Specialised Facilities

In addition to the NCI National Facility, high-end computational research in Australia is services by a number of regional and discipline / application specific installations, a number of which provide services tailored to the needs of particular research communities.

Through the Specialised Facilities (SF) program, NCI seeks to extend the range of high-end services available through its Merit Allocation Scheme by acquiring access, through subcontract agreements, to specialised facilities and services in particular application / discipline areas for which there exists a demonstrated need.

In this context, services would be interpreted as a package of computational resources, access to a range of specialist software, and the accompanying expert support that provides for the computational needs of a particular research community. 

During Q3 of 2008, a call for Expressions of Interest (EoI) from providers of high-end computing services for Expressions of Interest in taking part in the NCI Specialised Facilities program will be issued.  The criteria by which these EoI will be assessed include:

• the extent of the demand for the facility by ‘high-end’ users in the Australian research community, including the NCRIS capability areas;
• the access to the specialised facility and user support that will be provided for researchers Australia-wide;
• the characteristics of the specialised facility and the manner in which it complements the capabilities of the National Facility;
• the proposed investment in the specialised facility represents good value in comparison with other possible investments;
• the host organisation is capable of providing the required level of service to users as a component of the ‘national advanced computing infrastructure’;
• the host organisation is able to implement policies, system scheduling and processes to accommodate projects granted resources under the NCI Merit Allocation Scheme.