DE-FOA-0003300.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (DOE)

OFFICE OF SCIENCE (SC)

ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING RESEARCH (ASCR)

EXPRESS: 2024 EXPLORATORY RESEARCH FOR

EXTREME-SCALE SCIENCE

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA) NUMBER:

DE-FOA-0003300

FOA TYPE: INITIAL

CFDA NUMBER: 81.049

FOA Issue Date: January 19, 2024 Submission Deadline for Pre-Applications: February 29, 2024 at 5:00 PM Eastern

Time A Pre-Application is required.

Pre-Application Response Date: March 21, 2024 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time Submission Deadline for Applications: May 2, 2024 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time

Table of Contents

SECTION I – FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

SECTION II – AWARD INFORMATION

II.A. TYPE OF AWARD INSTRUMENT

II.B. ESTIMATED FUNDING

II.C. MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM AWARD SIZE

II.D. EXPECTED NUMBER OF AWARDS

II.E. ANTICIPATED AWARD SIZE

II.F. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

II.G. TYPE OF APPLICATION

SECTION III – ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

III.A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

III.B. COST SHARING

III.C. ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS

III.D. LIMITATIONS ON SUBMISSIONS

SECTION IV – APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

IV.A. ADDRESS TO REQUEST APPLICATION PACKAGE

IV.B. LETTER OF INTENT (LOI) AND PRE-APPLICATION

IV.C. GRANTS.GOV APPLICATION SUBMISSION AND RECEIPT PROCEDURES

IV.D. CONTENT AND APPLICATION FORMS

IV.E. SUBMISSIONS FROM SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS

IV.F. SUBMISSION DATES AND TIMES

SECTION V - APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

V.A. CRITERIA

V.B. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS

V.C. ANTICIPATED NOTICE OF SELECTION AND AWARD DATES

SECTION VI – AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

VI.A. AWARD NOTICES

VI.B. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS

VI.C. REPORTING

VI.D. REPORTING OF MATTERS RELATED TO RECIPIENT INTEGRITY AND

PERFORMANCE (DECEMBER 2015)

VI.E. INTERIM CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE...40

SECTION VII - QUESTIONS/AGENCY CONTACTS

VII.A. QUESTIONS

VII.B. AGENCY CONTACTS

SECTION VIII – SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

VIII.A. HOW-TO GUIDES

VIII.B. ADMINISTRATIVE AND NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS

VIII.C. REFERENCE MATERIAL

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UPDATES AND REMINDERS

RECOMMENDATION

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) encourages you to register in all systems as soon as possible. You are also encouraged to submit letters of intent (LOIs), pre-applications, and applications well before the deadline.

PROMOTING INCLUSIVE AND EQUITABLE RESEARCH (PIER) PLAN

All new and renewal applications must provide a Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research (PIER) Plan as an appendix to the project narrative. Please read the instructions in Section IV and the associated review criteria in Section V.

INTERAGENCY FORMATS FOR CURRENT AND PENDING SUPPORT AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

Interagency common instructions for preparing current and pending support and biographical sketches are being developed. The Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) system at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/ will be updated to support the forthcoming common instructions and formats. The fillable PDFs provided by the National Science Foundation at https://nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/nsfapprovedformats/ are no longer available. When interagency common formats and instructions are promulgated, their use will be required. SC strongly encourages all researchers to use the online SciENcv system to ensure that their documents are prepared in the appropriate format with the least inconvenience.

INDIVIDUALS WHO SHOULD NOT SERVE AS MERIT REVIEWERS

Follow the updated instructions in Section VIII and consider the use of the Collaborator Template available at https://science.osti.gov/grants/Policy-and-Guidance/Agreement-Forms. Do not include this list as part of the biographical sketch.

LIVING WAGES

SC is committed to ensuring that students, trainees, and postdoctoral fellows are paid a fair and equitable wage sufficient to allow a reasonable standard of living. Applicant institutions are strongly encouraged to examine their institutional pay scales to ensure that all personnel earn a living wage. The provision of fellowships, traineeships, stipends, honoraria, subsistence allowances, and other similar payments may be allowable expenses on SC financial assistance awards, per 2 CFR 200.430, § 200.431, and § 200.466. For graduate students, SC considers a reasonable living wage to be an annual income of $45,000, excluding benefits.

