PWS Financial Data Subscription 1.13.2021 (1).docx

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS) FINANCIAL DATA DESCRIPTION

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS) FINANCIAL DATA DESCRIPTION

GENERAL INFORMATION

Description of Services/Introduction:

The contractor shall provide access to financial data subscription as defined in this Performance Work Statement, except as Specified in section C-3 as government furnished property and services. The contractor shall perform to the standards in this contract.

Background:

In support of its mission, EBSA closely monitors financial markets and a broad range of investment vehicles. Close analysis of financial instruments and plan holdings allows EBSA to develop regulations best suited to protect the interests of plan beneficiaries (such as whether investments are underperforming), and identify those plans most at risk. To accomplish these goals effectively and efficiently, EBSA requires access to detailed data on a broad range of investment instruments and asset classes that the agency can easily download and analyze.

Objectives:

The purpose of this contract is to provide access and technical support to financial data. The data should be focused on price, fees, and returns for investment instruments including equities and mutual funds.

Scope:

EBSA seeks a subscription contract for access to the financial data and information listed in Part 5 of this PWS. The contract shall consist of at least 7 subscription licenses with options for up to 13 more licenses (for a total of 20). Each license will be for the duration of 12 months, with an option to renew for up to 2 additional years.

The Contractor shall provide a subscription containing the specified data elements and the necessary maintenance during the entirety of this contract. The subscription to this financial data shall be fully functional and available throughout the entirety of the contract (except during agreed upon maintenance and update periods). If the Contractor makes updates or additions to the underlying data upon which the subscription is based, then the Contractor shall also make the same updates and additions to the subscription.

Period of Performance:

The period of performance shall be for one (1) Base Period of 12 months and two (2) 12-month option periods. The Period of Performance reads as follows:

Base Period: 8/15/2021 – 8/14/2022 Option Period I: 8/15/2022 – 8/14/2023 Option Period II: 8/15/2023 – 8/14/2024

The Government reserves the right to extend the term of this contract at the prices set forth in Section B in accordance with the terms and conditions contained in clause 52.217-9 entitled, “Option to Extend the Term of the Contract.”

General Information Quality Control:

The contractor shall develop and maintain an effective quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with this PWS. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective services. The contractor’s quality control program is the means by which he assures himself that his work complies with the requirement of the contract. As a minimum, the contractor shall develop quality control procedures that address the areas identified in Technical Exhibit 1, “Performance Requirements Summary.” After acceptance of the quality control plan, if the contractor wants to propose any change to the quality control system, they shall obtain the contracting officer’s acceptance in writing.

Quality Assurance:

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

Government Remedies:

The contracting officer shall follow FAR 52.212-4, “Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items” or 52.246-4, “Inspection of Services-Fixed Price” for contractor’s failure to perform satisfactory services or failure to correct non-conforming services.

Recognized Holidays:

The Contractor is not required to perform services on the following holidays:

Hours of Operation/Place of Performance:

The contractor is responsible for conducting access to the data subscription between the hours of 8:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday thru Friday, except Federal holidays or when the Government facility is closed due to local or national emergencies, administrative closings, or similar Government directed facility closings. The Contractor must at all times maintain an adequate workforce for the uninterrupted performance of all tasks defined within this PWS when the Government facility is not closed for the above reasons. When hiring personnel, the Contractor shall keep in mind that the stability and continuity of the work force are essential. Telecommuting or “work at home” is not authorized under this contract unless under emergency situations as determined by the COR.

Type of Contract:

The Government anticipates the award of a Fixed-Price Contract for the base task with equal monthly payments for a 12-month base year and two (2) option years. Option years are exercised at the Government’s decision.

Security Requirements:

Rights in Data and Copyright

Throughout the period of this Agreement, the Government reserves exclusive and unlimited rights to the information provided to the Contractor, except for the information the Government makes available to the public. The Government also reserves exclusive rights to the results and findings produced by this project.

The Contractor agrees that the Government may use the Product to carry out the Government's Business Purposes, as defined herein, subject to the restrictions contained herein. The Government 's Business Purposes include: (a) sharing of the information provided by the Product ("Information") within and among Government 's employees and agents with a need to know; (b) incorporating portions of Information either in unmodified ("raw") or summary ("aggregate") form, into works that the Government creates, including, but not limited to: research papers (such as papers prepared for publication in academic journals), speeches, testimony, reports, official publications, and internal documents (created works hereinafter collectively, "Work Product"): and (c) sharing descriptive documentation provided by the Contractor regarding the Services (such as user guides and data dictionaries) within the EBSA and with government agencies (e.g., the United States Department of Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Stability Oversight Council) who have a need to know such Information. The Government's Work Product will not incorporate Information in a quantity or manner that would cause the Work Product to constitute a substitute for the purchase of the Product from the Contractor.

Special Qualifications:

None required at this time.

Post Award Conference/Periodic Progress Meetings:

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

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR):

A COR will be delegated under separate cover.

