EARP_BAA_DTFH6114R00017_3-4-14.docx

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION

BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT

No. DTFH6114R00017

“EXPLORATORY ADVANCED RESEARCH PROGRAM”

March 4, 2014

General Information

Contracting Officer: Robin K. Hobbs, FHWA, (202) 366-4004, Primary Robin.Hobbs@dot.gov

Technical POC: David Kuehn, FHWA, (202) 493-3414; David.Kuehn@dot.gov, or Terry Halkyard, FHWA, (202) 493-3467; Terry.Halkyard@dot.gov

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANT DATES

The FHWA anticipates that the proposal, evaluation and award process for this BAA will proceed generally in accordance with the following schedule:

BAA Opens (FBO publication) March 4, 2014

Proposals Due 3:00 pm EST April 23, 2014

Anticipated Contract Awards Date After September 2014

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION: Electronic transmissions of the proposal shall be sent to FHWAadvancedresearch@dot.gov and to the Contracting Officer, Robin.Hobbs@dot.gov no later than 3:00 p.m., EST, on April 23, 2014. Proposals received after this date and time will not be considered.

FUNDING NOTE: Funding is available in the total amount of $4M for all awards under this Broad Agency Announcement. FHWA anticipates that four (4) to eight (8) contracts/cooperative agreements may be awarded.

INTRODUCTION: Legislation established the Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program that addresses longer-term, higher risk research and strives to develop partnerships with public and private sector entities.

Since 2007 research offices within the FHWA have been meeting with research partners and outside experts to further define areas of investigation for exploratory advanced research. (See Focus Areas at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/about.cfm#focus.) The FHWA is moving forward with several of the topic areas that had a strong scientific and technical basis through the issuance of this BAA.

Award Type

The FHWA may award either contracts or cooperative agreements as a result of this Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). In consultation with the technical evaluators, the Contracting Officer (CO) will make the determination whether a contract or cooperative will be awarded. Three factors affect the decision to award a procurement contract or assistance award, and if an assistance award, a grant or cooperative agreement. The three factors are:

· Legislative authority

· Principal purpose

· Degree of federal involvement

Assistance agreements differ from contracts in several key ways:

The primary goal of a procurement contract is to procure goods or services for the use of or to directly benefit the federal awarding agency; the primary goal of an assistance agreement is to further a public purpose.

Procurement contracts allow for the vendor/supplier to make a profit, while assistance agreements are cost-reimbursable agreements in that the only permissible charges are actual costs that are directly related to the project and an amount of indirect costs based on an agreed-upon rate.

Procurement contracts require “deliverables” that the CO or Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) must test and accept; assistance agreements do not include deliverables, but may require other submissions described in the award document.

Although the Government encourages cost sharing for both cooperative agreements and contracts, all applications submitted for cooperative agreement consideration shall include a 20 percent or greater non-federal cost share.

PROGRAM SCOPE: This program is intended to spur innovation and focus on high risk and high pay-off research. Exploratory Advanced Research bridges applied research. Incremental advances and demonstrations or evaluations of existing technologies are not within the scope of this program. Though the overall program scope is intentionally ambitious and broad to address the wide spectrum of topics and objectives that funded investigations will strategically support, this solicitation is intended to address specific technology and knowledge gaps, identified through scanning and convening activities, that will help the FHWA improve highway safety, reduce congestion on the nation’s highways, reduce environmental and health impacts of the nation’s highways and reduce the long term costs and improve the efficiency of the nation’s highways.

OBJECTIVES AND DESCRIPTION: The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is soliciting for proposals under its EAR Program for research projects that could lead to transformational changes and truly revolutionary advances in highway engineering and intermodal surface transportation in the United States. This program shall support scientific investigations and studies to advance the current knowledge and state-of-the-art in the sciences and technologies employed in the planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and management of the nation’s highways. Strategically, this research will enable and expedite the development of revolutionary approaches, methodologies, and breakthroughs required to drive innovation and greatly improve the efficiency of highway transportation.

The research topics described below are intended to guide potential offerors and are based upon the authorizing legislation, stakeholder input, initial stage investigations and the strategic needs of the FHWA. Through scanning and convening activities over the past year, FHWA engaged a large number of stakeholders from within and outside the traditional highway research community to identify topics of research that promise transformation and possible breakthroughs in highway technology, processes and policies. Topics found to have strong merit in advancing different fields including engineering, hard sciences, as well as social sciences to support national strategic objectives are included in this solicitation.

