DARPA/ISO has issued BAA 98-01 soliciting proposals in agent-based systems and architectures, due 07Jan98. Ensembles of cooperating agents are of particular interest, esp. if able to assess a situation, form and execute plans, or protect the information infrastructure (without introducing dangerous or chaotic behavior). DARPA is looking for interoperability standards, including an agent reference model, agent-agent communications standards, agent-software communications (API) standards, and benchmarking and evaluation standards; also agent system construction tools and simulation/testing environments. Component capabilities may include distributed AI-based techniques such as planning, scheduling, execution monitoring, knowledge-sharing, and acting. $3M may be available in FY98; total funding over 5 years is expected to be $50M. Douglas Dyer ; 703-516-6065 Fax ("ATTENTION ABS"). (search under "solicitation"). [Michael N. Huhns , DAI-List, 24Nov97.]

NIST's FY98 budget appropriation of $678M is now official. The Advanced Technology Program (ATP) will get $192.5M, of which up to $82M will be available for FY98 cost-shared grants with industry. [NIST Update, 08Dec97.]

The new GRANTS list focuses on all aspects of grants and US/Canadian foundations, including grant seeking in any subject area. (In the US, foundations contributed an estimated $11.83B to nonprofits in 1996 -- a 12% increase over 1995.) Send a "subscribe grants your name" message to . Other lists and forums hosted by American Philanthropy Review are at . [, NEW-LIST, 06Dec97.]