Updated PWS.docx

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT

Administration for Children and Families Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation

Performance Work Statement for the Child and Family Data (CFData) Archive 2026-2031

Updated: 7/20/2026

COR: Bonnie Mackintosh Bonnie.Mackintosh@acf.hhs.gov

Document Revision History

Table of Contents

Performance Work Statement Child and Family Data (CFData) Archive 2026-2031

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 effective delivery of human services (https://acf.gov/about/acf-vision-mission-values). 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. OPRE informs program offices and the Assistant Secretary on pathways to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of programs to improve the economic and social well-being of children and families.

The purpose of this contract is to provide ongoing support to facilitate sharing data from previous, current, and future grants and contracts relevant to early care and education (ECE) programs that are supported by the program offices of ACF. ACF funds numerous data collection efforts on a wide range of issues within and across Head Start, child care, home visiting, and other ECE programs. Additionally, this archive may support the storage and sharing of datasets in other ECE-relevant fields such as economic self-sufficiency, welfare, employment, and parenting.

1.2 Objective

The procurement shall

· update, maintain, and implement the CFData Archive processes and procedures for five years, from 2026 through 2031.

· implement an archive team with topical, technical and substantive expertise to address all archive and security requirements.

· result in continued expansion and improvement of the archive data holdings.

· hold data accessible to the public, secured with minimal risk to Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

· maintain and continually improve effective technical assistance (TA), communications, and data curation and management to support data depositors, data users and Federal Project Officers (FPOs).

· address all federal regulations, and contract requirements for data systems, establishing and maintaining an Authority to Operate, and comply with guidance from ACF Chief Information Officer. This includes renewal of ATO every three years and recording IT costs, to be reported to ACF and HHS as needed.

The objectives are driven by ACF’s mission of maximizing impacts of programs, enhancing use of proven practices, achieving measurable results for children and families, and understanding how programs can improve outcomes. Further, the objective reflects the administration goals of scientific reproducibility, “to ensure that federally funded research is transparent, rigorous, and impactful, and that Federal decisions are informed by the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available.” (Executive Order Restoring Gold Standard Science, 2025). Through the CFData Archive, ACF’s ECE data is stored and available for public use to assess methods, reliability, replicability, fitness for purpose, and to pursue further analysis to inform national, state and local community questions.

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, all tasks necessary to maintain the archive, expand the data holdings, and satisfy all customers of the archive (e.g., data producers, data depositors, data users, and Federal staff). Any alternative approaches proposed must be justified in terms of cost and improved outcomes. Offerors are expected to draw on their own expertise to propose the most effective approach to addressing the tasks. The Contractor is expected to work with the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to refine the activities and proposed plans once contract is awarded. In addition, the Contractor is expected to work closely with OPRE and ACF’s Chief Information Office to establish and maintain an Authority to Operate and ensure compliance with federal regulations and contract requirements.

1.4 Background

From 2003 to 2018, OPRE supported the archiving of data from ECE research as part of cooperative agreements whose primary objective was operating The Child Care and Early Education Research Connections interactive website (referred to as Research Connections). The data archiving activities of the cooperative agreements were carried out by the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). During that timeframe, ICPSR archived over 160 ECE datasets and made them available via Research Connections to improve access to research on topics related to child care, Head Start, and early education. This archive may also pursue related topics, such as family health and well-being; self-sufficiency, welfare, employment, and parenting.

ACF research programs whose data are targeted by this archive include, but are not limited to:

Head Start Research https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/topic/overview/head-start Head Start has provided comprehensive services to low-income preschool children and their families for over 50 years. As the nation’s largest program for low income families and their children, directly operated by the federal government, Head Start Serves in a leadership position as a national laboratory for the development of new knowledge and state-of-the-art services for children and their families from the prenatal period through preschool.

Consistent with requirements in the Head Start Act, ACF’s Office of Head Start and OPRE initiate and support new research activities; synthesizes, disseminates and incorporates research findings into program operations; and engages the academic community as partners in all research endeavors. This work also supports evaluation and research of the Head Start programs, through grants and contracts, for a variety of demonstration, descriptive and experimental research.

