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B -- FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS OF TC 128B STEEL SOL DTRS57-00-Q-80005 DUE 110999 POC Point of Contact -- Karen Marino, Purchasing Agent, (617) 494-2437 WEB: Volpe Center Acquisition Division home page, http://www.volpe.dot.gov/procure/index.html. E-MAIL: Purchasing Agent, Marinok@volpe.dot.gov. The Volpe Center intends to issue, through Simplified Acquisition procedures on an unrestricted basis, a competitive Request for Quote (RFQ) to provide services to perform fatigue crack growth rate tests on TC 128B steel and to develop a database of fatigue crack growth characteristics for this alloy. The objective of this program is to develop a database for the TC 128B steel, which is used in the construction of tank cars. Periodic inspection for cracks is required for safe operation of tank cars carrying hazardous materials. Where applicable, fatigue crack growth rate tests shall be performed in accordance with the American Society for Testing and Material (ASTM) Standard E647. The first part of the program will be to characterize fatigue crack growth rates, opening loads, and fatig ue crack surface morphology for two orientations over a range of cyclic stress intensity factors and stress rations. The second part will be to quantify environmental effects on fatigue crack growth rates under possibleservice conditions. The contractor will be required to provide all personnel, facilities, services and equipment for these tests. A detailed Statement of Work will be set forth in the RFQ. This procurement will be conducted as a commercial acquisition under FAR Part 13.5 on an unrestricted basis. A Fixed-Price purchase order is anticipated. The applicable SIC Code is 8734. The size standard is no more than $5.0M. The solicitation and any document related to this procurement will be available on the Internet; these documents will be available in text format and resi de 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 address 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. NO HARD COPIES of the solicitation will be mailed. Telephone reques ts will not be honored. The following notice is notice for informational purposes for Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises: The Department of Transportation (DOT), Short Terms Lending Program (STLP) offers working capital financing in the form of lines of credit to finance accounts receivable for transportation related contracts. Maximum line of credit is $500,000. In addition, a short-term loan program is available to provide working capital at the prime interest rate. For further information regarding these programs, please call the DOT Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at (800) 532-1169;http://osdbuweb.dot.gov. For information concerning this acquisition, contact the contracting official cited above. Posted 10/22/99 (D-SN394174). (0295)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0006 19991026\B-0001.SOL)