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NIOSH BAA Announcement 75D301-22-R-61070 2022 Broad Agency Announcement: Development and Demonstration of Mine Safety and Health Technology INTRODUCTION This publication constitutes a Broad Agency Ann... NIOSH BAA Announcement 75D301-22-R-61070 2022 Broad Agency Announcement: Development and Demonstration of Mine Safety and Health Technology INTRODUCTION This publication constitutes a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), as contemplated in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 6.102(d)(2). A formal Request for Proposals (RFP), solicitation, and/or additional information regarding this announcement will not be issued. This announcement will remain open until January 14, 2022 or until replaced by a successor BAA. Concept papers must be submitted by January 14, 2022 for funding consideration during fiscal year 2022. NIOSH will not issue paper copies of this announcement and reserves the right to select for award, all, some or none of the proposals in response to this announcement. NIOSH provides no funding for direct reimbursement of proposal development costs. Technical and cost proposals (or any other material) submitted in response to this BAA will not be returned. It is the policy of NIOSH to treat all proposals as sensitive competitive information and to disclose their contents only for the purposes of evaluation. Awards under this BAA will consist of firm fixed price contracts. Therefore, proposals submitted as a result of this announcement will fall under the purview of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). I. GENERAL INFORMATION Agency Name: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Office of Mine Safety and Health Research 626 Cochrans Mill Road Pittsburgh, PA 15236 Research Opportunity Title: Development and Demonstration of Mine Safety and Health Technology Program Name: Office of Mine Safety and Health Research Research Opportunity Number: 75D301-22-R-61070 Response Date: This announcement will remain open until January 14, 2022. Concept papers will be accepted from the release of the solicitation through January 14, 2022, 3:00 PM ET. CONCEPT PAPERS SUBMITTED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Full proposals for concept papers that are found to be technically acceptable will be due within 30 days after notification by the Contracting Officer. Inquiries and Additional Information: Information and specific questions of a technical business nature only will be accepted via email sent to Contracting Specialist Stephanie Reid, at the following address: sreid@cdc.gov. Include your name and email address on the message. Responses to the email questions will be handled on a first-come basis and generally will be answered within 10 business days. PHONE CALLS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Additional information is also available online at the following address: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/researchprogram/fundingops.html Research Opportunity Description The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act) permanently established the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research under the direction of an Associate Director, within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. One purpose of this office is to enhance the development of new technology and technological applications, and to expedite the commercial availability and implementation of such technology in mining environments. The MINER Act grants the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research the authority to (1) award competitive contracts and grants to institutions and private entities to encourage the development and manufacture of mine safety equipment and (2) award contracts to education institutions or private laboratories for the performance of product testing or related work with respect to new mine technology or equipment. This announcement is an opportunity for the award of contracts for enhancing safety in mines. The primary goal of the MINER Act technology mandate is to improve/increase the use of technology in mines to improve mineworker safety and health, and the intent of this broad agency announcement is to support enabling activities such as technology identification, validation, demonstration, adaptation, and/or commercialization. The Office of Mine Safety and Health Research of NIOSH is soliciting concept papers to conduct research, exploratory development, testing, or evaluations of new technologies to improve mine safety, or to adapt technologies from other industries for application in mining environments. The primary interest of this broad agency announcement is to promote the modification or final development of practical technologies or systems that can be adopted by the mining community in a short period of time. Under this specific solicitation, proposals to conduct theoretical or basic research will not be considered. NIOSH strongly encourages proposals that include collaboration with mining industry partners who understand the reality of the mining environment and can provide insight into mine design requirements and potential commercialization of the technology. The following examples are presented to further illustrate appropriate submissions under this solicitation beyond the more general guidance listed previously. 1. A safety and/or health technology that is currently in a prototype stage, which will require funding for final development and adaptation to the mining environment. This could include modification of prototypes to account for operation in the challenging underground coal environment, modification to meet permissibility requirements, and/or demonstration of the technology at actual mine sites. 2. A safety and/or health technology that is currently being used in another industry and requires modification to be adapted for mining applications. This could include system redesign, modification to meet permissibility requirements, in-mine testing to establish the efficacy of the technology, and/or demonstration of the technology at mine sites. 3. Analysis of candidate technologies to establish their potential to improve safety and/or health, and/or analyses of barriers to technology application or means of overcoming such barriers. 