Notice of Buy American Waiver Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 15140-15141 [2012-6102]
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 50 / Wednesday, March 14, 2012 / Notices
well-matched comparison groups); and
(3) project outputs (necessary to
measure baseline for pre- and postNSF-funding-level impacts).
Use of the Information: This
information is required for effective
administration, communication,
program and project monitoring and
evaluation, and for measuring
attainment of NSF’s program, project,
and strategic goals, and as identified by
the President’s Accountability in
Government Initiative; GPRA, and the
NSF’s Strategic Plan. The Foundation’s
FY 2006–2011 Strategic Plan describes
four strategic outcome goals of
Discovery, Learning, Research
Infrastructure, and Stewardship. NSF’s
complete strategic plan may be found at:
https://www.nsf.gov/publications/
pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf0648.
Since the EHR Generic Clearance
research is primarily used for
accountability purposes, including
responding from queries from COVs and
other scientific experts, a census rather
than sampling design typically is
necessary. At the individual project
level funding can be adjusted based on
individual project’s responses to some
of the surveys. Some data collected
under the EHR Clearance serve as
baseline data for separate research and
evaluation studies.
In order to conduct program- or
portfolio-level evaluations, however,
both experimental and quasiexperimental evaluation research
studies on STEM education
interventions require researchers to
identify individual-level and
organization- or project-level control
and treatment groups or comparison
groups. NSF-funded contract or grantee
researchers and evaluators in part may
identify control, comparison, or
treatment groups for NSF’s ET portfolio
using some of the descriptive data
gathered through OMB 3145–0136 to
conduct well-designed, rigorous
research and portfolio evaluation
studies.
In accordance with the 2001, 2005,
2008, and 2011 OMB Terms of
Clearances, NSF requests separate
stand-alone clearance (and separately
announces for comment in the Federal
Register) any program or portfolio
research or evaluation.
Respondents: Individuals or
households, not-for-profit institutions,
business or other for profit, and Federal,
State, local or tribal government.
Number of Respondents: 8,494.
Burden of the Public: The total
estimate for this collection is 65,868
annual burden hours. This figure is
based on the previous 3 years of
collecting information under this
VerDate Mar<15>2010
19:41 Mar 13, 2012
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clearance and anticipated collections.
The average annual reporting burden is
between 1.5 and 72 hours per
‘‘respondent,’’ depending on whether a
respondent is a direct participant who is
self-reporting or representing a project
and reporting on behalf of many project
participants.
reasonably available commercial
quantities. The total cost of DMS,
approximately $3 million, represents
approximately 2 percent of the total
$146 million Recovery Act award
provided for construction of the ATST
and about 1 percent of the total project
cost.
Dated: March 9, 2012.
Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science
Foundation.
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
ATST 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 ATST construction is being
funded under a cooperative agreement
awarded to the Association of
Universities for Research in Astronomy
(AURA) that began in 2009. The project
is currently under construction.
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.
[FR Doc. 2012–6185 Filed 3–13–12; 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).
ACTION:
Notice.
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
deformable mirror system that will be
used in the Advanced Technology Solar
Telescope (ATST). This system is
required in order to achieve the
requisite spatial resolution to study the
finest details of magnetic features in the
solar atmosphere.
DATED: March 14, 2012.
ADDRESSES: National Science
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd.,
Arlington, Virginia 22230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Anna-Lee Misiano, Division of
Acquisition and Cooperative Support,
703–292–4339
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 March 6,
2012 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
deformable mirror system (DMS) that
will be used in the ATST. The basis for
this exemption is section 1605(b)(2) of
the Recovery Act, in that deformable
mirrors of satisfactory quality that meet
the specifications required for
diffraction-limited observations of the
sun are not produced by vendors in the
United States in sufficient and
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00119
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
II. Finding That Relevant Goods Are
Not Produced in the United States in
Sufficient and Reasonably Available
Quality
The science goals of the ATST require
that the telescope operate at the socalled diffraction limit in order to
resolve spatial features in the solar
atmosphere with sizes of order 20 to 30
kilometers. Comparing this size to the
average distance to the sun of about
150,000,000 kilometers leads to the
E:\FR\FM\14MRN1.SGM
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srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 50 / Wednesday, March 14, 2012 / Notices
conclusion that the angular size of such
features as viewed from the Earth is very
small. In order to accomplish such
studies, the blurring effect of the earth’s
turbulent atmosphere needs to be
removed. This is accomplished by an
advanced system of optics known
generically as ‘‘adaptive optics’’ (AO).
The heart of the AO system is a mirror
that can change its shape more than
1,000 times per second with
approximately 1,900 separate actuators
distributed over the circular area of the
mirror. Each actuator must be able to
push and pull the face plate by 2.5
micrometers; by comparison, a human
hair is approximately 80 micrometers
wide. This mirror, along with its control
electronics, cooling system, etc.
constitutes the DMS. The specifications
for the DMS include the following
critical performance requirements:
1. Face Sheet flatness—The DMS
must have initial and repeatable
reflective face sheet flatness to within
15.8 nanometers (root mean square
error) for a baseline reference. (For
reference, 1 micrometer equals 1000
nanometers.)
