The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) announced this week that it is soliciting proposals for oil spill response research projects and will be investing up to $6 million to support these projects in 2015. In a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) released on the federal government’s business opportunities website, www.FedBizOpps.gov, the BSEE called for white papers focusing specifically on one of seven topic areas for proposed research covering oil spill response operations on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.

The deadline for submitting white papers is Feb. 9, 2015. Topics should be limited to the following:

  • Innovative methods to remove surface oil under Arctic conditions;
  • Decanting recovered oil at sea;
  • Quantifying in-situ burn efficiency;
  • Innovative new uses of chemical herders to enhance oil spill mitigation efforts;
  • Develop an innovative dispersant spray drift model;
  • Determine the effect of various deep-ocean conditions on dispersant effectiveness; and
  • Evaluate dispersant effectiveness of subsea applications in ocean brine pools.

More information on the BAA can be found by searching for the BSEE solicitation E15PS00027 on www.fbo.gov.