Strategic Resource Allocation Policy, Pricing
& FAQ

1. Update on NSCC Singapore Strategic Allocation Policy

NSCC Singapore has updated its Strategic Resource Allocation policy in response to the changing R&D landscape. HPC is becoming a strategic R&D resource and there is an unprecedented surge in demand for HPC resources. NSCC Singapore’s HPC resources will be centrally managed, and will move away from the model of institutional contributions.

 

The Strategic Resource Allocation is as follows.

Categories % Overseeing Body Key Objective
1
RIE-Funded Projects
60%
SRAC
Supports RIE-funded projects of national priorities and complexity.
2
Young Investigator Seed Project
7.5%
Respective IHLs
Support young PIs in their research career where their projects may not be able to compete with national projects. NSCC Singapore will allocate HPC resources to the Research Offices of IHLs to decide on further allocation to projects.
3
HPC Research
7.5%
NSCC Singapore
Promote and invest in HPC R&D to enhance HPC capabilities - tools, models, GPU/CPU optimization. Researchers who are keen to collaborate with NSCC are welcome to tap on this allocation.
4
Training and Promotion
5%
NSCC Singapore
Increase the pool of HPC talents through competency development projects.
5
SME/Startups
5%
Committee to be led by IMDA & ESG
Improve the competitiveness of SMEs/Startups through R&D.
6
Non-RIE-Funded Projects
15%
NSCC Singapore
Support research projects that are not funded by RIE.

This resource allocation will take effect from the 3rd Call for Project onwards and the resource allocation period for the 3rd Call is from September 2024 – June 2025. The allocations may be reviewed and revised as deemed necessary, e.g. in response to changing environments.

Please refer to the FAQs for more information. 

2. Role of Research Offices

  1. Point of contact: NSCC Singapore will liaise with the Research Office of each institution for the receipt of the applications to the Call for Projects and for the pre and post-award management to compute resources granted.
  2. Letter of Award: NSCC Singapore will consolidate the approved Call for Projects applications and prepare a Letter of Award to the Research Office.
  3. Acceptance / rejection: Upon receiving the Letter of Award, the Research Offices will respond to NSCC Singapore if they accept or reject the award, and subsequently communicate to their respective PIs.
  4. Invoicing via Research Offices: Projects successfully approved to use NSCC Singapore’s HPC resources will be invoiced via the host institution’s research office / project grant management offices, for each project cycle.

3. Key Points for Researchers

  1. All approved projects must have a HPC Compute Budget: Include a HPC Compute Budget for the entire project cycle.
  2. Estimating the HPC Compute Budget: to base on commercial Cloud Service Provider (CSP) rates of the respective institutions/organisations’ existing contracts. 
    1. Ensures that PIs have sufficient HPC Compute Budget for the CSPs, should their Call for Projects application be unsuccessful.
    2. All HPC Resources allocated are subjected to charges, as mandated by NRF. The charges will be based on NSCC Singapore’s RIE-funded projects rate.
  3. At Call for Projects application: PIs to submit projected resource demands on quarterly basis, for the entire duration of the project
  4. Realistic projection of resource demand: Plan realistically for the amount of HPC resources requested in the Call for Projects application. 
  5. Support for resource estimation: NSCC Singapore will provide support to assist PIs in the resource estimation, through training, and in-house experts who can provide advice. 
  6. Accountability and PI track record – PIs are expected to utilise their resources based on their projected resource demand. PIs can update their projected resource demand after the initial 6 months. Deviation from the projected resource demand will affect the PI’s application in future Calls for Projects.

4. 3rd Call for Projects

  1. Results will be announced in the first week of September through the Research Offices. Unsuccessful applicants will be notified by email by NSCC Singapore.
  2. Approved projects will receive 100% of their requested HPC resources for their projects’ duration. 
  3. HPC Compute Budget: PIs with approved projects need to ensure that their HPC Compute Budget is sufficient for the requested HPC resources. 
    1. Insufficient HPC Compute Budget: If the HPC Compute Budget for the project is insufficient, PIs can utilise the (insufficient) HPC Compute Budget to commence their research. However, PIs should approach the grant agency to secure an additional HPC Compute Budget for the required resources.
    2. No HPC Compute Budget: If there is no HPC Compute Budget, PIs should approach the grant agency to secure a HPC Compute Budget.
  4. PIs are required to submit their projected quarterly resource demand for their entire project cycle.
  5. The first two quarters are the adjustment period which NSCC will not penalise or invoice PIs for unconsumed HPC resources based on their projections. 
  6. For the first two quarters of each call, PIs are allowed to roll over unused allocated resources to the next quarter but not beyond the 3rd quarter. 
  7. For the first two quarters of each call, PIs are only charged according to their usage, not allocation. 
  8. After the first 6 months of the Call, PIs are required to submit an updated projected quarterly resource demand for their entire project cycle which may be multi year (3 or 5 years), through their respective Research Offices. 
  9. PIs are allowed to revise and submit their projected quarterly resource demand any time to encourage responsible and prudent usage of scarce HPC resources. 
  10. PIs will be charged according to their revised HPC allocation from the 3rd quarter onwards, based on their updated projected quarterly resource demand and not based on consumption. Any unused HPC resources will be invoiced.
  11. Additional resource request is subject to resource availability and SRAC approval.

