Problem Statement

The High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP)’s current computing ecosystem cannot keep pace with rapidly evolving mission and technology demands, creating fragmented user experiences, manual workflows, and limited scalability across government and commercial resources. The environment lacks the portability, interoperability, and automation needed to securely deliver HPC services in a hybrid model without vendor dependence, risking reduced mission responsiveness, higher lifecycle costs, and weakened long-term sustainability. 

Background

Aligned with government acquisition reform priorities, this project emphasizes commercial readiness, cost efficiency, scalability, and vendor-agnostic practices to ensure the HPCMP remains adaptable and sustainable. Solutions are encouraged to address the unique requirements of HPCMP’s federated enterprise and enclave security while considering critical factors such as data egress/ingress costs, operational flexibility, and long-term economic viability.

Project Objective

This project aims to identify innovative solutions that will enable the HPCMP to modernize its user experience, enable a hybrid cloud architecture, automate workflows, and integrate a secure data fabric, while preventing vendor lock-in. The objective is not only to modernize the HPCMP, but to build a capability and business model that is strategically advantageous to the government by rethinking foundational elements such as data storage, processing, security, and accessibility. The desired outcome is a sovereign, cloud-enabled, AI-driven platform that empowers the government to maintain technological superiority.

Requirements

Solutions may address one or more of the following key focus areas:

• Unified Service Layer: Design a unified HPCMP Service Layer integrating portal, CLI, and API capabilities for a consistent user experience, and implement workflow orchestration, policy-as-code guardrails, and observability tools.
• Hybrid Cloud Architecture: Propose scalable hybrid cloud models that integrate government-owned and commercial cloud resources across all classification levels, addressing data portability and hardware refresh cycles.
• AI-Powered Orchestration: Create intelligent orchestration layers to automate provisioning, workload execution, and data management with intuitive interfaces for AI/ML, simulation, and data pipelines.
• Secure Data Fabric: Build a unified data layer that enables seamless discovery, tagging, and utilization of diverse data sources while implementing advanced security measures, including Zero Trust architecture.
• User Experience Modernization: Redesign the Portal to the Information Environment (pIE) to provide a seamless user experience and propose concierge support services to enhance user engagement.
• Vendor Lock-In Prevention: Adhere to open standards (e.g., OpenStack, Kubernetes, OpenAPI) and design modular architectures to ensure interoperability and allow components to be replaced or upgraded independently. 

Select a Submission Type

Collaboration with ERDC takes many forms. Please utilize one or both submission pathways below to pursue various options.

Tech Challenge: A tech challenge offers the opportunity to express interest in Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA) which support in-kind collaboration as well as fee-for-service availability of ERDC research team members.

Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO): CSO submissions will be reviewed by ERDC and downselected offerors may, depending on funds availability, be approached for negotiation of funded prototype development or other contract/agreement deliverables. 

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