Load Cells for Structural Testing

This is a request for a Firm Fixed Price quotation for commercial products. This solicitation is issued in accordance with the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul (RFO) Part 12 - Acquisition of Commercial Products and Commercial Services as supplemented with additional information included in this notice. This solicitation is a Request for Quotation (RFQ). The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through the RFO. The associated North American Industrial System (NAICS) code for this procurement is 334519 - Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing. The small business size standard is 600 Employees. This is an unrestricted competition. Both small businesses and other than small businesses under the applicable size standard are eligible to respond. DESCRIPTION OF

REQUIREMENTS

Background The Structures Group in the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) performs research to enhance the ability of structures in the United States to

1) resist damage from various hazards (e.g., blast, wind, and seismic hazards) and

2) recover from and adapt to hazards that result in damage. To this end, the Structures Group is expanding upon a recently completed experimental research effort that focused on mitigating disproportionate collapse of buildings in the United States. The final phase of that effort involved experimentally testing precast concrete beam-column connection assemblies produced at 5/8 scale and that featured novel connection concepts developed by NIST researchers in collaboration with an industry review committee of Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) members. These assemblies were subjected to static pushdown testing that simulated a column-removal scenario for disproportionate collapse applications. The test results showed that the connection concepts were viable for use in precast concrete construction to achieve robust performance against disproportionate collapse. The current experimental research effort involves structural testing of full-scale precast concrete beam-column connection assemblies under forces that simulate those imposed by earthquakes. The assemblies will feature the previously tested connection concepts to establish whether these connections can perform adequately under various hazards acting asynchronously.

Objectives The purpose of this acquisition is to procure load washers for use in experimental testing of full-scale precast concrete beam-column connection assemblies. These tests aim to quantify the performance of the novel precast concrete connection concepts that are featured in each assembly.