NSF Enabling Access to Cloud Computing Resources for CISE Research and Education (Cloud Access) Solicitation

Please see the full solicitation for complete information about the funding opportunity. Below is a summary assembled by the Research & Innovation Office (RIO).

Program Summary 

Increasingly, data- and compute-intensive research and education efforts are benefiting from access to cloud computing platforms, which provide robust, agile, reliable, and scalable infrastructure. To better support this growing use of cloud computing resources, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) seeks to fund an entity that can serve as a principal interface between the CISE research and education community and public cloud computing providers. Through this solicitation, NSF will support an entity that will have multiple responsibilities, including: 1) establishing partnerships with the various public cloud computing providers; 2) assisting NSF in allocating cloud computing resources to qualifying CISE-funded projects; 3) managing cloud computing accounts and resources allocated to individual CISE projects; 4) providing user training and other support to CISE researchers and educators using cloud computing in their work; and 5) providing strategic technical guidance for CISE researchers and educators interested in using public cloud computing platforms.

Deadlines

CU Internal Deadline: 11:59pm MST November 13, 2018

Sponsor Preliminary Proposal (required) Deadline: 5:00pm MST December 20, 2018

Sponsor Application Deadline: 5:00pm MST February 19, 2019

Internal Application Requirements (all in PDF format)

  • Project Description (2-3 pages): Please include/address scope of work (and team experience alignment with scope of work), project schedule, and longer-term vision and sustainability. Please address broader impacts and intellectual merit (see solicitation for additional information).
  • Project Team (up to 1 page): Please include project personnel (with affiliation and role) and partner institutions.
  • Budget Overview (up to 1 page): A basic budget outlining project costs is sufficient; detailed OCG budgets are not required.

To access the online application, visit: https://colorado.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/home/6286

Eligibility

There are no special eligibility requirements.

Limited Submission Guidelines

An organization may participate in no more than one proposal submitted in response to this solicitation.

Collaborative proposals should be submitted from one organization. If awarded, a single award would be made to the submitting organization, with any collaborators listed as subawards. Collaborative proposals submitted from multiple organizations are not allowed.

An individual may appear as PI, co-PI, or Senior Personnel on no more than one proposal submitted in response to this solicitation.

Award Information

Award Amount: $5,000,000. The annual project operating costs are not expected to exceed $850,000 per year for five years, for a total of $4,250,000. The proposed budget may also include a request, not to exceed $750,000, for initial cloud computing resources, as part of the maximum $5,000,000 award amount. Future cloud computing resources may be supported through supplemental funding requests by the awardee organization. Recovery of indirect costs (F & A) is prohibited on cloud computing expenditures in awards made in response to this solicitation. This prohibition will apply to any subsequent supplemental funding requests submitted by the awardee organization.

Award Duration: Up to 3 years.

Estimated Number of Awards: 1