[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 29, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41038-41039]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-18294]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[Docket No. USCG-2017-0690]
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Environmentally
Friendly Buoy Mooring System
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice of intent; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is announcing its intent to enter into a
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with American
Underwater Contractors, Inc. (AUC) to develop, demonstrate, evaluate
and document the use of environmentally friendly buoy mooring systems
(line and anchor) attached to a navigational buoy to determine the
feasibility and practicality of the Coast Guard using both helix
(screw) anchors and elastic mooring lines in environmentally sensitive
areas. While the Coast Guard is currently considering partnering with
AUC, we are soliciting public comment on the possible nature of and
participation of other parties in the proposed CRADA. In addition, the
Coast Guard also invites other potential non-Federal participants, who
have the interest and capability to bring similar contributions to this
type of research, to consider submitting proposals for consideration in
similar CRADAs.
DATES: Comments must be submitted to the online docket via http://www.regulations.gov, or reach the Docket Management Facility, on or
before September 27, 2017.
Synopses of proposals regarding future CRADAs must reach the Coast
Guard (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) on or before September 27,
2017.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments online at http://www.regulations.gov
following Web site instructions.
[[Page 41039]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice
or wish to submit proposals for future CRADAs, contact Ms. Danielle
Elam, Project Official, Environment and Waterways Branch, U.S. Coast
Guard Research and Development Center, 1 Chelsea Street, New London, CT
06320, telephone 860-271-2693, email [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Public Participation and Request for Comments
We request public comments on this notice. Although we do not plan
to respond to comments in the Federal Register, we will respond
directly to commenters and may modify our proposal in light of
comments.
Comments should be marked with docket number USCG-2017-0690 and
should provide a reason for each suggestion or recommendation. You
should provide personal contact information so that we can contact you
if we have questions regarding your comments; but please note that all
comments will be posted to the online docket without change and that
any personal information you include can be searchable online (see the
Federal Register Privacy Act notice regarding our public dockets, 73 FR
3316, Jan. 17, 2008). We also accept anonymous comments.
We encourage you to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be
submitted using http://www.regulations.gov, contact the Coast Guard
(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Documents mentioned in this
notice, and all public comments, are in our online docket at http://www.regulations.gov and can be viewed by following that Web site's
instructions. Additionally, if you go to the online docket and sign up
for email alerts, you will be notified when comments are posted or a
final rule is published.
Do not submit detailed proposals for future CRADAs to the Docket
Management Facility. Instead, submit them directly to the Coast Guard
(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
Discussion
CRADAs are authorized under 15 U.S.C. 3710(a).\1\ A CRADA promotes
the transfer of technology to the private sector for commercial use, as
well as specified research or development efforts that are consistent
with the mission of the Federal parties to the CRADA. The Federal party
or parties agree with one or more non-Federal parties to share research
resources, but the Federal party does not contribute funding.
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\1\ The statute confers this authority on the head of each
Federal agency. The Secretary of DHS's authority is delegated to the
Coast Guard and other DHS organizational elements by DHS Delegation
No. 0160.1, para. II.B.34.
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CRADAs are not procurement contracts. Care is taken to ensure that
CRADAs are not used to circumvent the contracting process. CRADAs have
a specific purpose and should not be confused with procurement
contracts, grants, and other type of agreements.
Under the proposed CRADA, the R&D Center will collaborate with one
non-Federal participant. Together, the R&D Center and the non-Federal
participant will collect information/data for performance, reliability,
maintenance, and environmental impact of the embedment anchor and
elastic mooring line. The embedment anchor and elastic mooring line
will be placed in Mullet Key Channel for a period of two years, where
it will be visually inspected in-situ quarterly.
Once the two years are complete, the embedment anchor and elastic
mooring line will be removed from the water, inspected and then go
through destructive testing.
We anticipate that the Coast Guard's contributions under the
proposed CRADA will include the following:
(1) Provide appropriate staff with pertinent expertise to take the
lead in accomplishing the required tasks;
(2) Draft the demonstration plan;
(3) Provide all support resources, including travel for Coast Guard
staff that supports this CRADA;
(4) Obtain, transport and provide divers for the installation of
the mooring system;
(5) Provide a Coast Guard boat platform and qualified Coast Guard
operators for the installation and retrieval of the buoys;
(6) Provide all the resources required (except the mooring line,
helical anchor and required components provided by the non-Federal
participant) for the conduct of the demonstration;
(7) Collect and analyze data in accordance with the CRADA
demonstration plan; and
(8) Work with non-Federal participant to develop a Final Report,
which will document the methodologies, findings, conclusions, and
recommendations of this CRADA work.
We anticipate that the non-Federal participants' contributions
under the proposed CRADA will include the following:
(1) Provide the technical data package for all equipments,
including dimensions, weight, power requirements, and other technical
considerations for additional components to be utilized under this
CRADA;
(2) Provide for shipment, and delivery of the mooring system
required under this CRADA;
(3) Provide/pay for travel and other associated personnel costs and
other required expenses.
The Coast Guard reserves the right to select for CRADA participants
all, some, or no proposals submitted for this CRADA. The Coast Guard
will provide no funding for reimbursement of proposal development
costs. Proposals and any other material submitted in response to this
notice will not be returned. Proposals submitted are expected to be
unclassified and have not more than five single-sided (excluding cover
page, DD 1494, JF-12, etc.). The Coast Guard will select proposals at
its sole discretion on the basis of:
(1) How well they communicate an understanding, of and ability to
meet, the proposed CRADA's goal; and
(2) How well they address the following criteria:
(a) Technical capability to support the non-Federal party
contributions described, and
(b) Resources available for supporting the non-Federal party
contributions described.
Currently, the Coast Guard is considering AUC for participation in
this CRADA. This consideration is based on the fact that AUC has
demonstrated its technical ability as a U.S. Distributor of embedment
anchors and elastic mooring lines. However, we do not wish to exclude
other viable participants from this or future similar CRADAs.
This is a technology assessment effort. The goal of the Coast Guard
for this CRADA is to better understand the advantages, disadvantages,
required technology enhancements, performance, costs, and other issues
associated with environmentally friendly mooring systems. Special
consideration will be given to small business firms/consortia, and
preference will be given to business units located in the U.S. This
notice is issued under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(a).
Dated: 7 August 2017.
Bert Macesker,
Executive Director, Acting Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard
Research and Development Center.
[FR Doc. 2017-18294 Filed 8-28-17; 8:45 am]
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