In this paper, we present a description of The Almaden OptimalGrid Project, which is selfconfiguring, and optimizing grid middleware that makes it easy to harness the computational resources available on a computing grid. OptimalGrid incorporates the core tenants of autonomic computing- self-configuring, selfhealing, and self-optimizing - to create an environment in which it is possible for application developers to exploit these features, without the need to either build them, or to code to external APIs. OptimalGrid implements autonomic functionality in a middleware layer allowing development of self-optimizing applications for a grid, without the need to be conscious of the underlying grid technology.