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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) & Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) INTERNET APPLICATION SUPPORT STATEMENT OF WORK June 11, 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page TOC \f 1.0 Introduction and Background 1 1.1 Purpose 3 2.0 General Requirements 4 3.0 Specific Task Requirements 5 3.1 TASK 1 - Document Preparation 5 3.2 TASK 2 - Information Application Development and Maintenance 6 3.3 TASK 3 - Discussion and Collaboration Application Development and Maintenance 9 3.4 TASK 4 - System Evaluation, Performance Monitoring, and Continuous Improvement 11 3.5 TASK 5 - Training 14 3.6 TASK 6 - Technical Support 15 3.7 TASK 7 - Interface and Coordination 15 3.8 TASK 8 - Security 16 3.9 TASK 9 - Reporting 17 3.10 TASK 10 - Task Orders 18 3.11 TASK 11 - Transfer of Activities 18 4.0 Performance Requirements 19 4.1 Performance Sites 19 4.2 Contractor Responsiveness 19 4.3 Operational Requirements 20 4.4 Contractor Furnished Property and Services 20 4.5 Quality Control Requirements 21 4.6 Quality Assurance 22 4.7 Security Requirements 22 4.8 Deliverables 23 5.0 Detailed Specifications for System Components 27 5.1 Applications Services 28 6.0 Personnel Requirements 30 6.1 Staffing 31 6.1.1 General 31 6.1.2 Personnel Security Clearances 31 6.2 Qualifications and Experience 32 6.2.1 Project Manager 32 6.2.2 Senior Systems Analyst 32 6.2.3 Systems Analyst 33 6.2.4 Computer Software Specialist/Systems Engineer 34 6.2.5 Communications/Network Specialist 34 6.2.6 Senior Programmer/Analyst/Database Administrator 35 6.2.7 Programmer/Analyst 35 6.2.8 Senior Programmer 36 6.2.9 Programmer 36 6.2.10 Technical Writer 37 6.2.11 Data Entry Technician 37 6.2.12 Senior Internet Document Editor 38 6.2.13 Internet Document Markup Specialist 38 6.2.14 Publishing Specialist 38 6.2.15 Graphic Design Specialist 39 6.2.16 Internet Training Specialist 39 Exhibit A.1 Database and Search Engine Applications A-1 Exhibit A.2 Listservs A-9 Exhibit A.3 Major Information Collections A-11 Exhibit B. Glossary and Acronyms B-1 Exhibit C. Usage Statistics for ED Web, Gopher, FTP, and Email Servers (Total File/Menu Requests -- October 1993 through April 1997) C-1 Exhibit D. ED Internet Computing and Networking Infrastructure, Equipment, and System and Server Software as of April 1997 D-1 Exhibit E. Performance Measures E-1 INTERNET APPLICATION SUPPORT STATEMENT OF WORK 1.0 Introduction and Background The Federal government is making a major commitment to electronic networking, particularly the Internet, as a primary means of providing information and services to customers. Use of the Internet by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and its component offices and programs, as well as by ED-funded contractors and grantees -- primarily to provide public access to information and services, but increasingly to engage in dialog, information exchange, and collaborative activities -- is growing rapidly. Use of the Internet by ED’s customers and business partners is growing equally rapidly. The Institutional Communications Network (INet), a project of ED’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), established ED’s initial Internet presence in 1992 to improve dissemination of research and statistical information. That initial project developed into one of ED’s most valued corporate assets. ED was one of the first federal agencies to make a significant commitment to the Internet and among the first to use the World Wide Web to make information available to a non-technical audience. Since March 1993, INet has hosted ED’s main Web site, which has consistently been rated among the best education and government sites and has received numerous awards and extensive recognition. Through its World Wide Web, Gopher, FTP, and email servers, INet provides public access to an extensive "online library" of information for teachers, parents, policy makers, researchers, and others with a stake in American education. In February 1997, the online library consisted of more than 20,000 files and databases containing thousands of records (see Exhibits A and C). The size of the online library has doubled in the last year. In April 1997, the online library received more than 5.2 million user requests for files and menus (an increase of 135% from April 1996). Hits were logged from more than 265,000 individual computers from all states and sectors of the United States and 108 countries. In the last two years, ED began to use Internet listservs for a variety of important purposes: conducting a structured online discussion to collect public comments from more than 500 teachers and technologists to inform development of the National Education Technology Plan; supporting ongoing discussion among State teachers of the year; and disseminating information about new publications and initiatives to thousands of interested parties nationwide. A customer survey, which was conducted from November 1996 through January 1997, received more than 1,300 responses and confirmed that ED’s Internet services are reaching their target audiences, that those audiences find the services very useful and of high quality, and that planned enhancements are well-targeted to meet customers’ future needs. An analysis of the customer survey responses is available online at www.ed.gov/Survey/custmemo.html. In the summer/fall of 1997, the INet infrastructure (equipment and Internet connection) will be moved from OERI to ED’s main computer facility. Operational control of the servers and network communications will be transferred to ED’s infrastructure support contractor, in order to better integrate Internet operations with ED’s LAN, internal email, network management, server operations, and security scheme. ED’s infrastructure support contractor will have operational responsibility for the computers and infrastructure on which the Internet services under this contract will be performed. The contractor under this Internet application support contract will have primary responsibility for the informational content and application software, its configuration, monitoring, and the development and implementation of policies and procedures for site management and quality assurance. The contractor will be required to work closely with ED’s infrastructure support contractor on a daily basis. ED’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) ensures that information technology is acquired and information resources are managed for ED in a manner that implements the requirements of the Information Technology Management Reform Act of 1996 (P. L. 104106, §§50015703) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (42 U.S.C. § 794d). The OCIO develops and maintains a Departmentwide strategic information technology plan and establishes goals for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of ED’s operations and delivery of services to the public through the best use of information technology. The OCIO plans, develops, directs, and maintains ED’s information architecture and data administration processes, which identify ED’s current and planned systems, systems interdependencies, data relationships, and data definitions. The OCIO plans, develops, and implements a Departmentwide communications Internet strategy. ED’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) also has a major legislated role in ED’s Internet services. OERI’s reauthorizing legislation (Title IX of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994, P.L. 103-227) requires the National Library of Education (NLE) to “provide a central location within the Federal Government for information about education”; “become a principal center for the collection, preservation, and effective utilization of the research and other information related to education and to the improvement of educational achievement”; and “use modern information technology that holds the potential to link major libraries, schools, and educational centers across the United States into a network of national education resources” (Part E, § 951). OERI is directed to “establish and maintain an electronic network” to “utilize new technologies and techniques to synthesize and disseminate research and development findings and other information which can be used to support educational improvement” (Part D, § 941(g) -- Dissemination through New Technologies). In December 1996, ED established an Internet Working Group (IWG), with a representative from each of ED’s principal offices and leadership shared by OCIO, OERI/NLE, and OUS (Office of the Under Secretary) staff. The IWG’s purpose is to provide general guidance, focus, and direction to ED’s use of the Internet. Its primary roles are to: (1) ensure that the growing use of Internet services across ED is well-coordinated and consistent with ED’s overall goals, priorities, and services; (2) establish standards and guidelines and monitor adherence and other quality assurance measures; (3) oversee the coordination of activities that require ED-wide consistency, such as interoperability standards, integration of information into ED-wide web design and other system-wide directories and services, and cross-site collections and controlled vocabularies; and (4) provide a standing forum for planning new services, assessing new technologies, sharing tools and techniques, and collecting and evaluating customer feedback. Nearly all of ED’s fifteen principal offices and many of its programs have established home pages within the context of ED’s web site. Some of these components currently run or have requirements for listservs, web-based discussion forums, public access to databases, and other capabilities. The contractor shall support office and program needs through both the tasks defined in this statement of work and additional tasks awarded under the task order provision of this contract. As needed, the contractor shall support the needs of ED contractors and grantees for hosting information, listservs, discussion forums, and other capabilities within the scope of this contract. ED sponsors hundreds of organizations under contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements. At least 140 ED-funded organizations operate Internet sites. Some, such as AskERIC and the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education, are among the largest and most advanced education sites on the Internet. Many are part of ED’s Technical Assistance Network. ED intends to use Internet technologies to enhance information sharing, question referral, and service coordination among these organizations, as well as coordination of convenient public access through single entry points to databases distributed across multiple sites. As needed, the contractor shall interact with many of these sites under the cross-site indexing, interlinking, and other aspects of the work under this contract. 1.1 Purposetc \l1 "1.1 Purpose The purpose of this contract is to acquire, develop, implement, and support Internet-related software applications and services for ED and its component offices and programs. This contract will be the primary vehicle for such services. The work done under this contract is intended to use electronic networking and information technologies to support communication, collaboration, and the storage, retrieval, dissemination, and exchange of information among: (1) ED offices, programs, and staff, (2) ED business partners, contractors, grantees, other recipients of funds, and participants in workgroups and advisory bodies; and (3) customers with a stake or interest in American education and its improvement. The work will include: 1) information dissemination, defined broadly to include: (a) access-on-demand to information collections and repositories; and (b) active “push” of information to users via electronic mail, targeted and general broadcast and announcement mechanisms, and automatic notification based on user profiles and interests; 2) information collection, including: required and voluntary survey responses; public comment on proposed regulations, priorities, and other matters; applications for grants, financial aid, and other business processes; and orders for publications and other materials; 3) information exchange and data sharing among organizations and individuals engaged in specific work (e.g., State Departments of Education sharing information on migrant students’ transcripts or comparing assessment methods or curriculum standards); and 4) discussion and collaboration among organizations and individuals with a stake or interest in education, including, but not limited to: ED staff; business partners and associates including grantees, contractors; and members of task forces, advisory bodies, workgroups, and teams; federal, State, local, and international governments; instructional, administrative, and other staff and education institutions at all levels; and associations and advocacy groups. The success to date of ED’s Internet services does not obviate the need for improvement and evolution to keep up with and take advantage of new technologies, tools, and approaches. ED’s Web site will be redesigned during 1997-98 under a task order or a separate contract to establish a more uniform look and enhance the site’s structure and organization to support its rapidly growing information content. ED is investigating ways of automating the maintenance of its web site, managing the ever-increasing amount of information hosted on the site, and improving the efficiency, accuracy, and speed of handling the increasing volume of material that must be prepared and updated on an ongoing basis. ED’s goal is to enhance the services on the site to support activities such as Internet-based electronic commerce and online analytical processing. ED seeks to increase the efficiency of managing the site, while expanding its usefulness to the education community. 2.0 General Requirementstc \l1 "2.0 General Requirements Activities to be performed shall include: Task 1 Document Preparation Task 2 Information Application Development and Maintenance Task 3 Discussion and Collaboration Application Development and Maintenance Task 4 System Evaluation, Performance Monitoring, and Continuous Improvement Task 5 Training Task 6 Technical Support Task 7 Interface and Coordination Task 8 Security Task 9 Reporting Task 10 Task Orders Task 11 Transfer of Activities All activities shall be performed in accordance with the policies, procedures, guidelines and other requirements within ED, as provided in the ED System Life Cycle Management Manual, the ED ADP Security Manual (www.ed.gov/offices/OCIO/comps/sec.pdf), the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), OMB Circular A-130 (www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OMB/html/circulars/a130/a130.html), the ED World Wide Web Server Standards and Guidelines (http://www.ed.gov/internal/wwwstds.html), ED’s Requirements for Accessible Software Design (gcs.ed.gov/coninfo/clibrary/software.htm), and all other relevant Federal requirements, including Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. If any task or activity under this contract involves the collection of information from more than nine (9) individuals who are not Federal employees or explicitly required under their contracts with ED to participate in the task or activity, prior clearance must be obtained through the OCIO and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The types of activities that would require such clearance include user surveys, structured interview questionnaires, data collection forms, and online form fill applications. If such a clearance is required, the contractor must allow up to 120 days clearance time in scheduling such activities and must work with OCIO to expedite the process and respond to OMB change requests. 