Request for Information Document.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) from the Florida Department of Transportation

INTRODUCTION

Pursuant to Rule 60A-1.042, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), an agency may request information by issuing a written Request for Information (RFI). Agencies may use RFI’s in circumstances including, but not limited to, determining whether to competitively procure a commodity or contractual service, determining what solicitation process to use for a particular need, or researching general, special, and/or technical specifications for a solicitation. A Vendor’s response to an RFI is not an offer and the agency may not use the Vendor’s submission to justify a contract with that Vendor without otherwise complying with Chapter 287, F.S., and Rule 60A-1.042, F.A.C. Vendors submitting a response to an agency’s RFI are not prohibited from responding to any related subsequent solicitation.

PURPOSE

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT, Department), Office of Transportation Data and Analytics is seeking information from qualified vendors pertaining to acquisition, design, development, and implementation of a Transportation data and asset management graphical user interface (GUI) system that has been successfully provided to Departments of Transportation within the United States of America and/or its territories. In addition, the Department is requesting vendors provide information about their product, including but not limited to; how data is repurposed, exported for reports, and visually accessible.

BACKGROUND

The Department is responsible for the collection, management, archiving and distribution of public transportation and asset data for state agencies, federal agencies, and data users. The management of this data and information supports the Department’s business of planning, designing, programming, funding, developing, monitoring, and maintaining a safe and efficient state transportation network. The data provide information on the physical, condition, administrative, and operational features and characteristics of Florida’s roadways, railways, and SUN (Shared Used Non-Motorized) Trails also known as travel ways. Data users within the Department rely on this information to meet current critical State and Federal annual reporting requirements.

The Roadway Characteristics Inventory (RCI) application is currently used to store collected data about travel ways and their associated attributes and files to allow the Department to meet State and Federal annual reporting requirements. The application allows users to enter standardized transportation data into RCI from various functional offices across the Department through their respective programs. These programs are coordinated statewide between Central and District Offices. The District Offices support data collection and management processes that provide the most up to date information for transportation business activities that may include changes in road ownership, new road construction of roadway alignments, or transportation system improvements. The Central Office provides functional application coordination duties, procedure coordination, and statewide training duties between the following Central owning offices:

• Transportation Data and Analytics (TDA) Office

• Office of Maintenance

• Traffic Engineering and Operations (TEO) Office

The RCI application is used statewide and is considered an enterprise system. The RCI system architecture is managed by the Office of Information Technology in the FDOT Central Office. The RCI application data and hardware is stored with the state data center, the Division of State Technology within the Department of Management Services Telecommunications Division.

The RCI system data and the collection of the data is primarily managed by the TDA Office which establishes data governance by performing quality assurance and quality control functions and maintains the main data products that allow data to be consumed by users. These products include the Department’s Linear Referencing System, Straight-Line-Diagrams, and transportation system data reports. To be in compliance with state and federal business reporting requirements, the Department developed the RCI to be the primary data source for information to ensure FDOT fulfills its requirements efficiently and on time.

The RCI system data is travel way network data of roadway, railway and SUN Trail transportation networks, routes, events, and segment mileage. The Department tracks events such as transportation project limits, information, and assets that may occur on these networks throughout the year. The components of these travel way networks are inventoried and organized in the RCI relational database model by a primary key called the Roadway ID. This ID is critical to tracking event history that occur on the travel ways. The RCI system architecture designates and identifies these events along these travel ways as feature and characteristics.

An example list of events includes: roadway name(s), administrative boundaries, width measurements, number of lanes, surface, surface description, median types, lighting, and traffic signals. The complete listing of these events can be found in the FDOT RCI Feature and Characteristic Handbook.

The Department utilizes the RCI program data for many other business functions. These functions are critical to provide data to the current and future state and federal annual reporting requirements that is a shared responsibility of throughout the FDOT Central and District Offices. These annual reporting requirements have required additional and more complex data that has increased the demand on more flexible and efficient data management efforts for the Department. Further, the increased demand for Reliable, Organized, and Accurate Data Sharing (ROADS) Department initiative is supporting the paradigm shift of increasing importance of positional and relative accuracy of data to be collected and managed by new design of the RCI to fulfill future state and federal annual reporting requirements including:

• FDOT’s Work Program and Budget

• Florida’s (Highway Performance Monitoring System) HPMS data submittal

• The Model Inventory of Roadway Elements (MIRE)

• Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plans

• Transportation Performance Management Performance Measures, including:

o Safety Measures;

o Pavement and Bridge Condition Measures;

o System Performance Measures of National Highway System (NHS), Freight and

Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model; and o The NHS Asset Management Plan

In January of 2024, it is anticipated that the Florida Department of Transportation will turn off its existing relational database tabular model by moving to ESRI’s Roads and Highways Geospatial solution.

