SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT for FHWA Transportation Planning Cooperative Research
- Notice Date
- 2/22/2007
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541710
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences
- Contracting Office
- Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Office of Acquisition Management, HAAM, Room 4410 400 7th Street, S.W., Washington, DC, 20590, UNITED STATES
- ZIP Code
- 00000
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-FHWA-BAA-HEPP-02-2007
- Response Due
- 4/30/2007
- Description
- TECHNICAL POC: David Kuehn, 202/366-6072 or david.kuehn@dot.gov This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) describes a 2-phase process for proposal submission and evaluation. In the first phase, short pre-proposals will be submitted for review. The pre-proposals that are of interest to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will be asked to submit full proposals. IMPORTANT DATES: (1) Pre-Proposals due APR 30, 2007, 4:00pm EST; (2) Full Proposals Invitations issued on/about MAY 29, 2007; (3) Full Proposals due on/about JUN 25, 2007; (4) final awards are anticipated in AUG/SEP 2007. OBJECTIVES/DESCRIPTION: The FHWA is soliciting proposals for R&D projects that could lead to transformational changes and revolutionary advances for transportation planning in the US. The objective is to advance the practice and application of transportation planning among state, regional and local transportation planning agencies in response to significant changes in the planning process and to identify new tools, techniques and approaches that respond to national transportation planning priorities. PROGRAM SCOPE: The program scope is intentionally broad to address the wide spectrum of topics and objectives that the funded investigations can support, and is intended to spur innovation and focus on high risk and high pay-off R&D projects. Incremental advances and demonstrations of existing technologies are not within the scope of this program. FOCUS AREAS: Five focus areas within transportation planning are of particular strategic interest and relevance to the FHWA. Proposals in these areas are highly encouraged. This guidance is offered to help offerors in the development of proposals of particular interest to FHWA. The areas as consistent with emphasis areas identified for the Surface Transportation Environment and Planning Cooperative Research Program developed under Section 5207 of Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users; see http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/step/index.htm for more information. The 5 focus areas include: (1)CONGESTION MANAGEMENT: In this area, the objective is to support the national strategy to reduce congestion on America's transportation network as well as support other initiatives to link operations and planning. Research could focus on road/congestion pricing and private sector involvement in transportation investment, and management and operations. Research could support work to advance analysis tools for use in the evaluation of operational improvements and strategies in transportation planning, advance the Congestion Management Process, and provide for information dissemination on these topics. Research also could result in the development of new tools and programs for understanding, analyzing and responding to congestion problems. (2) SAFETY PLANNING: Transportation safety is by nature a multi-disciplinary endeavor, requiring coordination among engineering, law enforcement, public education, and emergency services professionals, who may not share a history of close working relationships. Holistic, comprehensive planning for transportation safety must find solutions to safety problems that effectively blend strategies from these four disciplines. In the past few years, events have re-shaped the institutional environment in which transportation safety planning occurs, including requirements for Strategic Highway Safety Plans, a stand-alone planning factor in the federally-required transportation planning process, and continual improvements in data collection. In this environment, planners must play key roles in identifying strategies to be funded with transportation dollars. The objective of this research is to help transportation planners determine how to best incorporate safety into the transportation planning process and identify the effective combinations of transportation safety strategies according to local conditions. Key areas of focus will be research to improve safety data collection and management, to assess the impact of elected officials in promoting safety goals within transportation planning processes and to develop analysis tools and methods to support transportation safety planning on tribal lands. Note an area that received attention from stakeholders in response to an announcement of STEP: improving safety for non-motorized travelers where research could develop new tools and methods for use in bringing an analytical approach to transportation safety. (3)FREIGHT PLANNING: Across most of the country, freight movements are growing as a share of transportation system volumes. The objective of this research is to promote the integration of freight into the transportation planning and programming processes at the State and metropolitan levels. Freight transportation issues are complex and involve many stakeholders who have different perspectives on the freight transportation system. Educating and training a skilled and knowledgeable workforce is crucial to increasing freight transportation productivity. Research could focus on how to effectively engage the private sector freight community into the State and metropolitan planning processes; how parameters such as price, travel time, permitting, and user fees affect modal shift; what elasticities are inherent in these parameters; and the benefits/cost analyses of freight projects. Research also could develop new tools and programs such as freight analytical techniques, freight modeling improvements, methods of innovative freight data collection and data sharing, as well as pilot