RFP No. 6913G621R200003.pdf

For the best experience, open this PDF portfolio in

Acrobat X or Adobe Reader X, or later.

Get Adobe Reader Now!

http://www.adobe.com/go/reader

RFP No. 6913G621R200003

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION B - SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS

B.1 CONTRACT TYPE (DEC 2013)

B.2 CONTRACT LIMITATIONS (MAY 2020)

B.3 CONTRACT SCOPE (DEC 2013)

B.4 CONTRACT LINE ITEMS (FEB 2016)

SECTION C - DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1 BACKGROUND

C.2 SCOPE OF WORK

C.3 TASK AREAS OF WORK AND MODES

C.5 SUSTAINABLE ACQUISITION REQUIREMENTS

SECTION D - PACKAGING AND MARKING

D.1 PACKAGING (MAY 1999)

D.2 MARKING (MAY 1999)

SECTION E - INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE

E.1 FAR 52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

E.2 GOVERNMENT REVIEW AND ACCEPTANCE (JAN2017)

SECTION F - DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE

F.1 FAR 52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

F.2 CONTRACT PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE & ORDERING PERIOD (DEC 2020)

F.3 DELIVERIES (MAY 2013)

F.4 MONTHLY CONTRACT PROGRESS REPORT (JAN 2014)

F.5 MONTHLY TASK ORDER PROGRESS REPORTS (DEC 2013)

F.6 MONTHLY TASK ORDER COST REPORTS (DEC 2013)

F.7 TECHNICAL REPORTS – TASK ORDER CONTRACTS (APR 2013)

F.8 REPORTS OF WORK - REPORT DISTRIBUTION (DEC 2013)

F.9 DOCUMENTATION OF COMPUTER PROGRAMS (MAY 1999)

F.10 RIGHTS IN DATA (DEC 2007)

F.11 WARRANTIES (MAY 1999)

F.12 LICENSES (MAY 1999)

F.13 PLACE OF CONTRACT PERFORMANCE (JAN 2017)

F.14 DELIVERABLE FORMAT (MAY 2013)

SECTION G - CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA

G.1 RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION (JAN 2017)

G.2 ORDERING (JUN 2013)

G.3 TASK ORDERS ISSUED UNDER MULTIPLE AWARD CONTRACTS (JAN 2017)

G.4 TASK ORDER OMBUDSMAN (NOV 2020)

G.5 TECHNICAL DIRECTION (APR 2016)

G.6 PAYMENT AND CONSIDERATION (JAN 2014)

G.7 ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION OF PAYMENT REQUESTS (NOV 2020)

G.8 SUBMISSION OF INVOICE SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION UNDER COST

REIMBURSEMENT CONTRACTS OR TASK ORDERS

G.9 PAYMENT OF FEE - COST-PLUS-FIXED-FEE (DEC 2013)

G.10 PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS (AUG 2020)

G.11 VOUCHER REVIEW (APR 2016)

G.12 COST ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS (DEC 2020)

G.13 INCREMENTAL FUNDING OF TASK ORDERS (NOV 2015)

G.14 TRAVEL AND PER DIEM (JAN 2016)

G.15 ALLOTMENT (NOV 2015)

G.16 TAR 1252.242-73 CONTRACTING OFFICER’S TECHNICAL REPRESENTATIVE

SECTION H - SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS

H.1 NON-PERSONAL SERVICES (APR 2016)

H.2 GPO PRINTING REQUIREMENT (DEC 2009)

H.3 CONTRACTOR RESPONSIBILITY (DEC 1998)

H.4 SALES TAX EXEMPTION (DEC 2020)

H.5 LEVEL-OF-EFFORT NOTIFICATION (DEC 2020)

H.6 HANDLING OF DATA (AUG 2011)

H.7 TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES/REFRESHMENTS (MAR 2008)

H.8 INSURANCE (FEB 2009)

H.9 MAXIMUM FEE/PROFIT (JAN 2014)

