[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[comments-gtlds] NSF Project Solicitation
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
--
NETWORK INFORMATION SERVICES MANAGER(S)
FOR NSFNET AND THE NREN
Project Solicitation
I. PURPOSE OF THIS SOLICITATION
The rapid growth of the NSFNET has created the need for expanded
network information services. That growth, together with the
expiration of the funding arrangement for the NSFNET National
Service Center (NNSC), has prompted this solicitation for one or
more Network Information Services Managers (NIS Manager(s)) for
the NSFNET.
This solicitation invites proposals for one or more NIS Manager
organizations to: extend and coordinate directory and database
services and information services for the NSFNET; and provide
registration services for non-military internet networks now
performed by the Defense Information Systems Agency Network
Information Center (the DISA NIC). The DISA NIC will continue to
provide for the registration of military networks.
It is anticipated that this solicitation will result in one or
more five-year cooperative agreements between NSF and the
organization(s) chosen as the NIS Manager(s). NSF funding is
expected to be approximately $2,000,000 per year.
This project solicitation is issued pursuant to the National
Science Foundation Act of 1950, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1861 et
seq) and the Federal Cooperative Agreement Act (31 U.S.C. 6305)
and is not subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulations.
II. BACKGROUND
During the past two decades computer networks have facilitated
collaboration among members of many research and education
communities and provided them with remote access to information
and computing resources. These networks have continued to grow
both in the number of users connected and in the capabilities
provided to the individual users. It is anticipated that such
networks will become essential to research and education during
this decade. In particular, the collection of interconnected
networks known as the Internet has become important for many
research communities. It is also of increasing importance for
education.
Today more than 5,000 networks comprise the Internet. These
networks link together hundreds of thousands of computers and
millions of users throughout the world. The domestic, non-
military portion of the Internet includes NSFNET. It also
includes other federally sponsored networks such as NASA Science
Internet (NSI) and Energy Sciences Network (ESnet). NSFNET, NSI,
and ESnet, as well as some other networks of the Internet, are
related to the National Research and Education Network (NREN)
which was defined in the President's Fiscal 1992 budget and which
has been authorized by the passage in December, 1991, of Public
Law 102-194.
The NREN is projected to evolve from a part of the Internet
containing portions of NSFNET, NSI, and ESnet. This evolution
will reflect the legal requirements of the various sponsoring
agencies. For example, NASA and DOE are mission agencies whose
networks' traffic must relate to the agencies' missions. NSF, on
the other hand, is chartered to support most science and
engineering research and education; hence NSFNET can carry all
traffic contemplated for the NREN and may in fact support
additional traffic as well.
Because of the breadth of the charter of the NSFNET, it is
projected that it will continue to serve an expanding base of
research and education users. The provision of enhanced network
information services for NSFNET will be an important part of the
expansion in user base.
In cooperation with the Internet community, the National Science
Foundation has developed this solicitation for one or more NIS
Managers to provide and/or coordinate Registration Services,
Directory and Database Services, and Information Services for
the NSFNET. It is anticipated that the definition and provision
of these services will help facilitate the evolution of the
NSFNET and the development of the NREN. References to NSFNET in
this solicitation should in general be understood to include the
NREN as well.
Certain network information services are currently being offered
by a variety of providers. Some of these existing services are
as follows.
¥ Internet registration services (and some information
services) are provided by the DISA NIC operated by
Government Services, Inc. (GSI).
¥ Some NSFNET end user information services have been provided
by the NSF Network Service Center (NNSC) operated by Bolt
Beranek and Newman (BBN) and some NSFNET end user
information services have been provided by campus-level
computing and networking organizations.
¥ Information services for various federal agency backbone
networks are provided by the sponsoring agencies (e.g.,
ESnet information services are provided by DOE and NSI
information services are provided by NASA).
¥ Information services for campus-level providers have been
provided by NSFNET mid-level network organizations.
¥ Information services for NSFNET mid-level network providers
have been provided by Merit, Inc. under Cooperative
Agreement NCR-8720904 as part of the management of the
NSFNET backbone.
It is expected that the NIS Manager organization(s) selected for
award(s) as a result of this solicitation: will, as discussed
in Section III below, provide services to end users and to campus-
and mid-level network service providers; will replace certain
network service providers (such as those mentioned in the first
and second bullets above); and will coordinate with mid-level and
other network organizations (such as those mentioned in the third
through fifth bullets above).
III. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
Considerable latitude exists for creative proposer responses to
this solicitation and a definitive list of services will not be
given. This latitude exists for several reasons. First, the
provision of network information services on the scale called for
in this solicitation is a novel undertaking for which innovative
solutions are sought. Second, it is possible for responders to
propose to charge user fees for some services and the income from
such fees could affect the total amount of services offered.
The services shown below are grouped into two categories,
priority and desirable. As stated above, the given list of
services should not be viewed as definitive and proposers are
encouraged to propose other services that they feel are
important.
A. Priority Services
All services listed below that are preceded with a "(P)" are
priority services, and an award for those services will be made,
if possible. (This does not imply that all responders must
propose priority services since multiple NIS Manager awards may
be made.)
B. Desirable Services
All services listed below that are not preceded with a "(P)" are
viewed as suggested services that may be considered by proposers
as they prepare their responses.
Some services listed below are to be provided to end users and
others are to be provided to other network information service
providers. The NIS Manager(s) called for in this solicitation
will be primarily a "NIS for NISs" but should also function as a
"NIS of first resort" and a "NIS of last resort" for end users.
NIS of first resort refers to activities such as helping a
potential network user find a more localized contact who will
assist with the process of becoming a network user. NIS of last
resort refers to activities such as assisting a network user who
has proceeded from more local to less local requests for help
without resolving a problem or getting a question answered. In
many cases, however, the NIS Manager(s) would work with network
service providers who are closer to the end users.
Thus the provision of some of the services listed below might be
accomplished by coordinating information resources and services
provided by others. A coordinated, hierarchical set of
information services should result from the collaboration of the
NIS Manager(s) with (but not limited to) the mid-level and campus-
level providers of network information services. Responders
should seek to utilize such resources and services where possible
rather than to duplicate them.
The following list is divided into three subareas: registration
services, directory and database services, and information
services.
1. (P) Registration Services
The provider of registration services will function in accordance
with the provisions of RFC 1174. As stated in RFC 1174, "[T]he
Internet system has employed a central Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority (IANA) for the allocation and assignment of various
numeric identifiers needed for the operation of the Internet.
The IANA function is performed by the University of Southern
California's Information Sciences Institute. The IANA has the
discretionary authority to delegate portions of this
responsibility and, with respect to numeric network and
autonomous system identifiers, has lodged this responsibility
with an Internet Registry (IR)." Moreover, in cooperation with
the IANA, the IR may create delegate registries to carry out
registration services for specified domains.
The NIS Manager responsible for non-military registration
services will function either as the IR or as a delegate registry
authorized by the IR to provide non-military registration
services. NSF, DISA, and other interested parties will determine
which organization (the DISA NIC, the NSFNET NIS Manager, or
another organization) will function as IR and which will function
as a delegate registry.
The NIS Manager responsible for non-military registration
services will in any case be required to work with the DISA NIC
to design and implement a transition plan that will minimize
inconvenience to the networking community during and after the
transition. Non-military internet registration services to be
provided include the following:
¥ Domain name registration (currently averaging 229 new
requests per month with a total of 3,950 already registered)
¥ Domain name server registration (currently averaging 56 new
requests per month with a total of 4,976 already registered)
¥ Network number assignment (currently averaging 523 new
requests per month with a total of 38,561 already
registered)
¥ Autonomous system number assignment (currently averaging 18
new requests per month with a total of 2,284 already
registered)
2. Directory and Database Services
Proposed directory implementations should utilize distributed
database and other advanced technologies wherever practicable.
This may place the NIS Manager(s) in a coordination role with
respect to other organizations that have created and maintained
relevant directories and databases. Procedures for creation and
maintenance of proposed directories and databases should be
clearly specified.
A. (P) A "Directory of Directories" which points to other
directories and databases such as those listed below in 2B and 2C
B. Desirable Directory Services
i.users accessible by name, discipline, and organization
ii. institutions on the network and characteristics of
their connections
iii. organizations accessible by function
iv. resources available on the network (e.g., computing
facilities, libraries, databases)
C. Desirable Database Services
i.databases of contributed materials
ii. databases of communications documents such as RFCs,
FYIs, IDs, and IENs
iii. databases maintained for other groups, possibly for fee
3. Information Services
A. (P) Network Reference Desk Services These services should
provide for electronic mail, facsimile, telephone, and postal
queries and should be available for personnel from mid-level and
campus networks and for end users and must include the following:
¥ answer general questions,
¥ distribute general information in response to questions,
¥ route questions to the appropriate information source,
¥ record and track all queries,
¥ prepare and provide to NSF (for planning purposes) summary
reports and analyses of all queries, and
¥ develop and deploy a NIS trouble ticket system (using
available software as appropriate) for queries and NIS
problems that cannot be immediately resolved. (This should
complement, not replace, Network Operations Center trouble
ticket systems.)