Given the exploratory and high risk focus of this program, it is anticipated that the results of these investigations will not be methods or technologies that will be immediately implementable and will most likely result in highway industry access to new knowledge and concepts that while proven, will require further development before they would be ready for full implementation. It is envisioned that these results will undergo further development via the other applied research and development programs of the Federal Highway Administration and others. In submitting proposals, offerors are reminded that the intent of this program is to fund applied research that, while high risk and perhaps longer term, is undertaken with a specific problem or need in mind. Basic research is not within the scope of this program.

FHWA may make multiple awards for each of the topics described below.

Topic 1: Virtual Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Laboratory for Highway Structures

A virtual laboratory focused on nondestructive evaluation (NDE) for highway structures would complement the field data collected as part of the Long-Term Bridge Performance Program (LTBP), leverage existing University Transportation Center and commercial NDE funding, accelerate discovery and implementation of new NDE technology, and demonstrate the potential for coordination through virtual resource sharing.

On December 19, 2011, the EAR Program and Office of Infrastructure R&D convened a 1-day workshop to consider the value of and process for developing a national virtual laboratory for NDE for highway structures. The purpose of the workshop was to further define the concept of a national virtual research laboratory for NDE of highway structures and pavements. A national virtual research laboratory would provide a mechanism for researchers from different academic institutions, government agencies, and industry to coordinate and cooperate on NDE research, more effectively and quickly build on and advance work conducted by others, and increase access for new investigators into NDE research. All of these benefits substantially increases the potential for breakthrough approaches and improved movement of research from the laboratory to field testing and commercialization. See http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/pubs/12052/index.cfm.

FHWA is seeking proposals that cover one or both of the subareas of this topic as follows:

a. To provide simulation material, structural, and NDE sensor models or model data, or

b. To provide reference physical specimens and experimental NDE data

The key components of a virtual NDE Laboratory will be computational models along with the means to integrate or connect computational models with each other and validate them with physical data. FHWA anticipates that components will include, but not be limited to, computational simulations of material and structural models that will support significant advancements for critical national needs. Critical national needs refer to areas where there is a broad and pressing interest across the U.S. or where there is emerging importance and where there has been limited prior effort or advancement. Examples of structural models could include but are not limited to super structural steel and concrete elements such as bridge decks or pre-stressed and post-tensioned components.

Simulation models for NDE sensor technologies are also a key component of a virtual NDE Laboratory. Examples of experimental or simulated models or data from NDE technologies could include but are not limited to use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) and ultrasonic technologies.

As part of a virtual NDE Laboratory and under the second subarea, FHWA envisions referenced physical specimens and experimental NDE data will support significant advances for critical national needs in highway structures. Specimens that already are available for testing or validation or specimens that are limited interest to the structural testing community across the U.S. should not be included.

Proposals need to describe how physical specimens or computational models would be designed and constructed with or without the inclusion of intentional flaws and details about modeling assumptions.

Overall, the objective of the EAR Program in standing up a Virtual NDE laboratory is to demonstrate how collaborative research can accelerate the advancement of modeling and physical experiments in NDE research and not to provide long-term support for such research. Accordingly, proposals also should address how the research would improve use of existing technology and or accelerate deployment of emerging technologies that have broad national importance for management of highway structures and how different investigators could take advantage of such models or resulting experimental or simulated data.

NOTE: The purpose of a virtual NDE laboratory is provide an opportunity for sharing, testing, and validating of physical and computer models and experimental and simulated data resulting from such models. Accordingly, proposal should indicate expansive access to and use of models and data by others.

Special Capabilities: FHWA anticipates that the research team may include recognized experts in computational modeling, structural and material engineering, or electrical engineering.

Topic 2: Applications of Massive Data and Data Mining Techniques Relevant to Safety Data

The objective of this topic is to adapt suitable methodologies for handling, processing, and analyzing massive data sets. This is undertaken in response to the availability of the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) data, consuming more than one petabyte of storage. This will be the largest highway safety data set released to date.

