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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Cold Regions Research Laboratory (CRREL) intends to award a contract on a sole source basis to PCB Piezotronics, Inc. upon the basis of the authority provided at FAR 13.106-1(b).

ERDC-CRREL’s Force Projection & Sustainment Branch (FPSB) in Hanover, NH requires the procurement of four (4) uniquely custom configured PCB Piezotronics (formerly GSE) triaxial load cells to be placed between each axle and wheel on CRREL’s existing Polaris Multi-Role Zone Reconnaissance (MRZR) D4 vehicle and four (4) corresponding Bendix connectors to support continued vehicle mobility testing over ice, snow, and other obstacles.

Requirement: PCB load cells are required to be fully interoperable and interchangeable with CRREL’s existing PCB load cells used in the vehicle testing laboratory. CRREL’s suite of PCB load cells are custom manufactured to fit the specialized characteristics of CRREL’s Polaris MRZR vehicles. These new load cells will replace CRREL’s four (4) oldest load cells which, due to wear and tear, are insufficient to withstand another full winter of cold regions testing in harsh terrain. The customized triaxial load cells must conform to the following specifications:

• Four (4) PCB Piezotronics triaxial load cells (p/n 062140-73286) to be placed in-line between the axle and the wheels of a Polaris MRZR D4 for recording force at the wheel in the x (front to back), y (side to side), and z (vertical) directions, meeting the following specifications:
  
  
  
  • 4k lbs vertical range
  
  
  • 3k lbs lateral range
  
  
  • 2k lbs longitudinal range
  
  
  • At lease 1.5 times overload capacity
  
  
  • Dimensions:
    
    
    
    • 3.75-inch diameter
    
    
    • 1.5-inches in height
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

• Four (4) Bendix connectors will be required, one per load cell (p/n 42420-000642).

• Additional Mounting Holes: Based on years of testing with the PCB load cells, CRREL requires that the new load cells are further customized by PCB Piezotronics to include twice the number of mounting holes for improved stability while the vehicle is used in testing. These holes should be placed on a 2-inch diameter bolt circle indexed 45 degrees from each other. This fabrication improvement is needed to withstand the rugged terrain and extreme weather in the field and is expected to increase durability of the load cell when mounted on the MRZR vehicle.

• Drawings: Load cells shall conform to the specifications in PCB Piezotronics, Inc Load & Torque Drawing Number 77477. The government is prohibited from posting the drawing publicly per proprietary rights restrictions on the document.

PCB Piezotronics Inc has been, and still is, identified as the only source capable of fulfilling the Government’s requirement due to the load cells being uniquely customized to the proprietary MRZR requirements necessary for interoperability with CRREL’s existing Polaris MRZR D4 mobility test vehicle. In addition to hardware interoperability, CRREL needs the new load cells to be consistent with the existing load cells to ensure continuity of data, so data results collected in the past are measured in the same manner as new data to ensure consistency of new and old datasets. PCB is the sole distributor because the original ones were uniquely configured and manufactured by GSE Scale Systems (GSE) for this purpose. PCB Piezotronics Inc then acquired the manufacturing and distribution rights to the GSE customized load cells when PCB acquired GSE. Due to the proprietary nature of the requested triaxial load cells, PCB Piezotronics Inc is the only provider capable of fulfilling the Government’s requirement.

This Notice of Intent is not a request for competitive quotations. However, interested parties may identify their interest and capability to respond to this requirement. Any interested party that believes they can fulfill this requirement should submit a capability statement to be reviewed. All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government's acquisition strategy.

Responses to this notice shall be submitted NLT 12:00 PM CST, 23 October 2023 to Lisa.A.Bernard@usace.army.mil and ERDC-CRREL-QUOTES@usace.army.mil

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.

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