byrley@NTSC-74.ARPA.UUCP (04/02/87)
I would like some help in preparing RFPs for Ada projects. There are just lots of issues which keep coming up and I need some good ideas. A forum such as these bulletin boards should allow a free exchange of ideas so both industry and government benefit. As a start, I am providing what I call Issue 1. The format is "off the top of my head" and subject to change- any ideas? I hope that other, maybe many other, issues relating to the problems inherent in contracting for modern software (i.e. Ada), using modern methodologies etc can be discussed. Someone out there (not me) can maybe write a book on contracting for Ada. Other issues I have trouble with are: reusable software; mixing existing equipment with new sw (do I require Ada when 40% ?, 70% of the software (maybe C or Pascal) has been written and sold on another contract to Govt or private sector?); Defining an APSE as part of a procurement; DOD-STD-2167 tailoring for Ada (Wake up Don Firesmith!)....many more. Please feel free to add your problems and/or help solve them. Please try to avoid the areas where your and my Congress has decreed a certain procurement rule. Out of scope! Is this of any interest to anyone? My first try at it follows. Paul ******************************************************************** Subject: Issue 1 Issue: Contractor Tools vs Government Needs The Government wishes to encourage contractors to develop or purchase software tools to improve quality and improve productivity. The Govt also needs to be sure that the delivery of software includes the tools necessary for software support over the life cycle. Often, Govt is not sure what those tools are and, as a result, requires or tries to require the delivery of any and all tools used in the software development effort. This Govt action has had the effect of suppressing industry investment in quality and productivity enhancing software tools. What kind of contractual language might allow industry to safely invest in in-house improvements and also would require the needed life cycle software support tools needed by the Govt? I don't have the answer, but I need it. as a strawman: _________________________________________________________________ SOW Language- 1.3.7.1.1 The contractor shall reuse, develop or procure automated software tools and necessary equipment to develop software in a modern, high quality and cost efficient manner. . . . 1.4.2.3 The contractor shall provide as reusable, develop or procure automated software tools and the data rights rquired by this contract, necessary for the Government to maintain the delivered software product (CSCI__________,CSCI___________and CSCI___________) over the life cycle. These automated software tools shall be part of the APSE and shall be included in CSCI_________. ___________________________________________________________________ Specification Language- 3.6.9.2 APSE shall include integrated, automated software tools necessary for the following functions: Compile,________,_________,_________,.....,Configuration Management. 3.6.9.2.1 Compile- A currently validated Ada compiler of production quality which compiles at least 500 Ada statements ending in a semicolon and generates no more than 12 machine instructions per Ada statement, on average, is required. [better numbers or better definitions are sought]. Project validation shall be provided by the contractor based on the validation certificate in effect at (PDR?), (CDR?)--(better words?) . . . 3.6.9.2.n Configuration Management- Tools for automated software configuration management shall be one or more commercial software products sold for software configuration management. Software tools license and all documentation normally provided to a commercial purchaser of the tools is required. The configuration management tools shall provide as a minimum, the following functions: a) . . . f) ____________________________________________________________________ Technical Proposal Requirements (The Govt's instruction to the bidder for required content of his proposal) 4.4 SOFTWARE TOOLS- 4.4.1 The offeror shall functionally describe the automated software tools he proposes to use in development of software under this contract. These tools need not be deliverable. Offeror shall provide enough detail of the tools and their use to provide the Government with knowledge of the potential improvement in quality and productivity due to these tools. 4.4.2 The offeror shall describe, in detail, all deliverable software tools which will allow the Government to perform life cycle support efficiently and with high quality. The degree of integration with APSE hardware and between tools shall be described. Each tool shall be identified as either commercial, developed by the offeror or one of his proposed sub-contractors with or without government money. Data rights of each software tool shall be clearly identified for all tools other than commercial. [note- commercial is defined by FAR or elsewhere in the rfp] ------
Bryan@SIERRA.STANFORD.EDU.UUCP (04/03/87)
I really liked Paul Byrley's message asking for help with the wording of future RFPs. It's very encouraging that an Ada customer has asked these forums (info-ada and ada-sw) for such help. Now is the time for those in the DoD contracting community who have been yealing about s/w engineering and the lack of customer support to put-up or shut-up (put-up == give Paul a hand here!!!) doug -------