USDA DAITO DRAFT Performance Work Statement -Drupal.pdf

US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

DRAFT Performance Work Statement (PWS)

Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)

Departmental Administration Information Technology Office (DAITO)

1. Introduction/Background The Draft Performance Work Statement (PWS) addresses specific requirements for the most current version of Drupal website development, automated migration of structured content, theming, section 508 testing and integration, and fully responsive design and Operations & Maintenance (platform & application). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Departmental Administration Information Technology Office (DAITO) managed USDA websites on the DAITO’s Enterprise Web Application Platform and Services (eWAPS). Each performance requirement will be tested according to the stated acceptance criteria. Work shall be completed under a firm fixed price contact; and the Period of Performance end TBD calendar days after award takes place.

USDA has a requirement to consolidate and enhance existing web content management capabilities to support current and future needs while reducing costs. To meet these goals, the DAITO has identified Drupal, the open-source web content management system, as the new standard web development platform for USDA public websites and technology for this robust eWAPS system. The Drupal open-source Content Management System (CMS) offers a dynamic solution for a user-centered experience that can utilize multimedia efforts already completed by

DAITO.

These products are a continuation of the current USDA.GOV website redesign, which was recently developed, and other Drupal sites build across USDA. An important portion of this BPA is the integration of current templates and architecture to enable ease of use and consistency throughout the entire enterprise.

2. Scope of Work The contractor shall provide support services within the following functional areas:

Functional Area 1: Platform Operations and Maintenance (O&M) All agreement holders shall leverage the existing Enterprise Web Application Platform and Services Platform, and Technical Support Requirements include 24/7 support for all websites:

o As of today, the eWAPS Platform is On Prem. In the future, the USDA will either stay On Prem or move to Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (AWS EKS).

o 24 months (12-month base period and 12-month option period) of security patches for Drupal core and contributed modules for each Drupal 11 and 12.

o Technical ability and technical knowledge to work in various platform environments: eWAPS

PaaS environment, and AWS or Microsoft Azure Government Cloud environment.

o Technical knowledge and ability to use the following tools: Docker, Rancher, and Kubernetes.

o Discovery, staff training and onboarding for USDA DevOps best-practices (Docker, Rancher, Kubernetes etc.)

o Audit all sites on a weekly basis for applicable security updates and apply updates when required and make a best-effort attempt in scenarios where pre-existing custom code or patches may interfere with core, or module updates.

o Merger Bitbucket pull request.

o Deploy the Bitbucket repository changes to the production Rancher containers as requested for all websites and the websites listed below but not limited to; (includes the cron and apache containers, some stack has other containers, like Newsline-cron and features-cron.

o Backup the database and content files for developer as requested;

o Create new stack on production Rancher and upload the initial project data to the new stack;

o Work with Duty Office and Akamai to cut-over the new site’s DNS to the platform o Update/edit the PlatformLoadBalance to handle the new project (new website on platform);

o Troubleshot and fix any site down issue for all sites;

o Manage the user on the bitbucket and staging Rancher;

o SSH (Secure Shell) to the platform to restart the Docker as needed;

o Dedicated DevOps Integration Specialist, Approximately (940 labor hoursx2) = 1,880 labor hours

Websites include but not limited to:

• www.ams.usda.gov

• www.aphis.usda.gov

• www.fas.usda.gov

• www.myplate.gov

• www.nass.usda.gov

• www.nifa.usda.gov

• www.fsa.usda.gov

• www.nrcs.usda.gov

• www.rma.usda.gov

• www.drought.gov

• www.climatehubs.usda.gov

• www.fns.usda.gov

• www.rd.usda.gov

• www.rural.gov

• www.usda.gov

• www.farmers.gov

• one.usda.gov (intranet)

• edirectives.nrcs.usda.gov

Up to 5 -6 additional sites will be added each year.

Program Management

• USDA DAITO seeks a Program Management capability that establishes and maintains program management practices throughout the period of performance.

• Provide program leadership for the entire program.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/ http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ http://www.myplate.gov/ http://www.nifa.usda.gov/ http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/ http://www.rd.usda.gov/

• Assist in marketing and be able to discuss the possibilities how Drupal will work with the agency website for new customers on the eWAPS platform services and Micros Cloud Migrations.

• Key components of this task include ensuring appropriate communication channels are established and maintained with the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR), OCIO/DAITO staff and stakeholders through the use of routine status reports and virtual/physical meetings.

