a CMS Customer Advocate. The CMS Customer Advocate can help these individuals navigate CMS programs by coordinating accurate and consistent agency responses and act as the individual’s CMS sole point of contact. Therein, the CMS Customer Advocate Program was created.

Through these and other interactions, staff may experience a varying degree of tense, heartbreaking, and challenging situations with customers. Frequently the requests made by customers in these scenarios cannot be accommodated under the laws of the programs, leaving the staff person feeling guilt and anxiety at being the final word to the inquirer. To address these issues, CMS established the Resilience Self-Care Program, CMS Customer Advocate Program (CAP), and Community of Practice (COP) utilizing industry leading methodologies and practices on Human Resilience and Peer Support, psychological body armor, and psychological first aid respectively.

The Contractor shall leverage its technical training expertise in psychological resiliency and psychological first aid to incorporate new data from the performance, resilience, and wellness sector into the current Resiliency Self-Care program, including crisis leadership elements.

2 Scope

The purpose of this acquisition is to acquire technical training support services, mentoring, and consultative services. This contract is established in order to provide on-time completion of CMS’ Resiliency Self-Care Technical Training Support and Mentoring contractual requirements.

The Contractor is expected to fully comply with the requirements of this contract and achieve operational success for this mission-critical CMS program. The Contractor is expected to modify current training materials, as well as any other items necessary to meet the requirements identified under this task order. All training courses will be delivered virtually. CMS will coordinate the logistics of these sessions.

All training materials will be delivered to CMS by the Contractor electronically; and CMS will be responsible for providing materials in the appropriate formats.

The Contractor shall exercise judicious discretion in determining the best approach for achieving success on this contract, providing all activities are in compliance with the requirements of this contract and any applicable local, state, and federal regulations and policies.

NOTE: This SOW may be modified to incorporate additional within scope workload not currently identified herein.

3 Task Area Requirements

The following sections outline the functional requirements for this SOW. The Contractor shall use their best practices, standards, and methodologies to provide CMS with quality service.

The Contractor shall enhance the existing Resiliency Self-Care Program by incorporating new data and instructional elements on performance, resilience, and wellness into the existing Psychological Body Armor and Psychological First Aid trainings to improve CMS employee performance and support due to continued PHE and continued chronic trauma.

The Contractor shall:

a) Coordinate enhancement of current training content of Psychological Body Armor and Psychological First Aid based on CMS organizational understanding.

b) Provide updated materials 30 days after completion.

c) Provide podcasts related to this topic that will be housed on CMS' Human Resiliency SharePoint page for staff to view at their convenience.

CMS shall:

a) Provide current training materials for review.

b) Post all training materials and podcasts.

3.1.b Customer Advocate Program (CAP)/Community of Practice (COP) Mentoring Services

The contractor shall work with CMS to enhance established workgroups and strategies to expand the current CMS CAP and COP designed to provide a forum for identification, discussion, and resolution of the operational and supporting components regarding training and support needs.

The Contractor shall:

a) Collaborate with CMS on developing a format for the workgroup sessions that is practical to support mentoring services of the CAP tasks identified under task 3.1.b.

b) Collaborate with CMS on developing a format for the workgroup sessions that is practical to support mentoring services of the COP tasks identified under task 3.1.b.

c) Preparing any materials recommended for each workgroup and sending to CMS 7 days prior to each session for CMS to distribute to all participants.

d) Identifying, when possible, patterns, trends, and issues that develop from the group discussions.

e) Following-up to ensure that issues are identified and resolved.

f) Recommendations for improvements and best practices.

g) Incorporating, as necessary and appropriate, issues brought up during the sessions into materials that may be used for future training sessions.

h) Recommendations for future trainings.

i) Providing mentoring services on an Ad-hoc basis when issues of resiliency and self-care needs arise, specifically, challenging situations when interacting with the public.

