All Questions and Responses - 693JK420R600002.pdf

Roadway Safety Insights BAA 693JK420R600002

# Section Reference /

Topic Page /

Paragraph Question Answer

Is teaming permissible under this contract, and if so, would this be considered a direct cost?

Partnerships and team arrangements under this BAA are permissible. A chart providing breakout of all partners or team members involved with the project in addition to a detail explanation to support their involvement in regard to why each is appropriate and necessary to execute the proposed technical approach is required.

May the offeror submit a COTS solution instead of a custom build solution?

Yes, Commercial off the shelf (COTS) solutions are permissible so long as the requirements of the BAA are met. If a COTS solution is submitted, it will be evaluated against the same criteria as described in Section 6.1 of the BAA.

What are the tools and leading‐edge technologies currently being utilized by DOT w/r/t transportation safety data?

We would recommend reviewing the SDI website at https://www.transportation.gov/content/safety‐data‐initiative as the pilot projects done to date showcase some of the technologies employed. Please also see the SDI Request for Information on our technology background, a copy of which is on the SDI website.

Government mentioned about the list of example potential data sources for each topic. Does the vendor have to identify the potential data sources with their technical proposal or will Government provide the data sources after award? Are these data sources publicly available or Government proprietary data sources?

The primary objective of this BAA is to understand how new data sources or data sources that the Department currently does not have access to can be used to answer the most pressing and persistent surface transportation safety problems. The offeror must identify the new data source they will be using in their proposal.

“New data” refers to new data or data sources; or existing data and data sources that the DOT currently does not have access to.

This includes proprietary, public, and other government data that DOT does not have access to.

5 What percentage of the data in question is unstructured?

DOT has a number of datasets, but the objective of this BAA is to obtain new data. Data can be unstructured or be derived from unstructured data sources. However, Offerors will be evaluated based on whether or not the data can answer the selected research question.

Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

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Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

6 5 Eligible offerors Page 18 Who are eligible offerors under this proposal?

Proposals submitted for this BAA will be considered from the following entities:

• Industrial/commercial concerns including small businesses.

• Accredited Degree granting colleges and universities.

• Not‐for‐profit organizations.

• State and Local Governments.

The following entities may not participate as prime contractors or furnish principal investigators in awards made under this BAA but may act as subcontractors:

• U.S. Government agencies and organizations.

• Academic institutions that are federal government organizations (e.g., Naval Postgraduate School, U.S. Military Academy, etc.).

7 How will accuracy of the data sources be validated?

Accuracy will be validated in connection with the analytic design plan and feasibility assessment deliverables. Specific accuracy validation processes will be contingent on the type of data.

In order to propose a bid, must the prime solicitor have the NAICS code listed (541715) registered in SAM? Is it acceptable for an organization that falls under the size standard under other similar NAICS codes?

No. the designated NAICS code is what the work is being solicited under. Offerors must have this NAICS code in its SAM profile.

9 1 Deadline

1.2 Summary of

Important Dates

Many transportation researchers will be attending the Transportation Research Board conference that is scheduled for the week before the deadline for First Phase Proposals. Is there any way this deadline could be extended?

The deadline for First Phase Proposals has been extended and is now January 31, 2020 at 11:59 PM EST.

10 Are foreign institutions are allowed to participate in this BAA?

Foreign entities may be subcontractors. The applicant is responsible for ensuring the foreign entity’s compliance (as a sub‐recipient) with the applicable requirements, and DOT reserves the right to determine if any award to a foreign subcontractor would be inconsistent with the international obligations of the United States. Also, all entities must be registered in SAM to do business.

11 Sec. 1.5 Paragraph 3

From RFP: "Offerors may attempt to address multiple questions in one proposal". What constitutes a question for the purposes of this RFP; i.e., is the Topic "Precursor to Crashes" considered a single 'question', or are its constituent "Questions" (A1, A2) each considered a single 'question'?

The questions within the topic are the questions for the purpose of the RFP; a topic such as pre‐cursors to crashes is the category, not the question. One proposal can cover multiple questions.

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Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

Where does DOT's data currently reside and how is it hosted (i.e., cloud, mainframe, etc.)

Systems are distributed among on‐site data centers as well as the Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services clouds. Furthermore, the Department employs a range of database technologies (though these are primarily Oracle and Microsoft SQL server) and data warehousing/business intelligence technologies (including, but not limited to: SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos, Oracle Business Intelligence, SAS Business Intelligence, Microstrategy, Tableau). Please also see the SDI Request for Information on our technology background, a copy of which is on the SDI website at https://www.transportation.gov/office‐policy/transportation‐ policy/advancing‐data‐systems‐support‐innovative‐data‐analytics‐ improve.

