Mental Health Mobile Apps Design, Development, and Research Support

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS) DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (NCPTSD) Dissemination and Training Division Mental Health Mobile Apps Design, Development, and Research Support Date: July 1, 2026 VA-26-00048712 PWS Version Number: 1.0 Contents 1.0 BACKGROUND 4 2.0 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS 5 3.0 SCOPE OF WORK 9 4.0 PERFORMANCE DETAILS 10 4.1 PERFORMANCE PERIOD 10 4.2 PLACE OF PERFORMANCE 10 4.3 TRAVEL 10 5.0 SPECIFIC TASKS AND DELIVERABLES 10 5.1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT 10 5.1.1 KICKOFF MEETING 10 5.1.2 CONTRACTOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN 11 5.1.3 REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 11 5.2 MINDFULNESS COACH 3.0 APPLICATION 12 5.2.1 iOS MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT (Labor Hour) 12 5.2.2 ANDROID MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT (Labor Hour) 15 5.3 PTSD COACH 4.2 UPDATE 19 5.3.1 IOS MOBILE APP MAJOR UPDATE 19 5.3.2 ANDROID MOBILE APP MAJOR UPDATE 22 5.4 SOLUTION HOSTING AND MAINTENANCE SUPPORT 25 5.4.1 WEB INTERFACE 25 5.4.2 COMMAND-LINE INTERFACE AND HTTPS API 26 5.5 MAINTENANCE: MOBILE APP CODING, USER INTERFACE DESIGN, AND GRAPHIC DESIGN (Labor Hour) 26 5.6 MOBILE APP RESEARCH ENABLEMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION 27 5.6.1 INVITATION CODES 27 5.6.2 INSTRUMENTATION 28 5.7 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (OPTIONAL TASK ONE) 29 5.8 MAINTENANCE: MOBILE APP CODING, USER INTERFACE DESIGN, AND GRAPHIC DESIGN (OPTIONAL TASK TWO) 30 5.9 MOBILE APP RESEARCH ENABLEMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION (OPTIONAL TASK THREE) 31 5.10 ADDITIONAL SOLUTION HOSTING AND MAINTENANCE SUPPORT (OPTIONAL TASK FOUR) 33 6.0 GENERAL REQUIREMENTS 34 6.1 ENTERPRISE AND IT FRAMEWORK 34 6.1.1 VA TECHNICAL REFERENCE MODEL 34 6.1.2 ZERO TRUST – VA CRITICAL SECURITY CONTROLS 34 6.1.3 FEDERAL IDENTITY, CREDENTIAL, AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT (FICAM) 35 6.1.4 INTERNET PROTOCOL VERSION 6 (IPv6) 36 6.1.5 TRUSTED INTERNET CONNECTION (TIC) 37 6.1.6 STANDARD COMPUTER CONFIGURATION 37 6.1.7 VETERAN FOCUSED INTEGRATION PROCESS (VIP) AND PRODUCT LINE MANAGEMENT (PLM) 37 6.1.8 PROCESS ASSET LIBRARY (PAL) 38 6.1.9 AUTHORITATIVE DATA SOURCES 38 6.1.10 SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER (SSN) REDUCTION 39 6.1.11 SOFTWARE AND LICENSING REQUIREMENTS 39 6.1.12 GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS 40 6.1.12.1 AI SYSTEM/LLM DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS 41 6.1.12.2 MONITORING, REPORTING, AND CORRECTIVE ACTION 43 6.1.12.3 AI MODEL UPDATES AND CHANGE DISCLOSURES 43 6.1.13 SOURCE CODE HARMONIZATION AND REUSE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHARE IT Act) 44 6.2 SECURITY AND PRIVACY REQUIREMENTS 44 6.2.1 POSITION/TASK RISK DESIGNATION LEVEL(S) 44 6.2.2 CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL SECURITY REQUIREMENTS 45 6.3 METHOD AND DISTRIBUTION OF DELIVERABLES 46 6.4 PERFORMANCE METRICS 46 6.5 FACILITY/RESOURCE PROVISIONS 47 6.6 GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY 48 ADDENDUM A – ADDITIONAL VA REQUIREMENTS, CONSOLIDATED 48 7.0 POINTS OF CONTACT 59 BACKGROUND The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Dissemination and Training Division (NCPTSD) is responsible for creating training and educational products to support evidence-based care of Veterans with PTSD and related problems. PTSD is very common among Veterans and has a significant impact on Veterans’ quality of life. Most Veterans with PTSD do not access evidence-based treatments for PTSD, and many Veterans are either unable or choose not to access available mental health services of any kind. Lack of available services, distance from clinics, and stigma associated with mental health care are just a few of the barriers to providing care for Veterans and those living with a Veteran with PTSD. The rapid transition to telehealth in recent years has also greatly increased the burden on VA providers to offer mobile tools and services to support delivery of evidence-based telehealth. NCPTSD has developed mobile phone applications (apps) to overcome these and other barriers to care. The apps are designed to assist Veterans and their family members with understanding PTSD and related problems, tracking their improvement over time, obtaining support and resources, and managing symptoms using a variety of brief relaxation/stress coping tools. NCPTSD has developed a variety of mobile applications in the past fifteen years, including, most notably, the multi-award winning PTSD Coach (Winner of the Advancements in Accessibility Award from the Federal Communications Commission 2011 and Winner of the President’s Innovation Award from the American Telemedicine Association 2012). NCPTSD currently maintains a portfolio of 37 mobile apps (e.g., PTSD Coach, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBTI) Coach, Mindfulness Coach, Prolonged Exposure therapy (PE) Coach, Stay Quit Coach), that have been downloaded over 5 million Veterans and others. Each mobile app aims to address specific implementation challenges faced by Veterans and their family members in receiving education, training, and treatment. In addition to these public-facing apps, NCPTSD also develops and maintains a suite of research applications that support active and ongoing research on the public-facing apps. These apps currently support over two dozen clinical trials and 463 investigators. Each of these research apps are kept up-to-date with its corresponding public app and are vital to the development and innovation of evidence-based treatments for PTSD and its symptoms. The NCPTSD has also been charged with 1) ensuring that NCPTSD mobile apps are capable of supporting scientific research and 2) being capable of responding to the needs of Veterans, VA providers, and other stakeholders. To meet this charge, NCPTSD has a multi-phase coordinated research program to study the usability, efficacy, and implementation of these applications and works directly with Mental Health Services in VA Central Office to ensure that products are aligned with the mission to enhance and optimize mental health care for Veterans. APPLICAB…