[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 5 (Friday, January 8, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1187-1188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-392]
[[Page 1187]]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Science; Office of Science Financial Assistance Program
Notice 99-10; Next Generation Internet--University Network Technology
Testbeds
AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice inviting research grant applications.
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SUMMARY: The Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (OASCR)
of the Office of Science (SC), U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), hereby
announces its interest in receiving applications for the Next
Generation Internet--University Network Technology Testbeds program.
The Next Generation Internet (NGI) is a multi-agency federal research
and development program to develop, test, and demonstrate advanced
networking technologies and applications. This particular research
notice invites research applications for DOE-university technology
testbeds to focus on developing and testing techniques and technologies
to allow advanced network services to be deployed across interconnected
networks that are independently administered.
DATES: Applicants are encouraged to submit a brief preapplication. All
preapplications, referencing Program Notice 99-10, should be received
by DOE by 4:30 P.M., E.S.T., February 12, 1999. A response to the
preapplications discussing the potential program relevance and
encouraging or discouraging a formal application generally will be
communicated within several days of receipt.
Formal applications submitted in response to this notice must be
received by 4:30 P.M., E.S.T., March 31, 1999, in order to be accepted
for merit review and to permit timely consideration for award in fiscal
year 1999.
ADDRESSES: Preapplications, referencing Program Notice 99-10, should be
sent by E-mail to seweryni@er.doe.gov.
Formal applications, referencing Program Notice 99-10, should be
sent to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Grants and
Contracts Division, SC-64, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-
1290, ATTN: Program Notice 99-10. This address must also be used when
submitting applications by U.S. Postal Service Express Mail, any other
commercial overnight delivery service, or when hand-carried by the
applicant. An original and seven copies of the application must be
submitted.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: George Seweryniak, Office of Science,
U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874-
1290, telephone: (301) 903-0071, E-mail: seweryni@er.doe.gov, fax:
(301) 903-7774. The full text of Program Notice 99-10 is available via
the Internet using the following web site address: http://
www.er.doe.gov/production/grants/grants.html
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NGI initiative is a multi-agency Federal
research and development (R&D) program that is developing advanced
networking technologies, developing revolutionary applications that
require advanced networking, and demonstrating these capabilities on
testbeds that are 100 to 1,000 times faster end-to-end than today's
Internet. Partnerships among academia, industry, and governments
(Federal, state, local, and foreign) that will keep the U.S. at the
cutting-edge of information and communications technologies are
encouraged. (Details on submitting applications involving partnerships
can be found in the Application Guide for the Office of Science
Financial Assistance Program referenced below). The strategic R&D
investments are coordinated across the agencies involved and are
focused to produce an environment where advanced networking R&D
breakthroughs are possible. Information concerning NGI can be found at
http://www.ngi.gov/.
Topic Details
DOE's current core programs in network and application research are
intended to enhance the Department's ability to satisfy mission
requirements through advanced technologies such as distributed
computing, national collaboratories, remote access to facilities, and
remote access to petabyte-scale datasets with complex internal
structure. It is critical to the Department that these advanced
technologies be available not only to sites directly connected to the
Department's backbone network Esnet, but also to scientists at
universities and industrial partners with other types of connections to
the Internet who are members of research communities important to DOE
missions. The DOE NGI network research described in this notice will
focus on developing and testing techniques and technologies to allow
advanced network services to be deployed across interconnected networks
that are independently administered.
The DOE encourages the submission of applications for University
Network Technology Testbeds to address the issues of deploying advanced
network services end-to-end across interconnected autonomous networks.
These partnerships can include individual universities, network
interconnection points such as Gigapops, and backbone network service
providers. It is expected that these partnerships will work with ESnet
to develop integrated testbeds and the associated management tools.
Important issues to be addressed in these testbeds include:
Deployment of advanced differentiated services technology
across autonomous networks both when the priority flow represents a
small fraction of the available capability and when the priority flow
is a significant fraction of the available capability;
Development and testing of advanced tools to manage
``peering'' of networks with advanced services;
Cross-domain implementations of security and
authentication technologies;
Development and testing of network performance monitoring
and characterization software which applications can use in this
environment to optimize their performance; and
Development of policy frameworks and specification
languages to facilitate the negotiation of capabilities across
autonomous system boundaries.
Program Funding
It is anticipated that up to $5 million will be available for
multiple awards to be made in FY 1999 in the categories described
above, contingent on the availability of appropriated funds.
Applications may request project support up to three years, with out-
year support contingent on the availability of funds, progress of the
research, and programmatic needs. Annual budgets are expected to range
from $500,000 to $2,000,000 total costs.
Preapplications
A brief preapplication may be submitted. The preapplication should
identify on the cover sheet the institution, Principal Investigator
name, address, telephone, fax and E-mail address, title of the project,
and the field of scientific research. The preapplication should consist
of a two to three page narrative describing the research project
objectives and methods of accomplishment. These will be reviewed
relative to the scope and research needs of the Next Generation
Internet--University Network Technology Testbeds Program.
Preapplications are strongly encouraged but not required prior to
submission of a full application. Please
[[Page 1188]]
note that notification of a successful preapplication is not an
indication that an award will be made in response to the formal
application.
Applications will be subjected to scientific merit review (peer
review) and will be evaluated against the following evaluation criteria
listed in descending order of importance as 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 will include program policy factors such as the
relevance of the proposed research to the terms of the announcement and
an 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 may be used, and
submission of an application constitutes agreement that this is
acceptable to the investigator(s) and the submitting institution.
Information about the development and submission of applications,
eligibility, limitations, evaluation, selection process, and other
policies and procedures may be found in 10 CFR Part 605, and in the
Application Guide for the Office of Science Financial Assistance
Program. Electronic access to the Guide and required forms is made
available via the World Wide Web at: http://www.er.doe.gov/production/
grants/grants.html. The Project Description must be 20 pages or less,
exclusive of attachments. The application must contain an abstract or
project summary, letters of intent from collaborators, and short
vitaes.
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 December 22, 1998.
John Rodney Clark,
Associate Director of Science for Resource Management.
[FR Doc. 99-392 Filed 1-7-99; 8:45 am]
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