The highway research community has made great progress in understanding the causes of vehicle crashes and unsafe behavior and developing effective countermeasures using traditional data collection and analysis methods, which include data standardization, manual data cleaning, and the development and management of formal relational databases. Crash causation takes into account pre-crash conditions including human behavior, vehicle and roadway information, and other contextual information. Traditional data and analysis methods, however, no longer are providing dramatic new findings about crash causation and potential effective countermeasures. Further, traditional methods are limited in assessing the value of new data, integrating new data, and automating quality control and quality assurance.

The Office of Safety R&D has been evaluating the state-of-the-practice in handling, processing, and analyzing massive data sets. Examples have been drawn from the medical and astronomical sciences, as well as text mining of social media. Using new methods such as machine learning, text recognition, and probabilistic data linkage have the potential to pull in new and emerging data that can provide new types of contextual information that will help explain why crashes occur and suggest potential new and effective means of preventing crashes and roadway deaths and injuries.

FHWA envisions the research to be undertaken in two phases: (1) develop/adapt methodologies suitable for mining and synthesizing disparate data and (2) deliver a methodology that can be generalized for use with any data set, specifically SHRP2 data.

FHWA will provide access to the Highway Safety Information System (HSIS) data, for a pilot study to demonstrate a proof of concept. More information about HSIS is located at http://www.hsisinfo.org/.

Proposals should clearly articulate the methodology or methodologies suitable for extraction of HSIS and its synthesis with other data sets, such as but not limited to social media, insurance records, vehicle data, infrastructure inventories, and compilation of an analysis-ready data set suitable for dissemination.

Proposals also should clearly describe the use of different data and what would be the anticipated new understanding about crash causation and roadway safety.

Results from the initial phase should provide the foundation for development of a generalized methodology that will be extended to SHRP2 data.

HSIS is an FHWA resource linking crash, roadway inventory, and traffic volume data. SHRP2 data will not only provide data on the vehicle, traffic environment, roadway characteristics, traffic control devices and other environmental features but also driver interactions within the environment and adaptation based upon these interactions.

Phase I Activities

Phase II Activities

Special Capabilities: FHWA anticipates that the proposal will include a multi‐disciplinary research team with a recognized expert or experts in, machine learning, text recognition, probabilistic data linkage, systems engineering, and cyber security as well as recognized experts in highway safety.

Topic 3: Behavioral based (or agent based) National Freight Demand Modeling

Freight demand modeling is a key tools for estimating and forecasting not only freight movements but also their consequences on international trade, the economy, infrastructure, and the environment. There have been many recent research efforts to foster fresh ideas and new approaches for freight demand modeling. For example, the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) Capacity Project C20 focused on innovative methods for freight demand modeling and data development on a regional and metropolitan planning level. Further many freight modeling tools originated from the passenger travel demand modeling concept, which lacks elements to fully explain goods movement, which are closely related to economic activities in the form of disaggregated and supply-demand logistics chains. On the national level, a different approach is needed.

The overall objective of this topic is to demonstrate approaches for a national-level, disaggregated, behavioral-based, and multimodal freight demand modeling tool that are novel and provide a significant enhancement over current methods for evaluating freight policy alternatives and their impacts.

Proposals should describe how the new approach could improve general accuracy and reliability of origin-destination commodity and vehicular flow in both national and regional levels. Proposals also could include specific additional functions such as but not limited to the following examples

· Capturing the freight trip generation and distribution patterns by explainable factors such as the relationships between goods movement patterns and economic activities, land use, and/or employment. For better reasoning of the freight phenomena, any possible independent variables or sub-models such as firm synthesis, spatial Input-Output (I-O) econometric model or integrated spatial economic model might be sought and adopted.

· Assigning freight traffic across multimodal networks that can present number of vehicles, tonnage, and values commodity types or groups of commodities.

· Assigning multimodal freight traffic mode split and mode choice that accurately reflects capacity of different modal networks including temporal analysis capacity (e.g. seasonal)

· Representing the full supply chain for a commodity shipped by a specific industry from the supplier to the customer

FHWA anticipates using results from research on this topic to improve FHWA’s Freight Analysis Framework (FAF), which is a major public resource that provides nationwide goods movement and truck traffic information on the major highway network in America. Information on the FAF may be found at: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/faf/index.htm. FHWA also would like to promote approaches that can be generalized and applied to other freight transportation models.

On December 11, 2013, The EAR Program and the Office of Freight Management and Operations sponsored a workshop on “National Multimodal Freight Analysis Framework Research” where participants shared their experiences and insights with other experts on the nature and purpose of the Freight Analysis Framework, a vision for the next generation of freight analysis, and primary gaps in current capabilities related to freight modeling and data. FHWA anticipates a copy of the report will be available on the EAR Program web site located at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/ in March 2014.