3.0 Specific Task Requirementstc \l1 "3.0 Specific Task Requirements The following sub-sections define the specific requirements for each task. 3.1 tc \l1 "3.1 TASK 1 - Document Preparation The contractor shall design, create, and maintain documents and document collections to meet the information dissemination requirements of this contract. This task shall include but is not limited to markup of existing documents, conversion of existing documents, creation of new documents, and design of document collections. In February 1997, the ED site consisted of 20,000 files in the following formats: 70% html, 2% text, 20% gif, 1% jpeg, 6% pdf, and 1% miscellaneous other. The HTML and text files vary in size but on average each HTML file is equivalent to 1-5 printed pages and each text file is equivalent to 1-25 printed pages. The trend so far is to update/add 5,000 files per year, approximately 75% of which are provided to the contractor in raw source form and require the contractor to perform all markup and preparation; the remaining 25% require the contractor to correct and refine material provided to the contractor already marked up in HTML format. There is no guarantee of the level of future required updates/additions. In preparing pages and document collections, the contractor shall take advantage of the best technologies available (which provide maximum speed, efficiency, and accuracy), ensure accessibility to individuals with disabilities, and integrate capabilities to optimize: a) Usability through desktop client software (e.g., Web browsers) commonly available to the population of Internet users with a stake or interest in education (i.e., teachers, administrators, counselors, students, parents, researchers, policymakers, etc.), including users limited to low bandwidth capabilities; b) Searching; and c) Hypermediabased browsing and linking. The contractor shall manipulate and convert documents in a wide variety of source formats, including but not limited to WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, ASCII, EPS, GIF, JPEG, Harvard Graphics, Freelance, PowerPoint, Excel, PageMaker, Quark Express, Ventura Publisher, Lotus Notes, Macromedia Freehand or Adobe Illustrator, and other formats commonly used in publishing. Desirable endformats (i.e. after markup or conversion) include HTML, GIF, ASCII, other portable document formats (PDFs), and future dominant formats that integrate seamlessly into the World Wide Web. The contractor shall design and create page templates for new document collections and reformat existing pages to current and evolving ED and Governmentwide design standards. Page design tasks shall include but are not limited to HTML markup; the creation of graphics, navigational icons and structures; links; and image maps. The contractor shall also create and implement scripts (with CGI, Java, Perl, etc.) to accomplish minor automated tasks, such as the display of an informational banner. At ED’s direction, the contractor shall include new Internet technologies in web design, such as audio, video, virtual reality modeling, or animation. Increasingly as Web skills increase within ED, ED will provide documents and collections to the contractor not only in source formats, but also in HTML, GIF, PDF and other end-formats. The contractor shall review such materials to ensure their quality and compliance with ED Web standards and guidelines, and shall place the materials in an online test area for review. The contractor shall inform the data provider of any deficiencies to encourage improvement in future work. The contractor shall make necessary corrections and improvements at the data provider’s direction. The contractor shall automate preparation and reformatting processes when possible and shall incorporate techniques and tools in the training of ED data preparers. The contractor shall also automate information updates and other maintenance functions. 3.2 TASK 2 - Information Application Development and Maintenance Under this task, “information application” is defined as software other than the operating system which is acquired or developed to meet the information dissemination, collection, and exchange requirements under the contract (discussion and collaboration are addressed in Task 3) including, but not limited to: a) Databases, defined as any online, electronic repository or library of information, including both static reference databases and dynamic transaction-driven databases, and also including data dictionaries and thesauri; b) Forms, associated scripts, and other mechanisms used to submit/collect data, comments, or other user input or to interact with the system (e.g., student aid calculator, grant and financial aid applications, and other business processes); c) Gateway procedures or scripts to other systems or applications; d) Help facilities for such applications; and e) Integration with other applications, systems, or common user interfaces. The contractor shall develop and maintain software and database applications in accordance with ED policies and guidelines (see Section 2.0). Development is defined to include analysis of feasibility, requirements, and alternative approaches, as well as design, coding, testing, documentation, data gathering/preparation, database population, implementation, and integration into the production environment. Maintenance is defined to include updating and enhancing the database. The contractor shall employ traditional or innovative data gathering/preparation and system design techniques (e.g., rapid prototyping, joint application design/JAD, information engineering/IE) as approved by ED. In proposing application implementation options, the contractor shall give preference to software packages that are already operational or approved for production use on the ED site. If the contractor finds available software to be inadequate for a proposed application or requirement, the contractor may propose acquisition or development of new software. In such cases, the contractor shall give preference to: a) Off-the-shelf software (whether available at a cost through a commercial vendor, or at no or minimal cost as public domain software, freeware, or shareware) over in-house efforts to code. Total cost of ownership rather than initial purchase price shall be considered. With ED’s approval, the contractor shall enhance such applications or completely develop code in-house, in cases where the feature sought can best be implemented in this manner. b) Mainstream software/database implementations (for which technical support can be easily secured); with a relatively well-established user base for the platforms used by ED (proven record); and which is compatible with open Internet standards. However, the contractor shall also be involved with the testing of emerging technologies and experimental software (“experimental” being defined as either well-established, yet experimental for ED, or as experimental within the Internet community). If the contractor recommends acquisition or development of other software, the contractor shall present a written justification, including an analysis of alternatives and an estimate of the total cost of ownership, to ED. Upon ED approval of the recommendation, the contractor shall prepare and deliver to ED an acquisition and implementation plan. ED reserves the right to direct the contractor to acquire software; however, ED may elect to use other acquisition channels. The implementation plan will be executed by ED’s infrastructure support contractor. The contractor shall coordinate and work with ED’s infrastructure support contractor as necessary to troubleshoot the implementation process. Following installation/implementation, depending on the particular software and its administration requirements, ED may direct the contractor to assume some or all administration responsibilities and to coordinate with ED’s infrastructure support contractor in cases where administration responsibilities are shared. For example, if a new database management system were installed, the contractor might be responsible for all administration functions except those that required operating system level access, which would probably be restricted to the infrastructure support contractor. For that reason, the infrastructure support contractor would be responsible for those functions. The contractor shall maintain all database and search engine applications listed in Exhibit A.1 unless otherwise stated therein. See Section 5.1 for a description of minimum application capabilities. Database software shall be user-friendly and shall facilitate access by both novice and experienced users to the best information available in the system on topics of interest to them. The software shall be designed to minimize the need for training, documentation, and technical support of users, without sacrificing the power needed to enable users to quickly and easily extract specific information from a large and varied collection. The software shall ensure accessibility to users with disabilities. In developing and maintaining databases the contractor shall take advantage of the best technologies available and integrate capabilities to optimize: a) Usability through desktop client software (e.g., Web browsers) commonly available to the population of Internet users with a stake or interest in education (i.e., teachers, administrators, counselors, students, parents, researchers, policy makers, etc.) including users limited to low-bandwidth capabilities; b) Searching via full text, structured fields, boolean, relevance ranking, stemming, thesaurus-driven, and other search methods appropriate to objects of various types; c) Hypermedia-based browsing and linking; and d) Searching by date (effective, due, expiration, posted, etc.) and numeric (dollars, quantities). Maintenance of databases/repositories shall be understood to include any necessary preparation, conversion, and reformatting of data before loading, as well as the loading and updating of data and removal of deleted data. The contractor shall automate such processes to the extent possible without sacrificing cost-effectiveness. The contractor should note that ED may elect to maintain any portion of the data resident on the system through government staff or other contractors. In such instances, the contractor will be advised of these shared responsibilities. In all cases, the contractor shall remain responsible for system maintenance and availability. The contractor shall coordinate with these other individuals and organizations as required to ensure data integrity; ED will ensure cooperation from any other contractors involved. The contractor shall participate in cross-site coordination activities for the purpose of providing convenient access through a single entry point to databases and information collections that are distributed across multiple sites operated by ED, ED-funded organizations, and other non-ED organizations potentially including other federal agencies, education and library associations, state agencies, and other repositories of education information. Such activities may include development and maintenance of controlled vocabularies, conventions and agreements for maintaining link lists and directories, metadata profiles and editing tools, and applications for indexing, spidering, and index-harvesting across multiple sites. The contractor shall be prepared to attend meetings, perform research, and prepare white papers and analytical studies. As directed by ED through task order, the contractor shall lead and convene working groups consisting of ED staff, contractors, grantees, and outside parties involved in cross-site coordination activities. 3.3 TASK 3 - Discussion and Collaboration Application Development and Maintenance The contractor shall implement, maintain, and support applications -- including, but not limited to, Internet listservs, newsgroups, and Web-based discussion forums -- to support discussion and collaboration among ED staff, business partners and associates, and a broad range of education audiences and constituencies. Based on recommendations arising from Task 4 or through task order, the contractor shall implement, maintain, and support other synchronous and asynchronous collaborative workspaces that may become available on the Internet, such as text-based or graphical virtual reality environments (e.g., MOOs), collaborative whiteboards and desktops (e.g., NCSA Habanero), synchronous video and audio (e.g., CU-SeeMe, MBone, Internet phone), and distributed workgroup environments (e.g., Lotus Notes, Netscape/Collabra). In proposing application implementation options, the contractor shall follow the process described in Task 2 in which the contractor shall give preference to software already used on the site, justify in writing new acquisitions, prepare an implementation plan for ED approval, coordinate with the ED infrastructure support contractor who will execute the implementation plan, and assume all, part, or none of the ongoing administration responsibility for the new software, depending on technical requirements and constraints for the particular software. The contractor shall support listserv software and its use for dissemination of messages to subscribers (e.g., EDInfo), topical discussions, and as standing discussion forums for task forces, teams, and other workgroups. The contractor shall recommend, and upon COTR approval implement, upgrades and enhancements to the listserv software. The contractor shall: a) provide technical advice and assistance to users (generally ED staff but on occasion non-ED staff including other contractors, grantees, and outside members of task forces and teams) in setting up and running listservs. b) produce and maintain -- in both hardcopy and online form -- clear and simple documentation, fact sheets, answers to frequently asked questions, and forms for list owners and participants. c) provide prospective list owners appropriate orientation to listserv ownership, including discussion of the amount of effort involved in maintaining a list, help them understand and choose configuration options, and produce welcome messages and other list-specific items. d) create new listservs promptly upon receipt of acceptable specifications and requests approved by the COTR or designee, and assist list owners in subscribing members, establishing archives, and other related tasks. e) assist list owners and subscribers in resolving problems with email addresses, listserv commands, and other troubleshooting and technical support matters. f) monitor activity for each established listserv and take appropriate steps to contact list owners to delete or revive inactive lists. g) in the event of a conversion to new listserv software, convert all existing lists, settings, subscriber lists, archives, and related files and documentation, provide list owners and subscribers conversion guides and technical assistance to minimize disruption to existing services during the conversion period. Upon ED direction through task order, the contractor shall support newsgroup software and its use for ED-specific topical discussions and such other ED uses as may be appropriate. The contractor’s responsibilities for newsgroups are similar to those for listservs. The contractor shall recommend, and upon COTR approval implement, upgrades and enhancements to the newsgroup software. The contractor shall support World Wide Web-based discussion forum software and its use for topical discussions, bulletin boards, workgroup activities, collaborative document authoring/editing, and such other uses as ED deems appropriate. The contractor shall recommend, and upon COTR approval implement, upgrades and enhancements to the Web discussion forum software. The contractor shall provide technical advice and assistance to users (generally ED staff but on occasion non-ED staff including other contractors, grantees, and outside members of task forces and teams) in setting up and running Web-based discussion forums. The contractor’s responsibilities for Web-based discussion forums are similar to those for listservs. The contractor shall: a) provide technical advice and assistance to users (generally ED staff but on occasion non-ED staff including other contractors, grantees, and outside members of task forces and teams) in setting up and running Web-based discussion forums. b) produce and maintain -- in both hardcopy and online form -- clear and simple documentation, fact sheets, answers to frequently asked questions, and forms for forum owners and participants. c) provide prospective forum moderators/owners appropriate orientation to ownership, help them understand and choose configuration options, and produce welcome messages and other forum-specific items. d) create new forums promptly upon receipt of acceptable specifications and requests approved by the COTR or designee, and assist forum owners in subscribing members, establishing archives, and other related tasks. e) assist forum owners and participants/subscribers in resolving problems with email addresses, forum commands, and other troubleshooting and technical support matters. f) monitor activity for each established forums and take appropriate steps to contact forum owners/moderators to delete or revive inactive forums. See Section 5.1 for a description of minimal listserv, newsgroup, and Web-based discussion forum software capabilities. See Exhibit A.2 for a list of listservs currently in production. 