Non-conventional Oil Weathering in Freshwater project

This announcement is being made to support the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Great Lakes Oil Spill Center of Expertise (GLCOE) to open full and open competition on a “Non-conventional Oil Weathering in Freshwater project’. This solicitation document supports as contemplated under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13 Simplified Acquisition Procedures.

Contracts and/or Agreements based on responses to this solicitation are the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law (PL) 98-369, “The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.” This solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect and anticipates that a competitive firm fixed price contract shall be awarded because of this solicitation announcement.

All responsible sources may submit a proposal/quote, which if timely received, shall be considered by this agency. This announcement constitutes a solicitation. This announcement does not commit the Government to any contractual agreements or arrangements. PROPOSALS ARE SOLICITED UNDER THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. Photochemical weathering of oil is the interaction of the chemical components of oil with portions of the electromagnetic spectrum to result in structural changes to those oil components.

Photochemical weathering processes can induce physiochemical changes that affect the effectiveness of response tactics and equipment as well as altering the environmental fate of spilled oil. The majority of photochemical weathering research has been focused on marine environments. Freshwater oil photochemical weathering processes within an operationally relevant timeframe is a knowledge gap.

Additionally, even less is known about these physiochemical processes with unconventional oils, emerging fuels (e.g., low sulfur fuel oils and carbon neutral fuels), and renewable energy associated products such as dielectric fluids. The study of photochemical weathering processes requires the ability to control the key factors, including the spectra and intensity of light, the thickness of the oil receiving the light, and the temperature of the oil film throughout exposure.

After exposure to light, the oil will have undergone physical and chemical changes that may affect its characteristics such as its viscosity (in turn affecting the effectiveness of different response tactics), its partitioning into the air and water phases (in turn affecting how oil recovery is determined, and changing the potential inhalation hazard to responders), and the amount of wave energy required to mechanically disperse portions of surface slicks into entrained microdroplets of a size distribution that may also be different from the original oil (in turn, affecting response option effectiveness and oil recovery accounting).

Greater knowledge of how different oils weather in freshwater contexts, at different temperatures, will inform response planning and decision making as well as oil modeling (e.g., NOAA’s ADIOS database informing GNOME spill modeling). The scope addresses the USCG’s Great Lakes Oil Spill Center of Expertise (GLCOE) legislative mandate.

Specifically, it addresses the knowledge gaps of how conventional and unconventional oils weather in freshwater environments within a range of light levels and temperatures that represent the Great Lakes area. The objectives are to measure how the range of possible temperatures and light intensities in the Great Lakes area can photochemically weather conventional and nonconventional oils, and to determine how these chemical changes impact the physical characteristics of the oil.

Ancillary aims to this objective may include but are not limited to determining if oil physiochemical characteristic changes can be correlated with photochemical weathering, and how photochemical weathering may impact response option choice. Please read the enitre Performance Work Statement for the requirements and the Solicitation. Place of Performance will be contractor's facilities with infrequent visits to the collaborator's federal facilities as appropriate.