SAFETY--Testing of Cableways


In Reply Refer To:                          May 26, 1989
WGS-Mail Stop 405

BRANCH OF OPERATIONS TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM 89.04

To:       Regional Hydrologists and District Chiefs

From:     Chief, Branch of Operational Support

Subject:  SAFETY--Testing of Cableways

In our memorandum titled "SAFETY--Nondestructive Testing of Cableways,"
dated January 6, 1989, we explained that we were continuing with the
existing procurement mechanism for nondestructive testing and inspection
of our cableways.  In reviewing the present testing method, we have
decided to add a load test to the inspection which will check the
strength of the entire cableway system, especially the anchors,
saddles, turnbuckles, and other periopheral cableway supporting
equipment.  We are purchasing a special trailer with equipment to
conduct this load test from Halkin Services, Inc., and when the
trailer is completed, Halkin will begin the load test.  However, at
this time we are only purchasing one trailer (including equipment),
and Halkin will only be able to do the test at limited locations.  If
the test is successful, we will probably purchase more trailers with
equipment.

Attached are a Schedule of Articles (SOA) and a Justification for Other
than Full and Open Competition (JOFOC) that incorporate the load test.
When contacting Halkin Services to do nondestructive testing in your
District, be sure to ask about the load test to see if it will be
available to you.  This test should only add about 1 hour to the already
existing inspection.  If the load test is available, be sure to use the
updated SOA and JOFOC; otherwide, use the former one originally sent
with our memorandum of September 29, 1986, and again with our January
6, 1989 memorandum.

If you have any questions concerning this matter, you may contact
Judy Claussen (703/648-5264) or Jim Heisel (703/648-5263) for
assistance.




                                    Alberto Condes

Attachments

Key Words:  Cableways, Nondestructive Testing, Safety, Procurement
            of Cableway Testing, Load Testing, Halkin Services




                            SCHEDULE OF ARTICLES

Article I.  BACKGROUND

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Water Resources Division (WRD), has an
immediate need to conduct testing of our cableway systems (excluding cable
cars) in place at WRD cableway measuring locations.  This testing consists of
nondestructive testing of wire ropes and load testing of the entire system,
particularly anchors.  The USGS must take steps to insure that our cableways
are as safe as possible, especially since fieldmen use the cableways during
all seasons, sometimes over raging waters, and many in isolated locations.
Although we have been addressing the need of the nondestructive testing of
wire ropes in recent years, the load testing of the anchors and remaining
system is a newly defined critical need.

Article II.  SCOPE OF WORK

A.  The work to be done consists of furnishing all labor, materials, and
equipment in performing all work in strict compliance with these specifi-
cations to provide nondestructive testing of wire ropes and load testing of
the entire system, particularly the anchors, at USGS cableways located across
rivers and streams.

B.  Location -- The locations of the cableways to be tested are as listed in
Attachment A of this specificaiton.

Article III.  DESCRIPTION OF WORK

A.  Nondestructive Testing of Wire Rope

The Contractor shall test the wire rope from anchor to anchor, testing the
section between the anchor and the A-frame, if an A-frame is in place, and
between A-frames with the nondestructive tester.  The wire ropes vary in
diameter from 3/4-inch to 1-1/4 inches.

The wire rope shall be tested using a nondestructive wire rope tester which
simultaneously measures metallic area loss caused by corrosion and wear and
localized faults caused by broken wires, corrosion pits, and wire notching.
Measurements shall be made with magnetic sensors which are not sensitive to
rope speed.

B.  Load Testing of Anchors and Remaining Cableway System (excluding cable car)

The Contractor shall conduct a load test of approximately 2,000 pounds on the
entire cableway system, particularly the anchors.  This test will consist of
sliding four 55-gallon drums filled with water down the wire rope to the
midpoint of the cableway.  At that point the water would be dumped from the
drums and returned to the starting point.

                                                                     2
C.  Visual Inspection

The Contractor shall carefully make a visual inspection of the A-frames, back
line guy wires, anchors, saddles, turnbuckles, and other peripheral cableway
supporting equipment on both banks for corrosion and any other degradation or
damage.  The Contractor shall also inspect cable clips to insure that there
are the proper number of clips, that they are the proper size, and that they
are spaced correctly.