H.10 SMALL BUSINESS SUBCONTRACTING PLAN (JAN 2014)

H.11 SUBCONTRACT CONSENT (DEC 2020)

H.12 SECURITY AND POSITION SENSITIVITY DESIGNATIONS (APR 2016)

H.13 HARDWARE/SOFTWARE (DEC 2020)

H.14 REQUESTS TO ACQUIRE EQUIPMENT (MAY 2013)

H.15 PERFORMANCE OF WORK AND SAFETY PROVISIONS ON GOVERNMENT PREMISES

(DEC 2013)

H.16 CONSENT TO RELEASE GOVERNMENT-ORDERED ITEMS (MAR 2014)

H.17 ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST (JAN 2014)

H.18 VISITOR IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL FACILITIES (MAR 2016)49

H.20 CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURE (MAR 2008)

H.21 PUBLIC ACCESS REQUIREMENTS AND COMPLIANCE (DEC 2020)

H.22 SECTION 508 ACCESS BOARD STANDARDS

H.23 PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT AND INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD

SECTION I - CONTRACT CLAUSES

I.1 FAR 52.252-2 CLAUSES INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE (FEB 1998)

I.2 FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (48 CFR CHAPTER 1) - FULL TEXT CLAUSES56

I.3. TRANSPORTATION ACQUISITION REGULATION (48 CFR CHAPTER 12) CLAUSES .. 57

SECTION J – LIST OF ATTACHMENTS

SECTION K - REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS, AND OTHER STATEMENTS OF

OFFERORS

K.1 IMPORTANCE OF ANNUAL REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS

K.2 FAR 52.204-8 ANNUAL REPRESENTATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS (MAR 2020)

K.3 52.204-24 REPRESENTATION REGARDING CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND

VIDEO SURVEILLANCE SERVICES OR EQUIPMENT (OCT 2020)

K.4 INFORMATION REGARDING RESPONSIBILTY MATTERS (OCT 2018)

K.5 52.209-12 CERTIFICATION REGARDING TAX MATTERS (OCT 2020)

K.6 ....................... 52.209-13 VIOLATION OF ARMS CONTROL TREATIES OR AGREEMENTS-

CERTIFICATION (JUL 2020)

K.7 52.230-1 COST ACCOUNTING STANDARDS NOTICES AND CERTIFICATIONS

K.8 52.230-7 PROPOSAL DISCLOSURE – COST ACCOUNTING PRACTICE CHANGES (APR

2005)

K.9 FAR 52.204-24 REPRESENTATION REGARDING CERTAIN TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO

SURVEILLANCE SERVICES OR EQUIPMENT (AUG 2020)

SECTION L - INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS, AND NOTICES TO OFFERORS OR QUOTERS 76

L.1 FAR 52.252-1 SOLICITATION PROVISIONS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

L.2 GENERAL INFORMATION

L.3 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR TECHNICAL PROPOSAL AND COST AND BUSINESS

PROPOSAL PREPARATION

L.4 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COST AND BUSINESS PROPOSAL (VOLUME I)

L.5 INSTRUCTIONS FOR TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

SECTION M - EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

M.1 GENERAL

M.2 TECHNICAL PROPOSAL EVALUATION

M.3 COST AND BUSINESS EVALUATION CRITERIA

ATTACHMENT J.11

MONTHLY TASK ORDER COST REPORT FORMAT

ATTACHMENT J.12

QUALITY ASSURANCE SURVEILLANCE PLAN (QASP)

ATTACHMENT J.13

THFRAT LABOR CATEGORY QUALIFICATIONS

SECTION B - SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COSTS

B.1 CONTRACT TYPE (DEC 2013)

A. This is an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) task order contract. Work will be placed under this contract through the issuance of task orders.

B. Task orders may be issued on a Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP), Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee (CPFF) completion, or CPFF term basis at the Contracting Officer's discretion consistent with the guidelines provided in Part 16 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). Performance-based task orders will be used to the maximum extent practicable.

