SOLICITATION NOTICE
B -- Chemical Mechanism Updates
- Notice Date
- 7/9/2004
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Environmental Protection Agency, Ord Service Center/Nheerl, Rtp Procurement Operations Division, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
- ZIP Code
- 27711
- Solicitation Number
- RFQ-RT-04-00334
- Response Due
- 7/28/2004
- Archive Date
- 8/28/2004
- Point of Contact
- Point of Contact, Anna Mustard, Purchasing Agent, Phone (919) 541-4556
- E-Mail Address
-
Email your questions to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(mustard.anna@epa.gov)
- Description
- NAICS Code: 541990 THIS IS A COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATION FOR COMMERCIAL SERVICES PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE FORMAT IN SUBPART 12.6, AS SUPPLEMENTED WITH ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. QUOTES ARE BEING REQUESTED AND A WRITTEN SOLICITATION WILL NOT BE ISSUED. The solicitation number is RFQ-RT-04-00334. It is being issued as a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code is 541990, with a small business size standard of $6 million. The Environmental Protection Agency has a requirement for updated chemical mechanisms to ensure that the predictions of ozone and aerosol concentrations from Air Quality Models are accurate and scientifically justified. It is anticipated that a firm, fixed-price purchase order will be awarded under Full and Open Competition, with a requirement to modify/update the Carbon Bond 4 chemical mechanism (Gery et. al., 1989), and provide two versions of the mechanism--one that has the number of species comparable to earlier versions, and one that has additional, explicit chemical species. Both versions of the updated mechanism must be evaluated against a comprehensive suite of smog chamber data, and provided along with the testing information to assist EPA in implementing this mechanism in a 3-D model, the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system (details at http://www.epa.gov/asmdnerl/models3/overview.html). Both mechanisms shall be public domain, available for use by EPA and the scientific community. Task 1: Make modifications to update the mechanism and account for additional species in the mechanism - Under this task, the mechanism will be updated as appropriate to be consistent with the most recent chemical kinetics information available. Two versions of the mechanism shall be developed. The first one shall have a comparable number of species as earlier versions, to retain the computational efficiency of earlier versions. The mechanism shall also include semi-volatile products that result from the atmospheric reactions of alkanes, alkenes, and aromatics and are precursors to the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). An additional version of the mechanism will be developed which is similar to the first version, but includes the addition of several explicit species, including the following: formaldehyde; acetaldehyde; internal olefins; terminal olefins; acrolein; 1,3-butadiene; methanol; ethanol; toluene; xylene; -terpene; -terpene; and, chlorine (including chlorine reactions with VOCs). To accommodate the new species included above and to improve the representation of atmospheric chemical reactions, revisions to existing mechanism species shall also be made as needed. For example, a new species representing aldehydes with 3 or more carbon atoms will be needed to replace the current higher aldehyde species that includes acetaldehyde and higher aldehydes. Task 2: Format the mechanisms for input to CMAQ, provide additional input files needed to implement the mechanisms, and provide box model simulations for verification and testing of the CMAQ implementation - The mechanisms developed in Task 1 shall be delivered to EPA in a format suitable for input to the EPA CMAQ model. In addition to the mechanisms, the contractor shall deliver a package of at least three box-model scenarios where the mechanisms have been deployed and run in a box model. The selection of conditions for these scenarios shall include variations in pressure and temperature, that can be used to verify correct implementation of these dependencies in CMAQ. (For example,1 run @ P=1 atm T=298K, 1 run @ P=0.5 atm T=298K & 1 run at P=1atm & T=310). The package of box model runs shall include all model inputs and outputs so that results from the final CMAQ implementation of the mechanisms can be benchmarked against results obtained from the original formulations. In addition, the assignments of emission compounds to the Carbon Bond 4 mechanism species shall be updated for each version of the mechanism. Further, any changes to the emission processing algorithms needed to accommodate the new mechanisms shall be thoroughly documented. Task 3: Evaluate the modified mechanism against a comprehensive suite of smog chamber data - The mechanisms developed under Task 1 shall be evaluated against a large number of smog chamber runs to ensure that the predictions are consistent with experimental observations. This smog chamber data will include both archived and recent measurements from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the University of California, Riverside. The contractor shall develop a justifiable wall mechanism for use with the experimental data and describe the theory behind it. The contractor shall provide plots, tables, and statistics to demonstrate that the mechanism predictions are in reasonable agreement with the data. These evaluations shall also include comparisons with the existing CMAQ version of the Carbon Bond 4 mechanism to identify potential effects of the mechanism changes on model predictions. Any modifications to the mechanisms that result from insights gained during the evaluation phase shall be delivered to EPA as the task progresses. The contractor shall present results of this evaluation to EPA scientists in Research Triangle Park, NC. Project quality objectives of the mechanism evaluation, techniques used, quality control measures, peer reviews/audits of the results and validation of the mechanism shall be documented in a QA Project Plan, to be submitted as a deliverable to EPA under this task. Task 4: Document the modifications and evaluations - All