--Market Survey RSCH-2006-04(15775) Innovative JP-8 Fuel Desulfurization Development

THIS IS A MARKET SURVEY REQUESTING INFORMATION IN SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING POTENTIAL REQUIREMENT. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. This is not a Request for Proposal (RFP) or an announcement of a forthcoming solicitation, nor is it a request seeking contractors to be placed on a solicitation mailing list. Response to this survey is voluntary and no reimbursement will be made for any costs associated with providing information in response to this market survey and any follow-on in formation requests. Data submitted in response to this market survey will not be returned. No solicitation document exists at this time, and calls requesting a solicitation will not be answered. POTENTIAL REQUIREMENT: The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC) of Warren, Michigan is issuing this market survey to identify sources and availability of novel or unconventional desulfurization processes capable of desulfurizing a high sulfur JP-8 fuel (liquid or gas phase) which would be suitable as a fuel stream for reforming the JP-8 into a hydrogen-rich reformate. Sulfur levels in JP-8 range from 250 to 3000 parts per million (ppm) and must be efficiently removed to low levels estim ated to be less than 1 ppm to minimize or eliminate poisoning and fouling of the reforming catalysts or conversely, a post desulfurization process to eliminate or minimize poisoning the fuel cell stack. TARDEC is interested in developing unconventional fuel desulfurizers that can scrub the fuel to be cleaner, last longer, and occupy a smaller volume. It is the intent of this survey to gain information which may be utilized to facilitate the finalization o f a requirement. The information gathered as a result of this survey will contribute to the decision as to how we approach this acquisition. RESPONSES DUE: Responses to the Market Survey are requested no later then 20 days after announcement post and should not exceed 8 pages of text. RESPONSE FORMAT(S): ELECTRONIC: Electronic responses are preferred and strongly encouraged. It is requested that electronic responses be provided in any of the following formats: Microsoft word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Power Point. The maximum size of each e-mail sh ould be not more than three and one-half (3.5) megabytes. You may use multiple e-mail messages. The subject line must include message 1 of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3 etc., as well as [Organization Name]. All interested entities *e.g. companies, non-profit organi zations, and academic institutes), regardless of size, are encouraged to respond to this request for information. Please submit electronic responses and any questions prior to full response to Dan Maslach via email at dan.maslach.us.army.mil. Please form at the subject line of the response email as follows; [Organization Name] response to RSCH-2006-04. A questionnaire for the Market Survey 2006-04(15775) will be posted to PROC-NET (http://contracting.tacom.army.mil/ssn/sources.htm). GENERAL INFORMATION: The Government appreciates the time and effort taken to respond to this survey. The Government acknowledges its obligations under 18 U.S.C. - 1905 to protect information qualifying as CONFIDENTIAL under this statute. Pursuant to this statute, the Govern ment is willing to accept any trade secret or confidential restrictions placed on qualifying data forwarded in response to the survey questions and to protect it from unauthorized disclosure subject to the following: 1. Clearly and conspicuously mark qualifying data as trade secret or confidential with the restrictive legend (all caps) CONFIDENTIAL with any explanatory text, so that the Government is clearly notified of what data needs to be appropriately prote cted. 2. In marking such data, please take care to mark only those portions of the data or materials that are truly trade secret or confidential (over breadth in marking inappropriate data as  CONFIDENTIAL may diminish or eliminate the usefulness of your response - see item 6 below). Use circling, underscoring, highlighting or any other appropriate means to indicate those portions of a single page which are to be protected 3. The Government is not obligated to protect unmarked data. Additionally, marked data that is already in the public domain or in the possession of the Government or third parties, or is afterward placed into the public domain by the owner or another party through no fault of the Government will not be protected once in the public domain. Data already in the possession of the Government will be protected in accordance with the Government's rights in the data, 4. Confidential data transmitted electronically, whether by physical media or not, whether by the respondent or by the government, shall contain any restrictive legend, with any explanatory text, on both the cover of the transmittal e-mail and at the beginning of the file itself. Where appropriate for portions only of an electronic file, use the restrictive legends CONFIDENTIAL DATA BEGINS: and CONFIDENTIAL PORTION ENDS. 5. In any reproductions of technical data or any portions thereof subject to asserted restrictions, the government shall also reproduce the asserted restriction legend and any explanatory text. 6. The Government sometimes uses support contractors in evaluating responses. Consequently, responses that contain confidential information may receive only limited or no consideration since the Respondents marking of data as Confidential will pre clude disclosure of same outside the Government and therefore will preclude disclosure to these support contractors assisting the evaluation effort.