RISC-V International is the global non-profit home of the open standard RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), related specifications, and stakeholder community.

More than 4,000 RISC-V members across 70 countries contribute and collaborate to define RISC-V open specifications as well as convene and govern related technical, industry, domain, and special interest groups.

RISC-V combines a modular technical approach with an open, royalty-free ISA — meaning that anyone, anywhere can benefit from the IP contributed and produced by RISC-V. As a non-profit, RISC-V does not maintain any commercial interest in products or services. As an open standard, anyone may leverage RISC-V as a building block in their open or proprietary solutions and services.

RISC-V International seeks to implement both a Certification Program and an Authentication/Certificate System capability. To that end, we seek third party consulting services (“consultant”) to assist the RISC-V in achieving these objectives. The consultant will contract as a service provider, not as an Alliance member company, and work closely with the RISC-V Certification Working Group (CWG) and RISC-V International leadership.

The Certification Working Group scope and charter include the following:

• Design, implementation, execution, and management of a certification program
• Manage the develop RISC-V test specifications, associated testing requirements, and required test scripts
• Develop Certification Program Management Documentation, including procedures for Authorized Test Labs, Test Requirements Status List, etc.
• Coordination point for Certification Authority
• Coordination point for Test Lab Manager
• Program Manage Test Environment and Test Equipment procurement

The RISC-V Certification Program will certify devices implementing the RISC-V Specification via assessment of conformance and broad interoperability with leading software. The CWG plans to establish the certification program using ISO Guide 17065 principles and industry best practices.

RISC-V Certification Program

RISC-V International seeks a consultant to assist us in the design, deployment and administration of a RISC-V Certification Program adhering to ISO17065 and ISO17025 industry best practices. The consultant services are envisioned as a two-part engagement – encompassing a startup phase and then an on-going program support role.

Start-up Services

The following start-up services are needed:

• Advise on the certification program design
• Develop the necessary process management documentations to encompass the CWG scope and charter
• Assist with test specification development, including drafting and reviewing test specifications, analysis of requirements and advising on testability
• Administer plugfest events, including summarizing anonymized results for feedback into the technical and certification working groups as warranted
• Manage and oversee the test platform validation efforts
• Manage and advise on program launch readiness reviews

Ongoing Support Services

The following ongoing support services will commence after the start-up services are complete and the RISC-V Certification Program has launched:

• Provide an independent, Certification Authority function to administer issuance of product certifications per defined program policies
• Manage and oversee the RISC-V authorized test lab (ATL) program

For purposes of sizing these support services, the following may be assumed:

• Launch with two (2) RISC-V ATLs and then scale as needed in year 2
• Year 1 – support twenty (20) RISC-V members’ product certifications
• Year 2 – scale to support to forty (40) RISC-V members’ product certifications

Authentication/Certificate System

RISC-V International also seeks a consultant to assist in the design, deployment and administration of a RISC-V Authentication and Certificate System. The consultant services are envisioned as a two-part engagement – encompassing a requirements definition and vendor selection phase, followed by an on- going oversight and management role.

Requirements Phase

The following services are needed:

• Manage delineation, definition, and design of Authentication/Certificate Systems
• Manage RFP process to select certificate authority provider
• Manage acceptance and deployment of certificate authority services

Operations Phase

The following services are needed:

• Oversight of authentication infrastructure
• Proactive auditing to ensure security of system elements

Proposal Submission

The proposal should contain any information and materials helpful to RISC-V International in understanding consultant’s qualifications meeting the above described professional service needs. This should include, at a minimum:

• company information, including primary business contact and company structure as applicable
• Consultant resume and LinkedIn URL
• certification program design and operations expertise
• authentication system design and operations expertise
  
• named core personnel references, qualifications and primary geographic locations
• client testimonials
• company professional service offerings, pricing options/terms and travel expense policies

Submission Deadline

Submit proposals by email to Calista Redmond <calista@riscv.org> no later than December 1, 2023. The Subject line should contain: “Proposal for RISC-V International Certification Program Professional Services”. PDF format is preferred for submission materials.

Term and Conditions

RISC-V International desires to consider a contract term of one year with option to extent on an annual basis. Termination of consultant services by either party is anticipated to be 30 days written notice.

Proposal Acceptance

RISC-V International reserves the right to accept or reject any and all proposals and waive any formalities or irregularities in the process. A proposal once submitted shall be deemed final and binding on the consultant and shall constitute an option with RISC-V International to enter into a contract negotiation with the terms set forth in the proposal. All proposal prices, terms, and conditions must be valid for 60 days from proposal due date. Negotiations will be based on items contained in the final proposal. Consultant should expect to supply additional information’s, e.g., proof of insurance, to RISC-V International as part of contract finalization.