4. A safety and/or health technology that is fully developed and available for use but is not being adopted by the industry for reasons that require further analysis. This could include developing an initial operational capability by installing the technology in one or more mines for evaluation and/or market analysis to determine the reasons the technology is not being adopted and the changes that would be necessary to make it acceptable to the industry. 5. Analysis of safety and health information in the surveillance area or other work that involves the extraction useful data for identifying the future technology needs of the mining industry. Since 2007, 133 contracts have been issued in response to these solicitations. Summaries of each contract are provided at CDC - Mining Contracts - NIOSH and are illustrative of the types of work that have been chosen for funding previously. Fatality and injury data continue to highlight the need to develop new or improve existing technologies or adapt technologies from other industries to address safety and health issues in surface, and underground mines related to the coal, metal, non-metal, and stone, sand, and gravel mining sectors. NIOSH has typically provided a number of topical areas of importance to guide responders in addressing its highest priorities; this solicitation continues that practice as described below. However, NIOSH strongly encourages responders to propose solutions to other health and safety issues that are responsive to our guidelines; these proposals are evaluated under the same criteria as submittals under the focus area and receive equal consideration for funding. Twenty-six percent of the contracts funded under this program have come from this category of submittals and, in some fiscal years, have made up fifty to seventy percent of the funded proposals. Coal Dust and/or Silica Since 2017, each annual BAA solicitation has included at least one identified focus area related to coal and/or silica dust. In total 12 contracts have resulted. The focus areas and number of contracts issued are: 2017: A smaller, lighter, more ergonomic, and more economical version of the current continuous personal dust monitor for respirable coal dust A similar mass-based, real-time dust monitoring unit to detect crystalline silica dust 2018: Miniaturized CPDM with silica measurement capability (3 contracts were issued) 2019: Investigations related to the NAS report “Monitoring and Sampling Approaches to Assess Underground Coal Mine Dust Exposures” (4 contracts were issued) 2020 Non-Regulatory Personal Measurement of Coal Dust and/or Silica (3 contracts were issued) 2021 Additional Investigations related to the NAS report “Monitoring and Sampling Approaches to Assess Underground Coal Mine Dust Exposures” Recommendation 2: Exposure studies Recommendation 6: CPDM filter media (2 contracts were issued) NIOSH still considers mine worker exposure to dust, including silica, a critical area for further research and development activity, and is soliciting proposals related to dust characterization, measurement, exposure assessment, instrumentation, control, etc. The NAS report “Monitoring and Sampling Approaches to Assess Underground Coal Mine Dust Exposures”, available on the NAS website for free download, summarizes the issues that NIOSH is trying to address, although proposals addressing silica or mine dust exposure in the mining industry sectors outside of coal are also encouraged. 2. Regulatory Review for Automation Unlike most other countries, U.S. mining practices are guided by regulations that are often very prescriptive. While automation has the potential to save lives and improve health, the required changes to mine operations may not be compatible with these prescribed requirements. Automation implies that hardwires and local machine control are replaced with computer networks and machine control that is provided by operators who are away from the hazardous areas and sometimes miles away from the machines. The U.S. mining law requires that introduction of new standards and practices provide the miner the same level of protection as existing standards. Given the extent of the changes to mining practices needed for automation, the potential regulatory implications of this consideration are profound. The regulatory implications could introduce additional research requirements that are unique to U.S. mining and therefore of great interest to NIOSH. Automation in U.S. mines has been limited to certain pieces of equipment in a piecemeal approach (e.g., longwall equipment, surface drilling, remote control loaders and dozers). Larger scale implementation of autonomous machines is under consideration here, but mines in other countries, such as Australia, are further along. The changes needed for mining practices should be discernible by examination of those operations. However, what is needed and yet has no clear path for accomplishment, is a determination of where future implementation of automation in mining may conflict with U.S. regulations and what might be done about it. These conflicts may require elimination, replacement, or new interpretation of the regulations. While NIOSH interests are to identify and understand the research that will be needed to support these regulatory changes, NIOSH needs a better understanding of future plans of U.S. mine operators and regulatory implications. Therefore, NIOSH welcomes proposals by mining operators, equipment manufacturers, or others who understand those plans in depth and can identify: 1) the potential conflicts with U.S. regulations, 2) the needed regulatory changes or considerations, and 3) the necessary health and safety research to support or realize these changes. 