Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research
Agency: National Science Foundation
Posted: 2022-11-19 | Closing date: 2024-10-29
Estimated total program funding: 30000000
Award ceiling: 10000000
Expected number of awards: 4
Cost sharing or matching requirement: No

The intent of this solicitation is to request proposals from organizations who are willing to serve as resource providers within the NSF Advanced Computing Systems and Services (ACSS) program. Resource providers would (1) provide advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources in production operations to support the full range of computational- and data-intensive research across all of science and engineering (S&E), and (2) ensure democratized and equitable access to the proposed resources. The current solicitation is intended to complement previous NSF investments in advanced computational infrastructure by provisioning resources, broadly defined in this solicitation to include systems and/or services, in two categories: Category I, Capacity Resources: production computational resources maximizing the capacity provided to support the broad range of computation and data analytics needs in S&E research; and Category II, Innovative Prototypes/Testbeds: innovative forward-looking capabilities deploying novel technologies, architectures, usage modes, etc., and exploring new target applications, methods, and paradigms for S&E discoveries. Resource Providers supported via this solicitation will be incorporated into NSF’s ACSS program portfolio. This program complements investments in leadership-class computing and funds a federation of nationally available HPC resources that are technically diverse and intended to enable discoveries at a computational scale beyond the research of individual or regional academic institutions. NSF anticipates that at least 90% of the provisioned resource will be available to the S&E community through an open peer-reviewed national allocation process and have resource users be supported by community and other support services. Such allocation and support services are expected to be coordinated through the NSF-funded “Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support” (ACCESS) suite of services, or an NSF-approved alternative as may emerge. If this is not feasible for the proposed resource, proposers must clearly explain in detail why this is the case and how they intend to make the proposed resource available to the national S&E community. The ACSS Program especially seeks broad representation of PIs (including women, underrepresented minorities, and individuals with disabilities)and institutions (including those that have not historically provided nationally allocatable cyberinfrastructure)in both the community of resource awardees and resources users to continue growing the scale and diversity of the S&E community. 

Eligibility: *Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following:   -Non-profit, non-academic organizations: Independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational or research activities.   -Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) - Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting      on behalf of their faculty members.Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an      international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of subawards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain      the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.   - NSF-sponsored federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) may apply, provided that they are not including costs for which federal funds have already been awarded or are expected to be awarded.   *Who May Serve as PI:  There are no restrictions or limits.