C. Individual CFFP task orders will be issued on a completion-type basis pursuant to FAR 16.306 (d)(1). If a completion-type task order is not appropriate, a term-type task order may be issued pursuant to FAR 16.306(d)(2).

D. The Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) structure provided in Subsection B.4 below establishes a CLIN for the three contract types/pricing methods available for use under this contract. Because using a particular contract type/pricing methodology requires terms and conditions specific to that use, this contract includes terms and conditions covering FFP, CPFF completion, and CPFF term tasks.

B.2 CONTRACT LIMITATIONS (MAY 2020)

A. Multiple Contract Awards: (To be completed at time of award) contracts have been awarded.

B. Maximum Contract Value: The value of all task orders placed under all contracts awarded shall not exceed $(To be completed at time of award). As a task order is issued to one Contractor, its value is subtracted from the total value available to all Contractors.

C. Minimum Guarantee: The guaranteed minimum is $2,500 for each contract.

B.3 CONTRACT SCOPE (DEC 2013)

The Contractor, acting as an independent Contractor and not as an agent of the Government, shall furnish all personnel, supplies, facilities, materials, support, and management necessary to provide the services required under this contract. The scope of this effort is defined in the Statement of Work (SOW) (see Section C).

Specific work requirements will be stated in individual task orders.

B.4 CONTRACT LINE ITEMS (FEB 2016)

CLIN Description Unit Price Total Maximum 00100 The Contractor shall furnish all personnel, supplies, facilities, materials, support, and management necessary to provide the services in accordance with the SOW entitled Transportation Human Factors Research, Development and Program Evaluation, Advanced Technologies (THFRAT) and other terms and conditions of this contract through one or more of the contract types set forth below.

N/A NTE $

00101 Fixed Price Task Orders NSP NSP 00102 Cost Plus Fixed Fee – Term (LOE)

Type Task Orders

NSP NSP

00103 Cost Plus Fixed Fee – Completion Type Task Orders

NSP NSP

00200 Minimum Guarantee $2,500.00 $2,500.00

SECTION C - DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK

TRANSPORTATION HUMAN FACTORS RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND PROGRAM

EVALUATION: ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES (THFRAT)

C.1 BACKGROUND

The John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) is a Federal fee-for-service organization within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R). The Volpe Center's mission is to improve the nation's transportation systems by anticipating emerging issues and advancing technical, operational, and institutional innovations. In partnership with sponsoring agencies and supporting private sector partners, the Volpe Center provides transportation planning, research, and program evaluation services to OST-R, the DOT modal administrations, other Federal agencies, state agencies, and other organizations.

The services are designed, developed and provided with the following guiding principles in mind:

• The government should act as a catalyst for safe, effective technologies, not an impediment;

• The research should accelerate innovations that improve safety, foster risk-based analyses that prevent accidents, decrease needless congestion, improve efficiency, and increase access to mobility for underserved populations; and

• The research should facilitate clear government action rooted in analysis derived from sound science and data.

The Volpe Center utilizes a combination of Federal personnel and contractor support to marshal the broad range and quantity of skills needed to perform sponsoring agencies' projects. By establishing a pool of professional technical/scientific resources, the Volpe Center can respond to new, long-range requirements of its sponsors' technical programs in a timely and effective manner. The contractor will serve as an important resource to the Volpe Center's team, providing high-technology capabilities and skills that can support the Volpe Center's team achieve its programmatic objectives in the area of human factors research in transportation across the modes.

C.2 SCOPE OF WORK

Automation and related advanced technologies can radically transform the future of transportation, increasing safety, decreasing congestion, improving efficiency, and increasing access to mobility, especially for underserved populations. The Volpe Center's programmatic activities supported by the Transportation Human Factors Research, Development, and Program are broadly based, covering most modes of transportation, a variety of sponsoring organizations, multiple forms of scientific evaluation (laboratory, simulator, field, survey), and a variety of disciplines within human factors and the broader transportation community. The work supporting these programs requires a thorough understanding of both the effects on the human operator of the advances in technologies across the different modes of transportation, and the opportunities afforded by such advances as were listed immediately above. Developing this understanding, particularly as it relates to the human operator, will better enable the Volpe Center to ensure that the government catalyzes safe, effective technologies, accelerates innovation, and facilitates action derived from sound science.

