Appendix J Task 16 Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products Statement of Work Section J: Background and Objectives Background An "Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products" (hereinafter referred to as the "Assessment") is a research study being conducted through an interagency agreement between the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the U. S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) on behalf of the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), pursuant to an Interagency Agreement between NCLIS and GPO, approved by the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP). Information gathered from this assessment is to be used by the Superintendent of Documents to facilitate improved public access to Federal Government information made available to Federal depository libraries and the general public through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). The assessment will (1) identify medium and format standards that are the most appropriate for permanent public access; (2) assess the cost-effectiveness and usefulness of various alternative medium and format standards; and (3) identify public and private medium and format standards that are, or could be used for products throughout their entire information life cycle, not just at the dissemination or permanent public access phase. Objectives The contractor shall undertake research and data collection from Federal agencies in all three Branches, as well as solicit the opinions of selected knowledgeable experts. The contractor shall also complete an analysis of the data and opinions for the purpose of interpreting their general meaning and significance, including identifying broad emerging trends and patterns, and documenting findings, conclusions and recommendations in a deliverable final report. More specifically, for a cross-section of Government information products, the goals are to: (1) determine in which format(s) and medium(s) such products are now produced, using which standard(s) if any (whether promulgated by official standards-setting bodies such as ISO, NISO, ANSI or FIPS, or voluntarily adopted through common agency practice, such as the use of file formats such as PDF or TIFF, or Microsoft Word or dBase); and (2) assess agency future plans for new or changed products, including the medium(s) and format(s) in which they will be disseminated for permanent public access. The Superintendent of Documents will use the results of this work effort to continue to plan and implement the transition to a more electronic FDLP. The 5 major specific objectives are: * First, with respect to electronic publishing practices and plans of Federal agencies (including ways in which the FDLP can best accommodate them), the objective is to provide an analysis of current practices as well as future plans for creating, disseminating, and providing permanent public accessibility to electronic information products, and to identify the standards for software, and electronic mediums and formats that are or will be used throughout the product's information life cycle, from creation to archiving, but especially by the time of the permanent public accessibility phase; * Second, with respect to cost effectiveness of various dissemination mediums and formats that are, or could be, utilized, the objective is to gather information on standards (whether mandated or consensual) that will assist the FDLP in making near-term decisions regarding the cost-effectiveness of alternative mediums and formats for all FDLP participants. This information should also assist participants in long-term planning for permanent public accessibility, and the collection and analysis of overall information life-cycle costs; * Third, with respect to the practical utility of various electronic mediums and formats to depository libraries and the public, the objective is to identify preferred standards used in various mediums and formats that depository libraries will need to support; * Fourth, with respect to utilizing standards employed in mediums and formats that can be used throughout all stages of the information life cycle (including creation, composition, computer terminal display, encryption, secure digital signature with non-repudiation and secure transmission capabilities), electronic dissemination, but especially permanent public accessibility, the objective is to assess standards for basic security services in order to provide for secure and reliable transmission and document interchange; and * Fifth, with respect to standards that are being developed and used in the private sector, the objective is to identify existing and planned standards for the purpose of determining what the FDLP must do to accommodate their adoption by the agency in terms of hardware/software requirements, staff and user education and training, and budgetary impacts. For the purposes of this survey an agency Web site is considered an electronic information service, and one or more products may reside on the service. Web sites, per se, are not considered individual Government information products. Section II: Subtasks The contractor will be provided background materials to assist in conducting the required work, including a suggested data collection instrument, examples of completed forms, selection criteria for finalizing the list of agencies and products to be surveyed, and additional materials (see Appendix C). Working with representatives of NCLIS and GPO, the contractor shall undertake the following specific activities and complete them by the scheduled dates shown below. A detailed explanation of each activity appears in Appendix C: Activity No. Activity Title 1 Prepare a Plan of Action 2 Develop a Data Collection Plan identifying preliminary agency and product selections, and a schedule of interviews, focus group meetings and site visits, using Appendix B as a guide 3 Conduct interviews, focus group meetings and site visits; revise preliminary agency and product selections if necessary 4 Pre-test the Data Collection Instrument (Appendix A); make changes if necessary 5 Create a Baseline Inventory Products Data Base ready to populate with actual data 6 Collect the data from Federal agencies, experts, and literature references 7 Prepare tabulations and summaries based on the populated data base and analysis 8 Recollect and retabulate if/as necessary 9 Prepare a draft Report documenting findings, conclusions and recommendations, and provide oral briefings on request; obtain feedback from Government 10 Prepare a final Report and submit to the Government Section III. Deliverables And Key Events Schedule Deliverables, in terms of their delivery in weeks after award, are shown below. For each of the deliverables, the contractor shall provide six copies to the COTR. [This is the original schedule and does not reflect the changes that were later negotiated between NCLIS and Westat.] Deliverable Weeks After Award Government-contractor planning meeting 1 Plan of Action approved 2 Approval of prelim. agency/contact list 3 Completion of interviews/meetings/site visits 12 Approval of Data Collection Plan 12 Agency data collection instruments transmitted to agencies 13 Actual data collected 16 First oral briefing 17 Tabulations/summaries completed 17 Recollection and retabulation completed 19 Second oral briefing 19 Draft Report submitted 20 Final oral briefing 22 Final Report submitted 25 Section IV - Management Reporting Requirements The contractor shall provide the following reports for the purpose of maintaining a detailed record of work ordered and funds spent on this task order: - Cost Proposal; Schedule of Deliverables - Task Order "Log" or menu [monthly]; - Monthly Cost Report; - Task Invoices; and - Reimbursement Report [monthly]. Details pertaining to these and ancillary reporting activities follow. Cost Proposals The contractor shall provide a cost proposal to accompany the contractor's response to the work identified. The cost proposal will be reviewed and approved by the COTR and the contracting officer, who will communicate the approval to the contractor. [Should there be a need to modify the cost proposal, the COTR and the contracting officer will communicate that instruction to the contractor's Project Director, who shall submit a revised cost proposal for approval.] Task Order "Log" The contractor shall provide a monthly report indicating the tasks ordered by the COTR and the contracting officer to date and showing the internal (to the contractor) tracking number assigned to each. The contractor shall insure that this report includes such summary information as: the contractor staff member assigned as task leader; date(s) associated with the task, including 1) date assigned to the contractor; 2) date scheduled for completion of the task; and 3) upon completion, date of invoice(s) for services rendered in support of the task. Monthly Cost Report The contractor shall provide a monthly report to the cotr and the contracting officer as specified under the terms and conditions of the contract and detailed in the proposal. As part of the monthly report, the contractor shall include a list of deliverables and their anticipated due dates. Reimbursement Report The contractor shall provide the COTR and the contracting officer with a status report on reimbursement activities. The contractor shall insure that the report includes the names of the consultants and participants and any others who are to be reimbursed for expenses incurred, as applicable and approved by the COTR and the contracting officer. The contractor shall include: 1) the subtask for which the person is subject for reimbursement; 2) the amount subject to reimbursement for each subtask in which the person is a participant; 3) the date each participant submitted the necessary reimbursement form for each subtask; 4) the date the participant is scheduled to be issued reimbursement for each subtask; and 5) cumulative reimbursement totals to date, updated. Period of Performance The period of performance for this task is eight months from the date the award is signed.