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FedBizOppsSources Sought Notice*******CLASSIFICATION CODESUBJECTCONTRACTING OFFICE'S ZIP-CODESOLICITATION NUMBERRESPONSE DATE (MM-DD-YYYY)ARCHIVE DAYS AFTER THE RESPONSE DATERECOVERY ACT FUNDSSET-ASIDENAICS CODECONTRACTING OFFICE ADDRESSPOINT OF CONTACT(POC Information Automatically Filled from User Profile Unless Entered)DESCRIPTIONSee AttachmentAGENCY'S URLURL DESCRIPTIONAGENCY CONTACT'S EMAIL ADDRESSEMAIL DESCRIPTION ADDRESSPOSTAL CODECOUNTRYADDITIONAL INFORMATIONGENERAL INFORMATIONPLACE OF PERFORMANCE* = Required FieldFedBizOpps Sources Sought NoticeRev. March 2010DBenefits Integration Platform07724VA118-17-N-224930541512Department of Veterans AffairsTechnology Acquisition Center23 Christopher WayEatontown NJ 07724Contract SpecialistRaymond Slambraymond.slamb@Raymond.Slamb@raymond.slamb@Please see attached documents.Request for InformationBenefits Integration PlatformTAC Number: TAC-17-45230This action is intended to be competed under the Transformation Twenty One Total Technology Next Generation multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract using fair opportunity procedures in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 16.505. This request for information (RFI) is issued solely to determine the availability of verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs) and Veteran Owned Small Businesses (VOSBs) that are capable of providing the services identified in the attached Performance Work Statement (PWS).This RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be considered an Invitation for Bid, Request for Task Execution Plan, Request for Quotation or a Request for Proposal. Additionally, there is no obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services described in this RFI. Your response to this RFI will be treated only as information for the Government to consider. You will not be entitled to payment for direct or indirect costs that you incur in responding to this RFI. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. No funds have been authorized, appropriated or received for this effort. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary, restricted or competition sensitive information contained in their response. The Government does not intend to pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI.The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for this requirement is 541512 with a size standard of $27.5 million. A company that is not VIP registered and verified SDVOSB or VOSB ( HYPERLINK "" ) should not respond to this notice.Generic capability statements will not be accepted or reviewed. Your response must address capabilities specific to the services required in the attached PWS and must include the following:Describe in detail any experience and/or lessons-learned with respect to re-using software components (such as data repositories, rules engines, development frameworks, etc.) for software application development based on agile methodologies.Describe in detail any experience and/or lessons learned with respect to the software release process (i.e., promotion to production environment) for unique applications which leverage shared subcomponents?Describe in detail any experience establishing and managing multiple large scale agile software developments which utilize in excess of 30 simultaneously operating scrum teams.Describe in detail any experience and/or lessons learned associated with identifying and utilizing software code quality metrics, including data capture mechanisms, reporting frequency and feedback mechanisms to support large scale agile software developments.The intent and ability to meet set-aside requirements for performance of this effort must include information as to proposed team members and the PWS requirements planned to be subcontracted to them; and indicate whether at least 50% of the overall cost of the effort will be planned to be expended for prime employees or employees of other eligible SDVOSB/VOSB firms, which must include the prime planned percentage and if under 50%, the names of the potential team members that may be used to fulfill the 50% SDVOSB/VOSB requirement.Responses are due to Raymond Slamb, Contract Specialist – Raymond.Slamb@ no later than Wednesday 3 PM EST on July 5, 2017. 84455010795

TRANSFORMATION TWENTY-ONE TOTAL TECHNOLOGY NEXT GENERATION (T4NG) PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS) DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRSOFFICE OF INFORMATION & TECHNOLOGY BENEFITS INTEGRATION PLATFORMTAC-17-45230Date: June 16, 2017Task Order PWS Version Number: 0.2Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000000" 1.0BACKGROUND PAGEREF _Toc256000000 \h 6 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000001" 1.1BENEFITS INTEGRATION PLATFORM (BIP) PAGEREF _Toc256000001 \h 7 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000002" 1.2VBMS PAGEREF _Toc256000002 \h 8 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000003" 1.3MBMS PAGEREF _Toc256000003 \h 9 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000004" 1.4BDN PAGEREF _Toc256000004 \h 10 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000005" 1.5LTS PAGEREF _Toc256000005 \h 11 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000006" 1.6VETSNET/FAS PAGEREF _Toc256000006 \h 11 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000007" 2.0APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS PAGEREF _Toc256000007 \h 11 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000008" 3.0SCOPE OF WORK PAGEREF _Toc256000008 \h 12 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000009" 3.1APPLICABILITY PAGEREF _Toc256000009 \h 12 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000010" 3.2ORDER TYPE PAGEREF _Toc256000010 \h 13 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000011" 4.0PERFORMANCE DETAILS PAGEREF _Toc256000011 \h 13 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000012" 4.1PERFORMANCE PERIOD PAGEREF _Toc256000012 \h 13 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000019" 4.2PLACE OF PERFORMANCE PAGEREF _Toc256000019 \h 14 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000020" 4.3TRAVEL OR SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS PAGEREF _Toc256000020 \h 14 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000021" 4.4CONTRACT MANAGEMENT PAGEREF _Toc256000021 \h 15 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000022" 4.5GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY PAGEREF _Toc256000022 \h 15 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000023" 4.6SECURITY AND PRIVACY PAGEREF _Toc256000023 \h 15 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000024" 4.6.1POSITION/TASK RISK DESIGNATION LEVEL(S) PAGEREF _Toc256000024 \h 16 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000025" 5.0SPECIFIC TASKS AND DELIVERABLES PAGEREF _Toc256000025 \h 17 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000026" 5.1PROJECT MANAGEMENT PAGEREF _Toc256000026 \h 19 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000027" 5.1.1CONTRACTOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN PAGEREF _Toc256000027 \h 19 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000028" 5.1.2REPORTING REQUIREMENTS PAGEREF _Toc256000028 \h 20 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000029" 5.1.3RATIONAL TOOLS TRAINING PAGEREF _Toc256000029 \h 22 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000030" 5.1.4PRIVACY & HIPAA TRAINING PAGEREF _Toc256000030 \h 22 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000031" 5.1.5ONBOARDING STATUS PAGEREF _Toc256000031 \h 23 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000032" 5.1.6TECHNICAL KICKOFF MEETING PAGEREF _Toc256000032 \h 23 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000033" 5.1.7CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT PAGEREF _Toc256000033 \h 23 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000034" 5.1.8ARCHITECTURE SUPPORT PAGEREF _Toc256000034 \h 25 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000035" 5.1.9RISK MANAGEMENT PAGEREF _Toc256000035 \h 25 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000036" 5.1.10CHANGE MANAGEMENT PAGEREF _Toc256000036 \h 26 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000037" 5.2AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PAGEREF _Toc256000037 \h 26 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000038" 5.2.1REQUIREMENTS ELABORATION AND SCOPING PAGEREF _Toc256000038 \h 27 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000039" 5.2.2TECHNICAL DESIGN PAGEREF _Toc256000039 \h 28 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000040" 5.2.3DEVELOPMENT RELEASE CYCLE PAGEREF _Toc256000040 \h 30 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000041" 5.2.4ACCEPTANCE TESTING, IMPLEMENTATION, AND RELEASE PAGEREF _Toc256000041 \h 35 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000042" 5.2.5POST RELEASE DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT PAGEREF _Toc256000042 \h 39 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000043" 5.3BIP RELEASES PAGEREF _Toc256000043 \h 39 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000044" 5.4OPTION PERIOD ONE PAGEREF _Toc256000044 \h 40 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000045" 5.5OPTION PERIOD TWO PAGEREF _Toc256000045 \h 41 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000046" 5.6OPTION PERIOD THREE PAGEREF _Toc256000046 \h 41 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000047" 5.7OPTIONAL TASK ONE – ADDITIONAL BUILD/RELEASE PAGEREF _Toc256000047 \h 41 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000048" 5.8OPTIONAL TASK TWO – MBMS PRODuction OPerations (PRODOPS) (NTE FFP) PAGEREF _Toc256000048 \h 42 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000049" 5.9OPTIONAL TASK THREE – LTS PRODOPS (FFP) PAGEREF _Toc256000049 \h 42 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000050" 5.9.1LTS Help Desk Support PAGEREF _Toc256000050 \h 42 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000051" 5.9.2Defect Resolution PAGEREF _Toc256000051 \h 45 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000052" 5.9.3LTS Security Sustainment Support PAGEREF _Toc256000052 \h 46 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000053" 5.9.4Release Code Development PAGEREF _Toc256000053 \h 47 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000054" 5.9.5LTS Source Code Sustainment and Application Support PAGEREF _Toc256000054 \h 49 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000055" 5.9.6Automation Capability Maintenance PAGEREF _Toc256000055 \h 52 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000056" 5.10OPTIONAL TASK FOUR – VBMS PRODOPS (FFP) PAGEREF _Toc256000056 \h 53 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000057" 5.11OPTIONAL TASK Five - NON-Production ENVIRONMENTS PAGEREF _Toc256000057 \h 56 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000058" 5.11.1SaaS SUPPORT PAGEREF _Toc256000058 \h 56 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000059" 5.11.2Platform as a Service (PaaS)Support PAGEREF _Toc256000059 \h 56 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000060" 5.11.3REQUIREMENTS UPDATES SUPPORT PAGEREF _Toc256000060 \h 62 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000061" 5.11.4DESIGN UPDATE PAGEREF _Toc256000061 \h 62 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000062" 5.11.5APPLICATION INTEGRATION PAGEREF _Toc256000062 \h 63 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000063" 5.12OPTIONAL TASK SIX – BDN DATA MIGRATION PAGEREF _Toc256000063 \h 64 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000064" 5.13OPTIONAL TASK Seven– TRANSITION SUPPORT PAGEREF _Toc256000064 \h 66 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000065" 6.0GENERAL REQUIREMENTS PAGEREF _Toc256000065 \h 67 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000066" 6.1PERFORMANCE METRICS PAGEREF _Toc256000066 \h 67 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000067" 6.2SECTION 508 – ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (EIT) STANDARDS PAGEREF _Toc256000067 \h 68 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000068" 6.3EQUIVALENT FACILITATION PAGEREF _Toc256000068 \h 69 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000069" 6.4COMPATIBILITY WITH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY PAGEREF _Toc256000069 \h 69 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc256000070" 6.5ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE TESTING PAGEREF _Toc256000070 \h 69BACKGROUNDThe Mission of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Information and Technology (OI&T) is to provide Information Technology solution that proved benefits and Services to Veterans of the United States. In meeting these goals, OI&T strives to provide high quality, effective, and efficient Information Technology (IT) services and benefits services to those responsible for providing benefits to the Veterans. Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) depends on Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) systems to meet mission goals. To provide these IM/IT systems OI&T is moving to a Benefits Integration Platform (BIP) to provide a synergy of systems and platforms through reuse of current modernized systems to allow savings and quicker to market systems that can provide better benefit services to the Veterans of the United States. The Veterans Benefits Management System will serve as the basis for the BIP.BENEFITS INTEGRATION PLATFORM (BIP)The Benefits Integration Platform (BIP) is an information technology initiative, which provides for the reduction of the technology footprint supporting VBA and NCA through the expansion and reuse of Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) technology solutions. These solutions can be leveraged by other Programs within the Veterans Administration (VA) to reduce development costs and provide quicker to market solutions in order to better serve our Veterans.VBMS features such as a document repository with a Veteran’s eFolder concept (electronic documents in lieu of paper) along with services for eFolder management are expansible for use by other applications and agencies. VBMS also provides a framework for Web Application development and a Graphical User Interface (GUI or UI) which provide functionality for end users within the departments of the VA. This includes a framework and infrastructure for Work Queue management at a local and national level along with process and rules engines to customize an electronic business process that complements, enhances, and provides the foundation for automation of the business processes.BIP will reuse and expand this framework to support development efforts including Memorial Benefit Management Systems to replace Burials Operations Support System (BOSS) and to support the transition and decommissioning of other legacy applications such as the Benefits Delivery Network (BDN). This will provide an updated and modernized replacement for older systems and applications in order to save the government money and reduce the number of applications with the VA Office of Information and Technology (OI&T). BIP Phase 0 is the current as-is IT operating environment supporting Benefits, Appeals and Memorials business capabilities. Phase 1 of BIP will target the decommissioning of the BDN and the development of MBMS to decommission BOSS.??Components of the BDN will be migrated to the appropriate target systems with the primary considerations being BIP, VETSNET/FAS and the Chapter 33 (CH33) Long Term Solution (LTS). These systems will be leveraged to create a platform that will help OI&T realize the ability to reuse already developed systems to provide cost savings, quicker benefits for Veterans and promote a single view of a Veteran across multiple departments in VA.Phases of BIP are identified at a high level below and will be identified in greater detail as the effort matures:Phase 0 – As-Is operating environment.Phase 1 – Decommissioning of portions of BDN and development of MBMS.Phase 2 – Complete decommissioning of BDN, continued development of MBMS and decommissioning of BOSS-E, ancillary