Early Head Start https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/topic/head-start ACF initiated the Early Head Start program in response to the 1994 Head Start reauthorization, which established a special initiative for services to families with infants and toddlers. This comprehensive, two-generation program includes intensive services that begin before the child is born and concentrate on enhancing the child’s development and supporting the family during the critical first three years of the child’s life.

Child Care https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/topic/overview/child-care ACF’s child care research agenda is designed to assist decision-makers in crafting child care and early education policies that support positive outcomes for children and families, including parental employment and self-sufficiency, access to high quality early childhood programs by families with low-incomes, and implementation of systemic approaches to quality improvement. It is also intended to increase the capacity for child care and early education research at the national, State, Territory, and local levels to promote linkages among research, policy, and practice. Research and analyses address current Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) administration and practice, including linkages between child care and other early childhood programs.

Home Visiting Early childhood home visiting is a service delivery strategy that supports the healthy development and well-being of young children and their families. In general, home visiting involves one-on-one interactions between home visitors and families to (1) assess family needs, (2) educate and support parents, and (3) refer families to needed services in the community. Early childhood home visiting programs aim to improve a wide range of outcomes including child health and development, maternal health, child maltreatment prevention, and family economic self-sufficiency. As per authorizing statute, the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program carries out a continuous program of research and evaluation activities in order to increase knowledge about the implementation and effectiveness of home visiting programs.[footnoteRef:2] For example, the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE) is the national, longitudinal study of the MIECHV Program. [2: [(SEC. 511 [42 U.S.C. 711] (g) (2). as extended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328) (fiscal years 2023-2027)]

Archive History Due to the substantial growth in the quantity and scope of ECE research funded by ACF, in 2018 OPRE began to support and expand the secure archiving of ACF ECE data through the establishment and ongoing maintenance of the Child and Family Data (CFData) Archive under a contract with ICPSR. To date, the CFData Archive features

· an expanding set of data of over 125 ECE and ECE-related studies and web-based tools that assist data users such as researchers, educators, ECE program staff, and policy analysts;

· a team of experts supporting communications, outreach, curation and documentation for the datasets, data management, and responsive technical support for data producers and for data users;

· adherence to contract requirements and applicable laws and regulations to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ECE and ECE-related datasets as well as the supporting materials;

· Support for data users to access downloadable data 24/7, search the bibliography of data-related literature, and request technical assistance through the CFData Archive website; (www.childandfamilydataarchive.org); and

· training opportunities on the use of datasets through webinars, training modules, and in-person trainings.

ACF's Evaluation Policy ACF is committed 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.

One element of the Evaluation Policy that is directly relevant to the CFData Archive’s objectives: Transparency. ACF values transparency in research and evaluation and is committed to making information about planned, ongoing, and completed evaluations easily accessible. 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.

A second factor of the Evaluation Policy that is a primary consideration for the CFData Archive: Ethics and Data Safety. The archive ensures that data is made public consistent with participants’ consent and that PII is at the lowest risk for disclosure. ACF-sponsored evaluations are conducted in an ethical 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 is committed to ensuring that data archived as part of this contract are maintained and stored securely. The detailed data security plan (DSP) will establish procedures for protecting any and all PII and other controlled unclassified information (CUI) and describe processes for reporting incidents involving that information to ACF. For the purposes of these activities:

· CUI is defined as information that requires safeguarding or dissemination controls pursuant to and consistent with law, regulations, and Government-wide policies, excluding information that is classified under Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009, or the Atomic Energy Act, as amended.

· 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 location of birth, mother’s maiden name, and so on.

These definitions may be updated over the course of the contract by ACF’s Chief Information Officer or the COR.

CFData Archive 2026 -2031 A key goal of this contract is continuation of the CFData Archive’s ongoing work, and advance innovations and improvements to the data archiving processes. The contractor activities include (but are not limited to):

· maintaining a secure archive that adheres to contract requirements and applicable laws and regulations to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ECE datasets and supporting materials, this includes (but is not limited to);

· drafting, initiating, maintaining and updating documentation required for Authority to Operate, system backup and recovery, system security plan, and other documentation related to the operations and maintenance of the hosting environment; this includes renewal every three years and maintenance of IT cost records, for reporting to ACF and HHS.

· ensuring the hosting environment is compliant with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’ Information Security Continuous Monitoring for Federal Information Systems and Organizations and Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).

