NPMS seems to be more down than up these days, and since it's an integral part of the data gathering process is blocking site updates.
NPMS is used because it gathers data from multiple sources, normalizes it and runs an analyzer which calculates quality, popularity and maintenance scores. These scores are useful for ranking packages, and gives at-a-glance information that makes it much easier to choose one package among the many alternatives that occasionally exist for a certain use-case.
Consider replacing it with the NPM API if it's improved, a homegrown analyzer, or just give up on these features entirely.
cc @ryyppy in case you have plans for redex, or something like it