systems, and exposure of additional VBMS capabilities to the new BIP.Phase 3 - Future enhancements and additional decommissioning Throughout this document, BIP Components reference discreet work efforts that will be executed under this contract. Generically they are synonymous with projects or workstreams, but may reference architectural or reusable elements that make up BIP. VBMSThe Veterans Benefits Management System (VBMS) is a custom-built web application designed and implemented to deliver critical functionality for benefits claims processing. VBMS is managed by OI&T Product Development Secretary Initiatives Division and is under the governance of the VBMS Program Management Office (PMO). VBMS is the product of a close relationship with Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) business partners is VBA’s primary business application and benefits delivery system.VBMS functionality addresses the following themes to support end-to-end processing of a compensation or pension claim:Establishment – Verification of Veteran eligibility and creation of claim end product includes creation of the eFolder and recording contentionsDevelopment – Determination of the evidence required to support contentions.Development of correspondence to external entities to obtain evidence and arrangement of medical examinations as requiredRatings – Determination of level of disability based on evidence gatheredAwards – Determination of Veteran award and creation of Financial Accounting System(FAS) recordAppeals – Support for Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) to review the claim and evaluate the rating and awardReports and Metrics – Creation of reports and metrics to support evaluation of impact ofVBMS on claim processing timeline and backlogClaimant Information Management – Creation and maintenance of Veteran recordDocument Management – Creation and maintenance of eFolders and documentsCorrespondence – Creation and tracking of correspondenceNational Work Load Assignment Distribution and Management MBMSThe Memorial Benefits Management System (MBMS) product will provide a replacement for BOSS-E’s sub-applications with a more cohesive enterprise system while incorporating new functionality and process improvement. MBMS will be implemented through a series of successive builds that will provide continuous improvements in functionality while moving users off the legacy systems and culminate with BOSS-E’s decommissioning. BOSS-E has been developed in-house over the last 25 years. It is hosted on IBM P-Series servers running the AIX operating system; data is stored in Oracle 11g with Weblogic Server; development has been an amalgam of Java, PrimeFaces, and Spring libraries as well as the deprecated Oracle forms. NCA maintains approximately 3.5 million gravesites at 170 sites encompassing 21,400 acres throughout 41 states and Puerto Rico and hosts about 5 million visitors annually. It expects to receive, process, and track over 375,000 applications each year for government furnished monuments (i.e., headstones, markers, niche covers, medallions) for graves of Veterans and beneficiaries buried in NCA-managed and private cemeteries and provide over 700,000 Presidential Memorial Certificates annually. The objective of MBMS is to support the transformation of the NCA business to provide increased benefits delivery efficiency to Veterans and their families by improving access to benefits tracking and delivery, enhancing end-user functionality to the system, and providing increased customer service satisfaction through shorter processing times. MBMS will automate all business processes associated with determining eligibility of applications; monument ordering, delivering, and tracking; scheduling over 100,000 yearly interments in NCA cemeteries; and maintaining those cemeteries perpetually. MBMS will provide for the creation and maintenance of a complete historical record for each interment and cemetery. MBMS will be considered an NCA mission-critical system. BDNThe BDN is a suite of legacy applications that are targeted for decommissioning. BDN capabilities support VBA business functions, primarily Education. At completion of this work effort, all BDN functionality will be provided by other BIP components and BDN will be retired. BDN is a suite of COBOL mainframe applications that collectively make up the VA s primary claims processing, tracking and payment system. The BDN tracks and distributes approximately $19 Billion in veteran entitlements yearly. BDN is the primary database and payment system for all education benefit programs administered by Education Service. VBA employees use BDN for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits as well as processing benefit payment transactions. BDN processes claims for all Education benefits including Ch 30, Ch 1606, Ch 1607, Ch 32, Ch 35, and soon to be Ch 33 interim solution. All VBA paper checks are still processed through the BDN.LTSCH33 LTS is an Information Technology (IT) system designated as a major application and used globally to process Veterans educational benefits in accordance with the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008. The Chapter 33 GI Bill is a congressionally mandated bill that provides continuing education benefits (post-secondary) to our Nation’s Veterans. Veterans who served in the U.S. Military Post-9/11 are eligible for this program. The benefits include tuition, books, and a Basic Housing Allowance (BHA). The LTS is an application that automates the processing of Veteran claims. This is an important effort as Chapter 33 has paid out over $43B in payments to 1.3M Veterans and eligible dependents, and the effort related to the processing of benefits is labor intensive. It has been built outside VA and hosted in Terremark Data Center. It is Web J2EE application and communicated with various other VBA Education Services applications through web services.VETSNET/FASFAS is an online financial and accounting application that provides fiscal and accounting transaction processing. It includes an interface with Treasury for Chapter 18, Chapter 31 Vocation, Rehabilitation and Employment (VRE). FAS is the target application for all BDN payments and accounting. This application integrates with CSS, SHARE, SPP, MAP-D, Awards, RBA and SOC, and supports both the information gathering and budgetary requirements for the Compensation and Pension Program. FAS is initially supporting the financial business functionality of the C&P system. It meets the Core Financial System Requirements outlined in the Federal Financial Management System Requirements publication (FFMSR-1) authored by the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP). FAS is being built so that it can be used by other VBA benefit programs, thus providing a single system which is fully compliant with current accounting requirements. In addition to the current BDN functionality, FAS provides the ability to perform on-line transaction processing and on-line audit functions, and has automated manual review processes such as Check Verification, Fiscal Adjustments (FISA), Review of account with prior Waiver or Write Off adjustments. The system interfaces daily with the Financial Management System, allows for a systematic review of client accounts, provides a business transaction boundary, and performs daily payment processing. This system provides compliance with the U S Standard General Ledger, 24 x 7 processing, graphical user interface for the finance users, and web-enabled reports.APPLICABLE DOCUMENTSThe documents in Paragraph 2.0 in the T4NG Basic PWS apply to the performance of this effort, there are no additional referenced documents.:SCOPE OF WORKThe Contractor shall provide systems engineering, development and production support services for BIP. The contractor shall provide support for the decommissioning and transitioning from legacy applications to BIP. The contractor shall provide data migration services from legacy systems. The Contractor shall follow an Agile Scrum Methodology in accordance with the VIP established by the VA Enterprise Program Management Office (ePMO) and any specific BIP or BIP component processes that are used to enhance the VIP Agile process. The Contractor shall provide project management and reporting, business requirements analysis and specification development, design analysis, software and web service development, software integration, data conversion, testing, release management, technical support, and documentation to support the BIP processes and VIP requirements. The Contractor shall also provide Operations and Maintenance (O&M) support for BIP.APPLICABILITYThis Task Order (TO) effort PWS is within the scope of paragraph(s):4.2 Systems/Software Engineering4.2.1 Design and Development 4.2.2 Architecture Development4.2.6 Web Application Design and Development4.2.8 Human-Computer Interaction4.2.9 System/Software Integration4.2.10 Modeling and Simulation4.2.12 Engineering and Technical Documentation4.2.13 Current System and Data Migration4.3 Software Technology Demonstration and Transition4.4 Test & Evaluation 4.8 Operations and Maintenance4.8.4 Security Management4.8.9 License Maintenance4.9 Cyber Security4.9.3 Assessment and Authorization4.9.4 Security Operating Support4.10 TrainingORDER TYPEThe effort shall be proposed on a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) basis with a Cost Reimbursement (CR) Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) for travel.PERFORMANCE DETAILSPERFORMANCE PERIODThe period of performance (PoP) shall be one twelve (12) month base period with three twelve (12) month option periods. This task order has X optional tasks as provided in the table below. PeriodPeriod of PerformanceBase Period (BIP Development)12 MonthsOption Period 1 (BIP Development)12 MonthsOption Period 2 (BIP Development)12 MonthsOption Period 3 (BIP Development)12 MonthsOptional Task 1 (Additional Build/Release)Each build shall be 3-months or less.Optional Task 2 (MBMS Production Operations)Optional Task 3 (LTS Production Operations)Optional Task 4 (VBMS Production Operations)Optional Task 5 (Non-Development Environments)Optional Task 6 BDN Data MigrationOptional Task 7 Transition Support60 days from exercise of optional taskPLACE OF PERFORMANCEEfforts under this TO shall be performed at Contractor facilities. The Contractor shall identify the Contractor’s place of performance in their Task Execution Plan submission. Optional Task X for Data Migration shall be performed on-site at the Hines, IL Data Center.TRAVEL OR SPECIAL REQUIREMENTSThe Government anticipates travel to perform the tasks associated with the effort, as well as to attend program-related meetings or conferences throughout the PoP. Travel and per diem shall be in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) and requires advanced concurrence by the COR with VA Program / Project Manager’s concurrence. The Contractor shall provide cost estimates with each travel request. Each Contractor invoice must include copies of all receipts that support the travel costs claimed in the invoice. Local travel within a 50-mile radius from the Contractor’s normal duty location is considered the cost of doing business and will not be reimbursed. This includes travel, subsistence, and associated labor charges for travel time. Travel performed for personal convenience and daily travel to and from work at the Contractor’s facility will not be reimbursed. Travel, subsistence, and associated labor charges for travel time for travel beyond a 50-mile radius of the Contractor’s facility are authorized on a case-by-case basis and must be pre-approved by the COR. CONTRACT MANAGEMENTAll requirements of Sections 7.0 and 8.0 of the T4NG Basic PWS apply to this effort. This TO shall be addressed in the Contractor’s Progress, Status and Management Report as set forth in the T4NG Basic ERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTYThe Government shall provide access, via Virtual Private Network (VPN), to the VA Network for those requiring Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) to accomplish the activities in this TO. Others will use vendor furnished equipment to access the designated development environment to support all development and testing activities required under this effort. The Contractor shall utilize Government-provided software development and test accounts, document and requirements repositories, etc. as required for the development, storage, maintenance and delivery of products within the scope of this PWS.The Government will provide up to 200 GFE computers for Contractor staff in order to perform the BIP tasks in the production environments and other tasks that require VA network access. This shall include VPN access to the VA network. The Contractor shall provide its computer needs for the BIP tasks to the COR within five (5) business days of TO award.The Government will provide access to VA’s IBM Rational Jazz Toolset (hereafter referred to as Rational) to provide a single Agile project/product application lifecycle management toolset to track execution details after contractors complete the training as required in Sections 5.1.4 and 5.1.5. In order to access VA’s IBM Rational, the Contractor will require VA access. If the mandated toolset changes throughout the period of performance of this contract then the Government will provide access to the new toolset.SECURITY AND PRIVACYAll requirements in Section 6.0 of the T4NG Basic PWS apply to this effort. Specific TOrequirements relating to Addendum B, Section B4.0 paragraphs j and k supersede the corresponding T4NG Basic PWS paragraphs, and are as follows:j.The vendor shall notify VA within 24 hours of the discovery or disclosure of successful exploits of the vulnerability which can compromise the security of the Systems (including the confidentiality or integrity of its data and operations, or the availability of the system). Such issues shall be remediated as quickly as is practical, but in no event longer than the guidelines below.a. Critical – Must be remediated immediately.b. High – Must be remediated within 60 days.c. Medium – Must be remediated within 90 days.d. Low – Must be remediated according to the timeframe established by the system owner. Typical in the next release or no longer than120 days.k.When the Security Fixes involve installing third party patches (such as Microsoft OS patches or Adobe Acrobat), the vendor will provide written notice to VA that the patch has been validated as not affecting the Systems within 10 working days. When the vendor is responsible for operations or maintenance of the Systems, they shall apply the Security Fixes within 90 days.POSITION/TASK RISK DESIGNATION LEVEL(S)The position sensitivity and the level of background investigation commensurate with the required level of access for the following tasks within the PWS are:Position Sensitivity and Background Investigation Requirements by TaskTask NumberTier1 / Low RiskTier 2 / Moderate RiskTier 4 / High Risk5.1 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.2 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.3 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.4 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.6 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.7 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.8 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.9 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.10 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.11 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.12 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.13 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX 5.14 FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX FORMCHECKBOX The Tasks identified above and the resulting Position Sensitivity and Background Investigation requirements identify, in effect, the Background Investigation requirements for Contractor individuals, based upon the tasks the particular Contractor individual will be working. The submitted Contractor Staff Roster must indicate the required Background Investigation Level for each Contractor individual based upon the tasks the Contractor individual will be working, in accordance with