PWS 12.4.2023.docx

TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION SERVICES (TIS)

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Information Systems & Technology Services (ISTS)

Draft Date: December 4, 2023

Table of Contents

Tables Reference

Figures

General Information and Requirements This document serves as the Performance Work Statement (PWS) for the Technology Information Services (TIS) Contract, referenced later as either “the Contract” or “the TIS Contract.” The Contactor shall provide the Information Systems and Technology Services (ISTS) Office, within the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), a full line of Information Technology (IT) services to manage the baseline requirements defined in this PWS. The contractor shall provide IT services that conform to specified standards for reliability, readiness, sustainability, supportability, availability, stability, security, flexibility, responsiveness, and cost effectiveness. Contract service providers shall be accountable solely to the Prime Contractor who, in turn, is responsible to the Government.

The contractor shall provide all personnel equipment, supplies, facilities, transportation, tools, materials, supervision, and other items necessary to perform the IT services as defined in this PWS except for those items specified as government furnished property, equipment, and services. The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

Background GAO, often called the “congressional watchdog,” is an independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress. GAO examines how taxpayer dollars are spent and provides Congress and federal agencies with objective, non-partisan, fact-based information to help the government save money and work more efficiently. The agency’s mission is to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities, and to help improve the performance and ensure the accountability of the federal government. We provide Congress with timely information that is objective, fact-based, nonpartisan, nonideological, and balanced. The agency operates its work under strict professional standards with a highly trained professional workforce of approximately 4,600 who are direct customers of this contract. The agency operates its work under strict professional standards with a highly trained professional workforce can fluctuate between 4,500-4,800 due to the number of interns, professional development program (PDP) participates and contractors.

GAO’s workforce is organized into functional mission teams and mission enablement support offices. To meet GAO’s mission, staff rely heavily on information technology (IT) services and tools. Within the Office of the Chief Administrative Office (CAO), the Information Systems and Technology Services (ISTS) Office supports the information and knowledge management functions of the agency. As a service provider, ISTS focuses on supporting GAO’s mission and working with business partners to provide access to the IT services and tools needed by the business to perform work efficiently and effectively, from any place at any time, and within affordable cost levels.

GAO’s IT strategy is closely aligned with Goal 4 of the GAO Strategic Plan: “Maximize the Value of GAO by Enabling Quality, Timely Service to the Congress and by Being a Leading Practices Federal Agency.” (https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-1sp)

Our IT strategy sets the goals and objectives depicted in Figure 1:

The contract supports the delivery of current and future IT services and solutions as described in this PWS. The current environment is described at a high level below. Part 11 of the PWS provides more detailed information on the current infrastructure.

· Use of RSA[footnoteRef:2] tokens or Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards for two-factor authentication. [2: RSA was named after the initials of its co-founders, Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman, after whom the RSA public key cryptography algorithm was also named.]

· Several local systems to accommodate change management and support high-resource-requirement workstations.

· Services and solutions include over 80 applications including shared services from external providers, Custom off the Shelf (COTS) software, Government off the Shelf (GOTS) software, and custom applications. Services and solutions include over 80 applications < including shared services from external providers, Custom off the Shelf (COTS) software, Government off the Shelf (GOTS) software, and custom applications.

· Standard of Java based applications in the Linux platform.

· Other technologies used include Legacy ColdFusion and PHP applications, relying on database platforms including MySQL, SQL Server and Oracle.

· Approximately 90% of our services and applications are on-prem and 10% in the Cloud.

· Application development via one of four tracks (1) Rapid Application Development (RAD), (2) Business Intelligence (BI), (3) Custom Development on GAO’s standard technologies platform, and (4) COTS system integration.

Features of the future state environment at a high level are listed below. Part 11 of the PWS provides an overview of our modernization roadmap.

· Adoption of a Windows environment via Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) laptops on Microsoft 365 (M365).

· Implementation of Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards for credential authentication and stronger security.

· Zero Trust architecture including secure access service edge (SASE).

· Expanded use of services model including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS).

· Approximately 90% of our services and applications in the cloud. (Projection of 70% at time of award)

· Modern development and organizational models including, DevSecOps, fusion teams and Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).

Objectives for Contract GAO seeks a strong industry partnership via this acquisition to deliver superior customer service and IT services and solutions to GAO seamlessly upon contract award and as we modernize our IT environment. Primary objectives for this acquisition include:

· Deliver superior and continuously improving customer experience on par with those staff experience in their private lives with commercial applications.