3.4 TASK 4 -- System Evaluation, Performance Monitoring, and Continuous Improvement ED is strongly committed to maintaining an Internet presence which is responsive to customer needs and capabilities, efficiently run, and adaptable to new opportunities afforded by the rapid evolution of Internet capabilities. The contractor shall be responsible for constantly monitoring all aspects of ED’s Internet presence and providing recommendations for its improvement. The contractor shall perform activities designed to ascertain customer requirements; resolve compatibility issues; and evaluate and recommend methods to improve software, hardware, communications, and networking performance, as well as standards, operational procedures, and service offerings. Under this task, the contractor shall evaluate all system components/aspects at least once a year, and shall submit an evaluation and recommendations in a written report. The contractor shall base the evaluation on the following factors: a) Information collected in the course of system maintenance and operation, quality control monitoring activities (see Section 4.5), ongoing meetings with the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR), and during ongoing support to the user community; b) Emerging standards & technical trends in the Internet community, of which the contractor shall keep abreast by monitoring trade literature, Internet discussion groups, and innovative sites and services, as well as attending a small number of conferences; c) Upcoming program needs identified by ED in relationship to legislative changes, collaborative activities in which ED becomes involved with partners, associates, and customers; and d) Re-evaluations of a lesser scope in response to unanticipated program changes. Ongoing evaluation of system performance shall be continuous. At the beginning of each yearly evaluation activity and whenever upcoming program needs impact the system's requirements, ED will provide the contractor with all known related information. The contractor shall directly participate in departmental program initiatives and collaborative efforts and will thus have firsthand knowledge of the related system requirements. If the contractor recommends acquisition of additional or upgraded hardware, software, or telecommunications, or substantial modifications to any component of the system, the contractor shall present ED with a proposed implementation plan and shall proceed to implement the plan only upon ED approval. Such plan shall include cost and shall detail any potential impact on other deliverables and/or overall funding. The contractor shall identify and assess emerging technologies and new products that hold the potential to improve ED’s Internet service offerings -- including, but not limited to: improvements (i.e., quality, accuracy, timeliness, efficiency, cost-reduction) to existing services or information products; introduction of new services and information products; and adoption of better tools or procedures for management of the site and its information holdings. The contractor shall propose pilot-testing of selected promising technologies. ED may also identify promising technologies or products. The contractor shall prepare and present to ED a test plan and shall, upon ED approval, execute the test plan. Upon successful testing, the contractor may be required to prepare and present an implementation plan for ED review and approval and to implement that plan. The contractor shall maintain a staging area, i.e., an environment that closely mirrors the live site in which to preview and test additions, updates, and other changes to Web material before they are cut into production on the live site. In addition, the contractor shall maintain a test site/machine, which shall be configured similarly to the live site and which shall be used to test emerging technologies, technologies under consideration for addition to the production environment, and new applications. The contractor shall maintain suitable password-protection and/or other security features to limit access to the test site and staging area, and to sections of the staging area assigned to individual offices and programs. The test site and staging area must not be generally accessible to the public, although the contractor must be able to quickly make sections available to outside reviewers and testers upon request by ED. The contractor shall design and implement a content management plan to monitor and ensure the integrity and quality of the information on the Web site and associated applications and services under this contract. The contractor shall maintain version control procedures (automated to the extent possible) for web pages as well as software, to ensure that files on the live and test Web sites are only added, modified, or removed by authorized personnel, an audit trail is maintained of such changes, and files can be rolled back/restored to previous versions if necessary. The contractor shall acquire and maintain sufficient expert knowledge of the ED site, content, and linkages, as well as its customers and users, to make informed decisions about item placement, directory structures, naming conventions, and desirable links, to help customers and users find information on the site, and to know when and where to refer content-related inquiries to content experts within ED. The contractor shall scan on an ongoing basis for new and relevant Internet sites and pages to which ED should link; the contractor shall recommend such links to ED and shall implement them upon receiving ED approval. This knowledge base shall be used to improve ED Internet functions, including but not limited to: a) value-added links in HTML markup (e.g., to major legislation, offices, programs, and documents); b) training components designed with ED site specificity; and c) webmaster responses to user email inquiries (see Task 7). The contractor shall regularly verify the validity of hypertext links on the ED Web site, including links to URLs within the ED site and also to other sites, and shall correct or remove broken links. The contractor shall maintain a tickler system to track the “shelf life” of materials and trigger review of material based on an expiration date. The contractor shall establish guidelines for data providers who, for most documents, at the time a document is posted should identify an expiration date and the action to be taken when that date arrives (e.g., remove the document, archive it, check with a designated contact to confirm continued relevance/accuracy or to obtain an updated version). The contractor shall document the guidelines and procedures, submit them for ED approval, and make the final approved document available online and in hardcopy, and include the information in training for data providers. The contractor shall monitor the performance and availability of the system and applications at least four (4) times daily, seven (7) days per week, and shall take prompt corrective action upon discovering problems with public services. The contractor shall establish and maintain procedures for contacting and coordinating corrective action with other contractors and organizations as necessary to diagnose and correct problems. The contractor shall include usage logging in all applications in order to support reporting and analysis of trends. The contractor shall monitor usage logs and derive reports on a daily basis to identify unusual trends and exceptions, which shall be reported to the COTR, trigger corrective action, or both. The contractor shall be responsible for capacity planning on an ongoing basis, and shall monitor usage trends for that purpose. The contractor shall participate in the formulation, documentation, and dissemination of policies, procedures, standards, and guidelines necessary to ensure excellence in ED’s Internet presence. 3.5 TASK 5 - Training The contractor shall provide formal training to Internet users and associates using, for example, formal classes or online "tutorial" material. The contractor shall use the very technology implemented on the Internet to develop course material or shall tailor existing material (i.e. tailor material developed and maintained by others on the Internet). The training shall include, but is not limited to: a) Training of data preparers (e.g. ED staff needing guidance in the use of automated tools to convert documents from one format to another or in how to develop documents immediately in a format which meets electronic dissemination requirements; ED or contractor staff needing guidance on the specific standards which apply to the ED site when preparing or converting documents); and b) Training of process owners (e.g. ED staff or organization with the lead responsibility for a content area, which may include documents, data bases, and/or discussion forums). Potential training topics shall include, but are not limited to: a) designing an online information service; b) operating and maintaining an online information service; c) creating Web documents (authoring HTML, converting to HTML, Web graphics creation, forms & scripts, etc.); d) managing a distributed online workgroup or team; e) owning and operating a listserv; f) creating and managing a web discussion forum; and g) other tools as needs are identified. The contractor shall prepare curriculum for approximately eight (8) courses, update the curriculum as required to keep up with changing technology and best practice, and offer each course as formal training an average of six (6) times per year (courses in high demand may be scheduled up to twelve (12) times per year). Collaborative efforts with EDfunded institutions may be explored, using audio and/or video technology or other means. ED may request training on additional topics or at remote locations such as ED regional offices via task order. The contractor shall coordinate curriculum development and course delivery with the Department’s Training and Development Center (TDC) to ensure that scheduled courses appear in TDC course schedule listings and that students who successfully complete courses receive appropriate credit in TDC records. Additionally, the contractor shall conduct training sessions and briefings of the user community to address new ED system capabilities, upcoming ED system changes, or to address significant technology trends on the Internet. The information imparted at such meetings shall be posted in electronic format onto the Internet as well. The contractor shall conduct specialized training as directed by ED for ED staff with disabilities. The contractor shall design the training curriculum, incorporating ED-specific content and examples as appropriate, and shall continuously update the curriculum as necessary to reflect evolving Internet tools, conventions, and services. 3.6 TASK 6 - Technical Support Beyond the formal training outlined under Task 5, the contractor shall provide ED data preparers and process owners with ongoing technical support. Such assistance shall be provided in several complementary ways: a) help desk which can be reached via telephone, e-mail, and in person during normal business hours; b) development of responses to frequently asked questions (FAQ) which shall be well publicized on the ED site; and c) establishment of an informal users group through the establishment of regular users meetings, electronic newsletter, online discussion area, mentoring program, or other means. Assistance provided must fully support technical, trouble-shooting, and general user questions in such topic areas as HTML page design; file conversion; interpretation of ED and Government standards and guidelines; and training for data preparers and process owners. 3.7 TASK 7 - Interface and Coordination The contractor shall be the technical interface between the ED Internet environment and external entities (e.g., other Internet sites, contractors, ED staff, vendors). The contractor shall oversee the coordination required to introduce any new services, technology, site linkages or other activities that require interface with ED’s Internet environment. The contractor shall interface with ED personnel and designated contractors on matters pertaining to the use of or integration with ED’s Internet environment. The contractor shall maintain an expert knowledge of all capabilities and facilities of the ED Internet environment and shall provide advice, coordination, and planning support on behalf of the ED Internet environment. The contractor shall serve as ED’s technical consultant on the Internet and related technology. The contractor shall provide support to ED in various Internet technology areas to include: a) Internet technology analysis, planning and application; b) TCP/IP networks and communications; c) Automated tools and utilities; d) Systems administration; e) Internet security (firewalls, proxies, SSL, Kerberos, DNS); and f) Electronic commerce and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The contractor shall be required to attend meetings, research issues, produce white papers, and provide expert advice and assistance to ED about Internet technology and its application. The contractor shall monitor the “webmaster,” “sysadmin,” and other system-wide email accounts, respond within two workdays to all technical inquiries and routine questions about information on the site, and forward all other questions to appropriate subject matter experts, policy offices, and other reference desks and call centers. ED will provide subject indexes to assist the contractor in making correct referrals. The contractor shall participate in the activities and meetings of a “front line forum,” i.e., a group of ED reference desk and call center staff which identifies and shares best practices, techniques, and news and information on hot topics, in order to improve customer service efficiency and consistency. As of February 1997, the “webmaster,” “sysadmin,” and other system-wide email accounts received approximately 350 messages per week, of which the incumbent contractor responded directly to approximately 60% (50% technical plus 10% routine questions about information on the site) and referred the remaining 40% elsewhere within ED. There is no guarantee of the level of future required support for system-wide email accounts. 3.8 TASK 8 - Security The purpose of this task is to establish an active security plan focused on ED’s Web site and Internet presence that employs the latest security techniques and is constantly updated and exercised to accommodate new and emerging threats. The contractor shall formulate a security policy for the ED Web site that is in alignment with the overall EDLAN security policy and monitor its implementation by testing. ED’s EDLAN facilities management contractor BTG/CAI will be responsible for the actual implementation of the Web site security policy. The contractor shall design, conduct and document an initial security audit of ED’s Web site and its supporting network infrastructure that at a minimum addresses those areas set forth in OMB Circular A-130. The audit should address all currently known Internet security threats, e.g. protocol spoofing and denial of service attacks. The audit should also include penetration testing. The contractor shall repeat the security audit protocol on an annual basis as part of the annual system review conducted under Task 4 and shall adjust the resulting security plan accordingly. The contractor shall develop a site security plan that clearly identifies all threats and vulnerabilities of ED’s Web site, as well as all security mechanisms in ED’s network architecture and how these components should be integrated into a cohesive security environment that resolves the threats. The contractor shall develop an ongoing Web site security assessment and monitoring plan that actively tests the site’s security system and makes recommendations for its improvement. The contractor shall maintain a high degree of knowledge about the latest developments in Internet and general IT security technology and its implementation. The contractor shall keep abreast of all Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) bulletins and their applicability to ED’s Web site and Internet presence and will provide consultation to ED relating to their findings. ED may conduct independent security reviews using another contractor. 3.9 TASK 9 - Reporting Monthly Status Report: The contractor shall submit one (1) hardcopy of a monthly status report to the Contracting Officer (CO) and one (1) electronic copy of the same report to the COTR within ten working days of the end of each calendar month. The report shall include: a) a description of activities accomplished and funds expended in the preceding month, by task and by ED principal office (ED intends to monitor resource use -- such as document markup, database design, and listserv support -- by principal office for internal tracking and allocation purposes); b) significant changes noted in any of the system statistics maintained under Task 4 (e.g. consistent decrease in response time, near saturation of system resources such as disk space, memory, or processing power, significantly increased activity against a particular service) with any anticipated system impact, or other relevant comments. (The raw or partially summarized statistics shall remain available online on an ongoing basis); c) any problems that have arisen or remain unresolved since the last report; the contractor shall discuss means to be undertaken to resolve pending problems; and d) any recommendations and implementation plans resulting from Task 4 or any other tasks. The contractor shall provide ED staff online access to usage statistics, which shall be updated daily, for the Web site and other major applications. In February 1997, usage statistics available online included the following cumulative month-to-date figures: a) total requests (e.g., hits, accesses) for each application (e.g., Web, Gopher, FTP, mail server) and major organizational subgroups within Web and Gopher; b) distribution of total requests by month, day of month, and hour of day; c) distribution of requests by file -- sorted by file name in directory tree sequence -- sorted in descending order by request frequency; d) distribution of requests by Internet address, sorted in descending order by request frequency -- by individual, top-level DNS domain, e.g. “.com” -- by second-level DNS domain, e.g., “aol.com” -- by full IP address/DNS name, e.g., “proxy1.aol.com” e) other categories that are meaningful to a specific application or service (e.g., distribution of requests by Web browser, FTP requests by bytes as well as files, most frequent search strings for search engines). The contractor shall provide the following additional usage statistics online: a) number of abandoned requests by page abandoned and time between request and abort b) referrer information -- list of URLs from which users link -- for each web page on ED site Usage statistics shall, at a minimum, maintain the current level of usefulness in their timeliness, presentation, sequence, and identification of trends and exceptions. 