Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Contracts Management Office (CMO), 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714

A -- HIGH PERFORMANCE DISTRIBUTED SERVICES TECHNOLOGY SOL BAA96-06 DUE 031596 POC Dr. Gary Minden, ARPA / ITO, FAX (703) 522-2668. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) solicits proposals for research to advance the technology in the area of high performance distributed services. The goal of the Networking and Information Management (NIM) area within the ARPA Information Technology Office (ITO) is to develop revolutionary computing and networking systems technology to enable developers to demonstrate prototype solutions to national-and-global-scale Defense Challenge problems. The technology is based on High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) capabilities and should exibit extensive capabilities for ubiquitous information access, dynamic discovery of and adaption to new resources, linkage of objects and their dissemination and distributionover internetworked distributed systems, and trusted system operation on behalf of users and applications. Assuring that such systems incorporate security and surivability characteristics is of interest across the program. To drive the development of these technologies, the program supports integrated systems technology demonstration projects for selected Defense Challange applications. The BAA enhances and extends ongoing NIM efforts by soliciting research in the following technical areas: 1) Micro-networking elements. Protocols that support micro-networking elements which are limited in capability in several dimensions. Integrated circuit design elements (standard cells) that support micro-networking elements requirements which can be further integrated into other devices. Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Gary Minden. 2) Network engineering. Innovative techniques and demonstration of accurate prediction of network performance and behavior. Languages to specify and describe network elements and their function. Protocols and techniques that eliminate or significantly reduce the amount of manual network configuration. Definition and demonstration of network management architectures suitable for very large networks that operate across multiple physical barriers. Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Gary J. Minden. 3) High Performance Distributed Computing Infrastructure. Metacomputing is the nter-connection of multiple high performance computers and storage systems via high performance networks to achieve new levels of computing and communication performance and bring that performance to bear on significant problems of distributed processing of complex data sets. Definition and demonstration of significant distributed processing applications on HPCC systems, distributed resource management architectures and techniques, distributed network services, integration of objects into distributed systems, and architectures for extremely high handwidth resource sharing. Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Gary J. Minden. 4) Collaboration Infrastructure. Definition and demonstration of an open, interoperable architecture for real-time desktop multimedia conferencing. Definition and development of capabilities that allow users to collaboratively plan and execute coordinated activities that require movement of information across sites and applications in cyberspace. Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Allen Sears 5) User Centered Systems: Definition and demonstration of scalable architectures for human computer interaction and interoperable components that emphasize information visualization, language based interaction and information processing, multi-modal interaction capabilities, and multiple-language topic understanding from text and speech. Technical Point of Contact: Dr. Allen Sears. 6) System Integration Technology: Prototyping and evaluation of theoretical research and experimental system engineering methodologies which realize the rapid development and deployment of composable, interoperable ''system of systems.'' Specifically, soliciting concepts which define and apply modular, composable architectural and component approaches enabling the evolution of an ITO experimental integration infrastructure of bitways, services, and applications into a virtual testbed of testbeds which facilitates integration across the ITO technology portfolio. Also, seeking proposals which conduct stress-testing experiments within that infrastructure by demonstrating the integration of at least three information technologies from within the ITO portfolio on Defense-relevant application domains. Domains of interest include C4I, weapon system design and manufacturing, and advanced office business practices and program management. Technical Point of Contact: Mr. Mark Gersh. Since achieving NIM program goals requirs extensive collaboration across the research community, innovative approaches to achieving that collaboration resulting in interoperable advances in the technology are of interest. Proposals that address methods for increasing the robustness, survivability, and security in the above areas are of interest. Innovative proposals that extend NIM efforts but do not fall within these specific areas may be of interest. Proposals will be considered in each independent area as well as across multiple areas. Proposals must identify which specific areas are their target. The focus of this solicitation is on revolutionary prototype information architecture technology and services and their pilot demonstration. It is expected that these services will form the foundation for a generation beyond that which is already envisioned to exist within the next three years. Collaborative university/industry research and development is desirable to ensure technology transfer. Teaming arrangements and cost sharing are encouragaed where appropriate, especially when coupling services developments to applications demonstrations. However, teaming is not essential in all of the technical areas of research. Further details on individual topic areas are available in the BAA 96-06 Proposer Information Pamphlet. A briefing describing this solicitation and areas of intereste will be held in the Northern Virginia area from 0900 - 1200 on 15 December 1995. Contact the administrative point of contact given below no later than 1600 13 December 1995 to make a reservation to attend. In addition, a description of the ongoing programs and projects in this area may be found on the world-wide web at http://www.ito.arpa.mil. Potential proposers are strongly encouraged to consult this information to avoid overlap with ongoing project. Program Scope: Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches and techniques that lead to or enable revolutionary advances in the state-of-the-art. Specifically excluded is research which primarily results in evolutionary improvement to the existing state of practice or focuses on a specific system or hardware solution. Proposals for individual efforts should not exceed three years in length. Technologies which have a broad impact will be given highest priority. Awards are expected to be made during the fiscal year 1996. Total funding is expected to be approximately $30,000,000 over three years. ultiple awards will be made. General Information: In order to minimize unnecessary effort in proposal preparation and review, offerors are strongly encouraged to submit brief proposal abstracts in advance of full proposals. An original and six (6) copies of the proposal abstract must be submitted to ARPA/ITO, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714, (ATTN: BAA 96-06) on or before 1600 EST 16 January 1996. Proposal abstracts received after this date may not be reviewed. Upon review, ARPA will provide written feedback on the likelihood of a full proposal being selected. Proposers must submit an original and six (6) copies of full proposals by 1600 EST, 15 March 1996, in order to be considered. Proposers must obtain a pamphlet, BAA 96-06 Proposer Information Pamphlet (PIP), which provides further information on areas of interest, the submission, evaluation, funding processes, proposal and proposal abstract formats. This pamphlet may be obtained by fax, electronic mail, world-wide web, or mail request to the administrative contact address given below. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This notice, in conjunction with the pamphlet BAA 96-06 Proposer Information, 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 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 which shall be considered by ARPA. Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MI) are encouraged to submit proposals and join others in submitting; 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 research in this area of 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 listed in descending order of relative importance: (1) Overall scientific and technical merit, (2) potential contribution and relevance to ARPA mission, (3) offeror's capabilities and related experience, (4) plans and capability to accomplish technology transition, and (5) cst realism. All administrative correspondence and questions on this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal abstract or proposal to this BAA, should be directed to one of the administrative addresses below by 1600 EST 8 March 1996, e-mail or fax is preferred. ARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for correspondence regarding BAA 96-06. Proposals and proposal abstracts may not be submitted by fax; any so sent will be disregarded. The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: 703-522-2668, Addressed to: ARPA/ITO, BAA 96-06, Electronic Mail: baa9606@arpa.mil, ATTN: BAA 96-06, 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714. (0338)

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