U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, 26 W. Martin Luther King Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio 45268

A -- VERIFICATION TESTING OF METAL FINISHING POLLUTION PREVENTION TECHNOLOGIES SOL STD-97-01 DUE 091597 POC Alva E. Daniels, 513/569-7693, T. Dave Ferguson, 513/569-7518. WEB: Common Sense Initiative, http://www.epa.gov/commonsense. E-MAIL: National Risk Management Research Laboratory, daniels.alva@epamail.epa.gov. U.S.EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) through the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program is issuing a "Request for Pre-Applications", (RFPA) for a Cooperative Agreement (CA) to organize, develop, and implement a pilot program for the verification of the performance of metal finishing (MF) pollution prevention technologies. The selected eligible organization(s) will be expected to establish itself (themselves) as a third party verification entity to evaluate private sector technologies that are fully-developed and commercially available. Priorities for technologies to be verified will be drawn, but not exclusively, from the Common Sense Initiative (CSI) National Metal Finishing Environmental R&D Plan, which is available for viewing and downloading from http://www.nmfrc.org. NRMRL expects that funding in the amount of $1,000,000 will be provided for the 3-year pilot program. At a minimum, the Pre-Application must address the proposed approach to achieve the objectives of the ETV Program. A full description of the ETV Program is provided in an EPA publication entitled, "Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program Strategy ", EPA/600/K-96/003, February 1997, which is available for viewing at http://www.epa.gov/etv. Specific areas to be addressed in the Pre-Application include but are not limited to: the identification of market areas and needs for commercially ready MF pollution prevention technologies; the methodology for prioritizing pollution problems associated with MF; the development of generic and site-specific test protocols; and the development of appropriate verification protocols to verify performance of new technologies, products, and processes in the MF pollution prevention area. The approach to the selection and testing of specific pollution prevention technologies in typical operating metal finishing shops at locations throughout the United States must be clearly and logically laid out. The pre-application should explain how the organizational facilities and personnel will be organize testing under the most rigorous quality-controlled procedures. It is envisioned that the "testing" will consist of installing the technology in operating metal finishing operations, taking appropriate multi-media emissions samples within and outside the metal finishing facilities that will enable analysis of the impacts on worker health and safety as well as on public health and the environment and analyzing the samples in the laboratories. The Pre-Application should describe the offeror(s)'s capabilities and experience in writing technical reports based on such testing and analysis. The Pre-Application should address the role of technology vendors in providing technologies for testing, stating the expected performance capabilities and parameters for their technologies, and in contributing resources to the conduct of the tests. It should also address the budget for implementing the pilot program. It should explain the capabilities and qualifications for the organization(s) both to carry out this pilot program and to continue the operation of the initiated program after federal funds are expended. The pilot verification program proposed in the Pre-Application should explain how the required Stakeholder Group will be created and utilized and how the pilot will benefit the various stakeholders. Stakeholders include metal finishers, vendors to metal finishers, customers of metal finishers, consulting engineers, providers of scientific and technical services, state and federal regulators, environmental groups, environmental justice groups, organized labor, and industry trade organizations. The pilot project funded under this solicitation will be conducted under the authority of the Clean Air Act, as amended, Section 103; Clean Water Act, as amended, section 104; Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended, Section 1442; and Solid Waste and Disposal Act, as amended, section 8001. A Cooperative Agreement will be awarded to a non-profit or not-for-profit organization submitting a successful application. For-profit groups need not apply because the statutory authority under which this program is conducted does not allow EPA to enter into CAs with for-profit organizations. In response to letters of interest, NRMRL will send out the RFA which will describe requirements of the Pre-Application. All requests for RFA STD-97-01 must be in writing; no telephone requests will be honored. Requests may be faxed to -Attention: Marilyn H. Lehmkuhl 513-569-7787. (0199)

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