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R -- RAIL EQUIPMENT CRASHWORTHINESS RESEARCH SUPPORT SOL DTRS57-99-R-00005 DUE 020399 POC Point of Contact -- Michael J. Leary, Contract Specialist, (617) 494-2673 WEB: Volpe Center Acquisition Division home page, http://www.volpe.dot.gov/procure/index.html. E-MAIL: Contract Specialist, learym@volpe.dot.gov. In support of the Federal Railroad Administration?s (FRA) Office of Research and Development, the Volpe Center has been conducting research into rail equipment crashworthiness. Information from this research has been used by the FRA and Amtrak to develop the crashworthiness requirements for the high-speed trainset and by the FRA to develop initial regulations for passenger equipment. Information from this research is currently being used by the American Public Transit Association (APTA) to develop industry standards and recommended practices for passenger equipment crashworthiness. The FRA is currently planning to expand and update further its passenger equipment regulations. Revisions and additions to current locomotive crashworthiness requirements are currently being considered by the Railway Safety Advisory Committee (RSAC). The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (VNTSC) intends to issue a competitive solicitation to provide engineering services to support the ongoing rail equipment crashworthiness research project. Specialized engineering skills and test expertise are sought to assure that the Center will have on call the depth of capabilities to quickly respond to requests from the Federal Railroad Administration for assessments of the crashworthiness of rail equipment. The overall objective of this contract is to conduct studies to develop and evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of concepts for improved rail equipment crashworthiness. Examples of concepts for improved crashworthiness include the incorporation of crush-zones at the end of cars to better preserve the occupied areas of the train, and lap and shoulder belts for occupant restraint. Information to be developed under this contract is expected to help form the technical basis for the rail equipment crashworthiness specifications and regulations. The scope includes collision risk analyses, and analysis, design, and test of rail equipment structural crashworthiness and occupant protection. Risk analyses includes the determination of the collision scenarios of concern and their probability of occurrence. Such analyses may include determination of the costs and benefits associated with crashworthiness concepts. Structural crashworthiness includes evaluations of structures with large deformations and evaluations of train collision dynamics (i.e., the trajectories of the ca rs of train during the collision). Interior crashworthiness includes evaluation of the forces and accelerations acting on occupants during collision, as well as evaluation of occupant trajectories. The scope of structural and interior crashworthiness efforts includes design development of concepts for improved crashworthiness. An Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity type contract with Cost Plus Fixed Fee provisions is anticipated. The estimated Level of Effort is 45,000 labor hours. The term of the contract will be five years from date of award. Multiple awards may be considered. The solicitation will be released using full and open competition. The applicable SIC Code is 8734. Estimated release date is 4 Jan 1999. Anticipated award date is 1 April 1999. The Volpe Center uses electronic commerce to issue RFPs and amendments to RFPs. Paper copies of the RFP or amendments will not be issued. The solicitation and any document related to this procurement will be available on the Internet, these documents will be available in text format and reside on a WWW server which may be accessed using Web browsers. The WWW address, or URL, of the Volpe Center Acquisition Division home page is: http://www.volpe.dot.gov/procure/index.html. Offerors desiring to receive electronic notification of the solicitation's posting and availability for downloading may register at the Volpe Center site. Contractors are warned that when they register to receive solicitations, amendments and other notices, the responsibility for providing the Government with an accurate and complete e-mail a ddress lies with the contractor. The Government will make no additional efforts to deliver information when the system indicates that transmissions cannot be delivered to the e-mail address provided. This Notice is for informational purposes for Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), has programs to assist minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business enterprises to acquire short-term working capital and bonding assistance for transportation-related contracts. This is applicable to any eligible prime or subcontract at any tier. The DOT Bonding Assistance Program enables firms to apply for bid, performance and payment bonds up to $1.0 million per contract. The DO T provides an 80% guaranty on the bond amount to a surety against losses. Loans are also available under the DOT Short Term Lending Program (STLP) at prime interest rates to provide accounts receivable financing. The maximum line of credit is $500,000. For further information and applicable forms concerning Bonding Assistance Program and/or the STLP, please call the OSDBU at (800) 532-1169. For information concerning the acquisition, contact the contracting official listed above. Posted 11/23/98 (D-SN273892). (0327)

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