A01_ATTACHMENT_1_ACE_PWS_5_Jul_RD_comments.DOCX

PWS

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

Title: Acquisition Support for Walter Reed Army Institute Research (WRAIR)

Requiring Activity Name: Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR).

1. INTRODUCTION

The WRAIR aims to conduct biomedical research that is responsive to Department of Defense and US Army requirements and delivers life-saving products including knowledge, technology and medical material that sustain the combat effectiveness of the Warfighter.

With our headquarters dedicated to Senator Daniel E. Inouye and located in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research is the largest biomedical research facility currently serving the Department of Defense. Established in 1893, our research and development now reaches around the world from Maryland to the Republic of Georgia, Thailand, and many countries around South America such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and others.

Our vision is to be the premier DoD biomedical research organization, constantly relevant, integrating basic research and advanced technology that protects, projects, and sustains the Warfighter today, invents global medical solutions for the future, and keeps the Warfighter on point for the Nation. As a brigade sized element, we host three Centers of Excellence for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience Research and for Military Infectious Disease Research and a Center for Enabling Capabilities, each center ranging from blast induced neurotrauma to malaria vaccine development to Pilot Bio-Production.

2. PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND

The WRAIR and its Special Foreign Activities (SFAs) aim to conduct biomedical research and surveillance that is responsive to Department of Defense and US Army requirements and delivers lifesaving products including knowledge, technology and medical material that sustain the combat effectiveness of the Warfighter.

WRAIR has developed three Centers of Excellence – Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) and Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience Research (CMPN), and Center for Enabling Capabilities (CEC). The CIDR combines expertise in the development of vaccines and drugs for prevention and treatment of such diseases as malaria, HIV/AIDS, dengue fever, wound infections, leishmaniasis, enteric diseases and others. World-renowned scientists with expertise in comprehensive Soldier fitness, brain injury, and sleep management make up the CMPN. The CEC provides support and management of core capabilities such as Clinical Trial Center, Pilot Bio-Production Facility, Research Transition Office and Veterinary Medicine.

WRAIR hosts both a Clinical Trials Center for infectious disease research studies and a Sleep Study center supporting research in sleep suites designed for conducting sleep deprivation and performance studies.

WRAIR has a Pilot Bio-production facility that manufactures biologicals for clinical trials and studies, can manufacture products from pilot batch, and is capable of producing up to Phase III clinical trials using Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations.

WRAIR has clinical trial expertise and facilities both in the U.S. and in Outside of the Continental United States (OCONUS) areas (such as Kenya, Cambodia, Thailand) with high transmission rates of selected infectious diseases and with high rates of drug-resistant tropical diseases. Supporting this clinical trial work is an insectary for raising mosquitoes and sand flies, biosafety level 3 laboratories, Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AALAC)-accredited animal facilities and research suites.

The WRAIR supports a global workforce with established labs in Silver Spring, MD; Tbilisi, Georgia; Bangkok, Thailand; Nairobi, Kenya; Joint Base Lewis McChord, WA; Ft. Hood, Texas; as well as many field sites and partner locations.

The WRAIR HQ centralizes management of several critical business support functions within a single office:

Acquisition and Contracting: Support all acquisition practices, conduct ongoing contracting process improvements at the requiring activity level, conduct proactive and professional liaison activities with contracting, seek out and identify contracting opportunities and vehicles that best meet the demands of the unique WRAIR mission.

Office of Research Technology Applications (ORTA): Supports a variety of Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property protection functions.

Grant Awards and sponsored research support: provides assistance to WRAIR investigators seeking to obtain extramural funding, funding searches, opportunity identification, proposal preparation support, liaison with resource management, reporting, etc.

WRAIR requires timely access to contract vehicles that provide support to the WRAIR at reasonable costs and support to awards assistance awards. To support this goal, WRAIR requires Subject Matter expertise to assist in organization of and creation of internal acquisition plans, to help evolve business processes, to integrated business processes and knowledge products, to solidify processes through internal policy and SOP development, to develop and document business strategies, to develop business dashboards, to capture and analyze business data to be used for trending/forecasting, and to write acquisition documents. The support required must provide expert guidance and recommendations at a Headquarters (HQ) level that takes into account best business practices across similar scoped big-Pharma, industry, and academic enterprises. This includes work related to both human and animal use protocol support.

The WRAIR Acquisition Management Liaison Officers (AMLOs) act as a liaison between WRAIR’s end users and Contracting Officers (KOs). The contemplated acquisitions have the potential to be procured through logistics procurement mechanisms such as Government Purchase Card (GPC), Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS), electronic Catalogue (eCAT), etc. WRAIR and the SFAs do not have warranted contracting Officers on staff. The primary contracting activity used by WRAIR and its SFAs is the US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA or “RAA”). Other contracting agencies include US Army Corps of Engineers and Natick Army Contracting Activity.

