Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research 2.0

Supports organizations that will provide advanced cyberinfrastructure resources in production operations, supporting computational and data-intensive research and ensuring equitable access to these resources.

Synopsis

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 computation, data-analysis, and AI research across all of science and engineering (S&E), and (2) enable 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 services, in two categories:

Category I, Capacity Resources: production computational resources maximizing the capacity provided to support the broad range of computation, data analytics and AI 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.

Resource Providers supported via this solicitation will be incorporated into NSF’s ACSS 2.0 program portfolio. This program complements investments in leadership-class computing and funds a federation of nationally available advanced computing 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) , the National AI Research Resource, or an NSF-approved alternative as may emerge.

Provisioning novel, diverse computational resources nationally at scale will require capability and capacity to support researchers who need assistance to use these resources. User support may be provided via various means, e.g., training sessions, documentation, direct engagement in response to tickets created via the ACCESS program, or integration of novel, NSF-funded software tools.

The ACSS 2.0 Program seeks broad representation of PIs across the full spectrum of diverse community talent (including the participation of groups that have traditional been underrepresented in the cyberinfrastructure community) and institutions (including those that have not historically provided nationally allocatable cyberinfrastructure) in both the community of resource recipients and resources users to continue growing the scale and diversity of the S&E community. Submission from or partnership with EPSCoR institutions and institutions that have not previously received ACSS awards is encouraged.

Program contacts

Name	Email	Phone	Organization
Robert Chadduck Program Director	rchadduc@nsf.gov	(703) 292-8970	CISE/OAC
Andrey Kanaev Program Director	akanaev@nsf.gov	(703) 292-2841	CISE/OAC
Alejandro Suarez Program Director	alsuarez@nsf.gov	(703) 292-7092	CISE/OAC
Sharon Geva	sgeva@nsf.gov	(703) 292-7058	CISE/OAC

Program events

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Map of recent awards made through this program

Upcoming due dates

Full proposal

2025

June 24 2025 - Deadline date

Category II Submissions

Due by 5pm submitting organization's local time

Program guidelines

Award information

Estimated program budget and number of awards are subject to the availability of funds.

It is anticipated that, during submission cycles accepting Category I proposals, 1-3 Category I awards will be made at between $10,000,000 and $20,000,000 per award for up to five years. During submission cycles accepting Category II proposals, 1-4 Category II awards will be made at up to $5,000,000 per award for up to five years. User support and operating costs are expected to be up to 15% of the total resource acquisition cost per year for each deployed Category I or Category II system/service for up to five years; projected annual operating costs above 15% of the total resource acquisition cost must be discussed with a cognizant Program Officer prior to submission and will be considered in relation to the justified need. User support and operating costs will be funded via consideration of a supplement to the awarded cooperative agreement or other proposal mechanism. Proposals should provide an analysis of the projected annual operating costs of the proposed resource for a period of up to five years.

In Category I or Category II, there is a possibility of a renewal award contingent upon availability of funds and the successful evaluation of the resource provider’s performance as well as NSF merit review of the renewal proposal. During annual reviews, the Category I and Category II Resource Provider’s achievements and future plans will be comprehensively evaluated according to the criteria defined in the initial award, associated metrics, and other relevant criteria. Contingent on a successful third-year review, a Category I or Category II Resource Provider may be invited by NSF to submit a renewal proposal in the same Category as the original award, for up to five years commencing at the beginning of the fifth year of the original award.

Estimated number of awards

1 to 3

Estimated program budget, number of awards and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds and the year of submission.

During submission cycles accepting Category I proposals, no Category II proposals will be considered.

Category I awards shall be between $10,000,000 and $20,000,000 for up to 5 years of duration.

During submission cycles accepting Category II proposals, no Category I proposals will be considered.

Category II awards shall not exceed a total of $5,000,000 and 5 years of duration.

Proposals may only be submitted by certain types of organizations. Please see solicitation for details.

Limit on number of proposals per organization

An organization may submit only one proposal per each competition specified in this solicitation but may be a subawardee on other proposals responding to this solicitation. The restriction to no more than one submitted proposal as lead institution is to help ensure that there is appropriate institutional commitment necessary for responsible oversight, by the potential recipient institution, of a national resource.

Collaborative projects may only be submitted as a single proposal in which a single award is being requested (PAPPG Chapter II.E.3.a). The involvement of partner organizations should be supported through subawards administered by the submitting organization.

These eligibility constraints will be strictly enforced in order to treat everyone fairly and consistently. In the event that an organization exceeds this limit, the proposal received within the limit will be accepted based on the earliest date and time of proposal submission (i.e., the first proposal received will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review). No exceptions will be made.

Proposals may only be submitted by certain types of PIs. Please see solicitation for details.

Limit on number of proposals per PI or Co-PI

An individual may be the PI or co-PI on no more than one proposal per each competition specified in this solicitation. There is no limit on the number of proposals with which an individual may be associated in other capacities, such as senior/key personnel.

These eligibility constraints will be strictly enforced in order to treat everyone fairly and consistently. In the event that an individual exceeds this limit, the proposal received within the limit will be accepted based on the earliest date and time of proposal submission (i.e., the first proposal received will be accepted and the remainder will be returned without review). No exceptions will be made.

Review full program guidelines and learn how to submit a proposal in the latest solicitation. Read the solicitation NSF 24-583

Published:

June 18, 2024

Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research 2.0

View guidelines

Important information about NSF’s implementation of the revised 2 CFR

Important information for proposers

Synopsis

Program contacts

Program events

Awards made through this program

Advanced Computing Systems & Services: Adapting to the Rapid Evolution of Science and Engineering Research 2.0

View guidelines

Important information about NSF’s implementation of the revised 2 CFR

Important information for proposers

Synopsis

Program contacts

Program events

Past

Additional program resources

Awards made through this program

Organization(s)