B -- SPECIAL STUDY REGARDING A DII CODE KERNAL PLATFORM CERTIFICATION PROGRAM REQUEST FOR COMMENT The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE) Chief Engineer is formulating a DII COE Kernel Platform Certification (KPC) program for Posix based application platforms in response to requests from the Information Technology vendor community. The DII COE Chief Engineer is seeking comment from interested parties on the overall program concept, with a special focus on evaluation criteria, and process for certification. Interested parties should contact DISA per the instructions below to receive a copy of the full program description. Comments may be submitted as indicated below. If issues with sufficient interest arise, a meeting with interested parties may be scheduled to discuss the program. The purpose of the DII COE Kernel Platform Certification (KPC) program is to provide criteria and a process for certification of POSIX based application platforms as DII COE Compliant. Criteria for DII COE Kernel PlatformCertification are defined in accordance with the following engineering documents:1) Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE) Integrated Run-Time Specification (I&RTS), version 2.0 -- 23 October 1995 2)Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) Common Operating Environment (COE) Baseline Specifications, version 3.0 -- 31 October 1996. These documents are available on the World Wide Web at URL: http://spider.osfl.disa.mil/dii". This program would establish a process which encourages Information Technology (IT) industry suppliers to provide DII COE kernel functionality in their application platform products. DISA would investigate an applicant claim of DII COE conformance and make a list of application platforms with valid certificates available to the public. An additional objective of this program relates to the Government supplied software included in the DII kernel platform. This software provides features and functions which are essential to the operation of an application platform within a distributed system. DISA would prefer that these features were provided within commercial operating system offerings. This objective will be satisfied when commercial offerings replace the government supplied software in the DII COE kernel. APPLICABILITY OF CERTIFICATION The DII COE kernel platform certification process is available for Posix based DII COE application platforms. Note that this program applies only to the DII COE kernel as defined in reference [2]. This certification program provides an opportunity for vendors of Posix based application platforms to enhance the appeal of their product for DOD customers with a need for such platforms. DoD CINCs, Services, and Agencies which procure and use Posix based DII COE application platforms may use this certification program as one measure of the suitability of the product. The decision to require DII COE kernel platform certification is made by the procuring DoD CINC, Service, or Agency. COMMENT SUBMISSION PROCEDURE A "DII COE Kernel Platform Certification Program" description document is available on the DII COE Website at URL "http://spider.osfl.disa.mil/dii". The final page of the document provides instructions and a suggested format for comments. Comments in the appropriate format should be sent via email to the following address: DISA/JIEO, ATTN: DII COE Kernal Platform Compliance Program, Mr. Fritz Schulz, 5600 Columbia Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041. Email: schulzf@ncr.disa.mil, Phone (703) 681-2350, DSN 761-2350, FAX: (703) 681-2813. This is not an RFP, no contract award shall be made as a result of this RFC. Vendor participation in this program will be at no cost to the government.***** mmmm

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