Attachment 9 - TO1 PWS FLASH (3 Aug 2021).docx

CUI//SSEL

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS)

TASK ORDER NO. 1

3 Aug 2021

1. GENERAL: This performance work statement (PWS) is for Task Order No. 1 for the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAGC) Flexible Litigation Augmentation Support for HQDA (FLASH), Solicitation No. W91CRB-21-R-0018, and incorporates by reference: PART 1 – General Information, PART 2 – Definitions & Acronyms, PART 3 – Government Furnished Property, Equipment, and Services, and PART 4 – Contractor Furnished Items and Services, of the FLASH PWS. The following sections of the FLASH PWS are specifically applicable to this PWS for Task Order No. 1, including PART 5 – Specific Tasks, and PART 6 – Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL):

1.6.10 Contracting Officer Representative (COR): The COR will be identified by separate letter. The COR monitors all technical aspects of the contract and assists in contract administration. The COR is authorized to perform the following functions: assure that the Contractor performs the technical requirements of the contract: perform inspections necessary in connection with contract performance: maintain written and oral communications with the Contractor concerning technical aspects of the contract: issue written interpretations of technical requirements, including Government drawings, designs, specifications: monitor Contractor's performance and notifies both the Contracting Officer (KO) and Contractor of any deficiencies; coordinate availability of government furnished property, and provide site entry of Contractor personnel. A letter of designation issued to the COR, a copy of which is sent to the Contractor, states the responsibilities and limitations of the COR, especially with regard to changes in cost or price, estimates or changes in delivery dates. The COR is not authorized to change any of the terms and conditions of the resulting order.

1.6.11 Key Personnel: The Contractor shall assign a Lead Program at the start of the contract and for the duration of the contract. This Key Personnel shall oversee the FLASH program and serve as the Contractor’s main point of contact (POC) for the Government. The Contractor is to provide a resume for the Lead Program Manager at the issuance of this Task Order No. 1.

Other Key Personnel shall be assigned for the duration of the applicable task order. The Contractor is to provide resumes for any Key Personnel who are as required at the issuance of this Task Order No. 1. The Government reserves the right to review and approve resumes of candidates prior to their assignment. The Contractor shall maintain a list of all identified Key Personnel. All decisions relative to key personnel shall be coordinated with the COR, i.e., extended period of absence (more than 3 consecutive days), Corporate travel (more than 3 consecutive days), reassignments, vacations (more than 3 consecutive days), etc. The COR has authority to reject these proposed decisions if it is determined that the decision will critically impact the project and/or task. All unresolved issues will be decided by the KO. Key Personnel cannot be substituted without prior KO approval. Award of a Contract will constitute the government’s approval of Key Personnel.

The Contractor may propose individuals, regardless of labor category, as "key personnel" whenever the individual performs a function(s) that is believed to be critical to successful performance on any segment of this contract.

1.6.12 Identification of Contractor Employees: All contract personnel attending meetings, answering Government telephones, and working in other situations where their Contractor status is not obvious to third parties are required to identify themselves as such to avoid creating an impression in the minds of members of the public that they are Government officials. They must also ensure that all documents or reports produced by Contractors are suitably marked as Contractor products or that Contractor participation is appropriately disclosed. Contractor personnel are required to have a Government issued Common Access Card (CAC) but will not be required to wear badges.

1.6.13 Contractor Travel: Contractor may be required to travel in the continental United States (CONUS), outside the continental United States (OCONUS), and within the National Capital Region (NCR) during the performance of this contract. Advance notification shall be provided to the appropriate Army POC to allow for clearances and site preparation. Reimbursement of expense shall be in accordance with the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR) and AR 715-9. Contractor shall submit any request(s) for travel exceeding $2,000 per contractor personnel per trip under five (5) days, or exceeding $5,000 per contractor personnel per trip five (5) or more days to the COR for approval. Any request to for travel totaling more than $10,000 per contractor personnel per trip regardless of days shall additionally be approved by the KO. Travel shall not commence until written approval is received. Occasional meetings may be held at Army Entity locations. Travel costs are expected to be high as field work will require extensive travel to Army Entity locations. Local travel at the Contractor’s ordinary course of business, and local travel in the NCR area, including to and from the Pentagon, performed in the course of contract performance, is considered the cost of doing business and will not be reimbursed as a direct charge to the contract. Receipts must support any local travel cost expenses over $75.00. Contractor may be required to ship training material to locations when training is required. Contractor will be authorized travel expenses consistent with the substantive provisions of the Joint Travel Regulation (JTR) and the limitation of funds specified in this contract. All travel is reimbursable and will be evaluated via a modification if additional funding is required.