· ensuring that the ECE datasets and supporting metadata are effectively prepared and deposited in a secure archive by providing technical assistance and support to data-generating Contractors and grant recipients from research inception to completion, for projects determined by the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to be high priority;

· maintaining website that a) supports a range of data users from novice to sophisticated, b) provides secure, easy, and continuous access to ECE datasets and metadata through the internet and c) protects against disclosure related sensitivities;

· readiness to establish an agreement with an Institutional Review Board with Federal Wide Assurance to provide oversight for data use by COR (or by a COR-designated researcher or team) for secondary analyses of archived datasets;

· maintaining a search function that allows users to search through the metadata (variable names, labels, questionnaire item or value labels);

· collaborating with CORs, grant recipients, and/or data producer contract teams to promote the use of datasets among end-users that include researchers, policy analysts, and other interested partners, through a variety of training, technical assistance, and dissemination activities;

· maintaining and updating a searchable digital library in the secure archive of research publications (peer-reviewed publications and gray or white papers) that used the datasets; and

· remaining up-to-date about advances and regulations in the field of data archiving confidentiality and integrating innovative strategies into the archive and implementing them when directed by the COR.

The Contractor shall possess and use a combination of data archiving, curation, management, and analytics; in combination with training and administrative skills to support these goals. In addition, the Contractor shall have established infrastructure to support

· the basic elements of data archiving;

· secure data deposit;

· end users’

· review of datasets for utility to address their research question; and

· use of the data itself.

These tools shall include data variable search tools, complete documentation of study design and variables, and on-line analysis tools.

1.5 Type of Contract Contemplated

Firm Fixed Price. Services specified in each contract line item (CLIN) have been determined to be non-severable - a specific undertaking or entire job with a defined end product of value to the Government.

1.6 Period of Performance

The period of performance of this contract is 60 months from the date of award. The contract includes

· SC1 48 months period of performance and OSC 4a: 60 month period of performance

· OSC 2a, 3a, 4b, 5a, and 5b: 48 months period of performance

· OSC 2b, 2c, 2d, 3b, 3c, 3d, 4c, 4d, 4e, 5c, 5d, 5e and 6: 36 months period of performance

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

1.9 Applicable Documents

The applicable documents include

· Appendix A ACF’s OCIO Standard Tech Language for Contracts

· ACF Incident Reporting

· applicable 508 checklists

· QASP

· clear communications checklists

· bidding assumptions

2.0 Specific Requirements/Tasks

CLIN 1/SC 1 CFData Archive Update ECE Research Key Non-Severable The Contractor shall furnish the necessary qualified personnel, equipment, materials, supplies, services, facilities, and otherwise do all that is necessary for, or incidental to, all tasks necessary to maintain the archive, expand the data holdings, and satisfy all customers of the archive (e.g., data producers, data depositors, data users, and Federal staff). Any alternative approaches proposed must be justified in terms of cost and improved outcomes. Offerors are expected to draw on their own expertise to propose the most effective approach to addressing the tasks. The Contractor is expected to work with the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to refine the activities and proposed plans once contract is awarded. In addition, the Contractor is expected to work closely with COR, COR-designated ACF staff, and ACF’s Chief Information Office to establish and maintain an Authority to Operate and ensure ongoing compliance with federal regulations and contract requirements.

Purpose: The purpose of this services component is to continue maintaining and expanding the secure data archive that adheres to contract requirements, applicable laws and regulations to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of datasets and supporting materials. The archive data are relevant to the field of ECE related to ACF. The data archive will continue to facilitate sharing data from previous, current, and future ACF grants and contracts, supported by OPRE and program office research teams, relevant to the field of ECE research. The Contractor shall confer with the COR to ensure that the work across CLINS is not duplicative but builds on previous work.

The end products of value for this CLIN include a Revised CFData Procedures Report; Updated ECE Dataset Matrices; Detailed Memorandum of Progress and Challenges in Executing the Procedures and Strategies; and a website supporting secure, easy, and continuous access to ECE datasets and other materials for end users.

Period of Performance: 48 months in length after election.

Task 1: Project Management and Team Communication Effective communication between the Contractor and the federal government, coordinated through the COR, and successful management of the project as a whole are essential to the success of this services component, and the project more broadly.

