[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 218 (Wednesday, November 12, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64095-64097]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-28315]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Notice DE-FG01-
04ER04-03; High-Performance Network Research: Scientific Discovery 
Through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) and Mathematical, Informational, 
and Computational Sciences (MICS)

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice inviting grant applications.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (OASCR) 
of the Office of Science (SC), in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 
hereby announces its interest in receiving grant applications for 
projects in the high-performance network research program. 
Opportunities exist for research with a primary focus on integrated 
experimental networks to support high-impact applications in the 
Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program and 
for ultra high-speed network technologies under the Mathematical, 
Computational, and Information Sciences (MICS) Division. More specific 
information on this solicitation is outlined in the supplementary 
information section below.

DATES: Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to submit a brief 
preapplication. All preapplications, referencing Program Notice DE-
FG01-04ER04-03, should be received by DOE by 4:30 p.m., e.s.t., 
December 15, 2003. A response to the preapplications encouraging or 
discouraging a formal application generally will be communicated to the 
applicant within 14 days of receipt. The deadline for receipt of formal 
applications is 4:30 p.m., e.s.t., February 25, 2004, in order to be 
accepted for merit review and to permit timely consideration for award 
in Fiscal Year 2004.

ADDRESSES: All preapplications referencing Program Notice DE-
FG0104ER04-03, should be sent electronically to Dr. Thomas D. Ndousse, 
Mathematical, Informational, and Computational Sciences Division, 
Germantown Bldg./SC-31, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy, 
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20858-1290. Email: 
[email protected], Phone: 301-903-9960, Fax: 301-903-7774.
    The preapplications should consist of two to three pages of 
narrative describing the research objectives and technical 
approach(es). Preapplications will be reviewed relative to the scope 
and research needs of the ASCR ultra high-speed networks for high-end 
scientific computing, as outlined in the summary paragraph and in the 
Supplementary Information. The preapplication should identify, on the 
cover sheet, the title of the project, the institution, principal 
investigator name, telephone, fax, and e-mail address. The focus 
element (SciDAC or MICS) for the preapplication should also be clearly 
identified. A response to each preapplication discussing the potential 
programmatic relevance of a formal application will be communicated to 
the Principal Investigator within 7 to 14 days of receipt.
    Formal applications in response to this solicitation are to be 
electronically submitted by an authorized institutional business 
official through DOE's Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS) 
at: http://e-center.doe.gov/. IIPS provides for the posting of 
solicitations and receipt of applications in a paperless environment 
via the Internet. In order to submit applications through IIPS your 
business official will need to register at the IIPS website. It is 
suggested that this registration be completed several days prior to the 
date on which you plan to submit the formal application. The Office of 
Science will include attachments as part of this notice that provide 
the appropriate forms in PDF fillable format that are to be submitted 
through IIPS. IIPS offers the option of submitting multiple files--
please limit submissions to only one file within the volume if 
possible, with a maximum of no more than four files. Color images 
should be submitted in IIPS as a separate file in PDF format and 
identified as such. These images should be kept to a minimum due to the 
limitations of reproducing them. They should be numbered and referred 
to in the body of the technical scientific proposal as Color image 1, 
Color image 2, etc. Questions regarding the operation of IIPS may be e-
mailed to the IIPS Help Desk at: [email protected] or you may call 
the help desk at: (800) 683-0751. Further information on the use of 
IIPS by the Office of Science is available at: http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html.
    If you are unable to submit the application through IIPS, please 
contact the Grants and Contracts Division, Office of Science at: (301) 
903-5212 or (301) 903-3604, in order to gain assistance for submission 
through IIPS or to receive special approval and instruction on how to 
submit printed applications.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Emerging large-scale experiments in many 
areas of science, such as high-energy physics, nuclear physics, climate 
modeling, biological sciences, etc., are anticipated to generate up to 
several Petabytes of data that will be transferred to geographically 
distant terascale computing facilities for analysis. The problems of 
efficient transfer of Petabyte-scale data, remote visualization of the 
resulting analysis, remote access to complex scientific instruments, 
and efficient large-scale scientific collaboration over today's 
networks all present serious technical challenges to networking and 
science communities. Addressing these challenges calls for a new 
generation of highly scalable transport mechanisms that can deliver and 
sustain multi-Gbps to high-end scientific applications; agile 
networking technologies that will make bandwidth on-demand possible; 
innovative scalable cyber security systems that operate efficiently and 
effectively at ultra high-speed (10 Gbps and beyond); intelligent 
network services that enable scientists to use network infrastructures 
with ease. These components are the critical building blocks of a new 
generation of ultra high-speed networks for DOE high-impact science 
applications.
    The design of ultra high-speed networks that are effectively 
coupled distributed high-impact science applications is especially 
challenging because existing widely-deployed, low-speed network 
technologies do not perform well at ultra high-speeds. For example, 
transport protocols, such as the TCP and UDP stacks, intrusion 
detection systems, network interface cards, network measurement tools, 
firewalls, and the related middleware perform poorly at ultra high-
speed.
    Research is needed to enhance the performance of existing 
components and in some cases to develop radically new components that 
work effectively and efficiently at ultra high-speed. In addition, 
understanding how these components can be integrated to develop 
production-quality, ultra high-speed networks that can deliver end-to-
end multi-Gigabits/sec to distributed

