SPONSOR:  National Institute of Standards and Technology, Bldg. 101, Rm.
		  A430, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001
SUBFILE:  PSE (U.S. Government Procurements, Services)
SECTION HEADING:  A Research and Development
PUBLICATION DATE: May 6, 1994
ISSUE:  PSA-1090

Customer Representative 1-800-287-3863.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology  (NIST), Advanced
Technology Program (ATP) invites applications for funding in a focused
program addressing component based software and semantic based
automation in software development. To receive detailed information,
request the "Information Package for Competition 94-06" at one of the
following: voice 1-800-ATP-FUND, fax 1-301-926-9524, or email
atp@micf.nist.gov. Include your complete contact information and
mailing address. The business goals of this program are to increase
productivity in software development, to increase productivity of
software users in software intensive industries, and to broaden the
software markets which are commercially addressable.

These goals represent the anticipated synergistic and cumulative
effects of many projects within the program and will not necessarily
correspond to the business goals of individual projects. The technical
scope of this program includes high risk generic research and
development projects leading to practical technology for automated
component based software. An adequate technology for automated
semantic based composition would be applicable to independently
developed software components, would allow interoperation of
fine-grained software in any functionally compatible context, and
would enable software reuse based on semantic characteristics alone.

Projects leading to automated methods and tools should enable products
that will increase the portion of the software process subject to
automation, that will reduce the direct involvement of software
experts in custom developments, that have potential for at least a
factor of two increase in productivity, or that will otherwise support
component based software processes. Proposals to overcome other
potential barriers to component based software should address one or
more of the identified barriers or should clearly explain why the
proposed barrier warrants such importance.

The identified barriers are a practical system for collecting revenues
on fine-grained software, technology to satisfy commercial security
needs, practical mechanisms for interoperation with legacy systems,
linguistic mechanisms for incomplete and imprecise specification,
techniques for robust systems in the presence of errors, and improved
methods for confirming software dependability. Especially sought are
projects that involve technological innovations that are focused and
paradigm shifting, that involve semantic approaches, that increase
automation within the software development process, or that have
potential for order of magnitude gains relative to some measure of
software quality or cost. Ideas that are limited to human management
techniques, manual approaches, data collection, or are incompatible
with semantic approaches and fine-grained software components will not
be funded.

The ATP has allocated approximately $20 million for the first year of
this program. The actual number of proposals funded will depend on the
funding profiles of the highest ranked proposals. The ATP reserves the
right to utilize for this competition more or less of these funds to
support projects selected through this competition depending on the
quality of the proposals selected. Outyear funding is contingent on
the approval of future Congressional appropriations. Decisions on
awards for this competition should be made within three months after
full proposals are received. An additional competition is tentatively
planned for October 1995.  A total of $150 million in ATP funding is
planned for this program. Proposers should indicate how willing they
are to cooperate with others for synergistic interoperation and other
mutual benefits. Projects that are critical to overall program success
require the highest degree of commitment to interproject coordination
and cooperation.

Joint ventures involving normally competing companies are welcome.
Participation by platform providers, systems integrators, and end-user
organizations as joint-venture partners is encouraged. It is
anticipated, however, that a significant number of participants in the
program will be small software firms. Funded projects will be invited
to participate in two annual workshops: one for program-wide planning
and coordination and the other to keep the broader community informed.
Workshop presentations will be limited to non-proprietary information.
A public meeting for those considering applying for funding in ATP
Competition 94-06 will be held from 9:00am to 5:00pm on Thursday June
2, 1994, at Gaithersburg Holiday Inn, 2 Montgomery Village Avenue,
Gaithersburg, MD 20879, 301-948-8900. To receive $65+tax hotel rate,
specify "ATP Bidders Conference" by May 25. Potential proposers are
not required to attend this meeting; all materials to be presented are
included in the Information Package for Competition 94-06.

Abbreviated proposals

(pre-proposals) are allowed for this competition, but are optional.
Pre-proposal recommendations from ATP will have no affect on ratings
of full proposals; they are intended only as preliminary indications
of likelihood of success of the full proposals. No comments nor
debriefing will be provided for pre-proposals. Four copies of
pre-proposals must be received by 3:00pm Thursday, June 16, 1994 at
address below with feedback expected within three weeks. Instructions
for preparing pre-proposals can be found in the ATP program
competition announcement for competitions 94-02 through 94-06 which
preceded this announcement. Full proposal submissions must follow the
instructions in the ATP Proposal Preparation Kit and must consist of
one original plus ten (10) copies (numbered one through eleven) along
with one unbound copy of NIST form 1262 (for single applicants) or
NIST form 1263 (for joint venture applicants). Full proposal
submissions for Competition 94-06 must be received by 3:00pm on
Thursday August 4, 1994 and will not be accepted prior to July 5. All
proposals should be addressed to Component Based Software Competition
94-06, NIST-ATP, Admin. A433, Quince Orchard and Clopper Roads,
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001. ATP would like to announce awards by
September 30, 1995. Agreements among joint venture partners need not
be fully completed prior to submitting proposals, but must be in place
before any ATP funding can begin.  (0124)