The Virtual Medical Simulation Training Center (VMSTC) is contained within US Nexus, a 3D, immersive, avatar-based Virtual World platform developed through cooperation from multiple government agencies to improve and augment their existing instructional technologies and capabilities. This collaboration allows individuals and groups to meet online for a variety of class activities, including lectures, discussions, case studies, projects, papers, exams, study groups and labs. These 3D Communities supplement traditional training methods by providing contextual 3D environments where Warfighters can work together to practice and understand the concepts that are being taught.

The VMSTC provides an instructorless, “adaptive learning” capability that delivers tailored learning content to each student based on learning styles, student motivation, and skill levels. After logging into the VMSTC, students proceed into a registration area of a virtual school that houses classrooms, an auditorium, a lane training area, and courtyard for informal learning experiences. The student registers at a VMSTC by taking a learning style and skills assessment that determines the most suitable learning content, such as didactic, video, or interactive gaming content. As a student progresses through content, skills assessments determine whether or not they can continue to progress through the levels of the curriculum. Additionally, the assessment determines whether or not the content tailored to meet the student’s needs should be adapted in response to their performance. This “tailoring” continues during the students’ progression through the content, which can occur 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and at their own pace. The students also have access to other students that are also in world at the VMSTC for informal learning opportunities and collaboration.

The US Nexus is a Virtual World platform being developed through cooperation from different government agencies to improve and augment their existing instructional technologies and capabilities. Virtual Worlds consist of 3D environments where students, experts, educators, and leaders can interact through representations of themselves called avatars.  Each customizable avatar is part of a learner-focused 3D social network where individuals interact with others through different types of virtual worlds, virtual classrooms, social networks, and communities of practice. This interconnected system incorporates a comprehensive knowledge network and numerous tools to help capture, tag and store knowledge content and other information from a variety of sources. The collaborative technologies within the Nexus Platform allow public and private communication between individuals and groups to give user’s access to a blended curriculum.  The curriculum uses virtual, avatar-based environments to provide both synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities that employ various types of content that augment traditional methods of training.

The Nexus Virtual Worlds platform delivers collaborative 3D environments and applications that integrate with an organization’s existing technology infrastructure using common architectures, interfaces and specifications.  This transcends the traditional boundaries of proprietary systems by providing a comprehensive environment for integrating new technology, tools and information and enables Nexus to reach large numbers of people quickly, allow for the rapid tailoring of scenarios, and provides simulated experiences that transfer into critical thinking skills and high levels of performance.

The MMA consists of two games available for a student to play, both of which can be played individually or as a group initiated by an instructor. The Knowledge Challenge game presents students with a multiple choice question and possible answers based on the CLS and 68W curriculum. The Casualty Challenge game presents students with different scenarios that are based on the CLS curriculum. The scenarios present a 2-Dimensional casualty, some background information, and 3 possible interventions available to the student for treating the casualty. The Casualty Challenge game tests student comprehension of course materials by allowing them to select treatment interventions and forcing students to make choices from initial assessment of the casualty through filling out the Field Medical Card. Immediate feedback is provided to confirm correct actions and to notify a student when they have selected incorrect actions. Multiple correct decision paths are allowed since in real medical emergencies, there are often multiple treatments or interventions that result in acceptable care. Students are timed and scored based on performance when playing both games while an instructor can either post a Leaderboard to motivate a group to improve performance. The instructor may also run reports that provide them detailed analysis regarding students’ performance.

The MMA was developed as a platform independent web application and targets mobile platforms such as the iPod Touch, iPad, iPhone, and Android smart phones as well as desktop PCs. While the MMA capability allows students to continue to learn during downtime, it also easily lends itself as a sustainment training capability available outside of the classroom, making training accessible anywhere, anytime. Whether in the classroom, or prior to mission deployment, the MMA will help future soldiers to be better prepared for medical emergencies.

We realize that there are significant variables in resource demands during the life of a project, and it is our intent to ensure our clients have the resource flexibility, or sprint capacity, as their needs dictate. ECS maintains a capable and flexible staff of experienced engineers across the spectrum of engineering disciplines. Many of engineers have active security clearances and are able to meet our customers’ technical needs on-site or at our facility in Orlando, Florida.

Primary services include:

-          Software Engineering

-          Systems Design & Integration

-          Architectural Visualization

-          Instructional Design

-          Program Management Support

-          Content Development

The Computer Based Corpsmen Training System is an immersive, first person Medic trainer that presents learners with interactive 3D Serious Games for learning and practicing battlefield medicine. Commonly known as CBCTS, this system builds upon the US Army’s Tactical Combat Casualty Care Simulation, and its goal is to instruct Marine Corps and  Navy  Corpsman.

