Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 33 / Thursday, February 19, 2015 / Notices 8891 

1The 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. 

Dated: January 26, 2015. 

Dennis C. Evans, 

Captain, USCG, Commanding Officer, U.S. 

Coast Guard Research and Development 

Center. 

[FR Doc. 2015–03327 Filed 2–18–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

[Docket No. USCG–2015–0016] 

Cooperative Research and 

Development Agreement: Western 

Rivers e-AtoN Technology 

Demonstration 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Notice of intent; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces 

its intent to enter into a cooperative 

research and development agreement 

(CRADA) to prepare for a 

demonstration, the ‘‘Ohio River eNav 

Technology Demonstration’’ of 

electronic navigation (eNav) technology 

to be conducted by the Coast Guard, 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the 

National Oceanic Atmospheric 

Administration. The eNav 

demonstration will involve the 

transmission of navigation safety and 

environmental information via 

automatic identification system (AIS) 

technology to the electronic charting 

system (ECS) displays on bridges of 

commercial vessels that are operating in 

the test area. The purpose of the 

demonstration is to identify the extent 

to which mariners would benefit from 

the distribution of e-AtoN information; 

and the policy changes, the 

infrastructure, and level of effort needed 

by the Coast Guard and its partner 

agencies to operate and maintain this 

technology. 

The geographic area to be covered by 

the Ohio River eNav Technology 

Demonstration includes the Ohio River 

from Markland Lock (north of 

Louisville, KY) to the mouth of the Ohio 

River, and reaches of the Mississippi 

River within 45 statute miles of its 

confluence with the Ohio River. The 

Coast Guard needs end user 

participants, who are commercial 

operators that regularly operate in the 

Ohio River eNav Technology 

Demonstration test area, to receive the 

information via AIS. While the Coast 

Guard is currently considering 

partnering with Rose Point Navigation 

Systems (Rose Point), and CNS, Inc. 

(CNS), it solicits public comment on the 

possible participation of other parties in 

the proposed CRADA, and the nature of 

that participation. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted to 

the online docket via http://

www.regulations.gov, or reach the 

Docket Management Facility, on or 

before 30 days after date of publication 

in the Federal Register. 

Synopses of proposals regarding 

future CRADAs must reach the Coast 

Guard (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT) on or before March 23, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments using one 

of the listed methods, and see 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for more 

information on public comments. 

• Online—http://www.regulations.gov 

following Web site instructions. 

• Fax—202–493–2251. 

• Mail or hand deliver—Docket 

Management Facility (M–30), U.S. 

Department of Transportation, West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. Hours for 

hand delivery are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays (telephone 202–366–9329). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If 

you have questions on this notice or 

wish to submit proposals for future 

CRADAs, contact Arden C. Turner, 

Project Official, E&W Branch, U.S. Coast 

Guard Research and Development 

Center, 1 Chelsea Street, New London, 

CT 06320, telephone 860–271–2623, 

email Arden.C.Turner@uscg.mil . If you 

have questions on viewing or submitting 

material to the docket, call Cheryl 

Collins, Program Manager, Docket 

Operations, telephone 202–366–9826, 

toll free 1–800–647–5527. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Participation and Request for 

Comments 

We encourage you to submit 

comments and related material on this 

notice. All comments received will be 

posted, without change, to http://

www.regulations.gov and will include 

any personal information you have 

provided. 

Do not submit detailed proposals for 

future CRADAs to the Docket 

Management Facility. Instead, submit 

them directly to the Coast Guard (see 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) . 

Comments should be marked with 

docket number USCG–2015–0016 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). 

Mailed or hand-delivered comments 

should be in an unbound 81⁄2 x 11 inch 

format suitable for reproduction. The 

Docket Management Facility will 

acknowledge receipt of mailed 

comments if you enclose a stamped, 

self-addressed postcard or envelope 

with your submission. 

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 the Web site’s instructions. 

You can also view the docket at the 

Docket Management Facility (see the 

mailing address under ADDRESSES) 

between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

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. 

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 other types of agreements 

such as procurement contracts, grants, 

and cooperative agreements. 

Under the proposed CRADA, the 

Coast Guard’s Research and 

Development Center (R&DC) will 

collaborate with one or more nonFederal participants to ensure that 

commercial vessel pilots who operate in 

the Ohio River Technology 

Demonstration Test Area are equipped 

with an ECS capability that accept AIS 

inputs to navigate; and to ensure that 

parties who have indicated their 

willingness to participate in the 

Technology Demonstration can receive 

and display the eNav information 

distributed by the Coast Guard during 

the eNav Technology Demonstration. 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES
8892 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 33 / Thursday, February 19, 2015 / Notices 

We anticipate that the Coast Guard’s 

contributions under the proposed 

CRADA will include the following: 

(1) Provide the ECS manufacturers 

with summaries and formats of the 

information that will be distributed in 

the Ohio River eNav Technology 

Demonstration. 

