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 -- EVALUATION OF TOP-OF-RAIL LUBRICATION SYSTEM SOL DTFR53-93-C-00001 DUE 050997 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 Task Order No. 121 under the subject contract for the purpose of evaluating a top-of-rail lubrication system newly developed by the Tranergy Corporation. The proposed work is to be conducted on railroad test tracks at the Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, Colorado. The AAR is the facility management contractor at the TTC in Pueblo, Colorado. The 50-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 these highly specialized railroad test operations safely away from revenue service rail lines. The work will involve analyses by AAR and Tranergy Corporation engineers using existing track configurations for testing. The focus will be on potential energy savings, environmental benefits, improved system performance, and economics in the operation of a dedicated consist of 3 locomotives and up to 75 trailing cars provided by interested railroads. Scientific measurements will include: energy consumption, drawbar forces, lateral and vertical forces produced on the rails on four different curves, lubricant consumption, flow rates and temperature, rail friction, rail surface and wear particle observations, and compatibility of Sentraen 2000 with a conventional on-board flange lubricator. The locomotives and the majority of cars for the testing operations will be donated by AAR member railroads. The effort under this Task Order will be funded jointly by FRA, the Department of Energy, and the AAR in a cost-shared arrangement. 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. See Note 22. (0107)

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