NOTE: Proposals should include an initial phase with a period of performance of no more than 12 months that will result in a draft concept and a second phase that will result in an operational model.

Special Capabilities: FHWA anticipates that the proposal will include a multi‐disciplinary research team with a recognized expert or experts in freight supply-chain and logistics, freight transportation economics, and freight traffic modeling. FHWA also anticipates that the proposal will be comprised of one or multiple entities or institutions, which may include partnerships with private freight logistics solution providers and operators, and freight stakeholders.

Topic 4: Freight Data Development and Enhancement to Support National Freight Transportation Analysis, Modeling and Forecasting Practices

Changes in freight traffic are often related to economic, political, geographic, and business operation factors. Existing data sources are often proprietary, difficult to obtain and do not reflect the complexities of today’s freight movements or supply chains. Robust freight data are needed to build analytical models that can capture the range of freight movements and supply chain choices that firms make for different commodities, types and size of industries and firms, modes used, and geographies along the chain.

The objective of this topic is to create innovative and applicable methods and tools to collect, develop and integrate freight related data with special emphasis on geographic, temporal and cost elements enhancements for use at the national level.

Some of these methods may build upon emerging technologies and business relationships. For example, several efforts are underway to exploit advanced technologies and form innovative partnerships with freight carriers (e.g., trucking companies) to gather freight movement data. Others may draw from approaches used in other disciplines, for example, the use of new data sources and formats to increase connectivity and integration of locally collected data in different level of data density, seasonality, accuracy, and geography through ‘crowd-sourcing,’ bottom-up data sharing, and/or ‘grass-root’ data build-up to support national freight analysis.

Questions exist as to how to improve data available on the shipment of goods, rather than on their production. Could shipment information that connects buyer and seller without identifying all steps of the distribution chain be used to develop supplier selection, goods demand, and shipment size models? Could shipment information that provides a complete description of the logistical steps for shipments, without identifying the buyer and seller be used to develop models of distribution channel, transport mode, and intermodal transfer; or could shipment information that provides a complete description of collection and distribution within a region could be used to develop the models of vehicle choice, tour patterns, and stop location and timing for delivery from regional shippers, warehouses and distribution centers? These questions are suggestive not prescriptive. Research proposals could incorporate these or other methods, approaches and tools to address the objective of this topic.

FHWA anticipates use of the research results to enhance FHWA’s Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) and also serve as a reference for regional and local level freight programs, projects and studies. FAF is a public resource that provides nationwide goods movement information in the form of Origin-Destination (O/D) matrix tables compiled from various national data sources such as Commodity Flow Survey (CFS), TransBorder freight data, waterborne commerce and foreign trade statistics. As result, the FAF reflects the integration of multiple datasets in national scale with applied statistical and mathematical techniques. Information on the FAF may be found at: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/faf/index.htm.

On December 11, 2013, The EAR Program and the Office of Freight Management and Operations sponsored a workshop on ‘National Multimodal Freight Analysis Framework Research’ where participants shared their experiences and insights with other experts on the nature and purpose of the Freight Analysis Framework, a vision for the next generation of freight analysis, and primary gaps in current capabilities related to freight modeling and data. FHWA anticipates a copy of the report will be available on the EAR Program web site located at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/ in March 2014.

Note: The initial phase should take no more 12 months.

Special Capabilities: FHWA anticipates that the proposal may include a multi‐disciplinary team composed of recognized experts in technical areas such freight supply-chain and logistics, freight transportation economics, and information sciences. FHWA also anticipates that proposals may include one or multiple entities or institutions and include partnerships with private freight data collectors, freight carriers or other freight data stakeholders.

Note: Future Topic Areas

FHWA continues to investigate other research areas for potential breakthrough opportunities. FHWA welcomes questions or thoughts about opportunities and other areas of focus that could lead to transformation changes in highway research. At this time, however, FHWA has not identified other focus areas or topics for funding under the EAR Program. For further information about the EAR Program, please see http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch/contacts.cfm.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS:

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION: Offerors are required to follow the guidance contained herein. The following sections provide information on proposal format, the submission process, evaluation and funding processes, and other general information. Proposals not meeting the format described in this BAA will not be reviewed.

