SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Maintenance of NRC Codes
- Notice Date
- 11/1/2011
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Administration, Division of Contracts, 12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland, 20852-2738, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20852-2738
- Solicitation Number
- RES-12-018
- Point of Contact
- Carol Greenwood, Phone: 301-492-3694
- E-Mail Address
-
Carol.Greenwood@nrc.gov
(Carol.Greenwood@nrc.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- RES-12-018 Sources Sought Synopsis Maintenance of NRC Codes This is a sources sought synopsis, and is not a Request for Proposal. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is conducting a market survey and analysis to determine the range of available contractors that exists and assess their capabilities to assist the NRC with project work described below. The NRC does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this request or to otherwise pay for the information solicited. The purpose of this announcement is to provide potential sources the opportunity to submit information regarding their capabilities to perform work for the NRC free of Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCOI). For information on NRC OCOI regulations, visit NRC Acquisition Regulation Subpart 2009.5, entitled "Organizational Conflicts of Interest" (http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/contracting/48cfr-ch20.html). All interested parties, including all categories of small businesses (small businesses, small disadvantaged businesses, 8(a) firms, women-owned small businesses, service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, and HUBZone small businesses) are invited to submit a response to the market research questions below and submit the capability information as described below. Submission of additional materials such as glossy brochures or videos is discouraged. Responses are due no later than November 25, 2011. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any costs associated with submission of the requested information. Telephone inquiries or responses are not acceptable. Facsimile (301-492-3437) or email responses are acceptable to Carol.Greenwood@nrc.gov or responses may be mailed to: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Attn: Carol Greenwood, Division of Contracts, Mailstop: TWB-01-B10M, Washington DC 20555-0001. Background The NRC is responsible for the licensing and regulatory oversight of civilian nuclear power reactors and nuclear materials in the United States. The Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES) furthers the regulatory mission of the NRC by providing technical advice, technical tools and information for identifying and resolving safety issues, making regulatory decisions, and providing regulations and guidance. RES conducts independent experiments and analyses, develops technical bases for supporting realistic safety decisions made by the agency, and in addition prepares the agency for the future by evaluating safety issues of current and new designs and technologies. RES develops its program with consideration of Commission direction and input from the program offices and other stakeholders. In support of the above activities, RES has responsibility for the development, testing, assessment, maintenance, and user support of the NRC's thermal-hydraulic (T/H) computer codes. These codes include • TRACE (TRAC/RELAP Advanced Computational Engine) is NRC's flagship thermal-hydraulics analysis tool. It is a modernized thermal-hydraulics code designed to consolidate the capabilities of NRC's 4 legacy safety codes - TRAC-P, TRAC-B, RELAP, and RAMONA. It is able to analyze large/small break LOCAs and system transients in both PWRs and BWRs. The capability also exists to model thermal hydraulic phenomena in both 1-D and 3-D space. It also includes the ability to model 3-D kinetics through integration with the Purdue Advanced Reactor Core Simulator (PARCS) code. • PARCS (Purdue Advanced Reactor Core Simulator) is a computer code that solves the time-dependent two-group neutron diffusion equation in three-dimensional Cartesian geometry using nodal methods to obtain the transient neutron flux distribution. The code may be used in the analysis of reactivity-initiated accidents in light-water reactors where spatial effects may be important. It exists both as a stand-alone program and as a separate computational module coupled to other thermal-hydraulic codes. In this latter context, the source code for PARCS is tightly integrated with TRACE. PARCS may also be run in a coupled mode with RELAP5 using a looser coupling technology called the Generic Interface (GI). • RELAP5 (Reactor Excursion and Leak Analysis Program) is a one dimensional (1-D) best-estimate T/H code that is primarily used for small-break loss of coolant accidents (SBLOCAs) and other transients. The NRC has transitioned from RELAP5 to TRACE & PARCS as its primary thermal-hydraulic analysis tool. As such, RELAP5 code development activities are at a very low level, limited to bug fixes and porting features from RELAP5 into TRACE. Additional responsibility of RES includes maintenance of a thermal-hydraulic data repository which contains the results of experiments, tests, and assessments used to demonstrate applicability of T/H codes to its intended uses. Activities here include converting raw data files into the NRC's Platform Independent Binary (PIB) format and adding new information to the database in a structured format. The NRC makes the above codes available to approved domestic users via a User Support Group, and foreign users participating in the international Code Applications and Maintenance Program (CAMP). The use of the codes by these organizations provides calculations and assessments needed to validate and