P01 PWS HCS RBSS 10.15.26 Draft for SAM RFI.docx

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) HCS Retirement and Benefits Subscription Services

1. PURPOSE

The United States (US) Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Office of Human Capital Services (HCS) has an ongoing need for a commercial off-the-shelf web-based, retirement and benefits administration subscription service to provide one comprehensive, centralized repository for VBA employees’ health insurance, life insurance, dental & vision insurance, long term care Insurance, Flexible Spending Account, workers compensation benefits, pay and leave retirement services, Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), and Social Security user information.

Prior to the use of this subscription service, the HCS Human Resource Centers (HRC) used local Excel tools, which led to inconsistencies and more errors when formulas were changed or corrupted. In addition, several tasks (e.g., Military Service Deposits, complex Service Computation Date (SCD) verifications, creditable time checks, etc.) were difficult or impossible to complete reliably, and there were delays and lack of standardized processes. Retirement and benefits subscription services eliminate these risks, increases visibility into retirement projection, and ensures standardization across HRCs.

2. APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS

2.1. VA Handbook 6500.6. Appendix A Checklist

2.2. Section 508: The Contractor shall comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 United States Code (U.S.C).§ 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-220), August 7, 1998.

3. CONTRACT TYPE

This is a Firm Fixed Price contract.

4. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance is one (1) base period (one year), which will begin from the contract award date and include four (4) one-year option periods (if exercised).

5. PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

This is not applicable. This contract is for a subscription service. However, the following VBA HCS HRCs will be given subscriptions.

· HRC Baltimore – Baltimore, Maryland

· HRC Denver – Denver, Colorado

· HRC Des Moines – Des Moines, Iowa

· HRC Detroit – Detroit, Michigan

· HRC Jackson – Jackson, Mississippi

6. SCOPE OF WORK

The Contractor shall furnish all labor, equipment, and supplies/materials required to provide subscription services to the retirement and benefits software. This includes providing retirement and benefits subscription services and a training/test environment with an integrated suite of web-based subscription services modules specifically for the Federal security, which combines tools and capabilities for Human Resources (HR) Specialists, managers, and employees into a common system. The subscription services must contain a flexible, bi-directional interface to communities with VA’s payroll/human resource information system, third-party providers, and any outside parties with secure electronic file transfer protocols for electronic file (eFiles) to export and log transactions as necessary. The subscription services shall provide HR Specialists with a suite of tools for assisting employees with their retirement decisions, which increases productivity and lowers cost by providing a single framework for organizing and managing high-volume caseloads.

The subscription services must be capable of using personally identifiable information (PII), which will be provided through the Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) payroll system and HR Smart (PeopleSoft) employee information system. The subscription services must also be capable of electronically submitting retirement packages to the DFAS office. The DFAS serves as the data collection for the employment and compensation data.

The HR Smart serves as the official database of record for VA member employee information. Only pertinent PII that is necessary to accurately compute retirement estimates will be extracted from DFAS and HR Smart. The subscription services must be capable of integrating with HR Smart and allow for automated electronic data feeds from HR Smart. The subscription services must also be capable of electronically submitting retirement packages to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). In addition, the subscription services must be certified and/or accredited under Federal Information Processing Standards 199 and National Institute of Standards and Technology 800-60.

7. FUNCTIONAL AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

Subscription Services Features / Functionality

· Designed for HR Specialists to use a centralized database of personnel and retirement data to perform calculations for Federal retirement, TSP annuity options, average salary, deposits/redeposits, part-time proration, Federal Employees Erroneous Retirement Coverage Correction Act Calculator, entitlement comparisons, severance pay, reemployed annuitant supplemental annuity, Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), voluntary contributions, and Social Security entitlements.

· Data in the central database may be updated as determined (frequency) with data from the agency payroll/personnel system. (Application Programming Interface, flat file imports).

· Provide various subscription access options (e.g., full, limited).

· Feature a retirement calculator for federal retirement, SCD (e.g., leave, reduction in force, severance pay, TSP, and retirement), average salary, and entitlements calculations.

