184 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2011 / Notices 

the Aeronautics Committee, National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration 

Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546, 

(202) 358–0566, or 

susan.l.minor@nasa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

meeting will be open to the public up 

to the capacity of the room. Any person 

interested in participating in the 

meeting by Webex and telephone 

should contact Ms. Susan L. Minor at 

(202) 358–0566 for the Web link, tollfree number and passcode. The agenda 

for the meeting includes the following 

topics: 

• Aeronautics Budget Overview. 

• Systems Analysis and Strategic 

Planning. 

• Agency/Aeronautics Research 

Mission Directorate (ARMD) Workforce 

Planning. 

• Aviation environmental research 

and regulatory environment. 

• Aeronautics Committee 2011 

Planning. 

It is imperative that these meetings be 

held on this date to accommodate the 

scheduling priorities of the key 

participants. Attendees will be 

requested to comply with NASA 

security requirements, including the 

presentation of a valid picture ID, before 

receiving an access badge. U.S. citizens 

will need to show valid, officiallyissued picture identification such as 

driver’s license to enter the NASA 

Headquarters building (West Lobby— 

Visitor Control Center) and must state 

that they are attending the NASA 

Advisory Council Aeronautics 

Committee meeting in conference room 

6B42 before receiving an access badge. 

All non-U.S. citizens must fax a copy of 

their passport, and print or type their 

name, current address, citizenship, 

company affiliation (if applicable) to 

include address, telephone number, and 

their title, place of birth, date of birth, 

U.S. visa information to include type, 

number, and expiration date, U.S. Social 

Security Number (if applicable), 

Permanent Resident Alien card number 

and expiration date (if applicable), and 

place and date of entry into the U.S., to 

Susan Minor, NASA Advisory Council 

Aeronautics Committee Executive 

Secretary, FAX 202–358–3602, by no 

less than 8 working days prior to the 

meeting. Non-U.S. citizens will need to 

show their Passport or Permanent 

Resident Alien card to enter the NASA 

Headquarters building. For questions, 

please call Susan Minor at (202) 358– 

0566. 

Dated: December 22, 2010. 

P. Diane Rausch, 

Advisory Committee Management Officer, 

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2010–33059 Filed 12–30–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Notice of Buy American Waiver Under 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation 

(NSF). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: NSF is hereby granting a 

limited exemption of section 1605 of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Public Law 

111–5, 123 Stat. 115, 303 (2009), with 

respect to the purchase of the anti-roll 

tank control system that will be used in 

the Alaska Region Research Vessel 

(ARRV). An anti-roll tank is a system 

that is built into a vessel’s hull to reduce 

rolling motion when operating at sea. 

DATES: January 3, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: National Science 

Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., 

Arlington, Virginia 22230. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jeffrey Leithead, Division of Acquisition 

and Cooperative Support, 703–292– 

4595. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with section 1605(c) of the 

Recovery Act and section 176.80 of Title 

2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the 

National Science Foundation (NSF) 

hereby provides notice that on October 

22, 2010, the NSF Chief Financial 

Officer, in accordance with a delegation 

order from the Director of the agency, 

granted a limited project exemption of 

section 1605 of the Recovery Act (Buy 

American provision) with respect to the 

anti-roll tank control system that will be 

used in the ARRV. The basis for this 

exemption is section 1605(b)(2) of the 

Recovery Act, in that a ‘‘passivecontrolled’’ anti-roll tank control system 

of satisfactory quality is not produced in 

the United States in sufficient and 

reasonably available commercial 

quantities. The cost of the anti-roll tank 

control system (∼$130,000) represents 

less than 0.1% of the total $148 million 

Recovery Act award provided toward 

construction of the ARRV. 

I. Background 

The Recovery Act appropriated $400 

million to NSF for several projects being 

funded by the Foundation’s Major 

Research Equipment and Facilities 

Construction (MREFC) account. The 

ARRV is one of NSF’s MREFC projects. 

Section 1605(a) of the Recovery Act, the 

Buy American provision, states that 

none of the funds appropriated by the 

Act ‘‘may be used for a project for the 

construction, alteration, maintenance, or 

repair of a public building or public 

work unless all of the iron, steel, and 

manufactured goods used in the project 

are produced in the United States.’’ 

The ARRV has been developed under 

a cooperative agreement awarded to the 

University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) 

that began in 2007. UAF executed the 

shipyard contract in December 2009 and 

the project is proceeding toward 

construction. The purpose of the 

Recovery Act is to stimulate economic 

recovery in part by funding current 

construction projects like the ARRV that 

are ‘‘shovel ready’’ without requiring 

projects to revise their standards and 

specifications, or to restart the bidding 

process again. 

