P02 RFI Draft PWS - SAM.pdf

Lifestage Benefits Optimization Performance Work Statement (PWS)

VA-26-00077490

6/9/2026

1.0 Background and Purpose

1.1. Mission of the Requesting Business Office

In 2017, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) partnered with VA Central Office and all three VA Administrations to identify a vision statement for enhancing VA’s digital presence for Veterans. That vision is known as the Digital

Modernization Vision and is supported by a group of VA executives known as the Digital

Modernization Council. This council is chaired by the CTO.

VA Digital Modernization Vision defined in July 2017:

VA will deliver self-service tools on par with top private sector companies and will have the best online experience in the Federal Government. Every digital service will be customized to the individual using it. Interacting with VA digital services will feel like navigating TurboTax, not filling out a form.

The work described in this PWS directly supports benefits claims and data intake on Veteran-facing digital platforms. The overarching goals of this work are:

1. Reduce the average time to completion of benefits claims

2. Increase customer satisfaction

3. Increase the quality and reliability of VA services

1.2. Problem Agency (VA) is Trying to Solve

VA's Benefits Portfolio encompasses a complex ecosystem of digital products that serve

Veterans, Caregivers, Service members, their dependents, and survivors throughout the entirety of their benefits lifecycle—from initial application, through claim status tracking, to decision review and ongoing benefits management. While VA has made significant progress in digitizing these experiences, VA seeks to make substantial improvements in three areas: (1) forms updates and usability improvements, (2) benefits data intake and automation, and (3) document services (real-time data validation and third-party routing). The work described in this PWS covers existing products and potential new modernization initiatives.

1.2.1. Benefits forms and Lifestage forms experience

The VA.gov digital benefits application forms covered in this work include forms related to

Pension, burial, dependents management, and forms in support of application for benefits. The forms have a range of complexity and submission volume. While VA has done work to establish usability (accessibility, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction) of the Veteran experience, as well as ensuring the forms are complete and actionable for adjudicators, these forms collectively suffer from similar issues, including: uncertainty about which form is needed, difficulty understanding eligibility requirements, redundant information requested across multiple forms, having to navigate between several forms to complete one task, and uncertainty about what evidence is required.

With regard to updating information about their dependents, Veterans are often unaware of the need to inform VA of changes (such as leaving school, divorce, or death), can’t find where to submit these updates, and find the forms cumbersome to navigate or understand. Veterans face an incomplete and fragmented digital experience that limits automation, increases the risk of processing errors and overpayments, and places unnecessary burden on claimants navigating a complex and consequential process. There is no equivalent mobile app experience — leaving gaps in consistency, reliability, and actionability for both Veterans and claims adjudicators.

1.2.2. Benefits data intake and automation

VA has a severe gap in modernization, standardization, governance, reliability, and automation of digital benefits intake across VA.gov. As VA continues to expand digital benefits experiences, the lack of consistent intake patterns, structured-data standards, reusable integration approaches, and reliable pathways hinder our ability to process claims quickly and make automation improvements efficiently across forms. This harms Veterans and their dependents and survivors as they must wait longer times for income and other benefits that can be life-changing.

VA’s benefits forms use a variety of submission methods, data structures, integration patterns, and storage approaches. These inconsistencies increase maintenance costs, complicate onboarding of new forms, limit opportunities for automation, and create challenges for downstream consumers of claim data. In addition, some submission pathways continue to rely on document generation, OCR processing, and other legacy approaches that can introduce errors and delays, increase operational complexity, and reduce the availability of structured data.

1.2.3. Document services (real-time data validation and third-party routing)

Real-time data extraction and validation - VA often receives electronic PDF attachments and images of scanned documents submitted alongside structured forms and forms data, such as birth and marriage certificates, adoption and divorce decrees, and financial statements. While

VA has long used OCR (optical character recognition), due to the lack of consistent templates and potentially lower quality of these unstructured documents, data must be intelligently extracted in order for submitter data confirmation and the facilitation of downstream automation activities. VA recently built a real-time validation solution that enables data extraction from pdfs and images, and an end-user validation experience where claimants can confirm in real-time the accuracy of data extraction and provide any needed edits to the extracted data. VA now needs to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of the extraction and validation, onboard new document types, implement monitoring and alerting for production conditions that require operational response, and make improvements based on success metrics and business needs.

Third-party routing - Some VA forms require participation by a third party, including scenarios in which: (a) the Veteran or claimant initiates the form and then sends it to a third party for completion; (b) the third party completes the form, including signature, for submission to VA;

and (c) the third party completes the form, including signature, on the Veteran’s behalf while the Veteran is notified and provided a copy for their records. Prior VA.gov initiatives have made progress implementing approaches to third-party routing, but none have been completed and released, preventing offering a fully digitized version of these forms beyond pdf download. This results in a lack of visibility for Veterans and other claimants into whether the third party has taken action in a timely manner as well as lag in time for Veterans to get benefits while their form is mailed to the third party and then to VA.