At a minimum, the contractor shall ensure the following key positions are ALWAYS staffed with personnel who meet the described skill set:

Program Manager:

• 5 or more years as a PM managing large complex, enterprise or share service environments

• PMP Certification

• Agile Scrum Certification

• Web Content Manager knowledge

• Advanced knowledge of web and mobile communication strategies to help clients meet their strategic goals. Significant contributor to large digital projects, informing the overall approach, budget and timelines.

Lead Drupal Architect

• Candidate should at least have 6 years of Drupal Development experience 7&8

• Candidate should at least have 4 years Drupal Administration Exposure

• Expert in Docker, Rancher (1.x and 2.x), and Kubernetes,

• Knowledgeable of Akamai Security and Web services

• Agile Scrum Certification

• Experience depth knowledge of Drupal architecture, upgrades, patches management, configuration management, content migrations, drush programming, upgrade and customizing themes

• Proficient in at least PHP dynamic languages

• Experience with theming and template over-riding, responsive web design, cross-browser compatibility, and accessibility/disability requirements (Section 508)

• Network knowledge to work with USDA Data Center and Akamai engineers

• Solid web server Unix/Linus server knowledge, strong shell scripting experience

Maintenance Methodology The contractor shall utilize the Agile Software Development methodology, specifically SCRUM, and the associated industry leading practices and automated tools to keep historic records of all Sprint related activities. The contractor shall use Government furnished instance of Atlassian JIRA, Confluence Cloud and Atlassian Service Desk software for project development and tracking.

The contractor shall:

a. Enter and maintain tickets in the JIRA Service Desk,

b. Complete security patching backlog within 30 days, for the high security related patching (>= 22/25), this date should be much shorter,

c. Test and implement patches and releases within 10 business days of security release or sooner based on impact of patch,

d. Demonstrate that Information Technology (IT) security controls are explicitly incorporated and are consistent with _ Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Departmental requirements,

e. And demonstrate that the application and contractors comply with the USDA and OCIO/DAITO’s IT security policies and guidance.

Development and Testing During the development process, the contractor shall ensure that the requirements and acceptance criteria are updated in JIRA to reflect any changes and that the changes have been communicated and approved by the Product Owner. Testing in the agile development process requires frequent engagement with the customer and testers during design, system integration testing and user acceptance testing.

The contractor shall ensure all products are thoroughly tested during each sprint prior to user acceptance testing and identify and correct product testing issues.

Thorough, iterative testing includes unit, functional, system, interoperability, regression, security, and performance testing.

The contractor shall create a test plan, inclusive of test scripts when necessary. The Government expects the contractor to perform system integration testing (SIT) and manage the process of user acceptance testing (UAT).

The contractor shall test throughout each sprint using industry best techniques, for both functional and non-functional requirements, including load, performance, and installation testing. The contractor shall correct and repair defects throughout the agile software development process identified through all testing, including unit, functional, system, interoperability, regression, security, and performance, and conduct inspections and provide analysis of testing results as necessary to deliver production-ready code at the close of each sprint. Testing scripts, utilities, test execution, and testing results shall be historically maintained within JIRA and JIRA Agile under configuration control for comparison and analysis.

The contractor shall complete system integration testing and user acceptance testing in the pre-production environment and shall work with the Project Teams to provide source code; software build scripts and installation instructions;

associated design, development, and testing artifacts; and release notes prior to sprint deployments from the development environment to the pre-production environment and from the pre-production environment to the production environment for final release deployment. The contractor shall address any issues found within the deliverables, installation procedures, documentation, or other items relevant to successful testing and deployment of a releasable deliverable.

At the conclusion of each sprint, the definition of “pre-production ready” shall include the transfer of all code and configurations from the development environment to the pre-production environment. At the conclusion of User acceptance testing (UAT) for each sprint or set of sprints and approval identified during Go/No-Go sessions, the definition of “production ready” shall include the approval of all code and configurations in the pre-production environment. At the conclusion of each release deployment and validation, the definition of “done” shall include the transfer of all code and configurations from the pre-production environment to the production environment, proper documentation of completed work during the sprint and update of continuous documentation.

Production releases will follow the accepted Roadmap. The contractor shall comply with requirements for assessment and authorization that is required in advance of production deployment. USDA shall conduct security scans and contractor shall address any security issues identified.