Subsections 1605(b) and (c) of the 

Recovery Act authorize the head of a 

Federal department or agency to waive 

the Buy American provision if the head 

of the agency finds that: (1) Applying 

the provision would be inconsistent 

with the public interest; (2) the relevant 

goods are not produced in the United 

States in sufficient and reasonably 

available quantities and of a satisfactory 

quality; or (3) the inclusion of the goods 

produced in the United States will 

increase the cost of the project by more 

than 25 percent. If the head of the 

Federal department or agency waives 

the Buy American provision, then the 

head of the department or agency is 

required to publish a detailed 

justification in the Federal Register. 

Finally, section 1605(d) of the Recovery 

Act states that the Buy American 

provision must be applied in a manner 

consistent with the United States’ 

obligations under international 

agreements. 

II. Finding That Relevant Goods Are 

Not Produced in the United States in 

Sufficient and Reasonably Available 

Quality 

Installation of an anti-roll tank system 

is included in the construction 

specifications to improve the ARRV’s 

response to roll motion. Anti-roll tanks 

are a relatively simple and efficient way 

to improve the comfort and safety of 

personnel sailing aboard the ship. They 

consist of a tank filled with fluid 

(usually seawater) that is designed to 

slow the rate of water transfer from one 

side of the vessel to the other, trapping 

the larger amount of water on the higher 

side of the vessel. The water is trapped 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2011 / Notices 185 

by either a series of baffles (internal 

vertical plates), air pressure across the 

top of the tank, or machinery (i.e. a 

pump). There are generally two types of 

systems, ‘‘passive’’ and ‘‘active’’ 

depending on the mechanism used to 

trap the water. ‘‘Active’’ generally refers 

to systems that use machinery such as 

pumps. These can be complex and 

require higher amounts of electrical 

power to operate. ‘‘Passive’’ systems 

generally use baffles and require no 

power or other control systems. 

Between the two is ‘‘passive-controlled’’ 

which uses cross-over vent pipes fitted 

with valves that control the flow of air 

across the top of the tank. The air 

pressure at the top slows the transfer of 

water at the bottom. 

The ARRV will operate as a global 

class ship within the U.S. academic 

research vessel fleet. As such, it is 

expected to deploy worldwide where it 

will encounter a wide variety of sea 

conditions. Over the vessel’s service 

life, the ARRV is likely to be deployed 

to Arctic and Antarctic waters, the north 

Pacific and north Atlantic where the 

average wave lengths and heights can be 

extreme as well as vary dramatically. 

Vessels working in these high latitudes 

are subject to demanding and often 

dangerous conditions due to low 

temperatures, high winds, and rough 

seas. 

The addition of the anti-roll tank was 

a high priority recommendation from 

the Final Design Review (FDR) held in 

October 2008. The review panel 

recognized the need for the vessel to 

periodically work well beyond the 

Arctic waters that the hull was initially 

optimized for. At that time, the design 

of the ARRV was fairly well advanced. 

Besides the addition of hull length to 

incorporate the tank structure itself, the 

type of anti-roll tank specified must 

meet the following technical 

requirements based on the status of the 

project: 

• Ability to minimize ship’s roll 

response in a wide variety of sea states 

(either ‘‘Active’’ or ‘‘Passive-controlled’’). 

• Minimize impact on construction 

cost (low complexity, low additional 

power). 

• Minimize operating cost (low 

complexity). 

Failure to meet any of these technical 

requirements would have severe 

negative consequences for the project 

with regard to nonperformance and 

significant added program cost. It would 

also result in a vessel that could not 

successfully support open water science 

equipment deployments over the 

anticipated operating range which 

includes the high polar regions (north 

and south), as well as the Gulf of 

Alaska, the north Pacific and the north 

Atlantic. The average wave lengths and 

heights encountered in these areas are 

widely different which means the vessel 

motions produced will be widely 

different. 

Following FDR, the project conducted 

a detailed anti-roll tank study to assess 

alternatives. A passive-controlled antiroll tank system was determined to be 

the best option over a simpler passive 

system because of its ability to be 

‘‘tuned’’ to a wide variety of sea 

conditions. Since the ARRV will operate 

as a global-ranging vessel with an 

emphasis on the high latitudes, an antiroll tank that can respond to the widely 

varying sea states encountered is 

essential. Otherwise, vessel motions 

will not be adequately reduced to 

permit safe and effective science 

operations. All global research vessels 

are fitted with similar anti-roll tanks. In 

addition, the system has low power 

requirements and compared to a fully 

‘‘active’’ system has a minimal design 

impact. In short, the passive-controlled 

system provides the best performance 

for the least impact on the existing 

design. 