All administrative correspondence or questions on this BAA should be directed to the Contracting Officer at the following email address: Robin.Hobbs@dot.gov.

FHWA will provide responses to questions received through a March 31, 2014 cut-off date. FHWA may not respond to questions received after the cut-off date.

EVALUATION CRITERIA: Evaluations will be performed using the following criteria:

1. Scientific and Technical Merit: Overall scientific and technical merit of the proposal, including the potential to result in increased understanding/knowledge in the field of highway research. Overall capabilities, including the qualifications, capabilities, and experience of the proposed principal investigator, team leader, and key personnel who are critical in achieving the proposal objective; the offeror's qualifications, capabilities, and experience in related technical areas; and the offeror's facilities and demonstrated ability for achieving the proposal objectives; overall capability to manage the effort, including plans to objectively measure the value and impact of the research and ensure value whether the inquiry leads or does not lead to anticipated results; and the offeror’s demonstrated ability to transfer or hand-off results within and across scientific and engineering communities may be considered as part of scientific and technical merit.

1. Importance to Agency Programs in providing foundational research that would promote research investment in applying technology, process improvements or policy solutions that could lead to significant innovations in the highway system. Significant partnering is an essential aspect of the EAR program. Within the EAR Program, successful research teams often include entities or researchers who traditionally have not been involved in transportation research partnering with entities or researchers who have. The anticipated result’s importance to the FHWA will be assessed.

1. Fund Availability: Cost realism and reasonableness shall also be considered to the extent appropriate. Availability of adequate funding for the proposed effort must exist.

GENERAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE PROPOSAL PROCESS

Proposals will be evaluated by FHWA against the evaluation criteria outlined above. The FHWA may make more than one award for each of the topics listed in the BAA.

Offerors may submit more than one proposal; however each one must be in response to a single topic on the BAA. The topic of the proposal must be clearly identified in the proposal title on the cover page.

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.

Awards under this program may be subject to the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, depending on the type of final products or reports to be delivered under each award. The Act requires that all electronic products prepared for the Federal Government be accessible to persons with disabilities, including those with vision, hearing, cognitive, and mobility impairments. Proposers can view Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm) and the Federal IT Accessibility Initiative (Home Page) (http://section508.gov/) for detailed information.

The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA): Offerors are advised that any activities involving information collection (i.e., surveys, questionnaires, etc.) from 10 or more non-Federal entities, including States, are subject to PRA requirements and may require the FHWA to coordinate an OMB Information Collection Clearance, a process that generally takes six months or more.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

All proposals should be submitted in Microsoft® Word processing program or text searchable Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF).

Proposals shall consist of two separate volumes:

Volume I – Technical Proposal and Management Approach Volume II – Cost Proposal and Business Information

The proposals shall be prepared in the following format: 8.5 x 11 inches, one and one-half line spacing or double spaced, in at least 10 point type.

Volume I

Volume I must be no longer than 36 pages in length. The contents of any appendices shall count against the 36-page limit and shall be limited to figures that directly support items discussed in the text of the proposal. If items are included in an appendix, which is not explicitly discussed, in the basic proposal, the proposal may not be reviewed. Proposals with Volume I in excess of 36 pages may not be reviewed. Proposals with less than the maximum number of allowed pages will not be penalized. Offerors are encouraged to submit concise, but descriptive, proposals.

Volume I of the proposal shall include the following sections, each starting on a new page (an estimated page breakdown is included):

(a) Cover Page: This must include the BAA number, proposal title, project duration, type of business (large business, small disadvantaged business, other small business, HBCU or MI, other educational, or other nonprofit), complete list of subcontractors, technical and administrative points of contact including addresses, telephone numbers, electronic mail addresses, and facsimile machine numbers. The cover page does not count against the page limit for Volume I.

(b) Executive Summary: The summary (approximately 3 pages) should include: (1) a description of the proposed visionary technology or system and how the proposed effort will meet the objectives of the BAA, (2) a description of the significant innovative ideas proposed, (3) a comparison of these innovative ideas with current approaches and the current state of the art, (4) the expected impact of the research if successful, (5) a brief description of the technical approach and the key technology and system development milestones for proof of concept (6) the process and metrics recommended for measuring the impact of the developed technologies and system, and (7) a summary of the anticipated program deliverables.

