Dynamic Testing of Litter and Patient Restraint Combinations for Use in the Ambulance Patient Compartment.

Amendment 1 Changes the proposal DUE date to August 6, 2010 2pm ET from July 23, 2010. Proposals are Due July 23, 2010. Questions are due June 30, 2010. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a requirement for Dynamic Testing of Litter and Patient Restraint Combinations for Use in the Ambulance Patient Compartment. Together, NIOSH and the NTEA are continuing to investigate opportunities to improve the structural integrity of the patient compartment, seating systems, the patient litter, and equipment location and mounting utilizing existing NIOSH data. To that end, NIOSH, the NTEA-AMD, and its members have developed an SAE "Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice for Occupant Restraint and Equipment Mounting Integrity - Frontal Impact System-Level Ambulance Patient Compartment" to characterize the response of an ambulance when subjected to a full frontal crash into a barrier at 30 mph. This proposed document has been approved for further development by SAE and is now in its final revision with a vote to approve and accept as final expected this spring. It should be noted that while this 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. Likewise, the partners seek to develop a companion "SAE Recommended Practice" to characterize an ambulance's response in a side impact event. Unfortunately, the team has been unable to identify a dataset in the public domain suitable for use in the development of such a standard. Therefore, a request for proposal was developed and posted in January 2010 to complete this work. A total of four (4) side impact tests will be performed. The resulting dataset will be used to support a well considered and defensible SAE Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice for Occupant Restraint and Equipment Mounting Integrity - Side Impact System-Level Ambulance Patient Compartment (proposed). The testing is expected to be conducted in the spring of 2010, with the development of the proposed SAE Surface Vehicle Recommended Practice for Side Impact Testing expected to be completed and approved by SAE in late fall 2010. The project team is also now completing a revision of "AMD STANDARD 004 - Proposed Revision - LITTER RETENTION SYSTEM DYNAMIC TEST". This proposed revision of the AMD standard establishes minimum requirements for testing of all litter and patient restraint systems to be installed in an ambulance. This is expected to be performed as a type test once approved. The Contractor will utilize the testing practices described in the two SAE Recommended Practices described above, to conduct dynamic testing of various combinations of litters, patient restraints, and litter retention hardware in accordance with the proposed revision to AMD Standard 004. II. Project Objectives Related to this Contract This contract will dynamically test and evaluate litters, patient restraints, and litter retention hardware, hereafter referred to as "litter systems", as supplied by a several different litter manufacturers, to be identified under a separate solicitation. Litter systems may be mounted longitudinally or laterally, with the longitudinal axis assumed to be the fore/aft axis of the traditional ambulance patient compartment. Likewise, while mounted longitudinally, the litter system may be mounted with either the feet pointed toward hypothetical front of the vehicle or pointed aft as is required in the GSA Star-of-Life Ambulance Purchase Specification today. The overarching goal of this effort is to retain the litter system during crash loading while safely maintaining the patient on the gurney. This would correct two significant issues found during earlier testing. At the completion of this testing program the Contractor will have created a dataset which will: 1. Demonstrate the ability to manufacture a litter system which will remain attached to the floor in frontal and side crash events as defined in the two SAE Recommended Practice documents. 2. Substantially reduce patient excursions (longitudinally and laterally) without driving biomechanical loading on the patient beyond published limits. 3. Demonstrate the ability of litter manufacturers to construct a litter system that can be safely deployed in a side loading ambulance. 4. Validate the testing requirements and methodology described in the proposed revision to AMD 004. 5. Generate patient excursion envelopes for use in design of litter system to vehicle interface. This requirement is being solicited on an unrestricted basis as full and open competition. The CDC expects a single award cost plus fixed fee with a period of performance of eighteen (18) months. The complete solicitation document, and reference material, if applicable, will be available for downloading at www.fbo.gov on or about May 14, 2010 and proposals will be due on or about June 15, 2010. No verbal or written requests for copies will be accepted. It is the responsibility of perspective offerors to stay abreast of additional postings regarding this solicitation at the FedBizOpps internet site.