3.10 TASK 10 - Task Orders A. Task Order General Requirements ED may require the Contractor to discharge certain tasks or produce products which are not currently envisioned as an integral part of the system, but which are within the general scope of the types of work defined under Tasks 1 through 8. ED anticipates that the contractor shall be required to provide task order support to meet the specific requirements of ED’s principal offices and programs for work within the general scope of this contract, e.g., for additional or specialized document preparation, additional or specialized application development and maintenance, etc. ED also anticipates a potential need for task order support to take full and prompt advantage of emerging technologies as the Internet continues its rapid pace of innovation and evolution. In such cases, ED shall issue a task order covering particular products or services. Specific task order provisions are defined in Section H. 3.11 TASK 11 - Transfer of Activities Startup at Beginning of Contract The contractor shall coordinate an orderly transition of the project from the previous contractor during the time between award of this contract and expiration of the previous contract, for which the final option period is scheduled to end on September 30, 1997. The contractor shall: a) at the CO’s discretion, participate in five or more meetings with the previous contractor to effect a smooth transition and to receive detailed information on the operation of ED’s Internet services; b) ensure receipt from the previous contractor or ED of complete documentation and all hardware, software, materials, and data necessary to support continuation of full services, capabilities, and outstanding technical and related work inherited from the previous contractor and promptly notify ED of any omissions or deficiencies; and c) ensure that, during a three week transition period, the new contractor's personnel receive training from the previous contractor’s senior personnel in all system operation and maintenance functions. Turnover at End of Contract The contractor shall provide, no later than the eighth month of the final performance period, three (3) copies of plans for transfer of the project should a new contractor be selected. If necessary, the contractor shall initiate transition activities 60 calendar days prior to the expiration of the contract. These activities include: a) continued full service to users of ED’s Internet services; b). at the CO's discretion, the contractor shall conduct five or more meetings with the new contractor to effect a smooth transition and to provide detailed information on the operation of ED’s Internet services; c) complete documentation and all hardware, software, materials, and data produced or acquired with contract funds, or under the contractor's control as Government Furnished Materials (GFM) shall be turned over to ED or the new contractor in good condition and, during a three week transition period, the contractor's senior personnel shall train the new contractor's personnel in all system operation and maintenance functions; and d) appropriate close-out of all outstanding technical and related work. 4.0 Performance Requirementstc \l1 "4.0 Performance Requirements The following sub-sections define the specific performance requirements for ED’s Internet site. 4.1 Performance Sitestc \l1 "4.1 Performance Sites The ED Internet system will be installed at the ED site, specifically in Regional Office Building No. 3 (ROB-3) at 7th and D Streets, Room 4700, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20202. Only contractor personnel responsible for system maintenance, operations and in-person user technical support shall be required to work consistently on-site, in Government furnished facilities. Other contractor personnel shall primarily work off-site in contractor furnished facilities. ED will provide office space for up to two contractor staff. 4.2 Contractor Responsivenesstc \l1 "4.2 Contractor Responsiveness The contractor shall respond to telephone calls and email messages from the CO or the COTR within four (4) work hours. The contractor shall arrange for coverage for the contractor's Contract Administrator and Project Manager during their absence, subject to approval by the CO. The on-site administrator of the ED Internet system shall be reachable via pager during normal business hours. The contractor shall respond to requests to pick up documents, disks, and other small packages from a pickup box at ED within one (1) working day. The contractor shall be prepared to respond within one (1) working day to requests for pickup from other ED or ED contractor offices in the metropolitan D.C. area. 4.3 Operational Requirementstc \l1 "4.3 Operational Requirements a) ED customers must be able to access ED Internet services quickly and easily, 24 hours a day, seven days a week (available to users at least 98% of scheduled time), without experiencing server non-response, discouraging delays, or system disconnects for reasons other than necessary downtime for system maintenance. Average response time on the web site must be 10 seconds or faster. The contractor shall avoid, however, round-the-clock staffing, and shall provide support: 1. during normal business hours; and 2. from time to time, on an on-call basis outside of the above hours, upon request by ED (e.g. during weekend ED conferences and where ED Internet services are demonstrated). ED’s infrastructure support contractor is responsible for the operation and availability of telecommunications, hardware, operating system, and some server software processes, including backup/restore and system restarts. The contractor shall work with the ED infrastructure support contractor to routinize and document simple restart/recovery procedures and to establish notification and coordination procedures for non-routine problems that require response by both contractors. b) ED will generally determine and control the types of information contained on the system, information formats, user access and privileges, system enhancement and expansion, security levels, etc. ED will delegate operational control and management of the infrastructure to ED’s infrastructure support contractor. ED may delegate some control of individual online libraries, bulletin boards, listservs, conferences, file areas, etc. to sponsors at ED-funded institutions, or with ED associates. c) The contractor shall provide ED a means of obtaining accurate and timely information for monitoring performance and response time. 4.4 Contractor Furnished Property and Servicestc \l1 "4.4 Contractor Furnished Property and Services The contractor shall maintain an up-to-date list of all Government Furnished Materials (GFM) and Contractor Furnished Materials (CFM) property under the custody of the contractor at the ED Internet site and at the contractor's premises. All hardware and software purchased under this contract shall remain the property of ED upon contract termination. The contractor shall be responsible for providing workstations, modems, communications software, Internet connectivity, Internet client software, and phone lines for off-site contractor personnel to access ED’s Internet services. The contractor shall be responsible for providing workstations, with suitable ethernet capability for connection to EDLAN, and software for on-site contractor staff. ED will provide its standards for connectivity to EDLAN upon request. The contractor shall be responsible for acquiring and keeping current, as GFM under the contract, any and all software and equipment necessary to prepare and convert documents and data (e.g., desktop HTML, graphics, and file conversion software; scanner; etc.). 4.5 Quality Control Requirementstc \l1 "4.5 Quality Control Requirements The contractor's quality control procedures shall be aimed at ensuring accuracy and eliminating errors and waste (computer, telecommunications, funds, and staff resources). The procedures shall concentrate on activities that reflect quality, not just quantity or speed. The contractor's quality control standards shall be based upon the requirements of this Statement of Work; existing standards and practices employed by ED support activities and operations; statutory and regulatory requirements; generally accepted statistical standards of accuracy, measurement and sampling; and the expected, acceptable standards of performance. The Contractor shall establish a quality control plan to ensure that the requirements of the contract are met as specified. An updated copy shall be provided to the COTR and the CO on the contract start date and as changes occur. This quality control plan shall include but not be limited to the following: a) An inspection program addressing all of the services stated in the statement of work. It must specify the areas to be inspected on either a scheduled or unscheduled basis and the names, titles and qualifications of the individuals performing inspections and the extent of their authority. Their functional roles must be depicted in an organizational chart. b) Methods of identifying deficiencies in the quality of services performed before the level of performance becomes unacceptable and corrective actions need to be taken; procedures for notifying the COTR when deficiencies are encountered; planned corrective actions and descriptions of proposed sampling techniques. In other words, a continuous improvement process (CIP). c) Methods of documenting and enforcing quality control operations of both the Contractor's and Subcontractors' (if any) work, including inspection and testing. d) The format for the Contractor's Quality Control Reports e) For each option year, the contractor shall include a section on problems it encountered, solutions implemented, and steps taken to avoid the same problems in the future. Documentation of all quality control inspections, inspection results, and any corrective action required and/or performed, shall be maintained by the Contractor throughout the term of the contract. This documentation shall become the property of the Government and made available to both the CO and COTR upon request. The documentation shall be turned over to the CO within ten (10) days after completion or termination of the contract. 4.6 Quality Assurancetc \l1 "4.6 Quality Assurance ED will monitor contractor performance using methods including, but not limited to: a) Ongoing, on-site inspection of the contractor's quality control system; b) Ongoing sampling and evaluation of the contractor's quality control reviews of deliverables, system products and procedures; c) Unannounced quality assurance checks; d) Independent verification of compliance with accuracy standards, turnaround requirements, and approved procedures. ED reserves the right to establish a quality assurance review committee, consisting of contractor and ED representatives. The quality assurance review committee, if established, will meet periodically to discuss and resolve problems relating to maintenance of quality assurance as a whole. 4.7 Security Requirementstc \l1 "4.7 Security Requirements The proposed system must provide for a high level of data/information and system security, privacy, and integrity. Data/information security refers to the protection of data/information from accidental or intentional disclosure to unauthorized persons, and from unauthorized modification or destruction. Data/information security also refers to the ability to authenticate data/information transmissions' source and content. System security refers to the protection of all system components from accidental or intentional damage, misuse and abuse from any source. Privacy refers to the proper use of the data and the right of an individual or organization to control the extent to which data about that individual or organization may be transmitted to others. Data/information integrity refers to the condition (accuracy and consistency) of the data/information as it resides on the system. Some information shared among ED offices, staff, and business partners might not be suitable for public dissemination (e.g., tentative findings, working papers, planning documents, panel review recommendations, etc.). Specific access control capabilities must be provided to prevent unauthorized access to the proposed system and to enforce privacy procedures and policies. Confidentiality of user account information, passwords, electronic mail messages, and information entered on screen forms, in particular, must be maintained. All activity under this contract shall comply with the ADP system security requirements set forth in the ED ADP Security Manual, the ED System Life Cycle Management Manual, the Privacy Act of 1974 (as applicable), and OMB Circulars A-123, "Internal Control Systems" and A-130, "Management of Federal Information Resources." Should ED deem it necessary, the contractor shall make available personnel and resources to assist the ED Inspector General, General Accounting Office, and ED systems and operations staff in conducting reviews of subject projects and in extracting/interpreting data from subject systems for use in investigations, audits, program reviews, and related activities. 4.8 Deliverablestc \l1 "4.8 Deliverables The contractor shall complete and submit each deliverable to the CO (1 copy) and COTR (remaining copies). Deliverables may also be requested in electronic format such as WordPerfect, HTML, and/or PDF in addition to or instead of hardcopy. The contractor shall supply three (3) copies of all documentation deliverables, training materials, and special study reports, plus one copy unbound, in camera-ready form, for subsequent reproduction at ED’s option, and one copy in electronic format suitable for presentation in alternate formats such as braille and large-print and for use with voice synthesis/screen readers. Deliverables shall comply with the ED ADP Security Manual, and the ED System Life Cycle Management Manual standards. All software (including executable and source code, libraries, documentation, and support components necessary to maintain and enhance the software in the future), designs, graphics, layouts, presentations, and other intellectual property developed under this contract shall be documented to ED standards and shall become the property of ED. For each management/work plan identified in the deliverable list below, the contractor shall include: 1) an implementation schedule including intermediate milestones and interim deliverables, including as appropriate requirements analysis and/or requirements documentation, high level design and walkthrough, detailed design and walkthrough, migration and/or implementation plans, test plans, user and system documentation (the contractor shall include time for ED review of drafts); 2) staffing assignments and how ongoing maintenance/development responsibilities shall continue to be met while the system developments listed below take place; 3) dependencies with other tasks; and 4) ongoing maintenance of the capability/products once implemented. For each deliverable, unless otherwise specified below, the contractor shall include time for ED review of drafts and for contractor incorporation of revisions based on ED review prior to delivery of the final version. The contractor shall allow two weeks for ED review and one week to incorporate revisions, unless otherwise agreed in the management/work plan for the activity. The review period for time-sensitive activities such as document preparation and posting must be streamlined to accommodate Internet expectations for rapid posting of timely information. Task Deliverable Schedule 1 a. Document updates and converted documents that are in such desirable endformats as those listed in Task 1 and are posted on the ED site. (Maximum 500 text pages per week including new documents and collections. When requirements exceed 500, ED and contractor will prioritize jobs and some document preparation may be diverted to task order vehicles.) b. New documents and collections that are in such desirable endformats as those listed in Task 1 and are posted on the ED site. (Maximum 500 text pages per week including document conversion and updating. When requirements exceed 500, ED and contractor will prioritize jobs and some document preparation may be diverted to task order vehicles.) c. Templates for new document collections posted on the ED site for use by ED data preparers. d. Work plans for non-routine, non-trivial design & preparation of documents and collections. Plans comprise draft layout/sketches/specs, including new graphics, navigational icons, and applications (as needed; time estimate for the job; and an estimate of cost to the contract. e. Routine, predictable documents require time/cost estimates. f. Maintenance/updates to existing pages, collections, and links Ongoing, starting 2 weeks after award Contractor/ED meeting to initiate planning for new documents, collections, and designs, modification to existing documents, collections, and designs, or other work within 3 days of ED request For individual non-routine documents, draft work plan within 1 week of initial meeting; for more complex collections, draft work plan within 2 weeks of initial meeting. Final work plan within 1 week of contractor receipt of ED comments on draft Remaining deliverables as scheduled in management/ work plan for specific item 2 Management/work plans for new applications and modifications to existing applications -- draft/final System Life-cycle Documentation (e.g., requirements definition, logical/physical design, test, implementation, system maintenance/operation) as appropriate for each task -- draft/final Rapid/joint application design sessions (RAD/JAD) Completed software applications Maintenance of existing applications and databases Software assessment Software acquisition Data/information preparation Meeting notes White papers Ongoing, beginning 2 weeks after award Contractor/ED meeting to initiate planning for new application, modification to existing application, or other work within 3 days of ED request Draft work plan within 2 weeks of initial meeting Final work plan within 1 week of contractor receipt of ED comments on draft Remaining deliverables as scheduled in management/ work plan for specific application 3 same as Task 2 New listservs and forums created and configured Troubleshooting/problem resolution same as Task 2 Within 4 days of receipt of specifications from sponsor As required; ongoing 4 a. Annual System Review 1. Management plan draft 2. Management plan final 3. Draft Evaluation Report 4. Final Evaluation Report b. Content management plan (includes version control plan, tickler system, etc.) -- draft/final c. Acquisition studies & recommendations d. Test plans e. Implementation plans f. Research reports; white papers g. Test site -- physical test bed h. Guidelines & procedures for data providers I. System monitoring activities a. Contract years 2 through 5 1. 3 months after start of contract year 2. 3 weeks after 1. 3. 3 months after 2. 4. 4 weeks after 3. b. 2 months after award; ongoing updates as required c. Ongoing, starting 3 weeks after award d.Ongoing, starting 3 weeks after award e.Ongoing, starting 3 weeks after award f. Ongoing, starting 3 weeks after award g.Ongoing, starting 3 weeks after award h.Ongoing, starting 3 weeks after award i.Ongoing, starting 3 weeks after award 5 a. Course list b. Individual course curriculum -- draft/final c. Course schedule d. Delivery of training sessions & briefings e. Online training materials & tutorials a. 1 month after award; ongoing updates as required b. 2 months after award; ongoing updates as required c. Draft 1 month before start of each calendar quarter; final within 1 week of ED review of draft d. Per course schedule e. Within 3 weeks of ED review of curriculum content 6 Help desk support to ED data preparers on such topics as HTML page design, file conversion, interpretation of ED and Governmentwide standards, and training issues and which can be reached via telephone, email, and in person. FAQ(s) accessible via ED site Informal user group through meetings, newsletter, online discussion area, mentoring program, or other means Daily, starting 2 weeks after award Telephone and email access during ED working hours and inperson access at least once a week. 7 Research reports White papers Planning documents Meeting attendance & participation Responses to email sent to “webmaster”, “sysadmin”, and other system-wide email accounts Ongoing, starting 2 weeks after award Response to each email sent within 2 working days of receipt 8 Initial security audit Security audit plan (as part of annual system review in years 2-5; see Task 4) Ongoing security assessment & monitoring plan Award plus 8 weeks same as annual system review (see Task 4) 9 Monthly status report Daily & monthly usage statistics online 2 weeks after end of month next day for daily statistics; 3 days after end of month for monthly statistics 10 N.A./TBD N.A./TBD 11 Project Closeout Plan 3 months prior to contract end -- Quality Control Plan (see section 4.5) Due upon award; updates as needed 5.0 Detailed Specifications for System Componentstc \l1 "5.0 Detailed Specifications for System Components The following assumptions should be made regarding the maintenance and capacity planning of ED’s Internet services: a) The system life for ED’s Internet site under this contract will be one year plus four option periods, for a total potential contract duration of 60 months (5 years), following which the contract may be recompeted. The overall life of the system is anticipated to be continuous, however. b) Exhibit C contains monthly usage statistics (i.e., total file/menu requests or “hits”) for ED’s main Web, Gopher, and FTP servers from the services’ inception in October 1993 through April 1997. Although it is difficult to predict or control trends in the general public’s use of Internet services, continued growth is almost certain, although the steep curve observed during the last two years is expected to level out some. C) Exhibit D contains itemized lists of the major components of the hardware, software, and telecommunications configuration of ED’s main Internet facilities as of April 1997. The hardware, telecommunications, and system software will be the responsibility of ED’s infrastructure support contractor. The contractor under this contract shall be responsible for application software and for server software except in instances when the infrastructure support contractor must retain full or partial control over the software to maintain operational integrity of the system software, hardware, or telecommunications infrastructure. In such instances, ED and both contractors shall agree on and document clear delineation of responsibilities. 5.1 Applications Servicestc \l1 "5.1 Applications Services All components of ED’s Internet system shall be compatible with Internet standards and protocols, as well as accessibility requirements of users with disabilities. Applications supported by ED’s Internet system shall be at minimum, but not limited to: a) Listserv software: The listserv software must provide the following capabilities, at a minimum: 1) permit listserv administrator to establish and individually configure multiple lists which: -- are public and private (restricted access); -- require postings to be pre-approved by list owner or permit unrestricted direct posting of messages to list by subscribers and, if required, by non-subscribers; -- allow or prohibit subscribers to post messages to list; -- allow or prohibit subscribers to obtain list of other subscribers; -- default to either respond-to-list or respond-to-original-sender; 2) send messages to, and receive messages from, any valid Internet email address; 3) archive messages or elect not to archive; 4) permit subscribers to: -- receive all messages from lists for which they are registered; -- send messages to lists which permit subscriber postings; -- retrieve archived messages by message title, date, and content; -- select digests (e.g., bundle messages based on size or time interval); -- unsubscribe themselves via email; -- obtain command help via email; -- temporarily stop mail without unsubscribing; -- easily subscribe (for lists configured to accept self-subscription), unsubscribe, and change the email address under which they are subscribed; 5) permit list owner to: -- view and maintain (add/change/delete) subscriber list; -- revise welcome message and other informational messages; -- block subscription and posting by specific Internet email addresses; -- approve and reject subscription and posting requests for lists configured to require pre-approval; -- view list statistics (# subscribers, # messages); -- elect to receive copies of error messages or not to receive them. c) Newsgroup software: The newsgroup software, if required under task order, must provide Internet-standard newsgroup capabilities and permit ED to establish and operate multiple newsgroups for use by ED staff, business partners, associates, and communities of interest among the general public. d) Web-based discussion forum software: The Web-based discussion forum software must provide the following capabilities, at a minimum: 1) accessibility to the full range of ED’s users through the most widely used Web browsers, older versions of Web browsers, and text-only Web browsers; additional software such as plug-ins or Java must not be required for use; 2) user interface that is easy to learn and use for novice, occasional, and casual users; 3) user interface that is configurable to fit ED site’s screen design standards and conventions; 4) support for both moderated and unmoderated forums (in a moderated forum, messages are sent to the moderator for approval before posting; in an unmoderated forum, messages are posted directly without pre-screening) 5) support for a large number of simultaneous, ongoing forums, each in their own area of ED’s web site and each with their own moderator; 6) ability to “thread,” i.e., group messages, responses, and responses to responses together within larger discussion space; 7) ability to spawn spin-off forums, i.e., moving topics that outgrow a discussion area to their own area, preserving the messages and the discussants; 8) easy-to-use, powerful administration tools for the moderator, including the ability to delete messages; 9) ability to embed live URLs/links within messages; 10) integration with email, i.e., user ability to register to be notified via email of new postings, ability to include email-only users in discussion by accepting and distributing messages via email in synchronization with accepting messages via Web browser and enabling Web users to read messages via Web browser. e) Online, Searchable Databases - The system must provide the following database capabilities to both local and remote users. 1) The database system must provide for the creation and maintenance of small, simple databases such as address and phone lists and large, complex databases which mix free text, field-specific data, and multimedia object types. It must support retrieval techniques using both free text techniques with word proximity and user-specified criteria on the contents of specific fields. The database system must also provide the capability of producing custom and ad hoc reports and report templates. The database system must also support the sharing of data with other applications, such as electronic mail, word processing or spreadsheet. 2) Users must be able to display and select from a list of available databases, select and display a list of records meeting user-specified criteria, and be able to view the contents of specific records in the list. Where appropriate, users must be able to select search values from a thesaurus of controlled terms or a list of valid values. 3) ED must be able to update each database either by periodically reloading the entire contents or by adding, deleting, and replacing individual records. The system must be capable of performing updates to individual records received in transaction files uploaded to the network in an agreed-upon format. 4) The database system must be capable of maintaining libraries of downloadable text and binary files and identifying to a user those files which meet the user's search criteria. 5) Users must be able to search for information across various sources, on both internal and external systems. 6) The database system must take advantage of hypermedia technology and integrate seamlessly into the World Wide Web (and any user interface that may displace the Web as the dominant Internet user interface in the future). f) User Interface - Easy, common user interface which provides access to all available information sources and does not require users to learn different interfaces and commands for each application. 6.0 Personnel Requirementstc \l1 "6.0 Personnel Requirements This section describes general requirements and security clearance requirements for personnel used under this contract and defines the required qualifications and experience for each labor category eligible to be used under this contract. In accomplishing the tasks described in Section 3 , the contractor shall use appropriate labor categories selected from those defined below. The contractor is not required to use all of the labor categories defined below. 6.1 Staffingtc \l1 "6.1 Staffing 6.1.1 Generaltc \l1 "6.1.1 General The contractor shall provide staff who are qualified to perform the work described in this statement of work. The contractor is required to provide a project manager; the contractor is not required to utilize all of the labor categories specified in Section 6.2. However, all personnel utilized during the life of this contract shall possess, as a minimum, the qualifications and experience specified in Section 6.2 for the labor category to which (s)he is assigned. Additionally, and for each category, the contractor's personnel shall have adequate expertise working on the HW/SW platforms which comprise the ED Internet system, and with the specific software and/or development tools used for the ED Internet system's applications and applications development. The contractor may propose other labor categories in addition to those defined in Section 6.2. The contractor shall supply, for the CO/COTR's review, a resume for all additional or replacement personnel in advance of assignment to this contract. The CO/COTR will evaluate the resume in relation to the minimum qualifications and experience requirements of the labor category proposed by the contractor. The CO, or the CO's designee, will notify the contractor in writing of the acceptance or rejection of the additional or replacement personnel. ED has the right to verify information on resumes and to conduct interviews for individuals proposed for work under this contract. The contractor shall assign staff to maximize the benefit of the experience gained from performing prior work under this contract, and to ensure the continuity crucial to satisfactory performance of the contract requirements. In the evaluation of resumes for proposed, additional or replacement personnel, undergraduate and graduate level college study may be substituted for required relevant experience in all labor categories according to the following formulas and conditions: a) Generally, a full year of undergraduate college study may be substituted for nine months of experience; so that an associate college degree would equal 1.5 years of experience, and undergraduate college degree would equal 3 years of experience. b) For advanced degrees, a master's level degree may be substituted for an additional one year of experience; a doctoral level degree may be substituted for an additional two years of experience. Thus, an undergraduate degree plus a master's degree and a doctoral degree would equate to six years of experience. 6.1.2 Personnel Security Clearancestc \l1 "6.1.2 Personnel Security Clearances Although not expected, it is possible that contract work may involve systems and/or activities that are sensitive and critical to fulfilling ED's mission. Therefore, ED has the right to require all contractor personnel to be subject to security clearance, finger printing, and background investigations necessary to satisfy the appropriate security level requirements for the activities they are tasked to perform. At ED’s option, individuals without background investigations can assume duties on a conditional basis prior to security clearance. The contractor shall designate past and current security clearance(s) for all personnel proposed. In the absence of a civilian agency clearance, a national security clearance (e.g., Secret, Top Secret) should be reported. 6.2 Qualifications and Experiencetc \l1 "6.2 Qualifications and Experience 6.2.1 Project Managertc \l1 "6.2.1 Project Manager Capable of performing a wide range of project management responsibilities (such as contract management, standards applicability, quality control/assurance, financial/business solutions; experienced in analysis, development and implementation aspects; and supervisory experience); experienced with development/management of telecommunications/ networking systems. Must have demonstrated working knowledge of Internet technologies and experience working on Internet-related projects. Additional qualifications include: demonstrated working knowledge of Federal procurement regulations, Federal information processing standards, and Federal telecommunications standards gained through management of ADP software and operations contracts with Federal government agencies; demonstrated successful experience in conducting cost/benefit analyses, implementing and enforcing quality control and security standards, and accomplishing risk assessment and vulnerability studies; demonstrated experience in directing security compliance reviews, preferably in accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular A-130 ("Management of Federal Information Resources") and OMB Circular A-127 ("Financial Management Systems"). Personnel proposed for this category must have fifteen (15) years of progressively responsible project management or analysis experience, which includes at least four (4) years of specific project management experience of seven (7) or more personnel and at least three (3) years of systems or management analysis experience. 