Which data sources that DOT currently has access to will we be able to use for this project?

A list of National transportation datasets can be found here:

https://catalog.data.gov/dataset?organization_type=Federal+Governm ent&organization=dot‐gov&_organization_limit=0. Note that State and local partners may have publicly available data, and data useful for transportation safety may reach beyond the transportation sector (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau data)

Can you give us an idea of the size of the datasets currently available to the DOT (ideally, can you give us an estimate of the total number of rows involved)?

Datasets range from relatively small (several thousand records) to relatively large (millions of records). Some data sets are gigabytes in size, while others are terabytes of data.

Is the DOT currently using a Business Intelligence (BI) solution?

What is it?

The Department employs a range of database technologies (though these are primarily Oracle and Microsoft SQL server) and data warehousing/business intelligence technologies (including, but not limited to: SAP Business Objects, IBM Cognos, Oracle Business Intelligence, SAS Business Intelligence, Microstrategy, Tableau). Please also see the SDI Request for Information on our technology background, a copy of which is on the SDI website at https://www.transportation.gov/office‐policy/transportation‐ policy/advancing‐data‐systems‐support‐innovative‐data‐analytics‐ improve.

We will be proposing a data visualization solution integrating internal/DOT and external data sources together. Can you give us an idea of how many individual users would need access to the visualization platform?

The potential user number would depend on various factors and the scope of the project. For Phase I of the study we anticipate between half a dozen and a dozen individual users at DOT.

What external/non‐DOT datasets have you wanted, or tried to use that haven't worked? Can you give us any details on what about them didn't work?

Throughout the Department a number of external/non‐DOT datasets are used. All data have limitations, and as research questions are explored those limitations are encountered. One example from previous DOT research is with the crowdsourced Waze data. Since it is crowd‐sourced the coverage is contingent on the users, some areas and times had lower levels of coverage (rural areas at night) versus other areas/times (urban areas during the day).

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Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

Similar to #3, have you tried any external data sources that HAVE worked well? Can you give us any details on what about them worked well?

Usually data that work well adequately answer the research question.

Having the limitations known is very helpful in ensuring the data employed are well suited for the research question.

Does the US DOT currently have access to any state‐level data such as: Road maintenance history; or Road incident details?

Overall U.S. DOT has limited data related to road maintenance and incident data. Reportable crashes are available for some States through datasets such as the Highway Safety Information System and the Crash Reporting Sampling System. Road maintenance and traffic incident management data are usually kept at the State or local level.

For our listing of Nationally available data visit https://catalog.data.gov/dataset?organization_type=Federal+Governm ent&organization=dot‐gov&_organization_limit=0.

Does the US DOT currently have access to any state‐level data on crew dispatches, such as those for information emergency responders, tow trucks, maintenance crews, hazmat crews, etc.?

DOT has limited data related to crew dispatches. One available dataset is the National Emergency Medical Services Information System.

Does the US DOT currently have access to state‐level data on infrastructure//capital spending for specific sections of roadways, bridges, on/off ramps, etc.?

DOT has some data related to infrastructure/capital spending if a State uses Federal aid to finance the project. States are required to report certain Federal‐aid highway projects to the Federal Highway Administration's Fiscal Management Information System (FMIS).

However, we note that Federal‐aid highway funding is only a portion of the story (see https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2016/hf10.cfm ). A complete picture of investment would include highway trust fund, state, and local government expenditures.

Is it ok if a proposal is made on Research Question B2 that is based on existing research within Research Question B1?

Yes.

Is it ok to submit a topic specifically related to bicyclist safety without including pedestrian safety? In our experience cyclists and pedestrians are in 2 different areas of the road (e.g. bike lane vs sidewalk) so the vulnerability scores are different due to the different locations.

Yes.

24 For Research Question C1, is bicycle safety applicable?

Yes, if the focus is on intersection interactions with bicycles or other modes of transportation.

Should a submission be focused only on one specific Research Question or could it address multiple Research Questions?

Submissions can do either or: focus on one specific question, or more than one research question if an offeror believes it can be substantively answer more than one research question using the same new data source .

According to FHWA data, the fatality rate increases sharply when the vehicle speed is above 35mph. Would it be ok to address incidents above or below such speed, but not both (e.g.

rural vs urban vs suburban), or should all be addressed?

