Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0000619
Apply for DE FOA 0000619
- The Office of Science in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "2012 X Stack Programming Challenges, Runtime Systems, and Tools" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.049 Office of Science Financial Assistance Program.
- This funding opportunity was created on Nov 22, 2011 and posted on Nov 22, 2011.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 6, 2012. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- The funding agency has allocated a total of $15,000,000.00 to eligible and selected applicants.
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,500,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 15 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.
- All types of domestic entities are eligible to apply, except other Federal agencies, Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) Contractors, and nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995.
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Opportunity Summary:
The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, through the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), offered this 2012 funding opportunity to push forward the system software needed for exascale computing, often described as the "X Stack." The core idea is that the programming approaches and tools that worked well for high performance computing over the previous decade were not expected to hold up as machines moved toward exascale, where extreme parallelism, tighter energy limits, and rapidly changing processor designs make software development and performance tuning far more difficult. ASCR invited proposals for basic research that could deliver major advances across programming models, languages, compilers, runtime systems, and developer tools, with an emphasis on solutions that span multiple layers of the software stack rather than narrow, single-component upgrades.
A central motivation behind the announcement is the expected jump in platform complexity at exascale: energy-constrained operation, on the order of a billion-way parallelism, and significant architectural shifts (including heterogeneous and manycore designs). DOE signaled that future systems would require programming techniques that are not only fast, but also energy-aware and resilient, because faults become more common as system scale increases. At the same time, DOE wanted approaches that do not force scientific teams to rewrite and re-port large application codes every time a new machine generation arrives. In practice, that means research that offers a credible transition path for existing scientific applications so they can evolve toward exascale capabilities without becoming permanently tied to one vendor or one platform design.
The FOA spelled out several characteristics that proposed solutions were expected to address together. First, scalability: enabling applications to strongly scale to exascale levels of parallelism, not merely run at large scale with diminishing returns. Second, programmability: reducing the human burden on HPC programmers by making parallelism, locality, synchronization, and other performance-critical concerns easier to express and reason about. Third, performance portability: minimizing or eliminating repeated porting and extensive manual retuning as platforms change, so that code written against the new approaches can remain effective across multiple future architectures. Fourth, resilience: managing fault detection and recovery throughout the software stack, reflecting the reality that failures in exascale environments are not exceptional events but something software must expect and handle. Fifth, energy efficiency: exploiting dynamic opportunities to save energy, explicitly recognizing tradeoffs among energy, resilience, and performance and encouraging research that can navigate those tradeoffs intelligently.
This opportunity was framed by prior community work, pointing applicants to findings from ASCR workshops on exascale programming challenges and on exascale tools. Those workshops identified the kinds of barriers that emerge when existing models like traditional bulk-synchronous MPI plus node-level threading are pushed to unprecedented scales, and they highlighted needs for better debugging, performance analysis, correctness tools, and runtime support under extreme concurrency and hardware heterogeneity. By referencing those reports, DOE indicated that proposals should be grounded in well-articulated exascale pain points and should connect research contributions to measurable improvements in real developer workflows and application outcomes.
Administratively, the opportunity was issued as Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0000619 under CFDA 81.049 (Office of Science Financial Assistance Program). The funding instrument type was a cooperative agreement, which typically implies substantial federal involvement during the performance of the project compared with a standard grant. DOE anticipated making about 15 awards, with total estimated funding of $15,000,000. Individual awards were expected to fall between $500,000 (floor) and $1,500,000 (ceiling). No cost sharing or matching was required.
Eligibility was broadly open to domestic entities, described as unrestricted, with key exclusions: other federal agencies, Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) contractors, and certain 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995. The FOA was posted November 22, 2011, with an application deadline of February 6, 2012, and an archive date of May 7, 2012. The full announcement and application package were hosted through FedConnect, and DOE also noted a companion program announcement for DOE national laboratories (LAB 12-619) to be posted separately on the Office of Science Grants and Contracts site. Contact points listed included a DOE grant analyst (Marilyn M. Oyler) and program managers (Sonia R. Sachs and Lenore M. Mullin) for technical and administrative questions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is this funding opportunity about?
This 2012 Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science funding opportunity (run through the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, ASCR) focused on basic research to advance the system software needed for exascale computing. The effort is often described as the "X Stack" and includes work across programming models, languages, compilers, runtime systems, and developer tools.
What problem was DOE trying to solve with this FOA?
The FOA was motivated by the expectation that software approaches that worked well for high performance computing over the prior decade would not hold up as systems move toward exascale. DOE highlighted growing difficulty driven by extreme parallelism, tighter energy limits, and rapidly changing processor designs, which make software development and performance tuning substantially harder.