improve the codes. Semi-annual international conferences are conducted by the NRC to discuss code results and related issues. Training workshops at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level are periodically performed to train internal and external users on the use of these codes. Capability Sought The NRC is seeking to identify commercial organizations capable of providing support in the maintenance, development, assessment, and training of TRACE, RELAP5, and PARCS; maintenance of its reactor safety databank; and program management of the Thermal Hydraulic User Group and CAMP programs. Specific capabilities needed include the ability to efficiently resolve code bugs and modeling issues in TRACE, PARCS, and RELAP5; the ability to effectively train users at all levels in the development, use and application of TRACE, PARCS, and RELAP5; the ability to develop and apply new numerical methods and constitutive models/correlations for TRACE, RELAP5, and PARCS; the ability to perform code-to-data and code-to-code benchmarks and validation for TRACE, RELAP5, and PARCS; the ability to provide program management support for the CAMP program and domestic user group; and the ability to convert experimental data from its raw electronic format to the NRC's PIB format. The organization would need to provide a very broad technical expertise, including: a) extensive expertise in research and model development in thermal hydraulics and reactor safety analysis involving studies of two-phase flow, heat transfer, phase change, coolant channel dynamics, and various other phenomena related to reactor safety, b) comprehensive knowledge and understanding of advanced two-phase fluid numerical methods and two-phase fluid model construction, c) extensive knowledge in software engineering principles, quality assurance, and use of version control systems, d) strong ability to program and debug software using modern programming languages (with an emphasis on Fortran 95 and 2003), e) a detailed understanding of the code architectures for TRACE, RELAP5, and PARCS (in particular) as well as an awareness of modern two-phase fluid code architectures, in general, f) extensive experience in the use of TRACE. RELAP5, and PARCS and proven ability to perform reactor transient analysis for a broad range of reactor transient types, g) knowledge using the SNAP graphical user interface RES will require highly qualified technical specialists with extensive expertise in the technical areas described. The organization and its contractors must have extensive research experience with demonstrated knowledge of historical and current nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulic related systems code issues. The contractors should have in-depth knowledge in this technical area in order to independently identify and resolve issues. The contractor principle investigators should also be technically competent and credible to participate in technical discussion and questions during periodic ACRS reviews and presentations. The investigators must have appropriate levels of engineering education and experience commensurate with this level of research, and exhaustive knowledge of current and advanced BWR, PWR, high temperature, and small modular reactor system designs and issues. Commercial organizations that are interested in supporting our technical assistance requirements please address the market research questions below and provide capability information on your staff's qualifications and your firm's corporate experiences and qualifications on similar contracts or efforts. In addition, to provide an overview of your company's capabilities please complete the attached spreadsheet for those technical areas for which your firm has expertise. When completing the spreadsheets, please provide specific entries for potentially available qualified candidates. In each of the technical areas of expertise and education, if it applies, enter the candidates' relevant years of work experience, research experience, national code committee (IEEE, ASME, ASTM, etc...) experience, code committee names, and degree title. Market Research Questions 1) Organization name, address, email address, Web site address and telephone number 2) How long has your company been in operation? 3) What type of business is your company (i.e., small, 8(a), service-disabled veteran-owned, etc.)? 4) How many people does your company employ, including consultants? Please break down the mix between the two categories. 5) Describe teaming arrangements your company has formed to perform scopes of work outside your core competencies. Describe both the type of work and how you managed it. 6) Has your company previously faced organizational conflict of interest issues with NRC? How were they resolved? 7) List any companies or government agencies your company either plans to or has performed work for related to civilian nuclear reactors. Describe the work performed. 8) Although no geographic restriction is anticipated, if responding organizations are located outside the Washington Metropolitan area, indicate how the organization would coordinate with the NRC program office located in Rockville, MD to provide support to multiple sites. 9) Describe any other information your company deems relevant to NRC thermal-hydraulic research and model development support for the TRACE, RELAP5, and PARCS codes. For questions No. 1 thru No. 9, please limit your response to no more than three pages total.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/NRC/OA/DCPM/RES-12-018/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Rockville, Maryland, 20850, United States
- Zip Code: 20850
- Zip Code: 20850
- Record
- SN02615705-W 20111103/111101234030-467e3c9706d5d43ef7be6c3cb0e07042 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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