DSpace Software Upgrades, Configuration, Maintenance Support at NPS

This contract provides firm fixed price support services for the DSpace institutional repository at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Dudley Knox Library, focusing on upgrades, configuration management, dependency updates, customizations, and technical monitoring to ensure continuous, secure operation of the mission-critical scholarly archive. The scope includes migration to DSpace 9 LTS and future versions, maintenance of NPS-specific enhancements such as metadata schemas, UI branding, workflows, selective exports, and the Advanced Replication Task Suite, along with strict operational requirements including 99.7% system uptime and a six-hour response time for critical incidents. The solicitation mandates that only authorized DSpace registered service providers who are certified small businesses may compete, under a total small business set-aside with a NAICS code of 541511 and a size standard of $34 million in annual receipts. Proposals must be submitted in two volumes—a technical narrative limited to 25 pages assessing conformance with performance standards, and a price proposal that will be the sole differentiator among technically acceptable offers under a lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) evaluation methodology. Contract performance spans a five-year period with a base year and four one-year options, all structured across multiple firm fixed price line items tied to specific deliverables. All work is performed remotely, but delivery and acceptance occur at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, with final inspection and acceptance authority vested in the government. Contractors must comply with stringent security protocols, requiring U.S. citizenship or permanent residency with a Tier 3 background investigation, current CAC eligibility, annual cyber awareness training, and prior submission of SF-85/SF-86 forms, FD-258 fingerprints, and SAAR-N forms. Compliance with DoD cybersecurity directives including DoD 8500.1E, RMF, NIST SP 800-171, and HSPD-12 is mandatory, and all personnel must adhere to security clearance timelines and in-processing requirements. Contract Data Requirements Lists (CDRLs) are specified for each year, requiring weekly incident status updates and completed project documentation, with all deliverables governed by ASTM D3951 packaging standards and invoicing conducted exclusively through Wide Area WorkFlow using the designated DoDAACs. Award will be made to the technically acceptable offeror with the lowest evaluated price, and the contract incorporates clauses related to executive compensation reporting, SAM maintenance, subcontractor restrictions, prohibition on inverted domestic corporations, and full small business