RFI Draft PWS - CSDCC HMRF.docx

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children Families

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING SERVICES

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Administration for Children and Families

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation

Performance Work Statement for the Continued Support of nFORM, Data Capacity, and CQI in HMRF Programs

TBD

Document Revision History

Table of Contents

Performance Work Statement (PWS) for the Continued Support of nFORM, Data Capacity, and CQI in HMRF Programs

1.0 General

1.1 Introduction

The mission of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to foster health and well-being by providing federal leadership, partnership, and resources for the compassionate and effective delivery of human services. The mission of the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) is to study the ACF programs and the children and families they serve through rigorous research and evaluation projects. This task order will continue services started under the Supporting nFORM, Data Capacity, and CQI in HMRF Programs (BUILD) contract in strengthening the capacity of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) grant recipients and expanding the HMRF learning agenda.

Since 2006, the ACF Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has had administrative responsibility for federal funding of HMRF Grant Programs with the goal of strengthening families and promoting healthy family relationships and economic stability for the long-term well-being of children and families through healthy marriage and relationship education and responsible fatherhood programming. In order to understand program performance and make data-driven improvements to their programs, grant recipients need data collection systems, as well as the tools and capacity to utilize data to understand, monitor, and improve their programs. The purpose of this task order is to provide continued and uninterrupted support to the 2020 Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) grant recipient cohort in grant close-out activities such as submission of their final performance progress report (PPR), ensure all performance measure data collected in the Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM) system is properly archived, allow for timely completion and dissemination of a final report summarizing grant recipient performance and outcomes, and support ACF as they prepare for the 2025 HMRF grant recipient cohort by ensuring the nFORM system is ready for data collection by March 2026.

1.2 Objective

The objectives of the Continued Support of nFORM, Data Capacity, and CQI in HMRF Programs project is to continue services started under the Supporting nFORM, Data Capacity, and CQI in HMRF Programs (BUILD) contract to strengthen the capacity of HMRF grant recipients and contribute to the HMRF learning agenda.

The project shall:

· update, implement, and maintain an enhanced, cloud-based management information system (MIS) (i.e., nFORM)

· incorporate improved performance measurement instruments and other prioritized enhancements into the nFORM system

· archive performance measure data collected in the nFORM system by the 2020 grant recipient cohort

· finalize and disseminate reports and analyses about the 2020 grant recipient program performance and outcomes

· provide technical assistance to the 2025 grant recipient cohort as they prepare for data collection and entry

· respond to requests for analyses as needed

1.3 Scope of Work

The Contractor shall furnish the necessary qualified personnel, equipment, materials, supplies, services, facilities, and otherwise do all that is necessary for, or incidental to, the performance of the work set forth below. The Contractor is expected to work with the Contracting Officer’s Representative(s) (COR(s)) to refine the activities and proposed plans once contract is awarded.

1.4 Background

Since 2006, OFA has had administrative responsibility for federal funding of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Grant Programs with the goal of strengthening families through healthy marriage and relationship education and responsible fatherhood programming to promote healthy family relationships and economic stability for the long-term well-being of children and families. The authorizing legislation for the programs may be found in Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. OFA awarded five-year grants to a third cohort of grant recipients through this program in 2015 and 2020, and it is anticipated that OFA will award a new cohort of healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood grants by the end of September 2025.

In 2013, OPRE launched the Fatherhood and Marriage Local Evaluation and Cross-Site project (HHSP23320095642WC-HHSP2337050T) for the development of performance measures, instruments, and a management information system (MIS) to support program performance monitoring activities, called nFORM (Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management). In 2020, the Supporting nFORM, Data Capacity, and CQI in HMRF Programs contract (HSP233201500035I-75P00120F37054) was awarded to provide HMRF grant recipients in the fourth cohort (those awarded in 2020) access to an improved, cloud-based nFORM system for performance monitoring, a range of updated data tools and resources to support data-driven program improvement (i.e., CQI), and data capacity-building through individual and group-based support.

This requirement will be a continuation of services that began under Supporting nFORM, Data Capacity, and CQI in HMRF Programs (HSP233201500035I_75P00120F37054) contract to include continued enhancement and improvement of the cloud-based nFORM system.

ACF's Evaluation Policy demonstrates ACF’s commitment to conducting rigorous, relevant evaluations and to using evidence from evaluations to inform policy and practice. The five principles of ACF’s Evaluation Policy are: rigor, relevance, transparency, independence, and ethics. It is expected that the work described above will be carried out in accordance with the following principles.