6.2.2 Senior Systems Analysttc \l1 "6.2.2 Senior Systems Analyst Ability to identify, evaluate, and recommend solutions to system problems through required research and special analytical studies; capable of collecting and analyzing detailed user requirements and preparing required system plans and application documentation including training materials and actually training end users, when necessary; able to work independently, in a team leader capacity, or as a team member. Thorough understanding of the issues, protocols, and tools specific to Internet (TCP/IP) applications including telnet, FTP, WWW, gopher, email, and emerging new technologies including multimedia preparation and dissemination. Must possess superior written and oral communication skills and a demonstrated ability to articulate technical concepts in terms understandable by non-technical individuals. Additional qualifications include: experience in the application of computer technology to bibliographic and other textual information, as well as structured data; demonstrated experience in directing security compliance reviews, preferably in accordance with the provisions of OMB Circular A-130 ("Management of Federal Information Resources") and OMB Circular A-127 ("Financial Management Systems"); knowledge of emerging Internet-related technologies (e.g. distributed information servers, artificial intelligence/expert systems, image processing, optical storage and retrieval, object oriented programming and data repositories, etc.) is desirable. Personnel proposed for this category must have a minimum of ten years of experience as an analyst/programmer in positions of increasing levels of responsibility, in analysis and design of systems and services, and in conducting management studies, security compliance reviews, cost/benefit analyses, and requirements analyses. A minimum of three years experience on Internet-specific systems is required. 6.2.3 Systems Analysttc \l1 "6.2.3 Systems Analyst Depending on degree of system/subsystem complexity, can assist the Systems Management Analyst or Senior Systems Analyst in developing system plans (e.g., conversion, compatibility, implementation) from inception to conclusion; will be capable of determining requirements, developing system designs, analyzing data, modifying existing systems, and preparing system and application documentation; performs end-user training (e.g., classroom, one-on-one, remote, etc.); works independently or as a team member. Requires in-depth knowledge of Internet tools (telnet, FTP, WWW, Gopher, SMTP, POP, NNTP, DNS, NFS, SLIP/PPP, UNIX, JAVA, Perl, HTML, and CGI). Proposed personnel must have experience in the analysis, design, implementation, and operation of large-scale management and document processing ADP systems; conducting requirements definitions; evaluating work flows and systems flows; and implementing, following, and enforcing quality control and security standards. Areas of desirable additional experience include: cost/benefit analysis; commercial statistical packages; Pert and Gantt charts; microcomputer DBMSs and spreadsheet packages; fourth generation application development software; CASE technologies; object repositories; Internet-related software; and text retrieval systems. Experience with online interactive, telecommunications, and statistical applications as well as experience with computer graphics software and computing modeling applications is desirable. Personnel proposed for this category must have a minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible data processing experience, which includes at least two (2) years of Internet-specific systems analysis and design experience, and at least two years of programming experience. 6.2.4 Computer Software Specialist/Systems Engineer May assist in ongoing design, operations, and system performance monitoring, subsequently recommending and implementing modifications, enhancements, and/or system redesign; must be able to work independently, in a team leader capacity, or as a team member. Proposed individuals must have demonstrated experience in three types of environments: operating systems, telecommunications, and hardware evaluation and planning. Operating system environments include compilers, utilities, operating systems and installation of new releases, access methods, job and print schedulers and spoolers, job accounting, language translators, queuing techniques and job sequencing controls within a multiprogramming environment, fourth generation languages and relational data base management systems, object repositories, and text retrieval systems. Telecommunications environments include telecommunications monitors, network control programs, leased and dial-up lines, terminals, controllers, modems, local-area and wide-area networking, and internetworking. Hardware evaluation and planning environments include capacity planning, hardware upgrades, installation, configuration planning, hardware monitoring and tuning, compact disk and optical storage media, etc. Personnel proposed for this category must have a minimum of nine (9) years of experience as a systems programmer/systems engineer, with demonstrated experience in all three of the environments listed above. A minimum of two years of specialization in at least one of the three environments is desirable. Knowledge of emerging technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence/expert systems, image processing, optical storage and retrieval, object oriented programming, etc.) is also desirable. 6.2.5 Communications/Network Specialisttc \l1 "6.2.5 Communications/Network Specialist Will perform operations and maintenance activities related to communication lines and equipment (e.g., modems, terminal servers, routers, bridges, gateways). These activities include but are not limited to testing, performance monitoring (to be able to optimize utilization of communications setup), maintenance of status logs, reporting of trouble calls and overseeing repairs. Also acts as interface between communications sources (e.g., phone company, Internet) and system users, and works closely with computer operator. Desirable additional experience for proposed personnel includes the following: eight (8) years of experience in telecommunications applications and management including leased/dedicated lines, TCP/IP and X.25 protocols, SLIP/PPP/Winsock, national network and LAN interfaces, packet switching; design of telecommunications systems; and cost-benefit analysis of alternative telecommunication applications. Demonstrated successful experience with IBM-compatible Windows/DOS personal computers; UNIX; various microcomputer software packages encompassing programming, communications, bulletin board, scheduling/calendaring, etc. capabilities. Demonstrated capability to successfully lead and complete substantial data preparation/distribution, software support, production and analysis efforts within time and cost constraints; to prepare oral and written communications and presentations to client management and staff for planning and control of activities to formulate and adhere to cost budgets. 6.2.6 tc \l1 "6.2.6 Senior Programmer/Analyst/Database Administratortc \l1 "Senior Programmer/Analyst/Database Administrator Responsible, either directly or in an oversight capacity, for the analysis, design, coding, testing, and acceptance of system and data base applications; must be capable of working independently in addition to supervising all or several application development and implementation teams; may perform database administration tasks for all or several system databases. Additional qualifications include: a minimum of six (6) years of progressively responsible programming experience, of which two years must be in a midrange computer environment; a minimum of two (2) years of demonstrated experience in structured programming techniques; and a minimum of one (1) year combined experience utilizing statistical packages and microcomputer-based spreadsheet and data base management packages. Areas of desirable additional experience include: experience in relational-like data base management systems, text retrieval systems, object repositories, other DBMSs, telecommunications, statistical packages, microcomputer application packages, fourth generation languages, SQL, "C", JAVA, or other high level languages, Perl or similar scripting languages, demonstrated experience with microcomputers and midrange computers. 6.2.7 Programmer/Analysttc \l1 "6.2.7 Programmer/Analyst Responsible, either directly or in an oversight capacity, for the analysis, design, coding, testing, and acceptance of system and database applications; must be capable of working independently or in a supervisory capacity; may also perform as primary or backup database administrator (DBA) for specific system databases. Additional qualifications include: four (4) years of progressively responsible data processing experience, which includes at least two (2) years of systems analysis experience, and at least two (2) years of programming experience at a senior level; demonstrated successful experience in conducting requirements definitions; implementing, following, and enforcing quality control and security standards; demonstrated successful experience with online, interactive, and telecommunications applications. Areas of desirable additional experience include: experience in relational-like data base management systems, text retrieval systems, object repositories, other DBMSs, telecommunications, statistical packages, microcomputer application packages, fourth generation languages, SQL, "C", JAVA, or other high level languages, Perl or similar scripting languages; demonstrated experience with microcomputers and midrange computers. 6.2.8 Senior Programmertc \l1 "6.2.8 Senior Programmer May assist in generating code for system operations and database applications, which includes maintenance, upgrades, and enhancements; may also perform as primary or backup database administrator (DBA) for specific system databases; must be capable of working independently and heading a team of programmers. Additional qualifications include: a minimum of six (6) years of progressively responsible programming experience, of which two years must be in a midrange or personal computer environment; a minimum of two (2) years of demonstrated experience in "C" and structured programming techniques; a minimum of one (1) year combined experience utilizing statistical packages and microcomputer-based spreadsheet and data base management packages. Areas of desirable additional experience include: experience in relational-like data base management systems, text retrieval systems, other DBMSs, telecommunications, statistical packages, microcomputer application packages, fourth generation languages, SQL, "C", JAVA, or other high level languages, Perl or similar scripting languages; demonstrated experience with microcomputers and midrange computers. 6.2.9 Programmertc \l1 "6.2.9 Programmer Works as part of a development, implementation, and maintenance team responsible for generating code for system operations and database applications, which includes maintenance, upgrades, and enhancements. Additional qualifications include: a minimum of four (4) years of computer programming experience; and a minimum of one (1) year of demonstrated experience in "C", JAVA, or other high level language, Perl or similar scripting language, and structured programming techniques in a midrange computing environment. Areas of desirable additional experience include: experience utilizing statistical packages and microcomputer-based spreadsheet and data base management packages; experience in relational-like data base management systems, text retrieval systems, object repositories, other DBMSs, telecommunications, SQL, fourth generation languages, high level languages; demonstrated experience with microcomputers and midrange computers. 6.2.10 Technical Writertc \l1 "6.2.10 Technical Writer Responsible for formulating and controlling editorial standards; for providing technical writing/editorial support to technical and analysis staff; and for reviewing, editing, and correcting written and graphic deliverables produced under this contract. Personnel proposed for this category must be able to communicate technical specifications to be understood by both technicians and users. Personnel proposed for this category must have professional writing/editing experience on documents of the type required under this contract (both analysis and technical deliverables) and must be thoroughly familiar with standard data processing terms and techniques in order to accurately interpret information gathered and convert it into clear and concise documentation. Proposed personnel must have demonstrated the capability to edit written communications and presentations for delivery to all levels of management, with particular emphasis on user documentation and training materials, and have demonstrated successful experience in editing major documents for large-scale programs and related ADP systems. Minimum qualifications and experience include: Five (5) years of professional writing/editing experience on technical and analysis deliverables, including user documentation and training materials; demonstrated capability to edit written communications and presentations, including graphics, for delivery to all levels of government and management; demonstrated successful experience in editing major program documents for large-scale programs and related ADP systems; demonstrated experience with current word processing and desktop publishing software. 6.2.11 Data Entry Techniciantc \l1 "6.2.11 Data Entry Technician Performs entry and verification of data for the resident system databases; performs conversion and preparation of documents in HTML and other Web-related formats; data and documents may come in on various types of source formats; may be required to code data to forms prior to data entry; may be required to convert and prepare documents following specific editorial instructions from editor/writer or publishing specialist. Operates an online workstation or terminal, ensuring that work performed is accomplished expeditiously with maximum control of data input. Works from a variety of source documents, resolving general input errors and equipment malfunctions not requiring technical knowledge of computer terminal hardware, where operational guidelines and procedures are normally available. May produce reports at the terminal which may be used as reconciliation tools in validating input data. Assists the data base administrator and editor/writer in evaluating work processes and procedures in order to make necessary data systems modifications. Coordinates source document control requirements with the data base administrator, editor/writer, and publishing specialist. Minimum qualifications and experience include: three (3) years recent experience in operating an online workstation, or terminal. Experience consists of operating a keyboard controlled data entry device to transcribe data into a form suitable for computer, minicomputer, or microcomputer processing. 6.2.12 Senior Internet Document Editor Capable of supervising a markup team as well as expertly marking up documents using any and all versions of HTML. Demonstrated successful experience in editing major documents for Internet applications. Completely familiar with Internet tools and capabilities, especially the various editors, converters, and helper applications used to produce HTML documents. Ability to use Internet tools such as telnet, FTP, Gopher, and WWW to retrieve documents for modification or update. Familiar with various multimedia formats for dissemination over the Internet. A minimum of five (5) years of professional writing and editing experience is desired. Three (3) years experience using HTML is also required. An advanced degree in English, journalism, or other related field is highly desirable. 6.2.13 Internet Document Markup Specialist Able to type a minimum of fifty (50) words per minute. Expert on at least one major word processing program. Familiar with a variety of HTML editors and helper applications. Knowledge of HTML codes required for text, tables, and graphics as well as document markup enhancements. Familiar with basic Internet tools and concepts. Requires a minimum of three (3) years word processing experience and at least one (1) year experience marking up HTML documents. 6.2.14 Publishing Specialisttc \l1 "6.2.14 Publishing Specialist Personnel proposed for this category must have specific experience in supporting document production utilizing desktop publishing and page layout software. Specific work processing experience should include independent operation of equipment involving equipment and software setup, general trouble shooting, special page formatting, and page/document adjustment and conversion. Must be experienced in editing keyed material for grammatical and typing errors. Personnel proposed for this category must have a minimum of one (1) year demonstrated successful experience with operations of desktop publishing and page layout software packages, as well as related software for preparing documents for the Internet. 