The CBCTS involves the creation of mission-driven scenarios to present learners with synthetic “casualties” generated from realistic visual, behavioral, and physiological models. Medics are expected to keep the injured warfighter alive and get them evacuated safely out of harms way. The corpsman trainee takes on the first person view of a corpsman attached to a Marine squad in Afghanistan. During the mission teammates are wounded and the corpsman must balance triage, treatment, and safety to successfully keep his people alive and prepare them for evacuation. The CBCTS implements skill building exercises that involve triage, treatment planning, safety, evacuation information, and trauma management. At the same time, the CBCTS requires an interaction with other members of your team so as to successfully complete each mission. Within each mission, every casualty can survive with the correct treatment applied within the critical period of time. If the player fails to assess injuries correctly or spends too much time treating one casualty, others casualties may die.

After each scenario, learners are presented with an After Action Review that analyzes and evaluates their decision-making skills. The AAR evaluates every critical measure of treatment on a casualty and provides an explanation of a learner’s performance and an assessment of that performance.  In this way, constructive and monitored progress can be measured.

The CBCTS can be implemented into a program of instruction in many different ways. Its Serious Gaming vignettes can be used to supplement live instruction, it can be blended with other instructional systems to provide synchronous or asynchronous learning opportunities, or can be used as the cornerstone of a stand-alone, online capability. In all cases, the CBCTS will help increase learner engagement, improve training efficiency and create an unparalleled return on investment for all government customers.

Our mobile content facilitates a “learning objects” approach to blend immersive, scenario-based simulations with other learning content to collectively guide the learners through the learning process. Our approach employs mobile learning technologies and a technology infrastructure to provide communication and collaboration between users, groups, applications and content through a common interface. These applications integrate with an organization’s existing technology infrastructure using common architectures, interfaces and specifications.  This transcends the traditional boundaries of proprietary systems by providing a comprehensive environment for integrating new technology, tools and information and enables mobile content to reach large numbers of people quickly, allow for the rapid tailoring of training, and provides experiences that transfer into critical thinking skills and high levels of performance.

In addition to learning content, one of the core principles behind our Mobile technologies is the development and incorporation of technologies, processes and methodologies that take effective practices from the commercial world and integrates them into a comprehensive knowledge network. These trends have the potential to change how people work and could become the preferred tools for some users to obtain the specialized skills needed for effective job performance. Specific trends that mobile technologies can address include:

• Dynamic knowledge creation – Organizations do not simply process information. Mobile technologies can also be used to create information and knowledge (e.g., best practices, lessons learned, FAQs, formal/informal knowledge transfer, etc).

• Personalized services and tools – Learners are expecting personalized services, tools and experiences.(e.g., search and discovery, customization, tailored content)

• Collaboration – Mobile tools, software, and policies for allowing small groups to work together towards common goals (e.g., communities of practice, social computing)

Whether in the classroom, or in the field, mobile learning applications developed by ECS help improve workplace performance and create employees that are better prepared. This product has the ability to not only to simply capture knowledge for the sole purpose of managing it, but will provide the capability for individuals to reach knowledge experts and meaningful content. This accelerates and enhances situational performance and decision-making

The STOC II contract consists of two Lots: a Full & Open Lot  and a Small Business Set-Aside Lot. ECS has won a prime contract in both Lots. For further information, please contact Joe O’Connell, VP, Business Development at joconnell@ecsorl.com, or on his phone at (407) 823-9991, x304.

PERFORMANCE WORK STATEMENT (PWS) FOR
National Guard Bureau Joint Education Division (NGB-J7)
Joint State Response Training System (JSRTS)
Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract

1. Overview

The National Guard Bureau J-7 Joint Education Division (NGB-J7 JED) has multiple training efforts underway. These efforts come under the umbrella of the National Guard’s Joint State Response Training System (JSRTS) and currently include: (1) Emergency Management Nexus (2) Emergency Management Staff Trainer (3) Civil Support Team Trainer (4) Regional and State Online Resource for Emergency Management (5) Palmtop Emergency Action for Chemical. These systems and capabilities were designed to be modular, scalable, low-cost, and rapidly deployable to National Guard State Joint Task Forces and participating state and local civilian agencies across the country. These systems and capabilities will be fully integrated into national and state level domestic contingency response planning, capabilities and standards as described in the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program, the National Response Plan, and related documentation.

The National Guard Bureau J-7 Joint Education Division (NGB-J7 JED) has numerous requirements on a regular basis for contractor support for their joint education projects. As such, NGB-J7 has contracted with ECS, Inc. for an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle according to that provided for under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 16.5. This contract vehicle requires ECS, Inc to understand the NGB-J7 program and provide contractor support services through issuance of task orders in the training and education arena.

