[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 18 (Friday, January 27, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5368-5370]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2104]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket No. 940386-4338]
RIN 0693-AB22


Approval of Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 
172-1, VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL)

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 
Commerce.

ACTION: The purpose of this notice is to announce that the Secretary of 
Commerce has approved a revised standard, which will be published as 
FIPS Publication 172-1, VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL). 
This FIPS adopts language specifications contained in ANSI/IEEE 1076-
1993, IEEE Standard VHDL Language Reference Manual.

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SUMMARY: On April 12, 1994 (59 FR 17336-17338), notice was published in 
the Federal Register that a revision to Federal Information Processing 
Standard 172, VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) was being 
proposed for Federal use.
    The written comments submitted by interested parties and other 
material available to the Department relevant to the revised standard 
was reviewed by NIST. On the basis of this review, NIST recommended 
that the Secretary approve the revised standard as a Federal 
Information Processing Standards Publication, and prepared a detailed 
justification document for the Secretary's review in support of that 
recommendation.
    The detailed justification document which was presented to the 
Secretary is part of the public record and is available for inspection 
and copying in the Department's Central Reference and Records 
Inspection Facility, Room 6020, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th Street 
between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW, Washington, DC 
20230.
    This FIPS contains two sections: (1) An announcement section, which 
provides information concerning the applicability, implementation, and 
maintenance of the standard; and (2) a specifications section which 
deals with the technical requirements of the standard. Only the 
announcement section of the standard is provided in this notice.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This revised standard becomes effective May 1, 1995. 
Prior to [[Page 5369]] that date the requirements of FIPS PUB 172 apply 
to Federal VHDL procurements. This delayed effective date is intended 
to provide sufficient time for implementors of FIPS PUB 172 to make 
enhancements necessary for conformance of products to FIPS PUB 172-1.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may purchase copies of this revised 
standard, including the technical specifications section, from the 
National Technical Information Service (NTIS). Specific ordering 
information from NTIS for this standard is set out in the Where to 
Obtain Copies Section of the announcement section of the standard.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dr. William H. Dashiell, telephone (301) 975-2490, National Institute 
of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.

    Dated: January 18, 1995.
Samuel Kramer,
Associate Director.

Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 172-1

199X Month Day

Announcing the Standard for VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL)
    Federal Information Processing Standards Publications (FIPS PUBS) 
are issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
after approval by the Secretary of Commerce pursuant to Section 111(d) 
of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 as 
amended by the Computer Security Act of 1987, Public Law 100-235.
    1. Name of Standard. VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) 
(FIPS PUB 172-1).
    2. Category of Standard. Software Standard, hardware Description 
Language.
    3. Explanation. This publication is a revision of FIPS PUB 172 and 
supersedes that document in its entirety.
    This publication announces the adoption of the Federal Information 
Processing Standard (FIPS) for VHDL. This FIPS adopts American National 
Standard Hardware Description Language VHDL (ANSI/IEEE 1076-1993) as 
stipulated in the Specifications Section. The American National 
Standard specifies the form and establishes the interpretation of 
programs expressed in VHDL. The purpose of the standard is to promote 
portability of VHDL programs for use on a variety of data processing 
systems. The standard is used by implementors as the reference 
authority in developing compilers, interpreters, analyzers, simulators 
or other forms of high level language processors, and is used by 
digital hardware designers, and by other computer professionals who 
need to know the precise syntactic and semantic rules of the standard 
and who need to provide specifications for digital hardware 
descriptions.
    4. Approving authority. Secretary of Commerce.
    5. Maintenance Agency. U.S. Department of Commerce, National 
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Computer Systems 
Laboratory (CSL).
    6. Cross Index. ANSI/IEEE 1076-1993, IEEE Standard VHDL Language 
Reference Manual.
    7. Related Documents.
    a. Federal Information Resources Management Regulations (FIRMR) 
subpart 201.20.303, Standards, and subpart 201.39.1002, Federal 
Standards.
    b. Federal ADP and Telecommunications Standards Index, U.S. General 
Services Administration, Information Resources Management Service, 
April 1994 (updated periodically).
    c. NIST, Validated Products List, NISTIR 5475 (republished 
quarterly). Available by subscription from the National Technical 
Information Service (NTIS).
    d. FIPS PUB 29-3, Interpretation Procedures for FIPS Software, 29 
October 1992.
    8. Objectives. Federal standards for high level digital design 
information and description languages permit Federal departments and 
agencies to exercise more effective control over the design, 
production, management, and maintenance of digital electronic systems. 
The primary objectives of this Federal hardware description language 
standard are:

--to encourage more effective utilization of design personnel by 
ensuring that design skills acquired under one job are transportable to 
other jobs, thereby reducing the cost of programmer retraining;
--to reduce the cost of design by achieving increased designer 
productivity and design accuracy through the use of formal languages;
--to reduce the overall life cycle cost for digital systems by 
establishing a common description language for the transfer of digital 
design information across organizational boundaries;
--to protect the immense investment of digital hardware from 
obsolescence by insuring to the maximal feasible extent that Federal 
hardware description language standards are technically sound and that 
subsequent revisions are compatible with the installed base.
--to reduce Federal inventory of electronic digital replacement parts 
by describing these parts in a form which enable suppliers to quickly 
retool manufacturing facilities to meet Federal needs.
--to increase the sources of supplies which can satisfy government 
requirements for mission specific electronic digital components.

    Government-wide attainment of the above objectives depends upon the 
widespread availability and use of comprehensive and precise standard 
language specifications.
    9. Applicability.
    a. Federal standards for hardware description languages are 
applicable for the design and description of digital systems developed 
for government use. This standard is suitable for use in the following 
digital system applications:

--primary design and description of digital systems, subsystems, 
assemblies, hybrid components, and components;
--formal specifications of digital systems throughout the procurement, 
contracting and development process;
--test generation for digital systems, subsystems, assemblies, hybrid 
components, and components;
--re-procurement and redesign of digital systems, subsystems, 
assemblies, hybrid components, and components.

    b. The use of FIPS hardware description languages applies when one 
or more of the following situations exist:

--When using a formal language for specifying a formal design 
specification for a complex digital system.
--The digital system is under constant revision during the development 
process.
--It is desired to have the design understood by multiple groups, or 
organizations.
--The system under development is to be designed by multiple groups, or 
organizations.
--Accurate unambiguous specifications are required in the bid and 
contracting process.