Advance Clearance Information: To facilitate timely clearance processing, the Contractor shall provide clearance related roster information for each billable individual within 2 weeks of contract award or by the kick off meeting, whichever event occurs first. This includes indicating previous HHS/federal work, prior federal background checks, active clearances, and justifications for any required Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) such as laptops or PIV cards. The Contractor shall also identify any required access to Government held systems. The roster must include full name, position title/role, email address, phone number, responsibility/ function on the contract, and whether they will have privileged user access. This list is for clearance tracking purposes and is distinct from key personnel. Any revisions due to staffing changes must be submitted within 24 hours of the change.

OF-306 Form Completion: All personnel must complete their own OF-306 (Declaration for Federal Employment) form within 3 days of being added to the personnel roster to initiate the background check process. This applies even if they have existing federal clearances or are working on other OPRE contracts.

· For personnel with elevated/privileged access (Tier 2+), PIV and/or GFE may be required depending on their role. This is determined by the COR.

· For background check processing, the COR will notify the contractor of the appropriate level of investigation required for each staff member.

· Information needed up front for ACF Administration team:

· Contractor start date

· Level of records contractor will work with (See section 3.0 Background Checks).

Mandatory Training: All personnel shall complete security awareness training and other identified trainings annually. Tier 2+ personnel (Privileged Users) must complete mandatory privileged user training before system access is granted, regardless of whether they receive a GFE/laptop.

ACF CIO may identify additional personnel who must complete clearance processing and complete mandatory annual training.

Subtask 1.1 Project Work Plan To ensure effective project management between the project’s director, key staff and subcontractors, and the COR, the Contractor shall submit, before the Project Orientation (Subtask 1.2), a detailed draft Project Work Plan (See Table 1). The Work Plan shall include the activities to carry out the tasks of this services component and all subsequent services components. This plan shall reflect the timeline and staffing identified in the offeror’s proposal and any other new or clarified information obtained since award.

At a minimum, the Project Work Plan shall include

· a detailed description of major work products and which staff have major responsibilities for specific activities or task

· the methods and activities for completing each task;

· timeline and milestones for all major deliverables; and

· plans for addressing problems that may emerge during the course of the project.

After receiving the COR’s comments on the draft Project Work Plan the Contractor shall submit a final Work Plan that reflects comments received from the COR (See Table 1). The Work Plan shall be considered final upon written approval from the COR. The Work Plan shall:

· be updated and revised for COR review and approval whenever major changes occur and

· serve as a primary basis for assessing Contractor performance and taking action as needed to ensure timely and satisfactory completion of the project on schedule and within budget.

Delay Notifications:

The Contractor shall notify the COR in writing of any potential delays to activities in the workplan, according to the following timeline:

· For foreseeable delays: Minimum 10 business days in advance of deadline

· For unforeseeable delays: Within 4 hours of identification

· Any delays that could impact public data access or core archive functions: immediately (within one hour of contractor team identifying delay).

All delay notifications must include: affected deliverable, reason for delay, revised delivery date, mitigation plan, and impact assessment.

Subtask 1.2 Project Orientation with COR and Federal Staff The Contractor shall engage in a Project Orientation Discussion with the COR and other federal staff (See Table 1). This discussion will cover a range of topics that shall include, but are not necessarily limited to, clarification of ACF’s interests and objectives for the project, roles and responsibilities of researchers and other personnel involved with the project, plans for conducting work on an efficient schedule and budget, timelines and milestones for project deliverables, and challenges anticipated and potential solutions.

The Contractor shall send an agenda and any relevant materials to the COR before the Project Orientation (See Table 1). After the Project Orientation, the Contractor shall submit to the COR a memorandum summarizing major decisions reached and follow-up issues identified during this discussion (See Table 1).

Subtask 1.3 Ongoing Communication with COR Effective communication between the Contractor and the federal government, coordinated through the COR, is essential to the success of this services component. This may include written communications and memoranda, regular teleconferences, and follow-up communications. The Contractor shall propose a schedule for bi-weekly telephone communications. The purpose of these calls is to discuss current activities, obtain input and guidance from federal staff, review progress made on completion of project tasks, and identify and discuss emerging challenges. Key Contractor staff, sub-Contractor staff, and/or consultants shall participate as needed to address progress and issues for discussion. With the agreement of the COR, the frequency of these calls may be increased or decreased, depending on project need. The Contractor shall send agenda and materials prior to each call (see Table 1). The Contractor shall submit a summary of discussions, to the COR for review and approval after each bi-weekly telephone communication (See Table 1). This summary shall also include bullet points of major decisions and any follow-up activities identified during the discussion for Contractor and federal staff.

