NOTICE OF INTENT TO LIMIT COMPETITIONDESCRIPTION: On July 1, 2005, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, Disaster Prevention Response Branch announced its intent to negotiate on a sole source basis with Foundation Coal Company's Emerald Coal Resources LP for the drilling of three experimental reservoir monitoring boreholes from the surface above longwall panel B3 prior to undermining. Originally our intent was to make the award to Foundation Coal for the entire project. The purpose of the cooperative effort was to obtain specific reservoir, geomechanical and lithological data for ongoing numerical modeling efforts which are designed to predict methane emissions into the underground environment. Due to re-negotiation, NIOSH will now be issuing the announcement and subsequent orders for the work. This announcement is for Phase 2 only; site preparation/reclamation and drilling and completion of the boreholes. BACKGROUND As part of its mine safety research program, NIOSH’s Pittsburgh Research Laboratory has initiated a reservoir modeling effort to better understand the interaction of the various geotechnical factors influencing methane flows within the underground longwall mining environment. Numerical models can offer the coal mining industry versatile evaluations of methane emission problems and answer specific questions related to the optimization of methane control systems, without exposing the work force to potentially hazardous methane concentrations. Development of a comprehensive methane emission model for the underground mining environment is complex and requires a significant amount of site-specific geotechnical and reservoir data to achieve reliable predictions of methane movement and emission. During the last 10 years of NIOSH methane control research collaboration with Foundation Coal formerly RAG, Inc.) in, an extensive geotechnical and reservoir characterization database was created. The proposed borehole monitoring experiment is part of a numerical modeling initiative to develop ways to better control methane to enhanced underground workplace safety. Therefore, the proposed study is critical for enabling NIOSH researchers to obtain critical reservoir parameters for the model development research that cannot be obtained otherwise. These data will help them to further improve their modeling techniques and the predictive capabilities of the final products which will ultimately be widely applicable, once the research model is sufficiently developed. Performing this experiment on Foundation Coal’s property is essential for making this research a continuation of previous field and modeling studies. Under a negotiated Memorandum of Understanding, Foundation Coal is placing a restriction on NIOSH for the drilling work and limiting competition to their current vendors lists. Because we will be drilling over their underground coal operations, the risks and safety concerns of having unfamiliar drilling operators has been determined to not be in their best interests. Based on our agreement with Foundation Coal, the competition for this drilling project will be limited to a list of potential vendors supplied to us by Foundation Coal. This notice is issued for information purposes only. This acquisition is being processed under FAR Part 12, Commercial Procedures. If any firms do present capabilities information in response to this notice, there is no guarantee that they will receive the solicitation. THE POINT OF CONTACT IS MARGARET MOONEY, REFERENCE: #MGW-2006-5, DHHS, PHS, CDC, NIOSH, 626 Cochran’s Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA, e-mail
[email protected], or 412/386-6431. Brenda Goodwin, the point of contract listed below will not be available so, please do not contact Morgantown. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed action is based on justification of limited competition and consideration of responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. The Government intends to request quotes without further notices being issued on or after February 6, 2006. All information received will be considered by the Government.