SOLICITATION NOTICE
H -- Tensile testing of section of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Self-Anchored Suspension Bridge Tower - Statement of Work
- Notice Date
- 5/23/2016
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Office of Acquisition and Grants Management, Mail Stop E62-204, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20590, United States
- ZIP Code
- 20590
- Solicitation Number
- DTFH6116Q00021
- Archive Date
- 6/10/2016
- Point of Contact
- Courtney Palmer, Phone: 2023665022
- E-Mail Address
-
courtney.palmer@dot.gov
(courtney.palmer@dot.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Statement of Work Pursuant to 13.106-1(b), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) intends to negotiate a sole source purchase order with ATLSS Engineering Research Center for tensile testing of one large scare tensile coupon that has been fabricated with an electroslag weldment removed from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, Self-Anchored Suspension Bridge tower. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) imposed a moratorium on the use of electroslag welding (ESW) for steel bridge fabrication in 1977 after a high profile fracture in the Neville Island Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA. Because the welding process was so efficient, FHWA felt it important to invest in the ESW process so the steel bridge industry could maintain its competitiveness with concrete. Therefore, FHWA funded research and development to revamp the electroslag welding process in the 1990's, leading to what is now called the ESW-NG process (NG being short for "narrow gap"). In 2000, FHWA lifted it moratorium on the conventional ESW process provided the new ESW-NG process was used. The ESW-NG process was used in the fabrication of the tower of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (SFOBB) in 2010. Inspections of the SFOBB ESW-NG welds soon found out that they had numerous rejectable defects according to ultrasonic inspection, and rumors began to leak out that the ESW-NG process was not reliable. Caltrans removed a 36 inch long portion of one weld and donated it to Lehigh University to test it in an attempt to justify not repairing the rejectable defects. In the end, Caltrans decided to repair the welds and not fund Lehigh University to test it. However, FHWA is concerned that other owners continue to shy away from the ESW-NG process because of the rumors that have leaked because of the SFOBB experience, and remains very interested in seeing the weld tested. The weld is quite large and there are only about four testing labs (University of Illinois, NIST, Lehigh University, University of Texas - Austin) with machines large enough to test it in tension. Since only Lehigh University has possession of the weld, this testing service cannot be attained from any other source. The intent of this notice is not to request competitive proposals, and any information received from interested parties will only be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a competitive procurement should be conducted. However, interested parties may submit a description of their firm's capabilities for satisfying this requirement, which demonstrates they possess the ability to successfully perform this effort. The responses must be received by June 8, 2016 at 5:00 PM EST. All questions concerning this matter should be addressed directly to Ms. Courtney Palmer at courtney.palmer@dot.gov.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOT/FHWA/OAM/DTFH6116Q00021/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 526 BRODHEAD AVE, BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania, 18015, United States
- Zip Code: 18015
- Zip Code: 18015
- Record
- SN04126343-W 20160525/160523234940-7d02183ac43dbbc23e981be888a0fa9d (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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