SOO EASIE-Draft.docx

Electronic Application System for Indian Education (EASIE) Statement of Objectives U.S. Department of Education (ED) Institute of Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Contents

Purpose The purpose of this requirement is to support the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) and Office of Indian Education (OIE) by implementing the Electronic Application System for Indian Education (EASIE) using the Connect.gov Survey – Standard tool (referenced as Connect Survey throughout) and deliver data management (DM), stakeholder support (SS), and technology services for the EASIE system. OESE requires contractor support to provide an integrated and comprehensive approach, integrating EASIE within the OESE/OIE managed Task Order structure, following the OESE/CONNECT/OCIO Project Management, and proven shared Project Management, Change Management and Partner Support Center (PSC) methodologies.

Background The purposes of the Indian Education Formula Grants to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) program is to provide grants to support LEAs, Indian Tribes and organizations, and other eligible entities in developing elementary and secondary school programs that serve Indian students. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) funds comprehensive programs that are designed to meet the unique cultural, language, and educational needs of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students and ensure that all students meet challenging State academic standards.

The EASIE system is critical for processing applications for Indian Education Formula Grants to annually distribute over $105 million in grant funds to eligible Local Education Agencies (LEAs), Indian Tribes and organizations, and other eligible entities in developing elementary and secondary school programs that serve Indian students. The EASIE system supports OIE’s determination of applicant eligibility, calculates grant amounts for distribution to grantees, and captures grantee objectives. The system also supports Annual Performance Reporting for grantees to report on their use of the grant funds dispersed to them to meet the objectives defined in their application.

The Electronic Application System for Indian Education (EASIE) is a system for collecting and processing the annual grant applications for funds under Title VI, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), the Indian Education Formula Grant Program. EASIE processes some 1,200 to 1,400 applications each year, mostly from LEAs. EASIE allows users to select or type their responses into a user-friendly interface that accepts the data into a database. EASIE is composed of Part I (student count and application type), Part II (objectives and budget), and an Annual Performance Report (APR).

Eligible applicants are LEAs, Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded schools, tribes, Indian Organizations (IOs), or Indian Community Based Organizations (ICBOs). Eligible entities may either apply individually, or in lieu of an LEA. Also, consortia of two or more eligible entities are eligible to apply.

The Office of Indian Education (OIE) is responsible for the Indian Education Formula Grant Program. The EASIE application is published via the USDA CONNECT.gov portal which runs on the Lime Survey platform). All changes to the EASIE application including changes in ETLs must be approved by the Information System Security Owner (ISO). The original EASIE application is based on .NET programming with a SQL database on a shared set of virtual Windows Intel servers. The EASIE application also shares the LDAP used for access control of applicants and grantees.

The following are some statistics for the Indian Education Formula Grant:

· Type of Award: Formula grants

· Estimated Available Funds: $110,381,000

· Estimated Range of Awards: $4,000 to $3,254,999.

· Estimated Average Size of Awards: $40,000

· Estimated Number of Awards: 1,300

· Collection: Annual application submission Note: The Department is not bound by any estimates in this notice.

Scope The anticipated scope of work is the full cycle of EASIE including the annual rollover for EASIE, including the APR, system preparation, and deployment.

This requirement also covers incremental improvements to EASIE. The contractor shall propose an approach to make these incremental improvements over the five years of the order.

Out of scope The cost of maintaining the EASIE application is covered by the OESE MOU with USDA.

Related Artifacts Below are artifacts related to the operations of EASIE.

EASIE Part I and II (2016) https://easie.communities.ed.gov/#communities/pdc/documents/9675

This clearance package provides the scope of data collected for the application process of EASIE, Parts I and II.

OMB Clearance for EASIE APR (2018) https://easie.communities.ed.gov/#communities/pdc/documents/9676

This clearance package provides the scope of data collected for the Annual performance report (APR) for EASIE.

Notice of Intent to Apply (NIA) Federal Register Notice: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/28/2023-28597/applications-for-new-awards-office-of-indian-education-formula-grants-to-local-educational-agencies

The NIA is published on Federalregister.gov and invites applications for grant competitions. It provides basic program and fiscal information on each competition, informs potential applicants when and where they can obtain applications, and cites the deadline date for a particular competition.

