Notice of Buy American Waiver Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 184-186 [2010-33043]
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184
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2011 / Notices
the Aeronautics Committee, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546,
(202) 358–0566, or
susan.l.minor@nasa.gov.
The
meeting will be open to the public up
to the capacity of the room. Any person
interested in participating in the
meeting by Webex and telephone
should contact Ms. Susan L. Minor at
(202) 358–0566 for the Web link, tollfree number and passcode. The agenda
for the meeting includes the following
topics:
• Aeronautics Budget Overview.
• Systems Analysis and Strategic
Planning.
• Agency/Aeronautics Research
Mission Directorate (ARMD) Workforce
Planning.
• Aviation environmental research
and regulatory environment.
• Aeronautics Committee 2011
Planning.
It is imperative that these meetings be
held on this date to accommodate the
scheduling priorities of the key
participants. Attendees will be
requested to comply with NASA
security requirements, including the
presentation of a valid picture ID, before
receiving an access badge. U.S. citizens
will need to show valid, officiallyissued picture identification such as
driver’s license to enter the NASA
Headquarters building (West Lobby—
Visitor Control Center) and must state
that they are attending the NASA
Advisory Council Aeronautics
Committee meeting in conference room
6B42 before receiving an access badge.
All non-U.S. citizens must fax a copy of
their passport, and print or type their
name, current address, citizenship,
company affiliation (if applicable) to
include address, telephone number, and
their title, place of birth, date of birth,
U.S. visa information to include type,
number, and expiration date, U.S. Social
Security Number (if applicable),
Permanent Resident Alien card number
and expiration date (if applicable), and
place and date of entry into the U.S., to
Susan Minor, NASA Advisory Council
Aeronautics Committee Executive
Secretary, FAX 202–358–3602, by no
less than 8 working days prior to the
meeting. Non-U.S. citizens will need to
show their Passport or Permanent
Resident Alien card to enter the NASA
Headquarters building. For questions,
please call Susan Minor at (202) 358–
0566.
jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Dated: December 22, 2010.
P. Diane Rausch,
Advisory Committee Management Officer,
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010–33059 Filed 12–30–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Notice of Buy American Waiver Under
the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009
AGENCY:
National Science Foundation
(NSF).
ACTION:
Notice.
SUMMARY: NSF is hereby granting a
limited exemption of section 1605 of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Public Law
111–5, 123 Stat. 115, 303 (2009), with
respect to the purchase of the anti-roll
tank control system that will be used in
the Alaska Region Research Vessel
(ARRV). An anti-roll tank is a system
that is built into a vessel’s hull to reduce
rolling motion when operating at sea.
DATES: January 3, 2011.
ADDRESSES: National Science
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd.,
Arlington, Virginia 22230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Jeffrey Leithead, Division of Acquisition
and Cooperative Support, 703–292–
4595.
In
accordance with section 1605(c) of the
Recovery Act and section 176.80 of Title
2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the
National Science Foundation (NSF)
hereby provides notice that on October
22, 2010, the NSF Chief Financial
Officer, in accordance with a delegation
order from the Director of the agency,
granted a limited project exemption of
section 1605 of the Recovery Act (Buy
American provision) with respect to the
anti-roll tank control system that will be
used in the ARRV. The basis for this
exemption is section 1605(b)(2) of the
Recovery Act, in that a ‘‘passivecontrolled’’ anti-roll tank control system
of satisfactory quality is not produced in
the United States in sufficient and
reasonably available commercial
quantities. The cost of the anti-roll tank
control system (∼$130,000) represents
less than 0.1% of the total $148 million
Recovery Act award provided toward
construction of the ARRV.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Recovery Act appropriated $400
million to NSF for several projects being
funded by the Foundation’s Major
PO 00000
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Sfmt 4703
Research Equipment and Facilities
Construction (MREFC) account. The
ARRV is one of NSF’s MREFC projects.