1.6.15 Organizational Conflict of Interest: Contractor and sub-contractor personnel performing work under this contract may receive or have access to proprietary information which may create a current or subsequent Organizational Conflict of Interests (OCI) as defined in FAR Subpart 9.5. The Contractor shall notify the KO immediately whenever it becomes aware that such access or participation may result in any actual or potential OCI and shall promptly submit a plan to the KO to avoid or mitigate any such OCI. The Contractor’s mitigation plan will be determined to be acceptable solely at the discretion of the KO and in the event the KO unilaterally determines that any such OCI cannot be satisfactorily avoided or mitigated, the KO may affect other remedies as he or she deems necessary, including prohibiting the Contractor from participation in subsequent contracted requirements which may be affected by the OCI.

PART 5

SPECIFIC TASKS

5. SPECIFIC TASKS:

5.1 Special Qualifications: All personnel performing under this contract shall be able to demonstrate competence in understanding, reading, speaking, and writing the English language. All Contractor personnel shall possess a minimum of an Interim SECRET security clearance and must be a United States citizen. The Interim SECRET security clearance for Contractor personnel is required prior to the start of performance, unless exception is granted by the COR.

5.1.1 The individual key contractor personnel assigned to the project shall be:

· Knowledgeable of the EDRM.

· Knowledgeable of the eDiscovery rules in the FRCP.

· Experienced in performing a wide range of litigation support services for the JAGC, DA, other DoD entities, and/or other U.S. Government agencies.

· Familiar with current eDiscovery COTS legal review tools.

5.1.2 To ensure effective management of the project, the Contractor shall have the following:

· Experience in delivering innovative and wide-ranging professional legal support solutions for large-scale and/or surge legal cases, for the JAGC, DA, other DoD entities, and/or other U.S. Government agencies,

· An understanding of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and its Defense Enterprise Email system (DEE), and Microsoft Office 365.

· Experience and expertise in providing eDiscovery and litigation support services, including, where required, resource support,

· Use of best practices, as well as known and widely used quality commercial off the shelf (COTS) tools, techniques and templates to complete EDRM workflows and processes,

· The ability to draw upon additional resources and maintain a “reach-back” knowledge base capability that can be drawn upon during workload peaks, and

· Compliance with Organizational Conflicts of Interest requirements; i.e., providing specific and clear advisories when personnel submitted for staffing for this project may cause a possible conflict of interest situation so that the Government may make a determination on acceptability in a timely manner.

5.1.3 LABOR CATEGORY DESCRIPTION, EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

The Contractor shall obtain and retain the required skill sets needed to execute the tasks set forth in this PWS for Task Order No. 1. Below is the Labor Category (LCAT) description for each position to be filled for Task Order No. 1, and the Education and Experience levels required for each labor category. Relevant experience consists of experience directly related to the position requirements and LCAT description. Work experience in itself is not relevant experience unless it is related to the position. The Government reserves the right to waive education or experience requirements on a case by case basis. The Contractor shall obtain written COR approval to waive any education or experience requirements.

The Contractor is to provide resumes for the following Key Personnel required at the issuance of this Task Order No. 1.

Program Management:

· Lead Program Manager (Key Personnel) – Juris Doctor or Master’s Degree in Government, Public Policy, Business Administration, Information Technology, or related field, AND 6 years of experience in U.S. federal government contract management, including 10 years of experience in EDRM / eDiscovery / litigation support. PMP certification required.

