Pipeline Safety Research Competitive Academic Agreement Program (CAAP)

 

The CAAP initiative is intended to spur innovation by enabling an academic research focus on high-risk and high pay-off solutions for the many pipeline safety challenges. It will potentially deliver solutions that can be ?hand-offs? to PHMSA?s core research program of demonstration and deployment. The goal would be to validate proof of concept of a thesis or theory all the way to commercial penetration into the market. Further, the pipeline industry and federal/state regulators are experiencing low numbers of applicants to entry level positions that are technically focused. As such, another goal of the CAAP program is to expose graduate and PhD research students to subject matter that is common to pipeline safety challenges and to illustrate how their engineering or technical disciplines are highly needed in the field. The ultimate benefit would be to cultivate new talent in all aspects of pipelining, similar to how programs at other Federal Agencies and non-profit organizations have encouraged talent to consider a career in a certain field.

Active 20.724 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Department of Transportation B - Project Grants Fiscal Year 2016 TBD Three (3) new research awards issued with allowable funds.
Fiscal Year 2017 To date, 154 students have been involved in pipeline research at US universities as a result of the CAAP program. Six have gone on to internships, and seven full time employment in pipeline technology fields as a direct result of their participation.
Fiscal Year 2018 Funded several research projects in the areas of Detecting, Mitigating and/or locating internal Pipeline Corrosion, Develop advanced knowledge base models from Root Cause Failure Analysis of past pipeline incidents, and Engineering improvements to Pipeline Computational Models to Reduce Variance. Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, Public Law 107-355, 49 U.S.C. 60101 Applicants must be non-profit institutions of higher education located in the United States or a U.S. territory or possession. Solutions from academic research agreements to non-profit institutions of higher education will benefit the American public who has a stake in safe, reliable and environmentally friendly pipeline transportation of hydrocarbons. Applications must include a letter on the submitting institution's letterhead that certifies minimum requirements are understood and will be met. The letter must be signed by the Dean or equivalent level of that college, department or program and inserted Appendix A to the technical application. Preapplication coordination is not applicable. 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards applies to this program. To submit an application, applicants must be registered at www.grants.gov For new users, go to http://www.grants.gov/applicants/get_registered.jsp, or go to the main page at http://www.grants.gov/ and click on "Register" In the top right corner. Please note that new user registrations for www.Grants.gov can take up to two weeks to complete. For additional questions on how to register, contact Grants.gov support. Application Content & Format - In preparing their technical proposal, applicants must utilize the technical application templates attached to the opportunity. The attachment will include instructions regarding required content and information. Applicants must only apply for funding that can reasonably be spent within the proposed period of performance. The Technical Application requirements are summarized below but elaborated upon in the provided template. Failure to follow these requirements may result in the removal of an application from consideration. 1) All information supporting the evaluation criteria must be contained within 20 pages which does not include the Cover Page, the Technical Application Information Page, or the Appendix; 2) The appendix may include additional information; however, this information will not be used by reviewers in evaluating the proposal (except to determine that each applicant has submitted a certification letter regarding minimum requirements); 3) The Certification Letter of Minimum Requirements must be the first page in the Appendix; 4) Times New Roman 12pt font 1.15 line and paragraph spacing for text body. Also see: 2 CRFR 200 at http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title02/2cfr200_main_02.tpl PHMSA will conduct an initial administrative review of each application to determine if it is complete and meets the minimum eligibility requirements. A team composed of PHMSA program staff representatives and, potentially, industry experts will then conduct a technical review to evaluate and rate each application against the evaluation criteria and to evaluate the acceptability of the proposed budget. Cooperative agreements will be awarded to applicants having the highest merit until the available funding is exhausted. PHMSA intends to solicit applications under this program on a yearly basis during the second quarter of the calendar year, with applications due during the second quarter. Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines Applications are normally due within 45 days after the announcement is posted to www.Grants.gov. Not applicable. No-cost extensions of up to 90 days may be authorized by the Agreement Officer in order to complete final reports. PHMSA will use the following evaluation criteria to rate and select amongst competing applications. These criteria are intended to identify projects that target high-risk areas; offer well-defined plans; and produce results that are measurable and transferable to further investigations in the CAAP Program or PHMSA's core research program. The two (2) technical evaluation criteria are as follows: Criterion 1: Scientific Merit and Quality 1. To what extent does the proposed project suggest/explore creative and original concepts and/or scientific/engineering principles to describe the challenges? 2. To what extent does the proposed research describe how the output result advances a potential solution toward an identified pipeline challenge(s)? 3. To what extent does the proposed research describe how the quality of results will be peer reviewed? 4. To what extent does the proposed research involve partnering to validate/demonstrate scientific results and/or quantify engineering principles? Criterion 2: Feasibility of Management Plan, Work Task, Budget and Schedule1. How well are the scope of work, tasks and milestones defined? Are the specific assigned tasks that will be performed by student(s) defined? 2. How well are the research goals or objectives defined? 3. Does the institution have access to appropriate facilities to conduct the proposed work? 4. How well is the project schedule defined and tied to the management plan? 5. How detailed is the plan to oversee students regularly by academic organization faculty/staff with the relevant knowledge and experience in the proposed area? In addition, PHMSA expects the proposed results of the projects to be factual, unbiased, verifiable, and repeatable to the extent practicable. Applicants should also be aware that a cooperative agreement will not convey any authority to recipients to secure information or cooperation from pipeline operators. Awards will be made in the form of cooperative agreements, which will play a role in finding the solutions to national, regional and local pipeline operational safety and environmental challenges. Some of these challenges involve having the best technology to efficiently and effectively meet or exceed Federal and State regulatory requirements. Other challenges are in keeping critical industry consensus standards fresh with the latest knowledge and know-how so that people, property and the environment are protected. Section 32 (f) of The Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011, signed into law in January 2012 (P.L. 112–90—January 3, 2012) amends Section 12 of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 (49 U.S.C. 60101 note) by amending section(d) to add: (d)(3)( C) Funding From Non-Federal Sources. The Secretary shall ensure at least 30 percent of the costs of program-wide research and development activities are carried out using non-Federal sources. The 2011 Act also amends Section 12 of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 (49 U.S.C. 60101 note), subsection (f), by striking ‘‘2003 through 2006.’’ and inserting ‘‘2012 through 2015.’’ Not applicable. Also see: 2 CFR 200 at http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title02/2cfr200_main_02.tpl Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records pertinent to an award must be retained for a period of three years from the date of submission of the final expenditure report. Statutory formula is not applicable to this assistance listing.