It's up to the applicant to decide on the spatial, temporal, tabular extent of the data submitted. DOT is open to exploring many kinds of informed and focused research.

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Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

Are powered micro‐mobility vehicles such as scooters and eBikes included within topics Research Question B1 and B2?

E‐bikes are within the pedestrian and bicycle safety scope for Topic B, but scooters are outside the scope of Questions B1 and B2. Other topics and questions may focus on scooters, however (e.g., precursor to crash questions).

Section 1.4 and

1.5 New Data Sources

Is the intent to use public databases and/or explore how proprietary datasets can be mined for pubic use? Or, can a methods approach to mining a proprietary dataset be used where there is no near‐term availability of the proprietary dataset for public use (i.e., methods and results would be the outputs, but not the datasets)?

OST is interested in datasets that can be used to answer the research questions, regardless of whether the datasets are public or proprietary.

While U.S. DOT has not fully leveraged proprietary datasets for public use, it is also possible that there are other data collected from public entities that could inform the research questions. If methods for mining a proprietary dataset are to be proposed, and the output of that mining is what may be made available, then the proposal must address the Department's information quality guidelines ‐ especially standards surrounding reproducibility ‐ see:

https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/regulations/5 13/dot‐information‐quality‐guidelines‐2019.pdf

29 What is the anticipated award date? Awards for Phase I are anticipated in Spring of 2020.

30 1.5 Multiple proposals

Page 5, Last Paragraph

It is possible that one institution/agency/firm has multiple qualified staff members with separate project ideas that address separate research questions. Is it possible to submit a single proposal from that institution but have more than one idea included, each with its own Phase 1 budget?

Separate proposals will need to be submitted for each project idea to be considered. One entity can submit multiple, separate proposals that will be evaluated separately.

31 3.9 Intellectual Property

Page 18, All Paragraphs

Negotiating a data use license with a commercial data provider that meets the terms described will take a considerable amount of time and will require negotiations with the legal team from the US DOT. Does the DOT expect that these negotiations will be completed in the three months provided for Phase 1? Should the labor required to complete these negotiations be included in the Phase 1 budget?

One of the deliverables for Phase I is a Feasibility Assessment, and the recipient is to describe "the privacy concerns or concerns for public use or data sharing, including what can be shared with the public, and what can be shared with OST." This also includes access limitations. Costs associated with the development of those portions of the feasibility assessment should be included in the cost proposal. DOT expects relatively expeditious negotiations for data acquisition, but they are not bound by the 3‐ month time frame per se.

32 4.1 Proposal

Instructions

Should the proposal be submitted via email to both Contracting Officers and the Contract Specialist?

Proposals should be submitted to the Contract Specialist at steven.budd@dot.gov. Please use “693JK420R60002” in the subject line to avoid any information being missed.

33 5.C Cost Proposal Page 22, Last Paragraph

Is the mandatory business information required for the prime contractor and subcontractors, or just the prime contractor?

It depends on the level of subcontractor involvement. All information that can be provided to assist the Government in making an award decision is encouraged. As a note, the Prime Contractor will have the established relationship with DOT and will be primarily responsible for work to be provided.

34 5.C Cost Proposal 23 May proposers submit a firm‐fixed price (FFP) supported by their approved GSA labor categories and rates? Our commercial firm does not have fringe and indirect rates cited in the solicitation.

Yes, just note in the proposal that you do not include fringe and indirect rates in your budget submission.

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Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

35 5.C Cost Proposal 23 Can a subcontractor that does not have approved GSA labor categories also submit under our approved labor categories?

Yes. This information should be provided to the Prime Contractor who will conduct a reasonableness analysis prior to submitting its proposal for this effort. A summary of the negotiations can be provided with the Prime Contractor proposal to justify subcontractor costs (at the Prime Contractor's discretion).

36 5.D Other Financial / Organizational Information

24, Part VI (1) Is the Standard Form LLL required for the prime contractor and subcontractors, or just the prime contractor?

This requirement has been removed.

37 6.1 Evaluation Criteria

How many points or percentage points are allocated to each of the six evaluation criteria?

The evaluation criteria are listed in relative order of importance. The Government's internal rating system will not be publicly disclosed.

Page 17, Section 3.6 Proposal

Information

OST anticipates making up to six

(6) awards valued up to $50,000 under this solicitation, and up to three

(3) follow‐on awards for

Phase 2, valued up to $400,000.