Meeting Attendance and Rescheduling:

The Contractor shall attend all scheduled meetings at the agreed-upon date and time. If rescheduling is necessary, the Contractor shall provide written notice to the COR:

· Minimum 2 business days in advance for routine meetings

· Minimum 4 hours notice for emergency rescheduling with documented justification

· When possible, provide an alternate representative of equal authority

The Contractor shall send agenda and materials prior to each call (see Table 1).

Status of Archive Meeting: At least twice a year, the biweekly call will focus on the status of each CLINs funds, associated activities and timeline for completion, and project costs for remainder of the period of performance(s). (See Table 1) Monthly Progress Reports Monthly Progress Reports should be providing information on each active CLIN, and related budget and activities. Each CLIN will have an associated funding source(s), and reports should detail activities and expenditures consistent with the funding source(s), to support easy reporting to ACF leadership and Congress.

The Contractor shall submit written Monthly Progress Reports throughout the period of the services component. The Monthly Progress Reports shall include details related to project performance under each exercised CLIN and task including the project schedule, progress and completion, financial details, and any issues that need to be brought to the COR’s attention. Budget information in these reports shall include: labor staffing data, monthly and cumulative expenditures, the balance remaining by task, burn rate projections for each task and CLIN, explanations for any task-level variances exceeding ±5%. Status for each active CLIN must be described separately. All IT-related expenses shall be highlighted separately for ease of reporting out to ACF OCIO or other federal data calls. The reports shall also include a deliverables table with associated due dates and dates of deliverable completion. The Monthly Progress Reports shall be submitted to the COR no later than the 15th day of each month or before the Contractor submits the invoices related to that period of performance, whichever is earlier. (Table 1)

The Contractor shall:

· Ensure expenditures remain within the approved budget for each individual CLIN and each task within CLIN

· Ensure expenditures remain within the ceiling amount for each CLIN

· Seek COR and Contracting Officer approval for any cross-CLIN budget adjustments

Task-Level Reallocations Within a CLIN:

· COR pre-approval required if reallocation across task exceeds $10,000 or 10% of the task budget, whichever is less

· Task-level variances up to 10,000/10% (whichever is less) are acceptable without prior COR approval, provided:

· Overall CLIN budget is not exceeded

· Variance is reported in monthly financial report with explanation

· Cumulative variances across all tasks within CLIN do not exceed 3% of total CLIN budget

Budget Concern Notifications:

The Contractor shall notify the COR in writing of potential budget concerns according to the following:

For Projected Task Overruns:

· 30 days advance notice if projected overrun ≥ 10% of task

· 15 days advance notice if projected overrun ≥ 5% but < 10%

· 5 days notice if projected overrun < 5%

· Immediate notice (within 4 hours of contractor team identifying the issue) for any CLIN ceiling breach risk

For Unanticipated Budget Issues:

· Within 2 business days of identification, regardless of magnitude

All budget concern notifications for COR must include: specific task/CLIN affected, projected overrun amount and percentage, cause analysis, and proposed mitigation strategies. These guidelines may be adjusted with approval of the COR.

Detailed Memorandum of Progress and Challenges Executing Procedures and Strategies Progress and challenges in executing the procedures and strategies for establishing, maintaining, and supporting a secure Child and Family Data (CFData) Archive shall be reviewed semi-annually and discussed with the COR. Prior to these semi-annual discussions, the Contractor shall submit a Detailed Memorandum of Progress and Challenges describing the progress, successes, and challenges with recommendations for adjustments and/or additions to the CFData Archive Procedures and Strategies Reports (See Table 1). At a minimum, the Detailed Memorandum of Progress and Challenges shall include (but shall not be limited to) detailed tracking information regarding a) the schedule and associated costs of archiving, maintaining, and disseminating each dataset included in the CFData Archive; b) feedback and implementation data on dissemination activities and on technical assistance and trainings provided to data depositors and end-users; and c) user statistics that provide information on the multiple facets of users, including (but not limited to) total hits, unique users, and number of downloads. The frequency of the submission and discussion of the Detailed Memorandum of Progress and Challenges may be adjusted as approved by the COR.