their submitted proposal.SPECIFIC TASKS AND DELIVERABLESThe Contractor shall perform the following tasks and provide the specific deliverables described below within the performance period stated in Section 4.1 of this PWS.Each integration and development activity shall be performed via a common SDLC process and contribute to the analysis, design, construction, testing, and deployment efforts using VA release management processes and artifacts as described in the following sections. The Contractor shall provide development and also perform operations and maintenance support on existing code and systems, for code and systems developed under this TO and potentially code developed outside of this TO that will run on systems under this task order. All tools used in the operations of the BIP application and related applications must be approved in the Technical Reference Manual (TRM). Deviations from this will require a waiver through the Strategic Technology Alignment Team (STAT), formerly known as the Architecture and Engineering Review Board (AERB).? Request for exceptions or deviations cannot impact delivery. All tools used in the production, or ATO boundary, environments of the BIP and related Programs and all applications produced by BIP and related program projects shall be VA Section 508 compliant as determined by tests performed by the VA Section 508 Office.Agile project management is evolutionary (iterative & incremental) which regularly produces high quality results in a cost effective, timely, and highly collaborative manner via VIP’s value driven lifecycle. This requires open lines of communication among all participants contributing to a project/program/portfolio that include multiple consumers within the contracts and with other VA offices/activities. VIP describes a schedule of incremental deliveries of useable functionality every three (3) months or less. All releases into the production environment shall come through the VIP Release Process.? It is critical to work with the VA Release Agent on a regular basis in order to understand the required components of the Release Readiness Review (RRR) Process.Backlog grooming and prioritization are continued throughout the product life cycle and shall be managed throughout the period of performance. The foundational structure for Agile development and project management for this work effort can be found in the attachments. For delivery of all project artifacts, the Contractor shall utilize Rational for managing project execution details and for the management and storage of artifacts.The Contractor shall utilize approved VIP and/or Process Asset Library (PAL) (formerly ProPath templates) unless otherwise specified.? When no VIP or PAL template exists, the Contractor shall design and develop a template to be utilized for all tasks being developed under this TO that must be reviewed and approved by the VA COR prior for delivery of the associated artifact.? The Contractor shall include only the content and artifacts that have been updated or developed in the target increment/build in deliverable packages.? When no change to a package component has occurred during an increment/build, unrelated or unchanged artifacts will not be included in the associated delivery packages.? The Contractor shall provide a revision history with track changes on to allow for easy visibility of changes between package deliverables. Although not all project artifacts will require an update for each release, the Contractor shall ensure that all necessary artifacts are delivered to the appropriate VA governance committees as mandated by VA-established release processes. If a project artifact doesn’t require an update, the Contractor shall provide justification to the VA Project Manager and / or COR for approval.? The Contractor shall deliver documentation in electronic format, unless otherwise directed in Section B of the solicitation/TO.? Acceptable electronic media include: Microsoft (MS) Word 2007-2010, MS Excel 2007-2010, MS PowerPoint 2007-2010, MS Project 2007-2010, MS Access 2007-2010, MS Visio 2007-2010, CAD 2002, and Adobe Postscript Data Format (PDF).? For each BIP component, the Contractor shall perform the following:PROJECT MANAGEMENTCONTRACTOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLANThe Contractor shall deliver a Contractor Project Management Plan (CPMP) that lays out the Contractor’s approach, timeline and tools to be used in execution of this TO effort. ?The CPMP should take the form of both a narrative and graphic format that displays the schedule, milestones, risks and resource support.??The CPMP shall also include how the Contractor shall coordinate and execute planned, routine, and ad hoc data collection reporting requests as identified within the PWS. The initial baseline CPMP shall be concurred upon and updated in accordance with Section B of the TO. The Contractor shall update and maintain the VA Program Manager (PM) approved CPMP throughout the PoP. Deliverable: Contractor Project Management PlanREPORTING REQUIREMENTSThe Contractor shall use the VA’s implementation of Rational to provide a single Agile project/product lifecycle management tool to track execution details. The Rational Project/Product Data and Artifact Repository will be used to provide a single authoritative project and product data and artifact repository. All OI&T project data and artifacts shall be managed in this data and artifact repository daily. All checked out artifacts shall be checked back in daily and any data updated daily. Rational synchronizes all changed information immediately for all team members to access work proficiently without the concern of working on aged or obsolete information.The Contractor shall use VA’s Rational in accordance with the VA Rational Tools Guide to: Input and manage scheduled project/product sprints and backlog Input and manage project/product agile requirementsInput and manage project/product risks and issuesInput and manage project/product configurations and changesInput and manage project/product test plans and executionInput and manage project/product planning and engineering documentationInput and manage linkages to correlate requirements to change orders to configurable items to risks, impediments, and issues to test cases and test results to show full traceability. The Contractor shall show all Agile requirements, changes, tests performed and test results in Rational to show evidence of code coverage and test coverage of all the requirements specified. This expectation will allow VA to have high confidence in a fully documented, as evidenced by data in the tools, requirements traceability matrix.The Contractor shall deliver Bi-Weekly (every two weeks) Status Reports. These reports shall provide accurate, timely, and complete project information supporting EPMO reporting Requirements. The Bi-Weekly Status Report shall include the following data elements: Project/Task Order Name Overview and description of the Task Order Overall high level assessment of Task Order progress All work in-progress and completed during the reporting period Identification of any Task Order related issues uncovered during the reporting period and especially highlight those areas with a high probability of impacting schedule, cost or performance goals and their likely impact on schedule, cost, or performance goals Explanations for any unresolved issues, including possible solutions and any actions required of the Government and/or Contractor to resolve or mitigate any identified issue, including a plan and timeframe for resolution Status on previously identified issues, actions taken to mitigate the situation and/or progress made in rectifying the situation. Work planned for the subsequent four (4) reporting periods, when applicable Current Task Order schedule overlaid on original Task Order schedule showing any delays or advancement in schedule Current expenditures based upon your proposed spend plan. Workforce staffing data showing all Contractor personnel performing on the effort during the current reporting period. After the initial labor baseline is provided, each Monthly EPMO Status Report shall identify any changes in staffing identifying each person who was added to the contract or removed from the contract. Original schedule of deliverables and the corresponding deliverables made during the current reporting period. These reports shall not be the only means of communication between the Contractor, COR and the Program/Project Manager to advise of performance/schedule issues and to develop strategies for addressing the issues. The Contractor shall continuously monitor performance and report any deviation from the CPMP or previous bi-Weekly EPMO Status Report to the COR and Program/Project Manager during routine, regular communications built primarily around the daily VBMS project and program Scrum cycle.Deliverable:? Bi-Weekly Status ReportsRATIONAL TOOLS TRAININGThe Contractor shall complete all of the following VA Talent Management System (TMS) training courses:TMS ID 3878248 - IBM Rational Team Concert - Agile Sprint, Configuration/Change Management Level 1TMS ID 3878249 - IBM Rational Team Concert - Agile Sprint, Configuration /Change Management Level 2TMS ID 3878250 - IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation - Requirements Management Level 1TMS ID 3897036 - IBM Rational DOORS Next Generation - Requirements Management Level 2TMS ID 3897034 - IBM Rational Quality Manager - Quality Management Level 1 TMS ID 3897035 - IBM Rational Quality Manager - Quality Management Level 2Contractors who have completed these VA training courses within the past 24 months and have furnished certificates will not be required to re-take the training courses. Deliverables:Rational Training CertificatesPRIVACY & HIPAA TRAININGThe Contractor shall submit TMS training certificates of completion for VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) training, and provide signed copies of the Contractor Rules of Behavior in accordance with Section 9, Training, from Appendix C of the VA Handbook 6500.6, “Contract Security”.Deliverables:VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior Training Certificate Signed Contractor Rules of Behavior VA HIPAA certificate of completionONBOARDING STATUSThe Contractor shall submit a weekly status report of all onboarding activities for all staff supporting this effort. This shall include VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness training, Rules of Behavior, finger prints, background investigation submission and status, GFE request, signature for GFE, Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card, Active Directory account, Remote Access Request, Elevated Privileges Request per environment, VA Tools training, and any other information deemed necessary for tracking by the Contractor, VA PM or COR. Deliverable:Weekly Onboarding Status ReportTECHNICAL KICKOFF MEETINGThe Contractor shall hold a technical kickoff meeting within 10 days after TO award. The Contractor shall present, for review and approval by the Government, the details of the intended approach, work plan, and project schedule for each effort. The Contractor shall specify dates, locations (can be virtual), agenda (shall be provided to all attendees at least five (5) calendar days prior to the meeting), and meeting minutes (shall be provided to all attendees within three (3) calendar days after the meeting). The Contractor shall invite the Contracting Officer (CO), Contract Specialist (CS), COR, and the VA PM.CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENTThe Contractor shall:Identify the standard and unique aspects of configuration management to be performed for each project by establishing a Product Configuration Management (CM) Plan which meets EPMO Website CM plan requirements. The Contractor shall reflect all CM required activities and standards in each project-level CM plan while determining the unique aspects of the project which require individualized procedures.Review the BIP and/or BIP Component Configuration Management Plan(s) (Attachment XXXX) and provide any recommended configuration items that are not in the BIP Configuration Management Plan to be added to the plan and to be placed under configuration and change control. The Contractor shall identify types of configuration items pertaining to each product to be placed under configuration management. Based on ePMO requirements, the BIP management plans, and the unique needs or nature of each project or component, the Contractor shall determine the components within each project that must be under configuration control. Use Rational Jazz Suite as implemented at the VA (herein referred to as Rational) as the approved tool and repository for all software source code and electronic artifact configuration and version management. The Contractor shall use Rational to manage change, activity, issue, action, risk, and other project data as prescribed by VA and BIP standards and processes. If assigned a project using tools that are being deprecated, the Contractor shall assist the VA Tools Team in migrating projects using other Change and/or Configuration Management tools toRational.Ensure that all project software and non-software artifacts are versioned correctly according to VA and BIP standards and follow a build/release promotion versioning approach which identifies all major, minor, and update changes to the components.Create Project and Product Artifacts baselined and versioned in the CM repository in order to allow the tool to show active and past histories of the check-ins and check-outs of all software components, data, and software project engineering documents. Maintain all baselines of software, software builds, and electronic artifacts in the repository, labeling updates and versions according to CM procedures.Develop, verify and submit with all project build deliveries, a Technical Version Description Document (TVDD) from Rational that will also serve as input to the Version Description Document that conforms to EPMO Website standard templates and addresses the manifest of the contents of all software builds created for project releases outside the development environment.Establish and maintain status reporting on change and configuration management activity, and ensure Rational data records and artifacts are filed and updated daily. Deliverables:Product Configuration Management Plan Version Description Document (VDD)Technical Version Description Document (TVDD)ARCHITECTURE SUPPORTThe Contractor shall develop and maintain BIP and component architectures. The Contractor shall review all applications and software for compliance to VA Enterprise Architecture, BIP and component architecture. The Contractor shall report compliance issues between the implemented and/or to be implemented applications and software deliveries and the VA Enterprise Architectural compliance. This shall include recommendations on how to correct any non-compliance with the BIP and component architectures. The Contractor shall participate in the Architecture Working Integrated Project Team (WIPT) where design reviews are conducted and architectural considerations are addressed. The Contractor shall also make recommendations and provide changes to any existing BIP and component architectures or by creating, or updating, a new, or existing, BIP Component architecture. The Contractor shall report progress associated with architectural compliance in the Bi-Weekly Status Report. Architectural support shall be provided on an ongoing basis throughout the period of performance. Refer to other attachments within the PWS that constitute the architecture of BIP and its components.Deliverables:BIP component architectureBIP Architecture BIP Architecture Compliance RecommendationsRISK MANAGEMENT The Contractor shall comply with the BIP Risk Management Plan (Attachment XXXX) and shall document risks associated with the BIP functionality development using Rational. The Contractor shall submit new risks to the BIP Component Risk Manager within three (3) days of risk discovery. The Contractor shall participate in weekly risk identification reviews and provide additional information regarding the risk as requested.CHANGE MANAGEMENT The