Q_A NPMRDS RFI RESPONSES_8_4_2026 v2 .pdf

RFI Section 2:

Introduction (Level of Competition)

Is FHWA currently considering this acquisition as a small business set-aside, 8(a), or full and open competition? This affects teaming structure planning.

This is not a soliciation/Request for Quotation (RFQ)but a Request for Information (RFI/ Sources Sought Notice. The acquisition/requirement is in the market research phase and set-aside determination is to be determined.

RFI Section 5 / SOW Task 1:

Project Management (HR Plan, Subcontractors)

The draft SOW (Task 1) requires a Management and Work Plan that includes an HR Plan covering roles and responsibilities for both the prime and any subcontractors. Should the capability statement submitted in response to this RFI identify proposed teaming partners and subcontractors and describe their relevant experience? If so, should subcontractor experience be included within the six-page limit, and should the capability statement be submitted jointly or under the prime respondent's name only?

Yes. Both prime and subcontractor experience should be included and under the prime respondent's name

3 SOW Task 2, Deliverables 2- 2c/2-2d: Daily Data Delivery

The draft SOW requires daily data delivery by 4:30 PM ET the following business day. Is next-business-day delivery by 4:30 PM ET a firm requirement, or is there latitude? Where passenger and freight components have different native latencies, may the combined product publish each component on its own cadence, or must it wait for the slowest component? Are there provisions for delivery exceptions due to upstream data collection disruptions (e.g., GPS signal outages, connectivity failures), and what is the acceptable SLA cure period?

There may be some flexibility, but the expectation is that deliverables must be timely. The Government has the discretion to consider special circumstances.

4 SOW Part 2a:

Basic Definitions / Task 4: Freight TTTR (Subpart F)

The draft SOW requires a distinct "freight trucks only" data stream but does not define freight trucks by GVWR, vehicle class, or axle configuration. Please confirm the intended definition of "freight truck" for NPMRDS purposes and whether the incumbent data provider's vehicle classification methodology serves as the baseline expectation. In particular, is a GVWR-based classification acceptable for the freight grouping, including for the Subpart F freight TTTR measure, given it can be more granular than axle-count inference?

No vehicle classification by either axles or GVWR are required. The basis is to cover vehicles from FHWA 5 to 13 which typically carried freight.

5 SOW Part 2b / Deliverable 2-2a:

Performance Network & Conflation

The draft SOW (Part 2b and Deliverable 2-2a) requires the contractor to produce Division and TMC Performance Networks by conflating the NPMRDS GIS dataset with the HPMS NHS dataset, and states that FHWA will provide the finalized 2026 NPMRDS network upon award. Will FHWA accept the use of third-party spatial conflation tools or subcontractors to satisfy this requirement, provided the output conforms to the specified attribute schema, WGS84 coordinate system, and ESRI FGDB format? To what extent may the contractor rely on the government-provided 2026 NPMRDS network geometry as a starting point, versus independently re-performing the full NPMRDS-to-HPMS spatial conflation? Is the party performing the conflation also expected to split TMCs into Divisions where the length threshold requires it?

1: The Prime may choose to use whatever tools to accomplish the requirement or 3rd party partner tools.

2: The initial NPMRDS network (together with the underlying HPMS NHS data set) provided by the Government early during the base year is to allow the Contractor to understand the NHS scope and facilitate a quick turn out for raw data collection.

3: The initial one provided by the Government may include the previous NPMRDS network, previous year HPMS NHS data set, and 2026 HPMS NHS dataset.

4: The incumbent must start the conflation based on 2026 HPMS NHS dataset right away and use the 2026

SOW Part 2a–2b: NPMRDS Data Elements (Raw NPMRDS / All-Vehicles)

(a) The SOW requires all-vehicles, passenger, and freight streams. Where passenger and freight are sourced separately, what methodology does FHWA expect for constructing the all-vehicles travel time metric, and does that methodology require FHWA approval?

(b) For Raw NPMRDS, does minimum and maximum travel time require the actual observed extreme probe values within each 5-minute Division bin, or a modeled or percentile bound? This clarifies whether Raw is expected as per-bin aggregate statistics (average, observed min and max, probe count) rather than individual vehicle records.

a) In case the three types of vehicles travel time data are sourced from different providers, the Contractor should propose its methodologies and submit to the Government for approval.

b) Yes, all travel time data are the actual observed probe values.

SOW Part 2d:

Geographic Coverage Specifications

The NHS coverage requirement includes Puerto Rico and the top US/Canada and US/Mexico border crossings. Can FHWA confirm the current probe vehicle penetration requirements or minimum sample size thresholds for these geographies, given their unique data collection context?

Only nationwide is specified (by functional classes), plus requirements on accuracy and consistency. The Government does not have any separated specific requirements on probe vehicle penetration.

SOW Part 2d:

Data Quality Specification

(DQCPS / SEB /

AASE)

The draft SOW (Part 2d) requires a Data Quality Compliance Plan using Speed Error Bias (SEB, within ±6 mph) and Average Absolute Speed Error (AASE, under 7.5 mph per state) validated against a reference speed method. Two questions remain open: (1) does FHWA maintain or provide access to any independent reference or ground-truth speed dataset for contractor validation purposes, or is all reference data collection entirely at the contractor's cost and discretion; and (2) will FHWA provide access to historical NPMRDS data from the current contract period as a quality baseline, and if so, in what format and for what date range?