· Continuously innovate to improve services and maximize value; continuously streamline ISTS process, procedures, and infrastructure.

· Provide an excellent customer experience, including during modernization and upgrades.

· Increase speed-to-deliver ISTS capabilities and services to our customers.

· Flexibility to evolve services as GAO mission needs change.

· Ensure GAO maintains an IT environment that is available (24x7x365), functional (fully meeting the needs of our entire organization), reliable and secure.

· Improve performance, strengthen information security, increase IT agility, while maintaining compliance and decreasing risk.

· Leverage data (i.e., on performance, trends, and incidents) to proactively address emerging issues and continuously enhance the customer experience.

· Create a more predictable and consistent contract spend over time with less cost increase over the different periods of performance and, no cost over runs on various contract CLINs.

· Where possible, shift from Capital Expense (CapEx) to Operating Expense (OpEx) model.

Scope of Work The scope of this contract is vast, and the PWS has been separated into multiple Task Areas. The contractor and their Program Leadership shall ensure all tasks are managed and accomplished without jeopardizing the execution of any concurrent tasks. Each task area identified is essential to the mission and goals identified by GAO, and the contractor shall be solely responsible for each of the task areas and must plan, forecast, manage and coordinate with the Government, third-party vendors, and across task areas in their execution. The Government also attaches significant importance on the reduction of fixed operational costs through consolidation, automation, managed services, and innovation. The expectation is that the contractor shall propose the establishment of a fully managed service for several task areas, via a managed service either using existing GAO technologies or providing replacement technologies that can be transitioned over the first full year of the contract. The contractor shall provide dates for full transition to managed services utilizing the proposed technologies.

The PWS task areas are:

· Program and Task Management

· Customer Experience

· Cloud and Digital Environments

· IT Infrastructure

· Software Factory

· Asset and Inventory Management

· Information Systems Security

· Publishing, Information and Web Support Services

· Infrastructure and Application Monitoring Platform

· Optional Tasks

Equipment The equipment, software, and material required to perform IT support services will be provided by GAO, shall be provided by the contractor (as needed in conjunction with their managed service solution) or shall be purchased by the contractor for GAO through procurement with Government authorization.

Compliance GAO will provide contractors with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) across tasks and subtasks. These SOPs provide additional context and detail to the work to be performed under this contract. Processes and work products are identified in the SOPs. Ultimately, all work performed in line with this PWS shall be in accordance with GAO governance, policies, processes, and procedures.

Key Statistics and Metrics The following statistics and metrics represent the current state and are subject to change. Section 9 of this PWS provides more details on GAO’s current environment.

· Publish an average of 23 products per week (max/week ~40) and 10-15 decisions per week.

· Approximately 4,600 users leveraging (non-server) computers (95%+ laptops) and approximately 500 servers.

· The ~4,600 users include contractors and Federal employees (which fluctuates with interns and Professional Development Program staff).

· 110 implemented change requests per month (e.g., network configuration, patches, application deployments).

· ~30 business applications are major applications developed primarily in Java.

· ~20 business applications are developed under RAD platform.

· The remaining business applications are a mixture of PHP, ColdFusion, COTS, GOTS, and Shared Service Provider.

· Releases per year by size/type include: MINOR: 5-10 minor applications, 5-10 form based applications and 20-30 new analytics/reports per year; MAJOR: 1-2 major custom-built applications, 3-5 enhancements to custom built enterprise applications; CASE MANAGEMENT: 1-2 case management solutions, 1-2 enhancements to case management solutions.

· 25M+ security events per week (e.g., firewall, IPS, Websense).<checking w/Dave - seems high>

· Help desk receives an average of 6,000 calls per month and 3,000 email requests per month.

Period of Performance The period of performance shall be for one (1) 15-month, 20-day base period with four (4) 12-month option periods. The period of performance includes 90-day transition periods at the beginning and end of the period of performance. The Period of Performance reads as follows.

· Base Period Transition – June 10, 2024 – September 10, 2024 September 10, 2024 – September 30, 2025

General Information Quality Assurance The government will utilize the contractor’s Quality Assurance/ Quality Control Plan (QAP/QCP) and Government's Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) in the assessment and validation of the contractor’s performance in meeting the objectives and standards of this requirement. The Contractor shall develop and submit their plan as part of the proposal submission. The Contracting Officer (CO) and Contracting Officer Representative (COR) will provide feedback before or at the Kick-off Meeting, and the Contractor shall update the plan within 10 calendar days of the Kick-Off Meeting. The final QAP/QCP shall be submitted 10 business days prior to full performance (completion of transition period).

