Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Procurement Operations Branch, MS2500, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817

B -- CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF A TEST FOR FIRE RESISTANT BOOM IN WAVES AND FLAMES SOL 14-35-01-97-CT-30872 DUE 091297 POC Jane M. Carlson, Contracting Officer, (703) 787-1364 E-MAIL: Contracting Officer, Jane.Carlson@mms.gov. B -- The Minerals Management Service intends to fund a follow-on procurement for fire boom tests with propane, with S. L Ross Environmental Research, Ltd., in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Recent experiences with refractory-fabric-based booms have shown them to be less durable than desired under field conditions and unable to contain thick pools of burning oil. The test protocol that is being developed simulates the heat and mechanical stresses of an open-water in-situ burn without the problems of the smoke plume and water contamination from burning crude oil in test tanks or the costs and challenges, such as obtaining permits, associated with testing offshore with oil. The draft protocol was tested using a section of fire-resistant boom at the facilities of the Canadian Hydraulics Centre of the National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa. As a result of these tests, the new work will further develop the test protocols particularly in the areas of increasing the heat flux (through increased propane flow orwith supplemental air injection into the burn zone), temperature monitoring, and through pre-tensioning the boom during the outdoor tank tests. These experiments are done cooperatively with Canadian and U.S. Federal Agencies as well private industry. Both Canadian and U.S. funds will be used in this procurement. Oral communications will be neither accepted nor honored. Written communications must adhere to the terms of the numbered Note 22. This procurement is justified under 41 U.S.C. 252 (c)(1). (0205)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0011 19970728\B-0004.SOL)