Electronic Data Processing:

· Senior Electronic Files Specialist (Key Personnel) – Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Computer Information Systems, Information Technology, or related field, AND 3 years of experience performing eDiscovery or litigation support (electronic files processing, image, data file conversion, data culling, running productions, quality assurance, database loads and retrieval, and forensic analysis). Knowledge of SQL/Queries, litigation discovery process and EDRM workflows, Government IT environment, including office automation networks, PC and server-based applications, Windows 10, document review software (internet and server-based databases, such as LAW, Relativity, Concordance, iConect, Clearwell, etc.), and encryption methods.

5.2 General Contract Requirements: These requirements are intended to provide the Army with professional legal services to augment the existing eDiscovery support services offered by the Army eDiscovery Division (EDD).

5.2.1 Project Kick-off/Planning Session: The Contractor shall provide and support a kick-off meeting/planning session within five (5) days of contract award. The purpose is to review project objectives, timelines, tasks and deliverables.

REF: CDRL No. A004

5.2.2 Prioritization Plan: The Contractor shall develop a prioritization plan that summarizes and prioritizes agreed upon objectives, tasks, timelines and deliverables based upon the Project Kick-Off/ Planning Session. The Plan is due twenty (20) days from contract award and shall be updated monthly thereafter.

REF: CDRL No. A005

5.3 General Contract Requirements: These requirements are intended to provide the JAGC with professional legal support services to augment the eDiscovery and litigation support provided by the Army’s internal eDiscovery Program for large scale and/or surge cases and/or cases that require resource support.

5.4 PROFESSIONAL LEGAL SUPPORT SERVICES: The Contractor shall provide professional legal support services to the JAGC. The prime Contractor and/or its subcontractor(s) will be required to meet the following requirements:

For Task Order No. 1 the period of performance will be one (1) year.

5.4.11.1 Program Management

(a) Lead Program Manager - the Contractor shall provide a Lead Program Manager at the start of the contract and for the duration of the contract. This Key Personnel shall oversee the FLASH program and serve as the Contractor’s main point of contact (POC) for the Government.

(1) The Lead Program Manager shall oversee the program for JAGC, including serving as liaison with the COR, EDD, Project Manager, and the JAGC case team; including coordination of different Contractor components - sometimes even coordination of the efforts of several sub-Contractors; communication with the Government, sometimes with several Government components at once, including providing regular reporting on program as a whole; assessing automated litigation support requirements; identifying and obtaining necessary staff and other resources; training; establishing management plans and schedules, and managing Contractor and sub-Contractor efforts to meet those objectives, both on specific projects and on a contract-wide basis; identifying problems and troubleshooting; preparing progress and status reports; quality control and quality assurance efforts required for contract performance; financial management; management of security, confidentiality, and conflict of interest issues; participating in drafting project plan; troubleshooting, budgeting, etc.;

5.4.15.2 Senior Electronic Files Specialist

(a) The Contractor shall provide a dedicated Senior Electronic Files Specialist to work in-person (or remotely) at the JAGC U.S. Army Legal Services Agency (USALSA) EDD offices at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, as required by the COR. The Senior Electronic Files Specialist must have an active SECRET clearance and should have strong Relativity workspace setup, processing, searching, analytics, review workflow and production experience to assist JAGC EDD staff for their internal eDiscovery case-load. The Senior Electronic Files Specialist should also have sufficient knowledge and/or Veritas Clearwell experience for legacy JAGC cases housed in that platform.

(b) During the course of the assignment, the Senior Electronic Files Specialist will typically be utilizing Government-owned computer systems, including servers, standalone PCs, and make use of Government-licensed software. The Government may also make use of web hosting services. The Senior Electronic Files Specialist will be issued a government "CTR" email address for use in all communications during the course of the assignment.

(1) Typically, the tasks assigned to the Senior Electronic Files Specialist will be completed on the unclassified NIPR systems. The Senior Electronic Files Specialist will be required to complete all necessary training and forms prior to accessing such systems.