6.2.15 Graphic Design Specialist Designs pages and document collections for World Wide Web presentation, creates and optimizes graphic images and logos, provides visual structure and organization to collections of material, and incorporates interactive applications into page and collection designs. Personnel proposed for this category must have professional experience in user interface design for the Internet. They must be knowledgeable about the trends and new techniques in web design, as well as limitations and constraints, including color palettes, bit depth, bandwidth concerns, display resolution, and platform and browser support. They must be experienced with computer animation and graphic design programs, specifically their functionality in web design. They must also have an understanding of the constraints and benefits of interactive applications. Areas of desirable experience include Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), Java programming, and 3D rendering. Personnel proposed for this category must have a minimum of two (2) years demonstrated successful experience with graphic design for the Internet. 6.2.16 Internet Training Specialist Expert at using a wide variety of Internet tools including telnet, FTP, WWW, email, Gopher, and current search engines. Intimately familiar with Internet concepts and able to teach concepts and the use of various Internet tools to non-technical individuals in a classroom environment or one-on-one. Expert at HTML markup and document design and able to teach individuals who possess basic word processing skills to use a variety of tools and techniques for editing and converting text and graphic files to preferred Internet formats. Must be able to work with individuals with disabilities, including hearing and sight impaired individuals. Personnel proposed for this category must have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and at least three years of training/classroom experience. One year of training experience must have been teaching Internet concepts and tools. Experience teaching HTML is highly desirable. Exhibit A.1 -- Database and Search Engine Applications Directory of ED Publications in ERIC URL: www.ed.gov/pubs/pubdb.html Description: A bibliographic database containing all publications which are in the ERIC database and which were produced by ED or ED-funded contractors or grantees since ED’s creation in 1980. Software: The database is implemented using BasisPlus and BasisWeb, with Web forms as the public user interface and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. DB Content: As of February, 1997, the database contains approximately 21,000 records. Each record represents an individual document and contains a subset of the standard ERIC record (i.e., author, title, abstract, descriptors, availability, etc.). Update Process: Each month, the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility sends the contractor an IBM-compatible floppy disk containing new additions for the previous month in a standard ASCII format. On average, approximately 130 records are added each month; once added, records are never deleted or changed except to correct rare errors or to add URLs. The contractor loads the new records to the database, updates the record count and last update date on associated web pages, and produces a listing for ED staff. ED staff review the listing and provide the contractor a list of any URLs to add live links for any documents for which full text is available on the ED web site; each URL is associated with the ED accession number (the unique record identifier). ERIC Thesaurus URL: www.ed.gov:8888/PUBLICATION/long/SAC?SUBACT=Retrieve+New+Terms&FL=DESCRIPTORS++Thesaurus&C=*&ST= Description: An ANSI-compliant thesaurus containing the primary controlled vocabulary of subject terms for the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) system. Software: The database is implemented using BasisPlus and BasisWeb, with Web forms as the public user interface and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. The user interface for the Thesaurus is closely tied to the Directory of ED Publications in ERIC. DB Content: As of February, 1997, the database contains approximately 6,000 terms in standard ANSI format (i.e., base term, broader terms, narrower terms, related terms, scope note) and 4,000 “use” terms which direct users to preferred terms. Update Process: Each quarter, the lexicographer at the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility distributes an email message containing a list of terms, in a standard structured format, which have been added or updated. The ERIC program office in NLE forwards the email to the DBA, who makes the modifications to the thesaurus database. Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD) URL: http://oeri.ed.gov:8888/STATES/direct/SF Description: An electronic directory of education-related resources and services available at the State, regional, and national level. The goal of the directory is to help individuals and organizations identify and contact sources of information and assistance on a broad range of education-related topics. The initial implementation of the directory in 1996-97 concentrated on resources and services funded by ED. In 1998 and future years, the directory will be expanded to include resources and services sponsored by other Federal agencies, national associations, and State agencies. Software: The database is implemented on ED’s Internet site using BasisPlus and BasisWeb, with Web forms as the public user interface and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. A U.S. map and a set of scripts to extract and format selected records in a prescribed HTML format is a key part of the interface. DB Content: As of February, 1997, the database contains approximately 2,000 records. Each record represents an individual organization and includes basic contact information (name, address, telephone, fax, email, etc.), a description, and controlled vocabulary terms identifying the subject coverage, geographic coverage, audiences served, type of organization, and types of services provided. Update Process: Database content is maintained under separate content by ACCESS ERIC. ACCESS ERIC periodically surveys organizations for updated information; updates may also be triggered by visitors to the site, who can submit updates via email or full information about organizations proposed for addition via web form. ACCESS ERIC sends partial or full replacement files periodically (at least quarterly) or more frequently if needed, via FTP in a specified format. The BasisPlus DBA loads the database. Individual changes and corrections may also come from the ED Webmaster and, if urgent, may be made in parallel manually to the ACCESS ERIC and BasisPlus versions of the database. ERIC Digests Full-Text URL: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/index/ gopher://gopher.ed.gov/11/programs/ERIC/searchs Description: A collection of short (one- to two-page) research syntheses produced by ERIC on key topics of interest in education. One of the first full-text education resources on the Internet, the collection is one of the most-used resources on ED’s Internet site. Software: Digests are stored as individual HTML files in a dedicated directory and are indexed using the Excite search engine (conversion to either Inquery or Netscape Enterprise Server’s Verity search engine is planned for mid-1997). The user interface consists of Web forms and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. Full-text index is regenerated nightly. For Gopher users, a freeWAIS version is maintained. DB Content: As of May 1997, the collection consists of 1,713 ERIC Digests. Update Process: On a quarterly basis, the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility sends a nine-track tape containing new Digests added to the ERIC database during the previous quarter to the ERIC program office in NLE. The tape contents (variable-blocked, variable-length, EBCDIC records) are transferred to disk by staff in ED’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), converted to individual ASCII files in a prescribed format by NLE staff using a custom C program, and FTP’d to the contractor. The contractor: (1) runs scripts against the files to reformat them and discard some fields; (2) creates both ASCII and HTML versions of each; (3) loads the ASCII versions to the freeWAIS database; (4) moves the HTML versions to the dedicated directory; (5) rebuilds the Excite index; (6) updates associated HTML pages to reflect the added records; and (7) adds links from records in the Directory of ED Publications in ERIC to the corresponding ERIC Digest HTML files (based on matching ED accession numbers). The contractor creates a static title list of each newly added batch with a link to each Digest in the batch. ED Phone Directory URL: www.ed.gov/cgibin/phf gopher://gopher.ed.gov:105/22/ Description: Basic name/address/phone information for contacting ED staff. Software: The database is implemented using ph/cso software, a widely-used freely-available Internet application for phone directories. The primary user interface is web forms with dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. The directory is also available through Gopher. DB Content: As of February, 1997, the database contains approximately 4,800 records. Each record contains the name, telephone number, principal office code, and building code for an ED staff member. Email addresses are only included for registered INet users; cc:Mail addresses, which have become the primary email addresses for ED staff in the last two years, are not included because a procedure for obtaining regular updates from the cc:Mail directory and merging it with the ED phone directory database have not been developed. Update Process: On a bi-weekly basis, OCIO emails a dBase III file (.DBF) to NLE staff, who convert it to a column-oriented ASCII text file using a custom dBase procedure. NLE staff include the file in an email message which is sent to an automated process on the Internet server; the process replaces the previous version of the phone directory with the new data. Site Search/Index URL: www.ed.gov/search.html#full Description: Provides visitors to ED’s Web site the capability to search the full-text of the entire site, or targeted subsets, to retrieve items of interest. Software: HTML and ASCII text files are indexed using the Excite search engine (conversion to either Inquery or Netscape Enterprise Server’s Verity search engine is planned for mid-1997). The user interface consists of Web forms and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. DB Content: As of February, 1997, the following full-text indexes are maintained -- each in a separate index. Each index is regenerated nightly except “legislative texts” which is only rebuilt when new material is added. Øð a n y d o c u m e n t s ( a l l d o c u m e n t s o n w w w . e d . g o v - - a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1 5 , 0 0 0 f i l e s ) Øð l e g i s l a t i v e t e x t s ( t e x t o f t h e E l e m e n t a r y a n d S e c o n d a r y E d u c a t i o n A c t , a n d t h e G O A L S 2 0 0 0 l e g i s l a t i o n ) Øð F e d e r a l R e g i s t e r d o c u m e n t s ( d e s c r i b e d s e p a r a t e l y ) Øð p r e s s r e l e a s e s ( d e s c r i b e d s e p a r a t e l y ) Øð E R I C D i g e s t s ( d e s c r i b e d s e p a r a t e l y ) Øð N a t i o n a l C e n t e r f o r E d u c a t i o n S t a t i s t i c s d o c u m e n t s ( a l l d o c u m e n t s w r i t t e n a n d / o r m a i n t a i n e d b y N C E S u n d e r w w w . e d . g o v / N C E S / - - a p p r o x i m a t e l y 5 , 0 0 0 f i l e s ) Øð p r o g r a m s d e s c r i b e d i n t h e G u i d e t o E D P r o g r a m s ( d e s c r i b e d s e p a r a t e l y ) Øð E D I n f o m a i l i n g l i s t m e s s a g e s ( t h e E D I n f o i n f o r m a t i o n s e r v i c e a r c h i v e h i g h l i g h t s E D r e p o r t s , s t u d i e s , f u n d i n g o p p o r t u n i t i e s a n d p u b l i c a t i o n s - - a p p r o x i m a t e l y 2 5 0 f i l e s c a p t u r e d f r o m l i s t s e r v d i s t r i b u t i o n a n d p o s t e d o n W e b v i a H y perMail) Update Process: Indexing software runs overnight as scheduled job to rebuild indexes. Cross-site Index URL: test site at www.ed.gov/internal/csi/ Description: A project initiated in FY 1997 to enhance one-stop customer access to information available on the Internet at multiple ED and ED-sponsored sites through the simultaneous application and evaluation of two approaches: (1) automated full-text indexing of other major ED-sponsored Internet information repositories; and (2) human-mediated application of controlled vocabulary to identify and organize the best, most important, and most up-to-date resources on the topic. Software: As of February, 1997, several potential software solutions are being tested, including Sovereign Hill’s Inquery, Netscape’s Catalog Server, Thunderstone’s Webinator, and Topic’s Verity/Search97. DB Content: Full-text content, and potentially metadata embedded in HTML code, at all participating ED and ED-funded sites. Update Process: Spider and/or harvester. Topics A-Z Index URL: (See cross-site index project above.) Description: A project initiated in FY 1997 to implement a book-like topical index to help customers locate key documents on important topics on the ED Internet site. Software: As of February, 1997, several software solutions are being considered in conjunction with the Cross-site Index project (see above). DB Content: A controlled vocabulary consisting of 100-300 key topics, used to provide browse and search access to key documents on ED’s Web site, using either metadata or hard-coded links. Update Process: TBD. Title IV Code Search URL: http://oeri.ed.gov:8888/TITLE4/search/SF Description: Used by applicants for student financial aid to obtain Title IV code for institutions of higher education. Software: The database is implemented on ED’s Internet site using BasisPlus and BasisWeb, with Web forms as the public user interface and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. DB Content: Name, address, and Title IV code for approximately 7,500 institutions. Update Process: Data is maintained in dBase IV file in OPE. Periodically OPE provides a full replacement file to the contractor in ASCII text or .DBF format. Gopher Title Search URL: gopher://gopher.ed.gov:3000/7 Description: Full-text search capability for menu titles of items on ED’s Gopher server, NCES’ Gopher server, and the Gopher server for ED special initiatives. Software: Jughead (Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation And Display). DB Content: Indexing engine relies on Gopher .menu files. Update Process: Jughead is run nightly to rebuild the index. Gopher What’s New URL: gopher://oeri.ed.gov:5070/7inet Description: Search capability to find items on ED’s Gopher server, NCES’ gopher server, and the Gopher server for ED special initiatives which have been added or modified since a user-specified date or within a user-specified time interval (e.g., 5 days, 2 weeks, etc.). Software: ? DB Content: Indexing engine relies on Gopher .menu files and UNIX filesystem date/time stamps for each file. Update Process: Software is run nightly to rebuild the index. Guide to ED Programs URL: www.ed.gov/pubs/GuideEDPgm/ gopher://gopher.ed.gov/11/gen_progs/guide Description: Directory of the education programs, primarily grant programs, managed by ED. Software: Currently the directory is stored as a collection of HTML documents in the ED-standard publication style (e.g., chapters, table of contents, navigational icons). In addition, a separate file is maintained for each of the 200+ programs and full-text search access is provided by indexing the files with the Excite search engine (conversion to either Inquery or Netscape Enterprise Server’s Verity search engine is planned for mid-1997). The user interface consists of Web forms and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. More than half the programs are hyperlinked to additional information elsewhere on the ED Web site or, in some cases, other Internet sites. In addition, the HTML documents contain hyperlinks to each ED office’s home page. ED is developing a Lotus Notes/Domino application which will include workflow-driven continuous updates, allowing a constantly up-to-date version of the document to be made available through a Domino Web server. DB Content: As of February 1997, the March 1996 edition of the Guide is available as a set of approximately 250 HTML files. Update Process: The publication is produced annually. Word processing files are marked up and extensive hyperlinks are inserted manually. When new office and program home pages are added to the ED Web site, part of the standard procedure involves linking them to the Guide. ED’s Notes/Domino application will automatically provide Web access to the current version of the Guide. Federal Register Documents URL: www.ed.gov/money.html#fr gopher://gopher.ed.gov/11/announce/fedreg Description: Collection of all ED documents published in the Federal Register since October 1, 1995. Software: Documents are stored as individual HTML and PDF files in a set of dedicated directories (four categories, segmented by fiscal year and quarter) and are indexed using the Excite search engine (conversion to either Inquery or Netscape Enterprise Server’s Verity search engine is planned for mid-1997). The user interface offers both