Period of Performance The period of performance for this order shall be one 12-month base year, with four (4) one-year option periods.

Objectives This section contains the objectives to be achieved by the contractor in the three areas of data management services, improvement technology services and stakeholder support services.

The overall objectives of this order are to collect accurate applications for Formula Grant EASIE (in two parts) so that OIE can review and approve the applications, and accurately allocate the funds for EASIE, and collect an APR as accountability for the spending of the grant money, at the lowest cost to ED and lowest burden to grantees.

Some specific objectives during the timeframe of this BPA are:

· Reduce review time for OIE review staff time and improve quality of reviews by enhancing the EASIE application and support services processes.

· Streamline the process of how G5 and EASIE interface.

· Improve availability of the data from applicants and grantees, without the need for OIE to open individual PDFs.

· Streamline the collection of data from applicants and grantees creating greater efficiencies amongst all stakeholders, and data-driven decision-making at the program level.

Data Management Services The contractor shall support the OIE in obtaining timely, complete, and accurate data on the Indian Education Formula Grant Program from applicants and grantees.

· Clearance – The contractor shall support OIE with the NIA and paperwork clearance process, as needed.

· Database – The contractor shall ensure the database is prepared for each phase and transferred to the next phase.

· Data Quality – The contractor shall supply files for data quality reviews by OIE prior to and during each Part. Data quality review corrections include, but are not limited to, capitalization (especially where it would affect sort), entity name, PR award number, entity address, NCES numbers, UEI numbers, phone numbers or fax numbers.

· Management reports – The contractor shall ensure OIE has the data required to operate the EASIE program in a timely and quality manner. This includes review process and data quality reviews.

· Analytic tickets - The contractor shall ensure EASIE data will be readily accessible to answer OGC, Congressional, ED stakeholders, the Native American Council for Indian Education (NACIE), Tribal Entities or State Educational Agencies as required.

· EDFacts Reports - The contractor shall provide reports for data from OIEs.

Related Artifacts – data management services

Service Levels – data management services The contractor shall propose service levels for data management of EASIE in the areas of:

· Efficiency and enhanced effectiveness Stakeholder Support Services The objective of stakeholder support services is to ensure applicants (who become grantees) can submit completed EASIE applications and APRs on time and respond to data quality feedback ensuring that all questions are completed fully and correctly. The stakeholder support services are organized as partner support and other stakeholder support services.

Partner Support Center (PSC) The PSC will support the EASIE stakeholders, which are primarily the applicants (before award) and grantees (after award). This support shall at minimum include fielding incoming calls, providing outreach (especially before a deadline), and escalating tickets to OIE as required and noting trends of problems on applications.

The contractor shall provide help desk support year-round. At a minimum this help desk support shall:

· Operate Monday to Friday (except federal holidays) from 8:30AM to 6:30PM.

· Provide a range of interactive channels including toll-free telephone, a TTY line and email.

· Provide proactive outreach to EASIE, including APR applicants and grantees.

· Forward to OIE programmatic and regulatory questions that the Contractor is not prepared to answer.

· Maintain a ticket system with records of all interactions with SEAs and others using the tool.

In addition, during the open periods of EASIE, including the APR, the help desk support shall:

· Provide extended support before due dates to ensure applicants have the assistance they need to submit by due date.

· Provide reports on application or APR completion rates against previous year. The reports will increase in frequency towards the end of the open period.

Related Artifacts – partner support center

Service Levels – partner support center The contractor shall propose service levels for PSC in the areas of:

· Call response time for telephone and email

· Partner satisfaction

· Productivity Other stakeholder support services The contractor shall work with OIE to design and implement the other stakeholder support services to support EASIE. The contractor shall also provide support to OIE during the full cycle of EASIE, including the APR.