    10. Specifications. The Specifications for this standard are the 
language specifications contained in ANSI/IEEE 1076-1993, IEEE Standard 
VHDL Language Reference Manual.
    This FIPS does not allow conforming implementations to extend the 
language. A conforming implementation is one that does not allow 
inclusion of substitute or additional language elements in order to 
accomplish a [[Page 5370]] feature of the language as specified in the 
language standard. A conforming implementation is one which adheres to 
and implements all of the language specifications contained in ANSI/
IEEE 1076-1993 except where the language standard permits deviations 
and which specifies conspicuously in a separate section in the 
conforming implementation description all such permitted variations. 
Also, such conformance shall be with default language processor system 
option settings.
    The ANSI/IEEE 1076-1993 document does not specify limits on the 
size or complexity of programs, the results when the rules of the 
standard fail to establish an interpretation, the means of supervisory 
control programs, or the means of transforming programs for processing.
    11. Implementation. The implementation of this standard involves 
three areas of consideration: acquisition of VHDL processors, 
interpretation of FIPS VHDL, and validation of VHDL processors.
    11.1  Effective Date. This revised standard becomes effective May 
1, 1995. VHDL processors acquired for Federal use after the effective 
date shall implement FIPS Pub 172-1. Prior to that date requirements of 
FIPS Pub 172 apply to Federal VHDL procurements. This delayed effective 
date is intended to give implementations that conform to FIPS Pub 172 
time to make the enhancements necessary to enable conformance to FIPS 
Pub 172-1.
    A transition period provides time for industry to produce VHDL 
language processors conforming to the FIPS Pub 172-1. The transition 
period begins on the effective date and continues for 12 months 
thereafter. The provisions of FIPS Pub 172-1 apply to orders placed 
after the effective date of this publication; however a processor 
conforming to the FIPS Pub 172-1, if available, may be acquired for use 
prior to the effective date. If, during the transition period, a 
processor conforming to FIPS Pub 172-1 is not available, a processor 
conforming to FIPS Pub 172 may be acquired for interim use during the 
transition period.
    11.2  Acquisition of VHDL Processors. Conformance to FIPS VHDL 
should be considered whether VHDL processors are developed internally, 
acquired as part of an ADP system procurement, acquired by separate 
procurement, used under an ADP leasing arrangement, or specified for 
use in contracts for hardware description services. Recommended 
terminology for procurement of FIPS VHDL is contained in the U.S. 
General Services Administration publication Federal ADP & 
Telecommunications Standards Index, Chapter 4 Part 1.
    11.3  Interpretation of FIPS VHDL. The National Institute of 
Standards and Technology provides for the resolution of questions 
regarding the specifications and requirements, and issues official 
interpretations as needed. All questions about the interpretation of 
this standard should be addressed to: Director, Computer Systems 
Laboratory, ATTN: FIPS VHDL Interpretation, National Institute of 
Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, Voice: 301-975-2490, 
FAX: 301-948-6213, [email protected] e-mail.
    11.4  Validation of VHDL Processors: The validation of VHDL 
processors for conformance to this standard applies when NIST VHDL 
validation procedures are available. At the present time NIST does not 
have procedures for validating VHDL processors. NIST is currently 
investigating methods which may be considered for validating processors 
for conformance to this standard.
    For further information contact: Director, Computer Systems 
Laboratory, Attn: FIPS VHDL Validation, National Institute of Standards 
and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, Voice: 301-975-2490, FAX: 301-
948-6213, dashiellalpha.ncsl.nist.gov e-mail.
    12. Waivers.
    Under certain exceptional circumstances, the heads of Federal 
departments and agencies may approve waivers to Federal Information 
Processing Standards (FIPS). The head of such agency may redelegate 
such authority only to a senior official designated pursuant to section 
3506(b) of Title 44, U.S. Code. Waivers shall be granted only when:
    a. Compliance with a standard would adversely affect the 
accomplishment of the mission of an operator of a Federal computer 
system, or
    b. Cause a major adverse financial impact on the operator which is 
not offset by Government-wide savings.
    Agency heads may act upon a written waiver request containing the 
information detailed above. Agency heads may also act without a written 
waiver request when they determine that conditions for meeting the 
standard cannot be met. Agency heads may approve waivers only by a 
written decision which explains the basis on which the agency head made 
the required finding(s). A copy of each such decision, with procurement 
sensitive classified portions clearly identified, shall be sent to: 
National Institute of Standards and Technology, ATTN: FIPS Waiver 
Decisions, Technology Building, Room B-154, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.
    In addition, notice of each waiver granted and each delegation of 
authority to approve waivers shall be sent promptly to the Committee on 
Government Operations of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Governmental Affairs of the Senate and shall be published promptly 
in the Federal Register.
    When the determination on a waiver applies to the procurement of 
equipment and/or services, a notice of the waiver determination must be 
published in the Commerce Business Daily as a part of the notice of 
solicitation for offers of an acquisition or, if the waiver 
determination is made after that notice is published, by amendment to 
such notice.
    A copy of the waiver, any supporting documents, the document 
approving the waiver and any supporting and accompanying documents, 
with such deletions as the agency is authorized and decides to make 
under 5 U.S.C. Section 552(b), shall be part of the procurement 
documentation and retained by the agency.
    13. Where to Obtain Copies. Copies of this publication are for sale 
by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161, telephone (703) 487-4650. (Sale of the 
included specifications document is by arrangement with the American 
National Standards Institute.) When ordering, refer to Federal 
Information Processing Standards Publication 172-1 (FIPSPUB172-1), and 
title. Payment may be made by check, money order, or deposit account.

[FR Doc. 95-2104 Filed 1-26-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-CN-M