Automated Issue Tracking Tool The Government shall provide but not limited to, an Application Developer Toolkit (and support) for:

a) JIRA

b) GIT repository

c) Confluence

d) Docker

e) Rancher

f) AWS

The Contractor shall use the Government provided Atlassian automated issue tracking tool that all Government and contractor team members shall have access

to. The Agile Scrum automated issue tracking tool shall include (some of which can be incorporated into the tools above):

a) Issues

b) Level of Effort (LOE)

c) Acceptance Criteria

d) Product Backlog

e) Test Cases/Scripts

f) Test Results

Quality Assurance and Configuration Management Support The Contractor shall perform the functions of Quality Assurance (QA) and Configuration Management (CM) for the application. The CM task includes developing and maintaining relevant documentation and hardware and software application information as provided for by the Agency’s Configuration Management and Quality Assurance standards. QA tasks include testing the application, finding and reporting bugs in the code, preparation of test cases, and preparation of test plans. Developers shall use GIT (version control system) client /local GIT branch and commit their codes into the GIT repository master branch using script (Drush) whenever possible. All manual configurations (by through admin menu) can be easily lost - these shall be fully backed up and documented. All components put to QA should be from Development GIT repository.

It also includes coordination of various levels of testing (such as website/application testing, functionality verification, load testing, independent QA testing, and thorough regression testing) during releases and patch or other server upgrades. This task shall include creation of bi-directional traceability between new requirements and test cases. CM tasks include plan development and updates, configuration identification, configuration change control, and baseline management.

The contractor shall also be responsible for implementing the code in the User Acceptance Test (UAT) environment and providing support to the Government for integration and implementation into the production environment. OCIO/DAITO may provide a production mirror site for contractor led testing prior to production release, if necessary.

The contractor shall ensure that all changes to the production system are fully documented in all the relevant design documents. The contractor shall ensure that all code is version controlled; USDA shall conduct an independent code review prior to any production release. Coding support shall include ensuring that configuration management (CM) process and procedures are adhered to and in place for the continued development of the system. CM will include code control in all the system environments which may include the User Acceptance Test, Development, production environments, and backup production environments.

The contractor shall provide detailed test plans and test cases for the Government to use during UAT. The contractor shall ensure that all database changes are coordinated and approved by the Government.

Load Testing The contractor shall work with our Platform O&M provider to perform load testing (by available means) all code deployments before releasing them into the production environment.

Regression Testing The contractor shall regression test all new code before releasing into the production environment to ensure that any release or specific bug fix does not impact the overall website.

Documentation The contractor in close coordination with the integrated project team shall maintain the following documentation to reflect the changes resulting from releases, not necessarily from each release:

Integration and Testing o Test Plans (functional, system, interoperability, regression, security and performance, including SIT and UAT) o Test Results (functional, system, interoperability, regression, security and performance, including SIT and UAT), and Sign-Off

Implementation o Installation Document, Operational Readiness and Deployment Plans Release Notes o System Administration Manual o Source Code

Before deploying each release in the pre-production and production environments, the contractor may have to work with other vendors and OCIO/DAITO IT COR or designee to provide a short description of the release, required downtime and affected servers.

Documentation may be placed in the Government furnished Confluence cloud software site.

Monitoring To minimize the impact of errors and performance problems to users, the Contractor shall conduct ongoing, holistic monitoring of the application. Monitoring shall include but is not limited to:

a) Automated monitoring of application performance with real-time alarming when performance degrades.

b) Ongoing exception log monitoring, including analysis of individual errors and error trends over time.

c) The monitoring log configuration should automatically capture information about the machine, application state, and other relevant details necessary to identify and resolve technical issues.

d) Weekly reports will be provided to OCIO/DAITO with actionable information based upon predefined performance thresholds and metrics, and will include recommendations for resolution of issues.

It is the expectation of OCIO/DAITO that the majority of errors shall be identified and communicated by the Contractor through monitoring and analysis rather than from reports from end users.

It is the expectation of OCIO/DAITO that the Contractor shall use proactive monitoring and analysis to identify and resolve errors before they have a significant impact on the user base.

Component Failure Alarming and Mitigation The Contractor shall provide component failure alarming and mitigation. The contactor shall be responsible for identifying potential failure sources and developing plans for their remediation. Project Team shall be notified immediately when any type of failure occurs and shall be kept informed throughout the mitigation process.

Functional Area 2: Web Application Development All agreement holders shall leverage the existing Enterprise Drupal Web Content Management Platform, and defined governance to build and deploy new sites/applications using the most current versions of the Linux-based, open-source technologies of Drupal, Symfony, Jekyll and/or other compiled static website software. This shall incorporate the Enterprise Platform best practices, along with Government approved recommended platform and workflow modifications, which could be provided by the Government, partnering organizations or vendors, to ensure the solution supports the various and complex sites that will need to reside on the platform.