It is important to recognize that nearly 1/3 of the annual WRAIR operating budget is attributed to activities supported by the Federal Technology Innovation act of 1986 (previously known as the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980) activities each year. Second to the funding considerations, it is important to recognize that Intellectual Property (IP) considerations are of immense importance to WRAIR. Training and tools to identify, capture, and report IP is required in acquisitions going forward. Care must be taken to ensure IP terms in contracts do not contradict IP terms in Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) nor do IP terms in contract put collaborative partner IP in jeopardy.

It is also imperative to understand the WRAIR is not core funded by the Army and every appropriated dollar supporting science or science support is received through the submission of competitive proposals to a long list of intra- and extra-mural agencies such as Military Infectious Disease Research Program (MIDRIP), Combat Casualty Care Research Program (CCCRP), and Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP). WRAIR and the SFAs also compete for awards to receive congressionally funded efforts supported by other Medical Research and Materiel Command (MRMC) assets such as Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program (JWMRP), Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP), and from the AMEDD Advanced Medical Technology Initiative (AAMTI). Not to be discounted, WRAIR and SFAs also receive funding from National Institutes for Health (NIH) through various types of grants such as Research Project Grant Programs such as NIH Research Project Grant Program (R01), NIH Small Grant Program (R03), and NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21). The WRAIR and SFAs also receive competitive funding annually from partners such as the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC) (such as the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance or GEIS). The BMO requires assistance in the evaluation of contracting strategies or plans to be used in support of outgoing WRAIR and SFA proposals (intra- and extra-mural) as well as for any Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). (This complexity of funding entities highlights the need to conduct Proposal Realism as these proposals are submitted. Currently, it is not possible to assess and trend the submitted proposals through execution in business systems outside of the fiscal environment.)

It is imperative the contractor understand the Medical Research and Materiel Command (MRMC) funding functionality as well as the expectations and realities of typical extra- and intra-mural funding opportunities such as the ones above. The Army accounting system, General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS), poses unique constraints when dealing with the variable funding streams used by the WRAIR and SFAs. For example, GFEBS does not allow for CRADA funds to be set up in the system to account for the actual legal obligation period of the funds which may be longer than two fiscal years. This poses issues when Purchase Requests (PRs) are sent to the contracting activity which may appear to have an “expired” line of accounting when the funds are still valid for obligation. Because of the wide variability of requirements, WRAIR has a need for contract vehicles that offer a broad scope, yet provide a focused approach to avoiding potential conflicts of interest. This situation greatly increases the complexity associated with WRAIR’s contracting because the situation - multiple contracting agencies, multiple contract vehicles, multiple funding types, and multiple types of competition – and requires strategic approaches to achieve success to the mission.

WRAIR has historically processed approximately 300 contract and assistance actions per year, with a total annual average value of approximately $140Million. These contracting and assistance actions include sole and limited source actions, direct awards, full and open competitions, support to submissions against Program Announcements and Broad Agency Announcements, as well as outbound MIPRs supported by Inter Agency Agreements (Economy Act) going to different defense activities.

WRAIR Government personnel serve as the Contracting Officer Representatives (CORs) and Grants Officer Representatives (GORs) for most contracts. At this time WRAIR has approximately 80 CORs/GORs assigned to the unit. Organizationally, WRAIR is looking for ways to reduce the overall number of CORs/GORs by creating a COR Cell with highly trained COR Experts.

WRAIR tries to maximize the use of performance based contracting and currently utilizes mainly Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) and Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) awards. WRAIR funds several assistance awards which are primarily executed through release of Program Announcements although use of Broad Agency Announcements (BAAs). WRAIR is interested in the possibility of better leveraging or publishing more and program unique BAA’s to support evolving research.

WRAIR intends to evolve the acquisition landscape supporting medical research activities. WRAIR intends to create new and more flexible awards that allow extensive collaboration and cost sharing between the USG and a funding recipient. WRAIR will create future awards with a systems approach to embrace the scientific connections between research programs and projects. The contractor will need to help WRAIR to proactively seek to use trusted relationships and forward thinking alternative research transactional and support vehicles, which allow flexibilities and encourage non-traditional collaborator participation. Vehicles WRAIR will explore include Federally Funded Research & Development Centers (FFRDC), University Affiliated Research Centers (UARC), Partnership Intermediaries Agreements (PIA), Technology Investment Agreements (TIA), and Other Transactions (OT). WRAIR will be creating forward thinking adaptive acquisition products that can accommodate a presently unknown requirement in future real time. WRAIR must be able to support emerging threat response with contracting actions that can be executed in days instead of years. (i.e. Zika, Ebola, MERS, Lassa outbreaks). WRAIR must evolve contracts to support the unpredictable outcomes of medical research activities. Using scientific milestones as a driver of this innovation will be more of a driver than any other single factor. The use of all legal contracting tools will be expanded in the future. WRAIR anticipates using all tools from Alpha contracting to Prize Competitions.

