United States - Recovery--a--f oil under solid ice

Description

Added: Oct 28, 2019 3:25 pm

PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.

The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), intends to competitively award a contract for the Development of a Tool to Recover Oil under Solid Ice. This pre-solicitation notice is being issued in accordance with FAR Part 5.204. This procurement is being conducted in accordance with FAR Part 15, Contracting by Negotiation. This is not a small business set-aside. The BSEE Procurement Operations Branch is the contracting office for this procurement and the resultant contract administrator. The Government anticipates awarding a hybrid type contract with Firm Fixed Price, reimbursable travel, and time and materials CLINS. The applicable NAICS Code is 541715 ¿ Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology). The period of performance of the resultant contract is anticipated to be 24 months from the date of award. All vendors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) before their proposal is submitted.

BACKGROUND:

Alaska Clean Seas (ACS), a primary oil spill removal organization in Alaska, identified the need for a tool to recover oil under solid ice. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) initiated project 1082 with the Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) and ACS to address this and other identified response needs.

https://www.bsee.gov/research-record/osrr-1082-methods-to-enhance-mechanical-recovery-in-arctic-conditions

In February 2018, CRREL successfully demonstrated a method to move pockets of oil trapped under ice using a Seabotix ROV equipped with an air delivery system. This test was conducted at CRREL¿s outdoor saltwater tank in which was grown a solid ice sheet of approximately 8-10 inches thick. Several pockets were developed on the underside of the ice, and crude oil was injected under the ice into these pockets. The ROV was sent under the ice to view the oil and to move the oil out from the pockets to channels cut in the ice for topside recovery. The prototype was successful at moving the crude oil out of pockets formed in the underside of the ice. However, the dislodged oil was difficult to direct to the channels using the air delivery system.

At the end of the demonstration, inspection of the ice revealed that within a short period of time oil began to crystalize into the underside of the ice sheet and move up through the brine channels formed within the ice. These newly formed crystals were able to be easily scraped off of the ice. This proposed project builds off of the lessons learned from the previous demonstration.

SCOPE OF WORK:

This goals and objectives of this project are to design, fabricate, and test a System consisting of a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) equipped with a mounted tooling skid, to be used to detect, inspect, and recover pockets of oil under solid ice, and to scrape and remove oil-laden ice crystals formed on the underside of the ice.

The selected ROV shall be a commercially available vehicle. The tooling skid shall consist of a pumping system, an integrated oil collection nozzle and scraping tool, navigation, and lighting to allow differentiation of oil, water, and ice. The tooling skid shall be designed to have a standardized ¿plug and play¿ power and data protocol such that it can be used with any ¿qualified¿ ROV.

This project shall use a phased approach to mitigate risk. In Phase I, the contractor shall complete an in depth analysis of commercially available ROVs, and select an ROV vehicle that can be equipped with a tooling skid to meet performance objectives. Preliminary research indicates that an Observation Class ROV with payload capabilities will be the targeted vehicle for this System. The contractor shall also complete the tooling skid design for the selected ROV. Upon BSEE¿s approval to move forward, the contractor shall conduct Phase II work.

In Phase II, the contractor shall purchase the selected ROV after approval by BSEE. The contractor shall procure components and fabricate the tooling skid. integrate the tooling skid and ROV, conduct testing of the final System, and deliver the completed System to Ohmsett.

HOW TO COMPETE FOR THIS CONTRACT: The Request for Proposal (RFP) which includes the statement of work, proposal submission instructions, and evaluation factors will be issued via FBO.gov as Solicitation No. 140E0120R0001 within the next month. If you are interested in participating in this acquisition, you must follow the proposal submission instructions included in the RFP. If you are interested in participating, please send your organization¿s name, point of contact, address, telephone number, email address, DUNS number, and business size via email to the David Jablonski at David.Jablonski@bsee.gov.

Opportunity closing date

13 November 2019

Value of contract

to be confirmed