828 Universal Measuring Machine Upgrade

Added: Jun 06, 2016 8:24 am *** 6 June 2016 ***

There were some questions asked regarding certain parts of the solicitation that required engineering clarification. The questions and engineering responses are listed below.

Question 1: Most laptops typically come with 2 or 3 USB ports. Desktop PCs typically come with many, but laptops typically only have 2 or 3. The laptops I've been able to find with 4 USB ports are very high end models. These high end models are not available with built in CD/DVD drives, but are packaged with high end options (solid state drives, fingerprint security, etc.) and offer the CD/DVD drive as an external USB plug in accessory. This leads to the following questions:

1) Do you really want laptops instead of small desktop PCs with monitors? These will be connected to an 828 length gage, so the need for portability is questionable.

2) Could you accept a laptop with 3 USB ports, a built in CD/DVD drive, and a plug in USB hub to give you more USB connections?

3) If you do want a laptop with 4 built in USB ports, is an external USB plug in CD/DVD drive acceptable?

Engineering Response:

The Air Force accepts only a Laptop with 3 USB ports and a built in CD/DVD drive. As long as the laptop can support the use of a mouse, printer, and third USB port available for other Air Force possible needs. If interface between the Laptop and the 828 Length Measuring Machine requires a USB port then an external USB hub is required.

Per Para 5.1 of purchase description, " The controller must meet or exceed Microsoft Windows 7 Professional hardware requirements." Windows 10 is acceptable as long as the Mahr/Federal software is compatible.

Question 2: Under section 2.2 (page 7) of Solicitation FA226316R0003, under General Requirements: XII - Recall of gage configuration via database - We don't understand what this is asking for on an 828 length gage.

Engineering Response:

This comes from the original Mahr documentation. This is discussed as follows in the manual:

4.5 Gage Management: A testpiece name or number can be assigned at the start of the test in the "Gage management" dialog box. The name or number is also the name of the testpiece file. For the purpose of gage management, specific folders can be created for the testpiece files
using the settings in the "File path" register of the "Configuration" dialog box. If no name is entered, the "Gage management" dialog box can be closed by clicking OK. The "Measuring tasks" dialog box appears for selecting a measuring task.

Question 3: Under "Anticipated Delivery Locations" - It lists "Other DOD (5)" (attached) - Is any other information available on these 5 locations?

FMS Area response:

The countries that expressed an interest are;

Romania
Jordan
Chile
Taiwan

However, these are only an estimate and could possibly change.