1.2.4. Lifestage forms experience

Veterans managing dependents, Pension, and burial benefits face a fragmented and confusing digital experience — forms are hard to find, evidence requirements are unclear, submissions lack confirmation, and updates must be made in multiple disconnected places. Behind the scenes, these experiences rely on complex software that is difficult to maintain, prone to silent failures, and not yet fully optimized to produce the structured, automation-ready data that adjudicators need to process claims efficiently and accurately. These issues harm Veterans and other claimants through delays to award of benefits and incurring of debt to VA when dependents information is out-of-date.

1.3. Existing relevant documentation

VA.gov Platform processes and guidelines

• Collaboration cycle

• Design & Research

• Developer documentation

• VA Digital Service Handbook

Manage Dependents

• Manage dependents for disability, pension, or DIC benefits on VA.gov

• Dependent verification form on VA.gov (pdf only) https://depo-platform-documentation.scrollhelp.site/collaboration-cycle/ https://depo-platform-documentation.scrollhelp.site/research-design/ https://depo-platform-documentation.scrollhelp.site/developer-docs/ https://department-of-veterans-affairs.github.io/va-digital-service-handbook/ https://www.va.gov/view-change-dependents/ https://www.va.gov/find-forms/about-form-21-0538/

Pension and DIC

• Veterans Pension application on VA.gov

• Application for DIC (Dependency and Indemnity Compensation, Survivors Pension and

Accrued Benefits by a Surviving Spouse or Child)

• Income and Asset statement PDF (supplemental form for Pension and DIC)

• Medical Expense Report PDF (supplemental form for Pension and DIC)

Other Benefits standalone forms

• Burial application on VA.gov

• Application for Automobile or Other Conveyance and Adaptive Equipment (VA Form 21-

4502)

• Employment Questionnaire (VA Form 21-4140)

• Examination for Housebound Status or Permanent Need for Regular Aid and Attendance

(VA Form 21-2680)

• Nursing home information in connection with claim for Aid and Attendance (VA form

21-0779)

• Information Regarding Apportionment of Beneficiary's Award (VA Form 21-0788)

General artifacts

• Prioritization framework (See Appendix A)

• Submission Flow Diagram (See Appendix B)

2.0 Scope

2.1. Overview of work

VA is seeking teams to maintain, improve, and develop digitized VA benefits forms, including but not limited to those listed in PWS Section 2.3. These teams will deliver improvements to the Veteran experience of learning about and applying for benefits, managing their dependents’ information on VA.gov, as well as to the VA employee experience to empower quick, accurate evaluation of digitally-submitted claims. The teams will support the modernization, standardization, governance, reliability, and automation of digital benefits intake across VA.gov.

Through continuous discovery in collaboration with Veterans, Caregivers, Service members, their families, and VA program and policy Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), as well as adjudication staff, VA.gov digital services aim to address the problems outlined in PWS Section 1.2 and achieve the outcomes in PWS Section 3.0 by:

• Eliminating burden and simplifying complexity for Veterans, Caregivers, and VA staff, making the application and claims process easier and more intuitive https://www.va.gov/pension/apply-for-veteran-pension-form-21p-527ez/introduction https://www.va.gov/forms/21p-534ez/ https://www.va.gov/forms/21p-534ez/ https://www.va.gov/find-forms/about-form-21p-0969/ https://www.va.gov/find-forms/about-form-21p-0969/ https://www.va.gov/find-forms/about-form-21p-8416/ https://www.va.gov/find-forms/about-form-21p-8416/ https://www.va.gov/burials-memorials/veterans-burial-allowance/apply-for-allowance-form-21p-530ez/introduction https://www.va.gov/forms/21-4502/ https://www.va.gov/disability/verify-individual-unemployability-status/submit-employment-questionnaire-form-21-4140/introduction https://www.va.gov/pension/aid-attendance-housebound/apply-form-21-2680/introduction https://www.va.gov/supporting-forms-for-claims/submit-nursing-home-information-form-21-0779/introduction https://www.va.gov/forms/21-0788/ https://app.mural.co/t/departmentofveteransaffairs9999/m/departmentofveteransaffairs9999/1705375308356/7e8c7aa4102f88511e577cf51f9092cc1f8bba8a?sender=u23cb197f9185dedf78206928 https://app.mural.co/t/departmentofveteransaffairs9999/m/departmentofveteransaffairs9999/1715981718612/f40f764f3e9675c932f49eed6c9644fdc5a71372

• Building trust through transparency, reliability, and accurate expectation setting to ensure Veterans, Veteran advocates, and staff feel informed and confident in the system

• Leveraging end-to-end structured data infrastructure to improve data flow, streamline processes, make automation scalable, and ensure accurate processing of claims