(2) The Senior Electronic Files Specialist may occasionally be required to complete tasks on the classified SIPR systems in a stand-alone environment. This may include processing and producing classified data for classified litigation cases. The Senior Electronic Files Specialist will be required to complete all necessary training and forms prior to accessing such systems.

(c) The Senior Electronic Files Specialist must be well-versed in the software and hardware they are using, at all levels of experience, for all EDRM processes and workflows. This includes, for example, the ability to decrypt (or learn how to decrypt) PKI-encrypted emails using available software, the ability to copy data from one location to another without altering metadata, the ability to perform quality control, the ability to burn data to media, etc.

(d) The kinds of tasks the Government may require will involve eDiscovery and litigation support expertise, procedures, and skills that the Senior Electronic Files Specialist is expected to provide, and descriptions of services are not intended to be exhaustive, and should not be viewed as specifications. Actual requirements will vary from task to task during the course of the assignment. For example, the Senior Electronic Files Specialist should understand and be able to complete assigned Relativity workspace setup, processing, searching, analytics, review workfow, and production tasks assigned by JAGC EDD staff, with minimal to no supervision. The resource should be able to troubleshoot processing and production errors, and communicate case status, errors, remediation attempts, etc., with JAGC customers, including USALSA divisions, field and local counsel, etc.

(e) The Senior Electronic Files Specialist may be required to do web-based or in-person tutorials on Relativity for end-users for specific cases, and be able to draft tipsheets and instructions to end-users as needed.

(f) All work completed by the Senior Electronic Files Specialist under the assignment is to be billed under this Section at the designated labor rate, and not separately billed by the Contractor under any other Section.

(g) Any personnel provided by the Contractor is subject to the security requirements described in the PWS. The Contractor must provide resumes for all individuals proposed under this task.

5.7 Written Reports

The Contractor shall develop additional written reports that are within the scope of this contract as requested by the COR.

REF: CDRL No. A011

5.8 The Contractor’s Status and Management Report

The Contractor shall provide a monthly status that details the accomplishments for the reporting period, any known issues that could affect future performance requirements and risk mitigation. The report shall be delineated by each awarded task order. Generally, the report shall include the following: status of contract (cost, schedule, performance); action item status; schedules; status of GFE; listing of CDRL status; meetings attended; summary of minutes from meetings, and trip report summary. For each task order delineated in the report, the following shall be included: summary of task order requirements including litigation or investigation matters being supported; primary location of work (CONUS, OCONUS, or NCR); identified contractor personnel supporting each task order (high level summary for personnel, and listing of key personnel); and projections / estimated time of completion (ETCs) including slippage. The Contractor shall conduct quarterly program reviews to address, cost, schedule, performance, risk and other topics directed by KO and/or COR. The Contractor’s Progress, Status and Management Report shall list all employees by name, accomplishments, the labor rate and the reporting period.

REF: CDRL No. A012

5.9 The Contract Financial Status Report (CFSR)

The contract shall provide on a monthly basis a Contract Financial Status Report (CFSR). The CFSR shall include a detailed tracking of a variety of financial information by Contract, Task Order, CLINs, such as but not limited to ceiling value, funding amounts, cost incurred, invoiced amounts, payment received, subcontract cost, current month financials as well as cumulative financial, funding remaining, burn rates. This report shall be in Microsoft Excel. Contract format is acceptable, but shall be approved by the Government. This report is due by the 15th of each month, and will be for the previous month financials.

Additional information that shall be included in the CFSR:

1) Labor costs shall be broken down by labor category, skill level, entity (prime or subcontractor) rate and hours;

2) Materials costs and ODCs shall be identified and discussed;

3) The breakdown/details shall include the information from the price proposal model.

REF: CDRL No. A013

PART 6

CONTRACT DATA REQUIREMENTS LIST (CDRL)

The Contractor shall prepare and deliver/enter documentation/data and production of presentations, summary reports, meeting/trip reports, reports of, software trouble/problem reports, cost estimates and resource requirement reports and white papers as specified within this PWS for Task Order No. 1. The Contractor shall submit in accordance with these specified CDRLS: