U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants Services, RAD-30, 400 7th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590

A -- PHASE III OF FACILITY FOR ACCELERATED SERVICE TESTING HEAVY AXLE LOAD (FAST/HAL) SOL DTFR53-93-C-00001 DUE 021497 POC Contracting Officer, Robert L. Carpenter, 202-632-3236 The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis with the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the award of Modification No. 8 to Task Order No. 103 under the subject contract. The AAR is the facility management contractor at the FRA's Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, Colorado. The FAST/HAL Phase III is a continuation of an ongoing program which began in 1988 as a joint industry/Government project involving experiments designed to provide data useful in defining safety and economic considerations of increased railcar axle loads by measuring degradation of track and rolling stock components. The objective of FAST/HAL Phase III is to quantify the effects on the safety and efficiency of railroad operations when operating 315,000-pound cars with improved suspension trucks. FAST/HAL Phase III will operate on the 2.7-mile High Tonnage Loop track located at the 50-square mile TTC facility. The planned work will be jointly funded by FRA and the AAR. The TTC, which is managed and operated by the AAR for the U.S. Department of Transportation, is the only known facility with the unique capability and circumstances suitable for conducting a continuation of this highly specialized work. The applicable authority for this announced procurement action is 41 U.S.C. 253 (c)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, "Only One Responsible Source." This announcement is for information purposes only related to potential subcontracting opportunities. Interested parties may contact the AAR/TTC contract manager directly at (719) 584-0534. This is not a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) and a competitive solicitation is not available. See Note 22. (0034)

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