• Ensuring consistency and interoperability across user-facing experiences (on the website, mobile app) and staff-facing tools, in close collaboration with partners across the organization

• Contributing to and leveraging the VA platform and design system to maintain a unified and scalable approach to digital services, fostering reusability and enhancing the user experience

• Identifying and eliminating barriers to benefits access through data-driven insights and cross-functional collaboration

2.2. Development methodology and functional areas

The Contractor shall provide VA with teams that shall deliver viable, digital solutions in support of VA’s strategic mission and objectives, in accordance with the development methodologies described below:

The contractor’s support and solutions shall follow the practices described in the Digital Services

Playbook (https://playbook.cio.gov). The contractor shall be thoroughly familiar with the concepts in each play and implement them in its approaches and support. The contractor shall design, develop, configure, customize and deploy solutions to some of VA’s most pressing challenges. Once deployed, the contractor shall provide production support of the solution as required. The contractor shall provide support to projects that are building brand new systems as well as projects that are building on top of, or replacing, existing systems. The contractor shall be thoroughly familiar with current and emerging technologies, Software-as-a-Service products, services, various programming languages and processes required to deliver high-quality products.

The Contractor shall:

General

1. Deliver high-quality, usable, functional products that help users accomplish their tasks.

2. Follow the Digital Services Playbook (https://playbook.cio.gov).

3. Cultivate positive, trusting, and cooperative working relationships with all persons supporting the work, including government employees and other vendors.

4. Participate in Communities of Practice (CoP) activities for Product, Design, Engineering, and Data where applicable.

Product https://playbook.cio.gov/

5. Work in self-contained, cross-functional teams capable of delivering complete products, including research, design, architecture, engineering, support, and documentation.

6. Incorporate agile practices and ceremonies into all work, such as sprint planning, daily standups, sprint review, retrospective, user stories/epics, backlog grooming, and estimating activities.

7. Establish goals, objectives, key performance metrics, and make bets to improve user outcomes.

Bets are hypotheses that could impact established metrics and they encourage acceptance of uncertainty in the software development process.

8. Push new features and incremental improvements to production early and often, applying phased release practices with product health and performance targets.

9. Build applications and platforms with the intent of enhancing and sustaining that application until relieved by the Government or another team.

10. Collect customer feedback, hold product impact reviews, provide or support tiered troubleshooting and on-call operations, and complete postmortem incident reports.

11. Measure and improve performance against DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics including deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and time to restore service.

Design

12. Understand the users' entire experience. Create personas, customer journeys, service blueprints, problem space definitions, affinity maps, and flow diagrams (as appropriate) to ensure the digital service is cohesive with the offline experience.

13. Actively involve users in the design of digital solutions by incorporating best practices for design, user research, and usability testing.

14. Personalize solutions for the user by leveraging known information to create a seamless, tailored user experience.

15. Optimize for mobile-first and ensure all solutions are equally available on both mobile and desktop.

16. Follow all user interface design and content guidelines and standards defined in the VA Design

System and VA Content Style Guide (https://design.va.gov/) including the use of plain language to maintain a consistent look, feel, and voice across public facing sites and services.

17. Incorporate robust accessibility principles into design, development, and testing for all web applications to deliver high-quality digital experiences to all users that meet or exceed current

W3C Web Content and Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Engineering

18. Use widely adopted or industry-standard programming languages and frameworks.

19. Follow software development best practices including peer review, test coverage, portability, and clear documentation.

20. Run unit tests, integration tests, functional tests, load tests, and accessibility tests on 100% of functionality delivered.

21. Leverage cloud-based infrastructure, platforms, and services to improve scalability, reliability, performance, and maintainability.

22. Continuously integrate code from development teams, run automated testing, promote code through multiple environments, and automate high frequency deployments.

23. Monitor infrastructure health, application performance, and user outcomes. Ensure observability of the system/application/service status and leverage alerting integrations.

24. Maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information, including user information by following widely accepted or industry-standard methods, including Zero Trust security principles.

25. Ensure configuration and sensitive data, including data the VA defines as sensitive, are not present in source code.

26. Deliver all code not containing configuration or sensitive data to an open-source repository.

Share your documentation, development processes, and lessons learned publicly.

27. Use established VA internal tools including source code management, team communication, developer toolkits, and analytics products.

28. Make use of existing platforms to build and deploy software, such as the VA.gov Platform and

Lighthouse Delivery Infrastructure, wherever possible.

29. Adopt and follow VA API standards contained in the Lighthouse Hub

(https://hub.lighthouse.va.gov/docs/default/component/lighthouse-api-standards/).

30. Make application data available for use across the VA enterprise with versioned RESTful application programming interfaces (APIs) and discoverability in the Lighthouse API hub

(https://hub.lighthouse.va/catalog) where applicable.

