[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 77 (Friday, April 20, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17560-17561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08311]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2018-0185]


Cooperative Research and Development Agreement: Safe Parameters 
for Ice Operations

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of intent; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is announcing its intent to enter into a 
Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with W.L. GORE 
and Associates Inc. (GORE) to conduct insulation value testing for the 
Coast Guard's Maritime Cold Weather Suit System (MCWSS) in the air 
instead of the water, which the system was designed for. While the 
Coast Guard is currently considering partnering with GORE, we are 
soliciting public comment on the possible nature of and participation 
of other parties in the proposed CRADA. In addition, the Coast Guard 
also invites other potential non-Federal participants, who have the 
interest and capability to bring similar contributions to this type of 
research, to consider submitting proposals for consideration in similar 
CRADAs.

DATES: Comments must be submitted to the online docket via http://www.regulations.gov on or before May 21, 2018.
    Synopses of proposals regarding future CRADAs must reach the Coast 
Guard (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) on or before May 21, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments online at http://www.regulations.gov 
following website instructions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice 
or wish to submit proposals for future CRADAs, contact LT Ryan Huebner, 
Project Official, Surface Branch, U.S. Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center, 1 Chelsea Street, New London, CT 06320, telephone 
860-271-2815, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We request public comments on this notice. Although we do not plan 
to respond to comments in the Federal Register we will respond directly 
to commenters and may modify our proposal in light of comments.
    Comments should be marked with docket number USCG-2018-0185 and 
should provide a reason for each suggestion or recommendation. You 
should provide personal contact information so that we can contact you 
if we have questions regarding your comments; but please note that all 
comments will be posted to the online docket without change and that 
any personal information you include can be searchable online (see the 
Federal Register Privacy Act notice regarding our public dockets, 73 FR 
3316, Jan. 17, 2008). We also accept anonymous comments.
    We encourage you to submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. If your material cannot be 
submitted using http://www.regulations.gov, contact the Coast Guard 
(see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). Documents mentioned in this 
notice, and all public comments, are in our online docket at http://www.regulations.gov and can be viewed by following that website's 
instructions. Additionally, if you go to the online docket and sign up 
for email alerts, you will be notified when comments are posted or a 
final rule is published.
    If desired, submit detailed proposals for future CRADAs directly to 
the Coast Guard (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

Discussion

    CRADAs are authorized under 15 U.S.C. 3710(a).\1\ A CRADA promotes 
the transfer of technology to the private sector for commercial use, as 
well as specified research or development efforts that are consistent 
with the mission of the Federal parties to the CRADA. The Federal party 
or parties agree with one or more non-Federal parties to share research 
resources, but the Federal party does not contribute funding.
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    \1\ The statute confers this authority on the head of each 
Federal agency. The Secretary of DHS's authority is delegated to the 
Coast Guard and other DHS organizational elements by DHS Delegation 
No. 0160.1, para. II.B.34.
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    CRADAs are not procurement contracts. Care is taken to ensure that 
CRADAs are not used to circumvent the contracting process. CRADAs have 
a specific purpose and should not be confused with procurement 
contracts, grants, and other type of agreements.
    Under the proposed CRADA, the R&D Center will collaborate with one 
non-Federal participant. Together, the R&D Center and the non-Federal 
participant will conduct thermo conductive tests on the Coast Guard's 
MWCSS in various environmental scenarios to determine the system's 
insulation properties to be used to create safe parameters for 
personnel wearing the MWCSS during Ice Rescue missions.
    We anticipate that the Coast Guard's contributions under the 
proposed CRADA will include the following:
    (1) Provide appropriate staff with pertinent expertise to take the 
lead in accomplishing the required tasks;
    (2) Provide information regarding the ensemble items and parameters 
needed for creating the test plan;
    (3) Provide all support resources, including travel, for Coast 
Guard staff that supports this CRADA;
    (4) Obtain, transport and provide all of the ensemble items to be 
used during the testing;
    (5) Provide personnel support to non-Federal participant to assist 
with setting up and execute testing in accordance with the agreed upon 
test plan;
    (6) Work with non-Federal participant to develop a Final Report, 
which will document the methodologies, findings, conclusions, and 
recommendations of this CRADA work.
    We anticipate that the non-Federal participants' contributions 
under the proposed CRADA will include the following:
    (1) Provide appropriate staff with pertinent expertise to support 
the above mentioned tasks;
    (2) Provide all necessary facility resources needed to conduct 
insulation value testing;
    (3) Provide technical approach for the test plan;
    (4) Lead the testing runs of the Coast Guard's MWCSS in accordance 
with the agreed upon test plan;
    (5) Provide test data upon completion of testing.
    The Coast Guard reserves the right to select for CRADA participants 
all, some,

[[Page 17561]]

or no proposals submitted for this CRADA. The Coast Guard will provide 
no funding for reimbursement of proposal development costs. Proposals 
and any other material submitted in response to this notice will not be 
returned. Proposals submitted are expected to be unclassified and have 
not more than five single-sided pages (excluding cover page, DD 1494, 
JF-12, etc.). The Coast Guard will select proposals at its sole 
discretion on the basis of:
    (1) How well they communicate an understanding, of and ability to 
meet, the proposed CRADA's goal; and
    (2) How well they address the following criteria:
    (a) Technical capability to support the non-Federal party 
contributions described, and
    (b) Resources available for supporting the non-Federal party 
contributions described.
    Currently, the Coast Guard is considering GORE for participation in 
this CRADA. This consideration is based on the fact that GORE has 
demonstrated its technical ability and availability of appropriate 
facilities to effectively determine insulation properties of clothing. 
However, we do not wish to exclude other viable participants from this 
or future similar CRADAs.
    This is a technology assessment effort. The goal of the Coast Guard 
for this CRADA is to determine the insulation properties of the Coast 
Guard's MWCSS in the air instead of the water which the system was 
designed for. Special consideration will be given to small business 
firms/consortia, and preference will be given to business units located 
in the U.S. This notice is issued under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 
552(a).

    Dated: April 10, 2018.
G.C. Rothrock,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard 
Research and Development Center.
[FR Doc. 2018-08311 Filed 4-19-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 9110-04-P