The selected agreement holder shall use agile guiding principles to increase return on investment, improve simplicity of code, and minimize technical debt. Design, development and testing of implemented requirements described shall be delivered in short, time-boxed sprints of 2-4 weeks, following the flow of the Roadmap. Best practices in agile software requirements management, agile software development, and project management shall be employed to support incremental, high-quality deliverables. Where appropriate, All agreement holders may utilize a hybrid approach to include both waterfall and agile methodologies to ensure that the requirements and business processes effectively. USDA expects The selected agreement holder to use JIRA to manage the backlog, user stories, test scripts and test results, as well as user help issues.

Working through Sprints

The selected agreement holder shall work with the USDA Project team to develop, enhance and manage user stories. Decision to add, delete or modify user stories will involve the integrated project team; however, all decisions will be approved by the product owner. The selected agreement holder shall deliver the design, development and testing in 2-4-week springs that produce demonstrable “interim deliveries” of production ready websites/applications. These deliveries of capabilities may or may not be implemented in the production environment. The overall time required to deliver production ready deliverables depends on release planning, complexity of features, themes and epics, but also may be based on a fixed time cycle, with variances in the amount of features developed. The selected shall use continuous integration best practice techniques in developing software solutions.

USDA will provide The selected agreement holder with an INTEG, pre-production and production environment within the USDA Enterprise Platform. The selected agreement holder shall incorporate design, development and testing in each sprint.

Design

The selected agreement holder shall work with USDA and the integrated project team to engage stakeholders throughout the entire project life cycles for design and development of new and existing content. Contractor shall collaborate actively with the product owners and developers towards building best in class experiences, while pushing the needle of how front-end web and mobile technologies can help deliver experiences that delight people. The overall goal of the design process is to streamline the development and user acceptance testing process by considering best practices in improving user experience, requirements analysis of existing high-level requirements and rapid visualization with a new design prototype toolset. USDA does not expect to view coded prototypes during the design process but expects The selected agreement holder to use interactive wireframes during development. The selected agreement holder shall deliver the interactive wireframes of at least two designs options to depict the user interface and layout of requirements with each sprint, where applicable, and expects The selected agreement holder to participate and support the integrated project team and stakeholders with technical input and feedback during the design review sessions. The selected agreement holder shall wait until the review and approval of the requirements and design before implementing changes for new functionality.

Development and Testing

USDA requires that The selected agreement holder complete peer reviews while developing during each sprint. During the development process, The selected agreement holder shall ensure that the requirements/user stories and acceptance criteria are updated in JIRA to reflect any changes that have been communicated and approved by the USDA Product Owner. Testing in the agile development process requires frequent engagement with the customer and testers during design, system integration testing and user acceptance testing. The selected agreement holder shall ensure all products are thoroughly tested during each sprint prior to user acceptance testing and identify and correct product testing issues. Thorough, iterative testing includes unit, functional, system, interoperability, regression, security and performance testing. The selected agreement holder shall also provide testing of browser compatibility and Section 508 to ensure that all web pages are in compliance with Section 508 standards and best practices as determined by USDA.

For each sprint, The selected agreement holder shall create a test plan, inclusive of test scripts.

The selected agreement holder shall perform system integration testing (SIT) and manage the process of user acceptance testing (UAT). The selected agreement holder shall schedule user acceptance kick-off meetings to provide an overview of the test scripts, demonstrate the requirements identified for user acceptance testing, consolidate all test results and summarize the status of user acceptance testing.

Test scripts will be developed before coding begins to support the test-driven development. The selected agreement holder shall test throughout each sprint using industry best techniques, for both functional and non-functional requirements, including load, performance, and installation testing. The selected agreement holder shall correct and repair defects throughout the agile software development process identified through all testing, including unit, functional, system, interoperability, regression, security and performance, and conduct inspections and provide analysis of testing results as necessary to deliver production-ready code at the close of each sprint. Testing scripts, utilities, test execution and testing results shall be historically maintained within JIRA under configuration control for comparison and analysis.

The selected agreement holder shall complete system integration testing and user acceptance testing in the pre-production environment and must work with the USDA Integration staff and the USDA Integrated Project Team to provide source code; software build scripts and installation instructions; associated design, development and testing artifacts; and release notes prior to sprint deployments from the development environment to the pre-production environment and from the pre-production environment to the production environment for final release deployment.