31. Design health-related services to meet Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards where applicable.

The Contractor shall hold and/or conduct all project discussions, and store all project documentation, on VA OCTO systems whenever possible to keep valuable context and discussions visible and searchable to the VA. VA OCTO systems include, but may not be limited to, VA Slack public channels, VA Mural boards, VA Figma, VA GitHub Enterprise repositories, and VA SharePoint. All conference calls with VA employees must be held in VA’s approved conference call tool, currently Microsoft Teams.

The Contractor shall provide VA with software development services including one or more of the Technical Functional Areas described below:

Individual TO may encompass more than one functional area listed below. Efforts to be performed by the Contractor under this contract are of such a nature that they may create a potential and/or actual organizational conflict of interest as contemplated by Subpart 9.5 of the

FAR. Contractor personnel may be required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

1. Software development and operation. Build, improve, innovate, and run custom, open-source products across the OIT ecosystem. Leverage existing VA infrastructure and platforms including VA Enterprise Cloud, VA.gov, Clinical Decision Support, Lighthouse

Application Programming Interfaces (API) Gateway, and others. May include (but not limited to): responsive web applications; API; prototypes and SaaS pilots; mobile applications; and internal claims processing and health applications.

2. Technical advising and architecture planning. Provide expert technical guidance and IT operations support to OIT personnel in the execution of their portfolio or product line priorities. Provide architecture planning services and stand-up operational frameworks for delivery. May include (but not limited to) supporting innovation from commercial practices, engineering operations, analysis of alternatives, and systems and boundaries disambiguation.

3. Service design and user research studies. Measure and define the service delivery landscape and create plans for implementing VA digital services. May include (but not limited to) problem definition, ethnographic studies, and qualitative and quantitative research.

4. Data science and data analytics. Define and implement data access, integration, and organization systems to exchange critical data between VA systems and enable new applications. May include (but not limited to) data modeling, machine learning, and natural language processing.

5. Product support operations. Provide product and program level support for VA systems, primarily for internal user applications. May include (but not limited to): program planning; business case analysis; user management and permissions; onboarding and training; and internal helpdesk support.

2.2.1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Utilization and Guidance

2.2.1.1. Artificial Intelligence Enablement

• The Contractor shall propose and use artificial intelligence, machine learning, intelligent automation, or similar emerging technologies to improve the design, development, testing, validation, operation, maintenance, monitoring, and enhancement of VA.gov forms and related digital services, where such use provides measurable benefit to VA.

• The Contractor shall consider AI-enabled approaches where they may improve delivery speed, code quality, form configuration, accessibility remediation, test generation, defect detection, data validation, document classification, OCR and extraction quality, workflow routing, analytics, or other business outcomes relevant to this effort.

• Any proposed AI-enabled capability shall be implemented only where approved by VA , VA-approved AI tools, and shall be documented with its intended use, expected benefit, limitations, human oversight approach, and impact on system outputs or deliverables.

• The Contractor shall ensure AI-enabled approaches are used to support and improve contractor performance and solution outcomes and shall not replace required review, testing, validation, or acceptance processes.

• The Contractor shall identify opportunities to apply AI-enabled capabilities during performance of the contract and shall provide recommendations to VA where such capabilities could improve accuracy, efficiency, reuse, maintainability, user experience, or processing quality.

2.2.1.2. Artificial Intelligence Specific Application

• The Contractor shall propose AI-assisted approaches for generating or accelerating initial VA.gov form implementation, component development, schema creation, test artifact generation, and related engineering activities.

• The Contractor shall propose AI-enabled approaches to improve data validation, business rule evaluation, document classification, OCR and extraction performance, anomaly detection, and user review workflows.

• The Contractor shall propose AI-enabled approaches to support continuous improvement activities, including defect pattern analysis, production issue triage, form abandonment analysis, and optimization of reusable workflows and routing patterns.

• The Contractor shall, when proposing AI-enabled capabilities, describe how the approach will improve the applicable deliverable, milestone, or operational outcome.

2.3. Potential Features and Epics

The Contractor’s teams shall scope and prioritize epics and other features in collaboration with the VA government product owner and enabling team members, according to VA.gov prioritization framework and quarterly/annual goals.

The Contractor’s teams shall research, develop, and deliver features that drive toward the outcomes outlined above and the product-specific outcomes in this PWS’ Section 2.5. These efforts shall be consistent with the objectives in PWS Section 3.0. Examples of known opportunities to meet these goals include, but are not limited to, the following:

2.3.1. Benefits forms experience potential features and epics

• Implement changes to the relevant digitized forms as VBA makes changes to the paper form. Conduct and synthesize discovery and usability testing on digitized forms to inform future changes.

