ERDC Contracting Office intends to solicit on a sole source basis under the authority of FAR 13.5 to CAMPBELL FOUNDRY, CO., 800 Bergen Street, Harrison, NY 07029. This procurement is being conducted under Simplified Acquisition Procedures --- only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Campbell Foundry is the only known source capable of meeting the Governments requirements due to the unique capability to provide support and service for the procurement of grey cast iron tunnel sections --- panels, material certifications and accessories. The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12. Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing to the identified point of contact not later than Thursday, 28 January 2010, 4:00 P.M., CST. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government. Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice. No RFP will be issued based upon this Notice of Intent. Interested parties may submit any information for consideration to
[email protected] with solicitation number referenced in the subject line. For technical questions, please contact Bradley Foust, 601-634-3916. 1. The US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory (GSL) has been tasked by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science and Technology Directorate, Infrastructure and Geophysical Division to conduct research to design, test, and evaluate material/structural solutions to mitigate the effects of terrorist attack on underground tunnels. Vintage cast iron tunnels are of particular interest due to the potential vulnerability when subjected to short duration loads such as blast or kinetic energy penetrators (KEP) threats. The structural response of this material, when subjected to blast, is very brittle in nature; therefore, it is imperative that we simulate this behavior in our experiments. A misrepresentation of this material would be detrimental to our research effort. Campbell Foundry Company has produced this material in the past for ERDC. A prior experimental effort utilized Campbell Foundry to cast panels for a subscale evaluation of mitigation materials to diminish near-contact blast effects to cast iron panels. Campbell Foundry has also cast tunnel sections for other government agencies, such as the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG), and still has the patterns to do so again. 2. Campbell Foundry Company has been in business since 1921 and has successfully produced the gray cast iron to meet the very low ductility that the vintage cast iron exhibits. Cast iron typically developed by the industry today is considerably more ductile than vintage cast iron; thus, special effort is required. TSWG, along with Weidlinger Associates, has recently used Campbell Foundry to cast 40 degree tunnel sections in their combined research effort investigating brittle cast iron tunnels. Not only that, but most importantly, Weidlinger has successfully modeled the brittle cast iron material in their computational effort simulating the response of the brittle cast iron to blast. As mentioned above, ERDC-GSL has been recently tasked by DHS to investigate the brittle cast iron tunnels as well. Additionally, we are tasked to collaborate with TSWG to build on their research results since it is applicable to the DHS project. Due to their valuable knowledge, Weidlinger has been added to our research team to provide analytical predictions for gray cast iron response to such loading. Due to the variability of behavior of brittle cast iron, it is crucial to procure the brittle cast iron material that has material properties matching those Weidlinger has been using in high-order calculations. Weidlinger has proved in their past research effort that they have an understanding of the materials behavior and can also successfully model this behavior in order to predict reasonable results in their simulations. The material was produced by the Campbell Foundry Company. The existing in-depth knowledge and understanding of a specific cast iron, which is cast by Campbell Foundry, is essential to the required timely execution of this DHS-sponsored research project. 3. As part of the work for the previous mentioned agencies, Campbell Foundry has fabricated patterns in which 40 degree tunnel sections could be cast to simulate actual sections of the tunnel that is the subject of our concern. These patterns were used when Campbell Foundry cast tunnel sections for the TSWG research effort. ERDC-GSL plans to simulate a terrorist attack on a full scale tunnel section. In order to utilize the pattern already fabricated by Campbell Foundry, while also obtaining specimens with very similar mechanical properties, it is imperative that the tunnel sections be cast by Campbell Foundry Company. In order to maintain consistency in the experimental results exchange between government agencies, it is critical to procure this material that has been tested experimentally in the past. Consistency in the manufacturing process from experiment to experiment is critical to the success of the overall research programs within different government agencies. In order to ensure this consistency, it is imperative that Campbell Foundry Company supplies the cast iron for our research effort as well.