National Institute of Standards and Technology, Bldg. 101, Rm. A430, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001

A -- PUBLIC MEETING SOL Q- POC Customer Representative 1-800-287-3863 Department of Commerce Technology Administration National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Bldg. 101, Rm. A430, Gaithersburg, MD. Date: May 17, 1995 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS AND NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING: The NIST Advanced Technology Program (ATP) is soliciting proposals under its focused program competition, Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications (95-12), and announces a public meeting (Proposers' Conference) for all interested parties. An estimated $18 million in first-year ATP funding is available under this focused program competition 95-12, however, the ATP reserves the right to increase or decrease this amount. Total funding and the actual number of proposals funded will partially depend on the quality of the proposals received and the amount of funding requested in the highest ranked proposals. Outyear funding is contingent on the approval of future Congressional appropriations and satisfactory project performance. This program supersedes the previously announced Computer-Integrated Manufacturing for Electronics (94-03) focused program. Following the competition announced here, two additional competitions are planned, the second of which should occur within 12 to 18 months of this date. These solicitations are intended to fill technical gaps and provide opportunities for further customer-supplier integration. Award recipients will be required to share non- proprietary information at workshops which will be held throughout the duration of the program. The ATP operates under program procedures published in Part 295, Title 15, of the Code of Federal Regulations. The ATP Proposal Preparation Kit dated November 1994 (containing proposal cover sheets, other required forms, background material, and instructions for submission of proposals) and the Information Package for Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications (containing the focused program white paper and the pre-proposal instructions) may be obtained by phone (1-800-ATP-FUND), fax (301-590-3053), e-mail (atp@micf.nist.gov), or written request at the address shown below. Abbreviated/Pre-Proposals are allowed but are optional for this focused program competition 95-12. Pre-proposals for this competition are intended to provide intermediate feedback as to whether the proposer is on track in gathering and articulating some of the key information required for a successful project proposal. Responses to pre-proposals will have no effect on the review of full proposals. Pre-proposals under this focused program competition must follow the instructions provided in the Information Package for Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications. Pre-proposals are due no later than 3:00 p.m. eastern daylight time on Thursday, July 6, 1995, at the address shown below. Written feedback can be expected by July 20, 1995. No other form of debriefing will be provided for pre- proposals. The body of pre-proposals will generally include proprietary information and should be so marked. Full proposals must follow the instructions in the ATP Proposal Preparation Kit. Proposals and Pre-proposals submitted by facsimile or electronic mail WILL NOT be accepted. If a proposal is judged to be of sufficiently high quality for the proposer to be invited in for an oral review, ATP reserves the right to submit a list of questions that must be addressed at the oral review. The due date for submission of full proposals is 3 p.m. eastern daylight time on Tuesday, September 12, 1995. Should the NIST facility be closed on the specified due date, ATP proposals will be due at 3 p.m. eastern daylight time on the next business day that the NIST facility is open. Proposals received after this deadline WILL NOT be considered. Decisions on the awards for this competition are expected to be made within three months after full proposals are due. Send proposals and pre-proposals to: Advanced Technology Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Administration Bldg. 101, Rm. A430, Quince Orchard & Clopper Roads, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. Mark envelope Focused Program 95-12. The overall technical goal of this 5-year focused program is to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to create affordable, ''integratable'' manufacturing software applications--those that can be rapidly integrated and reconfigured and, in the long run, that can automatically adjust their performance in response to changing conditions and requirements. The intent of this program is to ease the flow of real-time manufacturing execution data among shop-floor software systems, as well as upstream to Executive Information Systems and Enterprise Resource Planning systems, laterally to design and engineering systems, and downstream to equipment control systems. This program will support research that enables a real-time environment with the following characteristics: ''integratability'' of manufacturing software; configurability of a factory's software architecture to allow for rapid introduction of new products and rapid response to unanticipated changes; adaptability of a factory's software architecture to automatically adjust to changing work loads and conditions; extensibility of solutions to other manufacturing sites and other phases of the product life-cycle; and reliability of distributed systems and information. The business goals of this program are to: 1) reduce manufacturing costs and cycle time, enabling cost- effective production of both large and small lot sizes and customized products; 2) reduce time-to-market for new products; 3) reduce the time and cost of starting up new factories and of changing over or recommissioning existing factories; and 4) reduce inventory and raise levels of capacity and resource utilization. This program is open to proposals that develop software interoperability solutions applicable to any or all discrete manufacturing operations, where the manufacturing process is inherently oriented towards the production of individual parts or the assembly of traceable parts into individual products. This program also supports integration technologies addressing the discrete aspects of process-oriented industries, such as the assembly and packaging of chemical and food products, but would not support the continuous production of those products. This program will support the development of software infrastructure; software development environments; factory integration tools employing technologies such as simulation, emulation and agent-based methodology; and proof-of- concept manufacturing execution system applications. It will not support the development of stand-alone manufacturing applications that do not contribute to the overall goal of an adaptable ''plug and play'' manufacturing environment. For more details on the scope of this program, please refer to the supplemental information provided in the Information Package for Technologies for the Integration of Manufacturing Applications. A public meeting (Proposers' Conference) for potential proposers and other interested parties will be held from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 2 p.m.-5 p.m. eastern daylight time on Tuesday, June 20, 1995, at NIST. The morning session will provide general information on the ATP and hints on preparing good proposals (covering the same material presented at previous ATP Proposers' Conferences). The afternoon breakout session will provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions on the scope and technical and business goals of this focused program. Attendance at this public meeting is not required. No registration fee will be charged. To register for this public meeting or for further information, contact ATP, by phone: 1-800-ATP-FUND; fax: 301-590-3053; or e-mail: atp@micf.nist.gov. (0135)

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