· Calculate creditable years of service in conjunction with the Federal Retirement Entitlements retirement calculator.

· Able to utilize two-factor authentication connections compatible with the VA Personal Identity Verification access card.

· Have eRetirement capability and secure portal access for employees to self-service and obtain their entitlements statement “on demand” and their own estimates and projection and eSeminars available for self-service retirement counseling. Secure portal access for employees to calculate their own retirement estimates and obtain their entitlements statement “on demand”.

· Have a Retirement Entitlements Calculation Engine that can accurately calculate retirement entitlements associated with nearly every type of Federal employment.

· Handle voluntary, early, and disability retirement entitlements; part-time and intermittent service; deposits and redeposits owed; Social Security/Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) supplement entitlements.

· Contain CSRS, FERS, and other OPM forms for electronic form filling, data storage, and case management.

· Handle TSP entitlements; survivor entitlements; and severance pay.

· Include an OPM vetted calculator, a tool that facilitates the management and filing of electronic forms for retirement application packages and service history calculations.

· Contain a forms manager within the retirement section that facilitates the management and filling of electronic forms for retirement application packages and service history calculations.

· Contain a retirement planner that also combines federal and non-federal retirement funds (including spouses) and estimates probability of meeting the retirement goals established by the employee. (Total USER Compensation Statement).

· Enable users to initiate requests which allows HR staff to capture and flag a case with a status, date, and comments.

· Allow employees the opportunity for continued updates on pending HR actions and email dialogue with the HR office.

· Provide standard and ad hoc reports for the HR community to meet management reporting and program administration requirements.

· The opportunity to move completed (e-Files) packet forms established transmission directly to DFAS, OPM, and the Electronic Official Personnel Folder.

· Have the capability to download data from the payroll provider. This data import shall automatically create a record in the retirement calculator and/or other applications for every employee and populate that record with information regarding employees’ current entitlements enrollment and salary history going back as far as payroll office has data.

· The Contractor shall perform a quarterly review of VBA creditable service determinations that were completed by the servicing HR offices to ensure the HR offices are correctly applying the laws, rules, regulations, and guidance related to federal retirement.

· Allow for the salary history of all employees’ data to be entered in order to calculate the High Three Average.

· Allow for all personal information of employees to be included in the profile to pre-populate the various retirement forms.

· Allow the periods of federal and or military service history to be data entered into the system and to include all types of service credits, pay information, and leave balances and insurances.

· Allow for covered earnings to be imported into the system.

· Allow for former spouse, marriage, and divorce information to be entered into employee’s profile.

· Allow HR Specialist to run retirement reports that allow for the description and comments to be noted along with the created and modified feature.

· Allow HR Specialist to print forms and email forms via Microsoft software or comparable software. Forms must be able to be saved in the retirement and benefits system for frequent use.

· Allow for the Help menu to be accessible and contain the following: tutorials, CSRS/FERS Handbook, resource library, Federal Employee Health Benefits plans/premiums, pay calendar, and technical support.

· Further subscriptions and additional locations may be added, pending funding approval and bilateral modification.

· Any data is the property of the VA VBA.

Customer Features / Resource Management

· Provide a centralized dashboard (benefits/TSP/Insurance/retirements, etc.)

· Multiple case requests availability with rules/restrictions

· Home user screen page customizable for optional entitlement selections

· Case management to Open, Close, Re-Open tracked activity

· Case Request ICONs for Training/Document informational section

· Provide a user self-service calculator (retirements, High Three Salary, Severance/Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment)

· User "Extended Attributes" (Look up, drop down selector, text, yes/no check box)

· Customer Case and system e-file attachments (excel, .pdf, .tiff, .gif, .png, .jpg, .bmp, word)

· User notes section for detailed interactions not case specific (HR Views Only)

· Customer email notifications

· Custom email functionality (HR/user responses "bi-directional")