Section 1605(a) of the Recovery Act, the
Buy American provision, states that
none of the funds appropriated by the
Act ‘‘may be used for a project for the
construction, alteration, maintenance, or
repair of a public building or public
work unless all of the iron, steel, and
manufactured goods used in the project
are produced in the United States.’’
The ARRV has been developed under
a cooperative agreement awarded to the
University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF)
that began in 2007. UAF executed the
shipyard contract in December 2009 and
the project is proceeding toward
construction. The purpose of the
Recovery Act is to stimulate economic
recovery in part by funding current
construction projects like the ARRV that
are ‘‘shovel ready’’ without requiring
projects to revise their standards and
specifications, or to restart the bidding
process again.
Subsections 1605(b) and (c) of the
Recovery Act authorize the head of a
Federal department or agency to waive
the Buy American provision if the head
of the agency finds that: (1) Applying
the provision would be inconsistent
with the public interest; (2) the relevant
goods are not produced in the United
States in sufficient and reasonably
available quantities and of a satisfactory
quality; or (3) the inclusion of the goods
produced in the United States will
increase the cost of the project by more
than 25 percent. If the head of the
Federal department or agency waives
the Buy American provision, then the
head of the department or agency is
required to publish a detailed
justification in the Federal Register.
Finally, section 1605(d) of the Recovery
Act states that the Buy American
provision must be applied in a manner
consistent with the United States’
obligations under international
agreements.
II. Finding That Relevant Goods Are
Not Produced in the United States in
Sufficient and Reasonably Available
Quality
Installation of an anti-roll tank system
is included in the construction
specifications to improve the ARRV’s
response to roll motion. Anti-roll tanks
are a relatively simple and efficient way
to improve the comfort and safety of
personnel sailing aboard the ship. They
consist of a tank filled with fluid
(usually seawater) that is designed to
slow the rate of water transfer from one
side of the vessel to the other, trapping
the larger amount of water on the higher
side of the vessel. The water is trapped
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03JAN1
jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2011 / Notices
by either a series of baffles (internal
vertical plates), air pressure across the
top of the tank, or machinery (i.e. a
pump). There are generally two types of
systems, ‘‘passive’’ and ‘‘active’’
depending on the mechanism used to
trap the water. ‘‘Active’’ generally refers
to systems that use machinery such as
pumps. These can be complex and
require higher amounts of electrical
power to operate. ‘‘Passive’’ systems
generally use baffles and require no
power or other control systems.
Between the two is ‘‘passive-controlled’’
which uses cross-over vent pipes fitted
with valves that control the flow of air
across the top of the tank. The air
pressure at the top slows the transfer of
water at the bottom.
The ARRV will operate as a global
class ship within the U.S. academic
research vessel fleet. As such, it is
expected to deploy worldwide where it
will encounter a wide variety of sea
conditions. Over the vessel’s service
life, the ARRV is likely to be deployed
to Arctic and Antarctic waters, the north
Pacific and north Atlantic where the
average wave lengths and heights can be
extreme as well as vary dramatically.
Vessels working in these high latitudes
are subject to demanding and often
dangerous conditions due to low
temperatures, high winds, and rough
seas.
The addition of the anti-roll tank was
a high priority recommendation from
the Final Design Review (FDR) held in
October 2008. The review panel
recognized the need for the vessel to
periodically work well beyond the
Arctic waters that the hull was initially
optimized for. At that time, the design
of the ARRV was fairly well advanced.
Besides the addition of hull length to
incorporate the tank structure itself, the
type of anti-roll tank specified must
meet the following technical
requirements based on the status of the
project:
• Ability to minimize ship’s roll
response in a wide variety of sea states
(either ‘‘Active’’ or ‘‘Passive-controlled’’).
• Minimize impact on construction
cost (low complexity, low additional
power).
• Minimize operating cost (low
complexity).
Failure to meet any of these technical
requirements would have severe
negative consequences for the project
with regard to nonperformance and
significant added program cost. It would
also result in a vessel that could not
successfully support open water science
equipment deployments over the
anticipated operating range which
includes the high polar regions (north
and south), as well as the Gulf of
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15:48 Dec 30, 2010
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Alaska, the north Pacific and the north
Atlantic. The average wave lengths and
heights encountered in these areas are
widely different which means the vessel
motions produced will be widely
different.
