DSPACE questions_8_6.pdf

Closing date.

The solicitation was issued on 28 July 2026 and closes on 7 August 2026. Given a five-year period of performance, a twenty-five page technical proposal addressing two major platform migrations and nineteen enhancement workpackages, and a requirement for firm-fixed pricing across the full term, will the Government consider extending the closing date to permit fuller participation by Registered DSpace Service Providers?

An extension to the closing date will be issued

Contract Data Requirement List (CDRL) Clarification:

Section B references multiple CDRL items (e.g., A001 Incident Status Updates, A002 Project Documentation, B001, B002, C001, etc.); however, the detailed CDRL requirements are not available in the shared document. Kindly provide the complete CDRL details, including expected deliverable formats, submission frequency, timelines, and acceptance criteria for each applicable CDRL item.

See attached. For purposes these various forms are shrunk to 2 documents inclusive of all associated CLIN Years 1.02d CDRL A001 Incident Status Updates R1 CS 1.02d CDRL A002 Project Documentation R1 CS

Proposal submission address.

Section L.5.0 states that "Proposals shall be submitted electronically via email in accordance with the solicitation instructions." No email address, file format, file size limit or encryption requirement is specified. Please confirm the address to which proposals are to be sent, and any file constraints that apply.

Kyle.D.Westover.civ@us.navy.mil

Interaction of the two restrictions on competition.

Section L.1.0 states that this requirement carries two restrictions on competition: "This is a Brand Name requirement for only Authorized DSpace Registered Service Providers" and "This is a total small business set-aside, and only small businesses will be considered for award." Please confirm that an offeror must satisfy both conditions as of the date of offer, and that a Registered DSpace Service Provider that is not a small business concern under NAICS 541511 is ineligible for award.

Both requirements apply. As such a large business is ineligible, as is a business which is not registered DSpace Service provider

Registered Service Provider status – definition.

The solicitation uses three different formulations of this qualification: PWS Section 1.0 requires "a Registered Duraspace Service Provider"; PWS Section 6.1 requires a "Registered DSpace Service Provider"; and Section L.1.0 restricts competition to "Authorized DSpace Registered Service Providers." DuraSpace merged with LYRASIS in 2019, and the program is now administered as the DSpace Registered Service Provider Program. Please confirm:

(a) that the operative qualification is current listing on the Registered Service Provider list published at dspace.org; and Yes

(b) whether any particular program tier (Silver, Gold or Platinum) is required.

Yes

Prime and subcontractor arrangements.

Will the Government accept an offer from a small business prime contractor that proposes a Registered DSpace Service Provider as a subcontractor, where the prime contractor is not itself a Registered Service Provider? If so, please confirm how the Government will apply the limitation on subcontracting at FAR 52.219-6 and 13 CFR 125.6 to the fifty percent services threshold, and whether the Registered Service Provider subcontractor must itself qualify as a similarly situated entity.

No, due to prime being ineligible to complete 51% of the work

Covered Defense Information, NIST SP 800-171 and cloud computing.

Section I incorporates DFARS 252.204-7012 (Deviation 2026-O0025), DFARS 252.240-7997 (Deviation 2026-O0025) and DFARS 252.239-7010. None of these is addressed in Section L or Section M. Please confirm:

(a) whether contractor personnel will access, store, process or transmit Controlled Unclassified Information or Covered Defense Information in the performance of this requirement;

The 3 DFARS clauses apply

(b) whether a current NIST SP 800-171 DoD Assessment score must be posted in the Supplier Performance Risk System prior to award, and if so the minimum score the Government will accept; and The Supplier Risk score is posted at https://piee.eb.mil/ The government will utilize its judgment relative to score in the event of a Medium Risk. High Risk and Highest Risk will not be acceptable.

(c) whether DFARS 252.239-7010 applies to the contractor, given that PWS Section 1.0 describes backup of repository content into AWS cloud storage, and if so whether a DoD Provisional Authorization and a requirement to maintain Government data within the United States attach.

The clause applies

SECURITY AND CYBER REQUIREMENTS

Application of personnel security requirements to remote performance.

PWS Section 12.0 states that personnel "Must have a favorably adjudicated T3 security investigation" and that "Contractor Key Personnel must be U.S. Citizens." PWS Section 15.0 states that "The security text does not apply in cases where the contractor/vendor does not have access to Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) computers, is not issued a Common Access Card (CAC)," while the same section requires personnel to "Be CAC ready at the IT Level II prior to reporting for work" and states that "It is Contracting Companies; responsibility to ensure that 100% of the contractors have the Tier 3 investigation/IT Level II." PWS Section 8.0 states that all work is performed remotely from the contractor's place of business. Please confirm:

(a) which roles, if any, require a CAC and DBIDS credential;

That information will not be provided.

(b) whether personnel other than Key Personnel may be non-U.S. persons;

No

(c) whether any contractor personnel are required to be physically present at NPS or at any federally controlled facility; and No

(d) whether remote administrative access to the Calhoun servers constitutes access to a DoD information system or network for the purposes of PWS Section 15.0.

Yes

Existing Customizations:

Kindly share details of existing NPS-specific customizations, modules, workflows, UI changes, and integrations currently implemented in Calhoun that require support, maintenance, and upgrades.

Customizations include repository architecture and data modeling, identity and branding, and ingest, submission, and workflow enhancements.

Hosting & Infrastructure Setup:

Kindly provide details of the current hosting architecture, including the infrastructure components used for Production and Test environments. Additionally, please clarify the AWS services/components currently used for backup/storage purposes and their respective roles.

That information will not be provided.