· Detailed History notes section for tracking

· Ability to accept and upload the VA’s and VBA’s data file from current vendor in XLM file format

Disaster Recovery

· Vendor provides “Hot” disaster recovery

· In the event of more than 24 Hours outage, for a full recovery, vendor to provide a substitute shell (sandbox) for continued VA and VBA productivity/retirement and SCD calculations

· Vendor to provide cloud document access - only in the event of a disaster

HR Features / Functionality

· Case creations for multiple types of HR/Entitlements actions to include:

· Case Management View(s) – complete view of assigned HR cases with filtering

· Case Type(s) – multiple

· Case Assignment(s) designated group assignments/automated/internal transferring (HR to HR)

· Case Reporting

· Case Workflow functionality

· Case "Extended Attributes" (Look up, drop down selector, text, yes/no check box)

· Case History Notes section (manual and automated)

· Case user resolution response section

· Case e-file attachments (excel, .pdf, .tiff, .gif, .png, .jpg, .bmp, word)

ROLE Permissions/Administration

· HR Only

· HR Read Only

· HR Manager

· SCD Report Only

· Administrator

Assignable Permissions to Roles

· System Reporting

· Case Type (Create/Edit/View) permissions

Domain Assignments

· One to multiple assignments availability

· Case creation specific to domain(s) (manual/automated)

8. SPECIFIC TASKS AND DELIVERABLES

The Contractor shall perform the tasks and complete the associated deliverables under this contract by the scheduled due dates within the overall period of performance.

If the Contractor cannot provide those deliverables specified by this contract by the required due date, then the Contractor shall provide a written explanation to the Contracting Officer (CO) within three business days of the required due date. This written transmittal shall include the reasons for the delay; when the Contractor knew or should have known a delay would incur; due diligence taken to mitigate the problems; the impact on the overall project; and a firm commitment of when the work is to be completed. The CO will then review the facts and issue a response in accordance with applicable regulations. For other problems or concerns, the Contractor shall notify HCS Program Manager (HCS PM), Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), and CO, in writing, immediately if problems arise that adversely impact the performance of the contract. In most instances, the COR will serve as the Contractor’s primary point of contact.

8.1. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES FEATURES & FUNCTIONTIONALITY

The Contractor shall provide a retirement software with subscription services to accommodate subscription users annually. Included in the subscription services are hosting, maintenance, help desk, security FedRAMP and VA Authority to Operate maintenance, and system training. Subscription services for this retirement calculator will grant users access—based upon the subscription type—to features and functionality listed under section 7 above, including the following, all of which are OPM‐ and/or VBA‐required:

Computation The subscription services shall allow for the computation of annuity (e.g., High-3 Average Salary) and benefits (e.g., disability, retirement, etc.) estimates, creditable service, and service credit.

Reports The subscription services shall allow the creation of various reports to include retirement analyses, including retirement estimates, annuity estimates, service computation dates, average salary, part‐time proration factor, TSP, Social Security, military service, and civilian deposit/redeposits. The report displayed on screen shall look identical when being printed on paper and can be saved in PDF format. Annuity estimates shall be computed with the utmost accuracy which includes considering the applicable reductions and deductions from their gross monthly annuity computation. The reductions and deductions from the gross monthly annuity shall include calculations for health benefits, life insurance, dental and vision premiums, federal tax, survivor benefits, unpaid deposits/redeposits, alternative annuity, and early retirement age.

Retirement Calculator Support The software subscriptions shall provide any/all requirements necessary to support a retirement calculator, to allow VBA employees access, in addition to providing installation support through help desk support and a data loss prevention mechanism. The Contractor shall provide hosting for the retirement calculator in a secure environment made available to VBA via web access. The Contractor shall also provide support services via telephone or email. For system assistance during standard support hours, the times are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST Monday – Friday, excluding Federal Holidays.

Forms The subscription services shall provide access to produce any OPM authorized or custom requested forms that automatically populate with employee information. The subscription services shall also provide an integrated forms package containing a variety of retirement and benefits related forms.