Can you please clarify how the awards will be made for both Phase 1 and Phase 2. Will there be one award per research question, for up to 6 questions/proposals, with each award valued at $50,000 for Phase 1, and then up to $400,000 each for up to 3 selected follow‐on awards (i.e., 3 selected research questions) for Phase 2? For example, if one proposer submits proposals for two research questions and both are selected for award, would they then be awarded $100,000 for phase 1? If the same contractor was selected for follow‐on work for both research questions for Phase 2, would they be awarded $800,000?

For Phase I up to six (6) awards valued up to $50,000 each will be made. While we anticipate selecting at least one proposal per topic category, more than one proposal answering the same research question(s) may be selected. From the Phase I projects OST will anticipates awarding up to three (3) follow‐on contracts/agreements valued up to $400,000 each. If an entity submits multiple applications and receives multiple awards in Phase I, each award would be worth up to $50,000 each.

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Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

Page 5, Section

1.4 Objective and Description

As used throughout this Announcement, “new data” refers to new data or data sources; or existing data and data sources that the DOT currently does not have access to.

Can you please provide a list of the data sources that USDOT currently does have access to?

A list of National transportation datasets can be found here:

https://catalog.data.gov/dataset?organization_type=Federal+Governm ent&organization=dot‐gov&_organization_limit=0. Note that State and local partners may have publicly available data that U.S. DOT accesses, and data useful for transportation safety may reach beyond the transportation sector (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau data).

40 Section 1.1 Contract Type 3

This section indicates that, "Phase 1, concept development, may be conducted under firm fixed price (FFP) contracts not to exceed $50,000 or a cooperative or assistance agreement not to exceed $50,000. For the cooperative or assistance agreement, a cost sharing model may be considered." As responding to and pricing in anticipation of a FFP type contract presents different considerations for offerors than responding to and pricing in anticipation of a cooperative or assistance agreement, please confirm how and when the final contract award/agreement type for Phase 1 will be determined.

An offeror should present pricing for the acquisition vehicle that the entity intends to use.

41 Section 3.6 Contract Clauses 17

This section indicates that, "Phase 1 contract awards and Phase 2 contracts or cooperative agreements will both contain appropriate Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Agency clauses for the type of vehicle awarded." In order for offerors to appropriately assess risk and other business and compliance considerations associated with this opportunity, we respectfully request that clauses be provided via an amendment to this BAA so that offerors may review clauses prior to submission of proposals.

A clause list has been provided as an attachment.

42 Section 5.5 D

(1) Standard Form LLL

This section requires that, "Submit a completed Standard Form LLL, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities, included as Attachment No.

1." Attachment 1 appears to be missing from the BAA package.

Also, if an offeror does not have any Lobbying Activities to disclose, is this form still required?

This requirement has been removed.

43 Section 3.4 Deliverables Pages 14‐16

Please provide the objective criteria against which OST will "approve" deliverables for Phase 1. Also, given that the Phase 1 period of performance is estimated to be only 3 months long, for planning purposes please provide the timeframe that OST intends to use for review and approval of Phase 1 deliverables.

The review and approval of deliverables will be based on the elements described in Section 3.4 Deliverables. Due to the short period of performance the review of deliverables will be as expeditious as practical.

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Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

44 Section 3.1 Contract Type Page 12

Please confirm that if the Phase 2 award is to take the form of a contract that it will be a firm fixed price contract as indicated in the second paragraph of this section, as opposed to a cost‐ sharing contract as indicated in the first sentence of the Note to this section.

Depends on what the offeror proposes and the Government involvement. For the contract, it is the intent that the contract will be FFP. However, in the event of a cooperative agreement, a cost sharing arrangement may ne considered.

45 General For pricing purposes, what is the anticipated start date for Phase 1?

Spring 2020

46 Section 1.5 Proposal

Submission

If offerors elect to submit more than one proposal that addresses different questions, does the OST have a preference on the file naming conventions employed for each individual submission?

Each proposal should have a unique name. For multiple submissions OST has a preference towards identifying the topic/question addressed in the proposal title.

Section 2.2 and

3.4 Deliverables Page 11 and 14

Page 11, Section 2.2 specifies two deliverables for Phase 1.

However page 14, Section 3.4 specifies three major deliverables for Phase 1. Please confirm there are three deliverables for Phase 1 as provided in Section 3.4.

The BAA language in Section 2.2 has been corrected to specify three deliverables. Those are project management, analytic design, and feasibility assessment, and are outlined in Section 3.4.