• Identify and implement more opportunities to pre-fill data on the forms for Veterans and adjudicators, reducing burden of manual entry

• Create relevant interview-style forms with focus on Veteran experience and technical modernization

• Integrate related forms so claimants can optionally complete their task without having to navigate to other forms and potentially having to re-enter similar information

• Identify and implement enhancements to address user pain points identified through qualitative and quantitative research

Research, Measurement, and Impact

• Increase the ability of VA to prioritize, design, and implement initiatives with understanding of Veterans and adjudicator impact through qualitative and quantitative research such as usability testing with Veterans and other claimants and analysis of website usage data, Contact Center data, and feedback survey data

• Increase the ability of VA to measure impact of changes to service design and products

• Continuously monitor and update pain points, prioritize initiatives based on measurable impact and outcomes

• Collaborate with stakeholders and product teams to align on best practices to leverage and scale related work across VA.gov

• Use VA-approved AI tools such as Claude and Co-pilot to efficiently document, measure, monitor and communicate how updates impact metrics such as CSAT scores and user feedback

2.3.2. Benefits Intake and Automation potential features and epics

The specific initiatives, forms, integrations, technologies, and modernization efforts supported within this focus area are expected to evolve throughout the period of performance. Priorities may shift based on Veteran needs, policy changes, operational findings, technology modernization efforts, platform dependencies, opportunities for automation, and direction from VA leadership.

• Benefits Intake Framework

Implement and evolve the Benefits Intake Framework to support the adoption, integration, and standardization of common intake capabilities that enable consistent and scalable onboarding of benefits forms and services. This may include implementation of Digital Claim Creation (DCC) patterns, onboarding forms to Fully

Digital Forms via FormsAPI, support for structured-data submission workflows, and collaboration with teams responsible for shared platform services.

• Structured Data and Automation

Improve the quality, consistency, and usability of structured claim data from intake through downstream processing. This includes efforts to reduce dependency on document-based processing, improve automation readiness, enable downstream consumption of structured data, and increase opportunities for automated decision support and claims processing.

• Data Governance

Establish and mature governance practices that improve consistency and quality of benefits intake data. This includes development and maintenance of data standards, schema definitions, validation requirements, data dictionaries, mapping specifications, governance processes, and change-management practices. Activities may also include improving consistency across forms and supporting alignment between intake data structures and downstream business needs. Activities may also include development of shared schema validation services and governance tooling that promote consistency, quality, and reuse across Benefits Portfolio forms.

• Submission Reliability and Observability

Increase visibility into end-to-end intake and submission workflows to reduce the risk of failed or unrecoverable submissions. This includes transaction tracing, including Kafka-based messaging and tracing capabilities, monitoring, alerting, operational dashboards, and improved visibility into downstream processing outcomes. Emphasis may be placed on ensuring that Veteran-submitted data can be successfully tracked as it traverses through processing systems.

• Integration Modernization o Support modernization of integrations between VA.gov and downstream systems involved in claim establishment, evidence management, records management, automation, and adjudication. Activities may include reducing reliance on legacy integration patterns, improving interoperability, supporting reusable integration approaches, and enabling more scalable onboarding of future forms and services.

o Modernize or replace legacy integration patterns and technologies, including

Benefits Gateway Services (BGS) and SOAP-based APIs, to improve reliability, scalability, maintainability, and support for end-to-end structured-data processing.

• Intake Resiliency and Recovery

Improve the resiliency of submission pathways and reduce the likelihood of data loss or processing delays. This includes implementing new backup submission mechanisms, recovery workflows, and improvements that reduce reliance on legacy document-generation and OCR-based fallback processes where appropriate.

• Measurement and Continuous Improvement

Leverage operational, analytical, and user data to evaluate intake performance, structured-data quality, automation readiness, reliability, and downstream outcomes.

Insights from these efforts may be used to prioritize modernization activities, improve service performance, reduce technical debt, and support long-term sustainability of the intake ecosystem.

2.3.3. Documents services potential features and epics

2.3.3.1. CAVE potential features and epics

• Operations, Maintenance, Monitoring, and Sustainment o Provide production operations and sustainment for CAVE, including support for document intake, OCR and extraction processing, validation workflows, user review and correction workflows, exception handling, and downstream submission or routing.

o Monitor the end-to-end CAVE workflow for service availability, processing failures, queue backlogs, extraction failures, validation failures, integration failures, and downstream transaction status.

o Implement alerts for production conditions that require operational response, including failed processing, degraded throughput, unexpected error rates, and any transmission failures.

o Investigate and resolve production incidents, service defects, failed transactions, and recurring processing errors affecting CAVE.

o Perform root cause analysis for significant incidents and recurring defects, document corrective actions and reporting to VA project leads.

o Maintain production code, configuration, dependencies, schemas, mappings, extraction logic, advanced semantic and syntactic validation and validation rules required to keep CAVE operational and compatible with the hosting environment, within GitHub.

o Maintain release management procedures for code, configuration, schema, and rules changes, including testing, deployment, rollback, and post-release validation.