Training The Contractor shall ensure that users have access to training materials online, including web seminars for users’ quick reference. The Contractor must ensure that all training materials are free of errors and contain relevant and up‐to‐date references, PowerPoint presentations and/or handouts.

Case Management The Contractor shall provide case management functionality to manage case activity and tracking with extended attribute functionality to include look‐up/drop down values, free form text, and Boolean values. The case management system will include user case management system generated emails with customized (editable) agency responses. The functionality will include HR administrative permissions to include case view, case edit, case deletion, case re‐open/close management. Functionality will include user history logs with date time stamps and action details and document repository. Document retention for users to include .pdf, .tiff, .gif, .png, .jpg, .bmp, .xls, and .doc.

Document Management The Contractor shall provide document management functionality, which will include allowing system users to add externally created documents.

8.2. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES ACCESS

8.2.1. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

Within three (3) days of the contract award date, the Contractor shall provide Full Access subscription services, which provide users with access to all subscription services features. These Full Access subscription services will be distributed across the HRCs based on the demand of their organization’s work.

2A Full Access subscription service and support for HR personnel

8.2.2. LIMITED ACCESS SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

Within three (3) days of the contract award date, the Contractor shall provide Limited Access subscription services, which provide users with limited access to subscription services features. These Limited Access subscription services will be distributed across the HRCs based on the demand of their organization’s work.

2B Limited Access subscription service and support for HR personnel

8.2.3. HOSTING/SUPPORT

Within three (3) days of the contract award date, the Contractor shall provide, at a minimum, Hosting/Support for hosted as required by the VA and VBA HCS and distributed across the HRCs based on the demand of their organization’s work.

2C Hosting/Support

9. DELIVERY SCHEDULE

Days used in the table below refer to calendar days unless otherwise stated. Deliverables with due dates falling on a weekend or holiday shall be submitted the following Government workday after the weekend or holiday. The Contractor shall deliver documentation in electronic format, unless otherwise directed in Section B of the solicitation/contract. Acceptable electronic media include Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, and Adobe Postscript Data Format (PDF).

Option (O) Due

9.1. FORMAL ACCEPTANCE OR REJECTION OF DELIVERABLES:

The Government will have five (5) business days to review each deliverable and provide feedback/comments. The Contractor shall have three (3) business days to incorporate feedback/comments and make appropriate revisions. The Contractor shall provide the revised version of each deliverable to the COR and HCS PM. The COR will review and determine final acceptance by the Government. The COR will notify the Contractor of final acceptance within five business days. Failure to receive the COR notification within this time shall not serve as and/or be construed as final acceptance.

The Contractor shall be responsible for adhering to all pertinent VA and VBA standards including but not limited to ensuring that all documentation and deliverables are stored on appropriate VA and VBA servers within one week of their completion. The Contractor shall use the Microsoft Teams for all pertinent conference calls, and the VA Exchange server for all pertinent email. The Contractor shall be responsible for adhering to all pertinent VA and VBA information technology policies and procedures, which will be made available at the Contractor’s request on award.

9.2. METHOD AND DISTRIBUTION OF DELIVERABLES

All deliverables shall be submitted as Oral Presentation (when applicable), editable Microsoft Office 365 compatible file (i.e., Word, Excel, Project, and/or PowerPoint) or Adobe.pdf as requested by the HCS PM and COR.

9.3. PERFORMANCE METRICS

The table below defines the Performance Standards and Minimum Acceptable Performance Levels (MAPL) for Objectives associated with all tasks outlined in this Performance Work Statement (PWS).

· Efficient and effective in meeting requirements

· Meets technical needs and mission requirements

· Offers quality services/products

· Products completed, reviewed, delivered in timely manner

· Notifies customer in advance of potential problems, recommends solutions

· Proactively meets government’s needs, including responding to changing requirements, systems, etc.