5. Future Call for Projects

  1. Frequency: NSCC Singapore intends to do two Calls for Projects a year, subject to resource availability.
  2. Information will be published and communicated in due course.

6. NSCC Singapore Pricing for the Resource Allocation Categories

RIE-Funded Pricing

(S$) 		Non-RIE-Funded (Standard) Pricing*

(S$) 		Non-RIE-Funded (Premium) Pricing*

(S$)
CPU Core Hours
0.006
0.022
0.033
GPU Card Hours - A100 (40GB)
0.79
2.43
3.11
GPU Card Hours - H100
1.26
4.40
4.80
HDD Storage GB-month
0.021
0.029
0.029

*Non RIE-Funded projects

 – Standard pricing (projects that WILL be sharing data)

 – Premium pricing (projects that WILL NOT be sharing data)

FAQs

Updates to Strategic Resource Allocation Policy

As a National Research Infrastructure (NRI), NSCC Singapore updated its Strategic Resource Allocation Policy to align its resources to support key research projects to achieve significant economic outcomes and scientific imperatives for Singapore.

This resource allocation will take effect from the 3rd Call for Project (September 2024 – June 2025) onwards.

All projects will be reviewed and prioritized by the newStrategic Resource Allocation Committee (SRAC).

For future Calls for Projects, NSCC Singapore will be liaising directly with the Research Offices as a single point of contact to consolidate the Call for Projects applications.

 

NSCC Singapore will inform the Research Offices of upcoming Call for Projects and the Research Offices will inform the Principal Investigators (PIs) accordingly. For application to the Call for Projects, the PIs should submit their applications to the Research Offices, which will consolidate the applications and coordinate with NSCC Singapore.

PIs should send their Call for Projects applications to their respective Research Offices.

As an NRI, NSCC Singapore is mandated to impose charges for the allocated compute resources for cost recovery purposes and encourage responsible usage of national resources. Hence, applicants are strongly recommended to include a HPC Compute Budget for the compute resources as part of their overall project budget.

RIE-funded projects are research projects supported by RIE research grants i.e. IAF-PP, IAF-ICP. These projects typically will have grant IDs and such grants are usually listed in the Integrated Grant Management System (IGMS). If in doubt, researchers can check with their Implementing Agency. For these projects, NSCC Singapore’s RIE-funded project pricing rates apply.

 

Non-RIE-funded projects are projects whose funding comes from industry or government agencies’ budget. For these projects, NSCC Singapore’s non-RIE funded project pricing rates apply.

Call for Projects Application Matters

NSCC Singapore may issue two Calls for Projects per year, subject to resource availability. For details on the Call for Projects, please refer to theCall for Projects page.

Applications must include the following information:

 

1) Project title

2) Detailed description of the project

3) Funding source

4) Breakdown of computational requirements by CPU core hours, GPU card hours, storage (Gb/month)

5) HPC Compute Budget

6) Description of the expected outcomes and impact

7) Required HPC resources for the entire project duration, including annual compute projected usage and further breakdown of each year’s requirement by quarter

HPC Compute Budget: PIs with approved projects need to ensure that their HPC Compute Budget is sufficient for the requested HPC resources.

 

Insufficient HPC Compute Budget: If the HPC Compute Budget for the project is insufficient, PIs can utilise the (insufficient) HPC Compute Budget to commence their research. However, PIs should approach the grant agency to secure an additional HPC Compute Budget for the required resources.

 

No HPC Compute Budget: If there is no HPC Compute Budget, PIs should approach the grant agency to secure a HPC Compute Budget.

Non-RIE-funded projects can apply for the Non-RIE Project Category, which NSCC has allocated 15% of HPC resources to support such projects. Please reach out to NSCC at [email protected] for more information.

You may indicate all the funding source information in your application form. However, do take note that priority may be given to projects with approved RIE funding and a HPC Compute Budget included.

A HPC Compute Budget refers to the funds set aside as part of the overall applied project funding for the provisioning of HPC resources which includes CPU core hours, GPU card hours and storage.

 

The HPC Compute Budget should be estimated based on commercial Cloud Service Provider (CSP) rates that the respective institutions/organisations might already have an existing contract with. This is to ensure that PIs have enough compute budget for commercial cloud should their project application be unsuccessful with NSCC Singapore’s Call for Projects.