[[Page 64096]]

scientific applications is of significant importance.
    These challenges will be addressed through an integrated program 
that emphasizes fundamental research and experimental network 
engineering activities designed to demonstrate the capabilities of 
ultra high-speed networks under realistic high-end computing scenarios 
for accelerated scientific discoveries. The integrated experimental 
network pilots will be supported under the SciDAC program while the 
fundamental networking research and development will be supported under 
the MICS program. More information on DOE networking requirements for 
distributed high-end application can be found in the following workshop 
reports:
    (1) DOE Science Networking Challenges Workshop: Roadmap to 2008: 
http://www.es.net/hypertext/welcome/pr/Roadmap/index.html,
    (2) Office of Science High-Performance Networking Planning 
Workshop, http://doecollaboratory.pnl.gov/meetings/hpnpw/finalreprot/high-impact_science.pdf,
    (3) Ultra High-Speed Transport Protocols and Network Provisioning 
Workshop: http://www.csm.ornl.gov/ghpn/wk2003.

A. SciDAC Program: Integrated Experimental Ultra High-Speed Networks

Background
    Beyond the scientific computing and computational science research 
embedded in DOE research programs, SC invests in a portfolio of 
coordinated research efforts directed at exploiting the emerging 
capabilities of terascale and petascale computing under the collective 
title of Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC). The 
research projects in the SciDAC portfolio respond to the extraordinary 
difficulties of realizing sustained peak performance for those 
scientific applications that require terascale and petascale 
capabilities to accomplish their research goals. In recognition of 
these difficulties, the SciDAC research projects are collaborative 
efforts involving teams of physical scientists, mathematicians, 
computer scientists, and computational scientists working on major 
software and algorithm development for problems in the core research 
programs of SC. Research funded in the SciDAC portfolio must address 
the interdisciplinary problems inherent in ultra-scale computing, 
problems that cannot be addressed by a single investigator or small 
group of investigators.
    This element high performance networks, focuses on using the 
science applications in the SciDAC portfolio to test and validate the 
capabilities of ultra high-speed networks. This effort is designed to 
determine and demonstrate how ultra high-speed networks, high 
performance middleware, and high-end science applications can be 
seamlessly integrated to build a new generation network environment for 
accelerating scientific discoveries. All grant applications submitted 
under this element must have three distinct but integrated components: 
the DOE Science UltraNet test and/or the Energy Science Network 
(ESnet), a set of distributed high-end science SciDAC application 
prototypes, and a suite of high-performance middleware tools and 
services to efficiently couple the high-end science applications to the 
underlying network. In addition, projects in this effort must satisfy 
the following requirements:
    [sbull] It must address ultra high-speed network capabilities and 
at least one or more science applications of national and international 
significance related to DOE's mission, and must have a high visibility.
    [sbull] It must involve a distributed high-impact science 
applications, preferably previously funded SciDAC science applications. 