SC STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT

The DOE SC is fully and unconditionally committed to fostering safe, diverse, equitable, and inclusive work, research, and funding environments that value mutual respect and personal integrity. SC is committed to advancing belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/ https://nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/nsfapprovedformats/biosketch.pdf https://science.osti.gov/grants/Policy-and-Guidance/Agreement-Forms ii inclusion across the portfolio of activities we sponsor. SC’s effective stewardship and promotion of safe, accessible, diverse, and inclusive workplaces that value and celebrate the diversity of people, ideas, cultures, and educational backgrounds across the country and that foster a sense of belonging in our scientific community is foundational to delivering on our mission. We are committed to promoting people from all backgrounds, including individuals and communities that were historically underrepresented and minoritized in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields and the activities we sponsor in recognition of our responsibility to serve the public. We also recognize that harnessing a broad range of views, expertise, and experiences drives scientific and technological innovation and enables the SC community to push the frontiers of scientific knowledge for U.S. prosperity and security. Discrimination and harassment undermine SC’s ability to achieve its mission by reducing productivity, discouraging, or inhibiting talent retention and career advancement, and weakening the integrity of the SC enterprise overall. SC does not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, including sexual or non-sexual harassment, bullying, intimidation, violence, threats of violence, retaliation, or other disruptive behavior at institutions receiving SC funding or other locations where activities funded by SC are carried out. All applicants and collaborators should familiarize themselves with the SC Statement of Commitment available at https://science.osti.gov/SW- DEI/SC-Statement-of-Commitment.

UPDATING YOUR PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (PAMS) PROFILE

All applicants are encouraged to update their profiles in the PAMS website at https://pamspublic.science.energy.gov regularly, at least annually, to ensure SC has your most up to date information. The PAMS profile now requires that individuals provide responses to the demographic related fields. SC strongly encourages personnel at applicant and recipient institutions, including Principal Investigators (PIs), Co-PIs, and other Key Personnel, to provide their demographic information. By providing your demographic information, you are assisting with SC’s continued commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in its business practices. Alternatively, for information you wish not to disclose, please select, “Do not wish to provide.” Your individual demographic information will not be shared with peer reviewers and the information in your PAMS profile is protected by the requirements established in the Federal Privacy Act of 1974. Aggregate, anonymized demographic information may be shared with confidential review committees who are charged to evaluate the quality and efficacy of SC’s business practices. For example, summary statistics of all applicants to or award selections from a particular SC FOA may be reviewed by a Committee of Visitors.

PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT (PDF) GENERATION

The project narrative in an application must be one single machine-readable PDF file that contains the DOE Title Page, project narrative, all required appendices, and other attachments.

This single PDF file may not be scanned from a printed document and must be attached in Field 8 on the Grants.gov form. This must be a plain PDF file consisting of text, numbers, and images without editable fields, signatures, passwords, redactions, or other advanced features available in some PDF-compatible software. The project narrative will be read by SC staff using the full version of Adobe Acrobat: Please ensure that the narrative is readable in Acrobat. If combining multiple files into one research narrative, ensure that a PDF portfolio or binder is not created. If https://science.osti.gov/SW-DEI/SC-Statement-of-Commitment https://science.osti.gov/SW-DEI/SC-Statement-of-Commitment https://pamspublic.science.energy.gov/ iii creating PDF files using any software other than Adobe Acrobat, please use a “Print to PDF” or equivalent process to ensure that all content is visible in the project narrative. Once a project narrative has been assembled, please submit the combined project narrative file through a “Print to PDF” or equivalent process to ensure that all content is visible in one PDF file that can be viewed in Adobe Acrobat. Review your submission to ensure that blank pages are not present.

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Checklist for Avoiding Common Errors:

Item Issue Applications Submitted in Grants.gov. Do not submit applications in PAMS or FedConnect.

Grants.gov Submission Ensure that applications are submitted under the correct Opportunity Number.

Standard Form (SF)-424 Research and Related (R&R):

- Attach nothing to field 20

- Attach nothing to field 21

SF-424 Research and Related Other Project Information form:

- Attach the abstract to field 7

- Attach the project narrative, with all appendices, to field 8

- Attach nothing to field 9

- Attach nothing to field 10

- Attach nothing to field 11

- Attach the list of individuals who should not serve as merit reviewers (Collaborator Template) to field 12

- Do not attach other files to field 12

- NOTE: Files attached to field 12 will not be shared with merit reviewers.

Pre-Applications - Submit your pre-application in PAMS.

- Do not submit your pre-application in Grants.gov.

- Do not attach your pre-application to the SF-424 Research and Related (R&R) form.

- Follow the instructions in Section IV for the preparation of a pre-application.

Page Limits Strictly followed throughout application, including particular attention to:

- Project narrative and appendices

- Biographical sketches

- Data Management Plans (DMPs)

- Promoting Inclusive and Equitable

Research (PIER) Plan Personally Identifiable Information None present in the application Project Narrative Composed of one PDF file including all appendices (bibliography, facilities, equipment, DMP, PIER) v

Item Issue Project Summary / Abstract Name of PI, PI’s institutional affiliation(s), Co-Investigator(s), Co-Investigator’s institutional affiliation(s)

DOE Title Page Follow instructions closely Budget Use current negotiated indirect cost and fringe benefit rates Budget Justification (attached to budget) Justify all requested costs Biographical Sketches Follow page limits strictly and do not include list of collaborators. Attach the biographical sketch to the Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form.

Current and Pending Support Ensure complete listing of all activities, regardless of source of funding. Attach the current and pending support to the Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form.