Activities could include:

· Developing Communication Plan for each Part of EASIE

· Webinars

· Conference Calls providing technical assistance

· Creating YouTube videos providing technical assistance

· Broadcasts

· Updating and creating technical documents for the field

· Maintaining the Communities of Practice website. This shall include gathering and organizing existing relevant guidelines, tip sheets, templates, or tools to help deliver technical assistance that can be used by multiple grantees or applicants.

· Exploring ways to continually improve service to grantees.

· Maintain and maintain OIE’s data management tool (DME).

Related Artifacts – other stakeholder support services Below are artifacts related to other stakeholder support services:

Communities of Practice Website https://easie.communities.ed.gov/#program The Community of Practice website was created to provide year-round, end-user support for all parts of the Indian Education Formula Grant EASIE. It includes pages for EASIE Parts I, II, and EASIE Part III, the Annual Performance Report (APR) with forms and supporting documentation, webinars and instructional videos. A calendar with upcoming due dates, an announcement section to keep users up to date on current issues and many other resources are also available.

Service Levels - other stakeholder support services The contractor shall propose service levels for the other stakeholder support in the areas of:

· Evaluations of support by EASIE users Technology Services (To include Appendix 2) EASIE is hosted on the USDA’s Connect.gov Survey portal per an Inter-Agency Agreement (IAA) Memorandum of Understanding between ED’s OESE and USDA. Additional data hosting is by AWS-East.

The contractor shall ensure all Parts of EASIE, including the APR, are deployed on schedule. The contractor shall operate and enhance the EASIE application to ensure that it is available and functioning properly for all phases of EASIE, includes updating EASIE tool for the specific workflow and outputs between the different parts.

On a shared ticketing system, the contractor shall maintain defect and improvement ent tickets for the system and for each application and for each release. The contractor shall maintain the programming code in accordance with the configuration management plan.

During Part II, the contractor shall provide at a minimum a weekly report detailing progress by each reviewer. In the final week this will be daily, and on the last day three times at a minimum.

Related Artifacts – improvement technology services Below are artifacts related to the annual cycle of EASIE:

Design document

Service Levels – technology services The contractor shall propose service levels for the EASIE Parts and APR in the areas of:

· Actual to baseline days for release Requirements This section contains tasks and deliverable requirements specific to this order.

ED requires sufficient deliverables to oversee the work. The contractor shall propose anticipated deliverables and a delivery schedule to provide sufficient content that staff assigned to the order and have access to the policies and procedures, work products, lifecycle artifacts and other project documentation. The list of deliverables will be evaluated for comprehensiveness and applicability to the order.

Project Management The following are specific project management requirements of this order.

Schedule – The contractor shall maintain a release schedule for EASIE, including the APR within the release schedule.

Communication – During the lifecycle of EASIE, the contractor shall communicate regularly with the release manager for EASIE, the program office and COR.

Compliance Management The following are specific compliance management requirements of this order:

Schedule – The timelines for opening and closing and for posting documents must conform to grant requirements.

Training - All web-based training and program materials must be 508 accessible and meet the technical standards for Section 508 compliance of Internet and Intranet-based applications located at 36 CFR 1194.22. All training modules shall be reviewed and approved by OIE.

Configuration Management - The contractor shall follow EASIE Management Plan and Change Management Handbook. All changes to EASIE or to ETLs for EASIE must be approved by the EASIE ISO through the OIE Change Review Board (OCRB).

Transition Management All improvement s will be maintained under this order.

Turnover Point The table below explains the turnover point for EASIE.

Product

Release

Annual Performance Report for application

Records Management Requirements

1. Contractor shall comply with all applicable records management laws and regulations, as well as National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) records policies, including but not limited to the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. chs. 21, 29, 31, 33), NARA regulations at 36 CFR Chapter XII Subchapter B, and those policies associated with the safeguarding of records covered by the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a). These policies include the preservation of all records, regardless of form or characteristics, mode of transmission, or state of completion.

2. In accordance with 36 CFR 1222.32, all data created for Government use and delivered to, or falling under the legal control of, the Government are Federal records subject to the provisions of 44 U.S.C. chapters 21, 29, 31, and 33, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), as amended, and the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended and must be managed and scheduled for disposition only as permitted by statute or regulation.

3. In accordance with 36 CFR 1222.32, Contractor shall maintain all records created for Government use or created in the course of performing the contract and/or delivered to, or under the legal control of the Government and must be managed in accordance with Federal law. Electronic records and associated metadata must be accompanied by sufficient technical documentation to permit understanding and use of the records and data.

4. The US Department of Education (ED) and its contractors are responsible for preventing the alienation or unauthorized destruction of records, including all forms of mutilation. Records may not be removed from the legal custody of ED or destroyed except for in accordance with the provisions of the agency records schedules and with the written concurrence of the Head of the Contracting Activity. Willful and unlawful destruction, damage or alienation of Federal records is subject to the fines and penalties imposed by 18 U.S.C. 2701. In the event of any unlawful or accidental removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records, Contractor must report to [Agency]. The agency must report promptly to NARA in accordance with 36 CFR 1230.

5. The Contractor shall immediately notify the appropriate Contracting Officer upon discovery of any inadvertent or unauthorized disclosures of information, data, documentary materials, records, or equipment. Disclosure of non-public information is limited to authorized personnel with a need-to-know as described in the contract. The Contractor shall ensure that the appropriate personnel, administrative, technical, and physical safeguards are established to ensure the security and confidentiality of this information, data, documentary material, records and/or equipment is properly protected. The Contractor shall not remove material from Government facilities or systems, or facilities or systems operated or maintained on the Government’s behalf, without the express written permission of the Head of the Contracting Activity. When information, data, documentary material, records and/or equipment is no longer required, it shall be returned to ED control, or the Contractor must hold it until otherwise directed. Items returned to the Government shall be hand carried, mailed, emailed, or securely electronically transmitted to the Contracting Officer or address prescribed in the [contract vehicle]. Destruction of records is EXPRESSLY PROHIBITED unless in accordance with Paragraph (4).

6. The Contractor is required to obtain the Contracting Officer's approval prior to engaging in any contractual relationship (sub-contractor) in support of this contract requiring the disclosure of information, documentary material and/or records generated under, or relating to, contracts. The Contractor (and any sub-contractor) is required to abide by Government and ED guidance for protecting sensitive, proprietary information, classified, and controlled unclassified information.

7. The Contractor shall only use Government IT equipment for purposes specifically tied to or authorized by the contract and in accordance with ED policy.

8. The Contractor shall not create or maintain any records containing any non-public ED information that are not specifically tied to or authorized by the contract.

9. The Contractor shall not retain, use, sell, or disseminate copies of any deliverable that contains information covered by the Privacy Act of 1974 or that which is generally protected from public disclosure by an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act.

10. ED owns the rights to all data and records produced as part of this contract. All deliverables under the contract are the property of the U.S. Government for which ED shall have unlimited rights to use, dispose of, or disclose such data contained therein as it determines to be in the public interest. Any Contractor rights in the data or deliverables must be identified as required by FAR 52.227-11 through FAR 52.227-20.

11. Training. All Contractor employees assigned to this contract who create, work with, or otherwise handle records are required to take ED-provided records management training. The Contractor is responsible for confirming training has been completed according to agency policies, including initial training and any annual or refresher training.

508 ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS

This contract is subject to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (the Act) of 1973 (39 U.S.C. 794d), as cited in FAR Subpart 39.2.

Accordingly, regardless of format, all web content or communications materials specifically produced for publication on, or delivery via Department websites, including text, audio, or video, under this contract shall conform to applicable Section 508 accessibility standards. Remediation of any materials that do not comply with the applicable accessibility standards of 36 CFR Part 1194 as set forth herein shall be the responsibility of the Contractor.

Assumptions and Constraints Specific to Order Schedule Currently the Part I and Part II applications, and the APR close at 8:00 p.m. ET on the published deadline.

OMB Clearance The expected statuses of the clearances for EASIE as of February 2024 are:

· EASIE Parts I and II (OMB # 1810-0021), Expires 06/30/2026

· EASIE APR (OMB # 1810-0726), Expires 05/2024 (OMB renewal currently under review as of Jan. 2024).