Upon approval, the Contractor shall implement the QAP/QCP to ensure quality assurance and controls under this agreement, and to ensure that potential problems with equipment and systems are identified, documented and resolved prior to failure. The QAP/QCP will focus on the Contractor’s actions to ensure they perform in accordance with performance standards, certifications, service level agreements/objectives/metrics (SLAs/SLOs/SLMs), and other key elements within contract performance. The QASP will focus on what the Government will do to ensure that the contractor has performed in accordance with the performance standards. It defines how the performance standards shall be applied, the frequency of surveillance, and the minimum acceptable defect rate(s).

Deliverables ISTS is striving to streamline, automate and reduce the physical delivery of deliverables and other key documentation outlined in this PWS. The contractor shall utilize dashboards and other proposed strategies and technologies to achieve this goal. All deliverables shall be provided through an integrated Dashboard leveraging GAO’s existing data sources and products, enterprise content management solution, or other official document management software. The contractor shall have real-time data within the dashboard that must include the quantitative data and calculations required under the PWS. The dashboard must provide sufficient data, demonstrate work against SLA, deliverables, and activities. The dashboard must be housed within the GAO environment and all data within it belongs to the government. The dashboard needs to have trending data, and the Contractor is expected to use this information to identify areas for automation to improve operations. The contractor shall provide the COR a weekly Performance Summary Report evaluating their performance in terms of the Performance Standards. GAO will not accept stand-alone reports or utilizing other technologies.

Recognized Holidays GAO utilizes a published holiday schedule that specifies holidays that fall within the classification of after-hours. The standard Federal holidays are:

· New Year’s Day

· Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday

· President’s Day

· Memorial Day

· Juneteenth

· Independence Day

· Labor Day

· Columbus Day

· Veteran’s Day

· Thanksgiving Day

· Christmas Day

GAO Hours of Operation The contractor shall provide the following types of response support:

· GAO’s standard business hours are 6:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M., local time.

· IT services originate in GAO headquarters, which is based in Washington, DC. (6:00 AM-11:00 P.M. Eastern Time (ET), to cover coast to coast support until 8:00PM, Pacific Time (PT)

· After-hours support is designated as Weekdays 8:01 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. ET, Weekends, and Federal holidays.

· Data Center, Network Infrastructure, Service Desk and System Management Center support are required 24x7x365. Incident response for 24x7x365 services shall be addressed on-site or remotely unless remediation of the incident requires an on-site presence.

· Incident response for 24x7x365 services shall be addressed on-site or remotely unless remediation of the incident requires an on-site presence.

· All days in a calendar day, e.g., leap year After-hours service response times are reduced from standard business hour service response times and are defined in respective SLAs, SLOs and SOPs. The contractor shall follow GAO’s holiday schedule. The Contractor shall, at all times, maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS. When considering execution of services, the stability and continuity of services and personnel (where applicable) are essential.

Place of Performance The contractor shall provide IT support services during GAO’s core business hours and where specified after-hours. This support shall be provided to the GAO Headquarters facility at 441 G Street NW in Washington, DC and GAO field offices, as required. For all tasks where managed services are considered, the contractor shall either provide support at a contractor designated facility/location or at GAO Headquarters. The contractor shall support the on-site needs of the client with certain tasks (i.e., Customer Support Services, Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET) support, etc.). The contractor shall respond within a timeframe that would meet the service level agreements/objectives/metrics (SLA/SLO/SLM). Please note, the location of performance is subject to change during the term of this agreement (e.g., a requirement for GAO teleworking, establishment of alternate site – Alternate Computing Facility (ACF)).

Examples of after-hours support include, but are not limited to, direct customer support, off-hour system management and maintenance, file backup and restore operations, deployment of selected applications, and annual and quarterly property inventories.

The contractor shall travel to GAO’s field offices (approximately 2-4 times a year, primarily to support GAO’s classified data processing capability), and to the disaster recovery site (located approximately 35 miles from GAO Headquarters) on an as-needed basis. The current user base consists of approximately 4,600 individuals. This can fluctuate based the number of interns and Professional Development Program (PDP) participants.