B. (P) Coordination Services
Coordination services will involve all NSFNET NIS Manager
organizations and must include the following:
¥ convene a NIS Liaison Council whose main function would be
coordination and information sharing among organizations
such as mid-level network service providers and others as
appropriate,
¥ work with appropriate agencies to encourage international
cooperation between and coordination of network information
services, and
¥ represent the NIS Manager organization(s) to appropriate
administrative bodies.
C. Educational Services
i) Training Services:
a.develop and deliver courses, seminars, and conferences on
operational and technical topics (such as on how to run a
NIS)
b.provide instructors for selected end-user courses
c.make presentations to selected affinity groups interested in
establishing logical networks
d.develop presentations for potential network users and
institutions
e.make developed materials available to appropriate groups
f.provide information on training methodologies to appropriate
groups
ii) Outreach Services:
a.publish a monthly newsletter for end users and/or provide
materials for use by other newsletters
b.publish a monthly network report like the current "Internet
Monthly Report"
c.work with the appropriate groups to distribute materials
dealing with network security
d.work with the appropriate groups to help K-12 school
districts and two- and four-year colleges increase their
level of networking involvement
iii) Documentation Services:
a.develop and provide customizable end-user training materials
using a variety of media
b.develop and provide "how to" templates covering the use of
the network
c.develop, collect, and provide documents describing resources
available on the network
d.develop, and provide a historical archive of network
development
e.develop and provide self-evaluation guidelines for mid-level
and campus NIS providers
f.maintain and distribute a written procedures and policies
manual relating to network use
IV. QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS SOLICITATION
In order that all proposers receive the same information, all
questions regarding this solicitation should be directed to the
NSF in the manner indicated below. All questions must be
submitted in writing. Questions must be received by 3:00 P.M.
Eastern Standard Time, Monday, March 30, 1992, at:
National Science Foundation
Division of Networking and Communications Research and
Infrastructure
1800 G Street, N.W., Room 416
Washington, D.C. 20550
ATTN: G Strawn (NIS Inquiry)
Telephone, facsimile, and electronic mail questions will not be
accepted.
Substantive questions received and the NSF's answers to them will
be sent to all solicitation recipients approximately fourteen
(14) calendar days thereafter.
V. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION
A. Who May Submit
Proposals for the implementation of and operation as NIS Manager
may be submitted by U.S. entities including academic
institutions, not-for-profit or for-profit organizations, or any
combination thereof.
Proposers may include consortia of several organizations. Should
an award be made to a consortium in response to this
solicitation, that consortium must have a single lead
organization, and the Principal Investigator (PI) must be an
employee of that organization.
It is recommended that appropriate administrative officials of
proposing organizations be familiar with the policies and
procedures stated in the NSF Grant Policy Manual1 (GPM) which are
applicable to NSF awards. If a proposal is recommended for an
award, the NSF Division of Grants and Contracts will request cer
tain organizational, management, and financial information from
the submitting organizations. These requirements are described
in Chapter III of the NSF GPM.
B. Key Personnel
For each award made, the individual designated as principal
investigator/project director and other personnel deemed critical
to the effort will be named in a key personnel clause which
requires NSF approval prior to diversion or replacement. The
principal investigator/project director will be the primary point
of contact with NSF.
C. Proposal Submission and Due Date
Ten (10) copies of the proposal, including one copy bearing
original signatures, should be mailed to:
Proposal Processing Unit - Room 223
Attn: Network Information Services Project, NSF 92-24
National Science Foundation
1800 G Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20550
Only one (1) copy of NSF Form 1225, Information About Principal
Investigator/Project Director, should be sent, attached to the
original signed proposal.
Proposals may also be submitted electronically. For information,
contact the Electronic Proposal Submission Program Director,
Division of Information Systems (DIS), via phone (202) 357-7439,
or via electronic mail (eps@nsf.gov).
