[Report on the Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products]
[Appendices]
[Appendix J - Task 16 - Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products-Statement of Work]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

Appendix J

Task 16

Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products

Statement of Work



                      Section J:  Background and Objectives

Background

An "Assessment of Electronic Government Information Products" (hereinafter 
referred to as the "Assessment") is a research study being conducted through an 
interagency agreement between the National Center for Education Statistics 
(NCES) and the U. S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science 
(NCLIS) on behalf of the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing 
Office (GPO), pursuant to an Interagency Agreement between NCLIS and GPO, 
approved by the Joint Committee on Printing (JCP).

Information gathered from this assessment is to be used by the Superintendent of 
Documents to facilitate improved public access to Federal Government information 
made available to Federal depository libraries and the general public through 
the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).  The assessment will 

(1) identify medium and format standards that are the most appropriate for 
permanent public access;
(2) assess the cost-effectiveness and usefulness of various alternative medium 
and format standards; and
(3) identify public and private medium and format standards that are, or could 
be used for products throughout their entire information life cycle, not just at 
the dissemination or permanent public access phase.


Objectives
 
The contractor shall undertake research and data collection from Federal 
agencies in all three Branches, as well as solicit the opinions of selected 
knowledgeable experts.  The contractor shall also complete an analysis of the 
data and opinions for the purpose of interpreting their general meaning and 
significance, including identifying broad emerging trends and patterns, and 
documenting findings, conclusions and recommendations in a deliverable final 
report.
 
More specifically, for a cross-section of Government information products, the 
goals are to: (1) determine in which format(s) and medium(s) such products are 
now produced, using which standard(s) if any (whether promulgated by official 
standards-setting bodies such as ISO, NISO, ANSI or FIPS, or voluntarily adopted 
through common agency practice, such as the use of file formats such as PDF or 
TIFF, or Microsoft Word or dBase); and (2) assess agency future plans for new or 
changed products, including the medium(s) and format(s) in which they will be 
disseminated for permanent public access.
 
The Superintendent of Documents will use the results of this work effort to 
continue to plan and implement the transition to a more electronic FDLP.  The 5 
major specific objectives are:


* First, with respect to electronic publishing practices and plans of Federal 
agencies (including ways in which the FDLP can best accommodate them), the 
objective is to provide an analysis of current practices as well as future plans 
for creating, disseminating, and providing permanent public accessibility to 
electronic information products, and to identify the standards for software, and 
electronic mediums and formats that are or will be used throughout the product's 
information life cycle, from creation to archiving, but especially by the time 
of the permanent public accessibility phase; 

* Second, with respect to cost effectiveness of various dissemination mediums 
and formats that are, or could be, utilized, the objective is to gather 
information on standards (whether mandated or consensual) that will assist the 
FDLP in making near-term decisions regarding the cost-effectiveness of 
alternative mediums and formats for all FDLP participants.  This information 
should also assist participants in long-term planning for permanent public 
accessibility, and the collection and analysis of overall information life-cycle 
costs;

* Third, with respect to the practical utility of various electronic mediums and 
formats to depository libraries and the public, the objective is to identify 
preferred standards used in various mediums and formats that depository 
libraries will need to support;

* Fourth, with respect to utilizing standards employed in mediums and formats 
that can be used throughout all stages of the information life cycle (including 
creation, composition, computer terminal display, encryption, secure digital 
signature with non-repudiation and secure transmission capabilities), electronic 
dissemination, but especially permanent public accessibility, the objective is 
to assess standards for basic security services in order to provide for secure 
and reliable transmission and document interchange; and

* Fifth, with respect to standards that are being developed and used in the 
private sector, the objective is to identify existing and planned standards for 
the purpose of determining what the FDLP must do to accommodate their adoption 
by the agency in terms of hardware/software requirements, staff and user 
education and training, and budgetary impacts.

For the purposes of this survey an agency Web site is considered an electronic 
information service, and one or more products may reside on the service.  Web 
sites, per se, are not considered individual Government information products.

