SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Development of a Uniform Methodology for Evaluating Coal Mine Communications and Tracking Systems
- Notice Date
- 4/15/2010
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Acquisition and Assistance Field Branch (Pittsburgh), Post Office Box 18070, Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15236-0070
- ZIP Code
- 15236-0070
- Solicitation Number
- 2010-N-12081
- Archive Date
- 6/15/2010
- Point of Contact
- Mary Pat Shanahan, Phone: 412-386-4453
- E-Mail Address
-
mshanahan@cdc.gov
(mshanahan@cdc.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is responsible for conducting acquisitions in support of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). On June 15, 2006, the President of the United States signed into law the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act, commonly known as the MINER Act. The Act was created in response to a cluster of mine tragedies that occurred in early 2006. This legislation amended the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1977, resulting in significant changes to U.S. mining laws. It established the requirements for post-accident communications and tracking, and a section of the Act charged the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) with developing and improving mine-safety technologies. The MINER Act required each coal mine to submit an emergency response plan, which includes post-accident communications and tracking, to the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) within three years of the enactment date. In 2006, virtually no MSHA-approved communications and tracking (C&T) systems that met the intent of the MINER Act were commercially available. As a result, NIOSH established a comprehensive research program to develop new, and enhance existing, communications and tracking technologies for post-accident applications in underground coal mines. Furthermore, the private sector developed additional systems in parallel with NIOSH's efforts; in fact MSHA reported that its Approval and Certification Center had reviewed and approved more than 50 communications and tracking products by March 2010. This RFP addresses tracking systems, but much of the work can be applied to wireless voice and text communications. Two basic types of tracking systems have emerged - reader-based and radio node-based - as described in the NIOSH Tutorial on Mine Communications and Tracking. Both systems rely on the transmission and reception of electromagnetic (EM) energy; therefore, their performance is highly dependent on the propagation behavior of EM signals in an underground mining environment. Currently, systems operate at 433 MHz, 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 6.0 GHz, and these systems are now being installed in underground coal mines throughout the U.S. Although NIOSH and manufacturers have shown the applicability and effectiveness of these systems on a limited basis through in-mine demonstrations, many questions still remain unanswered with respect to performance requirements and performance validation. A variety of factors contribute to the uncertainty surrounding performance requirements with tracking systems. First of all, the use of electronic tracking systems for emergency applications is relatively new, even for surface applications where the availability of GPS makes the problem much more manageable. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spent many years grappling with a reasonable way to define the performance requirements of the E911 system, which is intended to locate people placing cell-phone emergency calls. Therefore, it is not surprising that the MINER Act did not specify performance requirements. The MINER Act requirement that systems be calculated to be serviceable post disaster also generated unanswerable questions since there were no precedents on which to rely for establishing post-disaster performance requirements. Compounding these issues, underground coal mining is a dynamic environment, particularly in a working section of a mine. A modern coal mine can advance hundreds of feet a day, which results in continual changes to the C&T system and propagation medium, such as movement of antennas and reconfiguration of the mine ventilation system. Because the mining sector lacks predictive and measurement-based evaluation tools, the establishment of practical performance metrics creates a challenge. The absence of performance metrics is problematic for both mine operators and enforcement agencies. This RFP addresses the following three areas of need: •1. A method to predict tracking-system performance based on a system-layout plan for a specific mine, •2. Procedures for testing the performance of a tracking system to ensure the predicted performance is achieved and for meeting compliance requirements, and •3. A method to compare the performance of one type of tracking system with another. This requirement is being solicited as unrestricted. The CDC expects to award a single firm fixed price type contract, and the period of performance is expected to be approximately 33 months from date of award. The complete solicitation document, and reference material, if applicable, will be available for downloading at www.fedbizopps.gov on or about May 1, 2010 and proposals will be due on or about June 1, 2010. No verbal or written requests for copies will be accepted. It is the responsibility of perspective offerors to stay abreast of additional postings regarding this solicitation at the FedBizOpps internet site. No government-wide notes apply.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/CDCP/CMBP/2010-N-12081/listing.html)
- Record
- SN02123027-W 20100417/100415235125-9385d8890c0e74afecde4341232670c4 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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