Matching is mandatory. 30%.

MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. The announcement will be posted to www.Grants.gov and eligible applications must be submitted within 45 days. Recipients will have between 24 and 36 months from the date of award (typical length of projects) to spend the money awarded. Agreements will facilitate academic research funding that can reasonably be spent within the project period of performance (estimated at 24 and 36 months). Funding will be provided by Electronic Fund Transfer. None/Not specified. Joshua Arnold
Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Acquisition Services Division
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC 20590 US
joshua.arnold@dot.gov
Phone: (202) 366-6085 http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/pipeline 69-5172-0-2-407 (Cooperative Agreements) FY 18$3,855,575.00; FY 19 est $1,956,810.00; FY 20 Estimate Not Available FY 17$47,351.00; FY 16$1,828,846.00; - This program is designed to be administered as an annual announcement with up to six awards of $300,000 each, or up to $2,000,000 for the overall annual program. If a large number of high-quality applications are received, and there are remaining funds available, PHMSA may award more than six agreements. The current program level of $2,000,000 (six individual awards at up to $300,000 each) is anticipated. Not applicable. Fiscal Year 2016 TBD Three (3) new research awards issued with allowable funds.
Fiscal Year 2017 Project 1: Understanding Low Frequency ERW (LFERW) Pipeline Failure. Resulted in a successfully addressing an National Transportation Safety Board recommendation, as well as software for pipeline operators to better predict health of pipelines with LFERWs. Project 2: Fundamental Mechanochemistry-based Detection of Early Stage Corrosion Degradation of Pipeline Steels. This project seeks to create a systematic framework to monitor changes in parameters germane to corrosion prevention, while mitigating the corrosion impact on the pipeline infrastructure.
Fiscal Year 2018 Development of Low-Power Wireless Sensor Network of Conductivity Probes for Detection of Corrosive Fluids Inside Pressure Vessels and Piping Smart Fluids for Detecting Internal Corrosion Locations in Oil and Gas Pipelines