U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants Services, Mail Stop 50, 400 7th Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590

M -- OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF TRACK GEOMETRY RAILROAD CAR FOR HIGH SPEED RAIL APPLICATIONS SOL DTFR53-98-C-00015 DUE 081098 POC Robert Carpenter, Contracting Officer; 202/493-6153; FAX 202/493-6171 The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) intends to negotiate, on a sole source basis with ENSCO, Inc., the award of Contract No. DTFR53-98-C-00015 for the operation and maintenance of an FRA-owned railroad car equipped with specialized instrumentation designed to conduct railroad track geometry measurements while moving over high speed rail lines. The railroad car, now being designed, constructed and equipped by ENSCO, Inc., under contract to FRA will be delivered to the Government in March, 1999. That latter contract (DTFR53-98-C-00009) was awarded on July 7, 1998, to ENSCO, Inc. as a partial award resulting from a full and open Request for Proposals (DTFR53-97-R-00014) issued in November, 1997. That competitive RFP included the design, construction, and equipment of the track geometry railroad car, combined with a requirement for two-years of operations and maintenance on the completed car. ENSCO, Inc. has a long history of conducting highly specialized operations and maintenance on several such railroad cars currently owned by the FRA. It is now FRA's intention to negotiate and award Contract No. DTFR53-98-C-00015 as a separate cost-reimbursement type contract with ENSCO, Inc. for the operation and maintenance portion of the work requirement for this latest track geometry railroad car. This announcement is being made for the purpose of affording qualified firms an opportunity to express interest and ability in potentially competing with ENSCO, Inc. for the operations and maintenance of this railroad car. In the absence of an acceptable response from any other qualified and responsible potential offeror, FRA will proceed to negotiate on a sole source basis with ENSCO, Inc. for the operations and maintenance portion of the work requirement previously solicited. Under those circumstances, the applicable authority for this procurement will be 41 U.S.C. 253 (c)(1) as implemented by FAR 6.302-1, "Only One Responsible Source." This announcement is for information purposes only to clarify the marketplace for the operations and maintenance requirement, and to promote potential subcontracting opportunities. This is NOT a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP), and a competitive solicitation is NOT available. Posted 07/24/98 (W-SN228263). (0205)

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