B--TUTORING SERVICES FOR THE MUSKOGEE REGIONAL OFFICE

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT SECTION I - BACKGROUND A. INTRODUCTION 1. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has authority, pursuant to Title 38 USC Chapters 18, 31, 35, and 36 to provide all services and assistance necessary to enable eligible Veterans with service-connected disabilities to obtain and maintain suitable employment and if not employable, achieve independence in daily living to the maximum extent feasible. In the discharge of this responsibility, each Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service Division (VR&E) within the Muskogee Regional Office (SDRO) undertakes an initial evaluation of the Veteran to determine his or her entitlement for these services and assistance and develops, in cooperation with the Veteran, an Individualized Written Plan of Services. 2. The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is charged with providing educational assistance to service-connected disabled Veterans through vocational rehabilitation and employment (VR&E) services in achieving education goals and when necessary to provide tutorial assistance when additional support is required. B. QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR TUTORING PROVIDERS 1. Tutors, in the performance of services under this contract, must be approved by the Contractor prior to the provision of any services under this contract. Tutors must, at a minimum, possess a bachelor's degree or higher-level degree from an accredited university. Transcripts shall be on file for review if required by Muskogee RO or provided by the Contractor, if requested, to verify the educational qualifications of tutors providing assistance under this contract. Optimally, the degree should be in the same or similar area in which they are providing tutoring services. For example, someone providing Math tutoring should possess a degree in Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science, or similar Math related field. 2. The Government reserves the right to examine, and approve or disapprove the Contractor's staff based on information provided in transcripts and/or resumes. SECTION II - SCOPE/PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS A. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS 1. The contractor shall provide all services, materials, labor, tools, equipment, transportation, and supervision to provide Tutoring Services in accordance with this Performance Work Statement. All services shall be performed in accordance with the contract terms and conditions set forth herein. Ideally, the use of the Veteran's school textbooks should be used. The Contractor will provide instruction as set forth in paragraphs (3) and (4) below, during the period of performance prescribed on each referral made under this contract. The specific courses or areas of tutoring the contractor shall be required to provide services in shall also be stated on each referral form. This contract shall only apply to Veterans who are approved and designated by the Department of Veterans Affairs as being entitled to vocational rehabilitation training under Chapter 31, Title 38. U.S.C. 2. The Contractor shall make contact with the Veteran within seven (7) calendar days of the date of the referral, and shall commence the tutoring session as soon as the schedule of the Veteran permits. The Contractor will provide such courses of instruction at the fees indicated on Schedule B, Schedule of Prices. B. SCOPE OF SERVICES 1. The Contractor will be required to provide tutoring at the college or vo-tech level in a wide variety of subjects including, but not limited to low to high levels of mathematics; English and Writing courses; Statistics and Economics courses; Biological Sciences, Anatomy, and Physiology courses; Chemistry and Physics courses; Nursing courses, Education courses, and miscellaneous Business courses. C. PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS/GOALS 1. As part of the services provided under this contract, the Contractor shall provide a written monthly report, or a final report for tutoring services lasting less than 30 calendar days, for each Veteran referred to the Contractor. The report shall describe the Veteran's progress in course for which the Contractor is providing tutoring. 2. The Contracting Officer/COR shall also monitor the performance of the Contractor based on feedback from the Vocational Counselor, Veteran/Service Member, and the Contractor Performance Plan. SECTION IV - SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS A. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS 1. The Contractor shall be aware of the following information and/or comply with the following requirements when providing service under this contract: a. Unless otherwise specified, all timelines in the contract refer to calendar days. b. All references to Veterans in this document also pertain to Service members who qualify for services. c. No obligation will be incurred under this contract by the Government for any service or benefits provided to, or on behalf of a Veteran without prior authorization issued by the Contracting Officer Representatives (COR) or Contracting Officer. Under no circumstance may a contractor provide services in the absence of a referral for a specific Veteran. Under no circumstances may a contractor engage in outreach or other activities designed to solicit referrals. d. For appointments/meetings that are missed or rescheduled by the Veteran, the Contractor shall notify the VR&E Counselor and the COR/Contracting Officer. e. Invoices and reports may be submitted at one time. VA will review deliverables within 5 business days of receipt and provide notification of acceptance or need for corrective action. Invoices will include certification of accepted deliverables. f. All remaining tutoring hours expire if/when the Veteran withdraws from the course or when the Veteran notifies VR&E of intent to withdraw from the course (either self-executed or administratively by the school), or the class ends. g. Reports must NOT include the Veteran's entire Social Security number as identification. The last four numbers or case number are acceptable B. PLACE OF TUTORING/PROVISION OF SERVICES 1. The tutoring shall be performed at the learning facility in which the Veteran/Service Member is enrolled. If the Veteran/Service Member is attending on-line or distant learning classes, the tutoring can be conducted in a public or local college library. 2. The tutoring location shall meet all applicable requirements for accessibility mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and subsequent amendments. 3. The tutoring shall not be performed in a Veteran/Service Members' home or the tutor's home. C. GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE 1. The contractor is required to meet the Veteran in a location that does not provide any undue transportation burden on the Veteran. No transportation funds are available to Tutors or Veterans. 2. The contractor may be required to provide services under this contract in any of the following geographic areas: State of Oklahoma Texas counties of Clay, Wilbarger and Wichita. D. INVOICING INSTRUCTIONS 1. The Contractor shall submit an original invoice to the address designated below to receive invoices. Invoices should be submitted in arrears per deliverable only once a month. Electronic invoicing to the vocational counselor who is requesting the tutoring, is strongly encouraged to provide a prompt accurate payment. 