Statement of Work Answering Service.pdf

US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Statement of Work

Contents Project General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

2.0 Background

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Government Furnished

4.0 Deliverables / Schedule

5.0 Travel

6.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

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Project RMRS Answering Service

General Information

1.0 Scope of Work

Monthly answering service for approximately 60-100 field employees working in the field in remote locations throughout the intermountain west. The answering service will be responsible for daily after business hours check-in/check-out, weekends, and holidays to maintain the safety of our field crew. The answering service will be required to have access to the FS check-in and out site CIAO and are required to report any open trips that have not been closed by a field crew member or administration to said field crew members’ supervisor to make sure they are accounted for and safe. The Contract will be a base year with 4 optional years for a total of 5 years.

2.0 Background

FIA, one of the stations science programs, has been using an Answering service for the past 10 years for the afterhours, weekends, and holidays safety of crew members out in the field. The answering service is responsible for making sure that all open trips (employees/crew members that have checked out on a trip to conduct remote field work) within our FS CIAO (Check In And Out) application have been accounted for and if need be, report to supervisors and/or administration staff to locate the crew member to verify their safety while out in the field. The answering service provides a key role in making sure that we have all crew members accounted for while traveling and out on field trips in the back country.

Contractor Requirements

3.0 Technical Requirements / Tasks

The RMRS uses “CIAO” (Check In and Out), a Forest Service Enterprise Application, to account for the safety of all field going employees by completing check-out and check-in for all field related travel of employees. The program is used by field employees and their supervisors as well as safety staff. Field employees can enter all the details of their field travel, check themselves out, and check-in by using the CIAO application when they have internet access or by calling/emailing, satellite messaging their program office administration support assistants, who enter information into the program during regular business hours. The Answering Service will receive phone calls, emails, and satellite messages after business hours and on all holidays and weekends. The Answering Service will record information in CIAO that is received from calls, emails, and satellite messages from employees.

The Answering Service will monitor the CIAO application hourly beginning at 5pm (4pm November-March) through 11pm for overdue trips (employees/crews that not checked into CIAO by their designated time).

1. Morning Check-Out Except for weekends and holidays, the contractor will generally not be responsible for the morning check-out. Check-out procedures will typically be done by the field employee, supervisor, or administrative support personnel. The following information will be recorded for the check-out: the person Calling, Crew Number (if applicable), Team Name, Expected return date and time, Location Description (starting and ending location, intended route, any additional details), State, County, Crew Name(s) and cell phone(s) (if applicable) Work Alone status, Supervisor/Point of Contact, Supervisor’s cell phone, Vehicle License Plate, and any notes to help assist. If for any reason the crew goes to a different area or if they complete work at the area and then go to another location, it’s their responsibility to update their information via the program or by notifying the Program office or Answering Service. The contractor will update trips with “I’m Okay” check-ins as requested by the employees through phone calls, emails, and satellite messages. The contractor is required to reply with a confirmation receipt to all satellite messages.

Every crew that has checked out for field work or travel using the CIAO (Check In and Out) system will be displayed within the CIAO application.

2. Evening Check In

All employees will check in according to their designated times listed in each trip in the CIAO application.

Employees will check-in and check-out by using one of the following methods:

1. CIAO Application

2. Calling into Program Office Administration Office Staff

3. Calling/Emailing/Satellite Messaging to the Answering Service

The required check-in/outs is as followed:

1. Morning Checkout

2. I’m Okay Check-ins

3. Evening Check in

4. Late Trip Notification Call Outs

The contractor will monitor the CIAO application beginning at 4pm MT continuing through 11pm MT at the top of every hour from November through March looking for crews that have not checked in by their designated time (late trips). From April-October, the contractor will monitor the CIAO application every hour on the hour beginning at 5pm MT through 11pm MT for crews that have not checked in by their designated time (late trips).

If an employee or crew has not checked in by their designated time as indicated in CIAO, the contractor will attempt to contact the employee first, then the supervisor. If no contact has been made, they will then contact the following in order until a person has been notified: Devon Donahue, Yancey Ranspot, and Cindy Gordon. The contractor should leave voice mail messages, but the contractor must continue calling down the list until a live person must be notified; this may require several rounds of phone calls.

Definitions:

“Check Out” – employee/crew leaving to travel to their work location (Morning).

“Evening Check In” – employee/crew has returned from their work location (Evening). Done for the day or Done for the week.

“I’m Okay Check In” – crew or employee is reporting that they are safe and that work is ongoing. I’m Okay is an interim trip update to be used while the trip is open, but they want to inform their team or supervisor that they are safe. I’m Okay can be used for midday check-ins when working alone or schedule to serve as morning check-outs and evening check-ins for multiday-overnight trips.

“Crew” – Group of between 2+ field employees.

“Crew Leader” – Leader of a crew, which can include supervisors/area leaders.

3.0 Government Furnished

The contractor supplies their own equipment, building, and furnishings.

4.0 Deliverables / Schedule

The contractor will be responsible for after-hours monitoring of field crews out in the field working with the CIAO application. The contractor must be able to gain access to the FS CIAO application. The contractor must be able to receive emails from satellite messaging devices and be able to respond to satellite messages using the required procedures in order to transmit messages to satellite messaging devices.

5.0 Travel

There will be no travel involved within the answering service.

6.0 Contractor’s Key Personnel

The contractor provides and trains their own employees.

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