Following FDR, the project conducted
a detailed anti-roll tank study to assess
alternatives. A passive-controlled antiroll tank system was determined to be
the best option over a simpler passive
system because of its ability to be
‘‘tuned’’ to a wide variety of sea
conditions. Since the ARRV will operate
as a global-ranging vessel with an
emphasis on the high latitudes, an antiroll tank that can respond to the widely
varying sea states encountered is
essential. Otherwise, vessel motions
will not be adequately reduced to
permit safe and effective science
operations. All global research vessels
are fitted with similar anti-roll tanks. In
addition, the system has low power
requirements and compared to a fully
‘‘active’’ system has a minimal design
impact. In short, the passive-controlled
system provides the best performance
for the least impact on the existing
design.
Reducing the vessel’s roll response
decreases the number of days per year
that the ship would have to halt science
operations because of excessive ship’s
motion. At a certain point, the vessel
motions become severe enough that the
crew and science party are no longer
effective due to seasickness or fatigue.
Once this occurs, the ability to complete
the science mission goes down
dramatically either causing cancellation
of science objectives or extension of the
mission to fully complete the objectives.
The chance of injuring personnel and/
or damaging equipment also goes up
dramatically. The daily rate for the
ARRV is estimated at $45,000 per day in
2014 dollars. Given that the vessel will
operate mainly in the high latitudes,
losing 10% of the ship’s schedule (30
days) annually due to weather would be
likely if a technically compliant anti-roll
tank were not fitted in the vessel. In as
little as two years the lost science time
to the agency could easily exceed the
entire cost of the anti-roll tank addition
(∼$2.2 million).
For the purposes of this exemption
request, the ‘‘anti-roll tank system’’
includes only the manufactured goods
that make up the control portion of the
system; namely the control panel,
control valves, safety valves, air filters,
switches, accumulators, sensors, and
spare parts. This request does not
include the fabrication of the tanks and
cross-over piping which are part of the
ship structure being fabricated by the
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185
shipyard (∼$2.0 million) all of which
will be U.S. steel and U.S. manufacture.
The market research for this
exemption was done by the shipyard in
the summer of 2010 and verified by the
UAF project team in September 2010.
As noted in UAF’s request for this
exemption, the shipyard performed
market research by reviewing industry
publications and the Internet in order to
assess whether there exists a domestic
capability to provide an anti-roll tank
system that meets the necessary
requirements for safe and successful
operation in high latitudes and multiple
ocean environments. Only three (3)
potential suppliers were identified; two
(2) were foreign-owned and the third
was domestic. The shipyard compared
the existing product lines for
compliance with the anti-roll tank
technical specifications and
requirements as identified above.
Following a presentation at the
shipyard, it was determined that the one
domestic supplier did not provide a
system with the required passivecontrolled capability. They supplied
only a passive system which cannot be
tuned to various sea conditions.
Furthermore, although domesticallyowned it was determined that the
system from the single domestic
supplier was not actually manufactured
domestically. The result of the
shipyard’s independent market research
is consistent with a determination made
by the project team in early 2009 when
conducting the anti-roll tank study.
The project’s conclusion is there are
no US manufacturers who produce a
suitable anti-roll system that meets all of
the ARRV requirements so an
exemption to the Buy American
requirements is necessary.
In the absence of a domestic supplier
that could provide a requirementscompliant anti-roll tank system, UAF
requested that NSF issue a Section 1605
exemption determination with respect
to the purchase of a foreign-supplied,
requirements-compliant anti-roll tank
system, so that the vessel will meet the
specific design and technical
requirements which, as explained
above, are necessary for this vessel to be
able to perform its mission safely and
successfully. Furthermore, the
shipyard’s market research as verified
by UAF indicated that an anti-roll tank
system compliant with the ARRV’s
technical specifications and
requirements is commercially available
from foreign vendors within their
standard product lines.