• Enhancement and Continual Improvement o Onboard new document types including, but not limited to, Certificate of Release or

Discharge from Active Duty, Death Certificate, Marriage Certificate/License, Birth

Certificate, Funeral Bill/Expenses, Divorcee Decree, Adoption Decree through a repeatable process that includes document analysis, extraction design, field definition, validation rule development, schema mapping, testing, and production release.

o Update extraction logic, validation rules, mappings, and exception handling based on production performance, document variability, policy changes, and approved business needs.

o Evaluate usability and accessibility of CAVE functionality to identify user pain points and opportunities for improvement.

o Identify and use production metrics, correction patterns, defect trends, and stakeholder feedback to identify and implement prioritized improvements to CAVE.

o Maintain a prioritized backlog of enhancements, defects, and technical debt items for

VA review and prioritization within GitHub.

o Improve configuration-driven onboarding capabilities to reduce form-specific custom development where feasible.

• Platform Transition and Environment Readiness o Assess the current CAVE implementation in the VA ARCHES environment and document the application, infrastructure, workflow, and integration dependencies relevant to transition into the VA.gov environment or otherwise determined environment (if required).

▪ If directed by VA, produce a transition plan for migrating CAVE from VA

ARCHES to VA.gov or otherwise determined environment, including target architecture, dependency remediation, deployment approach, testing, cutover, rollback, and post-migration support.

o Implement the application, configuration, interface, and deployment changes required for CAVE to operate in the target VA.gov environment o Validate, through regression and end-to-end testing, that forms, processing workflows, and downstream routing continue to function as intended following transition.

o Update operational procedures, deployment documentation, architecture documentation, and support materials to reflect the target environment.

o Support phased migration, coexistence, pilot rollout, or staged onboarding if directed by VA.

• Reuse, Integration, and Productization o Maintain CAVE as a reusable service and component package that may be integrated into published VA.gov forms requiring non-standard attachment validation and processing.

o Provide a standardized integration approach for adopting forms, including defined interfaces, configuration requirements, and onboarding guidance, including API reference checks o Support both Veteran and Veteran Representative submission scenarios for forms using CAVE.

o Maintain reusable schemas, mappings, validation rule structures, and interface patterns to support consistent implementation across forms.

o Maintain compatibility with applicable VA.gov file-upload, review, and signature patterns required for supported workflows.

o Maintain versioning and backward compatibility practices for interfaces, schemas, and mappings so changes do not unnecessarily disrupt existing form integrations.

• Performance and Quality Management o Maintain OCR and data extraction quality at a rate of 98% or greater for VA-approved target fields and supported document types, using a VA-approved measurement methodology.

o Document and maintain the methodology used to measure extraction quality, including field-level accuracy criteria, sampling methods, confidence thresholds, and exception treatment.

o Establish production-readiness criteria for new document types, including minimum extraction quality, mapping completeness, and validation readiness prior to release.

o Monitor and report extraction quality by document type, field type, and form.

o Monitor and report user correction rates and use those results to target extraction and validation improvements.

o Maintain regression tests and benchmark datasets to evaluate changes to OCR services, extraction logic, mappings, validation rules, and workflows before production deployment.

o Document unsupported document conditions, known quality limitations, and remediation plans for document types that do not consistently meet required thresholds.

o Monitor and report end-to-end processing times for document intake, extraction, validation, user review readiness, and downstream submission preparation.

• Functional Capability (Extraction and User Validation) o Support automated extraction of structured and unstructured data from VA-approved non-standard attachment documents submitted through VA.gov forms.

o Provide a user interface that enables users to review extracted values and correct them prior to submission.

o Apply validation logic to extracted and user-corrected data, including required-field checks, schema validation, format validation, logical consistency checks, and standardized data mapping.

o Support workflows in which user changes to extracted data require generation of VA

Form 21-4138 and completion through the existing VA electronic signature process.

o Package and route finalized documents and data to downstream VA systems or records processes in accordance with approved business workflows.

• Documentation And Knowledge Transfer (in GitHub) o Maintain current documentation for CAVE architecture, workflows, interfaces, dependencies, deployment procedures, support procedures, and onboarding steps.

o Maintain documentation for onboarding new forms and document types, including integration prerequisites, configuration requirements, mapping requirements, validation rule setup, and testing steps.

o Maintain an inventory of supported forms, document types, extracted fields, mappings, business rules, and downstream integrations.

o Maintain release notes, test artifacts, deployment records, and operational documentation in VA-designated GitHub repositories.

o Provide knowledge transfer and technical walkthroughs for VA stakeholders and successor teams as requested by VA.