                              Section II:  Subtasks

The contractor will be provided background materials to assist in conducting the 
required work, including a suggested data collection instrument, examples of 
completed forms, selection criteria for finalizing the list of agencies and 
products to be surveyed, and additional materials (see Appendix C).  Working 
with representatives of NCLIS and GPO, the contractor shall undertake the 
following specific activities and complete them by the scheduled dates shown 
below.  A detailed explanation of each activity appears in Appendix C:

Activity No.    Activity Title
1               Prepare a Plan of Action
2               Develop a Data Collection Plan identifying preliminary agency
                and product selections, and a schedule of interviews, focus 
                group meetings and site visits, using Appendix B as a guide
3               Conduct interviews, focus group meetings and site visits; revise 
                preliminary agency and product selections if necessary
4               Pre-test the Data Collection Instrument (Appendix A); make 
                changes if necessary
5               Create a Baseline Inventory Products Data Base ready to populate  
                with actual data
6               Collect the data from Federal agencies, experts, and literature 
                references
7               Prepare tabulations and summaries based on the populated data   
                base and analysis
8               Recollect and retabulate if/as necessary
9               Prepare a draft Report documenting findings, conclusions and 
                recommendations, and provide oral briefings on request; obtain  
                feedback from Government
10              Prepare a final Report and submit to the Government



                Section III.  Deliverables And Key Events Schedule

Deliverables, in terms of their delivery in weeks after award, are shown below.  
For each of the deliverables, the contractor shall provide six copies to the 
COTR.  [This is the original schedule and does not reflect the changes that were 
later negotiated between NCLIS and Westat.]

Deliverable                                                    Weeks After Award
Government-contractor planning meeting                                 1
Plan of Action approved                                                2
Approval of prelim. agency/contact list                                3
Completion of interviews/meetings/site visits                         12
Approval of Data Collection Plan                                      12
Agency data collection instruments transmitted to agencies            13
Actual data collected                                                 16
First oral briefing                                                   17
Tabulations/summaries completed                                       17
Recollection and retabulation completed                               19
Second oral briefing                                                  19
Draft Report submitted                                                20
Final oral briefing                                                   22
Final Report submitted                                                25



            Section IV - Management Reporting Requirements

The contractor shall provide the following reports for the purpose of 
maintaining a detailed record of work ordered and funds spent on this task 
order:

-  Cost Proposal;
   Schedule of Deliverables
-  Task Order "Log" or menu [monthly];
-  Monthly Cost Report;
-  Task Invoices; and
-  Reimbursement Report [monthly].

Details pertaining to these and ancillary reporting activities follow. 

Cost Proposals

The contractor shall provide a cost proposal to accompany the contractor's 
response to the work identified.  The cost proposal will be reviewed and 
approved by the COTR and the contracting officer, who will communicate the 
approval to the contractor. [Should there be a need to modify the cost proposal, 
the COTR and the contracting officer will communicate that instruction to the 
contractor's Project Director, who shall submit a revised cost proposal for 
approval.]

Task Order "Log"

The contractor shall provide a monthly report indicating the tasks ordered by 
the COTR and the contracting officer to date and showing the internal (to the 
contractor) tracking number assigned to each.  The contractor shall insure that 
this report includes such summary information as: the contractor staff member 
assigned as task leader; date(s) associated with the task, including 1) date 
assigned to the contractor; 2) date scheduled for completion of the task; and 3) 
upon completion, date of invoice(s) for services rendered in support of the 
task. 

Monthly Cost Report

The contractor shall provide a monthly report to the cotr and the contracting 
officer as specified under the terms and conditions of the contract and detailed 
in the proposal.  As part of the monthly report, the contractor shall include a 
list of deliverables and their anticipated due dates.

Reimbursement Report

The contractor shall provide the COTR and the contracting officer with a status 
report on reimbursement activities.  The contractor shall insure that the report 
includes the names of the consultants and participants and any others who are to 
be reimbursed for expenses incurred, as applicable and approved by the COTR and 
the contracting officer.  The contractor shall include:  1) the subtask for 
which the person is subject for reimbursement; 2) the amount subject to 
reimbursement for each subtask in which the person is a participant; 3) the date 
each participant submitted the necessary reimbursement form for each subtask; 4) 
the date the participant is scheduled to be issued reimbursement for each 
subtask; and 5) cumulative reimbursement totals to date, updated.


Period of Performance

The period of performance for this task is eight months from the date the award 
is signed.