NSF’s Division of Acquisition and
Cooperative Support (DACS) and other
NSF program staff reviewed the UAF
exemption request submittal, found that
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186
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2011 / Notices
it was complete, and determined that
sufficient technical information was
provided in order for NSF to evaluate
the exemption request and to conclude
that an exemption is needed and should
be granted.
III. Exemption
On October 22, 2010, based on the
finding that no domestically produced
anti-roll tank system met all of the
ARRV’s technical specifications and
requirements and pursuant to section
1605(b), the NSF Chief Financial
Officer, in accordance with a delegation
order from the Director of the agency,
granted a limited project exemption of
the Recovery Act’s Buy American
requirements with respect to the
procurement of a passive-controlled
anti-roll tank control system.
Dated: December 23, 2010.
Lawrence Rudolph,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2010–33043 Filed 12–30–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555–01–P
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Notice of Buy American Waiver Under
the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009
AGENCY:
National Science Foundation
(NSF).
jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
ACTION:
Notice.
SUMMARY: NSF is hereby granting a
limited exemption of section 1605 of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Public Law
111–5, 123 Stat. 115, 303 (2009), with
respect to the purchase of the weather
facsimile machine that will be used in
the Alaska Region Research Vessel
(ARRV). A weather facsimile (weather
fax) is an electronic machine designed
to automatically receive near-real time
marine weather information.
DATES: January 3, 2011.
ADDRESSES: National Science
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd.,
Arlington, Virginia 22230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Jeffrey Leithead, Division of Acquisition
and Cooperative Support, 703–292–
4595.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with section 1605(c) of the
Recovery Act and section 176.80 of Title
2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the
National Science Foundation (NSF)
hereby provides notice that on October
22, 2010, the NSF Chief Financial
Officer (CFO), in accordance with a
delegation order from the Director of the
agency, granted a limited project
VerDate Mar<15>2010
15:48 Dec 30, 2010
Jkt 223001
exemption of section 1605 of the
Recovery Act (Buy American provision)
with respect to the weather fax that will
be used in the ARRV. The basis for this
exemption is section 1605(b)(2) of the
Recovery Act, in that weather faxes of
satisfactory quality are not produced in
the United States in sufficient and
reasonably available commercial
quantities. The cost of the weather fax
is approximately $11,000, which
represents less than .01% of the value
of the total $148 million Recovery Act
award provided toward construction of
the ARRV.
I. Background
The Recovery Act appropriated $400
million to NSF for several projects being
funded by the Foundation’s Major
Research Equipment and Facilities
Construction (MREFC) account. The
ARRV is one of NSF’s MREFC projects.
Section 1605(a) of the Recovery Act, the
Buy American provision, states that
none of the funds appropriated by the
Act ‘‘may be used for a project for the
construction, alteration, maintenance, or
repair of a public building or public
work unless all of the iron, steel, and
manufactured goods used in the project
are produced in the United States.’’
The ARRV has been developed under
a cooperative agreement awarded to the
University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF)
that began in 2007. Shipyard selection
is complete and UAF executed the
construction contract in December 2009.
The purpose of the Recovery Act is to
stimulate economic recovery in part by
funding current construction projects
like the ARRV that are ‘‘shovel ready’’
without requiring projects to revise their
standards and specifications, or to
restart the bidding process again.
Subsections 1605(b) and (c) of the
Recovery Act authorize the head of a
Federal department or agency to waive
the Buy American provision if the head
of the agency finds that: (1) Applying
the provision would be inconsistent
with the public interest; (2) the relevant
goods are not produced in the United
States in sufficient and reasonably
available quantities and of a satisfactory
quality; or (3) the inclusion of the goods
produced in the United States will
increase the cost of the project by more
than 25 percent. If the head of the
Federal department or agency waives
the Buy American provision, then the
head of the department or agency is
required to publish a detailed
justification in the Federal Register.