3. Simulation and Modeling for Automation System Design and Implementation for Health and Safety Autonomous and semi-autonomous mining equipment has been developed for use in mining operations and is being implemented in mines world-wide, but with slower adoption in the United States. As the demand for automated equipment use in mining systems builds here, there are concerns about safe implementation of operator-less machines and how they interact with human-operated equipment, workers on foot, and existing facility infrastructure. Most mines conduct preliminary evaluations of autonomous equipment and associated systems in a limited and controlled setting to determine feasibility. Pilot projects can be expensive and may not simulate a larger fleet implementation accurately. There are questions as to how these preliminary evaluations consider the health and safety risks involved in equipment automation, and how these risks are mitigated. The sensors currently used on equipment have capabilities to record enormous amounts and types of data regarding existing equipment movement and conditions that can be used for diagnostic capabilities. This additional data, previously non-existent decades ago, is now available and has the potential to allow a thorough assessment of the risks to workers. As mines begin to deploy more self-diagnostic and automated equipment, this data can potentially be used to understand risks to workers, machines, and environments before deployment decisions are made. With the availability of this extensive sensor data and other interventional data coupled with the availability of computational intelligence, this data can be analyzed to understand how existing systems will behave in the autonomous transition. Using the computational intelligence, the output should better inform and allow more efficient building of simulation models that will allow additional, along with improved, assessment of interventions meant to lower the risk of human and automation system interaction. NIOSH is interested to learn what data variables (from human-operated and autonomous equipment) most affect the risk of injury in the interaction between humans and machines. Specifically, what variables have the most effect on overall health and safety system performance. With computational intelligence feeding the development of simulation modeling tools or any other such tools, it will be of great interest to NIOSH to determine specific methods or tools that are used to evaluate system design, implementation, and operation of autonomous equipment in the mines operational environment. NIOSH interest is especially focused on the use of these tools to identify the health and safety risks associated with autonomous equipment or systems and their operations. Methodologies used to mitigate the identified health and safety risks of automation are also of significant interest. Cataloging these existing tools and ascertaining the “pros” and “cons” of each system is needed, including classifying the health and safety risks and mitigation for equipment or system automation. NIOSH is also interested in a demonstration of each of these tool’s effectiveness, along with methods for validating the tool’s success. Demonstration could include an illustrative case study of the application’s ability to identify and assess risks that should be considered before and during design, implementation, and operation of autonomous mining equipment or systems and explain the mitigation of these risks. H. Instrument Type(s) and Period of Performance - Awards will take the form of contracts. Work that will be completed in 36 months or less is desired under this solicitation, but this is not a firm requirement; projects requiring up to 48 months will be considered. II. AWARD INFORMATION NIOSH plans to make awards that represent the best value to the Government in accordance with the evaluation criteria. NIOSH is seeking participants for this program that are capable of developing and demonstrating the technologies required to achieve the goals described in this announcement. Total amount of funding the program office expects to award through the announcement: Approximately $2M to $5M for the duration of this BAA. Anticipated number and estimated value of awards: NIOSH estimates that the typical contract award under this solicitation will be between $200,000 to $300,000, although proposals will be considered up to a ceiling of $650,000. Proposals submitted in excess of the $650,000 ceiling will not be evaluated nor considered for funding. It is estimated that approximately 6 to 10 awards will be made. Anticipated award types: The contracts will be Firm Fixed Price. NIOSH will not issue grants, cooperative agreements, or other transaction agreements under this BAA. III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION All potential applicants that meet the requirements of the application and submission deadlines are eligible. IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION Application and Submission Process Offerors must submit a Concept Paper prior to submitting a Full Proposal. NIOSH will evaluate the Concept Papers and the CDC Contracting Officer will provide feedback via email to the Offerors for those Concept Papers that will move forward to a Full Proposal. Full Proposals will be solicited from Concept Papers that are of “particular value” in fulfilling the goals of the Broad Agency Announcement. However, any such request for a Full Proposal submission does not assure a subsequent contract award. The Full Proposal must provide detailed technical and cost information as outlined herein to support the scope of the proposed effort. Full Proposals will be evaluated, and a determination made for contract awards. 2. Content and Format of Concept Papers and Full Proposals The proposal submissions will be protected from unauthorized disclosure in accordance with FAR 15.207, applicable law, and regulations. Offerors are expected to appropriately mark each page of their submission that contains proprietary drawings, information or data. General Formatting Requirements (Concept Papers and Full Proposals) Paper Size - 8.5 x 11-inch paper Margins - 1 inch, all Spacing – 1.15 spacing Font - Times New Roman, 12 point Copies - One (1) original and one (1) additional hard copy. Electronic file submission – Files must be submitted as a MS Word document with the exception of the cover page (concept paper) or pages for the Technical and Cost Proposals (Full Proposal), which may be submitted as a MS Word or pdf format document containing the required signature. Concept Paper Content (not to exceed 10 pages excluding the cover page, concept papers exceeding the 10 page limit may not be evaluated) 1. Cover Page: A separate cover page shall be labeled "CONCEPT PAPER," and shall include the BAA number, proposed title, Offeror’s administrative and technical points of contact, with telephone numbers, fax numbers, mailing and email addresses, total cost of the concept, period of performance, and corresponding focus area (if applicable) that is listed in the solicitation, and shall be signed by an authorized officer. 