2. Actuator spacing—The DMS must
have an actuator spacing such that a
population of at least 1,900 units are
installed within the DMS footprint,
which is roughly circular with 200
millimeter diameter.
3. Actuator performance—The
actuators must be capable of a specific
and repeatable stroke length of equal to
or greater than 5 micrometers while in
the ATST operational environment.
Failure to meet any of these technical
requirements would have severe
negative impacts on the spatial
resolution performance of the ATST and
therefore on its ability to meet its
scientific goals.
AURA issued an Announcement of
Opportunity in Federal Business
Opportunities (FedBizOpps) and,
subsequently, an open request for
proposals for the design, fabrication,
and testing of the DMS for the ATST.
Proposals were received from three
vendors, two of which are non-U.S.
companies. The proposals were
evaluated by an internal source
selection evaluation board on the basis
of technical performance and best value.
A selection plan and proposal
evaluation criteria were created in order
to equitably evaluate proposals and
provide a quantitative method for
selection of a ‘‘best value’’ proposal
based on technical and managerial
merit. The selection plan was reviewed
and approved per AURA’s internal
procedures prior to receiving the
proposals. Pricing was subsequently
factored in by the reviewers to assess
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19:41 Mar 13, 2012
Jkt 226001
overall, ‘‘best value.’’ The evaluation
criteria were weighted as described in
the selection plan depending on the
relative importance of each criteria.
After careful technical review, the
selection board recommended that the
ATST program pursue a contract with
one of the non-U.S. vendors as a result
of their finding that only that one
vendor’s offering meets and exceeds all
critical performance requirements,
particularly the specifications
concerning face sheet flattening and
actuator performance. Furthermore, the
selected vendor is also the only one that
has experience in producing mirrors
that meet ATST requirements for
actuator spacing. The only U.S. bidder
failed to meet the critical specification
on actuator stroke and could not
produce a mirror with the desired 1,933
total actuators with spacing of 4.33
millimeters by 4.21 millimeters.
AURA’s conclusion is that there are
no U.S. manufacturers who can produce
a suitable DMS that meets all of the
ATST requirements, so an exemption to
the Buy American requirements is
necessary.
In the absence of a domestic supplier
that could provide a DMS that meets or
exceeds the ATST specification, AURA
requested that NSF issue a Section 1605
exemption determination with respect
to the purchase of a foreign-supplied,
specification-compliant DMS, so that
the telescope will meet the specific
design and technical requirements that
are necessary to deliver the image
quality necessary for successful
performance of its scientific mission.
Furthermore, the project’s market
research indicated that a DMS that
meets or exceeds the ATST’s technical
specifications and requirements is
available from a foreign vendor.
NSF’s Division of Acquisition and
Cooperative Support (DACS) and other
NSF program staff reviewed the AURA
exemption request submittal, found that
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 March 6, 2012, based on the
finding that no domestically produced
deformable mirror system meets all of
the ATST’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
signed on May 27, 2010, granted a
limited project exemption of the
Recovery Act’s Buy American
PO 00000
Frm 00120
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
15141
requirements with respect to the
procurement of the deformable mirror
system.
Dated: March 7, 2012.
Lawrence Rudolph,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2012–6102 Filed 3–13–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555–01–P
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
National Science Board; Sunshine Act
Meetings
The National Science Board’s
Committee on Strategy and Budget Task
Force on Data Policies, pursuant to NSF
regulations (45 CFR part 614), the
National Science Foundation Act, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n–5), and the
Government in the Sunshine Act (5
U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice in
regard to the scheduling of a
teleconference for the transaction of
National Science Board business, as
follows:
DATE AND TIME: Wednesday, March 28,
from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., EDT.
SUBJECT MATTER: Discussion of a
continuation of the National Science
Board’s focus on data policies.
STATUS: Open.
LOCATION: This meeting will be held by
teleconference at the National Science
Board Office, National Science
Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd.,
Arlington, VA 22230. A public listening
room will be available for this
teleconference meeting. All visitors
must contact the Board Office (call 703–
292–7000 or send an email message to
nationalsciencebrd@nsf.gov) at least 24
hours prior to the teleconference for the
public room number and to arrange for
a visitor’s badge. All visitors must report
to the NSF visitor desk located in the
lobby at the 9th and N. Stuart Streets
entrance on the day of the
teleconference to receive a visitor’s
badge.
UPDATES AND POINT OF CONTACT: Please
refer to the National Science Board Web
site www.nsf.gov/nsb for additional
information and schedule updates (time,
place, subject matter or status of
meeting) may be found at https://
www.nsf.gov/nsb/notices/. Point of
contact for this meeting is: Blane Dahl,
National Science Board Office, 4201
Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230.
Telephone: (703) 292–7000.
Ann Bushmiller,
Senior Counsel to the National Science Board.
[FR Doc. 2012–6278 Filed 3–12–12; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 7555–01–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 14, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15140-15141]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6102]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 deformable mirror system that will be used in the
Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST). This system is required in
order to achieve the requisite spatial resolution to study the finest
details of magnetic features in the solar atmosphere.
