Is there any possibility that the project could be split into 2 parts, an R&D part, which you can specify a development machine for and a production part which can be specified separately once you have sufficient data? If not then you could search for mailing lists and newsgroups that deal with the algorithms you are using and ask for advice and some real world data on what other people are using to tackle similar problems. Also you might find relevant data in published papers, try searching ACM, IEEE and Springer.
That's a really good point, thanks! It may be easier to get funding for the R&D portion as a POC for the overall endeavor. Well worth asking at this point.