It is anticipated the contractor will provide Headquarters (HQ) and portfolio level support and will offer expert level Research and Development industry experience. WRAIR recognizes to remain relevant in the Medical Research and Development fields, innovative and evolutionary business solutions will be required.

Subject Matter Expertise (SME) support such as providing internal business policy development, business process analysis, and administration of dashboards at the HQ level is necessary. It is anticipated the Contractor will align resources along portfolio lines to facilitate customer satisfaction and better understanding of interrelated business issues. Potential alignment could be along functional lines (i.e. Entomology with Malaria Vaccine Branch) or by complexity (i.e. all OCONUS actions combined; General & Administrative, Veterinary Medicine and Preventive Medicine together).

The contractor must be familiar with Intellectual Property (IP) considerations in government contracting and assistance awards. The inclusion of Contract Data Requirements Lists (CDRLs) is not common, however the contractor muse be able to recommend inclusion and support development of One-Time CDRLs as necessary.

3. SCOPE

The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) requires support services to assist with effective and efficient administrative and procurement processes and execution for equipment, materials and services. Additionally some support will be required in support of assistance agreements. These services include but are not limited to 1) developing procurement packages for WRAIR divisions; 2) organizing and developing organizational products to support business efficiencies and procurement speed (to include training); and 3) analyzing, developing, and training internal business processes, procedures and policies to promote efficiencies and speed to award.

The WRAIR requires expertise to advise and support WRAIR divisions on contracting strategy (to include spend plan strategy) and activities for a variety of funding types (i.e. Army and Defense Health Program Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (DHP RDT&E), Defense Health Program (DHP), Operation and Maintenance, Army (OMA), Reimbursables from other Government partners and big- Pharma companies). WRAIR requires assistance in the evaluation of contracting strategies or plans to be used in support of outgoing WRAIR and SFA proposals (intra- and extra-mural) as well as for any Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). (Proposal Realism)

4. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The periods of performance for this contract are as follows:

5. WORK SCHEDULE AND LOCATION

The official duty hours of the WRAIR are 0745-1630 hours. The core hours, are 0900-1430 hours. All personnel must work during core hours. Government employees may work up to two hours of flexible time before or after the core hours, i.e. 0645-1515, 0730-1615, 0845-1715, etc. It is required that the contract employees on this effort will be available to the Government during official duty hours. It is required that at least one contract support staff be physically on site each work day.

Staff supporting OCONUS actions may be required to participate in meetings with end users outside of the normal duty day. In these cases, the contractor shall make available the support required to facilitate meetings with OCONUS personnel. Overtime should not be required for these meetings.

The Government will provide access to the Forest Glen Annex and WRAIR buildings as needed and will provide laptop computers capable of connecting to WRAIR VPN to support this effort. The Government currently has 8 full time desks available on campus at WRAIR. Any offsite employees must be available for routine and ad hoc meetings within 30 minutes as requested by the Government during WRAIR official duty hours.

5.1. Work Location

The work location is 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

5.1.1. Telecommuting

Telecommuting is situational and requires the approval of the contractor who will coordinate the telework schedule with the COR to ensure appropriate contractor coverage. Teleworking may be possible during government announced installation closures and delay.

5.1.2. Working During Emergency Situations

Individual contingency operation plans shall be activated immediately after determining that an emergency has occurred, shall be operational within twelve (12) hours of activation, and shall be sustainable until the emergency situation is resolved and normal conditions are restored or the contract is terminated, whichever comes first. In case of a life threatening emergency, the COR will immediately make contact with the Contractor Managers to ascertain the status of any Contractor personnel who were located in Government controlled space affected by the emergency. When any disruption of normal, daily operations occur, including base closures, the Contractor Manager shall promptly open an effective means of communication with the COR to verify:

a. Key points of contact (Government and Contractor)

b. Temporary work locations (alternate office spaces, telework, virtual offices, etc.)

c. Means of communication available under the circumstances (e.g. email, webmail, telephone, FAX, courier, etc.)

d. Essential duty personnel for emergency and contingency operations

e. Essential work products expected to continue production by priority

The Contractor Manager, in coordination with the COR, shall make use of the resources and tools available to continue contracted functions to the maximum extent possible under emergency circumstances. The Contractor shall obtain approval from the COR and Contracting Officer prior to incurring costs over and above those allowed for under the terms of this contract. Regardless of contract type, and of work location, Contractors performing work in support of authorized tasks within the scope of their contract shall charge those hours accurately in accordance with the terms of this contract.

Contractor shall not report to work on those days the Government or installation is closed and will delay arrival on days opening is delayed due to safety conditions, inclement weather conditions, national emergencies, energy conservation or by direction of the Installation Commander for any other reason. During these periods of closure or delay, the contractor employees that are not designated as essential IAW this contract shall not report for work nor will they be compensated for those days. There are no essential tasks included in this effort.

