The Moisture Control Services (MCS) division of Munters has been awarded a blanket purchase agreement to provide document restoration services for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center near Orlando, Fla.
The four-year contract, effective November 2009, designates Munters as the pre-approved vendor to offer its complete document restoration services in the event of a disaster at the facility.
As the nation’s largest property damage and document restoration services company, Munters is currently involved in several high profile projects for the federal government as well as state and local governments across the country through the use of their contract with the National Archives and Records Administration and the General Services Administration.
“By pre-selecting Munters, NASA is assured that they will have an expert partner in the restoration process and there will be no learning curve in the event that records are damaged by water, fire, mold or another contaminant,” said David Richardson, MCS national key accounts manager. “It also allows us to move rapidly to begin recovery work within the first 24 hours – a critical timeframe to minimize the damage.”
Types of materials to be recovered include paper-based records such as manuscripts, documents, correspondence, maps, drawings, print materials, and photographic prints; photographic film-based records including microfilm and motion picture films; and dynamic media such as magnetic tape, audio disc recordings and electronic/digital records.
Munters document restoration services include consulting and project management, stabilization of damaged materials, drying, cleaning and disinfecting, and inventory and sorting.
Depending upon the type and extent of damage, and the materials, one of two primary drying methods may be used: desiccant drying or vacuum freeze drying. In desiccant drying, stabilized documents are placed on racks and shelves in a large vault-like room maintained at about 68 to 78 degrees F. and 12 percent humidity. Desiccant dehumidifiers use changing vapor pressures to dry air continually in a repeating cycle to remove moisture from documents in one to seven days.
The vacuum freeze-drying method is used in cases in which documents tend to warp or distort during desiccant drying. The frozen materials are placed in an airtight chamber in which negative vacuum pressure is introduced, causing the materials to go from a frozen state to a dry state without ever returning to the liquid state.