Wvsgc housed at west virginia university WVU, and the NASA IV & v program has been in effect since august 1, 2012. However this agreement is due to expire on september 30 2018, and, hence, the need to…

This federal contract award, valued at $1,194,213.00, was issued by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the West Virginia University Research Corporation, a subsidiary of West Virginia University. The award is a Cooperative Agreement that supports the West Virginia Space Grant Consortium (WVSGC) and the NASA Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Program.

The WVSGC, established in 1991, is a group of West Virginia academic institutions that works to expand opportunities for Americans to participate in NASA's aeronautics and space projects by supporting science, engineering education, research, and workforce development. The NASA IV&V Program, founded in 1993, provides software assurance services to reduce risk and improve cost-effectiveness for NASA's mission-critical software. This award aims to fund research and enhance high-tech workforce development in line with the goals of both the WVSGC and the IV&V Program. The contract does not have a set-aside designation, indicating open competition.

Wvsgc housed at west virginia university WVU, and the NASA IV & v program has been in effect since august 1, 2012. However this agreement is due to expire on september 30 2018, and, hence, the need to submit a new proposal and work agreement that would reflect the current research and outreach priorities of the IV & v programand wvsgc. Components of this proposal are designed to support research and enhance high-tech workforce development in line with the mission of both entities. Initiated by NASA in 1989, the national space grant college and fellowship program, also known as space grant is a national network of colleges and universities. These institutions are working to expand opportunities for americans to understand and participate in NASA's aeronautics and space projects by supporting and enhancing science and engineering education, research, and workforce development. The space grant national network includes over 850 affiliates from universities, colleges, industry, museums, science centers, and state and local agencies which fund fellowships and scholarships for students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or stem, as well as curriculum enhancement and faculty development. The NASA west virginia space grant consortium was established in august 1991 and is a group of west virginia academic institutions with industrial partners that have joined together under the sponsorship of NASA. The wvsgc includes eight west virginia universities and four west virginia colleges as well as the community and technical college system of west virginia. West virginia university, founded in 1867, is the lead institution. The consortium is housed in the statler college of engineering and mineral resources on the evansdale campus of WVU. The NASA IV & v program was established in 1993 as part of an agency-wide strategy to provide the highest achievable levels of safety and cost-effectiveness for mission-critical software. The NASA IV & v program was founded under the NASA office of safety and mission assurance osma as a direct result of recommendations made by the national research council NRC and the report of the presidential commission on the space shuttle challenger accident. The primary objective of the agency IV & v program is to reduce the inherent risk in the agency s ability to procure, develop, deploy, and operate software within the desired cost, schedule and performance goals. The IV & v program is responsible for the management of all software IV & v efforts within the agency. IT is the NASA IV & v program s responsibility to provide value-added assurance services to agency safety and mission-critical software based on the cost, size, complexity, lifespan, risk, and consequences of failure. The NASA IV & v program is made up of the IV & v office VVO, the IVV SMA support office isso, the strategic communications office SCO, and the program support office PSO. The IV & v program is also host to osma s software assurance research program sarp. In support of its primary objective, NASA IV & v program is also responsible for supporting and contributing to agency-level activities that improve software development and software assuranceproducts and practices for the agency. These include performing independent assessments/evaluations of software processes and products throughout a project s development lifecycle, peer reviews, and other activities as directed by osma. Furthermore, NASA IV & v seeks to conduct research associated with advancing the state of practice for IV & v. NASA IV & v maintains support activities that contribute to the management and institutional excellence. These activities include efforts associated with information technology, operations and maintenance and knowledge management. NASA IV & v also performs education and outreach by actively participating in the vitality of the community and engaging the public in the experience and benefits of exploration and discovery, NASA, and the IV & v program. As part of