Contractor shall adhere to the established BIP, and applicable BIP Component Change Control Board Management Plan (Attachment XXXX) and shall participate in the Change Control Process. The Contractor shall receive and analyze BIP or BIP Component Change Requests (CR) (Attachment XXXX) to determine the impact of the CR, and shall produce a BIP Change Request Analysis Report to identify any required software modifications, and the Agile capacity/impact to current scope that would be required to address the change. Change management activities shall be performed on an ongoing basis throughout the period of performance or TO.AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENTVA has established the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) to oversee all IT programs and projects to ensure that financial and schedule costs are commensurate with the defined performance benefit and that this cost/benefit ratio is maintained across the development life cycle and across all deliverables. The EPMO has developed VIP as a process to guide the Agile development of software products within OI&T. BIP has tailored this process to align with its existing Agile Scrum Methodology processes for the complete Agile Software Development Cycle (ASDC) as defined in this Section.Agile project management is evolutionary (iterative & incremental) which regularly produces high quality results in a cost effective, timely, and highly collaborative manner via VIP’s value driven lifecycle. This requires open lines of communication among all participants contributing to a project/program/portfolio that include multiple consumers multiple contractors, and other VA describes a schedule of incremental deliveries of useable capabilities every three (3) months or less.The Contractor shall apply the BIP/VIP Agile methodology, which is based on an Agile Scrum approach and the associated requirements to the capabilities called for hereunder, as defined and described below. In order to tailor the Scrum Agile methodology to the Government organization, the Requirement Elaboration and Scoping phase to the Software development phase to the Implementation and Release Phase are sequential in nature, and the Contractor shall not submit deliverable products for a process until the products for the previous process are approved by the COR. Scrum is an Agile development methodology, using multiple cross functional feature teams. While Scrum is an iterative and incremental framework for Project Management and Agile software development, the BIP framework is comprised of predefined meetings, roles, artifacts, and terminology that promote and emphasize delivery, open communication, team self-organization, and stakeholder participation.The foundational structure for VA Agile development and project management can be found in the VIP Guide (Attachment XXXX) and has been customized by the attached BIP management plans/guides.All documentation delivered hereunder by the Contractor shall use VIP and/or EPMO website templates, if available, or ProPath templates defined by VIP and the BIP Program, or those defined by the receiving organizations. If deliverables are updates to existing documents, the form, style, and content level shall be commensurate with existing guidelines. For delivery of requirements and development/design project artifacts, the Contractor shall utilize Rational. All other deliverables shall be stored in the BIP Program SharePoint.The BIP program follows an Agile methodology supported by Continuous Development, Continuous Integration, automated testing utilizing the Selenium tool, and TDD methodologies. The Contractor shall ensure the functionality is developed and integrated into the BIP releases in accordance with the following guidelines:BIP SOA Reference Architecture Document (Attachment XXXS)BIP Design Document (Attachment XXXX)BIP Integration Process Plan (Attachment XXXX)The Contractor shall develop software for BIP in accordance with the complete ASDC described in the sub-sections below. REQUIREMENTS ELABORATION AND SCOPINGThe Contractor shall comply with the BIP Requirements Management Plan (Attachment XXXX) and shall work with the VA business customer (designated end user representatives) and OI&T staff to analyze technical, business, and functional requirements related to BIP. The Contractor shall work with the business and OI&T to analyze and decompose the delivered business requirements for initial OI&T acceptance through initial review of the Sub Epics or Functional Line Items (FLI), the generation of the high level technical requirements documented in a requirements worksheet(in Rational) and participation in weekly Health Check meetings.During scoping and prior to the start of each release cycle, the Contractor shall decompose prioritized business and high level technical requirements into documented technical requirements and an initial design as part of scope planning and baselining for the upcoming release. After the Agile baseline has been set, the Contractor shall design a technical solution and technical user stories with work tasks to accomplish the work using Rational as described in the Software Development section below. The Contractor shall conduct Functional and Technical Analyses to ensure that the Enterprise- Level Requirements are identified and included in the software design. The Contractor shall generate the appropriate technical user stories and Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) in the project's IBM Rational Jazz Suite ? by mapping User stories and technical requirements back to business requirements and/or Epics. The RTM shall identify/finalize and track the release cycle to which each functional or technical requirement is assigned. The Contractor shall include minutes of every requirements clarification or subject matter expert (SME) session indicating what requirements items have been changed from clarifications versus what items need to be documented by business and delivered as a new requirement in this deliverable.The Contractor shall perform the requirements elaboration as part of the grooming the backlog continuously throughout the TO and shall perform the tasks for scoping for every software release and change request throughout the period of performance.Deliverable:High level Technical Requirements or requirements worksheetTECHNICAL DESIGNPrior to the start of each development cycle, the Contractor shall analyze the business requirements that have been scoped/baselined, and develop a Technical Requirements Document which captures the BIP, or BIP component, technical design. The Contractor shall validate the BIP technical design against engineering/data architecture requirements through presentation at the BIP, or BIP component, Architecture WIPT meetings. The Contractor shall derive Technical User Stories from the BIP technical design and shall input these requirements into Rational. The Contractor shall provide the Technical User Stories, inclusive of any use case diagrams, object models and data dictionaries necessary to complete the technical user stories.The Contractor shall present the BIP design at the overall Design Concept Review meeting, or SME meeting, or BIP component Design Session. (The objective of the Design Concept Review will be to formally present the design approach to VA technical staff and the business sponsor(s) to ensure the design meets the intent and requirements of the business requirements and desired functionality.) The Contractor shall provide meeting minutes from the design concept review meeting. The Contractor shall document the completed BIP software design by providing the update to the BIP Software and/or System Design Document (SDD). The Contractor shall identify and resolve any BIP issues prior to finalizing design and beginning coding.As part of the Technical Design, the Contractor shall develop or update the detailed system design which shall include: development of detailed data and process models, system and software specifications, interface specifications, screen and report designs, control specifications, and teleprocessing considerations, and shall trace technical stories to business requirements for traceability and for facilitation of testing. The Contractor shall capture and provide the details of any system services in the Software Design Document and the Services Contracts (Interface Control Document and Services Description Document) for each release. The Contractor shall capture the information for all new features and enhancements, as well as for the entire release package. The Contractor shall perform the following activities:a) Establish the detailed system architecture, to include: system schematics, system and subsystem performance-based descriptions and key interfaces between them.b) Define hardware and software specifications, to include: sizing and performance requirements, systems and subsystem, interface requirements, and systems control requirements.c) Design database and file structures, to include: definitions of file characteristics, file layouts, data dictionary entries, and file indices for each subsystem.d) Finalize input and output design, to include: data flows, data dictionary entries, dialogue specifications, and lists of all inputs and outputs by subsystem.e) Define special design considerations, to include: network design approaches, teleprocessing design specifications, data control, security and audit procedures, archival procedures, current data purging and data entry criteria, scheduling, disaster recovery, special quality assurance factors, and configuration control requirements.f)Define specifications, to include: detailed processing logic for each module, data dictionary entries for parameter data and a list of compile and load units for each design unit and their component modules.g) Identify, define, and design capacity and performance specifications and any associatedlimitations. Specifically, coordinate with the appropriate VA personnel to identify facility limitations and considerations during the design phase.h) i)Maintain a RTM to list all system/component requirements, and detail how and where they are addressed in the system design.Deliverables:A. Technical Requirements DocumentB. Technical User StoriesC. Software and/or System Design Document (SDD)D. Services Contract (Interface Control Document and Service Description Document)DEVELOPMENT RELEASE CYCLEBIP operates on a 12 week development release cycle consisting of three 2-week development sprints and three 2-week testing sprints. There will be continuous two week sprint cycles throughout the period of performance. Exceptions to this development release cycle require prior written approval from the PM. The Contractor shall provide scrum teams of appropriate size and role/membership. Each scrum team will deliver one (1) or more Feature Set(s) per sprint from the related functionality as prioritized by the BIP program, or component, and established during the scoping phase. Scrum teams must be comprised of appropriate leadership and expertise to operate in an independent fashion with multiple concurrent targets. The Scrum Team is also feature driven; meaning, the members of the Team are focused on building customer-centric features of the final product. An individual Scrum team is comprised of the appropriate distribution of cross functional roles that include technical lead(s), developers, dedicated quality assurance and tester(s), technical analyst(s), and a Scrum Master. Scrum teams should have a minimum of one (1) person per role but should not exceed twelve (12) members. A Scrum Team may have one (1) or two (2) Technical Leads as part of the team that provide technical guidance, resolve technical impediments and develop source code. A Scrum Master is recommended per team; however, Scrum Masters may be shared across two when appropriate size and technical leadership is available.Release scope, as described in Section 5.2.1 above, will be set by BIP OI&T in coordination with the VA BIP teams prior to each release to give the Contractor teams time to decompose, design, and generate technical user stories and feature sets. The Contractor shall hold/present a Sprint review and planning session at the beginning/end of each sprint where these plans and acceptance are communicated and expressed in addition to accomplishments from the completed sprint, status of scope items, agile metrics, and plans for the next sprint. The Contractor shall define Feature Sets during the sprint planning activities and will be considered complete based on established BIP Systems Engineering processes as documented in the BIP Systems Engineering Plan (Attachment XXXX) and BIP Software Development Plan (Attachment XXXX). The Contractor shall capture and manager Scrum activities in the Rational Tools as necessary via requirements, user stories, test cases and reports. The Contractor shall ensure Rational data is up-to-date on a daily basis so that VA stakeholders can access accurate and timely status.DeliverablesSprint reviews and planningSOFTWARE DEVELOPMENTThe Contractor shall develop BIP component software to support end-to-end functionality and/or claims processing following an Agile Scrum methodology using VIP/BIP as a guide. During the initial three 2-week development sprints of the release cycle, the Contractor shall utilize the approved Technical Requirements, Technical User Stories, Service Contracts and Software and/or System Design Documents (SDDs) to develop build and unit test software artifacts needed to implement functional user or business requirements and software fixes and enhancements. The Contractor shall provide defect repair activities and shall work on any carry over defects from previous releases as prioritized by the severity and priority rankings or by the business expressing a different priority during the development sprints. Development activities shall incorporate the use of Systems Engineering artifacts as part of a prioritized, incremental development process.The Contractor shall provide the OI&T BIP and BIP Component Project Management Office(s) (PMO) updates to the Operations and Maintenance Manual for the OI&T BIP and BIP Components PMO to incorporate into their program-level Product Operation Manual (POM), the System Design Document (SDD), and the Operational Readiness Review (ORR), along with any other documentation required by VIP, PAL, or BIP process based on the new functionality developed to gain approval to release the new functionality.The Contractor shall create or update User Guides for any of the changes, new functionality, or enhancements made to the system to assist VA in creating the user help and operational procedures for the BIP end users.The Contractor shall develop new software in accordance with J2EE Enterprise Archive (EAR) that conforms to the current BIP application software deployment. The Contractor shall leverage existing common and shared libraries and minimize library conflicts with existing applications. Library version changes shall be coordinated with up to four other BIP development teams and approved by the established BIP and/or BIP Component governance board(s) to include: the Technical Steering Committee (TSC), Change Control Board (CCB) and/or Integrated Project Team (IPT). Similarly, the Contractor shall develop the Web Application as part of an integrated deployment which may share Java Application server(s) and configurations. The Contractor shall ensure that the developed software leverages existing application server configurations pertaining to the deployment model such as clustering, load balancing, and other server level configurations. Configuration changes that conflict with other BIP components shall be approved by the aforementioned governance board(s) prior to shared deployment (as defined in the change management section of this PWS).The Contractor shall develop any Web Interface (WebUI) or Graphical User Interface (GUI) components to match the existing BIP and BIP Component standards, including but not limited to the BIP Services Specification Document (Attachment XXXX), and BIP User Interface Design Document (Attachment XXXX). Any new components shall be developed and designed in such a way to integrate