Rigor. ACF is committed to using the most rigorous methods that are appropriate to both the evaluation questions and the populations, circumstances, and settings that are the focus of study; and that are feasible within budget and other constraints. Rigor requires ensuring that inferences about cause and effect are well founded (internal validity); requires clarity about the populations, settings, or circumstances to which results can be generalized (external validity); and requires the use of measures that accurately capture the intended information (measurement reliability and validity). When conclusions about program efficacy or effectiveness are examined, studies should use methods that isolate to the greatest extent possible the impacts of the programs or services from other influences, such as trends over time, geographic variation, or pre-existing differences between participants and non-participants. For such causal questions, experimental approaches are preferred. When experimental approaches are not feasible, high-quality quasi-experiments offer an alternative. ACF will develop and use methods that are appropriate for understanding diverse populations, taking into account historical, contextual, and cultural factors. Where possible, evaluations will design data collections to allow disaggregation of data and analyses of sub-groups to support understanding of equity.

Relevance. It is ACF’s policy to integrate existing evidence and opportunities for further learning into all activities. Where an evidence base is lacking, ACF is committed to building evidence through strong evaluations. To be most relevant, ACF will require contractors to meaningfully engage groups and individuals from the programs and communities invested in the outcomes of studies to improve clarity of presentations, accuracy of interpretations, and effectiveness of dissemination activities; ACF partners such as states, territories, tribes, and local grant recipients; the populations served; researchers; and other groups and individuals. Further, evaluations designed, and measurement used under this task order should represent the diverse populations served by ACF. Finally, findings must be disseminated in ways that are clear, accessible, and useful to our diverse range of audiences; this includes using plain language, using inclusive language, adhering to principles of clear communication, and developing products accessible to people with disabilities. In order to ensure the findings are accessible and useful to policymakers, service providers, the communities that ACF services, and other groups and individuals.

Transparency, Data Archiving, and External Communication. ACF values transparency in research and evaluation and is committed to making information about planned, ongoing, and completed evaluations easily accessible.

First, any studies conducted under this contract must be registered with an appropriate registry (e.g., clinicaltrials.gov) prior to the initiation of data collection. Study plans, including analysis plans, should be specified in advance.

Second, ACF is interested in making evaluation data and analyses available for secondary use by other interested researchers. A thoughtful data archive plan will establish procedures and parameters, well in advance of any data collections, to support archiving information and data collected under this task order.

Finally, ACF is interested in ensuring that its research and evaluation work is communicated to a range of relevant audiences throughout the course of project activities. Ongoing and continuous activities are considered essential to a strong communication approach. Audiences that may be appropriate include, but are not limited to: policy-makers, intermediaries, researchers, advocates and opinion leaders, program administrators, training and technical assistance providers, practitioners, and the communities that ACF services. ACF will require contractors to meaningfully engage groups and individuals from the programs and communities involved in studies to improve clarity of presentations, accuracy of interpretations, and effectiveness of external communications activities. ACF is particularly interested in the creation of project external communication plans that identify specific audiences and approaches and products to communicate to those audiences. ACF is also interested in communication plans that use new and emerging media, as well as innovative approaches to communication products that are compatible with the ACF website and other communications platforms.

Independence and Active Engagement. ACF’s evaluation policy upholds the idea that independence and objectivity are core principles of evaluation. Agency and program leadership, program staff, service providers, populations and communities studied, and others participate actively in setting evaluation priorities, identifying evaluation questions, and assessing the implications of findings to help ensure the relevance of the work. While active engagement of groups and individuals who are invested in the outcomes of evaluation can support relevance as well as the accuracy of program implementation details, it is important to insulate evaluation functions from undue influence and from both the appearance and the reality of bias. To promote objectivity, ACF protects independence in the design, execution, analysis, and reporting of evaluations, as outlined in the evaluation policy.

ACF aims to be informed by the practice and empirical knowledge available to inform such topics as measurement choices, technical assistance, training and site support, and the contextualizing of findings. Meaningful involvement of groups and individuals in the evaluation may increase the rigor of the activities of the task order itself as well as understanding, acceptance, and utilization of evaluation findings. Groups and individuals who are invested in the outcomes of research or evaluation include agency and federal, state or local program leadership, program staff (both at ACF and at the grant recipient or other programs being evaluated), service providers, developers of innovations or practices, participants in the programs, and the communities where programs occur. As appropriate, groups and individuals should have the opportunity for input at multiple phases of a project, but this input must be accomplished in a transparent way while safeguarding the objectivity and independence of the study.