Travel to the disaster recovery site during non-emergency situations will be minimal based on the current support model that includes Government oversight and daily operations and maintenance of the facility. Currently, ninety-five percent of the contractor support for disaster recovery related operations and maintenance are conducted using remote management tools and processes.

There are currently 11 field offices located in the following cities across the country. Additionally, there is one audit site in the Washington Metropolitan area and currently an alternate computing facility (ACF). Field office locations include:

· Atlanta Office, 2635 Century Parkway, Suite 700, Atlanta, GA 30345

· Huntsville Office, 7027 Old Madison Pike, Suite 106, Huntsville Ala. 35806

· Boston Office, 10 Causeway Street, Room 575, Boston, MA 02222

· Chicago Office, Federal Building, 536 South Clark Street, Room 970, Chicago, IL 60605

· Dayton Office, 2196 D Street, Bldg. 39, Area B, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-0626

· Dallas Office, 1999 Bryan Street, Suite 2200, Dallas, TX 75201-6848

· Denver Office, 1244 Speer Boulevard, Suite 800, Denver, CO 80204-3581

· Los Angeles Office, Los Angeles World Trade Center, 350 South Figueroa Street, Suite 101 Los Angeles, CA 90071

· Norfolk Office, 5029 Corporate Woods Drive, Suite 300, Virginia Beach, VA 23462

· Oakland Office, 1301 Clay Street, Suite 1000S, Oakland, CA 94612

· Seattle Office, 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2700, Seattle, WA 98104 Please note, additional support locations may change during this contract.

The Contractor will be authorized and reimbursed travel expenses in line with Federal regulations. All travel requires Government approval / authorization and notification to the COR.

Type of Contract This requirement will be issued as a hybrid of both fixed-price and time and material tasks, with pricing identified at the Task/Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) level. Options will be priced on both fixed price and time and materials. An incentive fee/award fee will be part of the contract award centered around the vendor’s ability to execute the requirements associated the SLAs outlined in the PWS.

Personnel Security Requirements Contractor shall provide personnel performing work under this requirement that have a National Agency Check with Inquiries (NACI) / Public Trust Security Clearance before accessing GAO networks or obtaining GAO badges and must maintain the level of security required for the life of the contract. Personnel supporting SIPRNET and Cybersecurity functions shall have an active SECRET Clearance on day one of contract performance and shall maintain the level of security required for the life of the contract.

Crediting NACI / Public Trust Security Clearance Costs The contractor shall reimburse the government, for the purpose of obtaining a NACI / Public Trust Security Clearance, before accessing GAO networks or obtaining GAO badges under this contract effort for accrued costs. The contractors shall reimburse the government through crediting the cost of each NACI/Public Trust Security Clearance to the appropriate CLINs (i.e., 1, 101, 201, 301, or 401). The current amount per individual is in line with OPM Standards. The Contractor shall submit an invoice or voucher to reflect the actual / credited amounts within 30 days of being notified by the Contracting Officer and/or Contracting Officer’s Representative.

Physical Security In accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), 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.

Kick-off Meeting/Periodic Progress Meetings The Contractor shall attend any Kick-off Meetings convened by the contracting activity or contract administration office. The Contracting Officer, Contracting Officers Representative (COR), and other Government personnel, as appropriate, may meet periodically with the contractor to review the contractor’s performance.

Contracting Officer Representative (COR) The Contracting Officer Representative (COR) will be identified by a 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 in connection with contract performance, maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract, issue written interpretations of technical requirements (including Government drawings, designs, specifications), monitor Contractor’s performance and notify 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 is issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, stating the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially with regard to 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 resulting order.

The Contractor’s performance and the quality of service/supplies provided shall be subject to inspection and acceptance by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). In the event of rejection of any report or deliverable, the Contractor shall be notified in writing and shall have five (5) business days from date of issuance of notification to correct the deficiencies, and at no additional charge.

Named Roles and Key Personnel All key personnel are responsible for the management and oversight of essential functions for the effective execution of this contract. Therefore, key personnel are expected to begin support of the contract upon award, be available during core business hours and reachable for emergencies during after-hours. The Program Manager and Deputy will definitely be key personnel but, but we are looking for feedback on the other key personnel necessary to make this contract successfully. All personnel that are designated as key must be United States citizens and have minimum standards that are detailed below.

