NPMRDS_Synopsis.pdf

Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Synopsis for Solicitation No. DTFH6117R00005

Title: “Technical support and data-sharing support for the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS).”

I. INFORMATION

This synopsis is issued in accordance with FAR Part 5.203 in response to the mandatory requirement for a pre-solicitation notification. The purpose of this synopsis is to announce the Federal Highway Administration’s intent to issue a solicitation for a full and open competition to procure services for non-personal, technical support services and data-sharing support for the National Performance Management Research Data Set (NPMRDS).

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) intends to award a single Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP) contract for technical support service and data-sharing support for the NPMRDS. The anticipated period of performance will not exceed 60 months. It is anticipated that the solicitation will be issued on or before October 30, 2016.

II. BACKGROUND

The FHWA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is charged with the broad responsibility of ensuring that America’s roads and highways continue to be the safest and most technologically up-to-date. Although State, local, and tribal governments own most of the Nation’s highways, FHWA provides financial and technical support for constructing, improving, and preserving America’s highway system.

Continued growth in both traffic and freight volumes means that significant portions of the transportation system experience congested conditions on a regular basis, and provide increasingly unreliable service. Where these conditions exist, a more proactive approach to operating the system is needed. Operating the system in a more proactive manner can help reduce congestion, improve freight productivity, improve safety, reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, and lead to more livable communities. Operating the system proactively can also defer or eliminate the need for increasingly expensive and difficult capacity expansion projects.

FHWA engages in activities to develop and implement:

• Real-time and forecasted information

• Measuring / monitoring passenger and freight system performance

• Analytical foundation / tools / data

• State of the art technologies and strategies, including operational tests of intelligent transportation system technologies

• Development of standards for information exchange

• Guidance and funding for infrastructure and Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)

• projects

• Integration across system elements, jurisdictions, and modes

• Assistance for transportation and planning professionals in developing the knowledge and skills needed to do their jobs effectively

Together, these activities build the solution set required to proactively operate the transportation system. Proactively operating the transportation system begins with awareness that routine operation is not addressing significant congestion or regular operational problems. Proactive management can only happen where there is good available information about what is currently happening, how the operation of the system is being impacted, and what actions are necessary to make the system operate better.

This is only possible with a good analytical foundation, and a plan for how the transportation system should be operated. This foundation should include use of appropriate performance metrics, establishing targets for system performance, use of appropriate analysis tools to identify, develop and evaluate solutions to operational problems, and the investment plan and capable workforce necessary to implement the chosen solutions.

To date, FHWA has evaluated measures of travel time, travel time variability, reliability, speeds and related metrics through efforts such as the data and value-added products derived from the Urban Congestion Report (UCR), Freight Performance Measure (FPM) program, and the NPMRDS. The FHWA has supported transportation agencies and their needs to plan for and better manage the transportation network throughout the United States and continues to do so in response to the performance measure and management requirements of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). Through this requirement, FHWA seeks to continue to provide the NPMRDS data as a tool for FHWA, State Departments of Transportations (DOTs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) use in performance measurement and management.

For more information on the existing FPM, NPMRDS and UCR programs, see the following links:

• http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/perform_meas/index.htm

• http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/perf_measurement/ucr/index.htm

III. NPMRDS SCOPE

The contractor shall provide support for performance management requirements and data analysis for the FPM and UCR, as well as other FHWA or USDOT analytical efforts as needed.

The NPMRDS will continue to be available for use by State DOTs and MPOs for their use in performance measurement and management activities.

The NPMRDS must conform to FHWA’s current NPMRDS and provide the same elements, as follows:

o Actual observed travel times for the NHS, Strategic Highway Network (STRAHNET), and five-mile radius interstates and arterials at border crossings;

http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/freight_analysis/perform_meas/index.htm http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/perf_measurement/ucr/index.htm o Provided in five-minute epochs of a 24/7 period, 365 days a year;

o Provide data sharing and data downloading options for users;

o Provide a network/shape-file;

o Provide quality control and calibration; and o Provide technical support, user analysis and user reference materials.

The contractor shall provide a dataset for the NPMRDS that has coverage for the entire NHS and additional roads as specified. Coverage must be adequate to provide travel time analysis, and the dataset must be routinely checked for quality and re-calibrated to ensure data validity and reliability. The contractor shall also provide robust technical assistance and data-sharing support to the user community.

IV. DELINEATION OF WORK

The Contractor shall perform the work described in the following tasks:

• Task 1 – Project Management;

• Task 2 – National Performance Management Research Data Set; and

• Task 3 – Data Validation, Calibration Quality Plans and Descriptive Metadata

Documents.

The solicitation will be released electronically via this Government Point of Entry (GPE) otherwise known as Federal Business Opportunities or www.fbo.gov. As such, no written, telephonic or other type of request for an advance copy of the solicitation will be entertained at this time. Potential offerors/vendors are encouraged to register on www.fbo.gov to receive any further information in reference to the subject action inclusive of any announcements, and/or amendments to the solicitation after its release. NO OTHER PROCUREMENT

INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.

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