Ethics and Data Safety. ACF-sponsored evaluations are conducted in an ethical and equitable manner; safeguard the dignity, rights, safety and privacy of participants; and comply with both the spirit and the letter of relevant requirements such as regulations governing research involving human subjects. ACF will expect contractors to meaningfully engage groups and individuals from the programs and communities involved in studies to ensure programmatic, cultural, linguistic and historical nuances are accurately and respectfully addressed from the initial study design, through execution, analyses and reporting.

ACF is committed to ensuring that data collected as part of this contract are maintained and stored securely. For the purposes of this section:

· Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is defined as information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, such as their name, social security number, biometric records, alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information, which is linked or linkable to a specific individual, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, and so on.

The Role of Active Engagement for OPRE Projects

OPRE defines active engagement as the intentional involvement of groups and individuals who are invested in the outcomes of the research or evaluation. This should occur in all relevant phases of the project. The purpose of active engagement is to improve the quality, rigor, and relevance of OPRE projects, facilitate the uptake of findings, and increase capacity to promote equity (see “Making Evaluations Rigorous and Relevant” https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/report/making-evaluations-rigorous-and-relevant-role-active-engagement-development-learning). OPRE seeks input from people with practice, empirical, and lived expertise to inform project activities. This includes but is not limited to refinement of conceptual models, developing research questions, measurement choices, evaluation technical assistance, training and site support, the contextualization of findings, and external communication priorities.

To this end, OPRE expects contractors to develop plans and implement strategies to maximize opportunities for active engagement in ACF projects that are appropriate to the goals of each phase of a project’s life cycle. Approaches can range from shared ownership of projects (e.g., co-creation) and community based participatory research to consultation for specific activities. Opportunities to provide input shall be considered for all phases of the project from refining research questions to external communication of findings, as appropriate for the scope and goals of the project.

Groups and individuals to actively engage may include but are not limited to service providers; developers of interventions, innovations, or practices; program participants; subject matter experts; federal, grant recipient, or other program staff; federal, state, or local leadership; groups and individuals in programs’ communities; individuals with lived expertise; and those in broader fields of study related to human services research and evaluation.

To promote objectivity, ACF protects independence in the design, conduct and analysis of evaluations, as outlined in the agency evaluation policy. Active engagement input shall be obtained in a transparent way while safeguarding the objectivity and independence of the study, to insulate evaluation functions from undue influence and from both the appearance and the reality of bias.

1.5 Type of Contract

The contract type is Cost Plus Fixed Fee.

1.6 Period of Performance

The period of performance of this contract shall be one (1) base period of twelve (12) months from the date of award.

1.7 Place of Performance

The work to be performed under this task order will be performed at the Contractor’s address and may include multiple states and localities.

1.8 Recognized Holidays

Juneteenth

2.0 Specific Requirements/Tasks

Task 1: Project Management and Team Communication Effective communication between the Contractor and the federal government, coordinated through the Contracting Officer’s Representative(s) (COR(s)), and successful management of the project as a whole are essential to the success of this Service Component and the project more broadly. The need for communication begins at the very start of the contract. Within two (2) weeks of contract award, the Contractor shall initiate communication with the COR and other federal staff to schedule a project orientation to discuss a range of topics, including, but not necessarily limited to, clarification of ACF’s interests and objectives for the project, conducting work on an efficient schedule and budget, coordination with other ACF program offices, methodologies to be employed, timelines for early project deliverables, and the challenges anticipated and potential solutions. The Contractor shall send an agenda and any relevant materials to the COR(s) no less than two (2) working days prior to the discussion. Within two (2) weeks of the discussion date, the Contractor shall submit to the COR(s) a memorandum summarizing major decisions reached and follow-up issues identified during this discussion.

Ongoing communication is also necessary to ensure successful completion of this Service Component, and should be both verbal (e.g., regularly scheduled conference calls) and written (e.g., monthly progress reports). The Contractor shall propose a schedule for bi-weekly meetings to update federal staff on progress and issues. Key Contractor staff, sub-contractor staff, and/or consultants shall participate as needed to address progress and issues for discussion. The schedule for meetings may be changed as agreed upon by the COR(s). The Contractor shall submit a proposed agenda for each call at least two (2) working days in advance of the scheduled date to the COR(s) for comment. If there are materials that federal staff will need to review prior to the call date, such materials shall be submitted at least four (4) business days in advance of the call date. The Contractor shall submit a summary of meetings to the COR(s) for review and approval no later than five (5) working days after each regular meeting.

