2020 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA): Development and Demonstration of Mine Safety and Health Technology

****Date Full Proposals Due is extended until 04/10/2020 3:00PM ET, due to current pandemic. 2020 Broad Agency Announcement: Development and Demonstration of Mine Safety and Health Technology The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act) permanently established the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research under the direction of an Associate Director, within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. One purpose of this office is to enhance the development of new technology and technological applications, and to expedite the commercial availability and implementation of such technology in mining environments. The MINER Act grants the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research the authority to (1) award competitive contracts and grants to institutions and private entities to encourage the development and manufacture of mine safety equipment and (2) award contracts to education institutions or private laboratories for the performance of product testing or related work with respect to new mine technology or equipment. This announcement is an opportunity for the award of contracts for enhancing safety in mines. The primary goal of the MINER Act technology mandate is to improve/increase the use of technology in mines to improve mineworker safety and health, and the intent of this broad agency announcement is to support enabling activities such as technology identification, validation, demonstration, adaptation, and/or commercialization. The Office of Mine Safety and Health Research of NIOSH is soliciting concept papers to conduct research, exploratory development, testing, or evaluations of new technologies to improve mine safety, or to adapt technologies from other industries for application in mining environments. The primary interest of this broad agency announcement is to promote the modification or final development of practical technologies or systems that can be adopted by the mining community in a short period of time. Under this specific solicitation, proposals to conduct theoretical or basic research will not be considered. NIOSH strongly encourages proposals that include collaboration with mining industry partners who understand the reality of the mining environment and can provide insight into mine design requirements and potential commercialization of the technology. The following examples are presented to further illustrate appropriate submissions under this solicitation beyond the more general guidance listed previously. 1. A safety and/or health technology that is currently in a prototype stage, which will require funding for final development and adaptation to the mining environment. This could include modification of prototypes to account for operation in the challenging underground coal environment, modification to meet permissibility requirements, and/or demonstration of the technology at actual mine sites. 2. A safety and/or health technology that is currently being used in another industry and requires modification to be adapted for mining applications. This could include system redesign, modification to meet permissibility requirements, in-mine testing to establish the efficacy of the technology, and/or demonstration of the technology at mine sites. 3. Analysis of candidate technologies to establish their potential to improve safety and/or health, and/or analyses of barriers to technology application or means of overcoming such barriers. 4. A safety and/or health technology that is fully developed and available for use but is not being adopted by the industry for reasons that require further analysis. This could include developing an initial operational capability by installing the technology in one or more mines for evaluation and/or market analysis to determine the reasons the technology is not being adopted and the changes that would be necessary to make it acceptable to the industry. 5. Analysis of safety and health information in the surveillance area or other work that involves the extraction of predictive information that could produce useful data for identifying the future technology needs of the mining industry. Fatality and injury data continue to highlight the need to develop new or improve existing technologies or adapt technologies from other industries to address safety and health issues in surface, and underground mines related to the coal, metal and non-metal, and stone, sand, and gravel industries. While NIOSH has typically provided a number of topical areas of importance to guide responders in addressing its highest priorities, this solicitation only includes one focus area as described below. However, NIOSH encourages responders to propose solutions to other health and safety issues that are responsive to our guidelines; these proposals are evaluated under the same criteria as submittals under the focus area and receive equal consideration for funding. Concept papers will be accepted from the release of the solicitation through January 15, 2020. Full proposals for concept papers that are found to be technically acceptable will be due within 30 days after notification by the Contracting Officer. Work that will be completed in 24 months or less is desired, but is not a requirement; projects requiring up to 48 months will be considered. NIOSH estimates that the typical project under this solicitation will require between $200,000 and $300,000, although proposals for amounts up to $650,000 will be considered. Proposals submitted in excess of the $650,000 ceiling will not be evaluated nor considered for funding. It is estimated that about 6 to 10 awards will be made with approximately $2M to $5M available for this BAA. Topical Area of Importance NIOSH welcomes proposals in the surveillance area or other work that involves the extraction of predictive information that could produce useful data for identifying the future technology needs of the mining industry. As noted above, NIOSH also encourages proposals addressing health and safety issues outside of this area: Non-Regulatory Personal Measurement of Coal Dust and/or Silica The prior three BAA solicitations included focus areas relating to a smaller, lighter, more ergonomic, and more economical version of the current continuous personal dust monitor for respirable coal dust and a similar mass-based, real-time dust monitoring unit to detect crystalline silica dust. While regulatory compliance currently requires mass-based measurement, NIOSH believes there is a market for units measuring coal dust, silica, or both, that are low enough in cost that they can be issued to every miner to provide near real-time results and allow miners to identify elevated dust/silica levels and take immediate corrective action to prevent overexposure. This continuing BAA focus area is included to stimulate potential research and development opportunities in this critical area. As background, the Continuous Personal Dust Monitor currently in use in underground coal mining (Thermo Scientific PDM3700) has significantly improved respirable coal dust monitoring capabilities and compliance with MSHA coal mine dust exposure regulations and demonstrated the value in providing exposure information directly to the miner. By limiting solutions to a mass-based unit to meet regulatory requirements however, many promising alternatives are eliminated. As a result, NIOSH has opened this solicitation to other measurements techniques with the aim of driving technology to the level where every miner, irrespective of job categorization, could be provided a personal wearable unit. Response Date: This announcement will remain open until January 15, 2020. Concept papers will be accepted from the release of the solicitation through January 15, 2020. CONCEPT PAPERS SUBMITTED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Full proposals for concept papers that are found to be technically acceptable will be due within 30 days after notification by the Contracting Officer. Inquiries and Additional Information: Information and specific questions of a technical business nature only will be accepted via e-mail sent to Contracting Officer, Diane Meeder, at the following address: contact@example.gov. Include your name and e-mail address on the message. Responses to the e-mail questions will be handled on a first-come basis and generally will be answered within 10 business days. PHONE CALLS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Additional information is also available online at the following address: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/researchprogram/fundingops.html Questions and Answers Posted 01/13/2020