The significant, new issues in advanced technologies and transportation human factors research, development and program evaluation that are expected to arise during the next four years will involve all manner of vehicles, for example, passenger vehicles, trucks, motor coaches and buses, commuter rail and freight trains, vessels, other users of the surface transportation system (pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists), and the systems within which they are embedded (the human operators and users, the infrastructure, the coordinated intelligence as exemplified by ITS) as well as the many different types of air transport (planes, ultralight aircraft, drones) and the systems within which they operate (the pilots and air traffic controllers, the type of aviation, NextGen).

There are a multiplicity of advanced technologies that will appear and many that have appeared but have not yet been fully evaluated. These include systems that warn the driver of an approaching problem, monitor driver state, intervene automatically at the last instance before a crash, offer continuous assistance by automating portions or all of the driving task, and help with navigation and route guidance. These systems are becoming ever more powerful as communications between the vehicle and other vehicles, other road users, and the infrastructure are embedded within them (commonly referred to as V2X communication).

Knowing how the operators and users of the various components of transportation systems will respond to new technologies in each of the different modes will require at the very minimum broad advances in the following:

• New Ways of Understanding Human Performance: It will require a deeper understanding of the effects of how trust in automation, adaptation to new technologies, situation awareness, transfer of control, distraction, workload, the design of the operator-vehicle interface, education and training, age, physical and mental capabilities, and drug and alcohol impairment affect operator safety and performance;

• New Ways of Predicting Human Performance: It will require the development of models of human performance in complex systems which incorporate these advanced technologies, models that this deeper understanding will afford. Such models are generally based on an in-depth analysis of the cognitive, motor and perceptual elements that are required to perform a given task. The models can be used both to identify the optimal design of a given intervention and to predict how the human operator will behave under a wide variety of circumstances so that situations in which errors might occur can be flagged and mitigated ahead of time;

• New Ways of Gathering Human Performance Data: It will require enhancements in our ability to collect performance measures from human operators and vulnerable transportation users across the different modes: in the laboratory on simulators that may be connected to one another; in field operational experiments and naturalistic studies on the road; in work settings relevant to the different modes; and in the data warehouses where crash and injury statistics are stored. Augmented reality may be used in the laboratory or in the field to provide the additional power required safely and flexibly to gather human performance data;

• New Ways of Analyzing Data and Evaluating Programs: It will require new ways of analyzing the vast quantities of data that are gathered in the above efforts, including vehicle behaviors, operator behaviors and physiological measures (eye movements, EEG), as well as new ways of evaluating system wide programs for workers (e.g., the FRA Confidential Close Calls Reporting System) that are designed to identify and remediate the potential problems that can occur with the use of these advanced technologies; and

• New Technologies, New Countermeasures, New Processes: It will require the development of entirely new technologies, countermeasures and processes in the vehicle (surface or air), in the infrastructure, and in the safety culture where these new technologies appear in order for the technologies to achieve their full benefit where the human operator is in the loop.

In delivering the services related to the advances described above, Volpe envisions its staff and its contractors serving in multiple, complementary roles across the development, experimental design, data collection, analysis, reporting, dissemination and implementation aspects of the research-to-practice life-cycle, depending on the particulars of the project. Volpe also requires that its contractors meet both, the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, or the “Common Rule” and federal policies relevant to the external review and replication of data by future researchers.

Several sponsoring agencies of the US DOT, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the Maritime Administration (MARAD), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), have partnered with the Volpe Center to take advantage of its unique expertise in surface and aviation transportation human factors.

C.3 TASK AREAS OF WORK AND MODES

The Volpe Center anticipates the need for contractor support in seven areas across four modal groups1 related to transportation human factors: automobile; rail; truck, transit bus, and motor coach; and aviation.