It should be based on the rates provided by the respective institutions/organisations’ existing contracts with commercial cloud service providers (CSP). PIs can approach their respective Research Offices to enquire on the CSP rates to use for their HPC Compute Budget.

The HPC Compute Budget is to be requested from the grant agency when PI submits a grant proposal. If the PIs need help in estimating the HPC Compute Budget, they can reach out to NSCC Singapore for assistance.

NSCC Singapore’s pricing is published on our official website.

For PIs with existing Call for Projects resource allocations which does not fully cover their project duration, they may submit their application as a project renewal request They should note that approval of their request for renewal is subjected to resource availability and SRAC’s approval.

NSCC Singapore will issue two Calls for Projects per year. PIs may apply only during the application windows for the Calls for Projects.

For details on the Call for Projects, please refer to the Call for Projects page.

Applications to the Call for Projects should submit their HPC resource request for the whole project duration, with breakdown into HPC resource requirement each year. For each year, PIs are to further breakdown the HPC resource requirement by quarters. This will give visibility of the HPC resource request for entire project duration, as well as the planned usage for every quarter.

 

Approved projects will receive 100% of the resources requested for the entire project duration.

Allocation of HPC Resources

Projects with approved RIE funding and a sufficient HPC Compute Budget will be the basic criteria.

 

The SRAC prioritises projects for HPC resource allocation according to two key prioritisation criteria – national priorities and complexity.

 

Definition of national priorities/complexity: We take advice from NRF and SRAC regarding projects of national priority. The complexity of a project refers to its ability to use significant HPC compute resources to accelerate research innovation.

 

For 3rd call, the key consideration will be on national priorities. Complexity will be considered for future Calls.

NSCC Singapore will consolidate the approved Call for Projects applications and prepare a Letter of Award to the Research Office. Upon receiving the Letter of Award, the Research Offices will respond to NSCC Singapore if they accept or reject the award, and subsequently communicate to their respective PIs.

 

Unsuccessful applicants will be notified by email by NSCC Singapore.

Approved projects will be allocated 100% of their requested resources throughout their projects’ duration.

The allocation cycle for the 3rd Call for Projects will commence from September 2024 to June 2025.

No, priority are not assigned to projects based on their RIE programme. SRAC classifies projects and adjusts projects status based on their criticality, in alignment with National RIE objectives. SRAC reviews all projects to determine if resources should be allocated, taking into account each project’s complexity and national significance.

Upon receiving the HPC resource allocation award, Research Offices are required to respond to NSCC Singapore to indicate whether they accept or reject the award.

Due to the extremely high demand for HPC resources, NSCC Singapore will not be able to meet all the HPC resource requirements from the project applications.

 

For unsuccessful applications, applicants may refer to their respective institutions/organisations’ existing contracts with commercial cloud service providers.

Pricing and HPC Compute Budget

There are two pricing tiers for non-RIE-funded projects:

Standard pricing* (projects that WILL share data)

Premium pricing (projects that WILL NOT share data)

*Standard pricing will be lower than Premium pricing to encourage data sharing in the research community.

Subject to approval from the grant agency etc, some options for this excess budget includes being able to purchase additional HPC resources from CSPs or NSCC for their research. Alternatively, the PI can make a virement to rechannel the budget to other parts of the project, subject to approval from the grant agency.

Resource Management Policy

PIs are required to submit their projected quarterly resource demand for their entire project cycle.

 

The first two quarters are the adjustment period which NSCC will not penalise or invoice PIs for unconsumed HPC resources based on their projections.

 

For the first two quarters of each call, PIs are allowed to roll over unused allocated resources to the next quarter but not beyond the 3rd quarter.

 

For the first two quarters of each call, PIs are only charged according to their usage, not allocation.

 

After the first 6 months of the Call, PIs are required to submit an updated projected quarterly resource demand for their entire project cycle which may be multi year (3 or 5 years), through their respective Research Offices.

 

PIs are allowed to revise and submit their forecasted usage plan any time to encourage responsible and prudent usage of scarce HPC resources.

 

PIs will be charged according to their revised HPC allocation from the 3rd quarter onwards, based on their updated projected quarterly resource demand and not based on consumption. Any unused HPC resources will be invoiced.

 

Additional resource request is subject to resource availability and SRAC approval.

 

PIs are expected to utilise their resources based on their projected resource demand. Deviation from the projected resource demand will affect the PI’s application in future Call for Projects.

PIs are expected to utilise their resources based on their projected resource demand. PIs can adjust the projected resource demand at any time after the initial 6 monthts. Deviation from the projected resource demand will affect the PI’s application in future Call for Projects.

Others

If you have further questions, please drop us an email at [email protected]

For more information about NSCC Singapore, please visit https://www.nscc.sg.

Updated as of 30 August 2024.