R--Effect of Low Level Ethanol Blends on Emissions from Non-handheld Spark Ignited Class I and Class II Non-road Engines

The synopsis for this procurement action is being amended to add the following comments: Significant potential exists for an organizational conflict of interest under this procurement. Therefore it is considered in the best interest of the Government to exclude all non-road engine manufacturers. Firms in the above-mentioned group shall not be considered for award under this solicitation either as a prime contractor, subcontractor, or as a consultant and/or technical services provider to the prime contractor or subcontractor. Furthermore, all offerors will be required to submit a COI plan requiring them to identify the projects they are working on and explain how potential or actual organizational conflicts of interest can be mitigated, avoided or neutralized. The solicitation will contain the following provision, "Industries Prohibited from Being Considered for Award". The text of the clause will be as follows: Contractor support is required in the area of emissions testing on small, non-road engines. The contractor that provides such support must be free from actual organizational conflicts of interest in order to ensure that it does not obtain a competitive advantage and reduce the large financial investment already made by small engine manufacturers who provide the prototype engines involved in this work effort. There must also be an assurance against the contractor providing biased results and/or having it?s objectivity questioned. Therefore, all non-road engine manufacturers are ineligible for award of any contract resulting from this solicitation. Firms in the above-mentioned groups shall not be considered for award under this solicitation either as a prime contractor, subcontractor or as a consultant and/or technical services provider to the prime contractor or subcontractor. The specific determination whether any other offeror is to be considered ineligible for award will be made by the Agency on a case-by-case basis. The anticipated release date is June 15, and the close date is approximately 30 days thereafter. ************************************************************************************* Per the Energy Act of 2005, a minimum level of renewable fuel use in the transportation sector must occur, beginning in 2006. The majority of this renewable fuel is expected to be ethanol. EPA?s Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ), Assessment and Standards Division (ASD), has a requirement to estimate the impact of the increased use of renewable fuels in Class I and Class II Nonroad engines. OTAQ is investigating the use of the renewable fuel, ethanol, in a blend with gasoline at a volumetric content of approximately 10% ethanol. OTAQ?s testing program will improve the EPA?s ability to estimate the impact of this increased use of renewable fuels on gasoline emissions. The successful contractor shall provide the Agency with a testing program that will focus on small non-road engines which meet EPA?s Phase II emission standards. The testing program will also include three fuels with an option for a fourth. The base quantity will consist of testing eight engines using three fuels in accordance with the specifications identified in the statement of work. EPA?s National Vehicle and Fuels Emission Laboratory located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, shall provide all personnel, materials, services, equipment and facilities to perform the tasks identified in the Performance Work Statement. The tasks to be performed under the Performance Work Statement include: (1) Provide a QAPP (Quality Assurance Project Plan), governing the conduct of research for this project at the contractor?s facility; (2) Engine Correlation Testing to establish the contractor?s ability to perform the tests satisfactorily; (3) Engine Dynamometer Aging to break in and age engines to half of their useful life; (4) Emissions Testing, using the 6-mode steady-state A-cycle, which conforms to Title 40 CFR 90; (5) Emissions Reports reflecting ongoing testing and a final report. Options may be exercised in order to complete the following optional tasks: (Option 1) Testing on E-20 requires that three additional emission tests are performed on each engine on E-20; (Option 2) Alternate Approach Emissions Testing requires engine testing using governed operation in Mode Point 1 of the test cycle; (Option 3) Testing to Measure Pre-Catalyst Emissions on 1-2 engines to measure pre-catalyst emissions; (Option 4) Limited Testing to Measure Pre-Catalyst Emissions on a single fuel; (Option 5) Disposition of Test Articles to ship the engines to another location; (Option 6) Additional Engine Tests requests pricing from the contractor for additional engine aging, testing and reporting. EPA anticipates the award of a Firm-Fixed-Price contract with one 12 - month base period, and six (6) options for additional testing, engines and/or fuel. The solicitation will be issued on a full and open competitive basis; it will not be a small business set-aside. The applicable NAICS code is 541380. Solicitation No. PR-CI-07-10362 is expected to be issued in mid April and to close approximately 30 days thereafter. It will be available on the Internet at www.epa.gov/oam/cinn_cmd. Interested parties are expected to download the solicitation and visit the website for continuous updates on the RFP?s status. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which will be considered by EPA. Contract award will be made in accordance with FAR Part 15, Contracting By Negotiation.