48 Section 4.1 Proposal

Submission

Will the Government permit 10‐pt font for tables and excel spreadsheets?

Yes, footnotes, visuals, legends, or labels can be smaller than 12 in font size.

Section 5.2, C.

Cost Proposal

Proposal Submission

Page 22 and 23

Paragraph 2, and Part V. e) require offerors to provide a separate detailed cost/price breakdown by task. Please clarify if offerors are required to provide a cost breakdown by cost element to meet this requirement, or only provide the price breakdown (such as labor category, hours, proposed price, etc.).

The budget shall include costs by each major cost category such as direct labor, fringe benefits, subcontracts, travel, and other direct costs. Direct labor information shall provide detail regarding each proposed individual and/or labor category, the number of hours or percent of time proposed, and the hourly rate or salary for each person or category.

Section 5.2, C.

Cost Proposal

Proposal Submission

Please confirm offerors cost detail is not constrained to the five subsets of data provided, and should be tailored as necessary to comply with their disclosed estimating practices.

A complete, accurate cost proposal is required, and should tailor their response to adequately estimate proposal costs. For direct labor information shall provide detail regarding each proposed individual and/or labor category, the number of hours or percent of time proposed, and the hourly rate or salary for each person or category.

For other direct costs (travel, materials and supplies, etc.), provide detail and explanation for how each element of cost was derived and estimated.

Section 5.2, C.

Cost Proposal

Proposal Submission

Page 22 and 23 Due to the sensitive nature of personnel salary and fringe information, would the government consider allowing the cost proposal to be delivered as a separate document submission?

Yes. The government will accept a separate document for cost information and all files should be appropriately marked (i.e. not for public disclosure, etc.)

52 Section 1.5 Analytic Agenda and Research Questions

Can DOT provide a list of data sets that they currently have and are willing to share as part of this initiative?

A list of National transportation datasets can be found here:

https://catalog.data.gov/dataset?organization_type=Federal+Governm ent&organization=dot‐gov&_organization_limit=0. Note that State and local partners may have publicly available data, and data useful for transportation safety may reach beyond the transportation sector (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau data).

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Appendix E ‐ Question Template ‐ 693JK420R600002 ‐ Conducting Innovative, Applied Research to Gain New Roadway Safety Insights and Tools, Phase I ‐ DOT OST

53 Section 1.5 Analytic Agenda and Research Questions

Would DOT be open to buying 3rd party aggregate data directly if such 3rd party aggregate data is proposed as part of an offeror’s technical approach? Or will successful offerors have to procure such 3rd party aggregate data directly (i.e. on their own)?

As part of the application an offeror shall provide a description of and current access rights to the data that the offeror intends to use to help answer the safety problem. Successful offerors should describe the acquisition plan for data sources, including 3rd party aggregate data, in the application. As Phase 1 is a feasibility assessment, a key element of the BAA's multi‐stage approach is to confirm a dataset's fitness for purpose on one or more of the BAA topics prior to making such a proposed purpose. In other words, the purpose of the BAA is to demonstrate that a dataset purchase would deliver value to the agency's safety goals.

The focus seems to be on finding companies that can point to new data sources, but how much emphasis is placed on leveraging DOT’s existing data more efficiently (e.g. data prep) and effectively (accurate insights)?

This opportunity is focused on soliciting new data sources.

On one of your previous webinars, you answered that the Data Scientists’ skillset at USDOT is mainly with Python; what future work do you envision will take place inside a notebook environment with Advanced Analytics methods, leveraging your staff’s expertise?

The US DOT focuses on a number of different technologies that are applied in a variety of ways. The choice of tools depends on the most appropriate option for the project. Applicants are encouraged to use the most appropriate tool.

At least for Phase 2, do you allow the bidders to offer and include the specific platforms, engines, and tools that would be beneficial for the delivery of the requirements?

Yes, although such content should align with answering the selected research questions and meeting the objectives of the BAA.

Will USDOT consider standing up a cloud‐native platform for analytics to unify the efforts of the various modes’ data scientists, and your partners?

No, that is not the focus of this solicitation. The BAA is intended to solicit new data sources.

During Market Research, after the Pilots, did USDOT execute any demonstrations or POCs with potential bidders; who were those companies?

USDOT did not execute any demonstrations or proofs of concept with potential bidders. USDOT may have other activities already underway with potential bidders, but those activities may not have been the direct result of market research.

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