RA 693JK320RA0001 Questions and Answers.pdf

U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) RA #693JK320RA0001

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)

Pipeline Safety Research and Development

Research Announcement # 693JK320RA0001

Questions & Answers

Q1. Are Government-Owned Government-Operated national laboratories eligible to be subrecipients?

A1. Yes.

Q2. Are non U.S.-based companies eligible to apply for funding?

A2. Please see Section 3. “Eligibility Information” of the Research Announcement.

Q3. When are the projects scheduled to be awarded?

A3. PHMSA anticipates issuing awards by the end of the current fiscal year, September 30th, 2020.

Q4. It is permissible to add technical content (such as diagrams) in appendix?

A4. Technical content is not permitted in the appendix. Section 5 of the Research Announcement (693JK320RA0001) states the appendix should include Resumes, Letters of Co-Funding Commitment(s) and Audit Reports (Accounting System Approval).

Q5: Is the research topic creating software or applying existing AI software/tools?

A5: The project seeks to create or improve tools and techniques for pipeline operator as they implement the fundamentals and specifics of Safety Management Systems (SMS). Any submission developing new software or improving upon existing software frameworks would be considered relevant to the stated topic.

Q6: What specifically is meant by process simulations? Also, what are the virtual data sets? Are the data sets output from the virtual simulations? How would they be interpreted and applied by pipeline operators?

A6: A portion of the topic seeks to enable virtual simulations from input data to understand how they can impact decision making. This project will utilize a Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) that will make technical recommendations to PHMSA about project execution. The TAP will greatly assist in factoring these questions about the project scope including how it would be interpreted and applied by pipeline operators.

Q7: Are the machine learning techniques established or being developed as part of this research proposal? Also, what is meant by “characteristics.?”

A7: It is expected that the project would provide further insight into implementing SMS. The usage of the TAP will provide context into where within the SMS framework recommendations could be made from the project results.

Q8. What sizes (Diameters) and approximate lengths of Drisco8000 High Density Polyethylene pipe is currently regulated by PHMSA?

Q9. Please provide all other incidents/accidents reported since the Federal Register Docket No. PHMSA-

2012-0044 was issued in 2012? In particular to those incidents/accidents, the diameter of Drisco8000

High Density Polyethylene pipe, geographic region of the incident/accidents and the reported cause.

Q10. The amount in length of Drisco8000 High Density Polyethylene pipe regulated by PHMSA that has been replaced since the Federal Register Docket No. PHMSA-2012-0044 was issued?

A8, A9, and A10. PHMSA collects mileage and diameter data by type of plastic pipe and does not by manufacturer and model. These questions are important and would be quantified as possible within the active future awarded project via involved operators. However, the only Driscopipe information being provided for further context would be within all the documents associated from Docket No. PHMSA-

2012-0044. To access these docs, insert that number into the search feature via https://www.regulations.gov/ . All other public information on the plastic pipe infrastructure regulated by PHSMA can be found via https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/data-and-statistics-overview .

Q11. Would you consider scaled-down experimental tests for modelling methane leakage under

PHMSA’s current needs and guidelines? The advantages of a properly scaled-down physical model are that it can be prepared in a shorter timeframe compared to large scale experiments, they can be run at any time with no seasonal restrictions, and can be reproduced so that multiple experiments with varying properties can be run in parallel. In our experience, we find that this results in significant time and financial savings.

A11. The only guidance provided for the topic on Validating Models for Predicting Gas Migration was that the validated model was to be delivered in 30 months. The associated costs should be commensurate with that delivery timeline per the suggested scope.

Q12. Will methane emission data – in the form of a methane emission/propagation dataset – from previous studies conducted by or for PHMSA be made available to support new experiments and complement the new data?

A12. Any relevant data sets, including knowledge from past efforts will be shared to the awardee.

Q13. 3. Would the use of proxy gases with properties similar to that of methane be considered suitable in an experiment?

https://gcc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.regulations.gov%2F&data=02%7C01%7CBen.Patterson%40dot.gov%7Cedca7c52a59f4d6e58b208d7fcc5c4ad%7Cc4cd245b44f04395a1aa3848d258f78b%7C0%7C0%7C637255798641592252&sdata=vX9vz3WQaHICbV7w5vtgIA3zWEvgAfQAfqWA5vTL1kY%3D&reserved=0 https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/data-and-statistics-overview https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/data-and-statistics-overview

A13. No. The ongoing related work funded by PHMSA is using methane. PHMSA is seeking to continue working with methane in the project as solicited so not to challenge the findings of this work in any way as compared to the previous work.

Q14. Is there a budget limit for individual proposals?

A14. No.

Q15. Is there a project performance time limit?

A15. PHMSA will not fund projects that have a performance period greater than three (3) years.