Inactive Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Sole Source (FAR 19.14)

PEFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT Tele-interpreter Service Contract for VA Education Call Center PART 1 GENERAL Interpretation services to translate Spanish languages into the English language. 1.1 SCOPE: VA ... PEFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT Tele-interpreter Service Contract for VA Education Call Center PART 1 GENERAL Interpretation services to translate Spanish languages into the English language. 1.1 SCOPE: VA Education Call Center requires a call-in service to assist employees with translating foreign languages into the English language during inbound, outbound, and recorded telephone calls with customers. When calling for assistance, VA Education Call Center personnel require a voice recognition interactive voice response system. Languages in need of translation services and compliance requirements have been identified and further defined below. The contractor shall provide foreign language translation services into English, during live telephone calls, for the following languages: Spanish. ECC Spanish Line call volume below: 1.2 LOCATION: Support will be given to the following call center telephone location based at the VA Education Call Center (Muskogee, Oklahoma). 1.3 PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE: The period of performance shall be for a base and four (4) twelve-month options. PART 2 REQUIREMENTS 2.1 SERVICE REQUIREMENTS The contractor shall be compliant with VA privacy standards. The contractor shall provide this service 6:30AM to 6:00PM CST, Monday through Saturday. Excluding the following federal holidays, unless emergency services are required: New Year s Day, Birthday Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington s Birthday (President s Day), Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas. Service hours/days are subject to change with 30 days written notice to contractor. The contractor shall provide this telephone interpreter service for a minimum of 300 users within VA Education Call Center. The contractor shall provide a toll-free telephone number line (voice recognition interactive voice response system) for the above stated users to access the Tele interpreter services. The final output of this work will be a service which will facilitate the VA Education Call Center with the ability to communicate with callers through telephonic language support representatives to resolve customer issues. The contractor shall provide foreign language translation services into the English language for successful facilitation and communication of translated language from the VA Education Call Center employee to the caller and from the caller to the VA Education Call Center employee. Effectively translating both VA Education Call Center employee and their caller s questions/answers. The contractor shall not begin charging for per minute usage of services until the call has connected to the requested language translator. The contractor shall not stipulate a minimum charge amount requirement. The contractor shall provide a monthly report, no later than the 5th business day of the month, to VA Education Call Center contracting personnel, to include the Contracting Officer Representative (COR). Reports should include usage rates and dates, times, and durations of contacts for each VA Education Call Center business line. PART 3 SECURITY 3.1 The contractor shall ensure adequate LAN/Internet, information, and system security is in place and in accordance with VA standard operating procedures, standard contract language, conditions, laws, and regulations. No recording, copying, or transcriptions of these calls or their interpretation will be permitted with this contract, unless expressly approved in advance by VA Education Call Center Management. No paper or electronic notes by individual interpreter may contain any Personally Identifiable Information (PII). All paper interpreter notes will be removed from the individual interpreter s work area no later than the end of each business day. All paper notes will be destroyed by shredding and shall not be discarded with other office trash. 3.2 SECURITY TRAINING All contractor employees and subcontractors under this contract or order are required to complete VA on-line training course, TMS 10176 - VA Privacy and Information Security Awareness and Rules of Behavior. This course needs to be completed prior to any contractor or subcontractor employee providing services, and annually thereafter. This training requirement may be fulfilled under additional privacy awareness training options, based on the prerogative of the Contracting Officer (CO), pending assigned VA duties of the contractor and subcontractor employees under this contract. Contractors must provide copies of the course certifications of completion for each employee on the contract to the CO and ISO, initially and during each year thereafter of the contract. This requirement is in addition to any other training that may be required of the contractor and subcontractor employees. Contractor and subcontractor employees who have not completed the required VA training will not be permitted to provide services on this contract. 3.3 CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL SECURITY All contractor and subcontractor employee s privy to PII through telephone conversations shall be the subject of a background investigation and must receive a favorable adjudication from the VA Security and Investigations Center (07C). If the security clearance investigation is not completed prior to the start date of the contract, the employee may work on the contract while the security clearance is being processed, but the contractor will be responsible for the actions of those individuals they assign to perform work for the VA. 1. Background Investigation The position sensitivity for this effort has been designated as Low Risk and the level of background investigation is a National Agency Check with Written Inquiries. 2. Contractor Responsibilities a. The contractor shall bear the expense of obtaining background investigations. If the investigation is conducted by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) through the VA, the contractor shall reimburse the VA within 30 days. b. Background investigations from investigating agencies other than OPM are permitted if the agencies possess an OPM and Defense Security Service Certification. The Vendor Cage Code number must be provided to the Security and Investigations Center (07C), which will verify the information and advise the CO whether access to the computer systems can be authorized. c. The contractor shall prescreen all personnel requiring computer system access to ensure they maintain U.S. citizenship and are able to read, write, speak, and understand the English language. d. After contract award and prior to contract performance, the contractor shall provide the following information, using Attachment B, to the CO: (1) List of names of contractor personnel.  (2) Social Security Number of contractor personnel.  (3) Home address of contractor personnel or the contractor's address.  e. The contractor, when notified of an unfavorable determination by the Government, shall withdraw the employee from consideration from working under the contract. f. Failure to comply with the contractor personnel security requirements may result in termination of the contract for default. g. Further, the contractor shall be responsible for the actions of all individuals provided to work for the VA under this contract. In the event that damages arise from work performed by contractor provided personnel, under the auspices of this contract, the contractor shall be responsible for all resources necessary to remedy the incident. 3. Government Responsibilities a. The VA Security and Investigations Center (07C) will provide the necessary forms to the contractor or to the contractor's employees after receiving a list of names and addresses. b. Upon receipt, the VA Security, and Investigations Center (07C) will review the completed forms for accuracy and forward the forms to OPM to conduct the background investigation. c. The VA facility will pay for investigations conducted by the OPM in advance. In these instances, the contractor will reimburse the VA facility within 30 days. d. The VA Security and Investigations Center (07C) will notify the CO and contractor after adjudicating the results of the background investigations received from OPM. e. The COR will ensure that the contractor provides evidence that investigations have been completed or are in the process of being completed. 3.4 VAAR 852.273-75 SECURITY REQUIREMENTS FOR UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES (INTERIM OCT 2008) 1. The contractor and their personnel shall be subject to the same Federal laws, regulations, standards, and VA policies as VA personnel regarding information and information systems security. These include, but are not limited to, Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Appendix III of OBM Circular A-130, and guidance standards available from the Department of Commerce s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This also includes the use of common security configurations available from NIST s Web site at: http://checklists.nist.gov. 2. To ensure that appropriate security controls are in place, contractors must follow the procedures set forth in VA Information and Information System Security/Privacy Requirements for IT Contracts located at the following Web site: http://www.iprm.oit.va.gov. 3. These provisions shall apply to all contracts in which VA sensitive information is stored, generated, transmitted, or exchanged by VA, a contractor, subcontractor or a third-party, or on behalf of any of these entities regardless of format or whether it resides on a VA system or contractor/subcontractor s electronic information system(s) operating for or on behalf of VA. 4. Clauses 4.0, 1 and 2, shall apply to current and future contracts and acquisition vehicles including, but not limited to, job orders, task orders, letter contracts, purchase orders, and modifications. Contracts do not include grants and cooperative agreements covered by 31 U.S.C. §6301 et seq. Records Management: a. No records are exchanged during this contract. Live real time telephone transcription is being captured on VA systems through Calabrio. 4.0 PERFORMANCE MEASURES Performance measures are comprised of performance indicators (some characteristic of a deliverable that can be measured) and performance measures (a mark, measure, or benchmark that government personnel use as a point of comparison when evaluating contractor performance). The Government performs surveillance to determine if the contractor exceeds, meets, or does not meet these measures. The Performance Requirements Summary: Required Deliverable Performance Standard/Frequency SURVELLIANCE Submit to Provide Monthly Report, no later than the 5th business day of the month consisting of usage rates, timed and durations for each business line. PWS 2.1.10 Ninety eight percent (100%) monthly accuracy The Contractor shall provide a Monthly Status Report 100% COR and VA Education Call Center Personnel. LAN/Internet, Data Information, & System Security PWS 3.1 One hundred percent (100%) monthly accuracy The Contractor shall provide a Monthly Status Report 100% COR and VA Education Call Center Personnel. Security Training TMS 10176, Rules of Behavior, TMS 10203 Training PWS 3.2 One hundred percent (100%) monthly accuracy The Contractor shall provide a Monthly Status Report 100% COR and VA Education Call Center Personnel. Background Investigation PWS 3.3.1 One hundred percent (100%) monthly accuracy The Contractor shall provide a Monthly Status Report 100% COR and VA Education Call Center Personnel. 4.1 METHODS OF SURVEILLANCE Various methods exist to monitor performance. The COR will use the surveillance methods in the administration of this QASP. Method of QA Surveillance for these services will be DIRECT OBSERVATION and be performed through 100% Surveillance . 5. RATINGS Metrics and methods are designed to determine if performance exceeds, meets, or does not meet a given standard and acceptable quality level. A rating scale will be used to determine a positive, neutral, or negative outcome. The following ratings will be used: 6. DOCUMENTING PERFORMANCE 6. a. ACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE The Government will document positive performance. Any report may become a part of the supporting documentation for any contractual action. 6. b. UNACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE When unacceptable performance occurs, the COR will inform the contractor. This will normally be in writing unless circumstances necessitate verbal communication. In any case the COR will document the discussion and place it in the COR file. When the COR determines formal written communication is required, the COR will prepare a Contract Discrepancy Report (CDR) and present it to the contractor's program manager. The contractor shall acknowledge receipt of the CDR in writing. The CDR will specify if the contractor is required to prepare a corrective action plan to document how the contractor shall correct the unacceptable performance and avoid a recurrence. The CDR will also state how long after receipt the contractor must present this corrective action plan to the COR. The Government will review the contractor's corrective action plan to determine acceptability. Any CDRs may become a part of the supporting documentation for any contractual action deemed necessary by the CO. 7. FREQUENCY OF MEASUREMENT a. Frequency of Measurement. During contract performance, the COR will periodically analyze whether the negotiated frequency of surveillance is appropriate for the work being performed. b. Frequency of Performance Assessment Meetings. The COR will meet with the contractor quarterly to assess performance and will provide a written assessment.