The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Paint Technology Center (PTC) has developed an innovative vinyl resin coating for use in combatting corrosion issues in the lock and dam environment. The team now requires services to analyze this coating, generate quantitative performance based criteria that can be used to compare it against other commercially available systems, and formulate an alternative to coating which meets or exceeds those criteria. ERDC-CERL intends to award a purchase order on a sole source basis to The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1). This effort builds from an FY18 Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) contract with USM which focused on the development of general performance based criteria for coatings analysis. The outcomes of that BAA research will now be optimized for application specific to the USACE vinyl resin coating. This is based on proprietary quantitative techniques to which only USM has the capabilities to provide, and due to the proprietary nature no other entity has the information needed to generate the analytical techniques required for optimization. The unique and proprietary knowledge from the BAA contract and prior USM work is as follows: - USM has developed, utilized, and refined the capacity to evaluate a multitude of coating parameters through specific fluorescent probes. To date USM has employed probes to quantify near molecular pH changes associated with cathodic corrosion, corrosion initiation and onset time, corrosion rate, and the impacts of a series of parameters, e.g., residual solvent on the performance of thermoplastic coated metal substrates for corrosion control, the impact of differences between substrate topography and the differences between rates of corrosion in varying spatial and temporal detection differences. - USM labs have developed a characterization protocol, using RH-DMA (relative humidity dynamic mechanical analysis) that measures the environmental work performed on the coating. USM can quantify the change in length of a free film based upon specific environmental conditions, thereby the % swelling and environmental work can be calculated and related to cyclical fatigue failure and survivability. - USM has developed a unique internal stress measurement instrument which can analyze the internal stress imposed on a 20 substrates at a time, in real time, in both wet and dry environments and cycling between the two. This system utilizes real time camera monitoring of deflection of a surface over curing time and environmental exposures and can, using mathematical calculations, quantify internal stress in real time for attached coatings and detect detachment in situ. The values are then compared with environmental work from RH-DMA of free films to understand differences in environmental work for samples that are tethered versus free. - USM has a unique microscopy capability that has recently been introduced to applications in materials science. This technique, called correlative microscopy, utilizes specialized software and hardware interfaces which allow for the combination of multiple imaging/analysis techniques into composite images. TRRG has three microscopes which can use this interface: Zeiss Sigma VP Field Emission Gun Scanning Electron Microscope with Thermo UltraDry EDS and Thermo MagnaRay WDS X-ray detectors, Zeiss LSM 710 Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope, and Zeiss SmartZoom digital microscope. - USM has developed and utilizes a unique capability to motor water transfer rates utilizing a diamond embedded substrate for FTIR analysis. Here, a diamond pierces through the substrate just at the surface interface of the coating and, in real time, monitor the arrival, presence of water along with the drying from water. This is unlike conventional set ups where monitoring is performed as a free film and does not incorporate substrate/coating interactions. This is not a small business set aside. This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however interested parties may identify their interests and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will be in any way alter the Government's acquisition strategy. Please provide responses to this notice no later than the Response time listed above in this notice, to:
contact@example.gov Telephone responses will not be accepted. Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offers list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation. A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement.