In addition to the ongoing conference calls, the Contractor shall submit written monthly progress reports throughout the period of the Service Component, which includes the following information: activities completed and progress on each task for the report month, including expenditure data by task, monthly and cumulative expenditures, and the balance remaining. All IT-related expenses shall be highlighted for ease of reporting. The Contractor reports shall include details related to project performance. Monthly progress reports shall be submitted to the COR(s) monthly, on a regular schedule proposed by the Contractor and approved by the COR(s) and before or concurrently with submission by the Contractor of invoices related to that period of performance.

Subtask 1.1: Work Plan Within one (1) month of the award date, the Contractor shall submit a concise, summary work plan based on the technical proposal, but refined and revised to reflect additional or clarifying information received during the initial discussion with the COR(s) held under Task 1 or via other means. The work plan shall include the timeline for key tasks, activities, and products and identify lead personnel for the activities that reflect the requirements of the project. The work plan shall be a concise, fluid document that is updated as needed. The Contractor shall be prepared to discuss an updated work plan and budget progress quarterly to reflect changes and ensure adherence.

Subtask 1.2: Collaboration and Coordination with Related Projects The Contractor shall work with other contractors and related projects to coordinate technical assistance and support to grant recipients. These contractors include but are not limited to providers of programmatic technical assistance to HMRF grant recipients, the Responsible Fatherhood Local Evaluation Technical Assistance (RFLETA) project, and the Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Local Evaluation Technical Assistance (HMRE-LETA) project.

Task 2: External Communication Subtask 2.1 Develop External Communication Plan ACF wants information about and findings from its research and evaluation projects to be shared with relevant audiences throughout the course of the project. The Contractor shall develop an external communication plan for this project that describes:

· Overarching project communication goals;

· Key types of information the project expects to convey (e.g. project site selection; project implementation findings; interim impact findings; etc.) and projected timeline for when this information will be available;

· Key audiences for different types of project information;

· A detailed strategy – including proposed products – for communicating specific information to specific audiences;

· Communication resources (e.g. staff, budget);

· Metrics that will be used to gauge the impact of communication activities and a plan for collecting and analyzing metrics and applying insights;

· A plan for coordinating with and amplifying OPRE external communication efforts;

· A schedule for revisiting the communication plan throughout the project’s duration, tracking progress on the plan, and revising as necessary; and

· A schedule for COR(s) review of communication deliverables.

Examples of external communication products may include, but are not limited to:

· Introductions or announcements of project and project participants

· Project newsletters

· Conference presentations

· Interim and final reports

· Briefs

· Special topics reports

· Briefings to ACF and/or other relevant policy officials or program administrators

· Scholarly journal articles

· Technical papers/memoranda

· Blog posts for release on the OPRE Insights Blog and other blogs

· Videos

· Data visualizations

· Infographics

· Social media content

· Other multimedia content Contractors are expected to coordinate with and amplify OPRE communication efforts related to this project, which will likely at a minimum include posting deliverables on the OPRE website and sharing project information via OPRE’s social media accounts and via OPRE News. OPRE encourages the Contractor to reciprocally engage with and otherwise amplify project content shared by ACF and OPRE social media accounts. OPRE also encourages the Contractor to share project information on its own channels (e.g. social media, newsletter, blog, etc.); project information disseminated by the Contractor shall be reviewed and approved in advance by the COR(s).

ACF encourages innovative approaches to research communication and outreach. To the extent possible, the Contractor shall apply modern best practices to the development of all external communication products. All deliverables shall be compatible with the ACF website and other ACF and OPRE communication platforms. Before work begins on web-based or other multimedia content the Contractor shall consult with the COR(s) and other relevant ACF communications staff to ensure computability.

The Contractor shall ensure that all external communication products meet or exceed Section 508 compliancy standards. Materials needed to make multimedia content 508 compliant, including but not limited to .srt caption files and alt text, shall be delivered to the COR(s) as a component of the final deliverable package. At a minimum all written deliverables must pass an Adobe Acrobat accessibility check, and the Contractor shall deliver verification of this check to the COR(s) as a component of the final deliverable package. For written deliverables the Contractor shall use a clear and consistent heading and tagging scheme, provide human-generated descriptive alt text for all images and graphics, use simple formatting in tables (i.e. no merged cells, multiple simple tables vs. complex tables). Any deliverable submitted to the Contractor that is not 508 compliant is subject to rejection or to be returned to the Contractor for remediation.

The Contractor shall ensure that all written components of deliverables meet federal plain language guidelines (https://plainlanguage.gov/media/FederalPLGuidelines.pdf). Plain language is a priority for ACF to ensure that deliverables created are clear, accessible, and useful to relevant audiences. Any deliverables that do not adhere to the Plain Language Guidelines will be returned to the Contractor for revision.