Reducing the vessel’s roll response 

decreases the number of days per year 

that the ship would have to halt science 

operations because of excessive ship’s 

motion. At a certain point, the vessel 

motions become severe enough that the 

crew and science party are no longer 

effective due to seasickness or fatigue. 

Once this occurs, the ability to complete 

the science mission goes down 

dramatically either causing cancellation 

of science objectives or extension of the 

mission to fully complete the objectives. 

The chance of injuring personnel and/ 

or damaging equipment also goes up 

dramatically. The daily rate for the 

ARRV is estimated at $45,000 per day in 

2014 dollars. Given that the vessel will 

operate mainly in the high latitudes, 

losing 10% of the ship’s schedule (30 

days) annually due to weather would be 

likely if a technically compliant anti-roll 

tank were not fitted in the vessel. In as 

little as two years the lost science time 

to the agency could easily exceed the 

entire cost of the anti-roll tank addition 

(∼$2.2 million). 

For the purposes of this exemption 

request, the ‘‘anti-roll tank system’’ 

includes only the manufactured goods 

that make up the control portion of the 

system; namely the control panel, 

control valves, safety valves, air filters, 

switches, accumulators, sensors, and 

spare parts. This request does not 

include the fabrication of the tanks and 

cross-over piping which are part of the 

ship structure being fabricated by the 

shipyard (∼$2.0 million) all of which 

will be U.S. steel and U.S. manufacture. 

The market research for this 

exemption was done by the shipyard in 

the summer of 2010 and verified by the 

UAF project team in September 2010. 

As noted in UAF’s request for this 

exemption, the shipyard performed 

market research by reviewing industry 

publications and the Internet in order to 

assess whether there exists a domestic 

capability to provide an anti-roll tank 

system that meets the necessary 

requirements for safe and successful 

operation in high latitudes and multiple 

ocean environments. Only three (3) 

potential suppliers were identified; two 

(2) were foreign-owned and the third 

was domestic. The shipyard compared 

the existing product lines for 

compliance with the anti-roll tank 

technical specifications and 

requirements as identified above. 

Following a presentation at the 

shipyard, it was determined that the one 

domestic supplier did not provide a 

system with the required passivecontrolled capability. They supplied 

only a passive system which cannot be 

tuned to various sea conditions. 

Furthermore, although domesticallyowned it was determined that the 

system from the single domestic 

supplier was not actually manufactured 

domestically. The result of the 

shipyard’s independent market research 

is consistent with a determination made 

by the project team in early 2009 when 

conducting the anti-roll tank study. 

The project’s conclusion is there are 

no US manufacturers who produce a 

suitable anti-roll system that meets all of 

the ARRV requirements so an 

exemption to the Buy American 

requirements is necessary. 

In the absence of a domestic supplier 

that could provide a requirementscompliant anti-roll tank system, UAF 

requested that NSF issue a Section 1605 

exemption determination with respect 

to the purchase of a foreign-supplied, 

requirements-compliant anti-roll tank 

system, so that the vessel will meet the 

specific design and technical 

requirements which, as explained 

above, are necessary for this vessel to be 

able to perform its mission safely and 

successfully. Furthermore, the 

shipyard’s market research as verified 

by UAF indicated that an anti-roll tank 

system compliant with the ARRV’s 

technical specifications and 

requirements is commercially available 

from foreign vendors within their 

standard product lines. 

NSF’s Division of Acquisition and 

Cooperative Support (DACS) and other 

NSF program staff reviewed the UAF 

exemption request submittal, found that 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
186 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 1 / Monday, January 3, 2011 / Notices 

it was complete, and determined that 

sufficient technical information was 

provided in order for NSF to evaluate 

the exemption request and to conclude 

that an exemption is needed and should 

be granted. 

III. Exemption 

On October 22, 2010, based on the 

finding that no domestically produced 

anti-roll tank system met all of the 

ARRV’s technical specifications and 

requirements and pursuant to section 

1605(b), the NSF Chief Financial 

Officer, in accordance with a delegation 

order from the Director of the agency, 

granted a limited project exemption of 

the Recovery Act’s Buy American 

requirements with respect to the 

procurement of a passive-controlled 

anti-roll tank control system. 

Dated: December 23, 2010. 

Lawrence Rudolph, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2010–33043 Filed 12–30–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Notice of Buy American Waiver Under 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 

AGENCY: National Science Foundation 

(NSF). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: NSF is hereby granting a 

limited exemption of section 1605 of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Public Law 

111–5, 123 Stat. 115, 303 (2009), with 

respect to the purchase of the weather 

facsimile machine that will be used in 

the Alaska Region Research Vessel 

(ARRV). A weather facsimile (weather 

fax) is an electronic machine designed 

to automatically receive near-real time 

marine weather information. 

