Ambulance Patient Compartment Testing

*******Amendment 1 Posted 5/2/2012******* Answers to Questions posted. ********* ***** Please Note that the proposal due date is May 16th 2012. See solicitation for details. ****** The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a requirement for Ambulance Patient Compartment Testing. I. Background The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in partnership with the National Truck Equipment Association's Ambulance Manufacturers Division (AMD), is engaged in an effort to improve worker safety in the patient compartment of U.S. based ambulances. This collaborative work builds on completed research performed by NIOSH under past NIOSH funded projects. The first outcome from this joint effort was the development of AMD Standard 025, "Measuring Guidelines: Occupant Head Clearance Zones". Additional interim outcomes include the publishing of SAE J2917 "Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice for Occupant Restraint and Equipment Mounting Integrity - Frontal Impact System-Level Ambulance Patient Compartment (2010)" and SAE J2956 "Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice for Occupant Restraint and Equipment Mounting Integrity - Side Impact System-Level Ambulance Patient Compartment (2011)". These two SAE Recommended Practices document the response measured in an ambulance patient compartment during front and side full vehicle crash testing, respectively. SAE J2917 and J2956 are now being used as input loading for continuing work targeting improvements in seating, cot, and equipment mount design. It should be noted that while crash testing a vehicle in a 30 mph frontal impact, as was done during the development of the SAE J2917, is a standard requirement for all passenger vehicles weighing less than 8,500 lbs. (in accordance with Federal Vehicle Motor Vehicle Safety Standards), virtually all U.S. ambulances operate above this weight and are, therefore, largely exempt from this requirement. With work on seating, cots, and equipment mounts underway, NIOSH and the AMD are now prepared to expand their work to include improvements to the structural integrity of the patient compartment. In an effort to move forward, the AMD established a sub-committee charged with developing a series of tests designed to better understand the loading applied to the patient compartment structure during a frontal impact (front corner of the patient compartment box) and a rollover event. The hope is to then translate these measured "dynamic" loading events into a repeatable static test for the industry's use. Under this contracting effort, the Contractor shall utilize the testing methodologies proposed by the AMD Body Integrity Subcommittee (attached), to conduct dynamic and static testing of the patient compartments of several ambulances. Testing shall be conducted to accomplish several tasks: (1) validate the testing methods proposed in each dynamic test, (2) to acquire the loading experienced by the patient compartment structure during each dynamic test, and (3) to validate the methods proposed in the static test to fully exercise the patient compartment's structural integrity. II. Project Objectives Related to this Contract This contract shall quantify the dynamic loading experienced by the patient compartment of a commercial ambulance through the use of four different testing methods. These test methods are draft documents proposed by an industry-government team of experts and borrow heavily from testing of civilian and commercial vehicles. As a part of this process, the testing methods themselves shall be evaluated and validated. At the completion of this testing program the Contractor will have created a dataset which will: 1. Qualify the logic and language described in each of the four proposed test methods. 2. Provide the data necessary for AMD and its partners to approve one to four of the proposed test methods as a new standard or standards to validate improvements in the structural integrity of patient compartment of the ambulance. 3. If funded as options to the effort, the pulse shapes described in SAE J2917 and SAE J2956 will be validated for use in the design of interiors for Type II (raised roof vans and Sprinters). The Contractor will be expected to work to a fairly aggressive schedule as this data will be evaluated for possible inclusion in the second edition of the new National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 1917 Automotive Ambulance Standard. This is the first national consensus standard which has gained the support of most factions associated with the industry: manufacturers, end users, suppliers, and government purchasers. The first edition is expected to be published in June 2012. A comment period of 12 months will follow leading to the development of the 2nd edition. Given the goal of this research is to influence the 2nd Edition; we anticipate a need to be finished prior to June 2013. This requirement is being solicited on an unrestricted basis as full and open competition. The CDC expects a single firm fixed price with a period of performance of nine (9) months.