Proposals submitted in response to this solicitation must: (a)
be received by NSF no later than Monday, May 18, 1992; (b) be
postmarked no later than five (5) days prior to the deadline
date; or (c) be sent via commercial overnight mail no later than
two (2) days prior to the deadline date to be considered for
award. Proposals submitted electronically will be dated when
they enter the NSF system.
D. Rights to Proposal Information
A proposal that results in an NSF award will become part of the
record of the transaction and will be available to the public on
specific request. Information or material that NSF, after
consultation with the awardee, determines to be of a privileged
nature will be held in confidence to the extent permitted by law,
including the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552). Without
assuming any liability for inadvertent disclosure, NSF will seek
to limit dissemination of such information to its employees and,
for purposes of evaluation of the proposal, to outside reviewers.
Accordingly, any privileged information contained in the proposal
should be clearly marked or indicated (as with an asterisk or
highlighter) and identified by a legend similar to the following:
"Following is ((proprietary) or (specify)) information that (name
of proposing organization) requests not be released to persons
outside the Government, except for purposes of evaluation."
E. Evaluation of Proposals
Proposals will be reviewed in accordance with the special
criteria given below. Evaluation of proposals in response to
this solicitation will be administered by the Division of
Networking and Communications Research and Infrastructure of NSF
(NSF/DNCRI).
The proposals will be reviewed by one or more merit review panels
chosen by NSF. The merit review panels may include
representatives of other federal agencies. At the discretion of
NSF, site visits may also be conducted.
The proposal or proposals offering the greatest overall merit in
meeting the requirements of the NIS Manager(s) Project will be
determined in accordance with the general criteria and the
following special criteria which are listed in descending order
of importance:
¥ Quality and quantity of the proposed network information
services. Also, the quality of performance measures which
the proposer must develop and adopt to ascertain (at least
annually) the quality and quantity of the proposed network
information services.
¥ Comprehension of the current Internet environment, vision as
to how the NSFNET should evolve, and vision as to how
network information services should be provided during this
evolution.
¥ Capability to design and provide and/or coordinate the
proposed information services. Factors include: use of
innovative (but not untested) approaches, such as
distributed data bases; ability to adjust to rapidly
changing service requirements; and ability to develop,
adopt, and employ new technologies and relevant standards.
¥ Capabilities and experience of key personnel including those
that are part of any subcontract.
¥ Ability to work with other network service providers and
organizations, both domestic and international.
¥ Quality of the proposed NIS Manager facilities.
While the overall cost of the proposed services--both to the
government and to the networking community as a whole--will be
considered during proposal evaluation, the primary basis for
selection will be the evaluation criteria shown above.
VI. AWARD INFORMATION
The Foundation reserves the right to make one or more awards as a
result of proposals received in response to this solicitation.
If multiple awards are made, the responsibilities for
registration services will be made to a single proposer, but
directory and database services and information services may be
divided and/or duplicated as deemed appropriate. NSF also
reserves the right to make no award.
Should one or more awards be made, it is contemplated that they
will be Cooperative Agreements providing operational support for
a period of five (5) years. It is expected that any resulting
awards will be announced in the summer of 1992.
Following the award(s), the NIS Manager for Registration Services
will be required to develop operations agreements with the DISA
Internet Registration contractor (GSI) to insure that domestic
and international Internet Registration continues to operate
smoothly both during the transition and afterwards.
The progress, plans, and services of the NIS Manager(s) will be
assessed annually. In particular, the quality and quantity of
the services should be ascertainable annually during the period
of the agreement by performance measures which the proposer must
develop and adopt. Determination(s) may be made at any time
about any additional, increased, decreased, or modified services
within the general scope and context of the agreement and NSF may
negotiate appropriate modification(s) to the award(s).
After 24 months of operation, the performance of the NIS
Manager(s) will be externally reviewed. The review will
determine if the NIS Manager(s) are meeting the established goals
and objectives. The review will be used to determine whether NSF
will continue to support the awardee(s) at the previously agreed
to level.
Awards resulting from this solicitation are administered in
accordance with the terms and conditions of GC-1, "Grant General
Conditions", and CA-1, "Cooperative Agreement General
Conditions". Copies of these documents are available at no cost
from the NSF Forms and Publications Unit, via phone (202)357-
7861, or via electronic mail (pubs@nsf.gov). More comprehensive
information is contained in the NSF GPM.