A complete description of the SciDAC program at: http://www.osti.gov/scidac/.
    [sbull] High-performance middleware or grid technologies must be 
employed to couple the selected applications to the underlying high-
speed network infrastructures.
    [sbull] It is expected that projects must use the DOE Science 
UltraNet Testbed or segment of high-performance networks, such as ESnet 
with comparable capabilities. Detailed information on the DOE Science 
UltraNet testbed can be obtained at: http://www.csm.ornl.gov/ultranet, 
and that of ESnet at: http://www.es.net.
    Specific network capabilities to be demonstrated in these 
experimental network pilot projects may include but are not limited to 
the following:
    [sbull] Petabyte-scale data distribution engineering--ultra high-
speed data transfers over very long distances using enhanced TCP and 
non-TCP protocols, SANs over wide-area networks, network data caching, 
and dynamic network provisioning network technology for on-demand data 
transfers, etc. This effort must include appropriate high-impact 
science applications areas with significant needs for very high-speed 
data transfers.
    [sbull] Network monitoring infrastructure--a collection of scalable 
network monitoring platforms, strategically located at impact science 
sites and in peering points. This infrastructure must enable national 
and international researchers to monitor the end-end performance of 
networks, diagnose faults, and predict network performance at various 
layers of abstraction including the application layer. The target 
network environment for this infrastructure should be the DOE UltraNet 
testbed and/or a segment of the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) which 
operates 10 Gbps and above.
    [sbull] Cyber Security Infrastructure for open science 
Communities--a comprehensive cyber security infrastructure for a 
community of scientists that will enable them to collaborate and share 
distributed resources securely. The target science community must have 
well-defined shared resources and a collection of appropriate 
middleware services and policies to share them.
    It is recommended that target science applications and tools 
selected for the above project be selected from current SciDAC projects 
or projects that are consistent with its vision. A complete list of 
funded SciDAC projects can be found at: http://www.osti.gov/scidac/projects.

B. MICS--Base Program: Ultra High-Speed Network Engineering

    The MICS aspect of this solicitation deals with research and 
development of ultra high-speed network technologies on a longer time 
horizon. It focuses primarily on deployable network transport 
protocols, advanced end-to-end network services, network-aware 
middleware, and end-to-end dynamics provisioning technologies, all of 
which must operate efficiently at ultra high-speed (10 Gbps and 
beyond). The specific technologies of current interest include but are 
not limited to the following:
    [sbull] Ultra high-speed transport protocols scalable transport 
protocol--stacks that deliver and sustain multi-Gigabits/second to 
high-end applications efficiently on dedicated or shared single/
multiple ultra high-speed channels. Such protocols could involve the 
extension of the existing TCP stacks or radical new non-TCP/IP 
approaches that could interoperate with existing network 
infrastructures.
    [sbull] Dynamic provisioning technologies--agile network 
technologies to provide on-demand optical channels, wavelength 
scheduling, wavelength sharing, coarse-grain QOS to diverse science

[[Page 64097]]

