SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- HIGH PRODUCTIVITY COMPUTING SYSTEMS (HPCS) INDUSTRY STUDY
- Notice Date
- 2/4/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Other Defense Agencies, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Contracts Management Office, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA, 22203-1714
- ZIP Code
- 22203-1714
- Solicitation Number
- BAA02-09
- Response Due
- 2/5/2003
- Archive Date
- 2/6/2003
- Point of Contact
- Robert Graybill, Program Manager, DARPA/ITO, Phone none, Fax 703-522-7161,
- E-Mail Address
-
none
- Description
- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting proposals for the Industrial Research and Development component of the first phase of the High Productivity Computing Systems (HPCS) program. The HPCS program will provide the DoD with significant technology and capability advancements for the national security and industrial user communities by filling a high-end computing gap that exists between today's High Performance Computing (HPCs) systems based on late 80's technology and the promise of quantum computing. These new systems will address ongoing technical challenges that confront both development and use of current high-end systems and applications, such as programming productivity, performance, portability, scalability, reliability, and tamper resistance. The end product will be economically viable high productivity computing systems with both scalable vector and commodity HPC system functionality for the national security and industrial user communities. The proposed technology development plan is part of a three-phase program that may extend up to the end of this decade. The three phases are concept study, research and development (R&D), and full scale development. The major overall objective is to provide high productivity computing system solutions to fill both the technology and high end computing platform gap in order to address national security missions that will exist by the end of this decade and into the next decade. Early identification of high-end computing application computing requirements, metrics, and productivity prediction tools will be used throughout the program to assess both technical and schedule progress. This Phase 1 industry concept study solicitation is focused on the identification of critical revolutionary technologies and candidate system concepts required for the follow on R&D and full scale development phases. The ultimate long term program objective is to provide pilot HPCS systems by the end of this decade. Research is sought in the following technical areas and is intended to be consistent with overall Phase 1 industry concept study goals. 1) Industry R&D: The key tasks are to perform HPCS system concept studies resulting in a final concept review and Phase 2 recommendations by the end of Phase 1. The successful execution of this task is dependent on the ability to develop a balanced total solution by incorporating HPCS application and end user requirements, developing meaningful scalable productivity "value" metrics, identifying and assessing critical technologies (Tasks 2 and 3), and leveraging research efforts being performed by universities, research laboratories, and government agencies. The challenge will be to develop the concepts for a "productive" system that will have the ability to double in value every 18 months not just peak performance (Moore's Law), over the next two decades. Throughout this effort, DoD operational and research software applications will serve as the requirements driver for architecture and software research and systems assessment. Industry adoption is seen as a central strategy to ensure that cost-effective solutions are made available to the national security community. 2) Technology Component: The major technology areas requiring development in support of the next generation of productivity systems are: (1) System Architecture; (2) Programming Models; (3) Software Technology; and (4) Hardware Technology. This task demands an industry "whole system" perspective. It is expected that a full assessment will be made of complementary DARPA technology projects, industry developments, and government agency research. 3) Application Analysis and Performance Assessment Component: Key to the research and development of new high productivity computing systems is the ability to measure and understand critical performance characteristics for the entire system - both hardware and software. The ability to characterize and predict performance will provide a clearer picture of future hardware and software requirements and serves as a critical basis for evaluation and development of high-end systems. Therefore, it is vital that a broad spectrum of potential HPCS applications be analyzed to extract the key HPCS system design characteristics, parameters, constraints and programming environments. PROGRAM SCOPE: The Phase 1 efforts envisioned under this BAA will be 12-month concept studies with an expected start in 3QFY02. HPCS proposers shall address all three tasks and pursue a balanced technology and system development path. Up to five awards under this BAA are expected with each award to fall into the range of $2.5 Million to $3 Million. Each selected activity will incorporate support for two HPCS Principal Investigators' meetings and up to three individual program effort reviews, plus a number of technology review meetings intended to enable the consideration of other relevant research activities. Additional HPCS program background information is available on http://www.darpa.mil/ito/research/hpcs.html. The efforts funded under this BAA shall specifically consider and examine technologies being investigated and advanced by the ongoing DARPA Data Intensive Systems (DIS) and Polymorphous Computing Architectures (PCA) programs. Data on these programs can be found at the DARPA ITO web site. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches and techniques that lead to or enable revolutionary advances in the state-of-the-art. Proposals are not limited to the specific strategies listed above, and alternative visions will be considered. However, proposals should be for research that substantially contributes towards the goals stated. Research should result in prototype hardware and/or software demonstrating integrated concepts and approaches. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvement to the existing state of practice or focuses on a specific system or solution. Integrated solution sets embodying significant technological advances are strongly encouraged over narrowly defined research endeavors. Proposals may involve other research groups or industrial cooperation and cost sharing. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT: The industry R&D component of the HPCS program solicited by this BAA is perceived as industry led teams with university and research laboratory involvement as required to support this solicitation. A desire is to leverage and incorporate as feasible complementary parallel research efforts being performed by universities, research laboratories, and government agencies. Multiple contract types will be considered including other transactions. Throughout all phases of the HPCS effort, DoD operational and research software applications will serve as the requirements driver for architecture and software research and systems assessment. Industry adoption is seen as a central strategy to ensure that cost-effective solutions are made available to the national security community. The new HPCS performance predictors and benchmarks/stressmarks to be developed as part of the HPCS program will provide an accurate measure of emerging HPCS concepts and commercial industry HPCS products and their effectiveness for intended DoD applications. GENERAL INFORMATION: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Information Technology Office (DARPA/ITO) requires completion of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Cover Sheet Submission for each Proposal, by accessing the URL below: http://www.dyncorp-is.com/BAA/index.asp?BAAid=02-09 After finalizing the BAA Cover Sheet Submission, the proposer must submit the BAA Confirmation Sheet that will automatically appear on the web page. Each proposer is responsible for printing the BAA Confirmation Sheet and submitting it attached to the "original" and each designated number of copies. The Confirmation Sheet should be the first page of your Proposal. Failure to comply with these submission procedures may result in the submission not being evaluated. NEW REQUIREMENTS/PROCEDURES: The Award Document for each proposal selected and funded will contain a mandatory requirement for submission of DARPA/ITO Quarterly Status Reports and an Annual Project Summary Report. These reports will be electronically submitted via the DARPA/ITO Technical - Financial Information Management System (T-FIMS), utilizing the government furnished Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on the World Wide Web (WWW). Details in Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP). For this procurement the proposal solicited under this BAA shall consist of the submission of an 18 page maximum proposal. Proposers must submit an original and 4 copies of the full proposal and 2 electronic copies (i.e., 2 separate disks) of the full proposal (in Microsoft Word '97 for IBM-compatible, PDF, Postscript, or ASCII format on one 3.5-inch floppy disk or one 100 MB Iomega Zip disk). Each disk must be clearly labeled with BAA 02-09, proposer organization, proposal title (short title recommended) and Copy (Number) of 2. The full proposal (original and designated number of hard and electronic copies) must be submitted to the administrative address for this BAA in time to reach DARPA by 4:00 PM (ET) Friday, March 22, 2002, in order to be considered during the initial evaluation phase. Proposals must not be submitted by fax or e-mail; any so sent will be disregarded. The BAA will remain open until 4:00 PM (ET), Wednesday, February 5, 2003. Proposals submitted after the March 22, 2002 initial deadline will be evaluated by the Government, but the likelihood of their being funded is less than for proposals submitted in accordance with the initial evaluation and award schedule. DARPA will acknowledge receipt of submissions and assign control numbers that should be used in all further correspondence regarding proposals. Proposers must obtain the BAA 02-09 Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP), which provides further information on the areas of interest, submission, evaluation, funding processes, and full proposal formats. This pamphlet may be obtained by fax, electronic mail, mail request to the administrative contact address given below, or at URL address http://www.darpa.mil/ito/Solicitations.html. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This notice, in conjunction with the BAA 02-09 PIP and all references, constitutes the total BAA. No additional information is available, nor will a formal RFP or other solicitation regarding this announcement be issued. Requests for same will be disregarded. The proposal submitted shall be the sole submission on which the selection of awards shall be made. Upon review, DARPA will make a determination to offerors selecting each proposed effort as fundable or unfundable. The Government reserves the right to select for award all, some, or none of the proposals received. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal that shall be considered by DARPA. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Institutions (MIs) are encouraged to submit proposals and join others in submitting proposals. However, no portion of this BAA will be set aside for HBCU and MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of this research for exclusive competition among these entities. Evaluation of proposals will be accomplished through a scientific review of each proposal, using the following criteria which are explained in detail in the PIP and listed below in descending order of relative importance: (1) Overall Scientific and Technical Merit. (2) Innovative Technical Solution to the Problem. (3) Potential Contribution and Relevance to DARPA Mission. (4) Offeror's Capabilities and Related Experience. (5) Plans and Capability to Accomplish Technology Transition. (6) Cost Realism. All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal to this BAA, must be received at one of the administrative addresses below by 4:00 PM (ET) Wednesday, January 29, 2003; e-mail or fax is preferred. DARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for some of the correspondence regarding BAA 02-09. Proposals MUST NOT be submitted by fax or e-mail; any so sent will be disregarded. The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: 703-522-7161 Addressed to: DARPA/ITO, BAA 02-09 Electronic Mail: baa02-09@darpa.mil; Electronic File Retrieval: http://www.darpa.mil/ito/Solicitations.html Mail to: DARPA/ITO, ATTN: BAA 02-09, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714.
- Record
- SN20020206/00022158-020204235525-W (fbodaily.com)
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