Marine vessels may serve as a fifth modal group as the needs arise. For each of the seven areas, the advances in technology which define the area are described herein, the knowledge needed to address the key human factors issues is defined herein, and the tasks which are likely needed are the ones listed below.

Accordingly, the seven areas include the following:

1. Advanced In-Vehicle Technologies and the Operator-Machine Interface: Mainly Laboratory, Simulator and Field Studies.

This work area covers the design, conduct and/or analysis of laboratory, simulator or field experiments to evaluate innovative in-vehicle operator-machine interfaces in any one of the different modes of transportation. The advances in in-vehicle technologies and the transportation systems in which they operate will demand new driver-vehicle interfaces for planes, automobiles, trucks, buses and motor coaches.

Automation is rapidly being introduced into trains, including automation designed to make trains both safer and more fuel efficient. This automation will require altogether new interfaces. Finally, the transition to NextGen introduces new flight deck displays and automation, such as those associated with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and Controller-Pilot Datalink Communications (CPDLC).

NextGen may also affect some of the functions of current-day technologies and displays, such as Electronic Flight Bags (EFB) and warning systems.

In order to understand how these advances in automation will impact the human operator, work in this area requires subject matter experts across the modes who have: a knowledge of the factors that determine why operators perform differently when given different in-vehicle interfaces to undertake the same task; the skills needed to storyboard the simulator scenarios that will be required to evaluate the different hypotheses about performance when simulation is used; the skills necessary to predict operators’ behavior in real time interacting with different interfaces under widely varying conditions, including the undertaking of an in-depth cognitive task analysis where this might be necessary; the experience required to conduct experiments on the various modal simulators or in the field; the skills needed both to gather the complex vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors that can be measured on a simulator and in the field and then to analyze those behaviors; and a deep knowledge of the possible new technologies, countermeasures and processes one might develop in order to improve the benefit that the new technologies can provide when the human is in the loop.

The work tasks in this area may involve one or more of the design of laboratory, simulator or field experiments, the conduct of experiments (including the recruitment of professional participants, e.g., locomotive engineers or transit operators), the gathering and analysis of vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors, and the development of novel operator-machine interfaces, novel countermeasures where there are problems with the interfaces, and new processes where they may be needed (e.g., checklists).

1 Note these do not correspond one for one to the modal agencies at the DOT.

Use of advanced project management techniques is required in all projects, including the preparation of a detailed project plan in the MS Project software.

Examples of potential tasks include:

a) Design, conduct, and/or analyze experiments on a driving simulator (passenger car) to compare the performance of drivers using different interfaces to vehicles across the full range of automation possibilities;

b) Design, conduct and/or analyze experiments in the field to compare the performance of drivers using different types of warnings (e.g. visual, auditory, haptic) and symbols to alert drivers to potential threats and safety-critical conditions;

c) Design, conduct, and/or analyze experiments on a train simulator to compare the performance of locomotive engineers using a head-up display (HUD) and a head-down display (HDD) of automated safety-critical or efficiency-critical operational information;

d) Design, conduct and/or analyze experiments on in the field to compare the performance of locomotive engineers using different types of warnings (e.g. visual, auditory, haptic) and symbols to alert them to safety-critical or efficiency-critical operational information;

e) Design, conduct, and/or analyze experiments in the field to compare the performance of transit bus operators using different pedestrian/bicycle collision warning system interfaces;

f) Design, conduct and/or analyze experiments on a flight simulator to compare alternative aeronautical charting and procedure designs, symbols, formats for information presentation and display design, and human-automation interfaces;

g) Design, conduct and/or analyze experiments on a flight simulator to compare the performance of pilots using different types of warnings (e.g. visual, auditory, haptic) and symbols to alert them to safety-critical and efficiency-critical conditions;

h) Design, conduct, and/or analyze experiments on a flight simulator to compare the performance of pilots using different interfaces in the cockpit across the full range of automation possibilities; and

i) Generate reports, presentations and publications.

