Uniaxial Mechanical Tester

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineering Research and Development Center- Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) has a requirement to procure a universal uniaxial mechanical tester for use in its research efforts involving soft materials and biological tissues.

ERDC-CERL intended to award purchase orders on a sole source basis to Waterloo Instruments Inc. in accordance with FAR 13.106-1(b)(1). Waterloo Instruments Inc. has been found to be the only company capable of providing the required scientific laboratory equipment. Market research indicates there is no other vendor reasonably available to meet the agency’s needs which are summarized below.

• The Waterloo CellScale UniVert S is specifically designed for testing soft materials and biological tissues, offering highly sensitive load and displacement measurements that are difficult to replicate with general-purpose testing equipment.

• The Waterloo UniVert S comes equipped with a fluid bath system designed to prevent dehydration of samples during extended experiments, a critical feature for biological tissue and hydrogel testing. This feature ensures consistent experimental conditions and accurate results, avoiding variability caused by sample drying.

• The Waterloo system includes a non-contact strain measurement system, enabling real-time image analysis of specimen strain while accurately measuring the deformation and motion of objects. Through its integrated system, it interprets local displacements to calculate strain values and strain rates, fully characterizing specimen strains. This system allows for comprehensive test comparisons and outputs data suitable for advanced modeling and analysis. Such integrated precision strain analysis reduces the need for additional external optical equipment or software, streamlining the testing process.

Only Waterloo Instruments Inc can provide equipment with the unique features required by the research project, plus the remote guidance and training to ensure proper set up, calibration, and operation of the highly specialized equipment.

Please provide responses to this notice no later than the time listed above in this notice, to: CERL-CT_Quotes@usace.army.mil.

Telephone responses will not be accepted.

This is a notice of intent to sole source synopsis, not a solicitation or a request for competitive quotations. This is not a set-aside of any kind. Any interested party that believes they should be considered as capable of fulfilling this requirement should submit a capability statement of their related products or services to be reviewed for technical content. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. A determination by the Government not to compete the contract based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government All submissions will be considered, however there is no guarantee that submissions in response to this notice will in any way alter the Government’s acquisition strategy.