Reports exceeding 15 pages shall include a 1-2 page overview section written in plain language, highlighting the key findings. Longer reports may also require an executive summary, at the direction of the COR(s). Highly technical materials shall usually be placed in appendices. In addition, the Contractor shall adhere to OPRE’s requirements regarding the publication of documents, including formatting, inclusion of the OPRE logo, the OPRE report number, and inclusion of other important information. Documents that do not meet OPRE’s guidelines will not be approved for release. The COR(s) will provide these guidelines to the Contractor upon award.

OPRE reserves the right to request that the Contractor submit contract deliverables for independent or external review. This request may come at the time of development of the external communication plan or as products are developed. If independent or external review of deliverables is requested by OPRE, the COR(s) will provide additional information about the structure and nature of this peer review.

The Contractor shall submit a draft external communication plan to the COR(s) no later than two (2) months following award of the contract. A final plan shall be submitted within three (3) weeks of receipt of feedback from the COR(s). Deviations from the final plan require prior approval of the COR(s).

Subtask 2.2: Develop Project Description If needed, the Contractor shall update a brief, one- or two-page Project Description for use by the Contractor and ACF/OPRE that provides an overview of the project and communicates the purpose of the project. The first draft of the project description shall be submitted to the COR(s) no later than one (1) week after the project orientation. The Contractor shall revise the draft project description based on COR(s) feedback and shall submit a revised document on a schedule proposed by the Contractor and approved by the COR(s). The Contractor shall update the project description over the course of the contract at the request of the COR(s) to ensure that the project description adequately provides up-to-date information about the project.

Subtask 2.3: Ongoing External Communication Activities Ongoing and continuous activities are essential to a strong communication approach for the base and the project more broadly. The Contractor shall undertake activities necessary to meet the goals of the project’s external communication plan. The nature and frequency of these activities will be determined in communication with the COR(s) based on the approved communication plan. These activities may include disseminating a final cumulative cross-site report of the 2020 cohort of HMRF grant recipients (Subtask 5.1), developing snapshots to accompany this cumulative cross-site report, as well as packaging prior work for dissemination per ACF priorities. The Contractor shall submit draft and final external communication products to the COR(s) for review and approval on a schedule proposed by the Contractor and approved by the COR(s).

Task 3: nFORM Implementation, Maintenance, and Improvement Grant recipients currently submit performance measure data through ACF’s nFORM 2.0 system, a web-based data collection system. The system resides in a cloud-based environment and ACF has identified and begun implementing a set of improvements based on user feedback. However, the system may not contain all needed enhancements at the time of contract award. Therefore, the Contractor shall take steps to improve the system and performance measure data collection processes based on existing analyses and recommendations for improvement, test these improvements, and implement the enhanced nFORM 2.0 system. A summary of the process to collect feedback and the resulting recommendations related to the nFORM 2.0 system and performance measure improvements (including revised survey instruments) can be found in this OPRE Report2. In addition to implementing the enhanced system, the Contractor shall take all necessary steps for operation and ongoing maintenance of the nFORM system.

Operations and Maintenance for a Federal IT System The Contractor shall monitor, manage, assess, and report on the nFORM system. Operations and maintenance on IT systems shall include all software and hardware associated with client/servers, web-based applications, and networks. This support shall include both major and minor releases. This includes deployment planning, deployment support, support or promoting the release to the pre-production and production environments, and associated documentation. Representative activities include, but are not limited to:

· Operational Support Software Maintenance and Upgrades

· Infrastructure Management

· IT Optimization

· Help Desk/IT Support

· Client server and network monitoring;

· Virtual Private Network (VPN) with secure remote access;

· Server configuration and provisioning services; server management;

· Managed firewall; information security services;

· Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are maintained based upon ACF’s requirements and approved by the COR(s)

The Contractor shall perform ongoing operations and maintenance support for the nFORM system. Specifically, the tasks shall include but are not limited to: application enhancement, help desk support, system integration, implementation, testing and training. All tasks shall be performed in accordance with ACF’s Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The Contractor shall update or develop user documentation, system documentation, release notes, and ACF SDLC documentation as necessary to ensure that documentation is current. The Contractor shall cooperate, collaborate, and participate as part of the team to implement enhancements when other vendors are included.