3.1.c Resiliency Self-Care Program Consultation Services

The Contractor shall provide technical and subject matter expertise in support of CMS’ Resiliency Self-Care Program, Customer Advocate Program (CAP), and Community of Practice (COP). In a trusted advisor role, the Contractor shall provide technical and subject matter guidance and expertise in areas of performance, resiliency, and wellness. Additionally, the Contractor will provide knowledge on leadership crisis based off best practices of Psychological Body Armor and Psychological First Aid.

The Contractor shall:

a) Participate in/support CMS in working sessions and meetings.

b) Review and provide input on documents/presentations.

c) Provide input/support development of white papers and analysis

4 Key Personnel

Key personnel are defined as personnel critical to ensuring that requirements are met and technical training standards are adhered to. All Key Personnel shall notify the Contracting Officer whenever he/she believes that he/she is receiving direction that deviates from the terms of the contract. The Contractor shall provide a Technical Trainer to fulfill the requirements of this contract.

4.1 Technical Trainer

The Contractor shall provide a Technical Trainer responsible for managing and implementing contract requirements. The Technical Trainer shall organize, direct, coordinate planning, and implement all contract support activities. He/she shall interact with CMS program officials regarding issues and status of the project. He/she shall conduct all coordination efforts, prepare presentations, and submit all deliverables as required. In addition, the Technical Trainer shall be responsible for compliance, legal requirements, and overall business objectives and successful contract performance.

5 Government Materials/Information

CMS will provide the Contractor with the following items:

1. Set up of virtual events as required.

2. Provide all training materials to class participants in the appropriate format.

6 Section 508 Requirements

Accessibility of Electronic and Information Technology

a) This contract is subject to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d) as amended by the workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220). Specifically, subsection 508(a)(1) requires that when the Federal Government procures Electronic and Information Technology (EIT), the EIT must allow Federal employees and individuals of the public with disabilities comparable access to and use of information and data that is provided to Federal employees and individuals of the public without disabilities.

b) The EIT accessibility standards at 36 CFR Part 1194 were developed by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board ("Access Board") and apply to contracts and task/delivery orders, awarded under indefinite quantity contracts on or after June 25, 2001.

c) Each Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) product or service furnished under this contract shall comply with the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (36 CFR 1194), as specified in the contract, as a minimum. If the Contracting Officer determines any furnished product or service is not in compliance with the contract, the Contracting Officer will promptly inform the Contractor in writing. The Contractor shall, without charge to the Government, repair or replace the non-compliant products or services within the period of time to be specified by the Government in writing. If such repair or replacement is not completed within the time specified, the Government shall have the following recourses:

a. Cancellation of the contract, delivery or task order, purchase or line item without termination liabilities; or

b. In the case of custom Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) being developed by a contractor for the Government, the Government shall have the right to have any necessary changes made or repairs performed by itself or by another firm for the noncompliant EIT, with the contractor liable for reimbursement to the Government for any expenses incurred thereby.

d) The contractor must ensure that all EIT products that are less than fully compliant with the accessibility standards are provided pursuant to extensive market research and are the most current compliant products or services available to satisfy the contract requirements.

e) For every EIT product or service accepted under this contact by the Government that does not comply with 36 CFR 1194, the contractor shall, at the discretion of the Government, make every effort to replace or upgrade it with a compliant equivalent product or service, if commercially available and cost neutral, on either a contract specified refresh cycle for the product or service, or on a contract effective option/renewal date; whichever shall occur first.

7 Deliverables

This section identifies specific work products that the Contractor shall deliver to CMS. All deliverables shall be submitted in accordance with the dates and timeframes identified in the table below. Detailed requirements of each deliverable are provided throughout this SOW. The Contractor shall work with CMS to establish preferred formats and layouts.

Psychological Body Armor Enhanced Training

(Deliverable 1)

Psychological First Aid Enhanced Training

(Deliverable 2)

CAP and COP Podcasts

(Deliverable 3)