2. Abbreviated Statement of Work: The abbreviated SOW must be provided that clearly describes the objectives, scope of work, and the technical approach. The following SOW format shall be used: Title of Project: Provide descriptive title that reflects the proposed effort. Synopsis of the Technical Approach. This section shall include the Problem Statement or Focus Area and identify specifically what mine safety issue or focus area this proposed technology development is attempting to address. Background (no more than one page): The background section should provide a clear and brief description of the relevance of the proposed effort and discuss the technology that will be proposed in general, non-technical terms. The background section should address four specific areas: (1) provide an assessment of the current body of knowledge, (2) the status of related industry product developments, and (3) the remaining steps that are needed to facilitate a commercially viable and available solution for the safety and health issue identified in the proposal; this should include (4) supporting evidence that the proposed work represents the next logical step in arriving at a solution. Briefly describe the enabling technology that is being proposed and how this technology will be used to solve the issue designated in the problem statement. Define the state of readiness of the enabling technology and what is needed to bring the proposed technology to the level of development necessary to solve the designated problem. Identify any known or perceived barriers to the implementation of this technology due to the uniqueness of the mining environment or statutory regulations. Objective: A brief and succinct statement of what will be done relevant to the problem statement and the expected outcome. Scope of Work (no more than five pages): The scope of work should provide a brief and clear description in non-technical terms as much as possible and should identify the major steps that will be undertaken to achieve the proposed outcome. The scope of work should address the following areas: Briefly describe the current state of the technology. Address the issues expressed in the background section and how the proposed technology will be developed to solve the problem. Briefly describe the specific tasks and phases of the work. Specify the period of performance for the total effort and each task or phase. Milestones, schedule and decision points regarding the development of the technology including rough estimates of cost for each year, task and phase of the effort and total cost. Briefly identify the required steps to overcome the perceived barriers to the implantation of this technology. Deliverables (no more than two pages): Provide a summary of the deliverables including: Monthly technical reports. Monthly financial progress reports. Milestone reports. Draft Final and Final report. (Note: Time must be included in the schedule for the Government to review the Draft Final report, typically 30 days) All data collection and analysis protocols as applicable. Key Personnel (no more than two pages): A brief summary of the key personnel including: a listing of key personnel with a short summary of qualifications. Full Proposal Content 1. Volume 1: Technical Proposal - Each section of the Technical Proposal must start on a new page. DO NOT PROVIDE COMMERCIAL PRODUCT ADVERTISING BROCHURES. Cover Page: A separate cover page must include the words "TECHNICAL PROPOSAL" and the following: BAA number; Title of Proposal; Identity of prime Offeror and complete list of collaborators and subcontractors, if applicable; Technical contact (name, address, phone/fax, email and mailing address); Administrative/business contact (name, address, phone/fax, email and mailing address), and; Period of performance. Table of Contents Statement of Work (not to exceed 15 pages): A SOW must be provided that clearly describes the objectives, scope of work, and the technical approach. Proposals must include a severable, unclassified, self-standing SOW without any proprietary restrictions, since it is anticipated that the proposed SOW may be incorporated as an attachment to the resultant award instrument. DO NOT INCLUDE ANY PROPRIETARY DATA OR MARKINGS IN THE STATEMENT OF WORK (SOW); if necessary to support the Full Proposal, this data may be included in an Appendix as a supplement to the SOW, with each page containing proprietary drawings, information or data appropriately marked. The Government also reserves the right to modify the proposed SOW based on clarification sessions with the Offer prior to the agreement award. The following SOW format shall be used: Title of Project: Provide descriptive title that reflects the proposed effort. Problem Statement or Focus Area: Identify specifically what mine safety issue or focus area this proposal is attempting to address. Background: The background section should provide a clear indication of the relevance of the proposed effort and discuss the technology that will be proposed in general, non-technical terms. The background section should address four specific areas: Provide an assessment of the current body of knowledge, the status of related industry product developments, and the remaining steps that are needed to facilitate a commercially viable and available solution for the safety and health issue identified in the proposal. This should include supporting evidence that the proposed work represents the next logical step in arriving at a solution. Identify the enabling technology that is being proposed and how this technology will be used to solve the issue designated in the problem statement. Identify the state of readiness of the enabling technology and what is needed to bring the proposed technology to the level of development necessary to solve the designated problem. Identify any known or perceived barriers to the implementation of this technology due to the uniqueness of the mining environment or statutory regulations. Objective: A succinct statement of what will be done relevant to the problem statement and the expected outcome if this effort is funded. Scope of Work: The scope of work should provide a clear description in non-technical terms as much as possible and should also expand on the project objectives and of the major steps that will be undertaken to achieve the proposed outcome. The scope of work should address the following areas: Current state of the