2. Government Contracting Agency

The Government contracting agency for this requirement is the National Guard Bureau headquarters contracting activity (NGB-ZC-AQ). The agency address is 1411 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 8100, Arlington, VA 22202-3231. Government contracting personnel consists of a Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO), Administering Contracting Officer (ACO), Contract Specialist (CS), and Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). Also, the task orders issued under this IDIQ may require additional CORs and Quality Assurance Representatives (QAR) according to mission and support parameters.

3.Scope

Under this IDIQ contract, ECS, Inc. independently provides training and education services to satisfy the overall operational objectives of the NGB-J7 Joint Education Division. Tasks performed by the contractor will support enhancing, expanding, maintaining current and future system and capability initiatives such as Emergency Management Nexus, Emergency Management Staff Trainer, Civil Support Team Trainer, and Regional and State Online Resource for Emergency Management, and other related services.

Emergency Management Nexus (EM Nexus) The EM Nexus is a platform that combines learning management services and simulation distribution through an interactive 3D environment. The platform incorporates a virtual lobby service that facilitates a range of collaborative technologies to allow public and private communication between individuals and groups. The EM Nexus establishes the key interface points for interoperating with simulations, courseware, reference material, tools and services from multiple sources and allows users to transparently access this information at any time through the Internet.

Emergency Management Staff Trainer (EMST) EMST is a simulation-based training tool that will allow National Guard JTF-State staffs, along with state and local civilian emergency management organizations, to train information management processes and command and control activities needed to effectively respond to a wide variety of domestic contingencies. Used in conjunction with the Regional and State On-line Resource for Emergency Management (RaSOR-EM) and the Emergency Management Nexus (EM Nexus), EMST will generate a data-rich, immersive training experience for staffs and managers, including the ability to collaborate with others training a common exercise scenario.

Civil Support Team Trainer (CSTT) CSTT uses 3-D simulation to place individuals into realistic virtual environments in which they can train individual and collective tasks associated with CST operations. CST members can train based on their own position on the CST or can easily take other roles for purposes of cross-training. Multiple agencies can train together to practice coordinated responses to critical situations. Opportunities for unlimited practice ensure CST members can assess situations quickly and accurately and then perform the required tasks to mitigate WMD hazards.

Regional and State Online Resource for Emergency Management (RaSOR-EM). RaSOR-EM is an online information management tool that allows staff personnel to access geographic, demographic, and organizational information down to the county/city level. RaSOR-EM uses state-specific databases linking users to information available on the Internet. It is browser-based, so there is no requirement to install software.
Each individual task order issued under this IDIQ contract will specifically list the support requirement needed for the order.

Key Attributes of the JSRTS Contract Vehicle:

• Open to all Government organizations
• Rapid Processing of Task Order Contracting
• Minimal Management Fee

For More Information on this Contract Vehicle, please contact Joe O’Connell at joconnell@ecsorl.com, or at (407) 823-9991, x304.

ECS is a proud subcontractor to IDSI on the Training and Leader Development Research, Development, Studies and Analysis for Army Future Forces for the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Studies (ARI). The primary focus of this requirement will be on addressing the Army’s training and leader development needs through research and studies that result in a multi-skilled, agile, and deployable force.

For More Information on this Contract Vehicle, please contact Joe O’Connell at joconnell@ecsorl.com, or at (407) 823-9991, x304.

https://www.gsaadvantage.gov

ECS’s Federal Supply Schedule Contract, under Multiple Award Schedule 874 – Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services (MOBIS) has been effective since April 25, 2006 and runs to April 24, 2011.

Contract Number: GS-02F-0136S

Schedule Title: Schedule 874 – Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services (MOBIS)

FSC Group: SINs 27-500 Course Development;Test Administration

FSC Class: 6930

Contract Period: April 25, 2006 thru April 24, 2011

Hourly Rates for Labor Categories:

Program Manager Rate: $144.53 Hourly
Project Manager Rate: $135.50 Hourly
Sr. Programmer Rate: $126.12 Hourly
Multimedia Producer Rate: $82.63 Hourly
Programmer Rate: $70.98 Hourly
Graphic Artist Rate: $61.99 Hourly
Administrative Support Rate: $46.74 Hourly

All SINs Maximum Order: $1,000,000

Minimum Order Limitations: $100.00

Geographic Coverage (Delivery Area): Worldwide

Point of Production: Orlando, Florida 32817 (Orange County)

Discount from list prices or statement of net price:
2% basic discount off our commercial price for all labor rates

For More Information on this Contract Vehicle, please contact Joe O’Connell at joconnell@ecsorl.com, or at (407) 823-9991, x304.