Disaster Recovery and Continuity of Operations As tasked by the COR(s), in coordination with the ACF Tech, the Contractor shall implement redundant and/or disaster recovery sites. Representative activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

· Develop plans for redundant site;

· Setup redundant site;

· Operate and maintain redundant site;

· Develop Disaster Recovery Plan;

· Setup Disaster Recovery Site;

· Operate and maintain Disaster Recovery Site;

· Conduct periodic Disaster Recovery Tests;

· Conduct Annual Failover testing of the Disaster Recovery site to ensure compliance with IT security standards;

· Provide a separate Disaster Recovery Hosting Facility Site located in a different geographical region of the country;

· Prepare and maintain documentation required for ATO, system backup and recovery, system security plan, and other documentation related to the operations and maintenance of the hosted recovery site.

The Contractor shall ensure that the hosting environment is compliant with the NIST Information Security Continuous Monitoring for Federal Information Systems and Organizations and Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).

Change Management The Contractor shall implement an end-to-end change management service for the nFORM system. The Contractor shall:

· Define, document, implement, and enforce integrated change control and service desk services that establish controlled processes for managing change in the computing environments. This would include the implementation of change management tools to track, schedule, and report on all change activities.

· Participate in Production Change Control Board (PCCB) meetings to discuss change management and program management issues.

The Contractor shall implement a change management capability for all changes to computing resources and service assets in the computing environment. The Contractor shall be responsible for implementing a change management system (CMS) and processes that capture changes and related impacts of all applications, processes affecting ACF computing. The Change management process shall provide automated validation reporting of configurations violations where possible.

The CMS shall provide the capability to restore computing resource configuration violations to their valid state. The CMS shall track all hardware and software configuration items (CI) throughout the lifecycle of a change as well as licenses to ensure fully functioning and license agreements are renewed on a timely basis. The configuration process shall provide the government with a request for new hardware and software license purchases at least 15 business days prior to the need for approval and/or expiration date of a license agreement.

The CMS shall include tools for collecting, storing, managing, updating, analyzing, and presenting data about all CIs. The data from the tools that support the CMS shall be available to the Government with online graphical user interfaces and dashboard formats with near real-time information. The data from the CMS will be used in the quarterly reporting in support of the following:

· Demand and Capacity Management Planning

· Technical Management

· Schedule Management

· Cost Management

· Resource Management

· Communication Management

Subtask 3.1: Update Plan for nFORM 2.0 System Enhancements As part of their technical proposal, the Contractor shall develop a plan to update this OPRE Report2 summarizing the process to collect feedback and the resulting recommendations related to the nFORM 2.0 system and performance measure improvements (including revised survey instruments). The updated report will continue to prioritize and execute recommendations for system enhancements to the nFORM 2.0 system and will establish key milestones for work completion. The Contractor shall submit updates within three (3) months of the award date or on a schedule determined with the COR(s). The plan shall also include ongoing maintenance activities and strategies for continuous assessment and improvements, as needed, to address technical issues or incorporate new functional needs based on user feedback. Upon approval of the plan, the Contractor shall execute the plan. The Contractor shall inform the COR(s) of progress, successes and challenges, and other learning in conference calls and progress reports.

Subtask 3.2: Incorporate nFORM 2.0 System Enhancements The Contractor shall implement approved enhancements to the nFORM 2.0 system according to the plan approved in Subtask 3.1. The Contractor shall keep the COR(s) updated on the progress toward key milestones established in Subtask 3.1 and provide mock-ups or demos for COR(s) and other key partners to review and approve prior to launch. It is anticipated that the Contractor completes all activities on nFORM system improvements in time for data collection for the 2025 cohort to begin no later than January 1, 2026. As appropriate, the Contractor shall make updates to any security documentation to reflect these enhancements in coordination with the COR(s) and ACF Tech on a schedule determined with the COR(s).

Task 4: nFORM Data,Performance Measurement, and Data Use TA HMRF grant recipients collect data for a wide range of performance measures through client surveys implemented at program application, at program entrance, and at program exit; program participation data collected throughout clients’ program involvement; and quarterly program operations surveys completed by programs. These data are entered into nFORM by grant recipient staff on an ongoing basis. The Contractor shall provide comprehensive technical assistance (TA) to grant recipients and Federal staff to promote high quality data collection, enter data into nFORM, run reports, submit reports to ACF, and to respond to other performance data and nFORM related questions. This may include: providing TA to HMRF grant recipients as they submit final reports to ACF; supporting Federal staff in reviewing grant recipients’ final reports; developing TA resources and trainings for new grant recipients as requested by ACF, such as a continuous quality improvement (CQI) plan template; preparing to assist grant recipients in developing CQI plans and defining their CQI approaches; and responding to ad hoc requests for TA as requested by ACF.