List of Individuals who Should not Serve as Merit Reviews

Attach to field 12 of the SF-424 Research and Related Other Project Information form.

Data Management Plans (DMP) - If referring to an experiment’s DMP, describe the relationship to the proposed research.

- Include a DMP even if no experimental data is expected.

Promoting Inclusive and Equitable Research (PIER) Plan

PIER Plans are required for new and renewal applications.

Institutions capable of being funded through the DOE Field Work System

If National Laboratories and/or DOE sites are permitted to submit under this FOA:

- Do not create new institutions in the

PAMS website.

- Submit applications in Grants.gov using the name of the laboratory or site in Field 5 of the SF-424(R&R) application form, not the contractor operating the laboratory or site.

Submissions under this FOA will be evaluated for technical merit, but any resulting funding, work, or awards will be made under the laboratory or site’s contract with DOE. No separate financial assistance awards will be made. No administrative provisions of this FOA will apply to the laboratory or any laboratory subcontractor.

Section I – FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

GENERAL INQUIRIES ABOUT THIS FOA SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO:

Technical/Scientific Program Contact:

Dr. Kalyan Perumalla

(240) 578-1248

Kalyan.Perumalla@science.doe.gov

STATUTORY AUTHORITY

Section 646 of Public Law 95-91, U.S. Department of Energy Organization Act Section 901, et seq. of Public Law 109-58, Energy Policy Act of 2005

APPLICABLE REGULATIONS

Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, codified at 2 CFR 200 U.S. Department of Energy Financial Assistance Rules, codified at 2 CFR 910 U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science Financial Assistance Program Rule, codified at 10

CFR 605

SUMMARY

The DOE SC program in Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) hereby announces its interest in basic research to explore potentially high-impact approaches in scientific computing and extreme-scale science.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Extreme-scale science recognizes that disruptive technology changes are occurring across science applications, algorithms, computer architectures and ecosystems. Recent reports point to emerging trends and advances in high-end computing, massive datasets, visualization, and artificial intelligence on increasingly heterogeneous architectures. Significant innovation will be required in the development of effective paradigms and approaches for realizing the full potential of scientific computing from emerging technologies. Proposed research should not focus on a specific science use case, but rather on creating the body of knowledge and understanding that will inform future advances in extreme-scale science. Consequently, the funding from this FOA is not intended to incrementally extend current research in the area of the proposed project. It is expected that the proposed projects will significantly benefit from the exploration of innovative ideas or from the development of unconventional approaches.

DOE is committed to promoting the diversity of investigators and institutions it supports, as indicated by the ongoing use of program policy factors (see Section V.B.2) in making selections of awards. To strengthen this commitment, DOE encourages applications that are led by, or mailto:Kalyan.Perumalla@science.doe.gov include partners from, institutions in Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)1 jurisdictions or that are underrepresented in the ASCR portfolio2, and applications led by individuals from groups historically underrepresented in STEM.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES

Exploratory Research for Extreme-Scale Science (EXPRESS) opportunities exist for the following research topics:

A) Harnessing Technology Innovations to Accelerate Science through Visualization B) Scalable Space-Time Memories for Large Discrete/Agent-Based Models C) Neuromorphic Computing D) Advanced Wireless E) Quantum Hardware Emulation

Applications submitted in response to this FOA must substantially address one among the preceding list of research topics. Additional details about each topic are provided below.

A) Harnessing Technology Innovations to Accelerate Science through Visualization Technical Contact: Margaret Lentz, Margaret.Lentz@science.doe.gov

The focus of this research topic is on innovative techniques for scientific visualization which make use of artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR)/haptics to capture human knowledge for the creation and refinement of automated laboratories. Rapidly evolving technology developments are creating tremendous opportunities for intelligent automation and scientific discovery. Realizing the potential of these new technologies to help enable self-driving laboratories will require the exploration of techniques and novel frameworks beyond the current state of the art.

To be responsive to this research topic, the proposed work must effectively exploit disruptive computing modalities which may enable or utilize novel solutions to help capture knowledge required for the automation of laboratory systems. Applications in this area must include rapidly evolving technology that creates opportunities for new visualization and collaboration paradigms (mixed or virtual reality, haptic interfaces, etc.) and diverse computing modalities (high-performance computing, robotics, sensors, etc.) that can help users to better engage in scientific discovery. The use of AI and the development of digital twins for the automation of laboratory processes is encouraged. Progress in this area is expected to impact many scientific domains, such as advancing novel chemistry design, innovations in biotechnology, and accelerating materials development and manufacturing.

1 https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/state-websites 2 Information about SC awards can be found in the Public Award Search at https://pamspublic.science.energy.gov/WebPAMSExternal/Interface/Awards/AwardSearchExternal.aspx mailto:Margaret.Lentz@science.doe.gov https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/state-websites https://pamspublic.science.energy.gov/WebPAMSExternal/Interface/Awards/AwardSearchExternal.aspx

Out of Scope Out of scope are pre-applications and applications that:

• Fail to address the research area specified above;

• Fail to describe the kinds of scientific-computing workloads and visualization aspects;

• Propose work focusing on quantum computing;

• Propose work focusing on an area that is not related to laboratory automation needs within scope of SC; or

• Fail to explain/describe the relevance of the work proposed to current and future high-performance computing platforms and/or data-centric science as well as relevance to the mission of SC and ASCR.