Despite the geospatial solution, existing users will still need access to various GUI that have been historically provided as detailed in the application requirements section of this document.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Basic RCI viewer functionality would remain but be enhanced to meet the needs of the various FDOT stakeholders. Utilizing RCI as the base (RCI will be migrated into Roads and Highways), initial requirements are based on the 2016 Joint Application Requirements (JAR) Sessions. The JAR Sessions consisted of groups of RCI users who discussed their processes and the related data, interviewed FDOT Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and executives, and researched industry standards, best practices, and available technologies to determine user needs for a revamped RCI solution. These requirements included:

- Allow existing requests for TDA data to be facilitated through the application through easy to query standard reports or through a data request portal. Landing page links should include:

o Contact us, o Documentation (readily available documentation i.e., standard published reports and guidance/policy documents that are used), o Links (to other important systems that would take you outside of the application):

▪ Bridge Management System (BMS),

▪ Crash Analysis Reporting (CAR),

▪ Financial Management (FM),

▪ Florida Traffic Online (FTO),

▪ Maintenance Rating Program (MRP),

▪ Pavement Management (PM),

▪ Rail Highway Crossing Inventory (RHCI),

▪ Scenic Highways,

▪ Work Program Administration (WPA).

o LRS/Map integration (RCI Roads and Highways solution), o Sign Up for Notifications (standard set would be established), o Reports (run a query on standard reports), o Training (link to take you outside of the application to the training materials)

- Historical info to be a one-stop shop on the history of a parcel. Although Roads and Highways provides temporality and keeps a record of an event and route which will support this requirement, this is geared more toward associated documentation with a route, e.g., construction records, road jurisdiction transfers, maintenance agreements, etc.

- The following reports could be derived from the query for a given moment in time:

o Mileage Reports, State Highway System, Functional Classification, Urban Boundary, U.S.

Routes, Tolls/Managed Lanes Reports and other designation-based data. For example, to answer the possible question of how many miles is US-1 in the State?

o Reports important to each office, i.e., Bridge, Pavement, etc.

The following requirements are additional considerations since 2016:

- Incorporation of a FDOT GIS enterprise map services from ESRI to support data visualization.

- Allow FDOT staff to validate GIS route and road inventory data, mileage report, and report discrepancies.

- Support HPMS submittal process with data compilation, data validation, and submittal file.

- Incorporate straight-line-diagrams views and street-view imagery from video logs.

- Install and host the vendor’s application on cloud platforms like Azure, Snowflake, or on-premise

(state data center).

- Create applications that support web map services.

DESCRIPTION OF COMMODITIES/CONTRACTUAL SERVICES:

The Department desires to incrementally replace the current graphical user interface of the existing Roadway Characteristics Inventory (RCI) system with a more widely embraced technology leveraging advancements in: functionality, reporting, maintenance, ease of use, integration standard protocols (such as application programming interfaces, service-oriented architecture, and rules-based logic), and the ability for public access. The FDOT is requesting the following information from prospective vendors about the commodities and/or contractual services described below.

In the following goals and specifications, the vendor solution must:

Goal 1: Improve on FDOT’s RCI application graphical user interface capabilities

• Integrate legacy geospatial transportation data currently in the RCI and geospatial data outside the RCI.

• Support the Department’s responsibility to maintain the current and future critical state and Federal annual data reporting routines and processes of planning, operations and maintenance data including:

o Transportation Performance Management Performance Measures;

o Model Inventory of Reporting Elements;

o Americans with Disabilities Act Transition Plan data; and o Highway Performance Monitoring System data submittals.

• Provide enhanced data analyses of transportation data utilizing multiple data sources to view the transportation system such as video, imagery, and large amounts of data.

• Efficiently share transportation data for decision making across the Department.

Goal 2: Reduce the Department’s risk exposure by harnessing modern technology built on the premises of scalability, flexibility, and maintainability with minimum customization.

• Replace outdated hardware and software with more widely embraced technology leveraging advancements in:

o Functionality o Maintenance o Ease of use

• Utilize integration standards and protocols (e.g., application programming interfaces, service-oriented architecture, rules-based logic.)

• Provide a new design of current database elements to expand storage and retrieval capabilities to store structured and non-structured data.

• Employ technology capable of scaling, evolving, and growing as business needs change (e.g., ability to add data fields to asset detail reports through configurable parameters without the need for program code changes).

• Increase system security, stability, and recoverability with implementation of latest technology standards.

• Increase timeliness of delivering information technology (IT) solutions (e.g., interfaces) since technology standards are predefined and widely recognized.

Goal 3: Utilize innovative technology to provide transportation data to users that are internal and external to the Department.

• Utilize Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to enhance the RCI system data and the Linear Referencing System (LRS).

• Increase the importance of standardizing the Department’s LRS development process to develop accurate multimodal linear referencing methods.

• Improve the ability for enhancing the accuracy of information shown on Straight Line Diagrams.

• Increases the value of the data for internal and external data users.

SPECIFIC INFORMATION REQUESTED:

FDOT would like interested parties to submit a technical and brief presentation discussing their system solution and processes that are of a nonproprietary nature only.

PROCESS

Responses to this RFI will be reviewed by FDOT and other programmatic and Information Technology staff for informational purposes only and will not result in the award of a contract. This is an RFI as defined by section 287.012(22), Florida Statutes. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by FDOT to form a binding contract. §287.012(22), Fla. Stat. (2016). Information received in response to this RFI, however, may be used to develop future procurements. Respondents to this RFI will not be prohibited from submitting bids to such future procurements based solely on having responded to this RFI. §287.057(17) (c), Fla. Stat. (2016). FDOT will review responses received from this RFI to determine the feasibility of issuing a competitive solicitation for services or commodities. Any request for cost information is for budget purposes only.

