Pavement BAA DTFH61-12-R-00055-Questions and Responses-Amendment No. 1.docx

FHWA Pavement Broad Agency Announcement

DTFH61-12-R-00055

Amendment No. 1

This amendment adds periods of performance for Topic Areas 1 and 2. It also provides responses to questions received in regard to the FHWA Pavement Broad Agency Announcement.

Additions to Broad Agency Announcement Add the period of performance for Topic Area 1 as follows:

Topic 1. Smart Pavement Monitoring System FHWA anticipates periods of performance may range from 12 to 18 months for Phase I and 12 months for Phase II, depending on design approach, manufacturing process, and construction schedules.

Add the period of performance for Topic Area 2 as follows:

Topic 2. Analysis Procedures for Evaluating Superheavy Load Movement on Flexible Pavements:

FHWA anticipates periods of performance may range 6 to 8 months for Phase I and from 34 to 36 months for Phase II.

Responses to Questions Received Question Set No. 1

Question relative to Topic 1 "Smart Pavement Monitoring System".

It is stated that the proposed study shall be conducted in two phases, are there any guidelines on the duration for each phase and the percentage of the budget that should be allocated to each phase?

Response

FHWA anticipates providing up to $356,000 for the award (Seventy five percent for Phase I and twenty five percentage for Phase II).

For this topic we believe that Phase 1 should be two years, with an option period of one year. Is that acceptable?

Response

FHWA anticipate periods of performance for Phase I may range from 12 to 18 months, with the possibility of 6 months extension period provided that explanation of the reason(s) that an extension will be provided by the contractor. The total period of performance for both Phases I and Phase II shall not exceed 30 months.

Question No. 2 Under Topic 3, the description in the BAA indicates that Phase I of the project should not take longer than 6 months, but no time frame is given for Phase II. I understand that the awarding of Phase II is contingent upon the results of Phase I; however it would be helpful to have some idea of the time allotted for Phase II in the development of the preliminary work plan for the proposal. Is that information available?

Response Phase 2 is expected to last about 34 to 36 months, however less time can be proposed, dependent upon the team and the approach planned.

Question No. 3 Can you please clarify the following statement on page 9 of the BAA?

“Offerors may submit more than one proposal; however each one must be in response to a single topic on the BAA.”

Is this intended to mean that one organization may submit only one proposal in response to each topic of the BAA? Or does it simply mean that one proposal cannot respond to more than one topic? I Response:

FHWA is limiting the response from an “offeror” to no more than one proposal in a topic. In this case, an “offeror” refers to the principal investigator. FHWA will accept proposals led by different principal investigators that work for the same organization.

FHWA will accept proposals that have some overlap in personnel from the same organization, but may request withdrawal of proposals submitted in the same topic with the same or mostly the same key personnel even if the proposals list different technical points of contact. FHWA encourages proposal teams to prepare their best effort and not submit multiple proposals hoping one will be on target.

Question Set No. 4 Should the smart pavement monitoring system be designed for asphalt pavement or concrete pavement?

Response:

Pavement in this proposal refers to both concrete and asphalt.

What type of distress the system should be monitor for? (Does it need to monitor all types of distresses (rutting, fatigue cracking, thermal cracking) or any of these types of stresses)?

Response:

Offerors are responsible making the decisions on what will be monitored and how the monitoring will be accomplished.