Projects that fall within the out-of-scope areas described above will be declined without review.

References

1. DOE Workshop Report: Envisioning Science in 2050 – Report of a Community of Interest Workshop on Future Scientific Methodologies (Sections 5.1 and 5.8), https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1871683

2. DOE Workshop brochure: Visualization for Scientific Discovery, Decision-Making, and Communication, https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1845708

3. Advanced Research Directions on AI for Science, Energy and Security (5.3.1 Automation-Specific Capabilities), https://www.anl.gov/sites/www/files/2023- 06/AI4SESReport-2023-v6.pdf

B) Scalable Space-Time Memories for Large Discrete/Agent-Based Models Technical Contact: Kalyan Perumalla, Kalyan.Perumalla@science.doe.gov

Parallel discrete event simulation (PDES) and agent-based model simulation (ABMS) underlie multiple important applications that are relevant to the DOE mission [1]. However, runtime engines that drive PDES and ABMS have been distinct from each other largely because of fundamentally different modes of memory-based interactions. While PDES involves predominantly message-oriented asynchronous interactions across virtual time, ABMS involves primarily direct access-oriented memory-based interactions with synchronous or time-stepped evolution of virtual time. Novel, unified paradigms for PDES and ABMS can be enabled by relaxing the memory model to a new “space-time memory” view that offers the potential for highly simplified, shared-memory semantics, albeit expanded by an additional time dimension, to express distributed dependencies and interactions along the virtual timeline. New interfaces and optimized runtimes are solicited that enable and build on such a relaxation.

Research proposed in this topic is encouraged to primarily focus on challenges in developing the space-time memory-based modeling and execution approach based on conservative synchronization. Accordingly, each pre-application and application for research in this topic must address, as its primary focus, one or more innovative methods for space-time memory that

(a) serves as a unifying, scalable substrate for PDES and ABMS engines and models, (b) enables transparent and extreme scalability of the unified approach to the largest parallel and heterogeneous computing platforms, and (c) is demonstrated with an application domain relevant to DOE (see illustrations in the recent DOE report [1]). The challenges addressed by the https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1871683 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1845708 https://www.anl.gov/sites/www/files/2023-06/AI4SESReport-2023-v6.pdf https://www.anl.gov/sites/www/files/2023-06/AI4SESReport-2023-v6.pdf mailto:Kalyan.Perumalla@science.doe.gov proposed work may include, but are not limited to, mapping and combination of PDES and ABMS models to space-time-memory interfaces, scalability of runtime systems ultimately to leadership-scale computing, dynamic load-balancing techniques, transparent movement and management of model state across physical memories, or execution on graphics processing units (GPUs) and/or other accelerators.

ASCR expects that other aspects of creating high-performance PDES implementations, such as optimistic synchronization and speculative-execution techniques, are likely to be orthogonal to the primary research focus, and accordingly, may be deferred to future work.

Out of Scope Out of scope are pre-applications and applications that:

• Fail to address the research area specified above;

• Focus on the development of optimistic/speculative or hybrid synchronization methods;

or

• Propose work that is not applicable to multiple DOE-related scientific domains.

1. “Computer Science Research Needs for Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES),” DOE PDES Roundtable Report, 2022, https://doi.org/10.2172/1855247

2. “Space-Time Memory: A Parallel Programming Abstraction for Interactive Multimedia Applications,” U. Ramachandran, et al, 1999, https://doi.org/10.1145/329366.301121

C) Neuromorphic Computing Technical Contact: Robinson Pino, Robinson.Pino@science.doe.gov

Neuromorphic computing spans a broad range of scientific disciplines from emerging devices, engineering, computer science to neuroscience, all of which are required to solve the neuromorphic computing grand challenge. The aim of this topic is to support high risk and high reward research in computational neuroscience- and biologically inspired computing architectures with emphasis on analog applications on energy-efficient emerging microelectronic circuitry. The aim is to investigate neuromorphic computing architectures that will accelerate AI for scientific research applications while delivering energy efficiency.

This topic is specific to the modeling, fabrication, and/or prototyping of neuromorphic computing architectures for generalizable applications emphasizing analog approaches, devices, algorithms, and energy efficiency. Applications must address state-of-the-art and propose to investigate basic research approaches beyond the state-of-the-art. In addition, pre-applications and applications must clearly articulate a computational neuroscience-based justification and rationale for the proposed research approach through energy-efficient hardware implementations that leverage emerging devices and architectures.