browsing via static HTML title lists and searching via Web forms and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. DB Content: As of February, 1997, the collection consists of approximately 500 documents. Approximately 375 documents are added each year. Update Process: ED’s Contracts Office searches GPO Access each workday morning, downloads ASCII and PDF versions of each ED document published in that day’s Federal Register, and sends files as email attachments to NLE staff -- an average of 2 documents per day. NLE staff format ASCII version of each document into simple HTML, FTP to contractor, and send email notification with instructions. Contractor promptly adds new items to HTML menus and puts files into proper directories. Collection is automatically indexed nightly. The ASCII text version is made available on ED’s Gopher. ED has committed publicly to making documents available on day of publication. ED and Education-related White House Press Releases URL: www.ed.gov/news.html#pr gopher://gopher.ed.gov/11/announce/press_rel Description: Collection of all ED press releases issued by Office of Public Affairs since January, 1994. Education-related White House press releases are also included. Software: Documents are stored as individual HTML files in a set of dedicated directories (segmented by fiscal year) and are indexed using the Excite search engine (conversion to either Inquery or Netscape Enterprise Server’s Verity search engine is planned for mid-1997). The user interface offers both browsing via a static HTML title list and searching via Web forms and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. DB Content: As of February, 1997, the collection consists of approximately 450 documents. Approximately 150 press releases are added per year. Update Process: ED’s Office of Public Affairs sends an ASCII text version of each press release -- an average of three per week -- as an email attachment to NLE staff, who FTP the attachment and send email notification and instructions to contractor. Contractor does simple HTML markup, occasionally adding live links to related material per instructions, and adds the title to the list of press releases on ED’s web site with a live link to the document. The ASCII text version is made available on the Gopher. ED has committed to putting press releases online within one day of release. The contractor monitors the listserv that announces new White House press releases, obtains any that appear to be education-related, sends a copy via email to ED, and adds to the collection unless otherwise directed by ED within two working days. Technology Summer Learning Opportunities URL: www.ed.gov/Technology/Summer97/ (last two characters of Summerxx change every year) Description: OET sponsors an application which lets sponsors of technology training courses for teachers submit descriptions of their offerings via a Web-based submission form. Submissions are stored as individual HTML files and are accessible both through HTML files listing the courses available in each state and through full text search. Software: Course descriptions are stored as individual HTML files in a dedicated directory and are indexed using the Excite search engine (conversion to either Inquery or Netscape Enterprise Server’s Verity search engine is planned for mid-1997). The user interface consists of Web forms and dynamically generated HTML pages for search results. Full-text index is regenerated nightly. DB Content: Each year the previous year’s courses are deleted. In 1996, approximately 200 courses were submitted. Update Process: Each submission is processed at the time of submission by a CGI Perl script, which converts it to HTML format, stores it in the directory, and adds the title as a link to the appropriate state file. Comment Collections URL: www.ed.gov/comments/nationalforum (A National Forum: Attracting and Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century) http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Futures/public.html (The Future of Networking Technologies for Learning) http://www.ed.gov/comments/TeachLeader/ (1996 Teacher Leadership Forum) Description: Various offices and programs use Web forms to collect comments from the public, usually for limited periods in connection with conferences, draft policies, priorities, or plans. Software: Comments are typically collected via Web form, converted to HTML pages by CGI Perl script, posted to a Web directory, and added to a list on an HTML page. In most cases, comments submitted via email to a specified address are also accepted, converted to simple HTML pages, and posted in the same way. DB Content: Varies. A request for comments may result in between 10 and 300 responses. Update Process: Each submission is processed at the time of submission by a CGI Perl script, which converts it to HTML format, stores it in the directory, and adds the title as a link to the appropriate list file. Exhibit A.2 -- Listservs as of May 2, 1997 Listserv Name # Subscribers # Messages 9/96 12/96 4/97 9/96 12/96 4/97 ACES 22 23 21 -- 3 -- AIRS 57 57 57 -- -- -- BETCOORDWG 1 -- BRSREDESIGN -- 42 102 -- -- 2 CCS -- -- -- -- -- -- CEEI 40 40 40 -- -- -- COGWG 19 316 DATAPILOT 26 -- DSLOANSINFO -- -- EASICORE 22 -- EASIINFO -- -- EDFLEXTALK 29 -- EDINFO 6,703 7,655 9,499 12 11 12 EERP 15 17 17 1 7 -- ENICGROUP 14 14 14 -- -- -- EZPROVIDER 55 55 55 -- -- -- FINDBEST 81 81 94 -- -- -- GOALNET -- -- GRANTS 1 35 35 -- 5 -- GUIDELINES 29 9 5 -- HEPCAMP -- 41 -- -- IDENTITYWG 14 14 14 -- -- -- INET-TEAM 14 17 17 -- 4 -- JAVITS 33 33 33 -- -- -- LEADERTALK 24 6 LOCALGOALS 59 59 58 -- -- -- MEPSTATE 66 89 88 12 23 9 NADLITS-USER 56 56 56 -- -- -- NCESIDP 49 52 52 2 1 -- NDNSFS 77 77 77 -- -- -- NEGP-NAPSO 15 18 19 -- -- -- NLEATF 40 41 41 16 7 6 NPECMEMBER 9 11 14 -- 8 -- NPECSTEER 28 28 30 7 1 -- PACTALK 41 45 50 10 3 4 PARTNERS 10 10 10 -- -- -- PLANNINGWG 11 11 14 14 3 10 PPANELWG 16 14 RELPROGRAM 30 30 32 6 1 1 RTCDIR 27 26 26 5 7 12 RTECINDIC 11 11 11 -- -- -- RWNSPONSORS 3 3 3 -- -- -- STATELIST 14 7 STATEWIDE 41 41 41 1 -- -- STEERING 17 17 17 -- -- -- TEACHERS 251 312 312 78 66 77 TECHPLAN 189 193 196 -- -- -- TLCF 31 -- UNITAGGWG 17 18 18 9 8 1 “--” indicates zero messages; blank cell indicates that listserv didn’t exist that month Exhibit A.3 -- Major Information Collections as of May 2, 1997 Offices and Programs URL (all at http://www.ed.gov) Office of the Under Secretary (OUS) /offices/OUS/ - Planning and Evaluation Service (PES) /offices/OUS/eval/ - Budget Service (BS) /offices/OUS/budget.html - AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Education Forum /offices/OUS/APEC/ Office of the Deputy Secretary (ODS) /offices/ODS/ - Office of Educational Technology (OET) /Technology/ Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs (OLCA) /offices/OLCA/ Office of Management (OM) Office of the General Counsel (OGC) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Office of Interagency and Intergovernmental Affairs (OIIA) Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) /offices/OCFO/ Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) /offices/OCIO/ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) /offices/OCR/ Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE) /offices/OPE/ * Direct Loan Program (DL) /offices/OPE/DirectLoan/ * Higher Education Programs (OHEP) /offices/OPE/OHEP/ * Fund for the Improvement of Postsec. Ed. (FIPSE) /offices/OPE/FIPSE/ Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) /offices/OESE/ * Migrant Education Programs (MEP) /offices/OESE/MEP/ * Safe and Drug-Free Schools (SDFS) /offices/OESE/SDFS/ Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) /offices/OERI/oeribro.html * National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) /NCES/ * National Institutes - Early Childhood Development & Education (ECI) /offices/OERI/ECI/ - Education of AtRisk Students (ATRISK) /prog_info/At-Risk/ - Educational Governance, Finance, PolicyMaking, & Management (GFI) /offices/OERI/GFI/ - Postsecondary Education, Libraries, & Lifelong Learning (PLLI) /offices/OERI/PLLI/ - Student Achievement, Curriculum, & Assessment (SAI) /offices/OERI/SAI/ * National Library of Education (NLE) /NLE/ * Office of Reform Assistance & Dissemination (ORAD) * Field-Initiated Studies (FIS) /offices/OERI/AtRisk/fis1.html * Star Schools Program /prog_info/StarSchools/ * National Diffusion Network (NDN) /pubs/EPTW/ * Javits Gifted and Talented Education Program /prog_info/Javits/ * Technology Innovation Challenge Grants /Technology/challenge/ * Blue Ribbon Schools Office of Bilingual Ed. & Minority Languages Affairs (OBEMLA) /offices/OBEMLA/ Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) /offices/OVAE/ Office of Special Ed. & Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) /offices/OSERS/ * Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) /offices/OSERS/RSA/rsa.html * National Institute for Disabilities & Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) /offices/OSERS/NIDRR/ * Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) /offices/OSERS/OSEP/ Other Initiatives and Services URL (all at http://www.ed.gov unless otherwise indicated) President’s and Secretary’s Initiatives /inits.html * President’s 10-point Plan /edplan.html * Voluntary National Tests /nationaltests/ * America Reads Challenge /inits/americareads/ * Goals 2000 /G2K/ * Family Involvement /Family/ (to be changed to /PFIE/) * Project EASI Http://easi.ed.gov * Flexibility and Waivers /flexibility/ * Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) /legislation/ESEA/ News /news.html * ED Press Releases /news.html#pr * White House Press Releases /PressReleases/WhiteHouse.html * Speeches and Testimony /news.html#speech * ED Initiatives /pubs/EDInitiatives/ * EDInfo /MailingLists/ * Federal Register documents /news.html#fr * Community Update /G2K/community/ * Satellite Town Meetings /Family/9697stm.html Frequently Asked Questions and Fact Sheets /guides.html#faq Programs and Services /programs.html * Guide to ED Programs /pubs/GuideEDPgm/ * Education Resource Organizations Directory (EROD) /programs.html#map People and Offices /people.html * ED organization chart /people.html#org * Senior Staff biographies and photos /gen_ed_org/ * ED electronic phonebook /cgibin/phf Publications /pubs/ * Database of ED Publications in ERIC /pubs/pubdb.html * Newsletters /newsletters.html * Guides to ED /pubs/guides.html * Collections of Research Syntheses /pubs.collect.hml - ERIC Digests /databases/ERIC_Digests/index/ * Educational Research & Practice Reports & Studies /pubs/studies.html * Publications for Parents /pubs/parents.html * Resource Directories /pubs/resdir.html * Legislation, Regulations, and Policy Guidance /pubs/legsregs.html Links to Other OnLine Educational Resources /EdRes/EdRes.html Search ED /search.html Title IV School Code Search /offices/OPE/Students/t4_codes.html Picks of the Month /Picks/97/may.html (changes each mth/yr) Site Awards /Awards/ Note: Additional information on some services is available in Exhibit A.1. Exhibit B. -- Glossary and Acronyms Term Definition Alternate Format Any format of a publication or information product that is accessible to people with disabilities, such as Braille, large print, audio tape versions of text documents, captioned versions of videotapes or text only electronic formats of documents. Associate An organization or individual engaged in a project or activity with ED, e.g., a member of a task force, review panel, advisory council, or work group, a partner. Business Partner An organization or individual engaged in a contract, grant, cooperative agreement, or other business arrangement with ED. Contracting Officer A person duly appointed with the authority to enter into and administer contracts on behalf of the government. Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR) An individual designated in writing by the Contracting Officer to act as his/her authorized representative and perform specific contract administrative functions within the scope and limitations as defined by the Contracting Officer. Contractor The contractor, its subsidiaries and affiliates, joint ventures involving the contractor, or any entity with which the contractor may have merged or any individual or entity that assisted or advised the contractor in the preparation of a proposal under this solicitation. Controlled Vocabulary A set of terms, controlled by an authority, which organizes information into specific categories or topics to expedite the user's retrieval of information on a given topic. Controlled vocabularies are usually intended to help remove some of the ambiguity inherent in natural language from search strategy options and improve the precision and relevance of the information retrieved. Cross-site Index Single entry point at which the user can search for information across multiple Internet sites. Also used to describe the distributed, centralized, or hybrid index which enables such single entry point searches. Data Preparer ED staff responsible for preparing data or documents for use on the Internet, including creation of new material, conversion of existing textual, tabular, and graphical material into preferred or required file formats; ED or contractor staff needing guidance on the specific standards which apply to the ED site when preparing or converting documents. Discussion Forum An electronic group which supports discussion, dissemination, information exchange, and/or work processes among a community of individuals and organizations with shared interests or goals; enabling technologies commonly used include listservs, newsgroups, Web-based collaborative tools, discussion databases, and various synchronous technologies such as shared whiteboards and virtual reality spaces Document A document is a set of information designed and presented as an individual entity. A publication is a good example of a document. It may contain logical subunits such as parts, sections, or chapters; but it is typically created, updated, and presented as a single unit. The WWW presentation of a document may consist of one or many WWW pages. Document Collection A document collection is a set of documents that are logically related, usually by their content, target audience, or origin (e.g., a collection of studies produced by a program, project, or organization). Document Conversion The manipulation/conversion of existing text and graphics into desirable endformats for publication on the Internet; in agreement with the ED and Governmentwide standards; and in conjunction with design templates for the ED site when such exist. Document Creation The manipulation/conversion of existing text and the creation of new design templates, text, graphics, navigational structures and applications in desirable endformats for publication on the Internet and in agreement with the ED and Governmentwide standards. Document Updating The replacement of a file (or specified text/graphics) currently loaded on the ED site in desirable endformats for publication on the Internet; in agreement with the ED and Governmentwide standards; and in conjunction with design templates for the ED site when such exist. ED Internet Services ED’s use of Internet technologies to provide public access to information, business processes, and related services, and to foster discussion, information exchange, and collaborative activities among education communities of interest ED’s Internet Site The server machines, system level software, modems, routers, terminal servers, and communications links that physically host and support ED’s primary Internet operations, e.g., the ed.gov domain EDLAN ED’s Local Area Network, which electronically connects ED staff, who are located in several buildings occupied by ED staff in Washington, D.C. and ten regional offices distributed across the country, to each other and to ED’s computing and telecommunications infrastructure External Entities FTP File Transfer Protocol. A clientserver protocol that allows a user on one computer to transfer files to and from another computer over a network. It is also the client program the user executes to transfer files. Gopher A menu-based distributed document retrieval system which started as a Campus Wide Information System at the University of Minnesota and was widely used by many Internet hosts to provide access to information on demand before being eclipsed by the World Wide Web. Harvester A tool to gather, extract, organize, and search information across multiple Internet sites. Generally used to describe the model used by the Harvest software, in which each site indexes its own holdings and the central search engine builds its index by gathering each site’s index rather than using a remote spider to traverse the site’s collection file-by-file. Home Page A home page is the entry point to a WWW server or a collection. It is the first page of information received by a visitor. Although the term “home page” is commonly used as a synonym for “WWW Server” or “document collection,” in this document the terms are not equivalent. HTML Hypertext Markup Language. A hypertext document format used on the World Wide Web. Built on top of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language. "Tags" are embedded in the text. A tag consists of a "<", a "directive" (case insensitive), zero or more parameters and a ">". Matched pairs of directives, like "