projects. (4) PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, VISUALIZATION IN PLANNING: There is a continued need for assessing changes and demonstrating the use of new methods in public involvement and community impact assessment practice. Environmental justice and visualization are emerging areas of research and practice for transportation planning practitioners. There is increasing awareness among state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations and other government agencies of the importance of ensuring civil rights and environmental justice in the transportation planning process where there is a greater opportunity for making trade-offs to avoid impacts. Visualization applied to transportation planning is an emerging area of both research and practice. Stakeholders from state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations and other interested parties are concerned about how to effectively apply visualization. Most agencies and practitioners have little or no awareness of examples. Research in visualization could result in (a) successful methods for adopting visualization and (b) demonstration of improved communication between transportation practitioners, decision-makers and the public. (5) TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES THAT SUPPORT STATE, LOCAL, TRIBAL PLANNING CAPACITY BUILDING: In this area, research needs to demonstrate a clear understanding of audience needs, agency practices and process requirements in statewide and metropolitan transportation planning. Key planning research issues for State Departments of Transportation include asset management and program cost management. Research may include demonstrations or process enhancements. Key research issues for metropolitan transportation planning include growth such as rapidly urbanizing rural areas outside current metropolitan boundaries, managing program finances and revenue, and coordination with new planning partners. Research may include development of process improvements or decision-support tools. In small communities and rural areas, transportation planning research may focus on issues such as the interaction with the statewide transportation planning process and may include toolkits or demonstrations. For Tribal transportation planning, the objective of the coordinated research approach will be the development of appropriate tools or approaches that will promote the integration of tribal issues into the transportation planning and programming processes at the State and metropolitan levels. Examples of research may include development of "Information Tools" for use by Tribal departments of transportation demonstrating effective consultation practices in the statewide and metropolitan transportation planning process. Transportation planning research also could include issues that cut across processes such as land use and transportation. Research in this area should focus on effective applications of both technical and non-technical approaches and tools and addressing jurisdictional and institutional issues. This research may include the development of new or enhanced planning tools to provide a framework for developing a shared vision for the future by analyzing various forces (e.g., health, transportation, economic, environmental, land use, etc.) that affect growth. Research also may develop new tools and programs such as land use and transportation models, as well as pilot applications. GENERAL PROPOSAL INFORMATION: All administrative correspondence should be directed to the contracting officer identified below. The FHWA has budgeted approximately $650,000.00 in FY2007 to fund this research program. Proposals will be evaluated using a two-part process consisting of pre-proposals and full-proposals. Offerors whose pre-proposals are of interest to FHWA will be invited to submit full proposals. Offerors who have been notified by FHWA that their proposals are not of interest may also submit full proposals if they wish. The FHWA anticipates making multiple awards, typically of 12 to 24 month duration with the size of individual contract or purchase order awards varying from $50,000 to over $100,000 depending on the research area and study requirements. Awards with a total value (including full period of performance and any option periods) of $100,000 or under will be issued as purchase orders. Awards over $100,000 will be issued as contracts, cooperative agreements, or grants. The FHWA strongly encourages cost sharing under any contract that may result, and can offer cooperative agreements or grants when there is a significant non-federal source of funding. For cooperative agreements or grants, the Federal share of the cost of a project or activity carried out under this program is limited by Section 5101(b) of SAFETEA-LU to fifty (50) percent, unless otherwise determined by the Secretary of Transportation. The FHWA may select for award all, none, or a subset of the acceptable proposals to construct a balanced program meeting its needs. The number of awards, and their dollar value, will vary depending on the merit of proposals received and their potential to lead to transformational changes and advances in transportation planning practice. Offerors should prepare proposals with a baseline period of performance of 12 to 24 months and, if needed, with one or more options up to an additional 24 month period of performance. EVALUATION CRITERIA: The primary basis for selecting proposals will be technical merit, importance to FHWA programs, and fund availability. Technical merit will be evaluated based on the following criteria, listed in descending order of relative importance: Understanding of current practice, trends and future needs relative to the research; Value of research to advance practitioners involved in statewide, Tribal, metropolitan, local and small community transportation planning; Fit of research in meeting recent changes in the transportation planning process and national planning priorities; Impact of research on meeting current or future transportation planning needs; Cost-effective use of federal funds; and Experience and qualifications of the