Finally, section 1605(d) of the Recovery
Act states that the Buy American
provision must be applied in a manner
consistent with the United States’
PO 00000
Frm 00106
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
obligations under international
agreements.
II. Finding That Relevant Goods Are
Not Produced In the United States In
Sufficient and Reasonably Available
Quality
The requirement for a weather fax was
part of the construction specifications
for the ARRV. A weather fax provides
valuable, near-real time weather
information to the ship as an aid for
planning science operations and transit
voyages. It is a standard piece of
electronic bridge equipment throughout
the world as it provides the ship
operator with an excellent and
necessary forecasting tool to assess
weather impact on operations. The
specification requirements for the
weather fax include:
1. Performance, reliability,
maintainability, durability, size, and
weight.
2. Regulatory body approval.
3. Availability of spare parts.
4. Operate within the 2 MHz to 25
MHz range.
5. Built-in receiver.
6. Built-in thermal printer.
7. Human Machine Interface that
allows the operator easy access for
system set-up.
8. Pre-programmed with 150 channels
for the existing facsimile stations worldwide and allow manual programming by
the operator.
9. Internal back-up battery.
10. Automatic start/stop recording
and printing.
An important feature operationally is
being a stand-alone unit with a built in
printer and automatic operation. This
provides the bridge watch with a hard
copy of weather charts and weather
satellite images in the pilothouse
without having to access a computer or
keep track of when a facsimile station is
scheduled to transmit. The automatic
operation is critical to minimize
distractions to the bridge watch who can
then retrieve the hard copy for analysis
at a time that will not impact
navigational duties. Science and routine
vessel operational duties are
demanding, especially in the high
latitudes where the ARRV will operate.
Any unnecessary distractions in the
pilothouse can jeopardize the safety of
the vessel.
The ARRV will operate as a Global
class ship within the U.S. academic
research vessel fleet. As such, it is
expected to deploy worldwide where it
is likely to encounter highly variable
weather conditions. Over the vessel’s
service life, the ARRV is likely to be
deployed to Arctic and Antarctic waters,
the north Pacific and north Atlantic
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 1 (Monday, January 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 184-186]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-33043]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Notice of Buy American Waiver Under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009
AGENCY: National Science Foundation (NSF).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: NSF is hereby granting a limited exemption of section 1605 of
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act),
Public Law 111-5, 123 Stat. 115, 303 (2009), with respect to the
purchase of the anti-roll tank control system that will be used in the
Alaska Region Research Vessel (ARRV). An anti-roll tank is a system
that is built into a vessel's hull to reduce rolling motion when
operating at sea.
DATES: January 3, 2011.
ADDRESSES: National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington,
Virginia 22230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jeffrey Leithead, Division of
Acquisition and Cooperative Support, 703-292-4595.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with section 1605(c) of the
Recovery Act and section 176.80 of Title 2 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, the National Science Foundation (NSF) hereby provides
notice that on October 22, 2010, the NSF Chief Financial Officer, in
accordance with a delegation order from the Director of the agency,
granted a limited project exemption of section 1605 of the Recovery Act
(Buy American provision) with respect to the anti-roll tank control
system that will be used in the ARRV. The basis for this exemption is
section 1605(b)(2) of the Recovery Act, in that a ``passive-
controlled'' anti-roll tank control system of satisfactory quality is
not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably
available commercial quantities. The cost of the anti-roll tank control
system (~$130,000) represents less than 0.1% of the total $148 million
Recovery Act award provided toward construction of the ARRV.
I. Background
The Recovery Act appropriated $400 million to NSF for several
projects being funded by the Foundation's Major Research Equipment and
Facilities Construction (MREFC) account. The ARRV is one of NSF's MREFC
projects. Section 1605(a) of the Recovery Act, the Buy American
provision, states that none of the funds appropriated by the Act ``may
be used for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or
repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron,
steel, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the
United States.''
