Special Program Announcement Computational Methods for Decision Making Resource Optimization, Image Understanding, Information Integration, and Cyber Security | Apply Online

FAQs: ONR Special Program Announcement (submit under ONRBAA11-001)

1) What is this ONR opportunity trying to accomplish?

This Special Program Announcement from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) focuses on advancing computational methods that improve decision making in mission-driven, complex operational environments. It emphasizes autonomous information processing that can ingest, interpret, and fuse data from many sources to produce actionable understanding, while remaining secure and trustworthy.

2) What topic areas are included in the scope?

The scope spans resource optimization, image understanding, information integration, and cyber security, with a central emphasis on automated multi-source data analysis and interpretation for improved situational understanding (including "battlespace" understanding).

3) What are the main technical outcomes ONR is seeking?

The announcement frames goals around three outcomes: (1) identifying and deeply understanding key technical issues limiting decision-support automation, (2) developing and maturing new algorithms and methods that address those issues, and (3) determining and demonstrating how well the resulting techniques perform.

4) Does ONR expect proposals to include evaluation and demonstration plans?

Yes. The notice indicates proposals are expected to go beyond purely conceptual discussion and include credible paths to evaluation, such as experiments, benchmarking, prototypes, demonstrations, or other evidence that the methods work and can scale to realistic conditions.

5) What does "automated multi-source data analysis and interpretation" mean in this announcement?

It refers to systems that can automatically analyze multiple streams of information, interpret what the data means in context, and combine both raw data and intermediate interpretations across sources. The intended end state is improved situational understanding.

6) What kinds of technical capabilities are called out as relevant examples?

The announcement highlights capabilities such as robust image and signal understanding, detection and classification, tracking, event recognition, anomaly detection, and reasoning under uncertainty, especially when inputs are noisy, incomplete, deceptive, or changing over time.

7) How important is reasoning under uncertainty in this program?

It is explicitly emphasized, particularly because the operational inputs may be noisy, incomplete, deceptive, or time-varying. Approaches that can still generate reliable interpretations and decisions under those conditions align with the stated needs.

8) What is meant by "resource and sensor management" in this context?

ONR signals interest in methods that not only interpret data, but also manage collection and computation. This includes deciding which sensors to task, how to allocate limited resources, what data to prioritize, and how to adapt sensing and processing strategies as the mission evolves.

9) What methods are mentioned related to resource optimization and decision theory?

The notice references constrained optimization, planning, scheduling, adaptive sampling, and feedback-driven collection strategies that improve the quality and timeliness of situational awareness.

10) Is cyber security a separate topic area or a requirement throughout?

Both. Cyber security is included as a domain and also described as a cross-cutting requirement tied to successful and secure mission execution, particularly for autonomous systems handling diverse data sources.

11) What kinds of cyber-related approaches appear to fit the announcement?

Examples mentioned include resilience to cyber threats, protecting integrity and confidentiality of data, reducing vulnerabilities in the software and system stack, secure information fusion, trustworthy autonomy, anomaly detection in cyber environments, and methods that help systems continue functioning despite attack, disruption, or degraded communications.

12) What does ONR mean by "trustworthy" autonomous information processing?

Based on the notice, it implies systems that are secure and resilient, protect data integrity and confidentiality, reduce vulnerabilities, and can continue operating under adverse conditions (including cyber attack or degraded communications), while producing reliable decision-support outputs.

13) How much emphasis is placed on software implementation (not just algorithms)?

A strong emphasis is stated. ONR explicitly calls out building high-performance software systems that are defect-free and trustworthy to implement the algorithms and strategies, pointing to expectations beyond theory alone.

14) What kinds of software engineering expectations are implied?

The notice suggests expectations around implementable, efficient, reliable software capable of running under operational constraints. It also points to rigorous software development practices, validation and verification where appropriate, reproducibility, measurable performance metrics, and credible claims about robustness and trustworthiness.

15) Is this Special Program Announcement a standalone application route?

No. Applicants are instructed not to apply under the Special Notice itself. Full proposals must be submitted under the broader solicitation ONRBAA11-001, using that solicitation's application instructions and package.

16) Which solicitation should applicants use to submit a full proposal?

Applicants should submit full proposals under ONRBAA11-001 (as referenced in the notice) and follow the instructions and package for that solicitation.

17) What types of funding instruments are expected for this opportunity?

The notice lists grants and procurement contracts as funding instruments.

18) How much total funding is estimated, and how many awards are expected?

The estimated total funding is $2,500,000, with an expected number of awards of about 10.

19) Is cost sharing or matching required?

No cost sharing or matching requirement is stated in the notice.

20) What is the CFDA number associated with this program?

The program is associated with CFDA 12.300 (Basic and Applied Scientific Research).

21) When was the announcement posted and what were the proposal due dates?

The announcement was posted March 30, 2011. Full proposals were originally due June 28, 2011, and the notice indicates an updated closing date of July 6, 2011.

22) What happens if a proposal is submitted after the deadline?

The notice states that proposals submitted after the deadline could be considered only if agency time and funds remained available.

23) Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is not fully specified in the notice itself. Applicants are directed to the eligibility guidance in ONRBAA11-001.

24) Who is the point of contact listed for this opportunity?

The listed point of contact is Casey W. Ross, Contract Specialist, at 703-696-7826.

25) Where should applicants direct Grants.gov questions?

The notice indicates Grants.gov questions should be handled through the usual Grants.gov channels.

26) What kind of work is ONR looking to fund overall?

The notice describes discretionary support for science and technology research and development that advances autonomous decision-support and decision-making systems, especially by improving interpretation and fusion of heterogeneous information, managing sensing and computational resources, and maintaining security and trustworthiness, with meaningful performance evaluation and implementation in reliable high-performance software.