wouk@BRL.MIL (Arthur Wouk,Army Research Office,919-549-0641) (11/21/88)
[ Real long lines in this. Steve]
The following announcement is currently appearing the the Commerce Busi-
ness Daily. Please take it seriously and call it to the attention of your insti-
tution. This is a very substantial procurement of research, associated support-
ing hardware, operations, training and maintenance, comparable in SOME, (but not
all) ways to the NSF Supercomputing Centers.
ARMY HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING RESEARCH CENTER
The Army requires the establishment of an Army High Performance Comput-
ing Research Center (AHPCRC). This is a three part requirement consisting of
research in High Performance Computing, the acquisition of equipment and
software to perform that research, and user support in High Performance Comput-
ing.
The research and analysis will address issues appropriate to near term
High Performance Computing, including current Army supercomputer needs, as well
as long term issues, and will provide a basis for advanced computing techniques
within the Army. The research will involve both systems programming and appli-
cations programming with interdisciplinary research in the efficient utilization
of current advanced performance computers, networks of current computers, and
newly emerging architectures. The research will concentrate on the development
of advanced algorithms and software technology, focusing on well chosen thrusts
in mathematics, computer science and various associated fields, which contribute
to the needs of multiple Army agencies, without duplicating the work of a
specific Army research activity.
Such focused areas will include:
simulation of physical phenomena and the efficient accurate solution of the
equations which govern their behavior,
investigation of very large data bases and information retrieval,
visualization and related interactive methods,
data analysis,
numerical analysis,
implementation of algorithms and software in a multiplicity of computing
environments, and optimal interfaces in emerging heterogeneous parallel
computing environments.
The period of performance for the research effort is five years. The
contractor shall acquire advanced computing systems to support the required
research. This requirement involves the acquisition of emerging alternative
technology and related peripherals, for the most advanced state-of-the-art high
performance computing technology. The systems will be installed at the
contractor's facility. As a part of this requirement the contractor shall pro-
vide operation and user support consisting of operation and maintenance of these
systems including supporting software and other equipment required to support a
multi-user computing research environment, initial training, and communications
interfaces and user support. User support will be provided to both local and
remote users, including appropriate users from Government facilities. On-site
user support services directly related to the Army's production supercomputers
will be provided at two current and one planned Army supercomputer centers as
well as up to three remote sites. The period of performance for the user support
services is a basic requirement of one year with four options for additional one
year periods of support.
A Pre-Solicitation Conference is planned for 16 December 1988, 9:00
a.m., in the auditorium of the Department of the Army, Harry Diamond Labora-
tories, 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, MD 20783. Prospective offerors who in-
tend to attend the Pre-Solicitation Conference should so advise the Contact
Point. This is a competitive procurement with competition limited to education-
al institutions or consortiums of educational institutions. No telephone re-
quests for the solicitation will be accepted.
Contact Point: Patty Cannan, (202) 394-1088,
Contracting Officer, Patricia Silsby, (202) 394-3438
RFP DAAL02-89-R-9029