communities. In addition, such technologies must provide the capability 
to establish packet-switched, circuit-switched, or hybrid optical paths 
dynamically from a pool of wavelengths.
    [sbull] Ultra high-speed cyber security systems--scalable cyber 
security systems, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, 
authentication/authorizations systems, and related services that 
operate efficiently at ultra high-speed.
    [sbull] Ultra high-speed network measurement and analysis--
efficient tools and techniques for diagnosing, end-to-end performance 
prediction of ultra high-speed network.
    Applicants are encouraged to refer to the final report of the DOE 
Science Networking Challenge: Roadmap to 2008 found at: http://www.osti.gov/scidac/projects.html for additional information on SC 
networking requirements.
Collaboration
    Applicants are encouraged to collaborate with researchers in other 
institutions, such as: universities, industry, non-profit 
organizations, federal laboratories and Federally Funded Research and 
Development Centers (FFRDCs), including the DOE National Laboratories, 
where appropriate, and to include cost sharing wherever feasible. 
Additional information on collaboration is available in the Application 
Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance Program that is 
available via the Internet at:
http://www.sc.doe.gov/production/grants/Colab.html.
Program Funding
    It is anticipated that up to $5 million will be available for 
SciDAC and MICS Programs; up to six to ten awards are anticipated, 
contingent on availability of appropriated funds in Fiscal Year 2004 
and the size of the awards. Multiple year funding is expected, also 
contingent on availability of funds and progress of the research.
    Awards are expected to be at most $1.2 million per year for 
experimental ultra high-speed network research projects. Awards for 
integrated experimental ultra high-speed networks research projects are 
expected to be at most $1.2 million per year. Since integrated 
experimental networking projects are expected to be multi-institution 
and multi-disciplinary projects, awards under this notice would range 
from $150,000 to $500,000 for participation in an experimental networks 
project per participating project. Awards for ultra high-speed 
networking engineering will range from $150,000 to $300,000 per year 
for each single investigator. The funding period for all projects will 
range from two to three years subject to availability of funds. Grant 
applications funded under these programs will be handled as cooperative 
agreements.
Merit Review
    Applications will be subjected to scientific merit review (peer 
review) and will be evaluated against the following evaluation 
criteria, which are listed in descending order of importance codified 
at 10 CFR 605.10(d):
    (1) Scientific and/or Technical Merit of the Project,
    (2) Appropriateness of the Proposed Method or Approach,
    (3) Competency of Applicant's Personnel and Adequacy of Proposed 
Resources,
    (4) Reasonableness and Appropriateness of the Proposed Budget.
    The evaluation under item 1, Scientific and/or Technical Merit of 
the Project, will also consider the following elements:
    (a) The potential of the proposed project to make a significant 
impact to distributed Petabytes-scale distributed data archives and 
other high-end science applications.
    (b) The extent to which the results of the project are extensible 
operational production high-performance networks, such as ESnet.
    (c) The degree ultra high-speed networking technologies can inter-
operate with existing networking technologies.
    The evaluation under item 2, Appropriateness of the Proposed Method 
or Approach, will also consider the following elements:
    (a) The degree to which the project adheres to the management 
philosophy of incorporating science applications into the project 
execution.
    (b) The quality of the plan for ensuring interoperability and 
integration with related network environment software produced by other 
MICS and SciDAC efforts.
    (c) The extent to which the project incorporates broad community 
(industry/academia/other federal programs) interaction.
    (d) Quality and clarity of proposed work schedule and deliverables.
    (e) Use of recent advances in optical network technologies, such as 
GMPLS to support distributed high-end applications.
    The evaluation will include program policy factors, such as the 
relevance of the proposed research to the terms of the announcement and 
the agency's programmatic needs. Note: External peer reviewers are 
selected with regard to both their scientific expertise and the absence 
of conflict-of-interest issues. Non-federal reviewers will often be 
used, and submission of an application constitutes agreement that this 
is acceptable to the investigator(s) and the submitting institution.
Submission Information
    The Project Description must be 20 pages or less, exclusive of 
attachments. It must contain an abstract or project summary on a 
separate page with the name of the applicant, mailing address, phone, 
FAX and email listed. The application must include letters of intent 
from collaborators (briefly describing the intended contribution of 
each to the research), and short curriculum vitaes for the applicant 
and any co-PIs.
    Applicants must disclose all information on their current and 
pending grants. To provide a consistent format for the submission, 
review and solicitation of grant applications submitted under this 
notice, the preparation and submission of grant applications must 
follow the guidelines given in the Application Guide for the Office of 
Science Financial Assistance Program, 10 CFR Part 605. Access to SC's 
Financial Assistance Application Guide is possible via the World Wide 
Web at: http://www.science.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html. DOE 
is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated with the 
preparation or submission of applications if an award is not made.

    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number for this 
program is 81.049, and the solicitation control number is ERFAP 10 
CFR Part 605.

    Issued in Washington, DC on November 3, 2003.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director of Science for Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 03-28315 Filed 11-10-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P