Task 2: Active Engagement OPRE defines active engagement as the intentional involvement of groups and individuals who are invested in the outcomes of the contract. The purpose of active engagement is to improve the quality, rigor, and relevance of OPRE and ACF program offices’ projects and facilitate the uptake of findings. To this end, OPRE expects the CFData Archive to develop strategies for gathering feedback and guidance from a combination of individuals and groups. Strategies shall be implemented with COR approval.

Subtask 2.1 Active Engagement Strategies The Contractor shall update a list of strategies for active engagement in reviewing and improving the Archive processes (Active Engagement Strategies). (see Table 1). Goals and objectives, audience, method, and potential impact of the information should be included in the list of strategies. Groups and individuals to actively engage may include, but are not limited to, federal staff, data producers, privacy and security experts, human subjects protection leaders, archive website users, researchers applying for and using the data, and potential organizations who would be informed by analyses of the data. Opportunities to solicit input shall be identified for key updates or when challenges are noted. This input shall be obtained in a transparent way while safeguarding the objectivity and independence of the archive, to insulate functions from undue influence and from both the appearance and the reality of bias.

The Contractor shall recommend active engagement strategies from the approved strategies to the COR when implementation would provide value to the CFData Archive progress and quality. When the Active Engagement Plan is approved by the COR, the Contractor shall implement activities. The Contractor shall submit any draft and final deliverables in the Active Engagement Plan to the COR for review and approval on a schedule proposed by the Contractor and approved by the COR.

Optional Subtask 2.2 OMB Clearance As needed to carry out the active engagement activities, in consultation with the COR, information may be collected that requires OMB clearance, under the Paperwork Reduction Act. This applies if more than 9 people are responding to the same questions. Although subject to change, there are at least two potential OMB paths to use:

· OPRE’s Formative Generic for Research OMB approval or

· ACF’s Fast-track generic for Customer Service Feedback OMB approval.

OPRE will provide template and guidance on required documentation. Once documentation is approved by the COR, the Contractor shall allow at least 30 days for the clearance process. Federal Register notices are not required. For generic clearance packages, the Contractor shall submit a draft OMB justification package (including data collection instruments) to the COR for review and approval (See Table 1). After the Contractor makes any changes recommended by the COR and provide the updated OMB justification package (see Table 1) the package will be submitted for review by ACF and OPRE leadership (See Table 1). Once all edits are incorporated and COR-approved, ACF will submit the final package to OMB. The Contractor shall address comments received from ACF leadership and OMB and revise the information collection instruments and documentation as needed until approval is received from OMB.

Task 3: External Communication

Subtask 3.1 Update External Communication Strategies The COR will share at Orientation (Task 1.1) status of OPRE and ACF communications and approval processes. Contractor will provide a draft external communication strategies list (see Table 1). COR feedback will be incorporated within three weeks. Activities will only be implemented with COR approval. Deviations from the final plan require prior approval of the COR. The strategies shall identify the timeline for drafts and incorporation of feedback.

ACF wants information about the archived data to be shared with relevant audiences. The Contractor shall develop external communication strategies for this project that describe: goals, strategy, resources needed, and schedule for COR and ACF review and incorporation of feedback from COR.

Examples of external communication products may include:

· Annual newsletters

· Conference presence at table or archive trainings

· Webinars/Videos Associated with Datasets and Study Release

· Data visualizations and Infographics promoting archive

· Social media content

· Other multimedia content Contractors are expected to coordinate with and amplify OPRE communication efforts via OPRE’s social media accounts and via OPRE News. OPRE encourages the Contractor to reciprocally engage with 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 and ACF.

ACF encourages innovative approaches to communication and outreach. Before work begins on web-based or other multimedia content the Contractor shall consult with the COR and other relevant ACF communications staff to ensure compatibility.

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 as a component of the final deliverable. 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 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 in accordance with the Written Deliverable Standards and Review Process specified in Subtask 3.3.

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 will provide additional information about the structure and nature of this peer review.

Subtask 3.2: Cover Sheet for all Written Deliverables To help support ACF’s understanding of how documents are produced, the Contractor shall develop a document coversheet for use when submitting drafts of deliverables prepared for publication. The cover sheet shall identify, at minimum, the following information:

· The version of the document (draft, first round of revisions, etc.)

