Tire Efficiency Alignment Lab and Testing Contract

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an integral part of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and its mission is to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce health care and other economic costs associated with motor vehicle crashes. To accomplish this, NHTSA collects and analyzes motor vehicle crash data and develops, promotes, and implements educational programs, vehicle safety standards, research, and enforcement programs. The Office of Vehicle Safety Compliance (OVSC) supports this mission by establishing and administering enforcement programs for safety standard and regulations. The focus of this program is a consumer information program for replacement-market passenger car tires. Congress enacted the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), which in part, directs the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to establish a consumer information program for tire efficiency (rolling resistance) for replacement passenger car tires sold in the US; EISA also directed similar programs for tire safety (wet traction) and durability (treadwear). In response to the Congressional direction, the agency established a regulation in March 2010; see Docket NHTSA- 2010-0036-0001, where NHTSA adopted International Standard Organization testing standard ISO 28580:2009(E) as its test procedure to obtain tire rolling resistance data. This standard was selected in part because it outlines a process to align test data from different test labs; the process depends on establishing an Alignment Lab (AL) and Lab Alignment Tires (LATs). Since NHTSA has the authority to investigate compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), consumer information regulations and associated regulations, it is establishing a compliance testing and enforcement program to support the rolling resistance regulation. With this contract, the agency will establish an AL, or designate a pseudo-AL, and gather test data on pseudo-LATs in a simulated life cycle based on ISO 28580 requirements, and gather data to assess the alignment process in a round robin test program utilizing multiple test labs and multiple production tires; these tasks will be accomplished in three phases of the contract. Phase 1 The agency will seek to contract with a tire testing lab or similar company with the turnkey capability to test passenger car tires for rolling resistance to ISO 28580 and applicable agency test procedures, and report data. The contract will authorize the agency-designated AL to test LATs belonging to any entity, such as tire manufacturers or other testing labs, in order for that entity to align its test machines with the agency's alignment lab. The alignment lab will provide data to the owner of the LATs and recover all costs associated with this testing process with a fixed fee, determined by the alignment lab but fixed in the contract, from owner of the LATs. The successful contractor will also be responsible and will be reimbursed for providing certain data that will be specified in the statement of work to the agency, and may be authorized for reimbursement for basic set up material costs and possibly minor process improvements which will be defined in the RFP. The successful contractor will have six months for the agency to certify that the alignment lab can reliably meet the technical requirements of the aforementioned test procedures. Bidding on this portion of the RFP is optional. Phase 2 In the RFP, the agency will designate the identity of a matched set of pseudo-LATs as well as a source. The successful contractor will manage a test program specified in the RFP to gather data on the rolling resistance characteristics of these pseudo-LATs; these tests have been structured to test the pseudo-LATs under the life cycle conditions of an ISO 28580-designated LATs. The successful contractor will be reimbursed for procuring the required pseudo-LATs plus a fixed fee, the necessary rims, and the fee for aligning the tires, if applicable. Testing will done in-house and out-house; the alignment lab will perform about 50% of the tests in house, and will subcontract to one test lab of its selection for the remainder of the testing under this Phase. Data will be collected by each lab, and forwarded to the agency for analysis. A total of approximately 1,400 total rolling resistance tests will be performed. Testing may not begin until the alignment lab is certified by the agency, or a pseudo-alignment machine designated by the agency. This portion of the contract is mandatory. Phase 3 In the RFP, the agency will designate a number of production tires for a round robin test program performed in-house and at multiple subcontractor test labs. The successful contractor will procure pseudo-LATs for each participating lab, align those tires and provide the tires and the data to the respective test lab. Each lab will align itself with the successful contractor's alignment machine or the agency's designated pseudo-alignment lab. Each lab will receive a set of production tires and perform rolling resistance testing the tires, then send each set of tires to each test lab for round-robin testing. All labs will report the raw data and the adjusted data to the agency for analysis. A total of up between 500 and 1,000 tests will be performed. The successful contractor will manage the program, and be reimbursed for the pseudo-LATs, the fee for the alignment of the LATs, if applicable, and all testing. The successful contractor will also invoice the agency for subcontractor costs of testing. Testing on this final phase may begin three months after the start of phase 2. This portion of the contract is mandatory. The NAICS Code for this contract is 541380. Contractors must be registered in the Central Contractor Registration Database located at http://www.ccr.gov, and must complete electronic representatives and certification on the ORCA database located at http://orca.bpn.gov to be considered for contract award. It is the Government's intent to award a Firm Fixed Price type contract with cost-reimbursement portion resulting from the solicitation, with or without discussions, to the responsible offeror whose proposal, conforming to the solicitation, is most advantageous to the Government based on the evaluation factors contained in the solicitation. It is the Offeror's responsibility to monitor the FedBizOpps Internet site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential Offerors will be responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Requests for paper copies of the RFP will not be accepted. The estimated date for release of the solicitation is on or about April 15, 2011. Period of Performance: sixty (60) calendar months from the effective date of the resultant contract award. Contract Award: NHTSA intends to issue a full and open, competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) with the intention of awarding a Firm Fixed Price type contract with cost-reimbursement portion for a performance period not to exceed sixty (60) calendar months after the effective date of the resultant contract. All questions regarding this posting must be submitted in writing via e-mail to contact@example.gov no later than May 2, 2011. The anticipated award date for this resultant contract is expected on or about September 1, 2011.