2. An invoice must include: a. Address/POC to submit invoice or via email when provided by the VR&E Counselor. NAME OF THE VR&E COUNSELOR Muskogee Regional VA Office VR&E DIVISION (28) 125 S. Main St. Muskogee OK 74401 b. Name and address of the Contractor. c. Invoice date with contractor invoice number. d. Contract number, task order number, contract line item number, referral order number, description of class (Example Elementary Algebra). Contractors must provide a separate invoice for each Veteran, signed by the Veteran and tutor. e. Description, specific time/dates when billed services were rendered to Veterans, quantity, unit of measure, unit price and extended price of the service(s) rendered. For example: Nov 1 (3 hours), 2 (3 hours), 3 (3 hours), 15 (3 hours), 16 (2 hours), 2014. Tutoring Services for John E. Doe. 14 hours x $25 = $350.00 f. Name, title, and phone number of person to be notified in event of defective invoice. g. Invoices must NOT include the Veteran's Social Security number as identification. The last four numbers are acceptable h. Invoices will be handled in accordance with the Prompt Payment Act (31 U.S.C. § 3903) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-125, Prompt Payment. i. Only invoices for services rendered in accordance with this contract may be submitted for payment and may be paid by government purchase card, if applicable. j. Duplicate payment is not allowable and must be repaid to the VA if invoiced services were the result of duplicate billings, services were not received by Veterans and/or do meet the requirements under the contract. Failure to meet requirements include such issues as not meeting performance standards, not fully completing services specified in issued task orders, not submitting documentation of services related to VA accepted deliverables under the contract, or for services which cannot be confirmed as appropriate by Veterans. D. PRIVACY PROTECTION RIGHTS 1. The Contractor shall advise the Veteran of the Protection of Privacy, before tutoring services commence, and have the Veteran sign VA Form 28-8739a, Protection of Privacy Information Statement (to be provided upon assignment of each task with original to file and copy to the Veteran). 2. If the Veteran declines to sign the statement, but opts to continue the tutoring services, the fact that he/she has been orally advised of the contents of the Protection of Privacy Statement shall be documented in the Contractor's report and the tutoring services may continue. 3. Invoices must NOT include the Veteran's Social Security number as identification. The last four numbers are acceptable. E. VA INFORMATION AND INFORMATION SYSTEM SECURITY/PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS 1. GENERAL: All Contractors, their personnel, and their subcontractors shall be subject to the same Federal security and privacy laws, regulations, standards and VA policies as VA, including the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. §552a, and VA personnel, regarding information and information system security. Contractors must follow policies and procedures outlined in VA Directive 6500, Information Security Program which is available at: http://www1.va.gov/vapubs and its handbooks to ensure appropriate security controls are in place. 2. ACCESS TO VA INFORMATION AND VA INFORMATION SYSTEMS: The Contractor will not have access to VA Information and/or VA Information Systems. The C&A Requirements do not apply and a security accreditation package is not required. 3. VA INFORMATION CUSTODIAL REQUIREMENTS: VA information provided to the Contractor for either the performance or administration of this BPA shall only be used for those purposes. No other use is permitted without the Contracting Officer's express written authorization. This clause expressly limits the Contractor's rights to use data as described in Rights in Data - General, FAR 52.227-14(d)(1). The Government shall retain the rights to all data and records produced in the execution or administration of this BPA. VA information will not be co-mingled with any other data on the contractors/subcontractors information systems/media storage systems in order to ensure VA requirements related to media sanitization can be met. VA also reserves the right to conduct on-site inspection of information destruction/media sanitization procedures to ensure they are in compliance with VA policy requirements. Prior to termination or completion of this BPA, Contractor will not destroy information received from VA or gathered or created by the Contractor in the course of performing this BPA without prior written approval by the CO. A Contractor destroying data on VA's behalf must do so accordance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements as outlined in VA Directive 6300, Records and Information Management and its Handbook 6300.1 Records Management Procedures, and applicable VA Records Control Schedules Contractor will receive, gather, store, back up, maintain, use, disclose and dispose of VA information only in compliance with the terms of this BPA and applicable federal and VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies. Applicable federal information security regulations include all Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) and Special Publications (SP) issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). If federal or VA information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies become applicable to the VA information or information systems after execution of the BPA, or if NIST issues or updates applicable FIPS after execution of this BPA, the parties agree to negotiate in good faith to implement the information confidentiality and security laws, regulations and policies, including FIPS or SP, in this BPA. Contractors collecting, storing, or disseminating personal identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) data must conform to all pertinent regulations, laws, and VA directives related to privacy. Contractors must provide access for VA privacy reviews and assessments and provide appropriate documentation as required. The Contractor shall not make copies of VA information, electronic or otherwise, except as necessary to perform the terms of the agreement or to preserve electronic information stored on Contractor electronic storage media for restoration in case any electronic equipment or data used by the Contractor needs to be restored to an operating state. If VA determines that the contractor has violated any of the information confidentiality, privacy, and security provisions of the BPA, it shall be sufficient grounds for VA to terminate the BPA for default or terminate for cause under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 12. The Contractor will store, transport or transmit VA sensitive information in an encrypted form, using a VA-approved encryption application that meets the requirements of NIST's FIPS 140-2 standard. The Contractor's firewall and Web services security controls, if applicable, shall meet or exceed VA's minimum requirements. VA directives are available on the VA directives Web site at http://ww1.va.gov/vapubs/. Except for uses and disclosures of VA information authorized by this BPA for performance of the BPA, the contractor may use and disclose VA information only in two other situations: (i) in response to a qualifying order of a court of competent jurisdiction, or (ii) with VA's prior written approval. The contractor will refer all requests for, demands for production of, or inquiries about, VA information and information systems to the VA Contracting Officer for response.