Contract Manager:

The contractor shall provide a contract manager who shall be responsible for the performance of the work. The name of this person and an alternate who shall act for the contractor when the manager is absent 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.

Identification of Contractor Employees:

All contract personnel attending meetings, answering Government telephones, and working in other situations where their contractor status is not obvious to third parties are required to identify themselves as such to avoid creating an impression in the minds of members of the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by contractors are suitably marked as contractor products or that contractor participation is appropriately disclosed.

DEFINITIONS & ACRONYMS

PWS. Performance Work Statement

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). A representative from the requiring activity assigned by the Contracting Officer to perform surveillance and to act as liaison to the contractor

Defective Service. A service output that does not meet the standard of performance associated with it in the Performance Work Statement.

DOL. Department of Labor

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

Quality Control. Those actions taken by a contractor to control the performance of services so that they meet the requirements of the PWS.

Quality Assurance. Those actions taken by the government to assure services meet the requirements of the Performance Work Statement.

GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY, EQUIPMENT, AND SERVICES

0. General:

The government shall provide the facilities, equipment, materials, and/or services listed below.

3.2 Equipment:

The Government will provide all computers and networks to access the data subscriptions by EBSA staff.

CONTRACTOR FURNISHED ITEMS AND SERVICES

4.1 General:

Except for those items specifically stated to be government furnished in Part 3, the contractor shall furnish everything required to perform this PWS.

PART 5 SPECIFIC TASKS

5.1 Basic Services:

The contractor shall provide financial data subscriptions. The contractor shall provide the following in its data subscription and tools:

· The subscription shall provide financial information (such as name of the investment, ticker, management fee, performance fees, load fees, net assets, dividend, price, price history, and historical performance) for a minimum of the following investment instruments: equities, bond funds, institutional mutual funds, retail mutual funds, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

· The subscription shall provide financial information (such as name of the investment, name of the company, CUSIP, maturity date, coupon rate, coupon frequency, fees, price, price history, historical performance, and ratings) for bonds.

· The subscription shall provide financial information (such as the name of the investment instrument, list of the underlying investments or strategies, management fee, performance fees, other fees, price, price history, and historical performance) for a minimum of the following investment instruments: pension portfolios, hedge funds and other alternative investments, separately managed accounts (SMAs) and collective investment funds (CIFs).

· The subscription shall provide comprehensive information on fees for a range of investment classes, especially mutual funds, including: the fund’s ticker, inception date, net assets, net and gross expense ratio, management fees, 12b-1 fees, load fees, and share class.

· The subscription shall support analysis of asset allocation, portfolios, lineups, and investment research. This analysis shall also include information on income statements, cash flows, and balance sheets.

· The subscription shall include an advanced investment research platform that allows EBSA to integrate its in-house data with global investment data and conduct highly customized analysis.

· The subscription must provide comprehensive and timely total net assets and flow data.

· The subscription must offer real-time data from global sources, including all major equity and commodity exchanges (such as NYSE, NASDAQ, JPX, London, CBEX).

· The tools shall allow the user to evaluate investments and portfolios at the individual financial instrument level and to support research with a searchable database.

· The tools shall allow the user to create highly customized fact sheets, reports, data sets, and spreadsheets, and allow users to download more than 1,000 records at once into a spreadsheet.

In addition, the contractor shall provide technical assistance during normal business hours. Further, the contractor shall designate both a technical and subject matter point of contact should EBSA require technical support or clarification regarding the data elements.

Task 1: Provide Access to Subscription and Technical Support Within two (2) weeks of the beginning of the performance period, the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) will send a list of users to the contractor who will then ensure all have access to the data subscription. The contractor will also then provide instructions for contacting technical support and any necessary training.

TECHNICAL EXHIBIT 1

Performance Requirements Summary The contractor service requirements are summarized into performance objectives that relate directly to mission essential items. The performance threshold briefly describes the minimum acceptable levels of service required for each requirement. These thresholds are critical to mission success.

Performance Objective

(and who performs) {e.g. 100% inspection by COR}

Types of Surveillance to select from:

Random Sampling: Appropriate for frequently recurring tasks. Evaluate randomly selected samples of the lot to determine the acceptability of the entire lot.

Random Inspection Guide, Method of surveillance, Lot size, Sample size, Performance requirement, Sampling procedure, Inspection procedure.

100 Percent Inspection: Appropriate for tasks that occur infrequently. Inspect and evaluate performance each time task is performed.

Periodic Surveillance: Evaluation of samples selected on other than 100% or statistically random basis (i.e. monthly, quarterly, semi-annually etc.).

Validated Customer Complaint: Complaints must be validated.

TECHNICAL EXHIBIT 2

Deliverables Schedule

T/a

TECHNICAL EXHIBIT 3

Estimated Workload Data

ITEM

NAME

ESTIMATED QUANTITY

Total