In addition, the contractor shall provide a contract manager who shall be responsible for the contractual performance of the work. The name of the contract manager and an alternate shall be designated in writing to the contracting officer. The contract manager or alternate shall have full authority to act for the contractor on all contract matters relating to daily operation of this contract. The contract manager or alternate shall be available between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday thru Friday except Federal holidays or when the government is closed for other reasons.

Descriptions and/or qualifications for several roles are provided below. Key personnel shall at a minimum include the Program Manager and Deputy Program Manager. Contractors may propose the other roles as key.

Program Manager The Contractor shall provide a Program Manager (PM) to serve as the Government’s primary point-of-contact and to provide overall leadership and guidance for all contractor personnel assigned to the contract and task orders. The PM is ultimately responsible for the quality and efficiency of the contract to include both technical issues and business processes. The PM shall be an employee of the prime contractor, and is responsible for task assignments, on-going supervision of technical efforts and overall performance management for this requirement. This individual should have the ability to authorize/commit the Contractor’s organization and make decisions for the Contractor’s organization in response to Government issues, concerns, or problems. This person shall be readily available to respond to Government questions, concerns, and comments, as well as be proactive in alerting the Government to potential contractual or programmatic issues.

The PM should have experience in the management of environments similar (in both size and scope) to this contract award. Additionally, the PM must:

· Possess at least 10 years of experience in the management and control of complex information systems architectures involving multiple disparate databases, network, and communications subsystems.

· Possess a minimum of 5 years of supervisory experience over complex information technology operating environments of at least 50 people of multi-disciplinary job categories and skills.

· Demonstrate experience in the management and support of an integrated management plan and schedule.

· Demonstrate experience managing both on premise, off premise service-oriented and cloud requirements involving SLAs and metrics on a contract of similar size and scope.

· Collaborate with other ISTS technology contractors and service providers, negotiating contracts, monitoring service performance, and ensuring cost-effective solutions that align with the organization's needs.

Deputy Program Manager The Contractor shall provide a Deputy Program Manager (DPM) to serve as the Government’s secondary point-of-contact and to provide direct support to the PM in the overall leadership and guidance for all contractor personnel assigned to the task order. The DPM helps manage the responsibility of quality and efficiency of the contract to include both technical issues and business processes. The DPM assists in task assignments, on-going supervision of technical efforts and overall performance management of this requirement. This individual should have the ability to authorize/commit the Contractor’s organization and make decisions for the Contractor’s organization in response to Government issues, concerns, or problems. This person shall be readily available to respond to Government questions, concerns, and comments, as well as be proactive in alerting the Government to potential contractual or programmatic issues.

The DPM should have experience in the management of environments similar (in both size and scope) to this contract award. Additionally, the DPM must:

· Possess at least 10 years of experience in the management and control of complex information systems architectures involving multiple disparate databases, network, and communications subsystems.

· Possess a minimum of 5 years of supervisory experience over complex information technology operating environments of at least 50 people of multi-disciplinary job categories and skills.

· Demonstrate experience in the management and support of an integrated management plan and schedule.

· Demonstrate experience managing both on premise, off premise service-oriented and cloud requirements involving SLAs and metrics on a contract of similar size and scope.

SAFe Lead The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Lead is responsible for the management and coordination of development activities, must demonstrate expert (a minimum of 5 years) experience and/or be SAFe Agile Product Manager certified, and have experience and/or knowledge related to:

· SAFe Agile development practices and management, leading diverse development teams using diverse technologies.

· System architecture, virtualization, and cloud computing technologies.

· Engineering and implementation of software development and integration initiatives to include Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and DevSecOps.

· Encryption, Public key infrastructure (PKI), RSA, Active Directory (AD) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) computer security guidelines and best practices.

· Data integration architecture and development using COTS product, expert knowledge in using Pentaho Data Integration in particular.

· Database technologies COTS and Open Source.

· Java programming, Java Enterprise Edition and open-source Java libraries and frameworks including servlet/web application and portlet JSRs, Spring and Hibernate.

· Data analytics and information visualization, expertise in using modern JavaScript libraries such as d3.js to create scalable interactive information visualization.

· Modern web application development using JavaScript libraries and frameworks such as AngularJS and ReactJS.

· Full text indexing and searching technologies such as Lucene and ElasticSearch, tuning indexing and searching for search relevancy and accuracy; using data mining and machine learning tools and algorithms.