with existing components and provide a similar usability, look, feel and experience for the end users.The Contractor shall develop software in alignment with existing architecture standards, specifications and direction to maximize interoperability between BIP Components. Internally to each Component, specifications for interoperability shall include the component Canonical Data Model (CDM), Authentication and Authorization Architecture, and overall system architecture. The Contractor shall leverage where possible the existing authentication mechanism for BIP components based on the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) specification or the broader VA Active Directory and Identity Assess Management (IAM) specifications. For VBA applications, the Contractor shall leverage the existing configuration for the SAML authentication to include the same Application ID which includes the set of defined Roles and attributes for VBA users. Changes to the existing SAML token format, attributes, or other authentication configurations shall be coordinated with other BIP teams and approved by the aforementioned governance board(s). Authorization controls shall be implemented in accordance with the existing BIP security architecture. The Contractor shall participate in scheduled BIP or BIP Component Architecture WIPT meetings and conform to the established architecture patterns and practices and governance.The Contractor shall build code in the Development Environment for the web user interface; Web Server (Apache); Application Server (Weblogic); View Layer; UI Component Layer; Security and Context all within Spring, JSE/JEE frameworks unless otherwise specified in writing by the PM. The Contractor shall utilize Agile Integrated Development Environment (AIDE) to support all development services (Attachment XXXX).Deliverable:Operations Maintenance ManualUser Guide UpdateSoftware (or System) Design Document (SDD) – (Create or Update)Product Operations Manual (POM) - (Create or Update)Operational Readiness Review (ORR) documents as describe in VIP Updated Source, Object and Executable code for Web User Interface; Web Server; Application Server; View Layer; UI Component Layer; Security and Context5.2.3.1.1 DEVELOPMENT TESTING The Contractor shall test BIP Component functionality using a Test Driven Development (TDD) methodology and shall complete internal Software Quality Assurance (iSQA) testing before delivery of the software and code to VA.The Contractor shall provide an executable testing framework for each business requirement (user story) to validate that the business requirements have been achieved. Where possible, this methodology shall follow TDD requirements of the BIP component programs (e.g. continuous integration test with every software change). The Contractor shall test the product before delivering to User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Performance Testing, or Independent Software Quality Assurance (ISQA) teams. The Contractor shall assure 90% total code coverage with test cases. The testing cycle shall be aligned with the BIP release cycle.The Contractor shall develop software test documentation as required throughout the release cycle to include test case documents, test plans, testing strategies, testing scripts, test data, test traceability matrix, test results, install/configuration guides, and defect reports. The Contractor shall provide a Development Testing Summary Report at each sprint review throughout the release cycle, and a Final Test Report at the end of the release cycle. These reports shall document the results of the TDD and iSQA (internal) testing.The Contractor shall conduct tests (e.g. unit, functional, accessibility, system, reliability, usability, interoperability, regression, security, performance) throughout the software development cycle (e.g. user story, sprint, build, release) using industry best practices of continuous integration methods and TDD concepts. The Contractor shall conduct testing related to non-functional requirements, (e.g. load, performance, installation, back-out, and rollback).Deliverables:A. Development Testing Summary ReportB. Final Test ReportACCEPTANCE TESTING, IMPLEMENTATION, AND RELEASEFollowing successful development testing, the Contractor shall deliver software code for each capability, along with all final product documentation in a single package that includes all capabilities necessary to fulfill the entire release. Once all capabilities comprising the entire release have been completed, the Contractor shall deliver a single, comprehensive “Product” which shall include the enhanced code that addresses all capabilities and a final comprehensive set of updated documentation defined within this TO which addresses all capabilities (the entire release).The Contractor shall support the independent testing of the product for Independent Software Quality Assurance (ISQA), Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V), Performance, Section 508 Compliance, and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) performed by third-party Contractors and/or VA Employees.Dependent on the VA business partner’s ability to fund travel or SME’s to attend, the Contractor shall host a face-to-face testing session during the UAT testing period to facilitate the business sitting side by side the developers and providing for quick and complete resolution of defects found in the UAT and other testing occurring during this period.Following successful testing and acceptance of the software product, the Contractor shall support the implementation and release of the software product into production. Code released into production shall be usable by the user population with “minimal” defects and no delay to claims processing. “Minimal” in terms of defects is defined as having no defects which preclude the business from performing the planned functionality using the BIP production release.INDEPENDENT TESTING SUPPORTFollowing the three 2-week development sprints, three 2-week testing sprints will take place during which the Contractor shall continue to develop, if needed, and fix BIP component functionality in response to independent test results. During the testing sprints, the Contractor shall provide technical support services to VA or its designee with independent testing of the BIP component functionality, including ISQA/IV&V and Performance Testing performed by a third-party Contractor and UAT performed by the business customer.The Contractor shall provide defect management support and coordination following the approved BIP and/or BIP Component Defect Management Plan (Attachment XXXX). The Contractor shall enter (if not entered by other parties) and track all defects in the approved defect tracking software and prioritize for delivery either at code freeze or for a future release. The Contractor shall remediate all critical/major defects (i.e., mission critical to the process) prior to the software release unless agreed to by the business and the COR/PM. The Contractor shall create an Independent Testing Defect Report that summarizes the defects by category and provides details for major defects. The Contractor shall also participate in defect triage and management across the BIP and BIP components so that interdependencies can be identified and documented in the defect triage meetings to ensure that defect resolution covers all affected areas of BIP. The Contractor shall correct all critical and high severity problems/tickets before the next software delivery/release unless agreed upon with OI&T and the BIP business partners. The Contractor shall provide a status of defect resolution at the weekly progress meeting.Deliverables:A. Independent Testing Defect Report(s)IMPLEMENTATION AND RELEASEThe Contractor shall comply with the BIP and applicable BIP component Software Configuration Management Plan (Attachment XXXX), and the BIP and applicable BIP component Configuration Management Plan (Attachment XXXX) to ensure appropriate code is checked-in and baselines created as required. The Contractor shall plan, control and coordinate with Government release managers to ensure effective release of baselines, migrate code through the development and testing environments for all applications, maintain standards for software configuration, create and maintain version directories, provide documentation releases, processes and products. The Contractor shall serve as the technical support and “build engineer” to create or insure installation packages of software across all tiers, and report suggested and planned improvements.The Contractor shall develop and test Installation Modules for deployment. The testing environment and all testing artifacts should be a duplicate of the installation environment and artifacts for a proper test to be completed. Implementation shall follow the BIP and applicable BIP Component Implementation Release Deployment Plan (Attachment XXXX).The Contractor shall provide Deployment Requests (DR), in Rational, for the promotion of the development software into the production environments. The DR’s shall include but are not limited to the instructions, scripts and Technical VDD (output from Rational). The Contractor shall also provide the installation instructions and the VDD as prescribed by the VIP Process Guide.The VIP Release Process is conducted during the build and development cycle by one or more assigned Release Agents, who perform frequent, regular reviews of required and appropriately linked product data in the mandated repositories. The Release Agents also provide timely feedback to the product team concerning the status of the product data and the status of the team’s compliance with the VIP Release Process. The Contractor shall support OI&T’s single VIP Release Process.The POLARIS calendaring process and tool will be used to track software installations, hardware replacements, system upgrades, patch release and implementation, special works in progress, and other deployment events in the VA production environment. The Contractor shall provide data to the BIP PMO for populating and updating the POLARIS calendaring process for each release and deployment. BIP approvals of changes are through the BIP or BIP Component TSC or the BIP or BIP Component CCB and will then be entered into the POLARIS calendar by the BIP PMO.The Contractor shall provide installation support to BIP/BIP Component software configuration and BIP/BIP Component production support staff during the installation and testing of the application.The Contractor shall develop and finalize BIP Consolidation content in support of the BIP Technical Manuals (SDD, POM, etc.). This shall include regular maintenance and operations information, Responsibility, Accountability, Consulted, and Informed (RACI) information, process flowcharts, dataflow diagrams, key monitoring indicators, and troubleshooting information.The Contractor shall develop the Deployment and Installation Guide which includes back-out and rollback procedures in the form of the Deployment Requests and the accepted VIP Documentation.The Contractor shall develop a User Guide/Manual as input for the business BIP/BIP component Stakeholders on the daily operational use of the software to be used for the creation of training materials. The Contractor shall conduct train the trainer sessions upon request. For web applications, the contractor shall develop on-line help manual/screen for the deployed application that provides assistance in the understanding of the user interface.The Contractor shall develop and deliver all the required documents to pass the Go/No Go review gate as provided in the BIP or applicable BIP Component Change Management Plan (Attachment XXXX) and the BIP or applicable BIP Component Change Control Board Charter (Attachment XXXX) including the Release Plan, Installation Guide, Security Guide, Technical Manual, User Guide and Release Notes. The Contractor shall accomplish this task for every software release throughout the period of performance.The Contractor shall support the BIP Independent Information Assurance and Authorization and Assessment team to generate all required documentation needed to obtain approvals for Authority to Operate (ATO) as specified in Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Website.Deliverables:A. Release PlanB. Deployment and Installation GuideC. Security GuideD. Technical ManualE. User Guides/ManualsF. Release NotesPOST RELEASE DEVELOPMENT SUPPORTFollowing each major release, the Contractor shall provide development support to include defect repair. Defects may be identified by the Government and its designees, to include all necessary personnel as designated by the COR. For each defect identified, the Contractor shall identify a resolution for the defect, and provide a plan for resolution, including timeline and impacts to the code and updates to Rational.Following COR approval of the Contractor defect resolution plan, the Contractor shall execute the approved plan.The National Service Desk (NSD), and the BIP component Help Desk (where applicable), facilitate the reporting and resolution of Production incidents from end users using the BIP software. If these two groups cannot resolve a user’s issues the ticket is promoted to Production Operations to figure out if it is an operational item or an application item. If it is determined to be an application issue, the Production Operations team will promote the ticket to the BIP component Development or development sustainment staff to determine if there is an application defect or another issue. The Contractor shall support this ticketing process by addressing any tickets passed from Production Operations to the development tier to determine if the ticket should result in a Defect or if there is another issue. If the development team discovers a defect, the Contractor shall enter and resolve the defect according to the defect process described above in the development section or the Acceptance testing section. For defects causing a work stoppage or critical business impediment, the Contractor shall provide a patch or interim fix for the problem so that the business can continue operations. For non-critical defects, the defect will follow the development and defect repair process under the Software Development above. If the issue is an operations issue, the ticket will be sent back to Production Operations with a description of the issue and potential resolution. All tickets are managed in the NSD tool for ticket management. All ticket resolution detail shall be updated in the ticket or in the defect in Rational if one is created.BIP RELEASESThe Contractor shall provide all the services and deliverables identified in Section 5.1 and 5.2 to support delivery of at least one release during the base period. The specific scope of functionality to be delivered for each release in the base period will be a subset of items identified within the BIP Business Roadmap at Attachment XXXX, and will be determined prior to the start of each release cycle based on current business priorities. The functionality to be delivered with support the following BIP goals:Reduce reliance and support the retirement of legacy applications;Add business functionality to improve the timeliness, quality, and transparency of Benefits and Memorials claims processing;Develop data exchanges and system integration capabilities with stakeholders external to BIP Components;Leverage and increase reuse of existing BIP Component capabilities;Establish data access services to facilitate data sharing internal and external to BIP components;It is anticipated that the level of effort and mix of resources (i.e., scrum teams) necessary to complete each release will remain consistent through the base period releases. The Contractor shall provide a minimum of 1 scrum team each for both the BDN and MBMS components, composed of a minimum of 8 not to exceed 10 resources per team as well as additional development management resources to support each release cycle, to include defect management support following the release of all BIP software into production.Deliverable:Updated Source, Object and Executable code for Web User Interface; Web Server; Application Server; View Layer; UI Component