Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research | 19 587

Opportunity Information: Apply for 19 587

Advanced Computing Systems and Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research is a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity that funds organizations to act as service providers within NSF's Innovative High-Performance Computing (HPC) program. The core goal is to expand and operate advanced cyberinfrastructure in real, production settings so that researchers across the full range of science and engineering can run computation-heavy and data-intensive work at a scale that is not typically possible on local university or regional systems. In practice, NSF is looking for proposals that will deliver nationally available HPC capabilities and the operational services needed to make those capabilities broadly usable, reliable, and well supported.

The solicitation is designed to build on, and complement, NSF's prior investments in advanced computing by provisioning resources that are broadly defined. "Resources" here does not only mean a new supercomputer. It can also mean services and operational capabilities that materially improve how the community computes, analyzes data, moves data, or uses advanced architectures. These awards are meant to become part of a larger federation of technically diverse national HPC resources funded under the Innovative HPC program. This federation is intended to sit alongside leadership-class computing investments by focusing on a wide base of national users and a variety of system types, so researchers can match the right platform to the right scientific workload.

Projects can be proposed under two resource categories. Category I, Capacity Systems, emphasizes production computational resources that maximize overall usable capacity for the community. The idea is to provide substantial, dependable throughput for a broad mix of users and applications, including traditional simulation and modeling as well as modern data analytics. Category II, Innovative Prototypes and Testbeds, focuses on forward-looking capabilities that may not yet be mainstream in production HPC. This includes deploying novel technologies, architectures, and usage modes, and using them to explore new applications, methods, and scientific paradigms. In other words, Category I is about delivering lots of dependable computing at scale for many users, while Category II is about taking calculated risks to test and validate emerging approaches that could shape the next generation of research computing.

A major theme of the opportunity is broad national access through open, peer-reviewed allocations. NSF anticipates that at least 90 percent of the provisioned system or service capacity will be made available to the science and engineering community via a national allocation process, paired with the community support structures needed to help users succeed. The solicitation references the kind of coordination and allocation support historically associated with XSEDE 2.0, including managed allocations recommended through processes like the XSEDE Resource Allocation Committee, or an NSF-approved successor approach. If a proposer believes it is not feasible to make 90 percent of the proposed capability available through such a national process, they are expected to explain in detail why that constraint exists and what alternative approach they will use to ensure meaningful national access and benefit.

Administratively, this is an NSF discretionary grant competition (CFDA 47.070) under the science and technology research and development activity category. The funding opportunity number is 19-587, created June 5, 2019, with an original closing date of November 5, 2019. NSF anticipated making about four awards, with an award ceiling of $10,000,000. Eligibility is described broadly as "Others" with additional clarification in the full solicitation text, which signals that a range of organizations may be able to apply as long as they can credibly operate as national-scale service providers and meet NSF expectations for production operations, community access, and coordinated allocation.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as NSF seeking partners to operate and evolve the nation's shared advanced computing ecosystem: delivering high-impact capacity for today's research demands while also piloting innovative computing approaches that prepare the community for rapid changes in hardware, software, and data-driven scientific methods.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.070.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 05, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 05, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $10,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for 19 587

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