technology. Specific information addressing the issues expressed in the background section pertaining to how the technology will be developed to solve the problem. Describes the specific tasks and phases of the work. When optional tasks or phases are offered beyond the base proposal, they must be separately and clearly identified as optional tasks and phases. Specify the period of performance for the total effort and each task or phase (including optional tasks or phases). Milestones and schedule of events that can be used as progress metrics and decision points regarding the development of the technology. Identify the required steps to overcome the perceived barriers to the implantation of this technology. Potential paths or avenues to commercialization. References: Describes any reference materials that may be relevant to the work being performed. Deliverables and Reporting Schedule: Detailed summary of deliverables to be provided under the contract. Describe any reporting requirements including content and format, including Delivery and ownership of products hardware produced under this effort. Also required is delineation of documentation including but not limited to the following: Monthly technical reports. Milestone reports. Draft Final and Final Report (Note: Time must be included in the schedule for the Government to review the Draft Final report, typically 30 days. Four copies of the final report are required. All data collection and analysis protocols as applicable. A prototype of the developed product (optional). At a minimum, a final technical report is required and is to be delivered in both hard copy and electronic (Word or PDF) format. The final report must be 508 compliant. If the final report contains proprietary information, a second version of the report must be prepared and submitted in both hard copy and electronic format that is suitable for public release. The contractor shall submit a completed HHS Section 508 Checklist to assist the Government in determining that the Final Report is Section 508 compliant. In addition, the contractor shall submit the result of running the accessibility self-check in either Word or PDF format. Additional information is available on the HHS Section 508 websites (https://www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/index.html and https://www.hhs.gov/web/section-508/making-files-accessible/index.html). Special Considerations: Information that does not fit neatly or logically into one of the other sections. Government Furnished Property: Document any government furnished property that is required to complete the Scope of Work. Assertion of Data Rights (not to exceed 1 page): Include here a summary of any proprietary rights to preexisting results, prototypes, or systems supporting and/or necessary for the use of the research, results, and/or prototype. Any rights made in other parts of the proposal that would impact the rights in this section must be cross-referenced. If there are proprietary rights, the Offeror must explain how these affect its ability to deliver subsystems and toolkits for integration. Additionally, Offerors must explain how the program goals are achievable in light of these proprietary and/or restrictive limitations. If there are no claims of proprietary rights in preexisting data, this section shall consist of a statement to that effect. Resource Sharing Plan(s) HHS/CDC policy requires that recipients of contract awards make research resources and data readily available for research purposes to qualified individuals within the scientific community after publication. CDC requires awardees for projects and programs that involve the collection or generation of data with federal funds to develop, submit and comply with a Data Management Plan (DMP) for each collection or generation of public health data undertaken as part of the award and, to the extent appropriate, provide access to and archiving/long-term preservation of collected or generated data. Data Management Plan Consistent with the terms of and activities expected under the funding opportunity announcement (FOA), as applicable, awardees must develop and submit a DMP generally during the project planning phase, but in any event, prior to the initiation of generating or collecting public health data. Accordingly, the DMP may be evaluated during the application, study proposal, or project review process or during other times in the project period. For FOAs that involve already defined projects which include data collection or generation at the time of application, applications submitted without the required DMP may be deemed non-responsive for award. For FOAs where CDC specifies that submission of the DMP is deferred to a later period, funding restrictions may be imposed pending submission and evaluation of the DMP. For awards where data collection or generation activities may become necessary during the project period, DMPs will be required to be submitted and evaluated during the project period of the award. In all instances described above, the reviewing officials have to approve an acceptable DMP. Costs associated with developing and implementing a DMP, including costs of sharing, archiving and long-term preservation, may be included in the cost proposal. A DMP for each collection and/or generation of public health data funded by this award, as applicable, should include the following information: •A description of the data to be collected or generated in the proposed project; •Standards to be used for the collected or generated data; •Mechanisms for or limitations to providing access to and sharing of the data (include a description of provisions for the protection of privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, or other rights). This section should address access to identifiable and de-identified data (see below for additional information about access); •Statement of the use of data standards that ensure all released data have appropriate documentation that describes the method of collection, what the data represent, and potential limitations for use; and •Plans for archiving and long-term preservation of the data, or explaining why long-term preservation and access are not justified. This section should address archiving and preservation of identifiable and de-identified data (see below for additional information regarding archiving). Access to and Archiving of the Data Awardee...