Layer; Security and ContextOPTION PERIOD ONEThe Contractor shall provide all services and deliverables identified in Section 5.3 to support delivery of four (4) major Releases during Option Period One. The specific scope of functionality to be delivered for each build will be determined prior to the start of each release cycle based on current business priorities. For planning purposes, the functionality to be delivered during Option Period One will be a continuation of the goals identified for the base period.OPTION PERIOD TWOThe Contractor shall provide all services and deliverables identified in Section 5.3 to support delivery of four (4) major Releases during Option Period Two. The specific scope of functionality to be delivered for each build will be determined prior to the start of each release cycle based on current business priorities. For planning purposes, the functionality to be delivered during Option Period Two will be a continuation of the goals identified Option Period One.OPTION PERIOD THREEThe Contractor shall provide all services and deliverables identified in Section 5.3 to support delivery of four (4) major Releases during Option Period Three. The specific scope of functionality to be delivered for each build will be determined prior to the start of each release cycle based on current business priorities. For planning purposes, the functionality to be delivered during Option Period Three will be a continuation of the goals identified Option Period Two.OPTIONAL TASK ONE – ADDITIONAL BUILD/RELEASEVA may exercise this optional task for additional BIP scrum teams to support delivery of each BIP Release following the software development lifecycle described in Section 5.1 and 5.2, including all subparagraphs, of this PWS. The specific scope of functionality to be delivered for each release in the base period will be a subset of items identified within the BIP Business Roadmap at Attachment XXXX, and will be determined prior to the start of each release cycle based on current business priorities. It is anticipated that the level of effort and mix of resources (i.e., scrum teams) necessary to complete each release will remain consistent through the base period releases. The scrum team shall be composed of a minimum of 8 not to exceed 10 resources per team as well as additional development management resources to support each release cycle, to include defect management support following the release of all BIP software into production. This optional task may be exercised up to 23 times in the base period and up to 70 times in each option period.OPTIONAL TASK TWO – MBMS PRODuction OPerations (PRODOPS) (NTE FFP) If exercised by VA, this optional task shall be completed within the period they are exercised within but shall not exceed the task order PoP of 48 months. This task may be exercised multiple times, not to exceed the CLIN ceiling, at the discretion of the Government and can be exercised during the base period and each option period of performance. These services may include production operations, MBMS application support, database administration, systems engineering, middleware support, and monitoring tools support in accordance with all requirements under this TO. The price for each MBMS production operations support effort shall be negotiated on a FFP basis prior to each exercise of this optional task. The Government will utilize the proposed firm fixed price labor rates which shall be incorporated into the order at time of award as set forth in the Price Schedule.VA may exercise Optional Task 2 upon written notification from the Contracting Officer. The Contractor shall provide VA with a written proposal detailing the requirements, resources and pricing, utilizing the labor categories and rates set forth in the Price Schedule. VA will perform an analysis to determine if the approach and technical and price proposed are reasonable.OPTIONAL TASK THREE – LTS PRODOPS (FFP)The Contractor shall provide sustainment services required to support, maintain, and operate LTS. This includes documentation, operations, deployment, security, configuration management; help desk operations, application maintenance support, and technology refresh.LTS Help Desk SupportThe Contractor shall provide help desk support during the following hours of operation:Normal Hours - The Contractor to support Sustainment operations from 0630 to 1900 Eastern Time, Monday through Friday except for federal holidays. Emergency Hours - The Contractor shall also be required to support on-call 24/7 operations 365/366-days per year to support emergency maintenance requirements that are categorized as Severity 1 production incidents. These will usually result in a SWAT team call that will convene until resolution is completed. This is estimated to occur approximately two (2) or less times per year. Notifications are subject to Triage processing that requires the Contractor to work collectively with other LTS teams to validate the defect and propose a solution, and as appropriate, implement the corrective actions. The Contractor shall expect to participate in approximately 700 such notifications yearly. One of the primary user notification systems within VA is the National Service Desk (NSD).The NSD receives input from users having problems, reviews, and ranks each ticket, and assigns each ticket to the appropriate LTS team. The ticket ranking is based upon a three (3) Tier system: 1. Tier (1): Problem is related to the local equipment check. 2. Tier (2): The problem is related to the Wide Area Network (WAN) and/or the Local Area Network (LAN) 3. Tier (3): The problem is related to application and possible Code issues When NSD determines that an action is required by the Contractor, NSD will issue a Tier 3 ticket to the Contractor. The Contractor shall be responsible for resolving all Tier 3 (LTS application code problem) tickets. The Contractor shall rank and process each ticket internally by using a five (5) code system listed below: 1. Support 2. Severity 3. Impact 4. Urgency 5. PriorityFor all major production support issues where the instance requires a Source Code change to mitigate the event, the Contractor shall be required to provide the NSD lead with an After Action Report (AAR). The AAR shall include the event description, analysis, determination of trigger, proposed and agreed upon corrective actions, and follow up Root Cause Analysis. The AAR shall include any Code Change assigned event stemming from each Priority 1 trouble tickets and Severity 1 defects.For other major production events, the Contractor shall be required to provide a Root Cause Analysis (RCA). The RCA shall include a summarization of the event, analysis, determination of trigger, and proposed corrective actions. The Contractor shall provide notification to COR as status updates each time the status of a major production support issue or ticket changes within 24 hours of change.The Contractor shall use the following VA provided toolsets to perform LTS operations and maintenance support tasks:1. IBM Rational Requirements Composer 2. IBM Rational Team Concert 3. CA Service Desk Manager 4. MS SharePoint and the MS Office product suiteFor all other production support issues, with lesser priority or severity, The Contractor shall provide the following: 1. Update trouble tickets with the current status and a description of the solution or activities in progress to resolve the trouble ticket 2. Document and track production support issues that are considered application defects as Defect Work Items in Rational and map them to requirements for defect resolution.The COR has adjudication authority for any changes in the priority and/or severity of a production support issue when the Contractor believes the priority and/or severity is incorrect.The Contractor shall provide the following Incident, Problem, and Event Management – Reports metrics for trending purposes:1. Defect Backlog - Quantity closed, reassigned, revised, and those remaining open from the defect backlog assumed at completion of the phase-in transition – this will establish the Contractor’s defect baseline for ongoing management. 2. Ticket Volume - Quantity received, closed, reassigned, new tickets created (by the Contractor), or those introduced due to new releases and as classified by severity. These metrics shall be referenced both as a weekly (or more frequently as directed) variable and a cumulative, running total throughout the contract period. 3. Timeliness of trouble ticket resolution to include average (mean and median) number of days to close a ticket, and average (mean and median) age of tickets. The source data used as the basis for these counts (to include identification of date opened and date closed for each ticket) will be made available upon the COR’s request. Deliverable: A. After Action Report B. Root Cause Analysis Report C. Incident, Problem, and Event Management Report Defect ResolutionThe Contractor shall review and address all LTS Application defects. All defects shall be triaged and mitigated. Actions or changes that are required as a result from a notification (NSD tickets/DIF notices, Change Orders/Internal Technical issues) shall be addressed by the Contractor. For Tier 3 tickets, the Contractor shall evaluate research, respond, and correct LTS application code defects related to source code.Notifications are subject to Triage processing that requires the Contractor to work collectively with other LTS teams to validate the defect and propose a solution, and as appropriate, implement the corrective actions. The Contractor shall expect to participate in approximately 700 such notifications yearly. Defects which require code changes occur approximately 18 times per year.The Contractor shall participate in meetings with the COR and other technical staff to discuss the resolution to application and production defects or problems. The Contractor shall provide defect resolution meeting minutes. Deliverables: A. Defect Resolution Meeting MinutesLTS Security Sustainment SupportThere are critical Security Requirements relating to the LTS operations that must be supported. The Contractor shall provide support in accordance with VA Security Rules and Procedures. The Contractor shall provide software maintenance and application support services to maintain the Security Compliance for CH33 LTS source code and coding support for integration of infrastructure components. This includes maintaining compliance with all Security vulnerabilities scan tasks, including, but not limited to the Nessus environment scans, the Secure Source Code scans, the WASA and database scans as applicable.The Contractor shall maintain the CH33 security model and architecture, including the definition of the web service security framework for services. Maintain the Incident Response Tool (IRT) in order to redact production Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data for root cause analysis (RCA).Secure Source Code Review (SSCR) - The Contractor shall perform a SSCR and shall review, identify and implement fixes/resolutions and seek approval of the fixes/resolutions of any identified findings during the SSCR process. The Contractor shall perform the SSCR prior to any release can be installed. The Contractor shall provide the results to the VA Software Assurance Team for approval. Once the findings are approved, the release is sent to testing and when completed, the Contractor shall perform final SSCR to be approved. The Contractor shall then submit the release for installation into Production. Nessus Scan - The Contractor shall review and remediate all sustainment related findings. These issues can range from outdated and unsupported software/hardware, to end of life hardware components, to direct security related actions. The Contractor shall collaborate on any cross over tasks that Enterprise Operations has, which affect source code. Database (DB) Scan Remediation –The Contractor shall remediate all sustainment related finding from the DB scans that are provided by Enterprise Operations (EO).Web Application Security Assessment (WASA) - The Contractor shall review and remediate all sustainment related findings from the WASA that will be provided by EO. The Contractor shall support all Security requirements for achieving the Authority to Operate (ATO). The Contractor shall maintain the CH33 security model and architecture, including the definition of the web service security framework for services. The Contractor shall maintain the Incident Response Tool (IRT) in order to redact production Personally Identifiable Information (PII) data for root cause analysis (RCA) and required related infrastructure “end of life” tasking.Release Code DevelopmentUnder the Agile process, the creation of continuous releases is regularly scheduled to implement code fixes and changes. The Contractor shall hold sprint meetings every two weeks to monitor and report the status of the sustainment release under development. The Contractor shall coordinate Sprint agendas and meeting minutes. The Contractor shall review with VA customers all the backlog and current defects changes that should be made. The content items are prioritized and agreed upon with the customer to create the next release. The Contractor shall then implement coding to address each content item. It is anticipated that a release will occur at least every 3 months.When code development is completed, the Contractor shall internally test and remediate any defects. The Contractor shall:Complete VIP Release and Compliance Requirements in Rational and VIP documentation. Support the Software Quality Assurance (SQA) and the Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) testers to validate functionality, operation and interface connectivity. Support User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and obtain EDU’s approval of business processes and functionality. Support Performance Testing and ensure new versions do not impact operational performance. Defects found during the testing cycle shall be triaged and mitigated. After testing has successfully completed, the Contractor must verify and ensure the absence of security vulnerabilities. Code must pass a Secure Source Code review to confirm Security vulnerabilities are not present. When the testing cycle has completed, the Contractor must transfer the source code to Enterprise Operations (EO) and Systems Implementation Office (SIO) for release into Production. The Contractor shall:Provide the necessary support and documentation for building baselines and migrating code through the non-production and production environments.Maintain the code repository in existing VA’s Subversion source code repository or other VA OI&T approved tool.Utilize existing VA’s Polytron Version Control System (PVCS) Serena Dimensions Change Management (CM) to store software code in preparation for baselining. Coordinate with appropriate VA resources for delivery of the release baselines.Deliverables: A. VIP Release and Compliance Requirements and documentationB. Electronic Delivery to Subversion source code repository C. Electronic Delivery of LTS Application code to PVCS Serena DimensionsLTS Source Code Sustainment and Application Support The Contractor shall provide sustainment services required to support, maintain, and operate LTS. The Contractor shall provide software sustainment and application support to debug, repair, and maintain the LTS application source code, database scripts, middleware, system components, and interfaces. The Contractor shall provide software maintenance and application support services to maintain CH33 LTS application configuration. The Contractor shall correct software defects and execute modifications to CH33 LTS web framework. The Contractor shall build baselines and support deployment of updated code through the non-production and production environments. The Contractor shall achieve and maintain CH 33 LTS compliance with VA OI&T enterprise standards including System 508 compliance. The Contractor shall perform code changes and modifications necessary to support the production application, routine maintenance, and sustainment of critical business and end user services using Agile software development methodologies. Routine