2.3.3.2. Document services potential features and epics

• Foundational work o Evaluation of prior work on 3rd-party routing, implementation, and release o Evaluated existing design, implement, maintain, and enhance reusable routing capabilities for VA.gov forms that require participation by a third party, including scenarios in which: (a) the Veteran or claimant initiates the form and routes it to a third party for completion; (b) the third party completes the form for submission, including signature, to VA; and (c) the third party completes the form, including signature, on the Veteran’s behalf while the Veteran is notified and provided a copy for their records.

o Support routing patterns that include, at a minimum: Veteran to third party to

Veteran, Veteran to third party to VA, and third party to VA with Veteran notification and copy delivery.

o Support multiple routing patterns as configurable, plug-and-play capabilities that may be applied across forms without requiring a net-new custom workflow for each form implementation.

• Authentication And Identity Linkage o Provide a means for the submitter or completing party to authenticate or otherwise securely verify identity before accessing or completing a routed form workflow, where required by the approved business process.

o Support VA-approved authentication approaches used on VA.gov and may propose alternate secure access methods for VA approval when needed to support third-party routing scenarios.

o Associate each routed transaction to the applicable Veteran and maintain the relationship between the Veteran, the third party, and the form transaction throughout the workflow.

o Limit third-party access to the specific routed form transaction and actions authorized for that particular workflow.

o Capture sufficient transaction details to identify who initiated, accessed, edited, completed, and submitted the routed form transaction.

o Enable the third party to digitally sign the form prior to submission, in according with

VA’s approved electronic signature capture methods.

• Secure Routing and Access o Provide secure routing mechanisms that allow a form session or completion request to be transferred to an intended third party without exposing sensitive information to unauthorized parties.

o Support one or more secure routing methods, which may include expiring web links, one-time access links, QR codes, authenticated handoff workflows, or other approaches proposed by the Contractor and approved by VA, provided the approach meets the business need for secure transfer and completion of sensitive information.

o Ensure routed access methods are time-bound, revocable, and scoped to the intended transaction or form instance.

o Prevent unauthorized reuse, forwarding, duplication, or uncontrolled access to routed form sessions to the extent supported by the approved solution design.

• Veteran Visibility and Records o Ensure the Veteran is able to determine when a routed form has been sent to a third party, when action has been taken by the third party, and when the form has been completed or submitted, as applicable to the business workflow.

o Provide a mechanism to notify the Veteran of key routing and completion events using

VA-approved communication services, including VA Notify where applicable.

o Provide the Veteran with a copy of the completed form or submitted document package for their records in workflows where a third party completes information on the Veteran’s behalf.

o Support routing workflows in which the Veteran reviews, confirms, or receives the completed form prior to submission to VA when required by the form-specific business process.

• Form Integration and Reuse o Implement these third-party routing capabilities as reusable components or services that can be configured for different VA.gov forms and form-specific routing rules.

o Provide a configurable framework for defining the routing pattern, participant roles, notification steps, completion sequence, and submission endpoint for each form using the capability.

o Maintain compatibility of third-party routing capabilities with existing VA.gov digital forms, approved architecture, reusable components, and approved design patterns.

o Document the integration requirements, supported routing patterns, participant states, and configuration options needed for adoption of the routing capability by additional VA.gov forms.

• Operational Controls o Monitor routed transactions for failed deliveries, expired access events, incomplete workflows, submission failures, and other routing conditions requiring intervention.

o Maintiain operational support procedures for troubleshooting routed workflows, restoring interrupted transactions where appropriate, and resolving participant-access issues.

o Report on routing workflow performance, including initiation volumes, completion rates, abandonment rates, delivery failures, expiration events, and successful submissions.

2.3.3.3. Lifestage forms experience potential features and epics

This work includes the Veterans Pension (VA Form 21p-527ez, VA Form 21p-530EZ, VA Form

21p-534EZ) and Burial (VA Form 21p-530ez) digital experience as well as related supplemental forms. These forms are fully functional, but require further modernization efforts to improve the Veteran, submission, and adjudicator experience. It also includes forms to update, add or remove, and verify dependents (VA Form 21-686c, 21-674, and 21-0538). Potential features and epics may include:

• Improve the Intent-to-File experience (VA Form 21-0966) on Pension and across VA.gov

• Build and/or improve integration of supplemental forms including VA Forms 21P-0969 and 21P-8416 into the 527ez experience

• Validate Dependents verification MVP and determine value in scaling its functionality

• Support the addition and removal of dependents who don’t have a Social Security number (a barrier for newborns) or are non-US residents

• Identify opportunities to further integrate dependents management experience across related products and services within VA.gov and VA Health and Mobile app

• Veterans struggle to find the form (686c) and the "add dependent" button on VA.gov

• Enable Veterans to easily confirm that updates they made to their dependents were received and when they can expect to see changes reflected on VA.

• Enable Veterans to learn about dependent verification policies, timelines, and financial implications — failure to remove dependents in a timely manner can lead to overpayments and debt.

• Improve the evidence upload process across forms, clarifying what's required and why, in order to reduce delays

• Identify and implement more opportunities to pre-fill data on the forms for Veterans and adjudicators, reducing burden of manual and often repetitive data entry

• Improve confusing VA terminology with plain language — words like "verify,"

"dependents," "pension," "eligibility," and "denial" are unclear or have multiple meanings.