1) Ground-truth speed dataset must be established the Contractor.

2) The Government will be able to provide historical NPMRDS data in CSV format, which would be only used as a reference, not necessarily the groud-truth speed defined by the SOW.

SOW Part 2d:

Data Coverage Requirements (Missing Data / Table 3)

The SOW states that if any single Division within a TMC has no observed travel time in a 5-minute interval, the entire TMC is treated as Missing Data for that bin, applied independently to each vehicle type. On low-volume NHS segments where freight truck probes are sparse, freight Missing Data could be disproportionately high while passenger coverage remains strong on the same TMC. Does FHWA evaluate coverage compliance by vehicle type independently, or is the overall vehicle type coverage ratio the primary compliance metric?

SOW specifies the coverage requirements by different vehicle types (and different functional classes).

SOW Task 4:

Freight Truck Travel Time Reliability (TTTR)

Missing Data is explicitly excluded from percentile calculations. For the TTTR computation (Task 4), which uses the 95th and 50th percentile travel times by period, is there a minimum number of observed 15-minute intervals required within a performance period (AM peak, midday, etc.) for a TMC to be included in the national TTTR calculation, or is any TMC with at least one observed interval included?

No provision on the minimum number of observed values to qualify a TMC been included in the calculation for Task 4.

SOW Task 6:

Peak Hour Excessive Delay

(PHED / AVO)

The PHED calculation (Task 6) requires Average Vehicle Occupancy (AVO) for cars, buses, and trucks. The SOW does not specify the source for these values. Will FHWA provide the AVO inputs, or is the contractor expected to source them independently (e.g., from NHTS or the Highway Statistics series)?

Yes, any inputs needed beyond NPMRDS raw data will be provided by the Govermnent separately.

SOW Section 7.0: Period of Performance

Given the 15-month base period begins December 1, 2026 and daily data delivery must begin within 60 days of award, what is FHWA's target award date?

Prior to December 1, 2026. Estimated award time frame between Octiober- November 2026.

SOW Part 2a:

NHS Roadway Segment / Task 3a: Summary Data (Area Type)

How are urban vs. rural road segments defined for NPMRDS purposes, and is this distinction captured in the TMC attributes?

HPMS

In our six-page response to this RFI, do you simply want us to demonstrate our capability to meet any and all requirements, or would you additionally like us to briefly identify areas where we see ambiguity or conflict in section 4.0 that may present technical challenges or cost implications to FHWA, agency users, and data providers/contractor teams?

At minimum, Respondants/Contractor's should ensure that its capability statement include the information as requested in RFI/SS notice. Additional information may be included, but it is not necessary.

Is execution of optional tasks 4, 5, 6, and 7 at the sole discretion of FHWA, and would presumably be priced separately in a future proposal? Or are these optional tasks that bidders can choose whether to offer them in their proposal, and then FHWA has unilateral discretion to execute?

Customarily, in accordance with the solicitation optional CLINs and/or option years are seperately priced and evaluated. The Government has a unilateral right to exercise optional CLINs and option periods.

Section 2a, et.al. Can FHWA confirm whether Urban/Rural classification should be based on HPMS attributes? For TMCs that span both Urban and Rural HPMS segments, should the TMC be split by classification or assigned one classification for the full TMC?

Yes, it is based on HPMS NHS dataset.

Use length dominiation to determine urban or rural if one crossing over

Performance Networks (page 11)

Can FHWA clarify how missing 5-minute Division-level data should affect 15-minute TMC calculations for travel time, speed, and intensity? Specifically, should FHWA exclude only the missing Division and interval values, or treat the full TMC 5-minute interval as missing before aggregating to 15 minutes?

The aggregation from 5-minute Division data to 15-minute TMC data is specified in detail, especially on the second part of the question.

Performance Networks (page 11)

Can FHWA define the “Border_Set”, “Thru_Lanes”, and “Is_Primary” attributes and confirm whether these are required native TMC attributes or vendor-defined attributes from the current NPMRDS implementation?

These are defined by and inherited from TMC native attributes.

Part 2c: Data Access and Sharing, and Technical Support (page 13)

Can FHWA confirm whether the NPMRDS methodology requires both internal and external TMC coding, including +/− and N/P designations? If both are required, should divisions be created separately for internal and external segments, or may offerors propose a single standardized TMC segmentation approach?

Yes, +/- and N/P are required. Divisions are split from its original TMC. If one TMC is internal segment, then its Divisions are internal. The same is true for external.

Part 2c: Data Access and Sharing, and Technical Support (page 14)

Can FHWA provide the estimated number of users expected to access the Data Portal? The portal is for the NPMRDS data access by FHWA, all state DOTs, MPOs, COGs and other agencies. The estimated users are less than 500 where concurrent users will be significantly lower than that number.

Technical Support (page 16/page 17)

Can FHWA identify the required Data Portal user types and specify the functions or permissions each 1. State DOTs and local agency (MPO/COG) - access NPMRDS data (travel time plus netowrk) for their specific localities.

2. FHWA users - access nation wide

NPMRDS

3. State DOT Workzone Task - State access with upload, edit, and download workzone information.

4: FHWA Task 4 - 7 Results - FHWA only

5. REST API accesses should have above user type bound

Sheet1