(c) Innovative Claims (optional): Provide a summary of significant innovative technical claims (approximately 2 pages). Identify any innovative technologies and technical ideas to be pursued and the expected impact on the state of the art if the proposed efforts are successful.

(d) Vision: Describe (approximately 2 pages) the proposed technology or system and how the proposed effort will meet the objectives described in the topic’s description in the BAA. Describe the impact and relevance of this proposed research or technology development effort to the creation of a revolutionary concept/design/component(s)/system for the nation’s intermodal transportation systems. Describe the contribution and relevance of this proposed effort to related FHWA and highway programs and activities, where appropriate.

(e) Technical Rationale: The technical rationale section (approximately 6 pages) must include technical arguments to substantiate the technical quality and merit of the claims made in Sections (b), (c), and (d), provide a summary description of the technical approach, consistent with Sections (f) and (g), and also provide a comparison with other ongoing research indicating both advantages and disadvantages of the proposed effort/approach. Describe and order the two or three most challenging technical areas and activities related to the proposed research or technology development. Indicate approaches for mitigating technical and schedule risk should proposed technologies produce weaker than anticipated results. Describe any parallel or alternative development approaches or technologies, and the rationale for their use. Indicate the potential impact of these alternatives on the performance goals and objectives described for the topic in the BAA.

(f) Statement of Work (SOW): This section (approximately 6 pages) must detail the relevant background information, the objective(s) of the proposed effort, the overall planned scope of the effort, and the technical approach for accomplishing the proposed effort. A chart of the proposed Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS) must be provided to describe both the high level tasks and the subtasks at a level of detail sufficient to ensure that individual subtasks are clearly identified and allocated to a single project group or functional group within the proposing organization or to a single clearly identified subcontractor. For each task and subtask, provide a description of the proposed effort, significant timing constraints associated with the specific task and subtask to be performed (such as, "this task y can only be initiated after successful completion of task x"), the anticipated duration in both calendar time (weeks) and in resource time (person-hours and person-weeks), the planned specific utilization of personnel from specific project groups, functional groups and subcontractors, and also the anticipated results, products, or deliverables associated with the completion of each tasks and subtasks.

Note: Topics 2, 3, and 4 anticipate successful results in an initial phase before moving into one or more subsequent phases. For these topics, proposals shall include a detailed work scope for the initial phase. Where the approach of subsequent phases is dependent on the work of the initial phase, proposers should use their best judgment to outline a likely approach, schedule, deliverables, key personnel, etc.

(g) Schedule, Milestones, and Evaluation Metrics: This section must provide a summary (approximately 3 pages) of the schedule, milestones, and associated evaluation metrics for the proposed effort. A Plan of Action and Milestones (POA&M) format will be utilized in which the technical tasks and subtasks from the SOW, described in section (f) above, will be listed along the vertical axis of the schedule chart and time, with planned program phases (in 12 month increments), calendar year and fiscal year identified along the horizontal axis of the schedule chart. All significant experiments, simulations, lab demonstrations and field demonstrations to be performed should be identified. Each milestone on the chart(s) will be numbered. There will be a separate table listing each of these milestones, the planned date of completion, the planned evaluation metrics, and the criteria for successful completion of the milestone. This table must be specific, with both goal and specific quantified performance criteria (or range of anticipated performance) described for each planned milestone. This section must also provide a summary description of any Measures of Effectiveness expressions planned to be utilized in this development effort. A descriptor of the proposed approach to designing experiments, simulations and demonstrations to ensure consistent and effective software/system development and associated test planning should be provided if appropriate. Techniques or methodologies to facilitate repeatable, risk mitigation experimentation in all phases of the proposed development effort should be described.

(h) Deliverables and Products: This section (approximately 2 pages) must consist of two subsections: Deliverables and Products. The deliverables subsection must describe and enumerate the anticipated deliverables for the proposed effort, both preliminary and final. The products subsection must describe and enumerate any additional anticipated results or products, including transferable technology expected for users on this program or for developers or users on related programs. This section should address specific innovative approaches the offeror will take to facilitate technology transition. This subsection should contain a clear description of how results will be made sharable to other funded highway research programs and what use these results might be to these other activities. Any restrictions on software, other data, or hardware developed under proposals that would affect this practice 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 user operations manual. All hardware deliveries will include all documentation necessary to reproduce (assemble) and operate the delivered hardware system(s).

