Opportunity: FIRE WHIRL STUDY-PHASE 2

FIRE WHIRL STUDY-PHASE 2 ------ SPECIAL NOTICE NOTICE OF INTENT TO ISSUE A SOLE SOURCE CONTRACT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - BERKELEY TO STUDY 'EFFICIENT REMEDIATION OF OIL SPILLS USING FIRE WHIRLS - PHASE II'. This Notice is issued in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 5.2, Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions. The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), Acquisition Operations Branch, is the contracting office for this procurement. The purpose of this Notice is to announce the Government¿s intent to negotiate a sole source contract to the University of California ¿ Berkeley (UC Berkeley) with Applied Research Associates (ARA) to study ¿Efficient Remediation of Oil Spills Using Fire Whirls ¿ Phase II,¿ based on the contractor¿s demonstrated unique capability in accordance with FAR 6.302-1, only one responsible source. This requirement will utilize FAR Part 15 acquisition procedures. ARA developed, under BSEE contract no. E15PC00005, a system to quantify in situ burning (ISB) efficiencies and burning rate. The ISB quantification system is designed to provide near real-time quantification of volumes of crude oil being burned thus yielding burn efficiency. ARA was able to demonstrate the proof of concept in the previous study and for this procurement, BSEE is seeking to advance the technology to a state where it can be transferred to industry for commercialization for use during ISB operations on water. In 2017, BSEE awarded a contract to the University of Maryland (UMD) under Contract E17PC00016 to study the fundamental parameters that govern fire whirls' behavior, including flow structures, thermal composition, and emissions to better understand the effects and advantages of fire whirls on in-situ burning and to quantify emissions from in-situ burnings with and without fire whirls to develop faster, cleaner and more efficient in-situ burning techniques. UMD was able to describe and characterize the structure and behavior of fire whirls over open water, and quantify emissions from both traditional in-situ burning in pool fires and an enhanced configuration using fire whirls at both small and large scales. The principle investigator and research group moved from UMD to The University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and will continue the research as there is no literature or science on this topic as it relates to oil spill remediation. The UMD now UC Berkeley research group possesses unique expertise and capabilities to investigate the efficiency of fire whirls burning over open water. The group was the first to discover this phenomena and shown to be feasible at larger scale through BSEE Contract E17PC00016. The Group moved from the UMD to UC Berkeley in January 2020, which includes the principal investigator, equipment necessary for the experiments, personnel (including those who worked on a previous BSEE contract), and lab materials. Therefore, the essential personnel, equipment and expertise needed to perform fundamental experiments on the behavior of fire whirls and to develop that knowledge into a working prototype was completely transferred to UC Berkeley. This equipment and expertise was built over many years and is not readily available elsewhere. Therefore, since the group at UC Berkeley was the first to study the fundamental parameters that govern fire whirls' behavior, they are the only source that can meet the Government¿s needs to continue to study the fundamental behaviors of the phenomena as it applies to the in situ burning of oil on water. The anticipated period of performance is 24 months. The place of performance is at the contractor¿s facility. THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. However, any firm believing itself capable of performing the work stated above may submit technical documentation to establish their capability. Such documentation must be submitted to the Contracting Officer by 12:00pm, Eastern Daylight Savings Time on August 3, 2020. A determination not to compete the proposed requirement based upon responses received lies solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement or to proceed on a sole source basis. Documentation shall be submitted in writing to Caroline Laikin-Credno via email at caroline.laikin-credno@bsee.gov, with the email SUBJECT LINE ¿ RFP 140E0120R0005 Efficient Remediation of Oil Spills Using Fire Whirls. Telephone responses will not be honored.