5.2. Federal Holidays

5.2.1. The contractor shall not perform services on days designated as a Federal Holiday by Federal Status, Executive Order, Presidential Proclamation or Installation Commander

5.2.2. Federal holidays are an exception to the regular duty hours. Any of the holidays listed below falling on a Saturday will be observed on the preceding Friday; holidays falling on a Sunday will be observed on the following Monday. The following is a list of legal federal holidays that services shall not be performed

The following are Federal Holidays:

· New Year’s Day

· Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.

· Washington’s Birthday

· Memorial Day

· Independence Day

· Labor Day

· Columbus Day

· Veterans Day

· Thanksgiving Day

· Christmas Day

6. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

6.1. Objectives

This award is to provide support services to assist WRAIR with effective and efficient business and procurement processes. These services include but are not limited to 1) developing procurement packages for WRAIR divisions 2) organizing and developing organizational products to support business and procurement efficiency and speed (to include training) 3) analyze and develop internal business and procurement processes, procedures and policies to promote smart business execution and procurement efficiencies with demonstrated increased speed to award.

This award shall integrate Program Management, Business Process Engineering, and SharePoint content development/customization ensuring a seamless level of support for all users with consistent quality from all Contractor employees. Integration shall show consistency across employee products and consistent execution of business processes for all activities. While not in a position to determine WRAIR acquisition plans, the Contractor should ensure all end user plans are executed. This should require pro-active engagement with the end users to ensure requirements are clearly understood, planned, and required processes are begun early enough to ensure on time submission to the contracting office. The contractor shall assess the requiring activity needs through trending/forecasting and shall support an agile footprint able to consistently adapt required knowledge products to meet evolving acquisition needs and requirements (FAR, DFARS, AFARS) (– ex: SHARP language, ATOPSEC Coversheet, RSCAF changes, etc). The contractor shall provide a central repository for data points allowing the organization to extrapolate usable business data for decisions and to support developing and evolving knowledge products.

The objectives of this award includes reduction of acquisition processing time, reducing cumbersome administrative and business burdens on government staff, creating and training repeatable processes that should ensure successful benchmark obligation and disbursement rates, and providing tools to build and enhance WRAIR’s ability to evolve meaningful performance metrics in the next year.

Execution of all work shall include coordination with:

6.1.1. The Acquisition Management Liaison Officers (AMLOs) will prioritize activities and requirements when needed. In absence of written prioritization from the contract COR, contractor prioritization will be first in, first out for all work products.

6.1.2. WRAIR and SFA Requiring Activity end users to identify upcoming actions to manage and process ongoing actions, plan and coordinate evaluation of proposals, and maintain current status of all actions regardless of the source of funding or contracting agency making award.

6.1.3. HQ leadership to respond to inquiries regarding actions, status, process, and adherence to plans.

6.1.4. WRAIR AMLOs to ensure coordination of enterprise contracting issues.

6.1.5. WRAIR Resource Management (RM) to coordinate processing actions.

6.1.6. Contracting Agencies to coordinate transmission of procurement packages to include Economy Act orders and Determinations and Findings (D&F) creation, proposal evaluations, contract modifications, and other acquisition issues. The Contractor shall support program analysis, ensure timely and effective communication with all participants (including, but not limited to Requiring Activity end users, Requiring Activity managers, KOs, Contract Specialists, and other stakeholders, and to promote efficiency in the overall contracting process at WRAIR. Once GFEBS PR is approved by the WRAIR or SFA government POC, the contractor will be the primary POC on behalf of the Requiring Activity to complete pre-award activities. The contractor will not be expected to initiate the PR in GFEBS however will prepare PR EXSUM for all actions.

6.1.7. The contactor shall develop and maintain tools to monitor and report on the status of actions which can be accessed by selected government employees in simple graphics and terms.

6.1.8. The contractor shall develop and produce a recurring monthly status report indicating which actions are required, in progress (identify progress specifics such as on time, late, etc). (Deliverable 10)

6.1.9. The Contractor shall support the WRAIR and SFA end users in documentation of requirements, identification of contract vehicles, identification of contracting agencies, validation of funding strategies (spend plans), recommendation of competition strategies, and determination of contract types. To accomplish this, the Contractor may attend Requiring Activity meetings as needed.

6.1.10. The Contractor shall assist WRAIR and SFA staff in understanding approaches for proposal evaluation, crafting and revising evaluation criteria, and ensuring proposal evaluation documentation is in compliance with all guidance.

6.1.11. The Contractor shall assist in the evaluation of contracting strategies or plans to be used in support of outgoing WRAIR and SFA proposals (intra- and extra-mural) as well as for any Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). (Proposal Realism) To facilitate this work, it may be required for the Contractor to participate in some program Integrated Product Team (IPT) meetings.

6.1.12. Post-award, the Contractor shall provide coordination for follow on actions and documentation that may be required during the acquisition/assistance life cycle such as incremental funding, initiation of recompete activities, initiation of option year renewals, and contract extensions.

