This notice is issued solely for informational and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation or firm requirement. The Army Contracting Command - Rock Island (ACC-RI) is utilizing a Sources Sought for Market Research to determine if other vendors have the capability to fulfill the requirement. This is strictly a Request for Information (RFI) for a tentative requirement of Granite Ballast (Stone) in accordance with the specifications of the American Railway Engineering Association (A.R.E.A.) #4 or A.R.E.A (or equivalent) Granite Stone #5. No Request for Proposal (RFP) exists; therefore, responses to the Request for Information (RFI) are not proposals to which ACC-RI can issue orders.

ACC-RI is issuing this RFI to determine if an adequate number of qualified interested contractors are capable of providing the Granite Ballast (Stone) in accordance with the specifications of the American Railway Engineering Association (A.R.E.A.) #4 or A.R.E.A (or equivalent) Granite Stone #5 described below. The Government will use the responses received for information / planning purposes and to identify potential sources as part of market research.

GRANITE STONE, A.R.E.A. # 4 or A.R.E.A (or equivalent) #5
Purpose: To be used as Railroad Ballast

1. BALLAST COMPOSITION

1.1.1. Ballast shall consist of crushed stone which is angular fragments resulting from crushing by mechanical means the following type of stone, originally quarried form undisturbed, consolidated deposits: GRANITE. No crushed gravel shall be allowed in the ballast aggregate. Ballast shall be certified by the Contractor as GRANITE.

1.1.2. Ballast shall contain no carbonates and shall have hard, strong, angular, durable particles, free from injurious amounts of deleterious substances and conforming to either of the following gradations:

A.R.E.A. Ballast Gradation # 4 -- Percent Passing by Weight

Size of Sieve Opening Track Ballast

2" 100%
1 1/2" 90 - 100%
1" 20 - 55%
3/4" 0 - 15%
3/8" 0 - 5%

OR

A.R.E.A. (or equivalent) Ballast Gradation # 5 -- Percent Passing by Weight

Size of Sieve Opening Track Ballast

1 1/2" 100%
1" 90 - 100%
3/4" 40 - 75%
1/2" 15 - 35%
3/8" 0 - 15%

1.1.3. Percentage of wear, after testing in a Los Angeles abrasion testing machine (in accordance with *ASTM C 535, Grading 3 @ 1000 revolutions), not to exceed 35 percent for granite.

1.1.4. The soundness of prepared ballast shall be such that, when tested in sodium sulphate in accordance with *ASTM C 88, the weighted average loss shall not be in excess of 10 percent after five cycles.

1.1.5. Shipments of ballast not certified by the Contractor as conforming to these specifications shall be rejected at the Contractor's expense.

All information received in response to the RFI marked "Proprietary" will be protected and handled accordingly. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. ACC-RI will not pay for information received in response to this RFI. Responses to the RFI will not be returned.

If you believe your company has the capabilities to provide the above specifications, please submit the following information:

1. Company name and mailing address
2. Company point of contact, email addresses and telephone
3. Capabilities Statement
4. Companies DUNS number
5. Cage Code
6. Size category and socioeconomic status

Notice to Contractors: All contractors who provide goods or services to the Department of Defense (DoD) must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM). To register in SAM please go to www.sam.gov.

Qualified vendors please submit RFI responses to: Mr. Gene P. Davis at [email protected] and Mr. Corbin De La Cruz at [email protected], by 09 September 2016, 1100 Central Time (CT).