U.S. Department of Agriculture, ARS, FMOD, BA, Contracting Section, Bldg. 003, Room 329, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, Md. 20705

66 -- TABLE MOUNTED UNIVERSAL TESTING MACHINE SOL 41-3K47-96 POC Keina Burrier, Contract Specialist, 301/504-5888. This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commericial items prepared in accordance with FAR Subpart 12.6 as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested and a written solicitation will not be issued. The solicitation number 41-3K47-96, is issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP), and incorporates provisions and clauses that are in effect through Federal Acquisition Circular 90-38. Facsimile proposals will not be accepted. The standard industrial classification code is 3826, with a small business standard of 500 employees. This acquisition will be procured on an unrestricted basis. The proposed contract will include one line item as follows: Item 01 Table Mounted Universal Testing instrument. This instrument will be used in conducting research by the USDA, NRI, Instrumentation Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland to develop techniques for measuring beef tenderness. The minimum specifications are as follows: Desk top type; load capacity between 350 lb. and 700 lb.; capable of performing a variety of tests to include compression, tension, bending, cyclic compression tension, and stress relaxation in a wide range of loading speeds between 0.003 in/min and 75 in/min. The crosshead travel distance shall be no less than 40 in. and the space between columns greater than 15 in. The load cell shall have minimum accuracy of plus/minus 0.5% of reading or plus/minus 0.015% of full scale and can be used in both tension and compression mode with the automatic load range selection and calibration features. Shall be equipped with an automatic data control, acquisition and analysis software run under Microsoft Windows operating systems, which can record and analyze mechanical property data commonly required in food texture studies. The software shall be user-friendly and easy to operate and allow the user to modify test methods and calculations to meet specific test requirements without any programming and also allow the user to write programs for specific test requirements. Shall allow for direct attachment of special food testing devices, such as Warner-Bratzler tester, Kramer shear cell, Magness-Taylor puncture probes, for studying mechanical properties and texturers of foods and agricultural products. Delivery is FOB Destination to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, Maryland within consignee's premises. Delivery is required on or about November 30, 1996 or within 60 calendar days after award. Any interested/qualified source who believes they can provide the required equipment must respond by 4:30 p.m. on or before September 13, 1996. All such responses will be evaluated in order to determine the ability to meet the above stated capabilities. The Government will award a contract resulting from this solicitation to the responsible offeror whose offer conforming to the solicitation will be most advantageous to the Government, price and other factors considered. The following factors in FAR provision 52.212-2, Evaluation-Commercial Item applies and will be used to evaluate offers: technical capability, price and past performance, when combined are approximately equal to price. Awards shall be made to a technically acceptable offeror, at a fair and reasonable price with satisfactory past performance. The offerors shall identify where the offered item meets or does not meet each of the Government functional and performance minimum specification listed herein. Responses shall include literature, brochures and other such information corresponding to the required items which demonstrates the capabilities of the offeror's equipment. The following FAR clauses and provisions apply: FAR 52.212.1, Instruction to Offerors-Commercial Items; 52.212-2 awarded to a technical acceptable offeror, at fair and reasonable price; 52.212-3, Offeror Representations and Certifications-Commercial Items; 52.212-4 Contract Terms and Conditions-Commercial Items. The following FAR clauses in paragraph (b) of FAR 52.212-5, Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Statues or Executive Orders-Commercial Items, will apply to the resultant contract: 52.222-26, 52-222-35, 52.222-36, 52.222-37, 52.225-3, and 52.225-21. All offerors must include a completed copy of FAR 52.212-3 with their response. (0235)

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