BT program_-Draft-SOO-Final.docx

Statement of Objectives Improving FTA’s Bus Testing Program

1.0 Background

The Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Office of Infrastructure, Safety and Asset Innovation manages the FTA Bus Testing Program (49 U.S.C. § 5318 ) (Section 5318). Section 5318 requires FTA select and manage a bus testing center that tests new bus models for maintainability, reliability, safety, performance (including braking performance), structural integrity, fuel economy, emissions, and noise; and, after the appropriate tests are performed, the FTA Bus Testing Center must issue a "pass/fail" rating for each tested bus model.

FTA’s bus testing program is critical because any recipient of FTA funding that would like to use FTA funds to purchase a bus, must ensure that the bus received a pass rating. The regulatory reference for this requirement is FTA’s bus testing regulation, 49 CFR Part 665.

For over thirty years, FTA’s Bus Testing Program has been managed by the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute (LTI) at Penn State University. The Program utilizes two key facilities. First, the Altoona Bus Testing Center near Altoona, PA performs most inspection, maintenance, static testing, and repair of test buses, and also houses administrative offices. Second, the Larson Institute Test Track near the Penn State main campus in State College, PA performs dynamic testing including safety, structural durability, reliability, braking, towing, performance, fuel economy, noise, and emissions testing. The results of all tests are posted in a PDF document on the Altoona Website: https://www.altoonabustest.psu.edu/test-reports/index.aspx

Another key element in the FTA Bus Testing Program relates to the administrative processes needed to manage the program. FTA must approve all transit vehicle manufacturer’s (TVM) requests for testing. All requests for testing or determination require FTA to issue an authorization. The Bus Testing Center’s testing fees are structured for the TVM to pay 20% of the cost and FTA covers the remaining 80% of the cost. On average, a full test of 500,000 – 100,000-mile lifecycle bus is about $100,000 - $200,000.

FTA has presently instituted an online form based workflow system to improve the speed at which FTA responds to bus testing requests and determinations. This has resulted in a 35% improvement in the process time and it now typically takes only 2-3 weeks for FTA to respond to a TVM request, if the TVM provides all of the required information.

FTA is also in the process of updating bus testing regulations. Webinars and outreach activities are completed, and soon FTA will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to gather industry input to regulatory changes. The NPRM is extensive, and addresses a number of areas, one of which relates to bus testing modalities. FTA is hoping to reduce the regulatory specificity around what bus tests are needed so that FTA can enhance, expand, shift, or change bus tests as vehicles change. As an example, currently, there are no tests for automation capabilities, and since FTA’s bus tests are in regulations, FTA cannot add a bus test unless we change the regulations. Regulatory changes can take two to three years. So, in order to ensure FTA is able to respond and support innovations in transit vehicles, and ensure those innovations are safe, FTA must be able to change bus tests as needed. This is just one major area of focus for the NPRM.

2.0 Problem Statement

Over the last thirty years, vehicle testing, online technologies, transit vehicle technologies, and FTA’s resources related to bus components have significantly changed. FTA is on a journey to enhance and modernize the way bus testing is done – such as utilize modeling and simulation techniques where they add value to the process; as noted earlier, update bus testing regulations; continue to enhance the administration of the program at Altoona and in FTA; utilize the data generated by bus tests to monitor trends/issues in vehicle design, maintainability, and safety; and improve the outreach and dissemination of bus testing information including modifying the bus testing report away from a downloadable PDF to an online report that is easy to navigate, understand, and analyze.

Key areas of inquiry for modernizing and improving the FTA Bus Testing Program include the following:

· Assessing the entire process chain and perspective of the program from a request for testing/determination through the development of a final testing report with an ‘as is’ workflow chart

· Assessing best practices in vehicle testing and the testing equipment and digital infrastructure required to utilize such best practices (such as enabling the use of digital twining/modeling/simulation, data acquisition, and testing tools)

· Reviewing bus testing information and process to document the various data elements and how those data elements could be used to generate useful information; i.e.

· On transit vehicle capabilities, testing results, and other information that helps transit agencies and TVM’s

· Enhance FTA’s ability to understand key trends in bus maintainability and safety. As an example, if there is a series of bus issues related to a specific data element, data access and current data sets

· Enhancing and reformatting the bus testing final reports (move to online form/database, identifying key data elements)

· Based on best practices found in the assessment of vehicle testing task, recommend a streamlined ‘to be’ process

· Reviewing and assessing outreach/marketing of test results and recommend if any new outreach activities would be useful.

3.0 Objectives

The main objectives of this study are to initiate a business process study of the Bus Testing Program to assess process and operational improvements at the Altoona Bus Testing Center.

To meet this objective, the project team will establish and execute the following specific project tasks:

1. Study of the current ‘as is’ process including interviews with key stakeholders

2. Innovation scan of vehicle testing currently in the marketplace (auto, trucks, rockets/satellites, etc. – are their promising practices that could be applied to bus testing)

3. Based on the findings of #1 and #2, develop a set of recommendations for a new ‘to be’ process. Action plan for engineering process improvements that will modernize the program. Specific areas could include but are not limited to:

· An implementation of best practices derived from a cross sectional review of various industries that could provide new insights, i.e. defense and/or the air and space industries etc.

· Identification of emerging testing technologies and tools such as simulation and modeling, digital twins, and data analytics to improve vehicle testing times, methods, and outcomes.

4. Develop a new set of concepts around bus testing data utilization study using raw and/or anonymized data gathered during bus testing to support FTA research, and/or collect incidental data during testing for other transit research studies.

· Identification of data harmonization strategy to capture, catalog and managed including digitalization of assets within bus testing process including the determination and authorization requests, online portal, and the testing reports

5. Develop a new data strategy that will create a new centralized repository that provides a robust resource of multiple data sets – including the submission of determination and authorization requests, data collected during testing, and data points from the final reports

· New data sets should also be considered and proposed that are currently not being captured which could provide operational improvements

6. Restructuring the final bus testing reports to make them more accessible to the general public including creation of dashboard for FTA use. The reports should be structured in a manner that specific points of interest could be searchable, modular for data extraction and comparison, and enhanced.

7. Strategies and actions to improve the marketing and communications of the Bus Testing Center

The project will deliver the following major outputs to be successful:

1. Develop an action plan to modernize the Bus Testing Program per the prescribed tasks

2. Develop a new data repository that implements all relevant data elements

3. Develop a tool for producing bus testing reports with search and compare capability

4. Implement an improved public facing website that will house the redeveloped final reports

4.0 Contract Type

Labor-hour

5.0 Period of Performance

The anticipated period of performance will be one 12-month base period and one 12-month option periods.

6.0 Place of Performance

The contractor shall furnish necessary facilities to undertake the scope of work and perform the services specific in this requirement.