The Contractor shall consider lessons learned from previous TA activities and analyses of grant recipient needs regarding data quality and usage. Modes of TA may include, but are not limited to, developing briefs, tip sheets, and reports; holding office hours; providing one-on-one grant recipient support via calls and/or site visits; and holding webinars. In addition, the Contractor shall develop and implement a virtual Help Desk for support on nFORM. The Help Desk shall include both electronic (i.e., email or some other written form) and telephonic assistance. The Help Desk shall respond to inquiries promptly (within one (1) working day) and shall follow through on inquiries until the inquiry is resolved. The Contractor shall report on TA activities in monthly progress reports.

Subtask 4.1: Transfer nFORM TA Resources to FastTRAC If needed, the Contractor shall work with the COR(s) to transfer nFORM TA resources posted on the HMRF Grant Resources site to the First-line Access System for Training, Technical Assistance, Resources, and Communication (FastTRAC) portal for the HMRF grant recipients. The Contractor shall identify resources to be transferred to FastTRAC transition resources and work with the programmatic TA provider to transfer the resources on a schedule determined with the COR(s).

Task 5: Analysis Subtask 5.1: Grant Recipient-Level and Cross-Site Analyses The Contractor may be asked to conduct grant recipient-level and cross-site analyses to support ACF program monitoring activities. Grant recipient-level analyses may include, but may not be limited to, summary descriptions of the range of grant recipients and their programs, and of grant recipient activities and performance to date, such as those reports used by current grant recipients (i.e., Grantee Performance Summaries, data quality workbooks, analyses to support annual performance reviews, and Quarterly and Semi-annual performance reports (i.e. QPRs and PPRs). If grant recipient-level or cross-site analyses are requested, the Contractor will be asked to submit a written plan to outline the approach, assumptions, proposed format and may be asked to include mock-ups or drafts.

The Contractor shall complete analyses and finalize a public-facing final cumulative cross-site report of the 2020 cohort of HMRF grant recipients. The Contractor shall submit a draft final cross-site report no later than six (6) weeks after the end of the grant year and shall return a revised final report within two (2) weeks of receiving ACF feedback. The Contractor shall also develop public-facing snapshots to accompany this cumulative cross-site report. The Contractor shall submit draft snapshots to the COR(s) on a schedule proposed by the Contractor and approved by the COR(s) and shall return revised snapshots within two (2) weeks of receiving ACF feedback.

The Contractor shall also develop an internal report describing the nFORM system and performance measures and instruments; resources and assistance provided to support grant recipient data capacity over the course of the 2020 HMRF grant cohort; any feedback received during this timeframe and how feedback was used to inform any enhancements to the system, tools, or processes; and descriptive cross-site analyses of programs and participants through the end of the most recent grant year. The Contractor shall submit a draft report to the COR(s) no later than three (3) months after the end of the grant year and shall return a revised report within one (1) month of receiving ACF feedback.

Subtask 5.2: Ad Hoc Analyses The Contractor shall respond to quick turnaround requests from ACF for nFORM data and analyses as needed. Rapid response requests may be required to address pressing ACF needs, often for complex data analyses to support high-level conversations and decisions or high priority program activities. This may include, for example, trend or current snapshot data on services or participation across HMRF grant recipients to inform internal ACF discussions or program analysis, ACF leadership talking points on the grant program for internal or external audiences; or Congressional, Department, or Agency program performance reporting. It may also include technical support for important program activities involving grant recipients. Rapid response requests will vary in scope and required level of effort, depending upon complexity and necessary turnaround time.

Rapid response requests will be made by the COR(s) by email, and the Contractor shall respond by the end of the following business day to confirm receipt and with a target submission date. The Contractor may be asked to submit a written plan to outline the approach, assumptions, and format, as requested by the COR(s). Discussions to clarify the request or analysis details may occur over email or via ad hoc calls. The Contractor shall alert the COR(s) of any potential impact the requests may have on other project work and the COR(s) must approved before work proceeds.

Task 6: Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Clearance for Data Collection The Contractor may be asked to prepare the required Federal Register Notices (FRNs) and information collection request materials for submission to OMB as directed by the COR(s), allowing at least 240 days for the clearance process (to include ACF review through OMB approval). The timing of this package may be discussed during the initial project discussion (Task 1). The Contractor shall submit draft instruments and 30- and 60-day FRNs to the COR(s) for review and approval on a schedule determined by the COR(s). After the Contractor makes any changes recommended by the COR(s), ACF will submit the FRNs and instruments to ACF and HHS leadership for review. The Contractor shall submit a draft OMB justification package to the COR(s) for review and approval on a schedule determined by the COR(s). After the Contractor makes any changes recommended by the COR(s), ACF will submit the final package to OMB. The Contractor shall address comments received from OMB as directed by the COR(s) and revise materials as needed until approval is received from OMB.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval is needed to ensure that human subjects are protected. If needed, the Contractor will submit draft IRB materials to the COR(s) for review no later than four (4) weeks before materials are due to the firm’s IRB. The schedule for submission of these materials shall be determined in discussion with the COR(s).