9.4. OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SUPPORT

The Contractor shall provide support for the SaaS, system configuration, change requests, bug defects necessary to support the contract. The Contractor shall provide technical support of the solution. The Contractor shall provide business‐day telephone and/or on‐line support. A business day is defined as Monday through Friday during standard business hours, the times are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM EST, excluding Federal Holidays.

Support includes technical assistance in troubleshooting issues, problems or symptoms with the software and answering questions regarding documented properties, methods, events, function calls, parameters, and specific functionality of software components. The Contractor shall acknowledge receipt of all support inquires and provide resolution of support requests according to the timelines shown in the table below. The Contractor shall communicate to the HCS PM on system outages to include:

a. 72 hours prior to scheduled outages

b. Within 1 hour of identified emergency issues The Contractor shall provide to the Government System Performance Specification showing system performance and up‐time, specific indication of system issues, restarts and system maintenance activities including scheduled and unscheduled, and best practices used.

Table 1. Response Times for Support

back to Tier 2 Tier 2 requests updates from Tier 3 based on Service Level Agreement resolution Resolution time based on SLA from time incident initially reported

hourly status check 0‐2 business hours

hourly status check 2‐4 business hours

10. GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY: Not applicable. The Contractor shall furnish all labor, equipment, and supplies/materials required to provide retirement and benefits subscription services.

11. SECURITY

All Contractor personnel shall be subject to the same Federal security and privacy laws, regulations, standards, and VA policies as VA personnel, including the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. §552a, regarding information and information system security. The Contracting and Acquisitions requirements do not apply and a Security Accreditation Package is not required. See attached VA Handbook 6500.6, Contract Security, Appendix C.

12. NON-PERSONAL SERVICES

These services are non-personal. The Contractor personnel are not subject to the supervision and control of a Government officer or employee Rather, Contractor personnel perform their duties in accordance with specific tasks outlined in the PWS. Supervisory functions such as hiring, directing, counseling, and firing of Contractor personnel are not performed by the Government. The Contractor personnel who furnish services under this contract are subject to Government technical oversight of the services provided. The Government retains the right to reject services and/or fees for contractual nonperformance.

13. CONFIDENTIALITY AND NONDISCLOSURE

13.1 Confidentiality: The Contractor shall not release and shall hold in strict confidence any information he/she may gain knowledge of during his/her performance of these services.

13.2 The Contractor(s) shall not retain any information or personal identifiers that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974.

13.3 The COR will be the sole authorized official to release verbally or in writing, any data, the draft deliverables, the final deliverables, or any other written or printed materials pertaining to this purchase order. No information shall be released by the Contractor. Any request for information relating to this purchase order presented to the Contractor shall be submitted to the COR for response.

13.4 Press releases, marketing material or any other printed or electronic documentation related to this project, shall not be publicized without the written approval of the COR and CO.

14. CONFIDENTIALITY AND NONDISCLOSURE

1.2. Section 508 – Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Standards

The Section 508 standards established by the Access Board are incorporated into, and made part of all VA orders, solicitations and purchase orders developed to procure ICT. These standards are found in their entirety at: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule/text-of-the-standards-and-guidelines. A printed copy of the standards will be supplied upon request.

Federal agencies must comply with the updated Section 508 Standards beginning on January 18, 2018. The Final Rule as published in the Federal Register is available from the Access Board: https://www.access-board.gov/guidelines-and-standards/communications-and-it/about-the-ict-refresh/final-rule.

The Contractor shall comply with “508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements” for all electronic ICT and content delivered under this contract. Specifically, as appropriate for the technology and its functionality, the Contractor shall comply with Section 508 as well as the technical standards marked here:

A1.1. Compatibility with Assistive Technology

The standards do not require installation of specific accessibility-related software or attachment of an assistive technology device. Section 508 requires that ICT be compatible with such software and devices so that ICT can be accessible to and usable by individuals using assistive technology, including but not limited to screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software.

A1.2. Acceptance and Acceptance Testing

Deliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the Section 508 Chapter 2: Scoping Requirements standards identified above.

The Government reserves the right to test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon delivery.