research team for conducting national-level research. The FHWA strongly encourages proposals that offer a significant non-federal matching funds or in-kind resources. Such proposals will receive consideration in addition to and above how they respond to the technical criteria above. Cost reasonableness and realism will also be considered in the overall selection process. Individual proposal evaluations will be based on acceptability or non-acceptability without regard to other proposals submitted under the announcement. Selection will be based primarily on scientific or technical merit, partnership, relevance and importance to agency, and availability of funds. Note that all technically meritorious proposals may not be funded due to budgetary constraints. PRE-PROPOSAL & FULL PROPOSAL PROCESS: Proposals may respond to one or more of the subject areas. Offerors may also submit more than one proposal when the proposed effort includes multiple disparate objectives and tasks, covers multiple or disparate technologies areas, or would have a more supportable budget if provided in parts; however, each proposal will be considered independently. FHWA will evaluate pre-proposals against the evaluation criteria outlined above. Those offerors whose pre-proposals are of interest may be invited to submit a formal full-proposal, as described below. Offerors whose pre-proposals are determined not to be of interest may submit a full proposals if they desire. Approximately 30 days after the pre-proposal submission deadline, offerors submitting pre-proposals will be contacted by the Technical POC, either with a letter informing them either that the FHWA is requesting a formal cost and technical proposal or that the effort proposed is not of interest to the Government. The FHWA may select for award all, none, or a subset of the acceptable proposals to construct a balanced program meeting its needs. It will be of added value for the proposing organization's management to demonstrate flexibility in support of this approach. Examples of support are strong internal backing with matching funds, innovative approaches in contracting and leveraging current and past technology development efforts that support this program. PRE-PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Pre-proposals must be submitted via electronic mail, and must be received by the FHWA on or before 4:00 PM (EST), April 30, 2007, in order to be considered funding. Facsimile transmissions or hard copy transmissions of the pre-proposal will not be accepted; any so sent will be disregarded. Pre-proposals shall be submitted to: david.kuehn@dot.gov with a copy to jodi.condes@dot.gov. Proposals should be submitted in Microsoft Word or Adobe portable document format. The pre-proposals shall be no longer than six pages in length, to include a brief statement of objectives and rough order of magnitude (ROM) budget for a 12- to 24-month effort and for any anticipated option periods, technical rationale, major intended tasks, proposed deliverables, general qualifications of key personnel and other resources to accomplish the proposed effort, and the partnership structure between the entity proposing the work and public and private sector entities funding or otherwise substantially participating in the work. Offerors should refer to the Evaluation Criteria above to ensure that their pre-proposals address the FHWA's requirements. CONTENT OF PRE-PROPOSALS: The pre-proposals shall be no longer than 6 pages in length, and shall include: (1) BAA Number, project title, name of organization, principal investigator and contact information on the first page; (2) Identification of which subject area or areas the proposal addresses on the first page; (3) No more than two pages demonstrating an understanding of current practices, trends and future needs; (4) No more than one page describing how the research could respond to current or future needs; (5) No more than one page describing how the research would provide value to advancing practitioners involved in statewide, Tribal, metropolitan or small community transportation planning; (6) No more than one page introducing the research team; and (7) No more than one page outlining a proposed budget including the use of non-federal funds and resources that would contribute to the project. FULL PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Full proposals shall not be submitted until completion of the pre-proposal evaluation phase is accomplished. All offerors who submitted pre-proposals will be notified of the actual dates for full proposal submission. Full proposals shall be no longer than 25 pages not including budgetary information pages and include the following sections: (1) Cover Page or pages with the broad agency announcement number, proposal title, type of business, full list of subcontractors, technical and administrative points of contact including addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and FAX numbers. The cover page shall be signed by an authorized organizational representative. (2) Refined research problem statement (up to 5 pages) with a description of the proposed visionary technology or system and how the proposed effort will meet the objectives of the broad agency announcement, a comparison of these innovative ideas with current approaches and the current state of the art and the expected impact of the research if successful. (3) Complete work scope (up to 5 pages) describing research methods, steps, schedule (for a period of performance up to 2 years) with milestones, expected deliverables and associated evaluation metrics for the proposed effort. (4) Any restrictions on intellectual property developed under proposals should be clearly identified in this section. The government expects to obtain no less than Government Purpose License Rights to all software delivered as a part of these funded efforts. All software deliveries, preliminary and final, will include as a minimum, well-documented source code in electronic readable format, overall software architecture documentation, overall and individual module interface documentation, and a users operations manual. All