DATES: January 3, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: National Science 

Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., 

Arlington, Virginia 22230. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jeffrey Leithead, Division of Acquisition 

and Cooperative Support, 703–292– 

4595. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with section 1605(c) of the 

Recovery Act and section 176.80 of Title 

2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the 

National Science Foundation (NSF) 

hereby provides notice that on October 

22, 2010, the NSF Chief Financial 

Officer (CFO), in accordance with a 

delegation order from the Director of the 

agency, granted a limited project 

exemption of section 1605 of the 

Recovery Act (Buy American provision) 

with respect to the weather fax that will 

be used in the ARRV. The basis for this 

exemption is section 1605(b)(2) of the 

Recovery Act, in that weather faxes of 

satisfactory quality are not produced in 

the United States in sufficient and 

reasonably available commercial 

quantities. The cost of the weather fax 

is approximately $11,000, which 

represents less than .01% of the value 

of the total $148 million Recovery Act 

award provided toward construction of 

the ARRV. 

I. Background 

The Recovery Act appropriated $400 

million to NSF for several projects being 

funded by the Foundation’s Major 

Research Equipment and Facilities 

Construction (MREFC) account. The 

ARRV is one of NSF’s MREFC projects. 

Section 1605(a) of the Recovery Act, the 

Buy American provision, states that 

none of the funds appropriated by the 

Act ‘‘may be used for a project for the 

construction, alteration, maintenance, or 

repair of a public building or public 

work unless all of the iron, steel, and 

manufactured goods used in the project 

are produced in the United States.’’ 

The ARRV has been developed under 

a cooperative agreement awarded to the 

University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) 

that began in 2007. Shipyard selection 

is complete and UAF executed the 

construction contract in December 2009. 

The purpose of the Recovery Act is to 

stimulate economic recovery in part by 

funding current construction projects 

like the ARRV that are ‘‘shovel ready’’ 

without requiring projects to revise their 

standards and specifications, or to 

restart the bidding process again. 

Subsections 1605(b) and (c) of the 

Recovery Act authorize the head of a 

Federal department or agency to waive 

the Buy American provision if the head 

of the agency finds that: (1) Applying 

the provision would be inconsistent 

with the public interest; (2) the relevant 

goods are not produced in the United 

States in sufficient and reasonably 

available quantities and of a satisfactory 

quality; or (3) the inclusion of the goods 

produced in the United States will 

increase the cost of the project by more 

than 25 percent. If the head of the 

Federal department or agency waives 

the Buy American provision, then the 

head of the department or agency is 

required to publish a detailed 

justification in the Federal Register. 

Finally, section 1605(d) of the Recovery 

Act states that the Buy American 

provision must be applied in a manner 

consistent with the United States’ 

obligations under international 

agreements. 

II. Finding That Relevant Goods Are 

Not Produced In the United States In 

Sufficient and Reasonably Available 

Quality 

The requirement for a weather fax was 

part of the construction specifications 

for the ARRV. A weather fax provides 

valuable, near-real time weather 

information to the ship as an aid for 

planning science operations and transit 

voyages. It is a standard piece of 

electronic bridge equipment throughout 

the world as it provides the ship 

operator with an excellent and 

necessary forecasting tool to assess 

weather impact on operations. The 

specification requirements for the 

weather fax include: 

1. Performance, reliability, 

maintainability, durability, size, and 

weight. 

2. Regulatory body approval. 

3. Availability of spare parts. 

4. Operate within the 2 MHz to 25 

MHz range. 

5. Built-in receiver. 

6. Built-in thermal printer. 

7. Human Machine Interface that 

allows the operator easy access for 

system set-up. 

8. Pre-programmed with 150 channels 

for the existing facsimile stations worldwide and allow manual programming by 

the operator. 

9. Internal back-up battery. 

10. Automatic start/stop recording 

and printing. 

An important feature operationally is 

being a stand-alone unit with a built in 

printer and automatic operation. This 

provides the bridge watch with a hard 

copy of weather charts and weather 

satellite images in the pilothouse 

without having to access a computer or 

keep track of when a facsimile station is 

scheduled to transmit. The automatic 

operation is critical to minimize 

distractions to the bridge watch who can 

then retrieve the hard copy for analysis 

at a time that will not impact 

navigational duties. Science and routine 

vessel operational duties are 

demanding, especially in the high 

latitudes where the ARRV will operate. 

Any unnecessary distractions in the 

pilothouse can jeopardize the safety of 

the vessel. 

The ARRV will operate as a Global 

class ship within the U.S. academic 

research vessel fleet. As such, it is 

expected to deploy worldwide where it 

is likely to encounter highly variable 

weather conditions. Over the vessel’s 

service life, the ARRV is likely to be 

deployed to Arctic and Antarctic waters, 

the north Pacific and north Atlantic 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES