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

A -- RESEARCH IN HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING AND APPLICATIONS SOFTWARE SOL BAA95-21 DUE 052495 POC Robert F. Lucas, ARPA/CSTO, POC, FAX: (703)522-2668. High performance computing (HPC) systems, in the form of scalable parallel machines, have the potential of significant impact in a wide variety of applications domains critical to the Department of Defense. These include structural design, electronic systems design, molecular dynamics simulation, computational electromagnetics and acoustics, computational chemistry, material science, computational structural mechanics, and computational fluid dynamics. However, this impact requires the availability of commercial application software that exploits this raw computing power in a cost-effective manner. Independent software developers are reluctant to make investments to move existing commercial software to parallel platforms until the market develops. This reluctance, in turn, impedes market development. The purpose of this effort is to break through this barrier by jump-starting the parallelization of commercial software exploiting the scalable technology base. Pervasive impact must be demonstrated through the selection of existing commercial codes widely used in Defense laboratories and the Defense industrial base. 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. Successful proposals will include partnerships among commercial applications software developers, vendors of HPC systems and software, and Defense end-users. This will enable rapid infusion of scalable systems and applications software into the Defense infrastructure. Validation of the scalable codes, both in terms of correctness and reduced runtime, must be made using widely accepted versions of the software. Efforts must identify and exploit emerging HPC software standards, clearly identify proposed benefit, and demonstrate portability across multiple platforms. PROGRAM SCOPE: Proposals for individual efforts should not exceed two years in length. Technologies which have a broad impact upon military capability will be given highest priority. Contract awards are expected to be made during the second half of 1995. Total funding is expected to be approximately $7,000,000.00 over two years. Multiple awards may be made. Collaborative efforts and teaming are expected, as described above. GENERAL INFORMATION: To obtain a preliminary indication of the viability of a contemplated proposal, a potential offeror is strongly encouraged to submit an original and four (4) copies of a proposal abstract to ARPA/CSTO, 3701 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714, (ATTN: BAA 95-21) on or before 4:00 PM, 31 March 1995. 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 four (4) copies of full proposals by 4:00 PM, 24 May 1995, in order to be considered. Proposers must obtain a pamphlet, BAA 95-21 Proposer Information, which provides further information regarding the submission process and proposal and proposal abstract administrative formats. This pamphlet may be obtained by fax, electronic mail, or mail request to the administrative contact address given below, as well as at URL address http://www.arpa.mil/Solicitations.html. Proposals not meeting the format described in the pamphlet may not be reviewed. This notice, in conjunction with the pamphlet BAA 95-21 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. While no portion of this BAA will be specifically set aside for HBCU or MI participation due to the impracticality of reserving discrete or severable areas of research in networking for exclusive competition among these entities, HBCUs and MIs are encouraged to submit proposals and to join other organizations in submitting proposals. All administrative correspondence and questions regarding this solicitation, including requests for information on how to submit a proposal abstract or proposal to this BAA, must be directed to one of the administrative addresses below, e-mail or fax is preferred. ARPA intends to use electronic mail and fax for correspondence regarding BAA 95-21. 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) cost realism. Note: Cost realism will be significant only in proposals which have significantly under or over estimated the cost to complete their effort. The administrative addresses for this BAA are: Fax: 703-522-2668 Addressed to: ARPA/CSTO, BAA 95-21 URL Address: http//www.arpa.mil/Solicitations.html, Electronic Mail: baa9521@arpa.mil, Mail: ARPA/CSTO, ATTN: BAA 95-21 3701 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203-1714 (0058)

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