modifications include: Correspondence services (Letters) Maintenance – Maintain the current letter generation tool, Jasper Reports, implement changes to support required data elements, and maintain templates and letter content to sustain existing functionality. Adjudication Rules and Calculations Maintenance and Updates – Maintain and update the iLog and JRules engine to address changes to entitlements, awards, and eligibility periods. Legislative & Regulatory Updates – Implement: a) Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), b) Letter paragraph changes; c) Other updates deemed to be within the scope of adaptive sustainment as prioritized by VA. The Contractor shall provide software sustainment and application support services related to database management including:Creating database scripts for Master Record Queries and Master Record Changes Conducting database modification and maintenance Transferring data and databases Supporting data reporting inquiries, research, data mining and business intelligence Resolving database defectsThe Contractor shall maintain LTS software interface components (production and non- production system interfaces and application code) to support data interfaces and exchanges with VA systems. Table 1 contains a list of the LTS system interfaces.TABLE 1-VA SYSTEM INTERFACES Interface Function The Image Management System (TIMS)Push of LTS flat file metadata for work flow processingBenefits Identity Record Locator Service (BIRLS)‘Read’ query serviceVA Online Certification of Enrollment (VAONCE)Provides consumption service of VAONCE flat files for ingest in the LTSDB structure Push of disposition flat file for ingest by the VAONCE DBExposed web servicesRead only views for access to web services VA/DOD Identity Repository (VADIR)‘Read’ service for query of military service length and qualification periodsBenefits Delivery Network (BDN)Provides consumption service for ingest of BDN payment and debt status; provides‘ read service to query for conflicting benefit payment and statusWeb Enabled Approval Management System (WEAMS)Provides consumption service of WEAMS flat files for ingest in the LTSDB structureVBA Data Warehouse (DW) and Financial and Accounting System (FAS)Daily push of new/data changes to VBADWCWINRSWebservice to maintain case management and payment system supporting the Vocational Rehabilitation & EmploymentVRE-CMSVocational Rehabilitation and Employment, Case Management SystemECCEducation Call CentereBenefitsVA and DoD benefits and information servicesVONAPPAccepts online and paper applicationsPCGL (Personal Computer Generated Letters)PCGL – Notifications and Letters sent to VeteransECAP (VA-ONCE Enrollment Data)Academic institutions submit certifications of enrollmentFAS (Financial and Accounting System)Finance/payment/accounting for CH33In support of sustainment of the LTS source code and applications, the Contractor shall have expertise to use the following: 1. Programming Languages: Java J2EE, Java SDK/JRE, Groovy, and JavaScript. 2. Operating Environments: MS Windows Server, Redhat Linux3.Database Environments: Oracle, Oracle Snapshots, web service layers, Application Software Architecture (ASA) Framework, Enterprise Java Beans, Native Oracle audits at the Oracle table level (DB – user specific not Application user, Oracle dump, and Oracle logs). 4. Middle tier technologies: JRockit, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), mRemote, SQLNet/SQL Plus, PuTTY-SSH, PsExec, Curl, PsList, and Unlocker. ForgeRock OpenAM5. Tools: IBM Rational Suite (Jazz Suite – RTC, Composer), JRules, IBM Websphere and Operational Decision Manager, Whitestein LSPS, Jasper Reports, Subversion-TortoiseSVN, Eclipse, Oracle Express and SQL Developer, CCTray, ILOG JRules with Rule Studio, SoapUI, Maven/Nexus, SnagIT, Living Systems Process Design Suite (LSPS), MS SharePoint, WinMerge, UniCenter, and JUnit. MS Active Directory6. Web Technologies: WebLogic, Apache HTTP, CA SiteminderThe Contractor shall establish and update the System Design Document, Production Operations Manual, database scripts, and Database Design Document, Rational and document artifacts as appropriate. Deliverables: A. Updated System Design DocumentB. Updated Database Script C. Updated Database Design DocumentAutomation Capability Maintenance The Contractor shall maintain the Automated processes necessary to enable LTS to automatically create and adjudicate claims from creation to award. The Automated processes require ongoing maintenance of the LTS software architecture and enterprise governance, principles, practices, processes, patterns, and standards for the automation capability.Automation Infrastructure Maintenance–The Contractor shall maintain the underlying software infrastructure needed to support Automation management services including an automation engine, application messaging, workflow and service technologies to support the application and requisite data interfaces and exchanges with the interfacing VA systems. The Contractor shall maintain the CH33 LTS services, which together compose the LTS application business logic. Refer to the CH33 High Level Architecture document referenced in Section 2.0.OPTIONAL TASK FOUR – VBMS PRODOPS (FFP)The Contractor shall provide operational support to keep the BIP production systems and all environments within the accredited boundaries of the BIP Authorities to Operate (ATOs) in an operational state. This includes the daily uptime of the system hardware and operations but also after hours support during off business hours. The Contactor shall also support software releases during weekends (day and potentially night time hours) and monitoring/maintenance activities periodically during week nights. Support for the underlying operating systems is included and any certifications or specialty training to operate the software will be the responsibility of the Contractor.Typically, the functional areas required to support these environments include:Enabling - leadership and other essential enabling functions to ensure the overall quality of the production support process;Application Support – Tier III fault isolation and triage in support of the BIP System of Systems;Database AdministrationSystems Engineering - Network Engineering in an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) sustainment model;Middleware Support - Oracle’s “WebLogic” softwareMonitoring Tools SupportThe Contractor shall also provide After-Hours and Weekend “On Call” support for network and external dependency tasks and to support coordinated activities and software releases. The Contractor shall provide a single telephone number that is forwarded to “On Call” team leads. The most common types of after-hours activities and their anticipated frequency and duration are as follows:EventFrequencyType ofSupportTypicalDurationMajor Software ReleaseEvery 3 MonthsDirect10 HoursPatch Release2 to 3 Every 3 MonthsDirect5 HoursWeb Services ChangesEvery MonthIndirect10 HoursExternal Consumer UpdatesEvery MonthIndirect5 HoursBreak FixOnce a WeekDirect4 HoursDirect support is that support which BIP Production Operations both plans and executes. While indirect support is that support which is requested of BIP Production Operations by parties external to BIP.The Contractor shall provide defect management support and coordination following the approved BIP Defect Management Plan (Attachment 0017). As part of ongoing support of the overall system, the Contractor shall support the security, accessibility, performance, technical standards, architectural compliance, user acceptance, and initial operational capability tests, audits, and reviews. Security scanning is done by multiple methods and is done multiple times throughout the course of a project with methods such as infiltration testing (WASA), code analysis tolls (Fortify), ect. Accessibility reviews are performed through a variety of tool based and manual reviews, able to scan web applications and other technologies used for user interfaces.The Contractor shall provide analysis of operational issues associated with all BIP applications as required if the system experiences performance or functional degradation after production deployment to help determine the root cause of the issue. The Operational Issues and Analysis Report will be included as part of the over-arching document/deliverable, Operations and Maintenance Manual (OMM). The OMM will include among other the following information; Disaster Recovery Plan (updated at least once a release, the second month of the release cycle)Disaster Recovery After Action Report (updated at least once a release, the second month of the release cycle)Production Architecture Diagrams (updated at least once every release, the second month of the release cycle)Monthly Security Changes and Installation Report (updated at least once a month)Capacity Plan (updated at least twice a year)Fog light Metrics (updated at least once each sprint)The Contractor shall support ticket management and coordination through the examination of all problem tickets in accordance with Table 2. The Contractor shall provide an Operational Issues Analysis Report with recommendations and shall support the BIP service desk for Tier 2 level maintenance, and provide Tier 3 level maintenance for any BIP-identified issues. The Government anticipates the creation of approximately 350 BIP- related problem tickets per production release.For each problem identified, the Contractor shall triage the problem/ticket, identify a resolution for the ticket or the need to promote the ticket to the development Tier for further research, and finally provide a plan for resolution, including timeline and impacts to both the code and documentation.On average, up to 20 Tier 2 and Tier 3 level issues are received each week. In support of this effort, the Contractor shall adhere to the Service Level Agreement (SLA) response times identified in Table 2 below.TABLE 2: RESPONSE TIMES FOR TIER 2 AND TIER 3SeverityCodeTier 2Initial Response to CustomerTier 2escalates to Tier 3 for initial contactTier 3response to Tier 2Tier 2 requestsupdates from Tier 3 based on SLA resolutionResolution Timebased on SLA from time incident initially reported1 – Critical15 minutes0-15minutes15 minutesOn call until issueresolved or hourly status check0-2 business hours2 – Serious1 hour30 minutes1 hourOn call until issueresolved or hourly status check2-4 business hours3 –Moderate4 hours1 hour4 hoursDaily4-8 business hoursThe Contractor shall implement and release all software and system updates according to the DR’s from the development which are approved by the CCB and through the TSC request process. These releases may result from a minor, major or patch release. Operational maintenance to keep software current, promote performance in the production environments and keep production operations operating are done through TSC requests and approved by the CCB or the CCB chairs designees.OPTIONAL TASK Five - NON-Production ENVIRONMENTSSaaS SUPPORTTo be executed by each BIP component at any time within the Base Period or any of the options.Software as a Service (SaaS) is a delivery model used for providing management information systems support, content management and service desk management. The Contractor shall provide SaaS to BIP Component developers, testers and other BIP Component users to access software applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications will be accessible from various client devices through an interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). The end user(s) will not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.The Contractor shall provide SaaS to BIP Component developers, testers and other BIP Component resources as authorized by the VA PMand as required.Platform as a Service (PaaS)SupportThe Contractor shall provide PaaS; including deployment of user created or acquired applications into the cloud infrastructure. The services provided manage and control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, and storage. The services include Application Design, Application Development, Testing, Deployment, Web Service Integration, Security, Database Integration, and Operating System Deployment. Throughout the lifecycle of this effort, The Contractor shall coordinate with the BIP Component PM to ensure Platform SME integration and support is managed in each customer environment. The Contractor PaaS Systems Engineering support shall include the following: ENTERPRISE CLOUD ENGINEERINGThe Contractor shall be responsible for Enterprise Cloud Engineering services to assist in managing and integrating a diverse range of systems and services. Throughout the lifecycle of this effort, the Contractor shall coordinate with the VA BIP Component PM and VA COR to ensure systems engineering, SME integration and support is managed in each customer environment. The Contractor’s PaaS engineering support shall include the following:Broker network and engineering activities.Develop, submit, track, and monitor Enterprise Security Change Control Board (ESCCB) requests for each customer environment.Test and validate network connectivity.Manage performance of each customer environment from Virtual Machine and Application Level (Hypervisor level and above).Configure monitoring services for each customer environment for system alerts.Perform capacity planning, management and monitoring of customer environment.Design and architect each BIP environment and system(s) based on customer requirements.Support administration of platform support services using Terremark provided Infinicenter.Manage all Virtual Machines (VMs) and Storage Area Network (SAN) backups.Interface with the VA Network Security Operations Center (NSOC) for ESCCB requests (network connectivity requests).Monitor the operational status of customer systems.Monitor system health and performance.Configure monitoring system alerts.Manage the host firewall.Build new VMs per customer requirements.Provision new VMs as required by the customer.Ensure compliance with VA IA standards.Maintain security posture of VMs.Conduct Operating System (OS) patching.Perform Security Account Management.Active Directory (AD) user account provisioning.Manage service accounts in AD.Tune the OS kernel parameters to optimize performance.Monitor system logs.Triage virtual machine issues.Troubleshoot virtual machine -related issues.Perform Local Domain Name System (DNS) management.Manage and support VA DNS Requests via NSOC and ESCCB.Manage anti-virus server console and agents.Manage log aggregation servers and agents.Provide monthly performance statistical reporting.Perform AD Group Policy Management (GPO).Manage GPOs for remediation/mitigation from IA scan findings.Manage GPOs per customer request/policy changes.Manage Database backups.CHANGE AND CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT SUPPORTCHANGE MANAGEMENT The Contractor shall:Notify BIP Component and VA Implementation Manager of any scheduled/unscheduled service interruptions.Coordinate the ASI schedule with the BIP Component Customer and VA Implementation Manager.Deliverable: Revise Change Management Plan and Updates, as requiredCONFIGURATION MANAGEMENTThe Contractor shall:Document environment/platform changes for each customer environment.Audit Infinicenter firewall(s) and image baselines monthly.Manifest baselines monthly.Manage and approve processes for software/service changes to each customer environment.Establish and maintain system baselines.Maintain records of all activities that occur within each customer environment.Control and manage the updating, patching, release, and maintenance processes of ALL software and services within each customer environment, excluding the environments under the purview of BIP and BIP Component Production support.Manage internal Change Control Board process for each customer environment.Manage and Track Software Licenses and Maintenance Agreements.Deliverables:Configuration Management Plan Updates, as requiredConfiguration Implementation Plan Updates, as requiredChange Control Tracker/Log and UpdatesMonthly Environments Manifest Report Monthly Report of Documented Process of Installation(s) and Configuration (for each software installation and/or