USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53705-2398

66 -- MATERIALS TESTING APPARATUSES SOL RFP-FPL-00-05 DUE 060500 POC Christina Shade, Contracting Officer, 608/231-9285, FAX 608/231-9585 WEB: Click here to obtain referenced FAR Provisions and, http://www.arnet.gov/far/. E-MAIL: Click here to contact Mr. Nelson for a site visit, wnelson01@fs.fed.us. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial items prepared in accordance with the format in FAR Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. This Request for Proposal, RFP-FPL-00-05 is for providing three complete screw-driven materials-testing systems with maximum capacities of 2kN, 10kN, and 600kN, as described below, delivered FOB Destination to the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 507 Highland Ave., Madison, WI 53705-2398. Inspection and acceptance will be at destination. Your response shall indicate time for delivery, but it is desired within 180 days ARO. When responding to this request, please indicate on your outer envelope in the lower left-hand corner: "RFP-FPL-00-05, DUE: 06/05/2000." The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular FAC 97-17 (4/25/2000). They are located in Part 52 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. They can be found on the Internet at the URL noted at the end of this notice. FAR Provision 52.212-1 (MAR 2000), Instructions to Offerors Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. SIC Code is 3829 with a size standard limit of 500 employees to be considered as a small business. This acquisition is not set aside for small business. All responsible sources are invited to submit a proposal. Offerors shall include a completed copy of the provision at FAR 52.212-3 (FEB 2000), Offeror Representations and Certifications Commercial Items with their offer. FAR Clause 52.212-4 (FEB 2000), Contract Terms and Conditions Commercial Items, applies to this acquisition. FAR Clause 52.212-5 (FEB 2000), Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statutes or Executive Orders Commercial Items, applies to this order and the additional clauses referenced in part (b) are items (11-16). EVALUATION: Responses will be evaluated using simplified acquisition procedures (FAR 13.106-2) as authorized by FAR 13.5 Test Program for Certain Commercial Items. Selection will be made from the source, which in the opinion of the government offers the best value. Note that award may be made without further discussions. The criteria considered will be TECHNICAL (capability of the items offered to meet the agency need with particular emphasis on meeting wood research testing needs of a national federal laboratory and the supplied software for machine control. This must support OLE Automation to the extent that a user program, written in Visual Basic 6.0 and supplied by FPL, can interact with the control software, start and stop a test, validate user input, abort a test on the basis of invalid user input, and generally proxy the entire user interface of the control program. Collected data and derived values will be available to the user program in real time via the OLE interface. The object model of the control program must be fully exposed andavailable in the Visual Basic 6.0 design environment object browser.), PRICE (total price inclusive of shipping charges), WARRANTY offered, TECHNICAL SUPPORT offered (including availability of manufacturer support, training, service, and parts both current and future. Calibration and certification standards offered.), EXPERIENCE supplying similar equipment to research laboratories, quality of PAST PERFORMANCE (References, etc.), QUALITY of apparatus including durability of machine under unusual research testing demands, and REMOVAL and TRADE-IN VALUE of Government-owned old equipment consisting of one 120 kip (1962) model fs-120 Riehle universal test machine and two 10 kip (1955, 1962) floor model TT Instron universal test machines. Relative importance of the criteria will be determined on a best value basis by the government. RESPONSES SHALL ADDRESS ALL OF THESE AREAS. It would be beneficial to compare your technical features against the requirements listed in the Item Descriptions following, as well as provide descriptive literature. For a site visit to view equipment offered for removal and trade-in, contact William Nelson at 608/231-9358 or email link at end of this notice. -- -ITEM DESCRIPTIONS: The USDA Forest Products Laboratory requires three complete screw-driven materials-testing systems with maximum capacities of 2kN, 10kN, and 600kN, with the following minimum Testing Instrument specifications: I. General A. They will consist of the following components: the load frame, control panel, microprocessor system with keyboard and display and interconnecting cables. Displays should show engineering units that can be selected to be Metric, S.I., U.S. customary or a mix of all three. B. All normal instrument functions shall be able to be monitored from the microprocessor display and controlled from the control panel or the microprocessor keyboard. D. The 2 kN instrument shall be a single-column design to maximize table space. There shall be a minimum of 3.9 inches of clearance between the centerline of the load cell and the lead screw cover. E. The loading frames shall be capable of tension, compression, flexure, shear, reverse stress, block loading, creep, stress relaxation, and cyclic testing. F. Preloaded precision ball screws providing a zero backlash system for reverse stress testing will drive the moving crosshead. II. Digital Controller An Intel Pentium microprocessor-based system running Windows NT will be used to setup all control, display and reporting functions. Posted 05/05/00 (W-SN452153). (0126)

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