The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) / National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)/ Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) in Pittsburgh, PA, intends to award a sole source firm fixed price Purchase Order to Rohmac, Inc., of Mount Storm, WV. The contractor will provide eleven (11) full-scale mockup longwall roof supports to be used as test fixtures in the full-scale simulated longwall laboratory at OMSHR's Pittsburgh facility as a part of the NIOSH-OMSHR research project entitled, "Controlling Respirable Dust in Coal Mining Operations". In order to correctly function and simulate the underground mining environment, the roof supports contemplated in this procurement action must be compatible with the existing full-scale mockup longwall shearing machine and other full-scale mockup longwall roof supports previously manufactured by Rohmac Inc. As the roof supports and shearing machine must interface closely when simulating longwall mining activities and movements, in order to ensure compatibility, avoid issues with physical interference, and maintain safe operation, these items must be manufactured to consistent specifications. These new roof supports must be manufactured to the same exact dimensions as the existing roof supports to provide a consistent testing domain and a consistent basis for future adjustments and movements. As small changes in shape and size can result in large variations in air flow patterns and the resulting airborne dust dispersion along the longwall face, even small changes in the provided roof supports could hinder work in designing appropriate dust control measures. In the event that incompatible roof supports of differing forms are provided, existing research efforts may be delayed and future work would be potentially limited in fulfilling the broad range of testing required. Because of their unique and proprietary design, only Rohmac Inc. can ensure that the supplied roof supports will be 100% compatible with the existing installation. This Procurement is for Commercial Items as defined by FAR Parts 2 & 12. This contract action is for supplies or services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with only one source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b) (SAP) and 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1). This notice of intent is not a request for competitive quotations; however, all quotations/responses received within 15 business days of the issuance of this notice will be considered by the government. A determination by the government not to compete this proposed contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the government. Information received will normally be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Any quotation/response must be emailed to Florence Black at
[email protected] before 11:00 AM on December 18, 2014.