Proposal to DARPA ISO for OBJS to act as a Coordination Agent for DARPA-OMG-W3C Technology Transition

Our proposal

Who at OBJS would be involved (Qualifications)?

• Frank Manola (70-90%) - resume: http://www.objs.com/manola.htm. Manola is a well-respected long-time researcher in the database and object technology communities with many years of active contributions to SDOs. He is active at OMG and is OBJS's representative to W3C. His well-respected DARPA-funded work (in IC&V) over the last year has been to understand W3C data modeling and OMG object modeling and propose a framework for Web Object modeling consistent with both approaches <http://www.objs.com/OSA/wom.htm>. This has required an in-depth understanding of both families of technology, something that is rare at present. Manola is based in Boston, where OMG and W3C are based.
• Craig Thompson (10-30%) - resume: http://www.objs.com/thompson.htm. Thompson is a co-author of the OMG Object Management Architecture (1991) and has been continuously active in OMG since. He currently co-chairs the OMG Internet SIG with Shel Sutton (MITRE) and has been active in the last year on a Next Generation OMA <http://www.objs.com/staging/OMG-OMA-NG.html>. He organized the OMG-DARPA Workshop on Compositional Software Architectures. He is PI on the DARPA IC&V contract Scaling Object Service Architectures to the Internet which has focused on developing web-object integration architectures. He has connections to key people on several SDOs that DARPA may be interested in. He is based in Plano, Texas, near Dallas.

What we propose to do

• T1. Develop and Execute DARPA SDO Technology Transition Plan and Status. We will develop a presentation on SDOs and review it with selected DARPA PMs in areas where technolog y transfer opportunities lie (long-term planning and roadmaps, security, QoS, C4I, logistics, ...). We will work with PMs to identify PIs with technology that might be ready for transition. We will participate in OMG and W3C meetings, acting as an agent for DARPA and voting for DARPA. We will keep PMs and PIs informed of OMG and W3C activities in these overlap areas. We will work with PMs and PIs to showcase or otherwise help to transition their technologies. This may involve an active role in helping to transfer individual technologies. In addition, we will also maintain close ties with other OMG members involved in DoD-related activities (especially Mitre: Shel Sutton <shel@mail06.mitre.org> is the technical representative; Bhavani Thuraisingham <thura@mail11.mitre.org> is the Business Representative. Others: Henry Rothkopf and Elizabeth Zeisler, Eric Hughes.) Finally, we will continue in our role as co-chair to the OMG Internet SIG.
• T2. Participate in W3C as a Visiting Engineer focused on Web-Object integration. The purpose of this activity is to actively engage in W3C to build a strong liaison from within. The technical effort should probably involve Web-Object modeling but possibly could also involve other Web-Object integration work like the HTTP-NG project. Currently, W3C and OMG have very little liaison with each other and neither is well connected to DARPA. A full-time assignment, with a strong technical foundation and a strong technology transition and liaison role would make the best connection.
• T3. Other Activities as Appropriate. In the course of this assignment, we expect to see other technology transition opportunities for DARPA, W3C, and OMG and will get involved if it makes sense to the DARPA sponsor to do so. For instance, this might involve organizing an OMG-W3C-DARPA workshop on topics of mutual interest to DARPA and SDOs (agents, compositional architectures, ...).

• D1. DARPA SDO Technology Transition Plan and Status. This plan will be a live web document accessible to DARPA that provides a mapping of SDO activities and DARPA programs, providing objectives of technology transition efforts and current status.
• D2. SDO and DARPA PI Workshop Trip Reports. Web-accessible trip reports will document SDO meetings and DARPA Workshops from the point of view of technology transfer activities. [For reference, past OBJS trip reports to OMG meetings are accessible at http://www.objs.com/omg/omg.html but they did not focus on DARPA technology transfer opportunities nor were they available to DARPA PMs and PIs except for Mills and Gunning.]
• D3. Status Reports. Monthly and Semiannual Reports will document progress.

Rough Cost Estimate

We assume a Cost Plus Fixed Fee contract with a 7% fee. [An alternative to creating a separate contract is to add money to the DARPA ICV/I*3 contract Scaling Object Service Architectures to the Internet, DAAL01-95-C-0112, AO C366, which is currently due to end on September 28, 1998. DARPA PMs: Kevin Mills and Dave Gunning). DAAL01 is CPFF with a 7% fee.]

Labor. Both Manola and Thompson are senior architects at OBJS. The rate for senior architects is $60.09/hour.  Manola will be assigned 70-90% to this task and Thompson 10-30%. We assume 75% availability.

OH and G&A. OBJS OH rate is 95% and G&A is 8%.

Travel.
 

Kind of Travel	#person/#days	# of trips	$/trip	mtg fee	Totals
OMG trips	1 person 5 days	6	$2,078	$175	$13,518
W3C trips	1 person 3 days	2	$1,697	$175	$3,744
DARPA reviews and meetings	1 person 1 day	4	$1,316	$0	$5,264
DARPA program workshops	1 person 3 days	6	$1,697	$225	$11,532
Total Travel					$22,526

 
DARPA Memberships in SDOs.  OBJS is itself a member of OMG ($2000) and W3C ($5000) paid for by overhead. DARPA should separately become a member of both organizations with OBJS voting as agent for DARPA where appropriate. DARPA membership costs will be OMG ($10,000) and W3C ($5,000).  These membership fees are not included in the above cost estimate.