upgrade)INFORMATION ASSURANCE SERVICES The Contractor shall:Perform application and transport layer log aggregation and auditing. Support Vulnerability Management.Support security compliance for BIP Components within each security boundary for each customer environment.Perform system audit reviews and analysis, as required.Support required IA research and analysis for each BIP Component, as required.Conduct IA reviews of Change Control Requests for BIP in each Customer Environment.Generate and track helpdesk tickets in support of mitigation/remediation of system identified vulnerabilities. Provide recommendations to system owner for mitigation/remediation strategy.Provide SME to customers as required in support of IA required documentation.Deliverables: Assessment and Authorization (A&A) Artifacts, as required.TESTING/USER VALIDATION SERVICESThe Contractor shall utilize the VA testing methodologies identified in PAL and document testing and user validation information necessary for stakeholder acceptance. Specifications of hardware/software in test environments shall be a mirror-image of those in VA production with the exception of services that are implemented over several servers for redundancy or load balancing purposes. The Contractor shall maintain and enhance the Environment Test Plan and Test Scripts for each customer environment. The following elements shall be included in the Environment Test Plan:Validation of Functional RequirementsValidation of Resource CapacityValidation of Operational Capability of ToolsValidation of SecurityVirtual SystemsUser(s)Validation of the Continuity of Operation (COOP) enterprise environment(s)Validation of the SOP for each transitioning projectValidation of the SOP for new projectsUser Acceptance Test Plan Addendum shall address the following elements:Success criteria (functional capabilities)Survey formsTest CasesTest Traceability MatrixMAINTENANCE AND TECHNICAL SUPPORTDISASTER RECOVERYThe Contractor shall:Support Virtual Disaster Recovery (VDR) testing for each project (as deemed necessary by the VBMS PM).Support Buffer Pool Extension Failover.Coordinate with NSOC any necessary DNS changes in support of Disaster Recovery (DR).Support the DR switchover actions which may include:Bringing VMs onlineSwitchover to Miami as the DR siteCoordinating networking changesRecovery of VM from tapeRecovery of Database (DB) from local cacheRecovery of VM images from Miami Support communication between PaaS and SaaS Services, during DRDeliverables: Disaster Recovery After Action ReportIT Contingency Plan Updates, as requiredExpanded Disaster Recovery Plan Updates, as requiredRisk Management Status Reports and UpdatesREQUIREMENTS UPDATES SUPPORTThe Contractor shall support identification of SaaS functional requirements from BIP Components in the following areas: Product DesignProduct DevelopmentProduct TestingHelp DeskService Level Agreements Configuration ManagementDisaster Recovery requirements Resource UtilizationMethodology and ProcessesInformation AssuranceThe Contractor shall analyze the above requirements for each BIP Component and update the following deliverables to include the SaaS support.Deliverables: Enhanced Functional Requirements Documents and Updates, as requiredEnhanced Business Requirements Document and Updates, as requiredTransitioning Existing Projects SOP and UpdatesNew Projects SOP and updatesDESIGN UPDATEThe Contractor shall evaluate the existing architecture, enhance the necessary processes and procedures, and update the architecture.EXISTING ARCHITECTURE DOCUMENTATIONThe Contractor shall perform the following redesign activity:Update enhanced System Architecture Diagram(s), as requiredDeliverable: Enhanced Existing Architecture Design Document(s), as required ARCHITECTURE ENHANCEMENTSThe Contractor shall support enhancement updates to the system topology as needed or required, including:Rational tools sustainment and maintenance updates.Software Development Lifecycle support of identified BIP Component.Deliverables: Enhanced Architecture diagram(s) including: System Baseline Physical Architecture Update(s), as requiredSystem Baseline Logical Architecture Update(s), as requiredCapacity Planning and Performance Documentation Update(s), as requiredDesign Document Update(s), as required APPLICATION INTEGRATION The Contractor shall be responsible for Application Integration services to assist in managing and integrating a diverse range of software and services. Throughout the lifecycle of this effort, the Contractor shall coordinate with the BIP Component team to ensure software Subject Matter Expert (SME) integration and support is managed in each customer environment. The Contractor’s SaaS Systems Engineering support shall include the following:Facilitate the full SDLC following the agile software development methodology.Identify and utilize mechanisms within the Rational toolset to support each BIP Component’s SDLC process.Provide support for International Business Machines (IBM) Rational Tools.Facilitate IBM Rational Tools and Scrum Training.Provide best practice recommendations for using IBM Rational Toolset.Support Test Driven Development.Capture and monitor Code Quality metrics in support of Continuous Integration.Support Scrum based agile software development methodology baseline.Provide Installation and Support of Commercial off-the-shelf and Government off-the-shelf products as required by the development teams. Assist development team(s) in the resolution of application issues in each customer environment that the developers do not have access.Manage and update Microsoft Project Server, as required.Manage performance of each customer environment.Provide capacity planning, management and monitoring of each customer environment.Provide support for BIP Component Software and Services.Provide software and system metrics for the VBMS. Monitor the operational status of customer systems in each customer environment.Monitor system health and performance of customer environment.Configure monitoring system alerts.Provide monthly performance statistical reporting.Provide Database (i.e., Oracle, SQL) subject matter expertise. Provide analysis and recommendations for Database performance improvements.Support VBMS with Database design and architecture requirements.Provide monitoring of Databases.Triage Database related issues.Provide analysis and recommendations for Database performance from the Virtual Machine level and above.DeliverablesMonthly Runtime Report to include metrics and trending analysisOPTIONAL TASK SIX – BDN DATA MIGRATION The Contractor shall perform data migration of existing CH33 BDN data into identified BIP Component Databases. The Contractor shall perform an analysis of the CH33 BDN IDS/2 database, and shall perform extract, transform, load (ETL) of CH33 data into the BIP Component Databases. The data is comprised of about 2.5 Million Records, including both active and historical data, to be migrated to BIP Component Databases.The Contractor shall provide a Data Migration Plan detailing the Contractor’s approach to migrating the CH33 data into BIP Component Databases. This document shall include the Contractor’s iterative schedule, sequence of data migration tasks, back-out and recovery plans and verification and validation activities required to execute the CH33 BDN data migration. The Contractor’s Data Migration Plan shall be approved by the VA PM and COR prior to execution of the data migration.The Contractor shall perform the data migration and verification and validation activities in accordance with the VA-approved Data Migration Plan. The Contractor shall collaborate with VA personnel to install software, hardware, or other data migration utilities required to perform the data migration as described in the Data Migration Plan. The migration utilities shall be implemented without impact to CH33 daily operations. CH33 BDN data shall be accessible both during and after data migration. The Contractor shall provide migration validation results upon the completion of the data migration in a Data Migration Validation Report.?The Contractor shall also transfer any data migration-specific knowledge to the VA PM and COR upon the completion of the data migration in the Data Migration Validation Report. The Data Migration Validation Report shall also include any additional project information associated with the data migration, as well as other data migration statistics. These data migration statistics may include data-specific information including the following:Number of records migrated by type successfully/not successfully?List of errors (number and details)Schema validationCell-by-cell comparisonReconciliation checksNull validationAd hoc testingNon-functional testing to include security validation and benchmark testing (workflow/job execution time)In addition to the capture of the data migration validation results in the Data Migration Validation Report, the Contractor shall also document the progress status and results of the data migration throughout the migration timeline in the corresponding Monthly Progress Reports.?Deliverables:Data Migration PlanData Migration Validation ReportMonthly Progress ReportsInterim monthly V&V reports (to address progress with 3-8, above)OPTIONAL TASK Seven– TRANSITION SUPPORTThe Contractor shall provide a plan for 60 days of outgoing transition support for transitioning work from the current task order to a follow-on task order or Government entity. This transition may be to a Government entity or to another Contractor under a new task order. In accordance with the Government-approved plan, the Contractor shall assist the Government in implementing a complete transition from this task order to a new support provider. This shall include formal coordination with Government staff and successor staff and management. It shall also include delivery of copies of all artifacts delivered under this contract, as well as existing policies and procedures, and delivery of baseline metrics and statistics. This Transition Plan shall include, but is not limited to:1. Coordination with Government representatives.2. Review, evaluation and transition of current support services.3. Transition of historic data to new Contractor system.4. Transition of Rational accounts.5. Transfer of hardware and software warranties, maintenance agreements and licenses.6. Transfer of all necessary business and/or technical documentation.7. Orientation phase and program to introduce Government and Contractor personnel, programs, and users to the Contractor's team, tools, methodologies, and business processes.8. Disposition of Contractor purchased Government owned assets,9. Transfer of Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) and Government FurnishedInformation, and GFE inventory management assistance.10. Turn-in of all Government keys, ID/access cards, and security codes.Deliverable:A. Transition PlanGENERAL REQUIREMENTSPERFORMANCE METRICSThe table below defines the Performance Standards and Acceptable Levels of Performance associated with this effort.Performance ObjectivePerformance StandardAcceptable Levels of PerformanceTechnical / Quality of Product or ServiceShows understanding of requirementsEfficient and effective in meeting requirements Meets technical needs and mission requirementsProvides quality services/productsSatisfactory or higherProject Milestones and ScheduleQuick response capabilityProducts completed, reviewed, delivered in accordance with the established scheduleNotifies customer in advance of potential problemsSatisfactory or higherCost & StaffingCurrency of expertise and staffing levels appropriatePersonnel possess necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to perform tasksSatisfactory or higherManagementIntegration and coordination of all activities to execute effortSatisfactory or higherThe COR will utilize a Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP) throughout the life of the TO to ensure that the Contractor is performing the services required by this PWS in an acceptable level of performance. The Government reserves the right to alter or change the QASP at its own discretion. A Performance Based Service Assessment will be used by the COR in accordance with the QASP to assess Contractor performance.SECTION 508 – ELECTRONIC AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (EIT) STANDARDSOn August 7, 1998, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was amended to require that when Federal departments or agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use Electronic and Information Technology, that they shall ensure it allows Federal employees with disabilities to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data by other Federal employees. Section 508 required the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) to publish standards setting forth a definition of electronic and information technology and the technical and functional criteria for such technology to comply with Section 508. These standards have been developed are published with an effective date of December 21, 2000. Federal departments and agencies shall develop all Electronic and Information Technology requirements to comply with the standards found in 36 CFR 1194.The following Section 508 Requirements supersede Addendum A, Section A3 from the T4 Basic PWS.The Section 508 standards established by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) are incorporated into, and made part of all VA orders, solicitations and purchase orders developed to procure Electronic and Information Technology (EIT). These standards are found in their entirety at: HYPERLINK "" \o "Section 508 Standards for Electronic and Information Technology via the US Access-Board Website" and HYPERLINK "" \o "Section 508 Standards via the GSA Section 508 Accessibility Program website" . A printed copy of the standards will be supplied upon request.? The Contractor shall comply with the technical standards as marked: FORMCHECKBOX § 1194.21 Software applications and operating systems FORMCHECKBOX § 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications FORMCHECKBOX § 1194.23 Telecommunications products FORMCHECKBOX § 1194.24 Video and multimedia products FORMCHECKBOX § 1194.25 Self-contained, closed products FORMCHECKBOX § 1194.26 Desktop and portable computers FORMCHECKBOX § 1194.31 Functional Performance Criteria FORMCHECKBOX § 1194.41 Information, Documentation, and SupportEQUIVALENT FACILITATIONAlternatively, offerors may propose products and services that provide equivalent facilitation,pursuant to Section 508, subpart A, §1194.5. Such offerors will be considered to have provided equivalent facilitation when the proposed deliverables result in substantially equivalent or greater access to and use of information for those with PATIBILITY WITH ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGYThe Section 508 standards do not require the installation of specific accessibility-related softwareor the attachment of an assistive technology device. Section 508 requires that the EIT be compatible with such software and devices so that EIT can be accessible to and usable by individuals using assistive technology, including but not limited to screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software.ACCEPTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE TESTINGDeliverables resulting from this solicitation will be accepted based in part on satisfaction of the identified Section 508 standards’ requirements for accessibility and must include final test results demonstrating Section 508 compliance. Deliverables should meet applicable accessibility requirements and should not adversely affect accessibility features of existing EIT technologies. The Government reserves the right to independently test for Section 508 Compliance before delivery. The Contractor shall be able to demonstrate Section 508 Compliance upon delivery.Automated test tools and manual techniques are used in the VA Section 508 compliance assessment. Additional information concerning tools and resources can be found at HYPERLINK "" \o "Link to the VA Section 508 Tools and Resources" Section 508 Compliance Test Results ................
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