U.S. Department of Labor, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Acquisition Management Branch, 1301 Airport Road, Beaver, WV 25813-9426

66 -- CONTINUOUS RESPIRABLE DUST MONITORS SOL None DUE 102699 POC Mr. Mark Skiles 703/235-1580 Fax: 703/235-9899 E-MAIL: Mine Safety and Health Administration, mskiles@msha.gov. This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. No solicitation package is available. The U. S. Department of Labor is exploring the possibility of purchasing safety devices or equipment that will provide a continuous reading of respirable dust in an underground mine environment. The instrument must provide a real-time readout so that miners and supervisors can adjust engineering controls when dust levels change. The basic requirements of the instrument are: (1) to provide an instantaneous readout to indicate that coal mine dust levels have changed; (2) to store data about continuous dust levels for at least an 8-12 hour period; (3) to demonstrate a level of accuracy for measuring coal mine dust "equal to or greater than" the dust sampling device currently used for compliance purposes to measure coal mine dust. The instrument can be placed on mining equipment or on a fixed site to provide an area sample, or be worn by an individual to provide a personal exposure sample. The instrument can utilize any sensing technology (e.g., beta ray attenuation, light-scattering, oscillating tapered element microbalance.) The device or equipment can be externally powered. Interested sources for this effort who have sufficient technical, production, and program managerial experience are invited to respond for further information to the following address or by calling, faxing, or e-mailing the numbers below: U. S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration Mr. Mark Skiles Director of Technical Support 4015 Wilson Boulevard, Room 927 Arlington, VA 22203-1984 703/235-1580 Fax:703/235-9899 e-mail: mskiles@msha.gov This notice should not be construed as a request for proposal or a solicitation of an offer. Respondents are notified that a formal solicitation may or may not necessarily result from the RFI. Any comments provided may or may not be included in a formal solicitation. The Government will not pay for any information received in response to this RFI nor will the Government compensate any respondent for any costs incurred in developing the information provided to the Government. The Government will not release any information marked with a Proprietary Legend received in response to this RFI, to any firms, agencies, or individuals outside the Government without written permission in accordance with the Legend. Posted 09/09/99 (W-SN378170). (0252)

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