Summary of Draft Statement of Work – Geosciences Discipline Node of the Planetary Data System (March 2026)

This is a Draft Statement of Work (SOW) for the Geosciences Discipline Node (GEO) of NASA's Planetary Data System (PDS), effective December 1, 2026, through November 30, 2029. The PDS is a NASA-funded system responsible for long-term preservation, archival, distribution, and public access to planetary science mission data in compliance with federal data management laws including the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, the Open Government Data Act, and the Federal Records Act. The GEO Discipline Node must continue providing comprehensive science data services including planetary mission support, data validation and peer-review, guidance on data organization and documentation, and expertise in archival and preservation. The GEO node must implement NASA PDS Level 3 and 4 requirements, ensure long-term preservation through coordination with the NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA), maintain public data accessibility compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and minimize service interruptions to 14 calendar days maximum per instance. Additional critical deliverables include maintaining tools and documentation for data providers, providing value-added search and discovery services, maintaining archiving standards, and participating actively in PDS working groups with at least 70% attendance at meetings.

The SOW includes significant enterprise modernization requirements under CLIN 2, encompassing data holdings registration in the PDS Registry, conversion of all planetary data holdings to the PDS4 standard data model, complete cloud migration of Discipline Node operations to NASA-managed cloud environments, and evolution of mission data delivery pipelines. The GEO node must submit comprehensive quarterly reports tracking migration progress, dataset conversion status, web presence transition, cybersecurity compliance, and detailed metrics including dataset counts, data volumes, user access statistics, and help requests addressed. Cybersecurity compliance is mandatory, requiring adherence to NASA cybersecurity standards, System Security Plans, federal controls, and FIPS 199 "low" controls by specified deadlines. The work is performed primarily at Washington University with necessary travel to other PDS node locations and NASA facilities. The contractor may use NASA-provided computers for full-time staff only and may only purchase equipment identified as necessary for contract performance using NASA funding. All equipment purchased with NASA funds becomes government property and must be registered as NASA assets maintained to cybersecurity standards. Government-furnished information will include new scientific data from NASA missions and research efforts throughout the performance period.