Out of Scope Topics that are out of scope include:

https://doi.org/10.2172/1855247 https://doi.org/10.1145/329366.301121 mailto:Robinson.Pino@science.doe.gov

• Research that does not address the specific topic described above;

• Statistical, probabilistic, reservoir, or digital approaches to neuromorphic computing;

• Projects that solely focus on materials-science research;

• Projects that do not propose fabrication; or

• Projects that do not propose incorporation of emerging devices (non- complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)).

Projects that fall within the out-of-scope areas described above will be declined without review.

References

1. DOE Workshop report: Neuromorphic Computing – Architectures, Models, and Applications, June 2016. https://science.osti.gov/- /media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/Post- Workshop_Report_2016_Neuromorphic_Computing.pdf

2. DOE Workshop report: Neuromorphic Computing – From Materials Research to Systems Architecture, https://science.osti.gov/- /media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/Neuromorphic-Computing- Report_FNLBLP.pdf

D) Advanced Wireless Technical Contact: Robinson Pino, Robinson.Pino@science.doe.gov

The expanding national rollout, research, and development of next generation advanced wireless networks (5G, 6G and beyond), coupled with the torrent of scientific data generated by next-generation devices such as battery-powered Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, has created an opportunity to apply cutting-edge wireless technology and to determine approaches by which it may benefit and enhance our scientific mission. Rapidly-expanding, new telecommunications infrastructure based on advanced wireless technologies has the potential to disrupt and transform how we design, build, operate, and optimize scientific infrastructure and the experiments and services enabled by that infrastructure, from continental-scale sensor networks to centralized scientific user facilities, from intelligent sensors to supercomputers.

This topic focuses in supporting basic research to increase our understanding of how we could:

• Effectively integrate data collection from advanced wireless sensors or edge computing devices through enhanced or new computational software tools that can provide end-to-end services such as data movement, analysis, integrity, and performance optimization.

• Propose programming framework approaches that will enable effective data collection, movement and analysis (in situ or external) to span the continuum from wireless to scientific user facilities, data centers, and high-performance computing.

Out of Scope Applications not focused on advanced wireless (5G, 6G, or beyond) approaches with clearly justified scientific application to the research directions mentioned above will be considered out of scope and will be declined without review.

https://science.osti.gov/-/media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/Post-Workshop_Report_2016_Neuromorphic_Computing.pdf https://science.osti.gov/-/media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/Post-Workshop_Report_2016_Neuromorphic_Computing.pdf https://science.osti.gov/-/media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/Post-Workshop_Report_2016_Neuromorphic_Computing.pdf https://science.osti.gov/-/media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/Neuromorphic-Computing-Report_FNLBLP.pdf https://science.osti.gov/-/media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/Neuromorphic-Computing-Report_FNLBLP.pdf https://science.osti.gov/-/media/ascr/pdf/programdocuments/docs/Neuromorphic-Computing-Report_FNLBLP.pdf mailto:Robinson.Pino@science.doe.gov

1. DOE Workshop report: Pete Beckman, 5G Enabled Energy Innovation: Advanced

Wireless Networks for Science, March 2020 Workshop Brochure, https://doi.org/10.2172/1606539

2. DOE Workshop report: Pete Beckman, et al, 5G Enabled Energy Innovation: Advanced Wireless Networks for Science, March 2020, Workshop Report, https://doi.org/10.2172/1606538

F) Quantum Hardware Emulation Technical Contact: Marco Fornari, Marco.Fornari@science.doe.gov

Quantum computing has emerged as a promising area for the development of disruptive technologies important to DOE’s mission. Great progress has been achieved in many aspects of the scientific endeavor of building quantum computing hardware and software infrastructures.

Presently, there are many competing qubit technologies with limits involving scalability, such as the number of qubits, connectivity, gate speed, and two-qubit gate fidelity.

This topic invites applications to conduct basic research that could be exploited for the development of a modular, open-source, virtual representation of quantum hardware that provide with the ability to mimic real responses with high-fidelity and could facilitate future testing and development of quantum software infrastructure developed for different qubit technologies.

The proposed research should put solid foundation in creating synergy between currently available software tools, data, and hardware specifications [1]. Applications should clearly state which properties of a quantum hardware the emulator will incorporate, how a emulator with these properties can be used for testing a software stack for quantum computing, and how the emulator’s performance will be evaluated. Applicants are encouraged to harvest the power of high-performance computing (HPC) of classical (non-quantum) hardware. Note that the allocation of ASCR HPC resources to individual projects is contingent on review and award through the processes as described at https://science.osti.gov/ascr/Facilities/Accessing-ASCR- Facilities.

Out of Scope Topics that are out of scope include:

• Quantum networking;

• Quantum algorithms development; or

• Error-correction methods.