D.  The Report

The Contractor shall provide a report on the nondestructive test and the load
test to the Contracting Officer's Representative within 30 days of completion
of the testing.  The report shall include strip charts showing an inch-by-inch
analysis of the inspection of the wire rope and a written report describing
the findings and evaluation of the nondestructive wire rope test and the load
test.  The report shall interpret the loss of metallic area and point out
localized faults in the wire rope.  The Contractor shall make a recommendation
in the report as to the condition of the wire rope and his estimate of the
remaining strength in the wire rope tested within 45 days.  The report shall
include findings from the magnetic sensor test, the load test, and from the
visual examination made of the cableway and of the anchors and A-frames.

Article IV.  CONTRACTOR EXPERIENCE

The Contractor must have at least 4 years experience actually performing
nondestructive testing of wire ropes as his primary duty (at least 80 percent
of his daily function).  The USGS has determined this is necessary because of
the safety factor involved.  The Contractor shall also have experience in
preparing reports as described in Article III.D.

Article V.  CONTRACTOR EQUIPMENT

A.  The wire rope testing unit must be compact enough to be placed in the
cable car and moved across cableways which may, in some instances, exceed
1,000 feet.  The power unit for the wire rope tester must also be compact
enough to be placed in the cable car.  At most sites, AC power will not be
available.  This wire rope tester shall be able to test wire ropes varying in
diameter from 3/4-inch to 1-1/4 inch.

B.  It is the Contractor's responsibility to insure that the wire rope tester
is operating properly when brought to the cableway site.  No payment will be
made to the Contractor if the wire rope is not tested.

C.  It is the Contractor's responsibility to transport the testing equipment
to the cableway site.  In some instances, access may be made only on foot.

                                                                     3

Article VI.  CONTRACTING OFFICER'S REPRESENTATIVE

A.  The performance required herein shall be subject to the technical
direction of the Contracting Officer's Representatiave (COR).  As used herein,
"Technical Direction" is direction to the Contractor which fills in details,
suggests possible line of inquiry, or otherwise supplements the scope of work
set forth herein and shall not constitute a new assignment, nor supersede, nor
modify any article or clause of this contract.

B.  Upon contract award, the COR assigned cognizance shall be:

            ____________________________________________

            ____________________________________________

            ____________________________________________


Article VII.  GOVERNMENT FURNISHED PROPERTY

At each cableway, the Government will have in place a cable car which can be
used for the testing of the wire ropes.

The USGS will furnish a specialized trailer, including a generator, a water
pump, and a hoisting apparatus, for the Contractor's use in conducting the
load test.  THis trailer and equipment is valued at about $5,000 and will be
licensed by the USGS.

The Contractor shall maintain the trailer and equipment in good, safe working
condition while in his possession.

Article VIII.  ASSISTANCE FROM GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL

A Government employee will accompany the Contractor's personnel to each cable-
way location for assisting in operation of the cable car during the testing.

Article IX.  INCLEMENT WEATHER

If inclement weather occurs to the extent that the Contractor may not complete
the inspection, the testing will be rescheduled with the Contracting Officer's
Representative.  No payment will be made for work scheduled but not completed
because of inclement weather.

Article X.  CONTRACTOR LIABILITY

The Contractor shall assume all liability for any injury to Contractor person-
nel while working in cable cars, on A-frames, and around the cableway in
general.  The Contractor shall also assume all liability in relation to the
trailer and equipment while in his possession.


                                                                     4

Article XI.  SCHEDULING THE WORK

On receipt of the authorization to proceed with the cableway testing, the
Contractor shall contact the Contracting Officer's Representative within
10 days to establish a schedule for testing the cableway.  The Contractor
shall complete the work as scheduled unless changes to the schedule are
approved by the COR.

Article XII.  DELIVERABLES

The Contractor shall deliver the report described in Article III.D to the COR
within 30 days of completion of the cableway testing.

Article XIII.  PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

The period of performance is from date of award through ____________________.



              JUSTIFICATION FOR OTHER THAN FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION


INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Water Resources Division (WRD), requests a
noncompetitive award to Halkin Services, Inc., Commerce City, Colorado.

IDENTIFICATION OF NEED

The USGS, WRD, has an immediate need to conduct testing of our cableway sys-
tems (excluding cable cars) in place at WRD cableway measuring locations.
This testing consists of nondestructive testing of wire ropes and load testing
of the entire system, particularly anchors.  The USGS must take steps to insure
that our cableways are as safe as possible, especially since fieldmen use the
cableways during all seasons, sometimes over raging waters, and many in iso-
lated locations.  Although we have been addressing the need of the nondestruc-
tive testing of wire ropes in recent years, the load testing of the anchors
and remaining system is a newly defined critical need.