The selected agreement holder shall address any issues found within the deliverables, installation procedures, documentation, or other items relevant to successful testing and deployment of a releasable deliverable. Also, The selected agreement holder shall address outstanding defects that are discovered during the 90-day warranty period in a technical debt sprint at no cost to the government.

At the conclusion of each sprint, the definition of “pre-production ready” shall include the transfer of all code and configurations from the development environment to the pre-production environment. At the conclusion of UAT for each sprint or set of sprints and approval identified during Go/No-Go sessions, the definition of “production ready” shall include the approval of all code and configurations in the pre-production environment to the production environment, proper documentation of completed work during the sprint and update of continuous documentation.

Production releases will follow the accepted Roadmap. The selected agreement holder shall design, develop and test software to meet existing and planned Enterprise Platform architecture and deployment requirements and conform to the non-functional requirements. The selected agreement holder shall comply with requirements for assessment and authorization that is required in advance of production deployment and shall conduct security scans as required by USDA using government provided tools. Most agile projects will require several iterations, culminating in a release to production. The size and complexity of the user stories will drive the number and length of the iterations and release schedule.

Stakeholder Engagement during Sprint Planning and Sprint Review

In order to capture the business requirements and understand the expectations, USDA will create an integrated project team to meet weekly in hopes of maintaining the following objectives:

• Ensure that needs are successfully met through a multi-phased approach

• Ensure that functional and non-functional requirements accurately identify business processes for all programs and meet user expectations

• DAITO us on the development of a system/website that will provide capabilities to analyze findings from reviews

• Safeguard the goals, objects and outputs, so that USDA has an accurate and transparent understanding of the effort

Specifically, the goal is to meet weekly to discuss feedback, review functional requirements, streamline business process and functional requirements, and participate in user acceptance testing, release retrospectives, training and question and answer sessions. As a member of the integrated project team, USDA expects the selected contractor, represented by specific members of the agile team, to interact with the business team during meetings, user acceptance testing, release retrospectives, training, and question and answer sessions.

Training

All agreement holders shall provide User and Administrator training on all new development efforts to Government personnel. This work will vary depending on the underlying development effort.

However, this training is meant to equip the users/administrators with the tools and knowledge needed to assist with the ongoing efforts of the project. All agreement holders shall provide training materials including, but not limited to, user manuals, administrator manuals and screenshots.

Documentation

The selected agreement holder in close coordination with the integrated project team shall maintain the following documentation to reflect the changes resulting from releases, not necessarily from each release:

• Design o User Stories (add, delete or modify) o System Design and Specifications documents o Concept of Operations o Change Control Charter o Configuration Management Plan o Security Business Impact Assessment o Security Contingency Plan o Disaster Recovery Plan

• Development Integration and Testing o Test Plans (functional, system, interoperability, regression, security and performance, including SIT and UAT) o Test Results (functional, system, interoperability, regression, security and performance, including SIT and UAT) and Sign-Off o AppScan Results o Security Assessment Plan o Privacy Threshold Analysis (PTA) o Privacy Impact Analysis (PIA) o Electronic Information Systems Questionnaire for Records Management Scheduling

(EIS)

o Section 508 VPAT and/or Certification and updates

• Implementation o Installation Document, Operational Readiness and Deployment Plans o System Post-Implementation Review Report o Compliance Certification o ATO/Concurrency Review o Performance Measures o Release Notes o System Administration Manual o Source Code

The selected agreement holder shall take meeting minutes at all meetings and distribute by the next business day for comment/review. Also, before deploying each release in the pre-production and production environments, The selected agreement holder shall work with the USDA Integration team to provide a short description of the release and any required downtime.

Functional Area 3: User Interface, User Experience and Design All agreement holders shall focus on anticipating what users might need to do and ensuring that the interface has elements that are easy to access, understand, and use to facilitate those actions.

The User Interface shall bring together concepts from interaction design, visual design and information architecture. The User Interface, User Experience and Design shall provide an easy-to-use and visually appealing presentation.

Interface elements shall include, but are not limited to:

• Input Controls: buttons, text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdown lists, list boxes, toggles, date field

• Navigational Components: breadcrumb, slider, search field, pagination, slider, tags, icons

• Information Components: tooltips, icons, progress bar, notification, message boxes, modal windows

• Containers: accordion

There are times when multiple elements might be appropriate for displaying content.

All agreement holders shall learn to know the users, including understanding the goals, skills, preferences, and tendencies. All agreement holders shall consider the following when designing the interface:

• Keep the interface simple, avoid unnecessary elements and clear language is used on labels and in messaging.