1. “ASCR Basic Research Needs in Quantum Computing and Networking” (Brochure), July 2023, https://doi.org/10.2172/2001044.

https://doi.org/10.2172/1606539 https://doi.org/10.2172/1606538 mailto:Marco.Fornari@science.doe.gov https://science.osti.gov/ascr/Facilities/Accessing-ASCR-Facilities https://science.osti.gov/ascr/Facilities/Accessing-ASCR-Facilities https://doi.org/10.2172/2001044

Open Science

SC is dedicated to promoting the values of openness in Federally supported scientific research, including, but not limited to, ensuring that research may be reproduced and that the results of Federally supported research are made available to other researchers. These objectives may be met through any number of mechanisms including, but not limited to, data access plans, data sharing agreements, the use of archives and repositories, and the use of various licensing schemes.

The use of the phrase “open-source” does not refer to any particular licensing arrangement, but is to be understood as encompassing any arrangement that furthers the objective of openness.

Applications from for-profit organizations that propose research related to current commercial activity may be declined without merit review.

Multi-Institutional Teams

Applications for multi-institutional teams must ensure that that the lead institution requests more funding than any other institution on the team. Requests to change the institution receiving the greatest funding after an application is submitted will result in the application being declined unless the request is the result of the lead PI’s death, incapacitation, or relocation.

COLLABORATIVE APPLICATIONS

Teams of multiple institutions may submit collaborative applications. Each submitted application in such a team must indicate that it is part of a collaborative project/group. Every partner institution must submit an application through its own sponsored research office. Each multi-institutional team can have only one lead institution. Each application within the multi-institutional team, including the narrative, starting with the title page, and all required appendices and attachments, must be identical with the following exceptions:

• Each application must contain a correct SF-424 (R&R)3 cover page [or a PAMS cover page] for the submitting institution only.

• Each application must contain a unique budget corresponding to the expenditures for that application’s submitting institution only.

• Each application must contain a unique budget justification corresponding to the expenditures for that application’s submitting institution only.

• Each application must contain a Project/Performance Site Location(s) form for the submitting institution and its subawards.

• Each application must include a list for the Identification of Merit Review Conflicts for the submitting institution’s senior/key personnel and its subawards’ senior/key personnel.

• Each application must include a Research and Related Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) form with the biographical sketches and current and pending support from that institution’s

3 The Standard Form 424 (SF-424) family of forms is used to apply for Federal financial assistance through https://www.Grants.gov. The Research and Related (R&R) set of forms is used by the Office of Science.

https://www.grants.gov/ senior/key personnel. The applicant leading the multi-institutional team must include biographical sketches and current and pending support from each institution’s senior/key personnel.

Our intent is to create from the various applications associated with a multi-institutional team one document for merit review that consists of the common, identical materials combined with a set of detailed budgets from the partner institutions. Each team member’s application must contain the same project title. Team members may use Grants.gov Workspace(s), webforms, and their system-to-system services in any combination.

SUBAWARDS4

Multi-institutional teams may submit one application from a designated lead institution with all other team members proposed as subrecipients.

DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) National Laboratories5, other Federal agencies, and another Federal agency’s FFRDCs6, if participating in a team led by another institution, may be proposed as subrecipients.

Note that the value of any such proposed subaward will be removed from any such prime award:

DOE will make separate awards to Federally affiliated institutions.

DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN COLLABORATIVE APPLICATIONS AND SUBAWARDS

The following points of advice to applicants may be helpful:

1. Both collaborative applications and proposed subawards are methods by which multiple institutions can work together to reach the scientific objectives described in this FOA.

Choose the appropriate structure based on the nature of the scientific work being proposed. If multiple institutions will be functioning as a network of peer-level researchers, a collaborative structure would be more appropriate. If multiple institutions will be functioning with leadership and direction coming from one institution, a subaward arrangement would be more appropriate.

a. Collaborative applications are assembled from multiple identical applications submitted by the proposing institution. Such applications may be submitted under this FOA in Grants.gov. The multiple applications will be assembled into one joint collaborative application, which will be merit-reviewed as one document, with recommendations to fund or decline the application made at the level of each independent application.

b. Subawards exist when multiple institutions work together to submit one application with a designated prime recipient and multiple potential subrecipients.

4 Subawards are made to subrecipients. Both terms are defined in 2 CFR 200.1 (https://www.ecfr.gov) 5 The phrase “National Laboratories” is used broadly to encompass DOE/NNSA laboratories and sites capable of performing the work described in this FOA and capable of receiving funds through the DOE Field Work System.

6 An authoritative list of all Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) may be found at https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdclist/ https://www.ecfr.gov/ https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/ffrdclist/

c. DOE/NNSA National Laboratories, other Federal agencies, and another Federal agency’s FFRDCs may be proposed as subrecipients, but the value of any such proposed subaward may be removed from any such prime award: DOE will often make separate awards to Federally affiliated institutions.

2. A well-thought-out research plan and its associated budget(s) should leave no confusion about which institution will do which parts of the research.

Section II – AWARD INFORMATION

II.A. TYPE OF AWARD INSTRUMENT

DOE anticipates awarding grants, interagency agreements, and National Laboratory authorizations under this FOA.

