Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 50 / Wednesday, March 14, 2012 / Notices 15141 

conclusion that the angular size of such 

features as viewed from the Earth is very 

small. In order to accomplish such 

studies, the blurring effect of the earth’s 

turbulent atmosphere needs to be 

removed. This is accomplished by an 

advanced system of optics known 

generically as ‘‘adaptive optics’’ (AO). 

The heart of the AO system is a mirror 

that can change its shape more than 

1,000 times per second with 

approximately 1,900 separate actuators 

distributed over the circular area of the 

mirror. Each actuator must be able to 

push and pull the face plate by 2.5 

micrometers; by comparison, a human 

hair is approximately 80 micrometers 

wide. This mirror, along with its control 

electronics, cooling system, etc. 

constitutes the DMS. The specifications 

for the DMS include the following 

critical performance requirements: 

1. Face Sheet flatness—The DMS 

must have initial and repeatable 

reflective face sheet flatness to within 

15.8 nanometers (root mean square 

error) for a baseline reference. (For 

reference, 1 micrometer equals 1000 

nanometers.) 

2. Actuator spacing—The DMS must 

have an actuator spacing such that a 

population of at least 1,900 units are 

installed within the DMS footprint, 

which is roughly circular with 200 

millimeter diameter. 

3. Actuator performance—The 

actuators must be capable of a specific 

and repeatable stroke length of equal to 

or greater than 5 micrometers while in 

the ATST operational environment. 

Failure to meet any of these technical 

requirements would have severe 

negative impacts on the spatial 

resolution performance of the ATST and 

therefore on its ability to meet its 

scientific goals. 

AURA issued an Announcement of 

Opportunity in Federal Business 

Opportunities (FedBizOpps) and, 

subsequently, an open request for 

proposals for the design, fabrication, 

and testing of the DMS for the ATST. 

Proposals were received from three 

vendors, two of which are non-U.S. 

companies. The proposals were 

evaluated by an internal source 

selection evaluation board on the basis 

of technical performance and best value. 

A selection plan and proposal 

evaluation criteria were created in order 

to equitably evaluate proposals and 

provide a quantitative method for 

selection of a ‘‘best value’’ proposal 

based on technical and managerial 

merit. The selection plan was reviewed 

and approved per AURA’s internal 

procedures prior to receiving the 

proposals. Pricing was subsequently 

factored in by the reviewers to assess 

overall, ‘‘best value.’’ The evaluation 

criteria were weighted as described in 

the selection plan depending on the 

relative importance of each criteria. 

After careful technical review, the 

selection board recommended that the 

ATST program pursue a contract with 

one of the non-U.S. vendors as a result 

of their finding that only that one 

vendor’s offering meets and exceeds all 

critical performance requirements, 

particularly the specifications 

concerning face sheet flattening and 

actuator performance. Furthermore, the 

selected vendor is also the only one that 

has experience in producing mirrors 

that meet ATST requirements for 

actuator spacing. The only U.S. bidder 

failed to meet the critical specification 

on actuator stroke and could not 

produce a mirror with the desired 1,933 

total actuators with spacing of 4.33 

millimeters by 4.21 millimeters. 

AURA’s conclusion is that there are 

no U.S. manufacturers who can produce 

a suitable DMS that meets all of the 

ATST requirements, so an exemption to 

the Buy American requirements is 

necessary. 

In the absence of a domestic supplier 

that could provide a DMS that meets or 

exceeds the ATST specification, AURA 

requested that NSF issue a Section 1605 

exemption determination with respect 

to the purchase of a foreign-supplied, 

specification-compliant DMS, so that 

the telescope will meet the specific 

design and technical requirements that 

are necessary to deliver the image 

quality necessary for successful 

performance of its scientific mission. 

Furthermore, the project’s market 

research indicated that a DMS that 

meets or exceeds the ATST’s technical 

specifications and requirements is 

available from a foreign vendor. 

NSF’s Division of Acquisition and 

Cooperative Support (DACS) and other 

NSF program staff reviewed the AURA 

exemption request submittal, found that 

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 March 6, 2012, based on the 

finding that no domestically produced 

deformable mirror system meets all of 

the ATST’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 

signed on May 27, 2010, granted a 

limited project exemption of the 

Recovery Act’s Buy American 

requirements with respect to the 

procurement of the deformable mirror 

system. 

Dated: March 7, 2012. 

Lawrence Rudolph, 

General Counsel. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6102 Filed 3–13–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

National Science Board; Sunshine Act 

Meetings 

The National Science Board’s 

Committee on Strategy and Budget Task 

Force on Data Policies, pursuant to NSF 

regulations (45 CFR part 614), the 

National Science Foundation Act, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n–5), and the 

Government in the Sunshine Act (5 

U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice in 

regard to the scheduling of a 

teleconference for the transaction of 

National Science Board business, as 

follows: 

DATE AND TIME: Wednesday, March 28, 

from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., EDT. 

SUBJECT MATTER: Discussion of a 

continuation of the National Science 

Board’s focus on data policies. 

STATUS: Open. 

LOCATION: This meeting will be held by 

teleconference at the National Science 

Board Office, National Science 

Foundation, 4201 Wilson Blvd., 

Arlington, VA 22230. A public listening 

room will be available for this 

teleconference meeting. All visitors 

must contact the Board Office (call 703– 

292–7000 or send an email message to 

nationalsciencebrd@nsf.gov) at least 24 

hours prior to the teleconference for the 

public room number and to arrange for 

a visitor’s badge. All visitors must report 

to the NSF visitor desk located in the 

lobby at the 9th and N. Stuart Streets 

entrance on the day of the 

teleconference to receive a visitor’s 

badge. 

UPDATES AND POINT OF CONTACT: Please 

refer to the National Science Board Web 

site www.nsf.gov/nsb for additional 

information and schedule updates (time, 

place, subject matter or status of 

meeting) may be found at http:// 

www.nsf.gov/nsb/notices/. Point of 

contact for this meeting is: Blane Dahl, 

National Science Board Office, 4201 

Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22230. 

Telephone: (703) 292–7000. 

Ann Bushmiller, 

Senior Counsel to the National Science Board. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6278 Filed 3–12–12; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 


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