National Institute Of Standards And Technology, Acquisition And Assistance Division, Grants Office, Bldg. 301, Room B129, Gaithersburg, Md 20899

A -- REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS AND NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETINGS SOL 98-09 POC 1-800-ATP-FUND; fax: 301-926-9524 WEB: Advanced Technology Program, http://www.atp.nist.gov. E-MAIL: Advanced Technology Program, atp@nist.gov. Department of Commerce Technology Administration National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Advanced Technology Program Administration Building 101, Rm. A407 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS AND NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETINGS: The NIST Advanced Technology Program (ATP) is soliciting proposals under its focused program competition 98-09, Adaptive Learning Systems, and announces public meetings (Proposers' Conferences) for all interested parties. A total estimated $82 million in first year funding is available for new awards for all of the fiscal year 1998 ATP competitions (approximately eight to ten). The actual number of proposals funded under each competition will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the amount of funding requested in the highest ranked proposals. Outyear funding beyond the first year is contingent on the approval of future Congressional appropriations and satisfactory project performance. The Adaptive Learning Systems focused program aimsto promote U.S. economic growth and competitiveness by supporting high-risk research to accelerate the development of net-centric, Web-based instructional systems. The overarching goal is to make education and training more affordable, accessible, and better adapted to the requirements of educators and learners. This program anticipates the emergence of a nationwide infrastructure in educational technology, the development of which poses many complex research challenges. ATP-sponsored projects will concentrate narrowly on systems for the development, production, and delivery of interactive, multimedia instruction. The program seeks comprehensive solutions which recognize that, in order to properly address user requirements, instructional technologies must be more flexible and scalable with respect to all fundamental aspects of net-centric, Web-based instruction -- content, delivery, search, and quality of service. Research funded through this program is expected to yield significant advances in authoring systems, multi-sensory interfaces, search technology, instructional system frameworks, and network middleware (including software reusability and interoperability) as applied to support diverse training and education tasks. The scope of the Adaptive Learning Systems program excludes (a) single-point, stand-alone, or unscalable solutions, (b) technologies incompatible with collaboration and distributed access, or (c) projects that fail to support and demonstrate measurable gains in affordability, accessibility, time-to-market, usability, and scalability. Particularly welcome are proposals of high technical merit which (a) apply instructional paradigms of proven effectiveness, (b) address the training and/or self-development requirements of the American workforce, or (c) offer innovative business models for the delivery of education and training. The success of the Adaptive Learning Systems focused program will be judged by the extent to which the resulting technologies render instruction more accessible, affordable, and adapted to end-user requirements; likewise proposals must demonstrate a path to previously unknown technology solutions which, as the result of high-risk research to be funded by ATP, can yield measurable benefits in any or all of these areas. Abbreviated proposals (pre-proposals) are allowed but are optional for this 98-09 focused program competition. Pre-proposals are intended to provide intermediate feedback as to whether the proposer is on track in formulating and articulating key information required for a successful project proposal. Responses to pre-proposals will have no effect on review of full proposals, but must follow the instructions included in the 98-09 program booklet. Pre-proposals under 98-09 are due no later than 3:00 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, March 11, 1998 at the address shown below. Written feedback can be expected from ATP within two weeks of receipt. No other form of pre-proposal debriefing will be provided. The due date for submission of 98-09 FULL proposals is 3 p.m.Eastern time on Wednesday, May 13, 1998. Should NIST be closed on the specified due date, ATP proposals will be due at 3 p.m. Eastern time on the next business day that the NIST facility is open. Proposals received after this deadline WILL NOT be considered. Send pre-proposals and full proposals to: Advanced Technology Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Administration Building 101, Rm. A407, Quince Orchard & Clopper Roads, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. Mark envelope Focused Program 98-09. Pre-proposals or full proposals submitted by facsimile or electronic mail WILL NOT be accepted. If a proposer's full proposal is judged to be of high enough quality to be invited for an oral review, ATP reserves the right to submit questions to the proposer that must be addressed at the oral review. The ATP operates under program procedures published at Part 295, Title 15, of the Code of Federal Regulations. The provisions of the 12/15/97 Federal Register notice announcing the availability of funding for ATP competitions, are incorporated by reference in this notice. The ATP Proposal Preparation Kit dated December 1997 (containing proposal cover sheets, other required forms, background material, and instructions for submission of proposals) and the 98-09 program booklet (containing a paper describing the focused program scope) may be requested by phone: 1-800-ATP-FUND; fax: 301-926-9524 or 301-590-3053; e-mail: atp@nist.gov; or letter at the above address. The Kit is also available on the ATP World Wide Web site http://www.atp.nist.gov under Publications. ATP has mailed the new Kit to all individuals whose names are currently on the ATP mailing list. Those individuals need not contact ATP to request a copy unless they have not received a copy to date. The 98-09 program booklet is also available on ATP web site under the heading Competitions and printed copies are available upon request from ATP. Public meetings (Proposers' Conferences) for potential proposers and other interested parties will be held onThursday, February 19, 1998, at the San Jose Hilton, 300 Almaden Boulevard, San Jose, CA 95110, 408-287-2100, and on March 4, 1998 at the NIST, Administration Bldg. (101), Green Auditorium, Quince Orchard & Clopper Roads, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. The conferences will begin at 9:30 a.m. local time and end at approximately 3:00 p.m. These meetings will provide general information regarding the ATP, tips on preparing good proposals, and an opportunity for audience questions on the scope, technical, and business goals of this 98-09 focused program. The general format and content of each of the public meetings will be the same. Multiple locations for the public meetings are being offered for the convenience of the public. Attendance at these public meetings is not required. No registration fee will be charged. To register for a public meeting or for further information, contact ATP as noted above. (0033)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0004 19980204\A-0004.SOL)