DOE will consider funding multi-institution teams submitted as collaborative applications, in which each institution must submit its own application with an identical common project narrative, under this FOA. Multi-institutional teams may also apply using a prime and subaward model with one application submitted by the lead institution.

II.B. ESTIMATED FUNDING

DOE anticipates that, subject to the availability of future year appropriations, a total of $8 million in current and future fiscal year funds will be used to support awards under this FOA.

DOE is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated with preparation or submission of applications. DOE reserves the right to fund, in whole or in part, any, all, or none of the applications submitted in response to this FOA.

II.C. MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM AWARD SIZE

(See B. Estimated Funding above.)

The award size will depend on the number of meritorious applications and the availability of appropriated funds.

The ceiling and floor specified below are for total costs, both direct and indirect costs.

The maximum and minimum award size are dependent on how applicants and their team members are classified with the following information:

1. The Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education can be found at https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu. A list of institutions with very high research activity (R1 institutions) is available at https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/institutions/?inst=&basic2021__du%5B%5D=15. A list of institutions with high research activity (R2 institutions) is available at https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/institutions/?inst=&basic2021__du%5B%5D=16.

For this FOA, an institution’s designation is determined by its presence on this list as of the deadline for any submission.

2. MSIs are understood broadly to include, but not be limited to, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Asian American Native American and Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNHs), Native American Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs), and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). Institutions listed in the Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/ https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/institutions/?inst=&basic2021__du%5B%5D=15 https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/institutions/?inst=&basic2021__du%5B%5D=16 are not MSIs. The US Department of Education list of HBCUs can be found at:

https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/one-hundred-and-five-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/. The US Department of Education maintains records of institutions eligible for recognition as MSIs at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/idues/eligibility.html. For the purposes of this FOA, institutions marked in the most recent eligibility matrix as either being eligible to receive funding or as receiving funding for any program other than SIP will be considered an MSI. For this FOA, an institution’s designation is determined by its presence on these lists as of the deadline for any submission.

3. SC has posted a list of institutions with their Carnegie Classifications, designations as MSIs, and ERIs at https://science.osti.gov/grants/Applicant-and-Awardee-Resources/Institution- Designations. This list is offered as a convenience and is not exhaustive.

4. SC follows the same criteria for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) as the National Science Foundation does, as described at https://new.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/epscor-criteria-eligibility. EPSCoR jurisdictions are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, US Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

A multi-institutional team, whether applied for as a prime applicant with subawards or as collaborative applications, must request, in aggregate, exactly:

• $550,000 per year, for teams led by a DOE National Laboratory and for which at least one non-R1 minority serving institution (MSI) or EPSCoR academic institution submits an application

• $500,000 per year, for all other teams led by a DOE National Laboratory

• $300,000 per year, for teams led by a non-R1 minority serving institution (MSI) or

EPSCoR academic institution

• $250,000 per year, for all other teams

For the avoidance of doubt, note that a team might consist of only one institution.

Applications from teams not requesting this amount of support will be declined without further review.

Ceiling

• DOE National Laboratories: $500,000 per year

• Non-R1 minority serving institution (MSI) or EPSCoR academic institution: $300,000 per year

• All other applicants: $250,000 per year

Applications requesting more than this amount of support will be declined without further review.

https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/one-hundred-and-five-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/ https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/one-hundred-and-five-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/ https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/idues/eligibility.html https://science.osti.gov/grants/Applicant-and-Awardee-Resources/Institution-Designations https://science.osti.gov/grants/Applicant-and-Awardee-Resources/Institution-Designations https://new.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/epscor/epscor-criteria-eligibility

Floor

$100,000 per year

Applications requesting less than this amount of support will be declined without further review.

Note that this floor restriction applies in combination with the requirement above on the total amount of support requested by the team in aggregate. Only when applying as part of a multi-institutional team using collaborative applications can an institution request less than the ceiling.

II.D. EXPECTED NUMBER OF AWARDS

(See B. Estimated Funding above.)

The exact number of awards will depend on the number of meritorious applications and the availability of appropriated funds.

II.E. ANTICIPATED AWARD SIZE

(See B. Estimated Funding above.)

The award size will depend on the number of meritorious applications and the availability of appropriated funds.

II.F. PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

(See B. Estimated Funding above.)

DOE anticipates making awards with a project period of two years.

Continuation funding (funding for the second and subsequent budget periods) is contingent on:

(1) availability of funds appropriated by Congress and future year budget authority; (2) progress towards meeting the objectives of the approved application; (3) submission of required reports;

and (4) compliance with the terms and conditions of the award.

II.G. TYPE OF APPLICATION

DOE will only accept new applications under this FOA.

Section III – ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

III.A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

All types of applicants are eligible to apply, except nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995.

