Request for Proposals

(Closed 7/15/96)

Calculation of Atmospheric Loadings for the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study

Introduction

The Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO), in cooperation with state and other federal agencies, developed and implemented an Enhanced Monitoring Program (EMP) for Lake Michigan. EMP objectives included:

• to identify relative loading rates of critical pollutants from major tributaries to the Lake Michigan basin in order
• to better target future load reduction efforts;
• to evaluate relative loading rates by media (tributaries, atmospheric deposition, contaminated sediments) in order to better target future load reduction efforts and to establish a baseline loading estimate to gauge future progress;
• to develop the predictive ability to determine the environmental benefits of specific load reduction scenarios for toxic substances and the time required to realize those benefits. This includes the evaluation of benefits of load reductions from existing environmental statutes and regulations required under Section 112(m) of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) and section 303 of the Clean Water Act (CWA);
• to improve our understanding of key environmental processes which govern the cycling and bio-availability of contaminants within relatively closed
  ecosystems.

The Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) is seeking cooperators to the Lake Michigan Mass Balance Study (LMMB) portion of the EMP. This Request for Proposals focuses on atmospheric loading calculations for input into the Lake Michigan mass balance and transport models as described in the Work Plan. The target contaminants for the LMMB are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the organochlorine pesticide trans-nonachlor, the current-use herbicide atrazine, and total mercury. Copies of the LMMB Work Plan are available from GLNPO.

Ground Rules

The important "ground rules" and special conditions for the proposals are:

1. Submit a budget for the proposal.
2. The principal investigator (PI) in this cooperative agreement will work directly with a GLNPO Project Officer throughout the project. The PI will be required to participate in an on-going technical work group throughout the project. This will facilitate communications between the PI, the Project Officer and the modelers and will ensure completion of the tasks within the required timeframe.
3. No portion of the work is to be subcontracted without the explicit notification and written approval by the U.S. EPA Project Officer.

Review Criteria

Proposals will be reviewed in-house by GLNPO scientist and by an external review panel. The ranking process will be made available upon request. Proposals will be evaluated according to these criteria:

1. (35%) Qualifications of the principal investigator(s) and staff. This will stress demonstrated expertise of the PIs in the proposed area of the project.
2. (30%) Soundness of scientific approach and validity of calculation methods for estimating loads and fluxes.
3. (15%) Reasonable budgetary justification for the project.
4. (10%) Availability of adequate facilities and equipment.
5. (10%) Reasonable work schedule and time table.

Description of Requested Work

R5: The calculation of atmospheric loadings of PCBs (total and congener-specific), transnonachlor, total mercury and atrazine within the guidelines of the Draft Lake Michigan Mass Balance Workplan. Priority would be given to completing the loadings calculations for PCBs and transnonachlor before the atrazine and mercury calculations. These calculations will be based on information gathered during the EMP, including simultaneous measurements of
contaminants in air and water made during lakewide mass balance surveys, and during intensive work sponsored by USEPA's Office of Research and Development. The proposal should address methods of calculating the vapor phase concentration in the air-water interphase, wet deposition loadings and dry deposition loadings, the determination of deposition velocity and volatilization rates, and the uncertainties associated with these calculations. The load calculations should be done on a whole lake scale and on a "Level II" modeling scale as described in the Work Plan. The precise segmentation for the Level II scale will be provided by GLNPO/USEPA.

Submittal Requirements

Initial results from the loadings calculations are expected by February 1997. Because of this short deadline, responders are encouraged to submit brief proposals in the interest of quick turn-around reviews.

Please submit 1 original and 9 copies, using double-sided text on recycled paper, of:

1. curriculum vitae, including publication records, of all PIs.
2. an Application for Federal Assistance (SF #424).
3. your proposal.

The deadline for receipt of proposal packages is July 15, 1996. Send the proposal packages and direct questions for further information to:

USEPA GLNPO
Mail Code G-9J
77 W. Jackson
Chicago, IL 60604-3590

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