VII. CONTENTS OF PROPOSAL
Proposals should be prepared as follows in accordance with the
guidelines contained in the brochure Grants for Research and
Education in Science and Engineering, (GRESE) (NSF 90-77 rev
8/90) (available from the NSF Forms and Publications Unit as
referred to above). Each proposal should reflect the unique
combination of the proposing organization's interests and
capabilities in providing information services to support
research and education users of the NSFNET. Since reviewers will
be asked to review more than one proposal, lengthy proposals are
not recommended. The narrative portion (Sections I through M
below) should be not more than 15 (8 1/2 x 11 inch) single-sided
pages of single-spaced text (with one inch margins and 10 point
type). A separate budget narrative/business plan (Section S
below) should not be more than six similar pages (exclusive of
the required budget forms which comprise Section R). Appendices
other than those from the GRESE brochure and Appendix A described
below will not necessarily be considered in the merit review
process. Proposals should be securely fastened together, but not
placed in ring binders.
The proposals should contain the following Sections A through S,
plus Appendix A. (references to appendices are to those in GRESE
brochure):
A. NSF Cover Page(s) (Appendix IV). All consortium members
and/or all major subcontractors should complete and submit a
copy of this page.
B. Information about Principal Investigator/Project Director
(Appendix III). Attach one copy to the original signed pro
posal. Do not include the form within the body of the
proposal.
C. "Certification Regarding Lobbying" form. See page 26 of
GRESE.
D. Results from prior NSF support.
E. List of collaborators within past 48 months and names of
graduate and postdoctoral advisors of each investigator.
F. Current and pending support for key individuals (Appendix
VII).
G. Table of Contents with page numbers keyed to the major
sections of the proposal.
H. Executive Summary of no more than two pages which provides a
brief description of the proposed effort.
I. A plan to accomplish the tasks and furnish the services
described in Section III (Project Requirements) of this
solicitation.2
J. Explicit procedures for monitoring the quality, availability
and effectiveness of the services provided.
K. Evidence of organizational knowledge and understanding of
the current Internet environment and vision of how the
NSFNET should evolve.
L. Documentation of the qualifications of the proposing
organization(s), including:
¥ experience applicable to the provision, operation and
management of the NIS Manager(s) Project; and
¥ if a consortium and/or major subcontracts are proposed,
experience in managing subcontracts with special emphasis
on establishing performance standards and monitoring
quality control.
M. Documentation of technical and managerial qualifications of
key personnel. (Curricula vitae of key personnel should be
placed in Appendix A.)
N. Explicit procedures for interaction with NSF/DNCRI.
O. Explicit procedures for interaction with existing Network
Information Services (NISs) and Network Operation Centers
(NOCs).
P. (For Registration Services proposers) A clear plan for the
transition from current procedures and practices to those
proposed for non-military network Internet Registration
services and explicit procedures for interaction with the
DISA NIC.
Q. Explicit procedures for interaction with international
organizations and network providers.
R. Summary Proposal Budget (NSF Form 1030) for the cumulative
five-year period plus individual annual budgets (on NSF Form
1030) for each year (Appendix V). As instructed on the
reverse side of NSF Form 1030, identify each year's request
(e.g., "Cumulative Budget", "First Year", etc.) in the
margin at the top right of the form.
S. A proposed five-year budget narrative/business plan
(referred to as "the narrative" in this paragraph) for funds
requested from NSF. The narrative should be organized by
the three subareas of Registration Services, Directory and
Database Services, and Information Services described in
Section III, Project Requirements of this solicitation on a
per year basis. The narrative should contain information
about the services proposed and explain the significant
costs associated with the individual subareas proposed. The
annual costs of each subarea should be explained in suffi
cient detail to allow identification of such items as the
proposed level of effort for professional and support
personnel (and associated direct and indirect costs),
travel, equipment, subcontracting and profit (if any). If
for estimating purposes, the proposer normally uses fully
loaded labor rates, such rates may be used if their
derivation is explained.
Appendix A. Curricula Vitae
Biographical information (limited to two pages) on the principal
investigator and other key individuals from all organizations who
will be directly involved in the management and operation of the
project. Lists of publications for each individual should be
limited to the ten most relevant.
_______________________________
1The NSF Grant Policy Manual (NSF 88-47, July 1989) is for sale
through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing
Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. Telephone (202)783-3288.
2Upon completion of the project, a Final Project Report (NSF Form
98A), including the Part IV Summary, will be required.
Applicants should review this form prior to proposal submission
so that appropriate tracking mechanisms are included in the
proposal plan to ensure that complete information will be
available at the completion of the project.