CIRCUMSTANCES PERMITTING NONCOMPETITIVE PROCUREMENT

Cableways are being used throughout the country for streamflow measurement and
sampling.  These cableways vary in length from less than 100 feet to over
1,000 feet and can be over 50 feet above the streambed.  The wire ropes vary
in diameter from 3/4-inch to 1 1/4-inch.  Some cableways have been in place
and exposed to the elements for over 70 years, and a large number for over
50 years.

We have an urgent need to perform nondestructive testing of the wire ropes and
load tsting of the entire system (excluding cable cars), particularly anchors.
Because of the critical nature of the assessment--the life or health of hydrog-
raphers could be affected--the test must be performed by a reliable firm which
is experienced in testing cableways and in preparing reports on their con-
ditions.  For safety purposes--because of the remote locations and the danger
involved--we require the Contracator to have at least 4 years experience
testing wire ropes regularly as their primary duty.

The Halkin Services, Inc., provides nondestructive testing of wire rope for
mines and ski lifts.  Halkins uses a MAGNOGRAPH which measures loss of
metallic area and local faults in the wire rope.  The MAGNOGRAPH rides on the
cableway and is operated by a battery-powered unit which can be placed in the
cable car.  This allows it to access the entire length of wire rope including
the link to the far bank which sometimes is not easily accessible by vehicle or
on foot.  There is no electrical power (AC) available at most cableway sites,
so a battery-powered testing unit is essential.  The MAGNOGRAPH provides a
graphical chart which shows the loss of metallic area and the local faults in
the wire rope for each foot of the wire rope traversed.

                                                                     2

Halkins has also developed a load test which would work for the entire system
and particularly the anchors.  This test consists of sliding four 55-gallon
drums filled with water down the wire rope to the midpoint of the cableway.
At that point the water would be dumped from the drums and returned to the
starting point.

Halkin Services, Inc., has been providing nondestructive testing of wire
ropes for more than 7 years, and it constitutes about 90 percent of their
total workload.

OTHER SOURCES CONSIDERED

A market search was conducted by the Branch of Operational Support, WRD,
Reston, Virginia, by checking with the Information Handling Services and the
"Capital Cities Regional Industrial Purchasing Guide," calling manufacturers
of wire ropes, calling manufacturers of wire rope testers, and following up on
any leads these contacts provided.  Details are as follows:

A.  The Information Handling Services found no companies that did nondestruc-
    tive testing of wire ropes.  They only had a name of a company in Canada
    that manufactured a wire rope tester.  The company turned out to be the
    same company where Halkins had purchased their equipment.

B.  After looking in the "Capital Cities Regional Industrial Purchasing
    Guide," the only leads we came up with were manufacturers/distributors of
    wire ropes.  We called several companies but only came up with one lead,
    Pittsburgh Testing Laboratories, that did nondestructive testing.  They
    test by x-rays using radioactive isotopes and could only tell if wires
    were broken; they could not determine loss of metallic area or local
    faults.  It would also be extremely more expensive and time consuming to
    x-ray every foot of cableway which is one of our requirements.  There is
    also a safety factor involved with using x-rays to that extreme.

C.  We called the manufacturer of the wire rope testers that Halkins uses
    (Heath and Sherwood) to see if they sold any testers to other firms that
    perform services.  They knew of none besides Halkins that performed
    services for others.

D.  We found a wire rope tester on the NIIS Federal Supply Schedule (non-
    mandatory) that only tested wire ropes much smaller than our requirement,
    but we called the company (NDT Technologies, Inc.) to see if they knew of
    any companies that performed the services using their tester.  They would
    not give us any names but said they could probably do our work.  We asked
    for some more information on this.  They only do this service as a side-
    line, if asked, and don't look for this type of work.  Therefore, they
    perform this service on a very irregular basis and don't have employees
    with the experience in this service which we consider essential for this
    requirement.  The USGS really believes that it is imperative that the
    Contractor be very experienced in this service and that it is their main
    duty performed on a daily basis.  Therefore, we do not consider NDT
    qualified to do this service.

                                                                     3

After conducting this market search and not finding a qualified Contractor
except Halkins Services, Inc., and taking into consideration the urgency of
this requirement, the Water Resources Division, USGS, recommends a noncompeti-
tive procurement be awarded to Halkins Services, Inc.  This recommendation
is made in recognition of the fact that competition must be obtained to the
maximum extent possible.








         /S/                                       5/22/89
_______________________________________       _______________________
  Alberto Condes, Chief                               Date
  Branch of Operational Support, WRD







Approved:______________________________       _______________________
          Contracting Officer                         Date