Commerce
Business Daily Announcement
Focused Program Competition 97-04
Digital Data Storage
REQUEST
FOR PROPOSALS
AND NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING
NOTICE OF
PUBLIC MEETING: The NIST Advanced
Technology Program (ATP) is soliciting proposals under its focused
program competition 97-04, Digital Data Storage, and announces a public
meeting (Proposers' Conference) for all interested parties. This notice
provides general information for this focused program competition 97-04.
An estimated $15
million in first-year ATP funding is available under this focused program
competition. The ATP reserves the right to utilize for this competition
more or less funding than the amount stated above. The actual number of
proposals funded will depend on the quality of the proposals received
and the amount of funding requested in the highest ranked proposals. Outyear
funding is contingent on the approval of future Congressional appropriations
and satisfactory project performance.
This is the second
of three competitions planned for this ATP focused program. One additional
competition is planned. There are related focused program competitions
in information technologies. ATP reserves the right to transfer a full
proposal received under one focused program competition to another focused
program competition underway in the same general timeframe if the subject
matter of the proposal is deemed to be more appropriately aligned with
the scope of the other focused program competition. Proposers will be
notified if and when a proposal is transferred.
Award recipients
will be required to share non-proprietary information at workshops which
will be held throughout the duration of the project. The ATP operates
under program procedures published at Part 295, Title 15, of the Code
of Federal Regulations. The ATP Proposal Preparation Kit dated November
1996 (containing proposal cover sheets, other required forms, background
material, and instructions for submission of proposals) and the 97-04
focused program booklet (containing a paper describing the scope of
this focused program) may be requested by phone: 1-800-ATP-FUND; fax:
301-926-9524 or 301-590-3053; e-mail: atp@nist.gov;
or written request at the address shown below. Note that those individuals
whose names are currently on the ATP mailing list should have already
received the new November 1996 version of the ATP Proposal Preparation
Kit. The 97-04 focused program booklet is available
on our World Wide Web site (http://www.atp.nist.gov)
and printed copies are available upon request from ATP.
Only FULL
proposals are being solicited under this focused program competition 97-04.
Abbreviated proposals (pre-proposals) WILL NOT be accepted. Proposals
submitted by facsimile or electronic mail WILL NOT be accepted. If a proposer's
proposal is judged to be of high enough quality to be invited in for an
oral review, ATP reserves the right to submit a list of questions to the
proposer that must be addressed at the oral review. The due date
for submission of full proposals is 3 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday,
May 28, 1997. Should the NIST facility be closed on the specified
due date, ATP proposals will be due at 3 p.m. Eastern time on the next
business day that the NIST facility is open. Proposals received after
this deadline WILL NOT be considered. Send
proposals to:
The goal of the Digital
Data Storage focused program is to promote U.S. economic growth by
supporting sustained, high-risk research and development, which will accelerate
the data storage industry. The emphasis of the Program is research that
will lead to digital data storage devices exhibiting at least an order
of magnitude increase in data storage density (either areal or volumetric),
performance, and/or cost advantages over present technology. The goal
of the program will be the technology development for future large (multi-gigabyte
to terabyte), low cost, high-performance data storage devices. Proposals
may address technology to develop components, materials, channel electronics,
and software that are specific to the data storage industry. Topics that
may be addressed include new media for magnetic and electro-optical storage
devices, new materials to increase storage density and improve performance,
high-performance recording heads that are vastly superior to today's state
of the art, new lubricants and surface finishes for media, reliable micropositioning
devices for high-precision placement of sensing devices over data tracks,
channel electronics for signal-processing in order to achieve low error
rates, and improved software which significantly advances the state of
the art over the range extending from error detection and correction within
storage units and disk controllers to management of data storage systems.
Specifically excluded from this competition are data storage techniques
that are based on semiconductor devices (such as flash memories, etc.)
and software not specifically designed to augment the performance of physical
storage devices (such as database software, stand-alone compression software,
etc.).
A
public meeting (Proposers' Conference) for potential proposers and other
interested parties under this focused program competition 97-04 will be
held on Monday, March 17, 1997, at the Holiday Inn, 2 Montgomery Village
Avenue, Gaithersburg, MD. The conference will begin at 9:30 a.m.
Eastern time and end at approximately 3 p.m. and will provide general
information regarding the ATP, hints on preparing good proposals (covering
the same material presented at previous ATP Proposers' Conferences), and
will provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions on the scope
and technical and business goals of this focused program. Attendance at
this public meeting is not required. No registration fee will be charged.
To register for this public meeting or for further information, contact
ATP, by phone: 1-800-ATP-FUND; fax: 301-926-9524 or 301-590-3053; or e-mail:
atp@nist.gov.
In addition to the
focused program proposers' conference in Gaithersburg, ATP is considering
additional proposers' conferences in other locations. Should any additional
conferences be arranged, that information will be published in the CBD
and on our Web site.
Date created: February
12, 1997
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
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