Note: FHWA seeks research that encourages continued research and development by providing reasonable and broad access to products such as models, algorithms, software, or data.

(i) Proprietary Claims: This section (approximately 1 page) must provide 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 BAA. Any claims made in other parts of the proposal, such as in sections (c) and (h) above, which would impact the claims in this section must be identified in a cross-reference table in this section. As mentioned in section (h) above, the government expects to obtain no less than Government Purpose License Rights to all software delivered as a part of these funded efforts. If there are no proprietary claims this section shall consist of a statement to that effect.

Note: Exploratory advanced research can lead to unexpected inventions and processes. Accordingly, FHWA may ask for disclosure of inventions and new processes that result from Program awards in order to discuss and advise the research team on how the results could continue through the research and development process and be taken up by the highway transportation industry or by other industries.

(j) Management Plan: This section (approximately 2 pages) must describe the overall approach to management of this effort, including a brief discussion of the proposed organization and the use of personnel and other resources. Provide a description of how the proposed effort, as described in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), will be executed. Refer to significant tasks and subtasks identified in the SOW (section (f) above) and to the Schedule, Milestones, and Evaluation Metrics (section (g) above) and provide a rationale for allocation of resources to proposed project groups, functional groups, and subcontractors. Indicate planned government research and facility interfaces, and planning, scheduling and control practices. 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.

Note: The Management Plan and Technology Transfer plan (section (k), next) should provide some discussion on how FHWA will know the work is successful. Project evaluations will be conducted at key mid-point milestones or at completion to document accomplishments.

(k) Technology Transition Plan: The technology transition plan (approximately 1 page) should describe the plans and capabilities to accomplish technology transition. It should describe the anticipated stage of development of the technology at the completion of the proposed effort, describing how the research is anticipated to result in an increased understanding/expansion of the knowledge base for the topic, and the anticipated overall approach to advancing the technology further, either through further applied research, commercialization other mechanisms.

Note: For Proposals that result in awards, FHWA intends the transition plan to be a living document during the conduct of research for proposals that result in awards.

(l) Facilities: This section should include a description (approximately 2 pages) of the facilities that would be used for the proposed effort.

Special Note for Topic 1: FHWA anticipates that that investigators may want to conduct part of the research taking advantage of expertise, facilities, and equipment located at the Nondestructive Evaluation Laboratory in McLean, Virginia. For more information, see http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/research/tfhrc/labs/nde/. Research Teams may contact the Federal laboratory manager to discuss possible access to laboratory facilities that could be included in a proposal. Discussions with and inclusion of research conducted at the Non-Destructive Evaluation Laboratory does not guarantee acceptance of the proposal. Proposals will be reviewed by an independent expert panel. See below for more information about the review criteria. Proposals that include experiments at TFHRC do not need to include FHWA associated costs, which will be funded separately.

(m) Experience: This section should include a description (approximately 2 pages) of relevant 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).

(n) Key Personnel: This section should include a list of key personnel (approximately 1 page), 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 (by both calendar year and by fiscal year). Resumes shall be provided for all key personnel. Resumes shall not exceed one page, and are not included in the total page limitation for this part of the proposal.

(o) Qualifications: This section should include a concise summary of the relevant qualifications of all key personnel proposed along with other major sources of support for them (limited to no more than one page per key person). If necessary, the government will request additional resume and qualification related information. Note: This section is not included in the page limit.

(p) Other Proposals: This section must include a summary list of all current and pending proposals (approximately 2 pages) being executed or proposed to be executed with the support of personnel proposed in this effort. This list should be ordered by the size of the effort and should include start and end dates, total project cost, and the average amount of time (person-hours per month) 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 the summary list is greater than 2 pages long, indicate at the bottom of the second page the number of additional current and pending proposals and the total project cost associated with these remaining efforts. If required, a request for the complete list will be made.

(q) Bibliography: This section should include a bibliography (approximately 1 page) of relevant technical papers and research notes which support the technical concepts and innovative ideas described in this proposal.

Volume II

Volume II of the proposal shall be limited to a maximum of 12 pages not including the Cover Page. If necessary, the government will request additional cost back-up information, as appropriate.

Volume II information shall include annual and total costs with a baseline period of performance up to 12 months, and if needed, with one or more options, each with a 12-month period of performance.

The FHWA anticipates that proposals funded would be awarded after September 2014.

