Table Mounted Materials Testing System

NOTICE OF INTENT TO ISSUE A PURCHASE ORDER. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), National Personal Protective Technology Branch, Pittsburgh, PA, hereby announces its intent to issue a purchase order to Instron for a table mounted materials testing system. This effort will assist in equipping a new protective clothing lab to broaden NPPTL's research ability specifically in the area of pandemic research. The addition of the Instron Tester which will be used to conduct tear strength, break strength, puncture resistance, elongation, seam strength and other tensile strength tests will impact a number of existing, proposed and future research projects within all three branches of NPPTL. Instron has worked directly with the ASTM D13 and F23 Committees to provide special grips that are proprietary to Instron to conduct testing to specific standards. Instron testers are certainly the industry standard and any research conducted in the area must utilize this method to allow for direct comparisons between various research studies and findings. The tensile tester must be able to perform testing to the following ASTM Standards - D5034, D5587, D5733, D1683, D3787, F1342, and D412a. Responsible sources that believe they possess the expertise and capabilities identified above are encouraged to submit to the Contracting Officer within 15 days from the posting date of this notice, their written item description/item characteristics and pricing information in the format they choose, not to exceed 10 pages. Please forward the item description and pricing information to Margaret Mooney, Reference 2009-Q-11604, CDC, NIOSH, 626 Cochrans Mill Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236. All vendors must be registered in the Central Contractor Registry (CCR) prior to an award of a federal contract. The website is: www.ccr.gov. The Government will review any/all item descriptions and pricing information submitted and determine if other qualified sources do exist that could provide this requirement. Information received in response will be used solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. If no affirmative responses are received within 15 days, in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1), negotiations will be conducted with Instron, 825 University Avenue, Norwood, MA 02062-2643 as the only source and a purchase order will be issued without any additional notices being posted.