· The lead authors of the deliverable

· Additional staff involved with editing or reviewing the document

· The level of effort from each staff person

· Whether the deliverable is consistent with OPRE guidelines reflected in the OPRE Clear Communication Checklist (attached) Subtask 3.3: 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 (approved by COR) 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.

Written Deliverable Standards:

All written deliverables submitted under this contract must meet the following Critical Requirements:

· Address the stated goal and target audience specified in the task description

· Contain all required sections as specified in the Performance Work Statement

· Comply with Section 508 accessibility requirements (as detailed in Subtask 3.1) if public facing

· Include citations for all data, statistics, and references Quality Requirements:

· Meet federal plain language guidelines within one grade level of target audience (as detailed in Subtask 3.1)

· Contain no more than minor formatting or grammatical errors that do not impede understanding Review and Revision Process:

· Government has 10 business days to review and provide feedback unless another timeframe is agreed upon

· Contractor shall submit revisions within 10 business days of receiving government feedback unless another timeframe is agreed upon

· Contractor is allowed three (3) rounds of revisions to address feedback:

· Round 1: Address all government feedback

· Round 2: Address remaining deficiencies

· Round 3: Final corrections (available only if Rounds 1-2 showed substantial progress toward compliance, defined as correcting ≥75% of identified deficiencies)

· Round 4: For applicable products that require OPRE/ACF leadership review, address all government feedback.

· After Round 2, COR will assess whether substantial progress has been made to warrant Round 3 opportunity.

Deliverables that fail to meet Critical Requirements after two revisions may be rejected and payment withheld until acceptable quality is achieved.

Task 4: Update the Matrices of Prioritized Datasets to be included in CFData The Matrices are the core catalogue and process documentation for the archiving activities. The Contractor shall provide an updated CFData Dataset Matrices (See Table 1). In close consultation with the COR and key federal staff, the CFData Archive team shall maintain a matrix of ECE datasets yet to be deposited in the CFData Archive. The searchable and sortable matrix of datasets to be deposited shall contain (at a minimum) details on:

· datasets with approval pending and datasets approved for archiving;

· study title and identifier and points of contact;

· curation progress and challenges; and curation hours;

· records of three-way communication (i.e., data producers, study project COR, and archive staff);

· key decisions;

· agreed upon expected and actual release date;

· agreed upon date for announcement of release;

· curation effort hours, release announcement date, and tracking three-way communications (i.e., data producer, study project COR, archive staff).

The Contractor can recommend updates to this list. The Updated Dataset Matrices shall be submitted during biweekly meetings with COR (Task 1.2) (See Table 1). The Updated Dataset Matrices will aid the COR and key federal staff in selecting ECE datasets to be included in the CFData Archive and in understanding the curation workload and timeline. The COR must approve all ECE datasets before they begin the archiving process.

In addition to the pending and in-progress data noted in the Updated Dataset Matrices, the CFData Archive will maintain a working catalogue of all ACF-funded ECE datasets curated and maintained by the archive.

Task 5: Updating Procedures and Supporting Documentation for Maintaining CFData The purpose of this task is to revise and execute procedures that

· adhere to contract requirements and applicable laws and regulations to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of COR- approved ECE datasets and associated supporting materials, and

· prepare for dissemination the COR-approved ECE datasets and supporting materials, and

· provide technical assistance (TA) to data producers and depositors (Contractors and grant recipients) from research inception to completion to ensure data and materials are effectively prepared and deposited.

The COR will provide the Contractor with the most recent CFData Procedure Reports to be updated. Those reports include the Child and Family Data Archive Procedures Report, Data Preparation and Data Depositor TA Procedures Report, Data Producer’s Guide to the Child & Family Data Archive, and Federal Project Officer (FPO) Checklist for Archiving Data with the Child and Family Data Archive. The reports and supporting documents as a collective are hereafter referred to as the “Revised CFData Procedures Reports & Supporting Documents.”

In the Revised CFData Procedures Reports & Supporting Documents, the Contractor shall update the documented procedures and activities for all requirements. Changes from earlier versions shall be documented.