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDENTS

The instructions for this RFI were designed to help ensure all responses are reviewed in a consistent manner. The response must include:

1. Details

Interested Respondents should include the following information in their responses:

• Graphical User Interface solution integrating existing RCI apps and tools.

• Proposed architecture for the Production environment to include hardware, operating system, framework, database, and minimum requirements.

• Proposed storage solution.

• Name of proposed registry solution.

• Respondent’s history providing similar systems to agencies in other states or US territories, to include contact information of each reference: Name, title, telephone number and email address.

• Examples of real-world reports agencies in other states or US territories have derived from the respondents solution.

• Provide pricing models for maintenance agreements.

• Describe ways the use of the registry solution will result in costs savings to the Department

• Describe the company’s approach to “Enterprise” license agreements and how it relates to agency customers.

• Describe the development process from specifications gathering and documentation to testing and release with approximate timelines.

• Describe the change management process.

• Describe the issue resolution process.

• Describe how modifications to the system are handled (legislative, enhancements, fixes/bugs) and cost structure modified.

• Any other pertinent information that vendors want to supply in response to this RFI.

Respondent’s history with all similar systems, organizational structure, and contact information for each reference: Name, title, phone number, and email address.

• Any other information that Respondent wishes to supply in response to this

RFI.

2. Questions to Vendors

The Department is seeking information in support of a possible solution to meet the project objectives. Specifically, the Department expects any interested vendors to respond to the following:

1. What is the application development timeframe?

2. Can the vendor provide staff on-site to develop applications on FDOT's environment?

3. What project management method is utilized by the company to deliver on-time quality products to clients?

4. What kind of quality assurance and quality control is performed to ensure the deliverables meet the customer's needs?

5. Provide your company’s experience in implementing a graphical user interface for a roads and highways based asset management system. Provide some examples for projects with relevant sizes and objectives.

RESPONSE

It is not necessary to prepare responses using elaborate brochures and artwork, expensive paper and bindings, or other expensive visual presentation aids. Responses should be prepared in accordance with the instructions provided in this RFI. FDOT is not responsible for and will not reimburse any costs incurred in the preparation or submission of information in response to this RFI.

This is strictly an RFI, and in no way, does this request bind FDOT to solicit bids or proposals in the future.

However, in no way does submittal of information pursuant to this RFI give any Respondent any advantage in any solicitation if FDOT elects to solicit bids/proposals in the future. No confidential information should be submitted in response to this RFI.

VENDOR OPEN FORUM AGENDA

Based upon the completeness of the response, FDOT, at its sole discretion, may invite Respondents for an oral presentation. It is anticipated respondents will be scheduled in through the month of February 2023. Each presentation will be scheduled from one to two hours depending on the response and should include the following:

• A high-level overview of the product highlighting the core agency processes the product addresses, including customer references for the product where it is currently installed.

• The Respondent should be prepared to discuss its experience and competency in the design, development, and implementation of their solution, training and knowledge transfer activities, operations, and maintenance of the proposed solution, and, if applicable, any additional vendors the Respondent partnered with to provide a complete solution.

• A discussion about the approach taken in previous implementations, challenges and risks encountered, and mitigating factors taken into consideration; and

• Opportunities for Questions and Answers.

CONTACT FOR QUESTIONS OR CLARIFICATION:

Please send any questions or comments to:

Jerry Scott

Project Manager

Jerry.Scott@dot.state.fl.us

The requested information must be received by 5:00 pm (EST) on 1/31/2023. Email is the preferred method of response.

Send to:

Jerry Scott

Project Manager

The Florida Department of Transportation

Transportation Data and Analytics Office

605 Suwannee Street, MS 27

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0450

Note: Responses to this Request for Information (RFI) will be reviewed by the agency for informational purposes, and will not be considered as offers to be accepted by the agency to form a binding contract.

Advertisement of any subsequent competitive solicitation that may result from this RFI will be posted on the Florida Vendor Bid System.

ATTACHMENTS:

• 2016 Joint Application Requirements (JAR) Sessions

• Graphical User Interface Home Page Example

• HPMS FHWA Submittal

• Reporting Needs

LINKS:

• Geographic Information System: https://www.fdot.gov/statistics/gis/default.shtm

• Mileage Reports: https://www.fdot.gov/statistics/mileage-rpts/default.shtm

• Open Data Portal: https://gis-fdot.opendata.arcgis.com/search?q=tda

• Roadway Characteristic Inventory Data: https://www.fdot.gov/statistics/rci/default.shtm mailto:Jerry.Scott@dot.state.fl.us https://www.fdot.gov/statistics/gis/default.shtm https://www.fdot.gov/statistics/mileage-rpts/default.shtm https://gis-fdot.opendata.arcgis.com/search?q=tda https://www.fdot.gov/statistics/rci/default.shtm