• Changing status for a dependent turning 18 who is still in school, or for a permanently disabled dependent, is confusing — the flow sends Veterans to "add" or "remove" rather than "change status."

• The digitized version of VA Form 21-0538 to verify dependents has shipped on VA.gov but awareness and understanding of how to verify remain a challenge

2.4. Agile Iterations

The Contractor shall provide VA with 2-week iterations of agile software delivery. The agile delivery iterations shall be supported by multi-disciplinary teams with appropriate skillsets to support all, or a mix of, the following services: Software development and operation, Technical advising and architecture planning, Service design and user research studies, Product design, Data science and data analytics, and/or Product support operations.

Before each two-week iteration, during iteration/sprint planning and continuously throughout the period of performance, the Contractor shall propose “sprint goal(s)” for the upcoming sprint which details the specific work items and deliverables to be completed during the sprint and shall gain approval on the proposed “sprint goal(s)” from the product owner and COR prior to the start of each sprint. The “sprint goal(s)” defined during sprint planning will be informed by a continuously prioritized backlog of work items towards the goals and outcomes listed in the PWS. The Contractor’s invoice for that sprint will be certified when the “sprint goal(s)” has been accepted by the Product Owner and COR. Any item(s) that were initially included in the approved “sprint goal(s), but not delivered, must be discussed with the Product Owner and COR to ensure their removal from the “sprint goal” was appropriate and justified, prior to the invoice being certified.

Additional Information

SCRUM teams will be considered acceptable when they can effectively work. This may include some resources that are staffed, but not cleared. This will be addressed on case-by-case basis, worked collaboratively with the COR. For the initial team to be deemed ready to work, all members of the team shall, at minimum, have submitted a Personal Security Adjudication Center letter and their Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing, to obtain access to working tools such as GitHub, Slack and Amazon Web Services requires release date. CORs may be able to support PIV exemptions to allow access, once specific steps are completed, to allow access to some systems before a PIV is provided by VA.

2.5. Team Structures and Initial Focus Areas

It is anticipated that multiple software development teams, including a Leadership and

Specialized Shared Services Base Team responsible for long-term strategy, delivery quality, and specialized shared support roles. In addition to these responsibilities, the Base Team is expected to include key personnel listed in section 4.3 below to ensure quality and coordinate efforts across all teams on this contract. The contractor may propose a different structure.

Each base team and optional task team exercised under Optional Tasks 1 and 2 will have a particular product or domain as their focus. All teams are expected to collaborate across team boundaries to ensure a cohesive digital experience and be responsive to shifting VA needs and priorities. This may require a team to work on items outside of their primary focus area.

All teams must collaborate with partner teams to ensure the quality of VA software and zero loss of Veteran data. VA.gov and the flagship mobile app connect to APIs and many backend services and must respond gracefully when a service on which we depend is unavailable. Teams shall respond quickly to production bugs that affect Veteran outcomes and to ensure the ability to recover any Veteran-submitted data until there is affirmation that it has reached its intended downstream system.

2.5.1. Base Teams (Base Period and each Option Period)

2.5.1.1. Leadership and Specialized Shared Services

VA anticipates the establishment of a Base Team consisting of a specialized shared services Key

Personnel, as well program-level delivery team leadership Key Personnel, to help ensure quality alignment, cohesion, consistency across teams, and contribute to CoP (communities of practice) maturity across VA.gov.

The leadership roles in the Leadership and Specialized Services Base Team’s primary focus areas shall be on mid- to long-term strategy, and cross-team communication, ensuring delivery by the rest of the teams, and ensuring alignment with VA OCTO on quality standards. This work will be achieved by way of, but not limited to, the following actions:

• Work in collaboration with VA enablement team to discover and define long-term vision and strategy

• Shape the product roadmaps and delivery of the application and its associated features according to OCTO Benefits Portfolio priorities

• Ensure reliability and observability of VA.gov’s integrations with partner systems, addressing and remediating historical failures, improving recoverability, and enabling end-to-end data infrastructure

• Refine and iterate on focus areas and staffing of the base and option teams to maximize progress across all applications

• Mature quality standards alignment with leads and delivery teams

• Research and utilize existing VA data infrastructure, including AI, to create more efficient Veteran experiences and remove data entry redundancy

• Create awareness of service design and assess the impact of features across the VA.gov and VA, with a focus on reducing complexity and burden for both Veterans and adjudicators

• Support delivery teams in gathering specifications, development, and cross-functional execution. Identify opportunities for iterative improvements while maintaining focus on long-term service goals and ensuring alignment with the broader vision.

• Monitor each delivery team’s progress toward product health and success metrics, organizational OKRs, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and successful milestone achievement

• Ensure all teams analyze the impact of deployed…