PSC

The PSC under ETSS III should be leveraged.

Hosting EASIE is hosted on the USDA’s Connect.gov Survey portal per an Inter-Agency Agreement (IAA) Memorandum of Understanding between ED’s OESE and USDA. Additional data hosting is by AWS-East.

Some maintenance and upgrade work will take place during the evenings and over the weekends.

Invoicing Invoicing will be by phase:

· Planning

· Registration

· Part IA

· Part II (Including IB, IIA, and IIB) including closeout activities

· Part III (APR)

Appendix 1: Process for EASIE The following are the high-level steps in the EASIE process. There are data quality reviews after each major part and throughout the process.

Planning Phase

· Identification of requirements for improvement s. This includes providing LOEs so that OIE can decide how to split the improvement hours between Part I, Part II or the APR.

Registration

· Potential applicants register for access to the EASIE system. Applicants either confirm, edit or provide contact information. PSC prepares documents to send to potential applicants. PSC processes the data from applicants. A data quality review is performed by PSC and OIE. The process is currently manual, in the future it may be a system activity.

Part IA

· In Part IA, applicants specify their applicant type, identify partner entities (if they will be a multiple-entity grantee), provide counts of Indian and all students, date of student count and whether they are applying for a single year or multi-year grant. Indian Tribes, Indian Organizations and Indian Community-Based Organizations upload eligibility documentation PDF, if applicable. Consortiums upload a consortium agreement PDF, if applicable.

· The contractor shall involve OIE in the improvement definitions, requirements definition, potential design and improvement t trade-offs, data quality reviews, and UAT.

Part II

· Part IB, Part IIA, and Part IIB have become one continuous process. The cycle (all 3 parts) is repeated with an initial allocation until a final allocation is designated. Occasionally, an interim allocation is performed due to reduction in Indian student counts or applicants withdrawing their application. The process is repeated to accommodate budget increases and decreases until a final allocation is sent to the applicants. To reduce applicant burden, only applicants whose budget changed more than $5,000 need to modify their budgets in the application.

· In Part IB, the Office of Indian Education (OIE) verifies the student counts and calculates the initial allocation amount to which each applicant is entitled.

· In Part IIA, applicants who are eligible and certified Part IA complete the Part II application. This process includes: identify coordination of Title VI services with other Federal programs for Indian students, describe program objectives, identify services and activities provided and construct a project budget based on the allocation that was calculated in Part IB. Parent Committee Approval (PCA) Forms are uploaded, if applicable.

· In Part IIB, OIE staff review the applicants’ Part IIA submissions, and interact through the EASIE system to allow applicants to make any needed revisions. Approvals and notifications are processed within the software until the application is approved.

· The final slate of Grant Award Notifications (GANs) is processed by OIE usually by July 1 of each year. The grantees receive their GANs electronically through G5.

· The contractor shall involve OIE in the improvement definitions, requirements definition, potential design and improvement trade-offs, data quality reviews, and UAT.

· The contractor shall perform all closeout activities as defined in the Part II Requirements.

Annual Performance Report (APR)

· The APR is completed generally in September thru October following the completion of the grant in June to provide financial and performance reports at the end of the grant performance period. The applicants, now grantees, provide performance data on students and their EASIE project 90 days after the performance period ends.

· The contractor shall involve OIE in the improvement definitions, requirements definition, potential design and improvement trade-offs, data quality reviews, and UAT.

Appendix 2: ED IT Requirements

Technology PROJECT MANAGEMENT LANGUAGE Implement technology l project management practices, techniques, methodologies, and standards to facilitate the efficient and effective lifecycle management of technology l projects, leveraging the Department’s Enterprise Program Management Review Framework

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS

The purpose of this document is to impart requirements for managing and ensuring accessibility to Federal records (on any medium such as paper, systems, applications, etc.) that is made or received in connection with the transaction of Department business as part of a contract. The following requirements are divided into two sections, which are mandatory: (1) Records and CUI, (2) Accessibility requirements related to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

RECORDS AND CONTROLLED UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION (CUI)

· "Federal record" as defined in 44 U.S.C. § 3301, includes all information, made or received by a Federal agency in connection with the transaction of public business. ED owns rights to all records produced as part of this contract. Any Contractor rights must be identified as required by FAR 52.227-11 through FAR 52.227-20.