• Create consistency and use common UI elements. Create patterns in language, layout and design throughout the site to help facilitate efficiency. Provide the user with a clear and consistent conceptual structure.

• Be purposeful in page layout. Consider the spatial relationships between items on the page and structure the page based on importance.

• Strategically use color and texture following the USDA style guide and standards.usa.gov as well as 508 compliance regulations. Three basic principles shall be applied: color organization, color economy and color communication.

• Use typography to create hierarchy and clarity. Use typefaces that are compliant with USDA style guide and standards.usa.gov.

• Make sure that the system communicates what’s happening. Always inform your users of location, actions, and changes in state or errors. The use of various UI elements to communicate status and, if necessary, next steps can reduce frustration.

• Think about the defaults. Anticipate the goals of people coming to your site to reduce burden. Particularly important in form design.

All agreement holders shall conduct technical and User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) audits using best practices for UI/UX design of existing websites utilizing qualitative and quantitative data from user research, analytics, and business analysis to drive demonstrable improvements to design solutions. All agreement holders shall create project planning assets such as flowcharts, wireframes, prototypes, scenarios and storyboards to manage the design roadmap being alive and aligned to the overall business and strategy. All agreement holders shall optimize user experience in a data-driven manner, such as conducting A/B tests and heat mappings.

Functional Area 4: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Business Analytics (BA) and Business Intelligence (BI) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

All agreement holders shall enhance the online visibility of a website or a web page in a web search engine’s organic (unpaid) results for both mobile and desktops. All agreement holders shall target different kinds of search, including image search, video search, academic search, news search, and government-specific vertical search engines to improve rankings, drive traffic and increase awareness in search engines. All agreement holders shall consider how the government specified search engines work, the computer programmed algorithms which dictate search engine behavior, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines, and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve All agreement holders editing its content, adding content, implementing structure data standards such as the schema.org vocabulary, performing coding to increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

Business Analytics (BA) and Business Intelligence (BI)

All agreement holders shall implement a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that leverage the output of information management processes for analysis, reporting, performance management and information delivery that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information. All agreement holders shall help to provide more effective strategic, tactical and operational insights and decision-making using descriptive analytics, predictive modeling, visual pattern discovery, regression and data mining analytic methods. All agreement holders shall assist the government in ensuring the right processes, infrastructure and strategy for data quality is in place.

All agreement holders shall provide expertise in:

• The blending of software and consulting services

• Increasing Self-service

• Cloud-based business intelligence

• Mobile Intelligence

• Big Data

• Data Aggregation

All agreement holders shall use prepare data (both internal and external) for analysis and process this data to help the government understand a single, holistic view of what is happening on their websites. All agreement holders shall use Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) tools to provide:

• Interactive Visualizations – charts, graphs, and scorecards that are personalized for the user.

• Dashboards – organization of information in one place and allows the user to dig deeper.

All agreement holders shall provide training on the self-service functionality and the ability to display information and reports in a user-friendly manner.

Functional Area 5: Project Management All agreement holders shall be responsible for leading and managing the coordination of the working groups and partners within the supported website projects.

The project management will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Providing project leadership,

• Developing and maintaining a detailed project plan,

• Performance monitoring, planning and reporting,

• Project scheduling and documentation,

• Managing project deliverables in line with the project plan,

• Recording and managing project issues and escalating where necessary,

• Resolving cross-functional issues at project level,

• Managing project scope and change control and escalating issues where necessary,

• Monitoring project progress and performance,

• Providing status reports,

• Managing project evaluation and dissemination activities,

• Final approval of the design specification,

• Managing project deliverables in line with the project plan,

• Working closely with users to ensure the project meets business needs, etc.

Deliverables include but are not limited to the following:

• Project Schedule: Chart consisting of a list of a project's terminal elements with intended start and finish dates

• Vision Document: Document describing the overall plan of the project

• Project Charter: Document containing scope, objectives and participants in a project

• Project Plan: Document used to guide both project execution and project control and which documents planning assumptions and decisions, facilitates communication among stakeholders, and also documents approved scope, cost, and schedule baselines

• Program Management Plan: Document containing information about how the contract will be managed, ensuring that All agreement holders complies with the terms and conditions during the performance of the contract

• Quality Assurance Plan: Document containing details outlining how All agreement holders will ensure that it performs and delivers high quality service

• Monthly Project Management Summary: Document providing a monthly report summarizing the previous month’s activities including the status, issues and suggested resolutions

• Weekly Status Reports: Document providing a weekly status report entailing the previous week’s activities including status, accomplishments, user requests, schedule changes, recommendations and upcoming tasks

Documentation Support

All agreement holders shall provide support with documentation as required by the USDA team.