hardware deliveries will include all documentation necessary to reproduce (assemble) and operate the delivered hardware system(s). If applicable, include a summary of any proprietary claims to results, software, hardware, prototypes, or systems supporting and/or necessary for the use of the research, results, software, hardware, prototype, or system proposed for development under this broad agency announcement. If there are no proprietary claims this section shall consist of a statement to that effect. (5) A Management Plan (no more than 1 page) describing the overall approach to management of this effort, including a brief discussion of the proposed organization and the use of personnel and other resources. This section should also describe the partnership structure between the entity proposing work and other public and private sector entities funding or otherwise substantially participating in the work, including State Departments of Transportation, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Universities, Foundations, etc. (6) A Technology Transition Plan (no more than 1 page) describing the how the research could be transferred into planning practice. It should describe the anticipated stage of development of the technology, tool or approach at the completion of the proposed effort and the anticipated overall process for advancing professional practice further, either through further applied research, commercialization, other mechanisms. (7) Facilities: (no more than 1 page) describing the facilities that would be used for the proposed effort. (8) Research team qualifications (up to 3 pages) with title and identification of association to a specific project or functional group within the proposing organization or to a specific proposed subcontractor. Indicate the proposed amount of effort (person-hours) to be expended by each person during the proposed program. (9) Reference to past relevant research at the national, state or regional level (up to two pages) describing capabilities, work, and significant accomplishments in areas associated with proposed research area or in closely related areas. Associate the described relevant experience to the specific project group or functional group in the proposing organization or to the specific proposed subcontractor(s). (10) Other proposals (1 page max.) summarizing current and pending proposals being executed or proposed to be executed with the support of personnel proposed in this effort. This list should include project scale, start and end dates, and the average amount of time planned or currently being expended on each effort. The list should be organized by names of the key personnel and other significant senior personnel. If none, state none under this section. (11) A Bibliography (1 page max.) of relevant technical papers and research notes which support the technical concepts and innovative ideas described in this proposal. (12) Complete budget information (length as necessary) including costs by each major cost category such as personnel, equipment, travel, and other miscellaneous expenses (such as benefits/overhead rate), on a monthly schedule for each phase of the proposed program (basic period and any options periods); expanded cost data for the personnel cost category with a separate cost line for each proposed personnel designation (such a Program Manager), including proposed personnel name, labor rate, and percent time on project; a detailed cost breakdown showing summary costs by task and subtask, on a monthly basis for each phase of the proposed program using the same task or subtask numbers as described in the scope of work in the technical proposal; materials by vendor quotes and purchase history, travel, computer and other direct costs and indirect costs; an explanation of any estimating factors, including their derivation and application, shall be provided. If necessary, the government will request additional cost back-up information, resumes or supplemental information as appropriate. (13) Details of any cost sharing to be undertaken by the offeror shall also be included in the cost section. Describe the type of funds (cash, in kind, etc.), and its contribution and relationship in enhancing the proposed effort. NOTE: Proposals may include a discussion of work products for an optional, future phase or phases of work for up to an additional two years (up to 3 more pages). Such discussion shall be clearly labeled as "optional future phase or phases of work." The original phase or work shall in no way depend on work described under future phases in order to meet the program criteria. If a future phase or phases are included, a separate budget shall be included for the phase or phases and be labeled clearly as "separate budget for optional future phase or phases." With the budget include the following mandatory business information regarding your company: Business Size; Federal Tax ID Number (TIN); Dun & Bradstreet Number; Name and contact information of your authorized business representative/POC. OTHER INFORMATION: It is the policy of the FHWA to treat all proposals as competitive information and to disclose the contents only for the purposes of evaluation. Only Government evaluators will make selections under this BAA. A formal Request for Proposals or other solicitation regarding this announcement will not be issued. The FHWA reserves the right to select for award any, all, part, or none of the proposals received in response to this announcement. In addition, the FHWA reserves the right to award either contracts, grants, or other instruments determined to be of benefit to the government in achieving the goals of this program. This BAA is an expression of interest only and does not commit the Government to pay any pre-proposal or proposal preparation costs. All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit proposals, which will be evaluated.
- Place of Performance
- Address: To be determined
- Zip Code: 20590
- Country: UNITED STATES
- Zip Code: 20590
- Record
- SN01236709-W 20070224/070222220437 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
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