Federally affiliated7 entities must adhere to the eligibility standards below:

III.A.1. DOE/NNSA National Laboratories

DOE/NNSA National Laboratories are eligible to submit applications (either as a lead organization or as a team member in a multi-institutional team) under this FOA and may be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. If recommended for funding as a lead applicant or a team member, funding will be provided through the DOE Field-Work Proposal System and work will be conducted under the laboratory’s contract with DOE. No administrative provisions of this FOA will apply to the laboratory or any laboratory subcontractor. If recommended for funding as a proposed subrecipient, the value of the proposed subaward will be removed from the prime applicant’s award and will be provided to the laboratory through the DOE Field-Work Proposal System and work will be conducted under the laboratory’s contract with DOE. Additional instructions for securing authorization from the cognizant Contracting Officer are found in Section VIII of this FOA.

III.A.2. Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs

Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to submit applications (either as a lead organization or as a team member in a multi-institutional team) under this FOA and may be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. If recommended for funding as a lead applicant or a team member, funding will be provided through an interagency agreement Award to the FFRDC’s sponsoring Federal Agency. If recommended for funding as a proposed subrecipient, the value of the proposed subaward may be removed from the prime applicant’s award and may be provided through an Inter-Agency Award to the FFRDC’s sponsoring Federal Agency. Additional instructions for securing authorization from the cognizant Contracting Officer are found in Section VIII of this FOA.

III.A.3. Other Federal Agencies

Other Federal Agencies are eligible to submit applications under this FOA and may be proposed as subrecipients under another organization’s application. If recommended for funding as a lead applicant, funding will be provided through an interagency agreement. If recommended for funding as a proposed subrecipient, the value of the proposed subaward may be removed from

7 Institutions that are not DOE/NNSA National Laboratories, a non-DOE/NNSA FFRDC, or another Federal agency are not Federally affiliated, even if they receive Federal funds or perform work under a Federal award or contract.

the prime applicant’s award and may be provided through an interagency agreement. Additional instructions for providing statutory authorization are found in Section VIII of this FOA.

Notes for applicants of all types:

• Non-domestic applicants are advised that successful applications from non-domestic applicants include a detailed demonstration of how the applicant possesses skills, resources, and abilities that do not exist among potential domestic applicants.

This FOA seeks to support basic research to advance understanding rather than to address commercial opportunities. Applications that propose research related to current commercial activity or current customer needs may be declined without merit review.

Applications that are submitted by applicants that have not submitted a required pre-application will be declined without further review.

III.B. COST SHARING

Cost sharing for basic and fundamental research is not required pursuant to an exclusion from the requirements of Section 988 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

Cost sharing is not required of DOE/NNSA National Laboratories, other Federal agencies, another Federal agency’s FFRDC, or their subcontractors at any tier. DOE/NNSA National Laboratories, other Federal agencies, and another Federal agency’s FFRDC may impose cost-sharing requirements on their contractors subject to their policies and procedures.

III.C. ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS

Individuals with the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to carry out the proposed research as a Principal Investigator (PI) are invited to work with their organizations to develop an application. Individuals from underrepresented groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always encouraged to apply.

III.D. LIMITATIONS ON SUBMISSIONS

Applicant institutions are limited to both:

• No more than a total of five pre-applications or applications as the lead institution in a single-or multi-institutional team.

• No more than one pre-application or application for each PI at the applicant institution.

The PI on a pre-application or application may also be listed as a senior or key personnel on separate submissions without limitation.

For multi-institutional teams with one or more DOE National Laboratories, but where a DOE National Laboratory is not the lead institution, including cases where DOE National Laboratories are proposed as subrecipients, the DOE National Laboratory effort, in aggregate, shall not exceed 60% percent of the total estimated cost of the project.

Should DOE receive submissions in excess of the applicable limits, DOE reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to request additional or clarifying information to ascertain the institution’s intended submissions. Otherwise, DOE will consider the latest received submissions to be the institution’s intended submissions.

• Pre-applications in excess of the limited number of submissions will be discouraged.

• Applications in excess of the limited number of submissions will be declined without review.

Section IV – APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

IV.A. ADDRESS TO REQUEST APPLICATION PACKAGE

Application forms and instructions are available at Grants.gov. To access these materials, go to https://www.Grants.gov, select “Search Grants”, and then enter the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number (81.049) and/or the FOA number shown on the cover of this FOA.

Select the “Apply” button to access the application package.

Applications submitted through www.FedConnect.net will not be accepted. Applications may not be submitted through PAMS at https://pamspublic.science.energy.gov.

IV.B. LETTER OF INTENT (LOI) AND PRE-APPLICATION

IV.B.1. Letter of Intent (LOI)

Not applicable.

IV.B.2. Pre-application

PRE-APPLICATION DUE DATE

The pre-application due date is printed on the cover of the FOA.

ENCOURAGE/DISCOURAGE DATE

The pre-application response date is printed on the cover of the FOA.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted by the date indicated on the cover of the

FOA.

Pre-applications will be reviewed for responsiveness of the proposed work to the research topics identified in this FOA. DOE will send a response by email to each applicant encouraging or discouraging the submission of an application by the date indicated on the cover of the FOA.

Applicants who have not received a response regarding the status of their pre-application by this date are responsible for contacting the program to confirm…