· Federal records must be managed according to the applicable records management laws and regulations, to include the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. chs. 21, 29, 31, 33), 36 CFR Chapter XII Subchapter B, and the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a).

· Federal records which are CUI must additionally be managed in accordance with any applicable laws, regulations and government-wide policies (LRGWP) to include EO 13556, 32 CFR Part 2002, ED Directive OCIO 3-113, and NIST-800-171 Revision 2 (or current version).

· Applicability: This clause applies to all Contractors and sub-contractors (hereafter referred to as “Contractors”) and must be incorporated into all subcontracts.

· Training Requirements: All Contractors are required to take the annual Information Management Requirements training. If the contract includes CUI the CUI Identification and Marking Training is required. Additional Category or POC specific trainings may be assigned. Contractor will maintain completion certificates and provide upon request.

· Electronic Information System Requirements: Any electronic information system should address at minimum the following regulations in 36 CFR 1236.10. Agencies must incorporate controls into the system or integrate them into a recordkeeping system that is external to the information system itself (see 36 CFR 1236.20 for recordkeeping system functionalities). Information systems that process, store, or transmit CUI must fulfill the requirements outlined in 32 CFR 2002.14(g).

· Marking Requirements: The Contractor will mark CUI as outlined in Department training.

· Handling and Safeguarding Requirements: The Contractor will ensure that CUI is managed appropriately. The requirements include safeguarding, controlled environments, shipping and mailing or transporting protections, and reproduction protections (see 32 CFR 2002.14(a-e)).

· Contract Completion Requirements: Removal or destruction of records must be in accordance with assigned ED records schedule and must include written concurrence from the CO/COR. If records are removed or destroyed the Contractor must report the incident to ED immediately. Destruction or removal of records without the above requirements is subject to fines and penalties imposed by 18 U.S.C. 2701.

· Compliance with Information Protection Requirements: ED reserves the right to verify compliance with information security requirements established by this contract. The Contractor will fully comply with all ED-initiated inspections as permissible by law.

· Information Security Incidents (ISI) Requirements: Contractors must immediately report any and all suspected security incidents, breaches, and events involving ED information to ED’s Computer Incident Response Center (EDCIRC) email: edcirc@ed.gov, and ED’s Security Operations Center (EDSOC) email: edsoc@ed.gov; voice: 202-243-6550, regardless of whether the ISI is suspected, known, or determined to involve IT systems operated in support of this contract. In the event of an ISI, ED must be provided immediate access to all IT systems used in support of this contract for inspection and analysis.

IT ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS (SECTION 508 OF THE REHABILITATION ACT)

· Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as amended by P.L. 105-220, requires that when Federal agencies improve, procure, maintain, or use information and communication technology (ICT), it shall be accessible to people with disabilities. Products, platforms and services delivered as part of this work statement that are or contain ICT, must conform to the Revised 508 Standards, at 36 C.F.R. § 1194.1 & Apps. A, C & D.

· Applicable Functional Performance Criteria: When using an alternative design or technology that achieves substantially equivalent or greater accessibility and usability by individuals with disabilities than would be provided by conformance to one or more of the requirements in Chapters 4-6 of the Revised 508 Standards, or when Chapters 4-6 do not address one or more functions of ICT. – All requirements apply

· Applicable requirements for software features and components: All WCAG Level AA Success Criteria, 502 Interoperability with Assistive Technology, 503 Application – Applies if client server software (installed on a computer) is a part of the procurement.

· Applicable requirements to Webpage and Web Applications: All WCAG Level AA Success Criteria – Applies if websites or a web-based application (browser based) is part of the procurement.

· Applicable requirements for hardware features and components: Applies if hardware is part of the procurement. (e.g. copiers, fax machines, phones, scanner etc.)

· Applicable support services and documentation: All requirements apply.

Appendix 3: Acronyms specific to the order The following are acronyms specific to this order.