U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants Services, Mail Stop 50, 400 7th Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590

A -- DAMAGE ASSESSMENT OF TANK CARS INVOLVED IN ACCIDENTS SOL DTFR53-93-C-00001/TO115 DUE 081098 POC Robert Carpenter, Contracting Officer / (202) 493-6153 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. 2 to Task Order No. 115 under the subject contract for the purpose of completing a Phase III follow-on analysis and evaluation of established railroad tank card dent damage Guidelines published by AAR. Building upon that work already performed in Phases I and II, the supplemental work will focus on several tasks including: (1) structural finite element analysis to estimate dent deformation history; (2) bend/reverse bend laboratory test to obtain rupture stress data measurements; (3) determine bending moments, stresses and strains at failure; (4) perform fracture test to determine the J-resistance curves under conditions representative of temperatures expected in the field down to -40F; (5) a series of dynamic tear tests per ASTM E-604 at extreme temperatures between -40 degrees F to 150 degrees F; (6) a steel plate fracture toughness testper ASTM E-399 and ASSTM E-813 at 90 degrees F; (7) refine and revise the safety factors and Tables 1 & 2 of the Guidelines for scores and gouges per the results of Phase II gouge tests. The prospective work is to be conducted at the unique facilities of the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, Colorado. The AAR is the facility management contractor at the TTC in Pueblo, Colorado. The 52-square mile TTC property, 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 such highly specialized and hazardous railroad test operations. The applicable authority for this procurement 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 relating to potential subcontracting opportunities. Interested parties may contact the AAR/TTC contracts manager, Ed Walsh, at (719) 584-0534, for information regarding potential subcontracting opportunities, if any. This is not a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) and a competitive solicitation is NOT available. Posted 07/24/98 (W-SN228002). (0205)

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