What does "exascale" imply in this FOA context?
In this FOA, exascale-era platforms were described as dramatically more complex, including energy-constrained operation, extremely high levels of parallelism (on the order of a billion-way parallelism), and significant architectural shifts such as heterogeneous and manycore designs.
What kinds of research topics were in scope?
ASCR invited proposals for basic research that could deliver major advances across multiple layers of the software stack, including programming models, languages, compilers, runtime systems, and developer tools. The emphasis was on solutions that span multiple layers rather than narrow upgrades to a single component.
Why did DOE emphasize multi-layer solutions instead of single-component improvements?
The FOA signaled that exascale challenges are cross-cutting. Scalability, programmability, performance portability, resilience, and energy efficiency are interdependent, and DOE encouraged approaches that address these characteristics together rather than in isolation.
What were the core characteristics proposals were expected to address?
The FOA outlined five characteristics that proposed solutions were expected to address together: scalability, programmability, performance portability, resilience, and energy efficiency.
What did DOE mean by "scalability" in this announcement?
Scalability was described as enabling applications to strongly scale to exascale levels of parallelism, not simply run at large scale with diminishing returns.
What did DOE mean by "programmability"?
Programmability referred to reducing the human burden on HPC programmers by making concerns like parallelism, locality, synchronization, and other performance-critical issues easier to express and reason about.
What did DOE mean by "performance portability"?
Performance portability was framed as minimizing or eliminating repeated porting and extensive manual retuning as platforms change, so code written against the proposed approaches can remain effective across multiple future architectures.
What did DOE mean by "resilience" for exascale software?
Resilience referred to managing fault detection and recovery throughout the software stack, reflecting the expectation that failures at exascale are not rare exceptions but conditions software must anticipate and handle.
What did DOE mean by "energy efficiency" in the software stack?
Energy efficiency focused on exploiting dynamic opportunities to save energy. The FOA explicitly recognized tradeoffs among energy, resilience, and performance and encouraged research that can navigate those tradeoffs intelligently.
Did DOE expect proposals to help existing scientific applications transition to exascale?
Yes. A stated goal was to avoid forcing scientific teams to rewrite and re-port large application codes for every new machine generation. DOE looked for approaches with a credible transition path for existing scientific applications so they can evolve toward exascale without becoming tied to a single vendor or platform design.
How did DOE suggest applicants ground their proposals in community needs?
The FOA pointed applicants to findings from ASCR workshops on exascale programming challenges and exascale tools. By referencing those reports, DOE indicated proposals should be grounded in clearly articulated exascale pain points and connect research contributions to measurable improvements in developer workflows and application outcomes.
What kinds of developer tools needs were highlighted?
The referenced workshop findings emphasized needs for better debugging, performance analysis, correctness tools, and runtime support under extreme concurrency and hardware heterogeneity.
What funding opportunity number and CFDA program apply to this opportunity?
The opportunity was issued as Funding Opportunity Number DE-FOA-0000619 under CFDA 81.049 (Office of Science Financial Assistance Program).
What was the funding instrument type?
The funding instrument type was a cooperative agreement.
What does it mean that the award is a cooperative agreement?
As described in the opportunity summary, a cooperative agreement typically implies substantial federal involvement during project performance compared with a standard grant.
How many awards did DOE anticipate making and what was the total estimated funding?
DOE anticipated making about 15 awards with total estimated funding of $15,000,000.
What was the expected award size range?
Individual awards were expected to range from $500,000 (floor) to $1,500,000 (ceiling).
Was cost sharing or matching required?
No cost sharing or matching was required.
Who was eligible to apply?
Eligibility was broadly open to domestic entities and described as unrestricted, subject to specific exclusions noted in the FOA.
Who was not eligible to apply?
The FOA excluded other federal agencies, Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) contractors, and certain 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995.
When was the FOA posted and when were applications due?
The FOA was posted on November 22, 2011, and the application deadline was February 6, 2012.
When was the opportunity archived?
The archive date listed for the opportunity was May 7, 2012.
Where were the full announcement and application package hosted?
The full announcement and application package were hosted through FedConnect.
Was there a related opportunity for DOE national laboratories?
Yes. DOE noted a companion program announcement for DOE national laboratories (LAB 12-619) to be posted separately on the Office of Science Grants and Contracts site.
Who were the contact points for questions about the opportunity?
Contacts listed included a DOE grant analyst (Marilyn M. Oyler) and program managers (Sonia R. Sachs and Lenore M. Mullin) for technical and administrative questions.
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