· Architecting, customizing, deploying and performance tuning Pentaho BI servers and Pentaho reporting and analysis components, including embedding Pentaho analytics in custom web applications.

· Software development practices and management, leading diverse development teams.

· Expertise and/or broad understanding of in Java and JavaScript, JEE and related JAX-RS (Jersey), JAX-WS CDI, JPA (Hibernate/Eclipse Link), JDO, Spring, JDBC, JNDI, JMS, JSP, JSTL; ExtJS; XML/XSL XML, XSLT, XSLT/FO, JAXB, Microsoft Open XML (MS Word); Elasticsearch; Advanced dynamic reporting with Jasper Reports; JSF, Struts, JSP, Drupal.

RSA Application Programming Interface (API), Tomcat, RedHat JBoss

Web Support Lead The Publications Web Support Lead is responsible for the management and coordination of Web Support activities. The Web Support Lead must demonstrate expert (a minimum of 5 years) experience and/or knowledge related to:

· Diagnosing user agent detection issues.

· Submitting patches that fix issues in open-source web frameworks.

· Creating tools to assist in understanding compatibility issues.

· Thinking critically about the best way to push the web forward.

· Becoming proficient with our code base, multiple languages (JS, Python, C++), and development tools.

· Proposing, designing, and implementing industry-leading solutions for implementing browser-based solutions across a hugely broad array of devices.

· Participating in and contributing to the planning process for new features and projects.

· Working with a team of world-class user interface (UI) designers and product managers to understand and refine the scope of incoming projects, and to ensure deliverables meet an unreasonably high-quality bar.

· Assisting in task management and Agile planning.

· Working with a top-notch engineering team to understand and respond to their needs.

· Defining test strategies, comprehensive understanding of system uses cases.

· Developing test plans and both manual and automated test cases.

Data Lead The Data Lead is responsible for the management and oversight of data activities. The Data Lead must demonstrate expert (a minimum of 5 years) experience and/or knowledge related to:

· Overseeing Data Governance Ensure the proper collection, storage, and utilization of data across the organization while adhering to data privacy regulations.

· Database Management Manage databases, including design, maintenance, and security, to ensure efficient and secure access to information.

· Information Strategy Develop and implement strategies for information management, including identifying opportunities for data-driven decision-making.

· Team Leadership Lead a team of professionals responsible for data management, information systems, and related functions.

· Technology Evaluation Stay current with emerging technologies and assess their potential impact on the organization's information management capabilities.

· Risk Management Identify and mitigate risks related to data security, compliance, and information management.

· Collaboration Work with various departments to understand their data needs and provide solutions to enhance information sharing and utilization.

· Training and Development Organize training programs to ensure staff members understand information management policies and best practices.

· Performance Metrics Establish metrics to measure the effectiveness of information management initiatives and report on progress to senior management.

· Continuous Improvement Identify opportunities for process optimization and implement best practices to improve overall information management efficiency.

Infrastructure Lead The Infrastructure Lead is responsible for the management and oversight of all on-premise infrastructure activities. The Infrastructure Lead must demonstrate expert (a minimum of 5 years) experience and/or knowledge related to:

· Leading and supervising teams of various job categories and skills in a converged network of similar size and scope as GAO.

· LAN/WAN architecture integration.

· Investigating and successfully implementing and integrating new technologies into a converged network.

· Managing personnel in the following areas storage technologies, enterprise security, network management, desktop and server operating systems, directory services, unified communications, wireless technologies, application distribution technologies, and internet services.

· Overseeing the design, implementation, and maintenance of the organization's IT infrastructure, including servers, network systems, storage, and cloud services, ensuring optimal performance, security, and scalability.

· Forecasting resource requirements for infrastructure and application scaling, working closely with other IT teams to accommodate the organization's growth and evolving needs.

· Team Leadership Manage a team of network engineers and technicians, providing guidance, performance management, and fostering a collaborative environment.

· Network Monitoring Implement and maintain network monitoring tools to proactively identify and resolve network issues, ensuring high availability and optimal performance.

· Security Management Ensure network security by implementing best practices, firewalls, intrusion detection/prevention systems, and staying updated on security threats and mitigation strategies.

· Vendor Contractor Management Collaborate with network service providers and vendor contractors to negotiate contracts, monitor service level agreements (SLAs), and ensure cost-effective solutions.