The support includes developing, maintaining and updating templates and/or project documents as directed by the USDA team.

Functional Area 6: DevOps and System Administration All agreement holders shall provide solutions that will increased and improve collaboration between our key stakeholders which include our security, development, and operations teams.

The DevOps and System Administration solution should address shared goals and incentives as well as our tools and processes. The solution should result in closer collaboration between stakeholders, providing a holistic approach to software engineering. One of the main goals of DevOps will be to provide IT agility to match our business velocity.

All agreement holders shall support the infrastructure that builds, secures and maintains the platform. All agreement holders shall be highly technical and work directly with other server and service owners to ensure reliability and sustainability of the infrastructure as well as compliance with internal policies. Success in this role means you are able to support our team in a mixed operating system and work efficiently. All agreement holders shall rely on the government’s guidance when it comes to design decisions to allow a direct impact in keeping our business productive.

All agreement holders will have the following responsibilities but not limited to:

• Assisting project teams with technical issues in the initiation and planning phases of our Agile development methodology

• Participate on projects focused on a smooth project transition from development staff to production staff by performing operations activities within the project lifecycle

• Define needs, benefits and technical strategy, research and development within the project lifecycle, technical analysis and design

• Support of operations staff in executing, testing and rolling-out the solutions

• Accountable for hard- and software systems and monitoring systems that supports IT-infrastructure

• Perform daily system monitoring, verifying the integrity and availability of all hardware, server resources, systems and key processes, reviewing system and application logs and verifying completion of scheduled jobs such as backups, perform daily backup operations, ensuring all required file systems and system data are successfully backed-up to the appropriate media & perform regular file archival and purge as necessary

• Provide 2nd/3rd level support per request from various customer and internal departments

• Investigate and troubleshoot issues, create, change, and delete user accounts per request

• Repair and recover from hardware or software failures

• Coordinate and communicate with impacted departments

• Engineering of Systems administrator-related solutions for various project and operational needs

• Install new and/or rebuild existing servers and configure hardware, peripherals, services, settings, directories, storage, etc. in accordance with standards and project/operational requirements

• Install and configure systems such as supports IT-infrastructure applications or management applications

• Develop and maintain installation and configuration procedures

• Contribute to and maintain system standards

• Research and recommend innovative and, where possible, automated approaches for system administration tasks

Functional Area 7: Information Architecture and Content Management Information Architecture

All agreement holders shall provide support with Information architecture, mainly focusing on structuring, organizing, and labeling content in an effective and sustainable way. The goal is to help users find information and complete tasks.

All agreement holders shall be able to translate user behavior into media structure, craft interactive experiences, produce workflow diagrams and other production materials, as well as organize information into site maps. All agreement holders shall coordinate with the USDA’s production department to implement their strategies with an understanding of web production software.

All agreement holders shall work to create usable and findable content structures out of complex sets of data and information; essentially, structuring content so it’s easy for users to find what they are looking for. All agreement holders shall identify the changes that need to be made and create a plan to make them happen.

All agreement holders shall provide a positive user experience by determining information structure for web sites and web applications.

All agreement holders shall support with the following tasks:

• Create Personas for Taxonomy Development.

• Identifying user requirements by researching and analyzing user needs, preferences, objectives, and working methods; studying how users consume content, including data categorization and labeling; meeting with focus groups

• Planning information architecture by studying the site concept, strategy, and target audience; envisioning architectural scheme, information structure and features, functionality, and user-interface design; creating user scenarios; preparing data models;

designing information structure, work-and dataflow, and navigation; evaluating information representation; conducting creative meetings

• Organizing information by translating user behavior into media structure and elements;

crafting interactive experiences; producing workflow diagrams, user scenarios, flowcharts, and storyboards; preparing interaction specifications, navigation rules, organization of information, and site maps; coordinating with business, technology, visual, structural, editorial, cognitive, and brand strategists

• Implementing information architecture by preparing paper and interactive prototypes and mockups including page layout and navigational elements; coordinating with Web Producer and Production Developer to integrate site concept, visual design, writing, interface, and navigational structure; documenting structure and processes

• Validating information delivery by developing and completing usability test plans;

evaluating traffic patterns; studying user feedback; coordinating with USDA’s specialists

• Modeling and maintain the enterprise data models

• Extending the data models to the application architecture

• Coordinating the integration and service-oriented architecture (SOA) between applications

Content Management

All agreement holders shall provide a content management solution that allows users within USDA to capture, create, manage, store, view, publish, search, and archive documents. Additionally, All agreement holders shall provide support with the content management system development activity, creation and modification of templates, theming, module integration, Section 508 testing, responsive design, and structure content.