Upgrade Scope:

The SOW mentions the planned upgrade to DSpace 9 LTS. Kindly clarify whether the scope includes only the standard DSpace upgrade activities or also includes migration/redevelopment of existing customizations, integrations, and NPS-specific enhancements.

Upgrades does include the migration of existing customizations, integrations, and NPS-specific enhancements.

Enhancement Work Packages:

Kindly provide details regarding the expected volume, nature, and process for handling NPS-specific enhancement requests during the contract period.

As shown in section 3.3.6 of the SOW, there are 19 identified work packages that must be maintained throughout the contract period.

The process for handling NPS-specific requests is expected to be handled through the operational support model described in section 3.5.

Repository Workflows:

Kindly share details of existing submission, review, approval, and content management workflows that need to be maintained or enhanced as part of this engagement.

Existing submission workflows requiring maintenance include batch ingest workflows (e.g., CSV + ZIP) and support for custom submission input forms.

Metadata & Data Model:

Kindly provide details of the existing metadata model, custom metadata fields, entity relationships, and any specific metadata governance requirements.

Calhoun uses extended Dublin Core metadata schema.

Batch Ingest Requirements:

Kindly clarify the current batch ingest process (CSV + ZIP), validation requirements, and any expected improvements or automation requirements in this area.

That information will not be provided.

Selective Export Functionality:

Kindly provide details regarding the expected export formats, citation standards, and user requirements for the search-based metadata and citation export functionality.

That information will not be provided.

Advanced Replication Task Suite (RTS):

Kindly share additional details regarding the existing RTS implementation, including replication scope, frequency, supported content types, and restore/recovery expectations.

That information will not be provided.

Support Model & SLA:

Kindly clarify the expected support model, including support coverage, incident severity classification, response timelines, escalation process, and monitoring expectations.

Expected support model includes support for technical operational support (incident response, troubleshooting, configuration assistance, upgrades, enhancements), monitoring and reporting (incident detection, performance, and support activity), and execution support (coordination of work activities, testing and validation support, and preparation of documentation). Incident severity classification includes standard and critical tickets. Response to standard issues within 2 business days of incident ticket and within 6hr of incident ticket for critical tickets. Monitoring expectations include automated monitoring of platform health, incident response and status reporting resulting in a minimum 99. 7% up time; issues resolved within four (4) hours.

Deployment & Validation Process:

Kindly confirm the deployment approach, environment responsibilities, testing process, and acceptance criteria for upgrades, enhancements, and configuration changes.

DATA RIGHTS AND TECHNICAL SCOPE

Government data rights in existing customizations.

PWS Section 3.3.6 lists nineteen NPS-specific enhancement workpackages, and PWS Section 3.3.5 describes the Advanced Replication Task Suite (RTS) as "implemented as an NPS-specific customization." Please confirm:

(a) what rights the Government holds in these customizations (unlimited, government purpose, restricted, or other);

That information will not be provided.

(b) whether source code, technical documentation and build artifacts will be made available to offerors during the solicitation period, or to the awardee only after award; and Only after award.

(c) whether any of these components are subject to third-party license terms that would restrict a successor contractor's ability to maintain, modify or migrate them.

If source code or documentation will be made available to offerors, offerors request that the solicitation be amended to identify how it may be obtained.

That information will not be provided.

Content and Usage Analysis (CUA) module.

PWS Section 3.4.1 requires support for a "Content and Usage Analysis (CUA) Module," including "Ongoing compatibility with supported DSpace versions." Content and Usage Analysis is a proprietary module offered by a specific DSpace service provider; it is not a component of the core DSpace distribution. Please confirm:

(a) whether the module currently deployed at NPS is that proprietary product;

(b) whether the Government holds a license that transfers to a successor contractor, or whether the awardee is expected to procure one;

(c) whether an offeror may propose a functionally equivalent alternative without that proposal being treated as taking exception to the solicitation under Section M.3.0(1).

No

Level of effort for enhancement workpackages.

PWS Section 3.3.6 states that each of the nineteen workpackages "may be scheduled, prioritized, deferred, or exercised independently by NPS during the contract period," while Section B establishes a single firm-fixed-price CLIN per performance period. To permit offerors to price the requirement on a common basis, please provide:

(a) an estimated annual level of effort, in hours or an equivalent measure;

That information will not be provided.

(b) historical support ticket volumes for the current period of performance; and That information will not be provided.

(c) confirmation of whether Government will establish a not-to-exceed number of workpackages exercisable per performance period.

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

Uptime measurement and exclusions.

The Performance Requirements Summary at PWS Section 5.0 establishes an acceptable quality level of "Minimum 99. 7% up time."

PWS Section 1.0 states that Calhoun "is built on DSpace open-source software loaded on internal NPS servers," and PWS Section 8.0 states that "All work shall be conducted remotely from the contractor's place of business." Please confirm:

(a) whether downtime attributable to NPS-controlled infrastructure, network, facility or power events is excluded from the uptime calculation;

That information will not be provided.

(b) whether Government-approved scheduled maintenance windows are excluded; and That information will not be provided.

(c) how uptime will be measured, by which party, and using what instrumentation.

If exclusions apply, offerors request that the solicitation be amended to state them, given that failure against the acceptable quality level is remedied by re-performance at the contractor's own expense under PWS Section 5.0.

Relationship between response and resolution times.

The Performance Requirements Summary establishes, against task 3.5.1, that the "Contractor shall respond to critical issues within 6hr of incident ticket," and separately, against task 3.5.2, an acceptable quality level of "Minimum 99. 7% up time; issues resolved within four (4) hours." Please clarify:

(a) whether the four-hour figure is a resolution obligation or a response obligation;

That information will not be provided.

(b) to which category of incident it applies; and That information will not be provided.

(c) which requirement takes precedence where the two conflict.