DATED: March 14, 2012.
ADDRESSES: National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., Arlington,
Virginia 22230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Anna-Lee Misiano, Division of
Acquisition and Cooperative Support, 703-292-4339
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 March 6, 2012 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 deformable mirror system
(DMS) that will be used in the ATST. The basis for this exemption is
section 1605(b)(2) of the Recovery Act, in that deformable mirrors of
satisfactory quality that meet the specifications required for
diffraction-limited observations of the sun are not produced by vendors
in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available commercial
quantities. The total cost of DMS, approximately $3 million, represents
approximately 2 percent of the total $146 million Recovery Act award
provided for construction of the ATST and about 1 percent of the total
project cost.
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 ATST 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 ATST construction is being funded under a cooperative agreement
awarded to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
(AURA) that began in 2009. The project is currently under construction.
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
The science goals of the ATST require that the telescope operate at
the so-called diffraction limit in order to resolve spatial features in
the solar atmosphere with sizes of order 20 to 30 kilometers. Comparing
this size to the average distance to the sun of about 150,000,000
kilometers leads to the
[[Page 15141]]
conclusion that the angular size of such features as viewed from the
Earth is very small. In order to accomplish such studies, the blurring
effect of the earth's turbulent atmosphere needs to be removed. This is
accomplished by an advanced system of optics known generically as
``adaptive optics'' (AO). The heart of the AO system is a mirror that
can change its shape more than 1,000 times per second with
approximately 1,900 separate actuators distributed over the circular
area of the mirror. Each actuator must be able to push and pull the
face plate by 2.5 micrometers; by comparison, a human hair is
approximately 80 micrometers wide. This mirror, along with its control
electronics, cooling system, etc. constitutes the DMS. The
specifications for the DMS include the following critical performance
requirements:
1. Face Sheet flatness--The DMS must have initial and repeatable
reflective face sheet flatness to within 15.8 nanometers (root mean
square error) for a baseline reference. (For reference, 1 micrometer
equals 1000 nanometers.)
2. Actuator spacing--The DMS must have an actuator spacing such
that a population of at least 1,900 units are installed within the DMS
footprint, which is roughly circular with 200 millimeter diameter.
3. Actuator performance--The actuators must be capable of a
specific and repeatable stroke length of equal to or greater than 5
micrometers while in the ATST operational environment.
Failure to meet any of these technical requirements would have
severe negative impacts on the spatial resolution performance of the
ATST and therefore on its ability to meet its scientific goals.
AURA issued an Announcement of Opportunity in Federal Business
Opportunities (FedBizOpps) and, subsequently, an open request for
proposals for the design, fabrication, and testing of the DMS for the
ATST. Proposals were received from three vendors, two of which are non-
U.S. companies. The proposals were evaluated by an internal source
selection evaluation board on the basis of technical performance and
best value.
A selection plan and proposal evaluation criteria were created in
order to equitably evaluate proposals and provide a quantitative method
for selection of a ``best value'' proposal based on technical and
managerial merit. The selection plan was reviewed and approved per
AURA's internal procedures prior to receiving the proposals. Pricing
was subsequently factored in by the reviewers to assess overall, ``best
value.'' The evaluation criteria were weighted as described in the
selection plan depending on the relative importance of each criteria.
After careful technical review, the selection board recommended
that the ATST program pursue a contract with one of the non-U.S.
vendors as a result of their finding that only that one vendor's
offering meets and exceeds all critical performance requirements,
particularly the specifications concerning face sheet flattening and
actuator performance. Furthermore, the selected vendor is also the only
one that has experience in producing mirrors that meet ATST
requirements for actuator spacing. The only U.S. bidder failed to meet
the critical specification on actuator stroke and could not produce a
mirror with the desired 1,933 total actuators with spacing of 4.33
millimeters by 4.21 millimeters.
AURA's conclusion is that there are no U.S. manufacturers who can
produce a suitable DMS that meets all of the ATST requirements, so an
exemption to the Buy American requirements is necessary.
In the absence of a domestic supplier that could provide a DMS that
meets or exceeds the ATST specification, AURA requested that NSF issue
a Section 1605 exemption determination with respect to the purchase of
a foreign-supplied, specification-compliant DMS, so that the telescope
will meet the specific design and technical requirements that are
necessary to deliver the image quality necessary for successful
performance of its scientific mission. Furthermore, the project's
market research indicated that a DMS that meets or exceeds the ATST's
technical specifications and requirements is available from a foreign
vendor.
NSF's Division of Acquisition and Cooperative Support (DACS) and
other NSF program staff reviewed the AURA exemption request submittal,
found that 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 March 6, 2012, based on the finding that no domestically
produced deformable mirror system meets all of the ATST'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 signed on May 27, 2010, granted a limited
project exemption of the Recovery Act's Buy American requirements with
respect to the procurement of the deformable mirror system.
Dated: March 7, 2012.
Lawrence Rudolph,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2012-6102 Filed 3-13-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P