(2) Test the ECS equipment with the 

format upgrades in the RDC Test 

Laboratory prior to the Demonstration 

and provide feedback to manufacturers. 

Also, provide non-Federal participants 

with access to the RDC Test Laboratory 

data output stream to evaluate the data 

displays on their equipment. 

(3) Deploy an eNav system that 

distributes navigation and safety 

information to marine users in the 

Technology Demonstration Test Area on 

the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. 

(4) Conduct the Ohio River eNav 

Technology Demonstration. During the 

Demonstration, record the information 

distributed through the AIS and the 

information received by participating 

mariners’ AIS receivers. Collate and 

analyze the information collected by 

participating vessels to quantify system 

performance. Collect anecdotal 

information on mariners’ responses to 

the technology and its benefits. 

We anticipate that the non-Federal 

participants’ contributions under the 

proposed CRADA will include the 

following: 

(1) Configure their software to enable 

the receipt and display of eNav 

information on ECS devices located on 

vessel bridges of customers who are 

participating in the Ohio River eNav 

Technology Demonstration. 

(2) Provide the Coast Guard with the 

latest version of its ECS software to 

support the RDC Test Laboratory 

evaluation. 

(3) The RDC and its federal partners 

may finalize some AIS message types 

after the Ohio River Technology 

Demonstration has started. As their 

resources permit, the non-Federal 

participants will update their software 

and distribute them to their customers 

and the RDC after the Demonstration 

has started. 

(4) At the conclusion of the 

Demonstration, the RDC and the nonFederal participants will jointly 

document the CRADA effort in a white 

paper format, to document the features 

developed by the ECS manufacturers, 

their installation on the test vessels, and 

the results of the Ohio River eNav 

Technology Demonstration. 

The Coast Guard reserves the right to 

select for CRADA participants all, some, 

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 no 

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) Existence of commercial customers 

who routinely operate in the Ohio River 

eNav Technology Demonstration study 

area, who are equipped with an ECS 

capability that accept AIS inputs to 

navigate, and who are willing to 

participate in the Demonstration. 

(2) How well respondents 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 CNS and Rose Point for 

participation in this CRADA. This 

consideration is based on the fact that 

the Coast Guard has identified CNS and 

Rose Point as customers in the 

Demonstration area that use ECS with 

AIS input capability. However, the 

Coast Guard does not wish to exclude 

other viable participants from this 

CRADA. 

This is a technology transfer/

development effort. Presently, the Coast 

Guard has no plan to procure an ECS 

capability. Since the goal of this CRADA 

is to identify and investigate the 

advantages, disadvantages, required 

technology enhancements, performance, 

costs, and other issues associated with 

using ECS capabilities, non-Federal 

CRADA participants will not be 

excluded from any future Coast Guard 

procurements based solely on their 

participation in this CRADA. 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) and 15 

U.S.C. 3710(a). 

Dated: January 26, 2015. 

Dennis C. Evans, 

Captain, USCG, Commanding Officer, U.S. 

Coast Guard Research and Development 

Center. 

[FR Doc. 2015–03328 Filed 2–18–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

[USCG–2014–0941] 

Port Access Route Study: In the 

Chukchi Sea, Bering Strait and Bering 

Sea 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Notice of study; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This study is a continuation 

of and an expansion of scope to the Port 

Access Route Study (PARS) the Coast 

Guard announced in 2010. Based on 

comments received from the 2010 notice 

the Coast Guard has developed a 

potential vessel routing system for the 

area. The Coast Guard requests 

comments on how consolidating vessel 

traffic into a defined vessel routing 

system may impact or benefit the region. 

The goal of the study is to help reduce 

the risk of marine casualties and 

increase the efficiency of vessel traffic 

in the region. The recommendations of 

the study may lead to future rulemaking 

action or appropriate international 

agreements. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before August 18, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If 

you have questions on this notice of 

study, call or email LT Kody Stitz, 

Seventeenth Coast Guard District (dpw); 

telephone (907) 463–2270; email 

Kody.J.Stitz@uscg.mil or Mr. David 

Seris, Seventeenth Coast Guard District 

(dpw); telephone (907)463–2267; email 

David.M.Seris@uscg.mil. If you have 

questions on viewing or submitting 

material to the docket, call Cheryl F. 

Collins, Program Manager, Docket 

Operations, telephone 202–366–9826. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Participation and Request for 

Comments 

We encourage you to participate in 

this study by submitting comments and 

related materials. All comments 

received will be posted without change 

to http://www.regulations.gov and will 

include any personal information you 

have provided. 

Comment submission: You may 

submit comments identified by docket 

number USCG–2014–0941 using any 

one of the following methods: 

(1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

(2) Fax: 202–493–2251. 

(3) Mail: Docket Management Facility 

(M–30), U.S. Department of 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with NOTICES