6.2. Specific Tasks/Requirements

6.2.1. Business Operational Support

6.2.1.1. The Contractor shall provide operational support to the WRAIR business process, spend plan execution, contracting strategies and design, analysis of applicable policies and procedures to ensure all (quality and efficiency) standards are met, and developing of the acquisition documents to support WRAIR requirements.

6.2.1.2. The contractor shall develop draft acquisition requirements documents such as but not limited to, Market research to include labor categories and rates; requirements definition; analysis of alternatives; timelines; support development of the Request for Contract Services Approval Forms (RSCAFs or just SCAFs); Acquisition Strategy /Plan; Independent Government Cost Estimate (IGCE); Economic analysis; Justification for Sole Source (as applicable); Special provisions to accommodate unique program acquisitions (as applicable); Performance Work Statement (PWS); Preparation, coordination, and conduct of an Industry Day (as applicable); Evaluation criteria; Contract Data Requirements List (CDRLs); IP considerations; Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP); Reference documents; GFE list coordination.

6.2.1.3. A monthly report (Deliverable 10) shall be delivered by the 15th of each month outlining status of all known actions regardless of current maturity. This report shall include a list of all current CORs and GORs aligned with their contracts within the WRAIR enterprise and will clearly identify CORs/GORs which have been added or removed.

6.2.1.4. The Contractor shall support the programmatic business operations by providing assistance reviewing outbound WRAIR/SFA proposals (intra- and extra-mural) to validate acquisition plans required to support these efforts.

6.2.1.5. To facilitate a better understanding of the unique MRMC Research and Development process through Decision Gate, contractor staff shall attend the Decision Gate 101 course provided on site at WRAIR or at Fort Detrick in Frederick, MD. If staff have not attended this course since 2016, staff should attend this course within 120 days of starting work on this award. Other similar courses may be identified and required by the Government for contract staff to attend at no cost to the contractor.

6.2.2. Acquisition Subject Matter Support

6.2.2.1. Contractor shall provide Subject Matter support through its expertise and advice as well as hands-on assistance to WRAIR and SFA Government Personnel to instill credibility, excellence, and innovation in the business approach and acquisition lifecycle process. The Contractor staff shall be required to provide advice including but not be limited to the following:

6.2.2.1.1. FAR, DFARS, AFARS, Defense Acquisition Guidebook, OMB Circular A-110, OMB Circular A-102, 32 CFR 22 (DOD Grants and Agreements Award Administration), DoD 7000.14-R Department of Defense Financial Management Regulation (DoD FMR) SME support

6.2.2.1.2. 10 U.S.C.§2371, Research Projects: Transactions Other Than Contracts and Grants; 10 U.S.C.§2371b, Authority of the DoD to Carry Out Certain Prototype Projects; 10 U.S.C.§2373, Procurements for Experimental Purposes, 10 U.S.C.§2326; 15 U.S.C.§3701, Technology Transfer Act; 10 U.S.C.§2374a, Prizes for Advanced Technology Achievements; 15 U.S.C.§3719, Prize Competitions; 15 U.S.C.§3715, Use of Partnership Intermediaries.

6.2.2.1.3. Facilitation of requirements discussion and validation between AMLOs or end users and WRAIR support divisions (i.e. Information Management, Logistics, Safety, Resource Management, Human Subjects Protection, etc)

6.2.2.1.4. Recommendations on acquisition/assistance strategy and documentation of that strategy

6.2.2.1.5. Drafting and tracking progress against acquisition timelines mutually determined by WRAIR and SFA staff with the contracting activity, in accordance with the annual contracting forecast, or in accordance with funded proposal submissions.

6.2.2.1.6. Function as a central focal point for acquisition processes, best practices (Deliverable 27) , lessons learned (Deliverable 28) , and awarded vehicles

6.2.2.1.7. Support to the Economy Act (Determination & Finding documentation) process when required for assisted acquisition

6.2.2.1.8. Coordination with the Contracting Office(s) on issues affecting program acquisition practices

6.2.2.1.9. Logical and practical spend plan support at the HQ level (meet Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) benchmarks for obligation and disbursements)

6.2.2.1.10. Development of comprehensive HQ level business policies, procedures, training plans, and metrics (Deliverable 15)

6.2.2.1.11. Acquisition/Assistance and Business Template creation, management, version control, and training.

6.2.2.1.12. Create and maintain an up to date and consistent requirements checklist (Deliverable 11) and tracking system for contracting and assistance awards across various contracting support activities (Procurement and Assistance Package Documentation Checklist). This checklist should include required processing timeline information to facilitate backwards planning for each requirement type. (i.e. option years as written should include x, y, z documents and the Purchase Requisition (PR) for this action should be submitted to the contracting activity no less than 45 days prior to exercising the option). This checklist should also remain current regarding requirements to process Request for Service Contract Approval Form (RSCAF) documents in support of actions (needed for this type, not needed for this type).

6.2.2.1.13. Provide Quality Assurance on all contracting packets being sent to contracting. Each package should be current with all known requirements and should be reviewed for consistent quality prior to submission.

6.2.2.1.14. Provide support to acquisition related taskers from higher headquarters regarding contracting priorities and projections each FY. Known data calls are include: Annual Inventory of Contracted Services (Deliverable 22), Annual Contract and Assistance Agreement Workload (Deliverable 23), Annual Contract Prioritization (1-N List) (Deliverable 24). Support to other business related taskers can be anticipated but cannot be forecast, as they are not recurring in nature. (FY17 included 11 such taskers in total. FY16 included 16 taskers.) When support is required, the COR will coordinate with the contractor PM with clear guidance and due dates for USG review.

6.2.2.1.15. Routinely participate in recurring meetings facilitated by WRAIR HQ with all subordinate labs.

6.2.3. Contract Documentation Development and Processing Support

6.2.3.1. The Contractor shall provide acquisition operational support to WRAIR and SFAs for the creation and processing of required contracting documents in accordance with applicable current rules, policies, laws and regulations. The Contractor shall review and determine the completeness of each assigned acquisition package. The Contractor shall communicate and make a recommendation to the end user, within two (2) business days after receipt of each package, to either return the package to the end user with specific actionable comments or recommend sending the package forward to the Contracting Agency.

6.2.3.2. The Contractor shall be capable of providing Subject Matter Expertise in federal contract and assistance agreement/grant management and administration. The contractor must be capable to articulate acquisition policies, processes, and procedures, and discuss solutions to assist end users in fulfilling their program needs. The Contractor shall be capable of developing documentation for “fair opportunity” orders against various contract vehicles, i.e., GSA schedules, BPAs, and other multiple award contracts, as well as full and open competition. Specifically, the Contractor shall demonstrate full command of the implementation of innovative and efficient performance-based contracting in a medical Research and Development environment with mixed funding types as applicable.

6.2.3.3. The Contractor shall provide expertise in all phases of contracting (pre-award, award, and post-award phases) to allow effective performance of tasks. While much effort will be focused on pre-award activities, the Contractor shall also support some award administration during the lifecycle of that award. Expertise required shall execute tasks to include, but not limited to:

6.2.3.3.1. Drafting complex Statement of Work (SOWs) and Statement of Objectives (SOOs), including PWS

6.2.3.3.2. Identification and drafting of special clauses and provisions to address WRAIR or unique program situations

6.2.3.3.3. Drafting sole and limited source justifications

6.2.3.3.4. Support to the contracting office in drafting of solicitations and requests for quotes, requests for information, sources sought announcements, and special notices to support activities such as “Industry Day” prior to release of a solicitation

6.2.3.3.5. Drafting government cost estimates

6.2.3.3.6. Drafting acquisition plans, strategies, and evaluation criteria

6.2.3.3.7. Identifying need for Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL) inclusion, recommending appropriate CDRL, and assisting in the formatting and completion (must help recognize IP and its corresponding data item description (DID))

6.2.3.3.8. Ensuring Anti-terrorism and Operational Security (AT/OPSEC) considerations are included and completed in each award type when required.

6.2.3.3.9. Conducting and documenting market research

6.2.3.3.10. Drafting and documenting procurement plan worksheets (see attachment provided as an example) with the contracting officer(s) on each requirement

6.2.3.3.11. Support the creation, staffing, and tracking of RSCAFs. Requires nearly constant integration with higher headquarters (MRMC and MEDCOM) requirements. Ensuring all local SOPs are current with all required processing requirements.

6.2.3.4. Documentation Process Analysis (Quality Assurance (QA), Templates, Guidelines, Checklists, Procurement Planning Worksheets (PPWs), repositories)

6.2.3.4.1. The Contractor shall create, revise and use tools, templates, and processes to ensure that all submitted WRAIR contract documentation is complete, consistent, and in compliance with WRAIR, Contracting Agency, DoD, and Federal contract, acquisition, and assistance regulation and policy before it is transmitted to any contracting agency. The Contractor shall draft and implement a Quality Control Checklist (Deliverable 12) that includes all procedures that will followed to ensure that each contract action package:

· Is complete (all documents and attachments required for the type of action are included and complete in accordance with the checklists and guidelines developed

· Has been developed using appropriate templates and formats as created and maintained by the contractor

· Contains appropriate signatures and approvals

· Contains an appropriate OCI Category identification

· Incorporates appropriate CDRLs and/or Intellectual Property protection language

· Includes non-disclosure (Participation Agreement) requirements as appropriate

· Includes required reference and policy compliance information

· Has received overall Quality Control in accordance with the checklist prior to submission to the contracting activity.

· Captures appropriate data to support measurement of quality metrics

6.2.3.5. Contract Regulatory Support

6.2.3.5.1. The Contractor shall provide subject matter expertise sufficient to identify, understand, analyze, articulate, and ensure compliance with acquisition/contracting/assistance regulations, guidelines, policies, processes and procedures as defined by Federal, DoD, MRMC, MEDCOM, and Army leadership. These considerations are important for animal and human subjects research.

6.2.3.5.2. The contractor shall develop and maintain a SharePoint accessible repository of all current applicable regulations, guidelines, policies, processes and procedures. (Deliverable 18)

6.2.3.5.3. The Contractor shall provide expert familiarity with the requirements of the FAR, DFARS, AFARS, Defense Acquisition Guidebook, OMB Circular A-110, OMB Circular A-102, 32 CFR 22 (DOD Grants and Agreements Award Administration), and DoD 70001.14-R Department of Defense Financial Management (DoD FMR).

6.2.3.5.4. The Contractor shall evaluate individual actions to ensure compliance with the above doctrine. Where documentation or proposed actions deviate from this guidance, the Contractor shall identify exactly how and why it is non-compliant, identify the potential risks to the WRAIR and end users, and shall provide specific written recommendations for correcting the issue.

6.2.4. Materiel Management Support (Optional CLIN)

6.2.4.1. The Contractor shall provide support to the WRAIR Logistics Supply Operations Branch to maximize the efficiencies available for materiel procurement. While the Contractor will be a member of the BMO Team, the Contractor will be embedded with the Logistics team to ensure maximum visibility and to ensure ease of teaming. This work is expected to be dynamic and evolving as the WRAIR continues to migrate materiel procurement to e-Commerce.

6.2.4.2. The Contractor should ensure that there is close coordination between WRAIR Logistics, end users, and supporting contracting offices for each requirement that will be sent for contracting activity.

6.2.4.3. The Contractor shall lead the creation of WRAIR enterprise level contracts in accordance with Logistics standardization goals and targets. Enterprise level support tools are needed for things such as (but not limited to) reagent purchases, pipette calibration, furniture reconfiguration and purchase, water system annual calibration. The Contractor should also create “Blanket RSCAFs” for unpredictable recurring maintenance needs executed via Government Purchase Cards and ensure GPC transactions are within the authorized amount each fiscal year (track transactions against Blanket RSCAFs). The Contractor will submit new “Blanket RSCAFs” as required.

6.2.4.4. At a minimum, the Contractor should:

6.2.4.4.1. Support the planning and procurement of equipment, service maintenance contracts, extend warranties, and facilities contracts through United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

6.2.4.4.2. Assist Logistics Division in reviewing requirement documentation to determine if additional information is needed before submitting into e-Commece tools or contracting for processing. This includes Minimum Essential Characteristics (MECs), Specifications, Performance of Work Statements and Sole Source Justifications. In addition, will provide acquisition advice to the WRAIR customer on contractual matters based on working knowledge or acquisition regulations and policies.

6.2.4.4.3. Provide coordination required to identify MECs, validate WRAIR Facilities has confirmed requirements for new equipment can be met, and will ensure IMD has approved all procurement of equipment containing computer processors.

6.2.4.4.4. Assist in conducting market research for various laboratory supplies, equipment, and services as needed. This is required for contracting as well as for e-Commerce solutions.

6.2.4.4.5. Integrate all Logistics contracting and materiel contract knowledge (equipment contracts, materiel and supply contracts, maintenance contracts of any kind, facilities contracts) into the same data set used by the BMO support team (one data set for all).

6.2.4.4.6. Coordinate follow on actions for facilities and equipment maintenance awards as required ensuring no contract lapses are possible.

6.2.4.4.7. Document SOPs and processes and provide input for enterprise policies related to logistics procedures.

6.2.4.4.8. Conduct (in coordination with Logistics) no less than 4 formal training opportunities each fiscal year to ensure WRAIR and SFA end users are aware of current Logistics acquisition roles, responsibilities, and processes.

6.2.4.5. The Contractor will assess e-Commerce utilization and support Logistics with increasing use of e-Commerce in accordance with MEDCOM standards. This work will not merely include creating catalogs in ECAT. While there is an expectation that catalogs will be required, this work will support the analysis of ECAT and other e-Commerce actions.

6.2.4.6. The Contractor will communicate each action that is destined to contracting vice being procured through e-Commerce solutions within 2 days of discovery in Logistics to the contract PM and AMLOs. The Contractor will be the primary technical liaison from WRAIR to contracting for the duration of the contract action.

6.2.4.7. This support will require additional expertise and knowledge not likely required for other tasks on this award. Key areas of required knowledge include: Government Procurement Card processes and authorities, Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS) experience, and Electronic Catalogue (ECAT) experience.

6.2.5. File Management Support

6.2.5.1. The Contractor shall maintain WRAIR contract files (soft copies) in an organized, consistent, and current manner. The Contractor shall provide a File Management Plan (Deliverable 9) to be used by the Contractor. This plan shall depict a logical process and plan for how soft copies of files will be organized, maintained, version controlled, and disposed of in accordance with Army Records Information Management System (ARIMS), including a process flow and durations for each step in the process flow, as well as routine processes and timelines for conducting quality assurance on the electronic system. The File Management Plan shall clearly describe those processes (activities, points of contact, and frequency) that will ensure that data is consistent and current.

6.2.5.2. The Government currently uses a shared drive system for accessing electronic files. Multiple file sharing and version control tools are available (SharePoint and Electronic Document Management System). Upon receipt of signed employee Participation Agreements, the Contractor will have access to the shared drive which contains all local and global OCI Category files. Once the Government has approved the proposed File Management Plan, the Contractor shall provide the support needed to implement the plan. All documentation shall be filed using this plan (or system) within four (4) business days of receipt (including day of receipt).

6.2.5.3. In addition to filing new documentation, the Contractor shall be responsible for management and retrieval of the Government’s existing files. WRAIR currently has difficulty managing version control of acquisition support documentation.

6.2.6. Business Process Engineering Support

6.2.6.1. The Contractor shall research and analyze issues impacting business and recommend solutions within the organization’s control to mitigate identified risks. The contractor shall apply a systematic, disciplined improvement approach that critically examines, rethinks, and redesigns mission-delivery processes in order to achieve dramatic improvements in performance in areas important to customers and stakeholders. The Contractor shall provide a written report (Deliverable 30) that provides an initial assessment, courses of action, and recommendations. The contractor shall employ a logical methodology for assessing process weaknesses, identifying gaps, and implementing opportunities to streamline and improve the processes in business operations. This should include process such as (but not limited to):

6.2.6.1.1. Proposal building and review (Proposal Realism)

6.2.6.1.2. Contracting and procurement activities

6.2.6.1.3. Contract management and administration

6.2.6.1.4. This award shall develop meaningful metrics to measure business process evolution.

6.2.6.2. The Contractor will routinely facilitate and lead group discussions to attain process buy in from all identified stakeholders.

6.2.6.3. The Contractor will create flow diagrams and SOPs to memorialize changes to the process assessment.

6.2.6.4. The Contractor will create content and provide training to all affected users throughout the entire process reengineering.

6.2.6.5. The Contractor will create content for intra- and extra-net as required to support adopted processes

6.2.7. Training and Meeting Support

6.2.7.1. The Contractor shall support training staff regarding activities in contracting, business, and procurement activities. The Contractor shall attend meetings related to these same activities. It is anticipated that the Contractor shall provide training on business related topics to affected stakeholders no more than one time per month.

6.2.7.2. The Contractor shall provide the Government with administrative support when meetings are conducted regarding acquisition/assistance strategy; acquisition or assistance process revisions; and other actions related to business program management. This may require identification of audience, preparation of invitations/announcements, tracking of respondents, room and dial-in reservations, and document preparation. The Contractor shall also ensure that accurate attendance and meeting records (meeting minutes) are maintained (Deliverable 13).

6.2.7.3. The Contractor shall organize and prepare all materials, invites, and rooms for a weekly Procurement Planning “Roundtable” meeting to discuss all new requirements. The contractor shall also ensure that accurate attendance and Roundtable minutes are maintained (Deliverable 14).

6.2.8. Acquisition Management Support (Deliverables 16 and 17)

The Contractor will provide IAT-Level II compliant support for this task at contract award. In addition to IAT-Level II compliance requirements, must attend locally provided SharePoint training to attain access to site (Deliverable 17a).

Contractor shall using SharePoint create (Deliverable 16), maintain and assist in the administration (Deliverable 17b) of an acquisition management information tracker (dashboard). The contractor must provide documentation process analysis to include recommendations to standardize, revise and automate process(es) to enhance the acquisition posture of the WRAIR.

6.2.8.1.1. The Contractor shall provide dashboard support by implementing a comprehensive tracking system for WRAIR procurements that will offer role based end user view and tracking of actions (such as customized view only or reporting access), to include, but not limited to, managing the display of business data on the WRAIR Intranet (SharePoint 2010 moving to 2013) as a content editor using out of the box SharePoint tools with minimal custom code; ensuring consistency and relevancy of all displayed content; ensuring all content meets required standards to include the WRAIR Style Guide; ensuring code created to implement display features is minimally customized and when customized, is well documented with in-line comments (Deliverable 17b).

6.2.8.1.2. This dashboard should capture, track, and report information such as contract award information, funding source and amount, ceiling amounts, OCI category, CDRL inclusion, COR/GOR information, Period of Performance, status of current actions, funding execution.

6.2.8.1.3. This dashboard should integrate data from GFEBS to visually present overall acquisition health as required by AMLOs and RM. While GFEBS output files will be made available by WRAIR Resource Management, some understanding of GFEBS output files will be helpful to ensure successful integration.

**NOTE: In the event the Government is unable to provide access to a stable SharePoint development and production environment, the Contractor shall be required to provide the information that would be captured and reported in the dashboard and will review that content weekly with the COR.

6.3. Management Reports and Plans

Monthly Report (Deliverable 10). The contractor shall provide a monthly report detailing workload accomplishments, to include but not limited to, a listing indicating which actions are required, in progress (identify…