Volume II shall include:

A fully detailed cost break-down showing costs by each major cost category, including (as applicable) direct labor, fringe benefits, subcontract costs, other direct costs (travel, equipment, etc.), and indirect costs for the initial phase of the proposed effort.

Provide a separate and also fully detailed cost break-down for each optional future phase proposed.

NOTE: Some topics anticipate successful results in an initial phase before moving into one or more subsequent phases. In these cases, proposals shall include a fully detailed cost break-down for the initial phase. Where the approach of subsequent phases is dependent on the work of the initial phase, proposers should use their best judgment regarding the levels of direct and indirect costs and categories of personnel.

The cost detail shall include:

Direct Labor:

· Personnel by name or labor category

· Number of hours proposed (commercial organizations) or percent of effort (organizations subject to OMB Circulars)

· Hourly unburdened labor rate (commercial organizations) or salary rate and basis (9- or 12-month basis) (organizations subject to OMB Circulars)

· Fringe Benefits Rates applied

Other Direct Costs. Other Direct Costs shall be supported by explanation of estimating factors and other relevant supporting details. For example, travel costs shall be supported by detail on the estimated trips, number of travelers, and associated costs for airfare, per diem, other transportation, etc. A similar level of detail shall be provided for any meeting costs, equipment, duplication/printing charges, and other direct costs.

Indirect Costs. Discuss your proposed rates for all years. Identify the various specific indirect rates and what they are based on (e.g., labor overhead based on direct labor dollars) and how they are applied/calculated. State any differing rate applications (for example if there is a different proposed rate when applied to travel or material purchases than when applied to subcontractor costs). Offerors must provide dollar values as well as percentages.

Subcontractor costs should be fully detailed, and the information used by the proposer to analyze the price of the subcontract shall be provided. An SF1411 is not required for this submission of your proposal.

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.

Volume II must also include a separate breakdown of costs by major task area. Use the same task or subtask numbers as described in the SOW submitted as part of your Technical proposal in Volume I.

If necessary, the government will request additional cost back-up information, as appropriate.

(d) Other Business Information:

IMPORTANT NOTE: The FHWA may award either contracts or cooperative agreements as a result of this BAA. Due to the requirements of Public Law 11-244 (signed 6/6/08), the FHWA can offer cooperative agreements only if the proposer can offer a cost share of at least twenty (20) percent from non-federal sources of funding. Proposals selected for funding that offer LESS than 20 percent cost sharing may be awarded as contracts.

The requirements outlined below will vary depending on whether a contract or cooperative agreement is anticipated.

Proposals for CONTRACT awards that are received from other than small businesses and that exceed $650,000 must include a Small Business Subcontracting Plan in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 19.7. The Subcontracting Plan does not count against the page limit for Volume II.

All proposers shall include in the cost proposal the following mandatory business information regarding your business or institution:

a. Business Size

b. Federal Tax Identification Number (TIN)

c. Dun & Bradstreet Number

d. Name and contact information (mail address, telephone, and email address) of your authorized business representative/point of contact

Special Instructions for Cooperative Agreement Applicants: In addition to the information above, proposals eligible for cooperative agreement awards shall also complete and submit the following forms (available at www.grants.gov or http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/424/index.htm).

Submission of these forms does not count against the 12-page limit for Volume II.

• SF424 (Note: Applicants may leave 5a, 5b, 6, 7, 13 and blank on the form)

• SF424A

Note: Section A: block 1(a) print title of your project, block 1(b) print 20.205, block 1(c) print $ Total Federal Funds Requested, 1(d) print $ Total Cost Share, and leave blank columns (e), (f), and (g) and rows 2, 3, and 4.

• SF424B

• SFLLL

Note: The SFLLL form must be completed and submitted even if no lobbying to report. If no lobbying to report insert “none” or “n/a” in the relevant blocks.

OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE 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. The Government may use selected support contractor personnel as special resources to assist in administering the evaluation of the proposals. These persons are restricted by their contracts from disclosing the proposal information or using it for other than performing the administrative task. Contractor personnel are required to sign non-disclosure statements. By submission of your proposal, you agree that your proposal information may be disclosed to those selected contractors for the limited purpose stated above.

This announcement constitutes the Broad Agency Announcement as contemplated by FAR 6.102(d)(2). A formal Request for Proposals or other solicitation regarding this announcement will not be issued. Requests for same will be disregarded.

The…