· Capacity Planning Forecast network growth and plan for additional resources, such as bandwidth and hardware, to accommodate the organization's evolving needs.

· Incident Response Develop and execute procedures for handling network incidents, outages, and escalations, minimizing downtime and impact on business operations.

· Network Documentation Maintain accurate documentation of network configurations, policies, and procedures, facilitating troubleshooting and knowledge sharing.

· Technology Evaluation Stay informed about emerging networking technologies and recommend relevant solutions to enhance network performance and security.

· Collaboration Work closely with other IT teams, departments, and management to align network infrastructure with overall business goals and objectives.

· Conducting root cause analyses.

Cloud Lead The Cloud Infrastructure lead oversees the design, implementation, and maintenance of the organization's cloud infrastructure, ensuring scalability, security, and optimal performance of cloud-based services. The Cloud Lead must demonstrate expert (a minimum of 5 years) experience and/or knowledge related to:

· Designing, engineering, quality assurance and testing and operating cloud environments.

· Experienced knowledge of standards, practices and automation for Cloud.

· Troubleshooting and problem not resolution for issues identified impacting operational systems and services.

· Database Management Manage the organization's databases, including design, installation, configuration, backup, recovery, and performance tuning, ensuring data integrity and availability.

· Cloud Service Selection Evaluate cloud service providers and select the most appropriate services based on the organization's needs, considering factors such as cost, performance, and security.

· Security and Compliance Implement and maintain robust security measures for both cloud and database environments, ensuring compliance with industry standards and data protection regulations.

· Backup and Disaster Recovery Develop and maintain backup and disaster recovery strategies for both cloud resources and databases, ensuring business continuity in case of data loss or system failures.

· Performance Optimization Monitor and analyze system performance, identifying bottlenecks and implementing optimizations to improve overall system efficiency.

· Automation Implement automation and orchestration tools to streamline cloud provisioning, database management tasks, and routine maintenance.

· Troubleshooting and Issue Resolution Proactively identify and resolve issues related to cloud services and databases, minimizing downtime and impact on business operations.

· Collaboration Work closely with cross-functional teams, including developers, network administrators, and security professionals, to ensure seamless integration and operation of cloud-based services and databases.

· Documentation Maintain accurate documentation of cloud configurations, database schemas, policies, and procedures, facilitating knowledge sharing and troubleshooting.

Proven experience with cloud platforms (e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and database management systems (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MongoDB).

Strong understanding of networking, security, and data management best practices.

Experience with automation and scripting (e.g., PowerShell, Python, Bash) is a plus.

Industry certifications such as AWS Certified SysOps Administrator, Microsoft Certified Azure Database Administrator, or equivalent, are desirable.

Customer Experience Lead The Customer Experience Lead is responsible for being the Voice of the Customer and working to ensure the overall customer experience across the PWS scope is positive. The Data Lead must demonstrate expert (a minimum of 5 years) experience and/or knowledge related to:

· Monitor and maintain SLAs for the contractor and ensure they are being met or exceeded.

· Monitor and trend the IT Service Management (ITSM) system tickets to identify customer pain points and methods for improving customer experience. (ITSM is currently ServiceNow).

· Establish, monitor and trend Customer Effort Score (CES) and Net Promoter Score (NPS).

· Operationalize a seamless customer journey built on customer value across all task functions.

· Create proactive, repeatable processes and playbooks to drive consistently strong Customer Experience.

· Improve efficiency in ISTS organization by driving productivity, increasing automation, and enhancing self-service.

· Leverage technology to create digital capabilities and automation where possible.

· Create a comprehensive customer strategy.

· Act as the learning engine of the business to infuse the voice of the customer into all aspects of the business.

· Have a strong understanding of the complexity and nuances of different GAO business segments and the ability to develop a customer journey lifecycle that is strategically tailored.

· Demonstrated Operational Excellence with an affinity for a metrics-driven, results-driven approach.

Security & Monitoring Lead The Security & Monitoring Lead is responsible for serving as the Information Systems Security Manager (ISSM) for all projects, initiatives and applications developed under this contract. The Security and Monitoring Lead must demonstrate expert (a minimum of 5 years) experience and/or knowledge related to:

· Develop and operate information systems in a manner that is consistent with GAO policies and procedures.

· Develop and implement ISTS security processes to ensure they operate effectively and are compliant with the Federal Information Systems Security Management…