The Contractor shall seek a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health if appropriate and shall note this in the OMB package as needed. The Contractor shall provide ACF a copy of the Certificate or approval, as well as any materials submitted. If appropriate, ACF may require the Contractor to submit draft materials before they are submitted to NIH. As part of their proposal for the Certificate of Confidentiality, the Contractor must have approval from an IRB.

Task 7: Privacy and Data Security Activities and Monitoring ACF is committed to ensuring that Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) are appropriately maintained consistent with applicable laws and regulations until the point that it is destroyed according to the most recent versions of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-88 required by HHS/ACF. This includes, but is not limited to: Executive Orders; Privacy Act of 1974; Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA); Freedom of Information Act of 1974; Federal Records Management Act; NIST SPs; OMB Circulars and Memoranda; Government Accountability Office (GAO) guidance; HHS/ACF Rules and Guidance; and Department of Defense’s Defense Intelligence Security Agency Security Technical Implementation Guide (DISA STIG) Hardening Guidelines. To meet this expectation, the Contractor shall undertake appropriate activities to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of all CUI. This includes (a) following the relevant policies, procedures, controls, and standards required by the HHS/ACF Information Security Program and (b) using any applicable templates, policies, forms, and other agency documents.

Depending on the type and nature of the CUI collected (determined in conjunction with the COR(s) and after review of the Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) or equivalent document), the Contractor may be required to store the CUI in an environment that requires an Authority to Operate (ATO). If the Contractor does not have an environment with an ATO, but is determined to need one, they shall plan to secure one and submit that plan, including alternative options, to the COR(s) on a schedule determined after the PIA or equivalent document has been completed. The Contractor should choose the most efficient and effective method in consultation with the COR(s) and related ACF staff. Should the Contractor be required to secure an ATO, the Contractor shall achieve compliance with HHS/ACF standards, meaning the Contractor shall create and supply any necessary Security Authorization Documents (based on NIST Risk Management Framework and associated guidance), and participate in the ACF Tech Governance Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process.

This ATO shall require the Contractor to achieve and maintain compliance with the recent versions of the following documents as required by HHS/ACF: NIST SP 800-18; FIPS 199; FIPS 200; NIST SP 800-53; DISA STIG; SP 800-171; OMB Memorandum M-05-22; and other applicable NIST, HHS, and ACF policies and guidance.

The COR(s) may not be able to determine whether an ATO is required until after the Contractor provides a PIA or equivalent document and/or DSP. If the COR(s) does determine that an ATO is required, within 30 days, the Contractor shall begin working with the COR(s) to develop a plan and complete all necessary documentation and steps to acquire an ATO. ACF anticipates the process for completing the ATO to be 6 months.

As directed by the COR(s), the Contractor shall complete the privacy, security, and related trainings required by HHS/ACF, then provide to the COR(s) the certificates of completion for each training. This may include Contractor Information Security Awareness, Privacy, and Records Management training.

Task 8: Data Archiving Subtask 8.1: Data Archive Plan ACF is interested in making data and analyses supported through federal funds available to other researchers. The Contractor shall submit or update a data archive plan that establishes procedures and parameters for all aspects of data/information collection (e.g., informed consent, data maintenance, etc.) necessary to support archiving information and data collected under the contract. Topics to be addressed in the plan include, but are not limited to:

· identification of appropriate data archive(s) for the subject matter, data, and analysis files;

· communication plan with the archiving entity;

· identification of the types of data expected to be collected and methods that will support the archiving of each type;

· inclusion of consent form language that accurately represents any plans to share or transfer data to other researchers as well as to store data collected containing PII and data linkages for longer-term preservation;

· identification, justification, and procedures for handling collected data that would not be archived (e.g., proprietary measures, lower quality data, etc.);

· methods of data storage to support archiving;

· data and analyses file construction and documentation that will support data archiving and duplication of all analyses;

· procedures to ensure data are prepared in accordance with archive requirements (e.g., documentation requirements, level of masking, etc.);

· considerations of the level of restriction and access for different types of data;

· the schedule for archiving different types or waves of data;

· development of a data training plan to help researchers and other interested groups and individuals use the archived data; and

· procedures for reviewing and updating the plan to ensure it reflects and addresses…