The ARRV has been developed under a cooperative agreement awarded
to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) that began in 2007. UAF
executed the shipyard contract in December 2009 and the project is
proceeding toward construction. The purpose of the Recovery Act is to
stimulate economic recovery in part by funding current construction
projects like the ARRV that are ``shovel ready'' without requiring
projects to revise their standards and specifications, or to restart
the bidding process again.
Subsections 1605(b) and (c) of the Recovery Act authorize the head
of a Federal department or agency to waive the Buy American provision
if the head of the agency finds that: (1) Applying the provision would
be inconsistent with the public interest; (2) the relevant goods are
not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably
available quantities and of a satisfactory quality; or (3) the
inclusion of the goods produced in the United States will increase the
cost of the project by more than 25 percent. If the head of the Federal
department or agency waives the Buy American provision, then the head
of the department or agency is required to publish a detailed
justification in the Federal Register. Finally, section 1605(d) of the
Recovery Act states that the Buy American provision must be applied in
a manner consistent with the United States' obligations under
international agreements.
II. Finding That Relevant Goods Are Not Produced in the United States
in Sufficient and Reasonably Available Quality
Installation of an anti-roll tank system is included in the
construction specifications to improve the ARRV's response to roll
motion. Anti-roll tanks are a relatively simple and efficient way to
improve the comfort and safety of personnel sailing aboard the ship.
They consist of a tank filled with fluid (usually seawater) that is
designed to slow the rate of water transfer from one side of the vessel
to the other, trapping the larger amount of water on the higher side of
the vessel. The water is trapped
[[Page 185]]
by either a series of baffles (internal vertical plates), air pressure
across the top of the tank, or machinery (i.e. a pump). There are
generally two types of systems, ``passive'' and ``active'' depending on
the mechanism used to trap the water. ``Active'' generally refers to
systems that use machinery such as pumps. These can be complex and
require higher amounts of electrical power to operate. ``Passive''
systems generally use baffles and require no power or other control
systems. Between the two is ``passive-controlled'' which uses cross-
over vent pipes fitted with valves that control the flow of air across
the top of the tank. The air pressure at the top slows the transfer of
water at the bottom.
The ARRV will operate as a global class ship within the U.S.
academic research vessel fleet. As such, it is expected to deploy
worldwide where it will encounter a wide variety of sea conditions.
Over the vessel's service life, the ARRV is likely to be deployed to
Arctic and Antarctic waters, the north Pacific and north Atlantic where
the average wave lengths and heights can be extreme as well as vary
dramatically. Vessels working in these high latitudes are subject to
demanding and often dangerous conditions due to low temperatures, high
winds, and rough seas.
The addition of the anti-roll tank was a high priority
recommendation from the Final Design Review (FDR) held in October 2008.
The review panel recognized the need for the vessel to periodically
work well beyond the Arctic waters that the hull was initially
optimized for. At that time, the design of the ARRV was fairly well
advanced. Besides the addition of hull length to incorporate the tank
structure itself, the type of anti-roll tank specified must meet the
following technical requirements based on the status of the project:
Ability to minimize ship's roll response in a wide variety
of sea states (either ``Active'' or ``Passive-controlled'').
Minimize impact on construction cost (low complexity, low
additional power).
Minimize operating cost (low complexity).
Failure to meet any of these technical requirements would have
severe negative consequences for the project with regard to
nonperformance and significant added program cost. It would also result
in a vessel that could not successfully support open water science
equipment deployments over the anticipated operating range which
includes the high polar regions (north and south), as well as the Gulf
of Alaska, the north Pacific and the north Atlantic. The average wave
lengths and heights encountered in these areas are widely different
which means the vessel motions produced will be widely different.
Following FDR, the project conducted a detailed anti-roll tank
study to assess alternatives. A passive-controlled anti-roll tank
system was determined to be the best option over a simpler passive
system because of its ability to be ``tuned'' to a wide variety of sea
conditions. Since the ARRV will operate as a global-ranging vessel with
an emphasis on the high latitudes, an anti-roll tank that can respond
to the widely varying sea states encountered is essential. Otherwise,
vessel motions will not be adequately reduced to permit safe and
effective science operations. All global research vessels are fitted
with similar anti-roll tanks. In addition, the system has low power
requirements and compared to a fully ``active'' system has a minimal
design impact. In short, the passive-controlled system provides the
best performance for the least impact on the existing design.
