This sources sought announcement is for informational purposes only. It is not to be construed as an obligation on the part of the Applied Biomechanics Division (NSR-110) at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is issuing this Sources Sought Notice to identify potential qualified Small Business (SB), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB), 8(a) Certified SDB, HUBZone SB, Service Disables Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), or Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) concerns that may be interested in and capable of performing the work described herein to proactively plan for future requirements, NSR-110 is conducting market research to locate qualified, experienced, and interested parties. These parties should be able to comprehensively support program of ATDs and corresponding parts, supplies, and services, with the suppliers of ATDs, finite element (FE) models of ATDs, associated instrumentation and equipment, and Data Acquisition Systems.

NHTSA welcomes all qualified Small Business concerns, with the appropriate NAICS Code and past experience to submit their Corporate Capability Statements that demonstrate their ability to successfully accomplish the goals of the project as listed below.  NHTSA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses to this notice or otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted.  Acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not be made; no formal evaluation of the information received will be conducted by NHTSA.  NHTSA may; however later on issue a Request for Proposals (RFP).  However, should such a requirement fail to materialize, no basis for claims against NHTSA shall arise as a result of a response to this notice.

This Sources Sought Notice is not a request for proposal (RFP), nor does it restrict the Government as to the final acquisition strategy. No contract will be awarded from this announcement. At this time no solicitation exists. Therefore, please do not request a copy of the solicitation. Responses in any form are not offers. The Government will not reimburse respondents for any costs incurred in the preparation of a response to this Notice. The results of this sources sought notice will assist the Contracting Officer in determining the best strategy for this procurement. Responses to this synopsis may also be used to aide in establishing realistic and achievable small business participation goals.

BACKGROUND

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).  NHTSA’s mission is to save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes.  The agency develops, promotes, and implements effective educational, engineering and enforcement programs with the goal of ending preventable tragedies associated with vehicle use and highway travel.

NHTSA’s Vehicle Research and Test Center (VRTC), Applied Biomechanics Division, manages and operates NHTSA’s Crash Test Dummy Management Laboratory (DML).  The purpose of the DML is to manage the entire NHTSA inventory of ATDs (also referred to as “ATDs,” “crash test dummies”, or “dummies), instrumentation and replacement parts.  In addition to managing the DML, VRTC also works closely with dummy manufacturers, and the biomechanics community, to advance the state-of-the-art in ATDs.  The re-design of components of existing dummies and the development of new types or sizes of dummies is an on-going mission of the agency.

Modern ATDs used in the vehicle research and test environment are sophisticated measuring systems whose design and manufacture involves trade-offs of: (1) the requirements to produce biofidelic kinetic and kinematic responses from which potential injury to vehicle occupants can be assessed, and (2) measurements that are repeatable in response to identical stimuli for each ATD and reproducible within every ATD of a model, and the need for the ATDs to be durable for repeated usage.  The ATD responses are measured by transducers installed within the ATD (such as load cells, linear and angular accelerometers, angular tilt sensors, angular rate sensors, rotary potentiometers, and displacement transducers) using a variety of technologies (such as light emitting diodes, infrared light, strain gages, etc.).

Modern ATDs have improved biofidelity and measurement capability over their predecessors.  The use of on-board data acquisition systems (DAS) to store measurements within the ATD, in lieu of using external cables to carry signal and power to and from the ATD, creates further improvement.  The ATDs are constructed of both rigid and compliant components with instrumentation capable of measuring, and in some cases storing on-