All agreement holders shall provide expertise in, but not limited to:

• Installing, configuring, and administering the content management solution

• Maintaining responsibility for failover and disaster recovery, account administration, custom application integration

• Developing content strategy aligned with short-term and long-term targets

• Collaborating with the USDA team to plan and develop site content, style and layout

• Creating and publish engaging content

• Executing minor web changes, such as updates, and provide notifications when completed

• Creation of new pages, sections and large-scale revisions to content

• Editing, proofreading and improving web page posts

• Optimizing content according to SEO

• Using content management systems to analyze website traffic and user’s engagement metrics

• Creating and revising wireframes-based USDA’s goals

• Developing and maintaining website calendar, including coordination of featured content

• Assisting with troubleshooting as needed

• Communicating and managing certain issues and new functionality requests

• Sending notifications and coordinating with USDA’s team to ensure the timely delivery of upcoming web updates

• Setting up and tracking URLs, redirects and tracking links across the site

• Assisting with drafting descriptions for webpages, assigning keywords and generally keeping metadata updated

• Providing basic editorial support

• Assisting with posting content and notifying the team when going live

• Assisting with posting mobile app content, updates and alerts

Functional Area 8: 508 Compliance All agreement holders shall be responsible for implementing 508 compliance for all digital communication this includes website content, PDF versions of traditionally printed assets. PDFs require 508 remediation as they are not accessible by screen readers.

Functional Area 9: Usability Testing All agreement holders shall be responsible for the one of the following:

• Lab Testing o This includes testing websites and software applications at a lab with testing workstations, testing software along with audio visual recording capability to capture screen and user experience. This includes participant recruiting in the form of web/application users and their incentive for usability testing, Lab Rent and a formal report deliverable due at the end of the engagement. Typically, each engagement for a period of two to three weeks.

• Mobile Lab Testing o This includes testing websites and software applications by setting up a mobile lab in a conference or meeting room at the agency we bring the equipment i.e.

workstations, testing software along with audio visual recording capability to capture screen and user experience. This includes participant recruiting in the form of web/application users and their incentive for usability testing, Lab Rent and a formal rent deliverable due at the of the engagement. Typically, each engagement is for a period of two to three weeks.

Functional Area 10: Application Enhancements/Operations and Maintenance (O&M) All agreement holders shall be responsible for the Drupal website development/enhancements and maintenance, application support and end-user training. The objectives and expectations of these services include:

• Provide content support and changes

• Ensure the application remains modernized and compatible with current and new versions of the agency standard for web browsers, operating systems, and devices

• Make recommendations and implementing approved technical architecture changes to optimize application stability, flexibility, performance, and scalability

• Monitor Performance

This section provides an overview of the various tasks to be performed under this Operations, Maintenance and Enhancement (OM&E) task.

Operations and Maintenance (O&M) includes running operational components designed for administrators and/or operators, monitoring and maintaining the operational integrity of the system during operation cycles, configuration management, address defects or minor enhancements within the O&M context, communicating with external organization and tracking activities performed through logs, status reports, matrices, and available statistical information and analysis.

All agreement holders shall assume responsibilities for verifying the usability and integrity of the backup data, performing an annual Disaster Recovery (DR) proof of concept/tabletop exercise and actual testing of the backed-up data located at the host provider site. All agreement holders will provide assurance that the website is operational and available to users 24x7/365 days a year except for periods of scheduled maintenance, including:

a. Bug identification, tracking and resolution

b. Monitoring and maintaining the operational integrity of the system during operation cycles

c. Maintaining and scaling technical architecture as needed to meet usage demands

d. Assisting with database updates

e. Tracking system activities via logs, status reports, matrices, and statistical information and analysis and making recommendations for action

f. Making system updates as needed to ensure compatibility with the most current browsers, operating systems and devices

g. Ensuring system optimization through research, recommendations and implementation of solutions that improve efficiency

h. Application performance monitoring and reporting

All agreement holders are responsible for support in identifying and troubleshooting problems as they occur, inside or outside of who may be responsible for the root cause risk or production issue.

All agreement holders shall develop, for the COR approval, a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that details the support levels, personnel, hours of operation, sprint velocity, response times, conditions, and expectations for support the…