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FBO DAILY - FEDBIZOPPS ISSUE OF DECEMBER 17, 2017 FBO #5868
SOURCES SOUGHT

23 -- Request for Information (RFI) on Procuring Material and Component Level Test Specimens from Cargo Tank Motor Vehicles Made with Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Materials

Notice Date

12/15/2017
 

Notice Type

Sources Sought
 

NAICS

336212 — Truck Trailer Manufacturing
 

Contracting Office

Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Research, Development & Technology, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20590, United States
 

ZIP Code

20590
 

Solicitation Number

6913G618RFI0001
 

Archive Date

2/15/2018
 

Point of Contact

Hailing Yu, Phone: 6174942554, Peter Wallace, Phone: 6174943644
 

E-Mail Address

hailing.yu@dot.gov, peter.wallace@dot.gov
(hailing.yu@dot.gov, peter.wallace@dot.gov)
 

Small Business Set-Aside

N/A
 

Description

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT ONLY. THERE IS NO SOLICITATION PACKAGE AVAILABLE. BACKGROUND: The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe) is currently conducting a study to establish experimental testing procedures and develop a finite element analysis (FE) framework that can be used to evaluate the performance and determine the specifications of cargo tank motor vehicles (CTMV) made with fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) materials. Because the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) do not address the specific performance requirements for FRP CTMVs, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has been issuing special permits with renewable terms for commercial companies to manufacture, sell and use FRP cargo tanks for the highway HM transportation. With increasing omnipresence and acceptance of the FRP CTMVs as an industrial standard for transporting corrosive HM, there have been calls to include FRP CTMV performance requirements in the HMR, so as to not only maximize the FRP CTMVs' safety potential but also relieve both the PHMSA and the industrial stakeholders of the burden of the special permit application, authorization and renewal processes. The ultimate goal of the Volpe study is to provide performance data and technical parameters for PHMSA's consideration in possible rulemaking of the FRP CTMVs. The first phase of this study will include obtaining FRP specimens from commercial FRP cargo tank packaging manufacturers, conducting material and component level testing on the FRP specimens, and developing FE model parameters using the material and component level test data. A second phase of the study will include developing full scale FE models of FRP CTMVs and conducting numerical simulations to evaluate their performance. SCOPE: Volpe is seeking information from FRP CTMV manufacturers, domestic and international, on their willingness, ability and requirements to provide Volpe with the physical specimens as well as material and CTMV information needed to conduct the above described study. Volpe will use this information to re-engage industry at a future date regarding a more specific request. At this point, we are seeking industry informational input only regarding the feasibility and willingness to provide Volpe with physical specimens (sizes to be determined) at no cost (preferred), or at some price, material/design specifications, and cargo tank design drawings. All interested FRP CTMV manufacturers are invited to respond to this RFI. The response should address the following items that Volpe finds critical to conduct the FRP CTMV study: 1. Willingness to provide your manufacturing process, capacity to provide samples, and ability to provide FRP specimens conforming to the technical requirements set forth in HMR and/or special permits or extracted from FRP CTMVs currently/previously in production and/or use; 2. Your willingness to donate or sell FRP specimens to Volpe for third-party testing based on industrial standards such as ASTM test standards (to be specified at a later date); 3. Your ability to prepare/cut the FRP specimens in predefined geometries and sizes (to be determined), any limitations in the quantities of FRP specimens that you can provide 4. Required lead time to prepare and deliver the specimens; 5. Descriptions of estimated prices of specimens if you will be unable to donate the FRP specimens (because the exact sizes and quantities of the FRP specimens have not been defined, the estimates may be given for individual unit prices, bulk quantities, volume discounts, etc); 6. Your ability and willingness to share manufacturer's materials specifications of the FRP specimens, which will be protected by the Volpe Center as proprietary information; 7. Your ability to share FRP CTMV drawings, which will be protected by the Volpe Center as proprietary information, with sufficient structural details for Volpe to develop full scale FE models useful for evaluating the performance of the FRP CTMVs; 8. Discussion of proprietary information safeguards such as confidentiality/nondisclosure agreements that you will require to enter into agreement with Volpe for any of the materials/information provided in Items 1-7; 9. Recommendations on material and component level test requirements, types of material and component level tests to be conducted, number of repeated tests to establish repeatability, specimen geometry, specimen size, etc. (see related sources sought 6913G618RFI0002 regarding laboratory capabilities). Any other comments that can help Volpe better define the research scope and direction and ultimately yield technical data beneficial to both the government and the industry are welcome. Responses to this sources Sought shall be submitted electronically to hailing.yu@dot.gov and peter.wallace@dot.gov or by mail to the address provide below. The information will be used by the Government to develop requirements for a potential upcoming research and test project. There is no requirement to respond to this Sources Sought in order to be eligible to submit a proposal in response to any formal Request for Proposal (RFP) that may result from this potential project. However, the Government places tremendous value on the information received and may utilize it to finalize its acquisition strategy. Interested small business companies are strongly encouraged fully use this opportunity to describe their capabilities. DISCLAIMER This notice is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. In accordance with FAR 15.201(e) responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract/agreement. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this Sources Sought. Any information provided in response to this Sources Sought will not be returned. Respondents will not be notified of the results of the review. NO FORMAL SOLICITATION EXISTS AT THIS TIME.
 

Web Link

FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/notices/d6a210d1adf722d542d58a0bcbb310bc)
 

Place of Performance

Address: US Department of Transportation Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, ATTN: Hailing Yu V-333, 55 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142, United States

Zip Code: 02142
 

Record

SN04768892-W 20171217/171215231230-d6a210d1adf722d542d58a0bcbb310bc (fbodaily.com)
 

Source

FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)

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