Resolve "Refactor how PNDs are implemented in the code"

Description

Related Issue

Motivation and Context

How Has This Been Tested?

Screenshots (if appropriate):

Types of changes

• Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)

Checklist:

• My code follows the code style of this project.
• My change requires a change to the documentation.
• I have updated the documentation accordingly.
• I have read the CONTRIBUTING document.
• I have added tests to cover my changes.
• All new and existing tests passed.

Closes #243

.gitlab/ci/.code-quality-ci.yml

 variables:
     GOLANG_VERSION: "1.20.1"
 code-quality:
-    image: ${CI_DEPENDENCY_PROXY_GROUP_IMAGE_PREFIX}/golangci/golangci-lint:v1.46-alpine
+    image: golangci/golangci-lint:v1.51.2-alpine
     stage: analyze
     script:
         # writes golangci-lint output to gl-code-quality-report.json