DoD Ada 95 Policy

[vijay@nawc690.chinalake.navy.mil (Jim Vijay)]

Sorry if this is old hat for cla readers.  But it is an important aspect
of Ada 95 usage in DoD.  So here goes.

What is the DoD policy wrt Ada 95 and projects that are already under
contract to use Mil-Std-1815A (Ada 83)?  Would it be a violation of the
contract if the contractor decided to use Ada 95?  Does it hinge on
whether the compiler is fully validated?  If so, this might preclude near
term use of Ada 95.  Which would be a shame since our project - mission
planning software - has to interface with a C core in a Unix environment,
provide an X-windows compatible graphical user interface, and interface
with a COTS relational database.  The OO and mixed language features of
Ada 95 would certainly be a boost to productivity here.

I have been informed that the Hon. Emmett Paige Jr, Asst. Sec. of Defense
(C3I), has issued a memo dated 9 March 1994 that addresses this issue. Is
the text of this memo available on the net?

I realize that contract modification is one hope.  But the Govt moves in
mysterious (and mostly slow) ways.  So it would be nice to know of an easy
out.

Thanks -- Jim Vijay