CPR for Defense

My column in the last issue ("Grants and the Internet") brought a spate of E-mail (see Note to Readers). Among the messages was one from Marvin W. Goldstein, a program analyst with the Department of Defense. He told me about CPR, the department's Cooperative Programs for Reinvestment information system running on a gopher server. Here's the address: gopher.dtic.dla.mil (URL: gopher://gopher.dtic.dla.mil/).

Using the gopher program (aka client) on the host machine of my Internet service provider, I type, at the system prompt, gopher gopher.dtic.dla.mil and press the enter key. The opening screen, like all Gophers, displays a menu array. It appears quite promising if you are looking to do business with the federal government:

Internet Gopher Information Client 2.0 pl10

Root gopher server: gopher.dtic.dla.mil

->1. WARNING - READ THIS FIRST !

2. About this Gopher.

3. CPR-Cooperative Programs for Reinvestment/

4. Federal Information/

5. Federal and University Job Openings/

6. IAC-Information Analysis Centers/

7. NSF's List of U.S. Government Gopher Servers/

8. SBIR-Small Business Innovation Research Program/

9. Technology Transfer/

Press ? for Help, q to Quit Page: 1/1

If you press the number 2 and hit enter, you see this message (I deleted a portion for space):

Welcome to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) public access gopher server.

This gopher is under continuous review and revision. If you have comments or suggestions for information to be included, please let us know. Use this internet address: japistol@dgis.dtic.dla.mil

If you press the number 3 and hit enter, you will see an array that includes this line item:

-> 5. Programs Organized by Agency/

Pressing the number 5 and hitting enter brings up this screen, the first of two:

Programs Organized by Agency

1. AGENCY FOR INTL DEVELOPMENT/

2. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE/

3. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE/

4. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE/

5. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION/

6. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/

7. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR/

8. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR/

9. DEPARTMENT OF STATE/

10. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION/

11. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGY/

12. EXPORT IMPORT BANK OF THE US/

13. FEDERAL AGENCY R&ampD LABS/

14. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION/

15. GENERAL SERVICES ADMIN./

16. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE/

17. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMM./

18. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/

19. MARSHALL UNIVERSITY/

20. NAT. AERONAUTICS &amp SPACE ADM/

21. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION/

22. OFC. OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT/

23. OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT/

24. SMALL BUSINESS ADMIN./

25. U.S. TRADE &amp DEV. AGENCY/

26. U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE/

According to Goldstein's E-mail, CPR contains more than 300 descriptions of consortia and federal programs to assist industry reinvestment and conversion efforts. Planned enhancements are descriptions and contact points for federal Cooperative Research and Development Agreements and projected Military Service procurements. Enjoy navigating!

Note to Readers: After reading my last column, several people wrote me bemoaning that I did not give precise directions to get to Funding Opportunities: FEDERAL. My intent was to encourage browsing, one of the better ways to get to know any subject. Looking through each item on the opening screen and following it down one screen took me three minutes to find the item in question through Grants Opportunities under the UWM Information line item. That's where you can find it.

John S. Makulowich writes, speaks and trains on the Internet. You can reach him via E-mail at makulow@clark.net or makulow@cais.com