modifications made to the mechanisms, the evaluation of the modified mechanisms, and the results of the predictions from the modified mechanisms shall be documented. A summary of the modifications and results shall be reported in a report with the format and size suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed international journal. Additional details shall be provided in a series of appendices to the summary. A draft version of this report shall be provided to the Project Officer prior to being finalized. After receiving comments on the draft report, the contractor shall address the comments in the final version of the report and submit the final report to EPA. The Project Officer will provide feedback on the draft of the final report from Task 4 no later than two weeks after receiving the report, allowing the contractor sufficient time to incorporate all comments into the final version of the report. Project officer for this action is Deborah Leucken at (919) 541-0244. [END OF TASKS.] NOTE: A Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) shall be submitted as a deliverable for Task 3. Full documentation of the work done during this contract shall be provided as part of Task 4. Task 2, including delivery of the mechanism in a version suitable for inclusion in CMAQ shall be completed by September 30, 2004. Task 3, including a short draft report documenting the information collected under this task, shall be completed by November 30, 2004. All work on this contract shall be completed by March 30, 2005. All deliverables should be sent to the project officer at the following address: Deborah Luecken, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, NERL/HEASD, Mail Drop E243-03, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711. REFERENCES - Gery, M.W., Whitten, G.Z., Killus, J.P., and Dodge, M.C. 1989. A photochemical kinetics mechanism for urban and regional scale computer modeling. J.Geophys. Res., 94, 12925-12956. The following FAR provisions apply to this solicitation: 52.204-6, Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) Number; 52.204-7 Central Contractor Registration. All offerors are to include with their offer a completed copy of provision 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications--Commercial Items. The following FAR clauses apply to this acquisition: 52.212-4, Contract Terms and Conditions - Commercial Items; 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders - Commercial Items; 52.222-3, Convict Labor; 52.233-3, Protest After Award; 52.203-6, Restrictions on Subcontractor Sales to the Government With Alternate I; 52.222-19, Child Labor--Cooperation with Authorities and Remedies; 52.222-21, Prohibition of Segregated Facilities; 52.222-26, Equal Opportunity; 52.222-35, Equal Opportunity for Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.222-36, Affirmative Action for Workers with Disabilities; 52.222-37, Employment Reports on Special Disabled Veterans, Veterans of the Vietnam Era, and Other Eligible Veterans; 52.225-1, Buy American Act--Supplies; and 52.232-33, Payment by Electronic Funds Transfer-- Central Contractor Registration. Additionally, the following custom clauses apply: N. C. Sales Tax Exempt; Project Officer; and, Partial Payment Authorized. The completed Representations and Certifications should be included with the price proposal. All technical questions are to be forwarded via email to the Contract Specialist by NO LATER THAN July 19, 2004, at the following email address: mustard.anna@epa.gov. Offerors should review the Specifications and other information posted with this Request for Quotation on EPA's website at the following address: http://www.epa.gov/oam/rtp_cmd/. Arrow down to the REQUEST FOR QUOTATION section and click on the solicitation. Arrow down below that section to COMMERCIAL BUY CLAUSES AND FORMS for full-text versions of FAR Part 12 clauses and provisions included in this procurement. It will be the responsibility of offerors to periodically check this site for changes/amendments to this requirement. Offerors should submit two copies each of the technical proposal and price proposal. The technical package must address each of the following elements: (i) Evidenced experience of the principal investigator (PI) in modeling atmospheric chemistry, specifically with the Carbon Bond 4 chemical mechanism, as well as experience of the PI in analyzing and modifying CB4 to simulate additional, explicit VOC chemistry, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications in national scientific journals and presentations at national conferences; (ii) Evidence of PI's successful past evaluation of chemical mechanisms using smog chamber data, as well as PI's understanding of the measurement techniques, inherent uncertainties, and detection limits of experimental data, and understanding of successful performance criteria; (iii) Evidenced ability of the PI to compose an appropriate wall model to use in comparing mechanism to smog chamber measurements; and, (iv) Evidenced ability of proposed personnel to complete the project in the required time period of performance. The price proposal must be broken out by price for each Task, with all costs applicable to each broken out; i.e., labor, travel, supplies, etc. Award will be made to the offeror whose offer is determined to be the most advantageous to the government, price and other factors considered. Partial payment will be authorized to enable the contractor to incrementally bill after completion and acceptance by the government of work to be accomplished under each Task. For delivery of proposals via the U. S. Postal Service, the address is U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Attention Anna Mustard, RTP Procurement Operations Division (D143-01), Research Triangle Park, NC 27711. Address for delivery via courier and/or carried by hand is U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Attention Anna Mustard, RTP Procurement Operations Division (D143-01), 4930 Old Page Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27703. All offers are due by July 28, 2004, 12:00 Noon, ET.
- Record
- SN00618359-W 20040711/040709212631 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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