Laboratory Testing

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to the University of New Hampshire (UNH) upon the basis of the authority provided at FAR 13.106(b)(1). The requirement is to provide laboratory specimen preparation, testing and analyses that are unique activities related to the cold regions-induced failure modes of pavements and soils (repeated freeze-thaw cycles causing heaving / settlement response, low temperature cracking, seasonal supersaturation, and other challenges). The requested unique lab testing activities require a combination of highly specialized equipment, technical background by research civil and geotechnical engineers (e.g. Professors well published in these areas), along with familiarity with applying ASTM and AASHTO standard tests to novel materials for prototyping purposes. As an example of highly specialized equipment and corresponding test methods required, UNH will make use of their customized centrifuge in their geotechnical engineering laboratory to conduct the Soils Cyclic Centrifuge testing task. This project requires that the Contractor must be an expert in developing prototype materials and then developing standardized test methods to explore cold regions asphalt and cold regions geotechnical engineering applications. Furthermore, potential contractors must be located within 100 miles of the CRREL facilities located in Hanover, New Hampshire. The University of New Hampshire was identified as the only vendor with the expertise and highly specialized equipment to perform the required testing services and as such, the University of New Hampshire is the only known vendor who can meet all the Government's requirements. The associated North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code is 541380, which has a size standard of $15,000,000. Please provide responses to this notice NLT 12:00 PM EST, 8 May 2019: [email protected] Telephone responses will not be accepted. Responses to this notice will not be considered as a response to any solicitation, a request to be added to a prospective offerors list, or to receive a copy of any solicitation. A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. Note: In order to be eligible for award of a Government contract, vendors must be actively registered in the System for Award Management (SAM), have no active exclusions, and complete the FAR and DFARS representations and certifications.