The Contractor shall:

a) Overall Child and Family Data Archive Procedures

· Securely store and make available COR-approved ECE datasets in the CFData Archive. The Contractor shall provide or utilize secure means for the exchange and storage of data. While the primary purpose of the archive is to make COR-approved ECE datasets publicly available as public and restricted access files (along with all supporting materials), some COR-approved ECE datasets may be stored with personally-identifiable and sensitive information for future longer-term follow-up analyses and/or studies.

· Establish, transfer and maintain website to a government URL (see specific requirement and activities in SC1, Task 5 and Section C.4). The archive site will be maintained with strategies and procedures that support access to ECE datasets and supporting documentation by a range of data users from sophisticated to novice. The process for creating, maintaining and updating the CFData Archive shall include a schedule and method for usability assessments to determine whether the information on the website is presented in the simplest manner for users. Site and oversight must be consistent with OCIO and ATO requirements.

· Develop and maintain 24-hour access to current CFData Archive holdings by external users accessing the archive through the internet and/or a virtual data enclave. The site shall allow users to explore data to check for relevance to their research question.

· For COR-identified datasets, collaborate with expert committee to review end-user applications (e.g., AIAN Data Committee). If designated by the COR, the expert committee shall be supported by the CFData Archive through subcontract or honorarium agreements. Document and track use and status of agreements with those end-users, sharing summary reports with COR when requested.

· Disseminate COR-approved ECE data and supporting materials to end-users (e.g., researchers, policy analysts, and other stakeholders). The supporting materials shall facilitate dataset access and use in a secure, efficient, valid, reliable, and cost-effective manner.

· Develop, review, and update legal agreements for obtaining, holding, and disseminating the data through the CFData Archive. These include, but are not limited to, data deposit agreements and data user agreements for public use, restricted use, and for data in a physical or virtual archive that do not allow results to be removed without review by archive staff. These agreements shall be reviewed and updated as needed in close collaboration with the COR.

· Create, maintain, and update written guides and forms to support the dataset preparation and submission process. These guides and forms may include but are not limited to: overview of the entire archiving process; guide to preparation and proper annotation of the data files; overview of tasks and timelines leading to submission; instructions for the preparation of codebooks; instructions for performing disclosure risk analyses as well as de-identifying and masking data; and lists of supporting and additional materials to be submitted with datasets including (but not limited to) 508 compliant codebook(s), data collection instruments, study protocol, consent forms, Institutional Review Board Approval, and published articles and 508 compliant final reports.

· Develop and maintain a searchable digital library for monitoring, recording, and making available online a bibliography of research publications (peer-reviewed publications and gray or white papers) stemming from the archived COR-approved ECE datasets.

· Develop and maintain a search function that allows users to search through the metadata (e.g., variable names, labels, and questionnaire item or value labels). The search function shall support searches for partial words, features to search within specified studies, as well as pull up more than one variable in multiple datasets within one search.

· Remain up-to-date about advances in the field of data archiving and integrating innovative strategies into the archive and implementing them when directed by the COR.

· Track and make available to the COR a variety of user statistics that provide information on the multiple facets of users, such as (but not limited to) total hits, unique users, and number of downloads for each ECE Dataset. These user statistics shall be reported as part of the monthly progress reports and detailed memoranda of progress and challenges to COR. Additional information related to user statistics shall be identified in close collaboration with the COR and other key federal staff.

· Provide support to special topic project(s) identified and approved by COR and designated federal staff. If ACF pursues secondary analyses work directly with data, supports may include, but are not limited to, provision of IRB review and supporting subcontract agreements for research consultants engaged in the effort.

· Ensure assessment and improvement of quality in all data archiving processes throughout course of the contract.

· Expand holdings of the CFData Archive by the inclusion of new public-use and restricted access data files and supporting materials from ACF-funded research contracts and grants, and on a limited basis, other ECE-relevant datasets (see OSC 10 through OSC19) as approved by the COR.

For restricted-use data and data accessed through a physical or virtual enclave, the Contractor shall prevent unauthorized export, copying, printing, downloading, screen capture, or transfer of data or analytic outputs. No data, output, derived file, codebook extract, log, or other material may be released from the restricted environment until it has completed the COR-approved disclosure review and output-check process.

b) Data Preparation and Data Depositor TA Procedures

· Update and maintain the Federal Project Officer (FPO) Checklist for…