Reducing the vessel's roll response decreases the number of days
per year that the ship would have to halt science operations because of
excessive ship's motion. At a certain point, the vessel motions become
severe enough that the crew and science party are no longer effective
due to seasickness or fatigue. Once this occurs, the ability to
complete the science mission goes down dramatically either causing
cancellation of science objectives or extension of the mission to fully
complete the objectives. The chance of injuring personnel and/or
damaging equipment also goes up dramatically. The daily rate for the
ARRV is estimated at $45,000 per day in 2014 dollars. Given that the
vessel will operate mainly in the high latitudes, losing 10% of the
ship's schedule (30 days) annually due to weather would be likely if a
technically compliant anti-roll tank were not fitted in the vessel. In
as little as two years the lost science time to the agency could easily
exceed the entire cost of the anti-roll tank addition (~$2.2 million).
For the purposes of this exemption request, the ``anti-roll tank
system'' includes only the manufactured goods that make up the control
portion of the system; namely the control panel, control valves, safety
valves, air filters, switches, accumulators, sensors, and spare parts.
This request does not include the fabrication of the tanks and cross-
over piping which are part of the ship structure being fabricated by
the shipyard (~$2.0 million) all of which will be U.S. steel and U.S.
manufacture.
The market research for this exemption was done by the shipyard in
the summer of 2010 and verified by the UAF project team in September
2010. As noted in UAF's request for this exemption, the shipyard
performed market research by reviewing industry publications and the
Internet in order to assess whether there exists a domestic capability
to provide an anti-roll tank system that meets the necessary
requirements for safe and successful operation in high latitudes and
multiple ocean environments. Only three (3) potential suppliers were
identified; two (2) were foreign-owned and the third was domestic. The
shipyard compared the existing product lines for compliance with the
anti-roll tank technical specifications and requirements as identified
above. Following a presentation at the shipyard, it was determined that
the one domestic supplier did not provide a system with the required
passive-controlled capability. They supplied only a passive system
which cannot be tuned to various sea conditions. Furthermore, although
domestically-owned it was determined that the system from the single
domestic supplier was not actually manufactured domestically. The
result of the shipyard's independent market research is consistent with
a determination made by the project team in early 2009 when conducting
the anti-roll tank study.
The project's conclusion is there are no US manufacturers who
produce a suitable anti-roll system that meets all of the ARRV
requirements so an exemption to the Buy American requirements is
necessary.
In the absence of a domestic supplier that could provide a
requirements-compliant anti-roll tank system, UAF requested that NSF
issue a Section 1605 exemption determination with respect to the
purchase of a foreign-supplied, requirements-compliant anti-roll tank
system, so that the vessel will meet the specific design and technical
requirements which, as explained above, are necessary for this vessel
to be able to perform its mission safely and successfully. Furthermore,
the shipyard's market research as verified by UAF indicated that an
anti-roll tank system compliant with the ARRV's technical
specifications and requirements is commercially available from foreign
vendors within their standard product lines.
NSF's Division of Acquisition and Cooperative Support (DACS) and
other NSF program staff reviewed the UAF exemption request submittal,
found that
[[Page 186]]
it was complete, and determined that sufficient technical information
was provided in order for NSF to evaluate the exemption request and to
conclude that an exemption is needed and should be granted.
III. Exemption
On October 22, 2010, based on the finding that no domestically
produced anti-roll tank system met all of the ARRV's technical
specifications and requirements and pursuant to section 1605(b), the
NSF Chief Financial Officer, in accordance with a delegation order from
the Director of the agency, granted a limited project exemption of the
Recovery Act's Buy American requirements with respect to the
procurement of a passive-controlled anti-roll tank control system.
Dated: December 23, 2010.
Lawrence Rudolph,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2010-33043 Filed 12-30-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P