Tasks such as the above on simulators could be completed on the available simulators at the Volpe Center2 (automobile, train, flight), in combination with the simulators at the Volpe Center (connected to simulators at other locations), or separate from the simulators at the Volpe Center.

2. Advanced Technologies and the Environment Outside the Vehicle: Mainly Laboratory, Simulator and Field Studies.

The work in this area will include the design, conduct and/or analysis of laboratory, simulator or field experiments to determine the effect on operator safety and efficiency of changes both to the environment in which the operator navigates and to the information about objects in the world outside the interior of the vehicle which is transmitted to the operator by these objects, changes which depend on advanced technologies. In the arena of surface vehicles, these advances in technologies include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications that allow operators of cars, trucks, buses, motor coaches and trains to be aware of each other’s presence, the introduction of radically new roadway geometries (e.g., the diverging diamond interchange), and the dynamic status of signals. In aviation, these

2The driving simulator at Volpe includes a train model with actual highway-rail grade crossings, the capability to mimic different levels of automation, and the possibility of being linked to simulators at other locations.

advances include NextGen, a program that seeks to replace the country’s radar-based air traffic system with GPS technology.

In order to understand how these advances in automation will impact the human operator, work in this area requires subject matter experts across the modes who have: a knowledge of the factors that determine how operators will perform in an environment where V2V and V2I communications provide information about some safety-critical or efficiency-critical task; the skills needed to storyboard the simulator scenarios that will be required to evaluate the different hypotheses about performance when simulation is used; the skills required to predict operators’ behavior in real time interacting with V2V and V2I technologies under widely varying conditions, including where relevant an in-depth cognitive task analysis; the experience required to conduct laboratory, simulator and field experiments across the modes where V2V and V2I communications are enabled; the skills needed both to gather the complex vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors that can be measured in experiments and then to analyze those behaviors; and a commanding knowledge of the possible new V2V and V2I technologies, countermeasures and processes one might develop in order to improve the benefit that they can provide when the human is in the loop.

The work tasks in this area may involve one or more of the design of laboratory, simulator and field experiments, the conduct of experiments (including the recruitment of professional participants, e.g., locomotive engineers, transit operators, or commercial pilots), the gathering and analysis of vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors, and the development of novel uses of V2V and V2I communications where the human is in the loop.

Use of advanced project management techniques is required in all projects, including the preparation of a

Example tasks could include:

a) Design, conduct or analyze experiments in the field to compare the performance of passenger car drivers using vehicle-to-infrastructure communications to control their speed on the approach to curves with the performance of drivers whose vehicles were not so equipped;

b) Design, conduct or analyze experiments on a driving simulator with an embedded train model to compare the performance of drivers at highway-rail grade crossings with alternative signs, signals and pavement markings to the performance of drivers at such crossings with standard signs, signals and pavement markings;

c) Design, conduct or analyze experiments on a transit bus simulator to simulator to compare the performance of drivers using vehicle-to-traffic signal communications to control their speed on the approach to traffic signals and thereby optimize fuel efficiency with the performance of drivers whose vehicles were not so equipped;

d) Design, conduct and/or analyze experiments on a flight simulator to compare different enhanced flight vision systems during takeoff, landing and taxiing in poor visibility conditions that depend on V2V (airplane to airplane) and V2I communications (rather than current sensing technologies); and

e) Generate reports, presentations and publications.

Tasks such as the above which require simulation could be completed on the available simulators at the Volpe Center, in combination with the simulators at the Volpe Center (connected to simulators at other locations), or separate from the simulators at the Volpe Center.

3. Advanced Technologies and Crashes, Near Crashes, and Conflicts: Mainly Naturalistic Studies and Field Operational Experiments.

The work in this area will cover the design, conduct and/or analysis of naturalistic studies and field operational experiments that will help reveal the impact of the advanced vehicle technologies on operator behavior as measured by crashes, near crashes, conflicts3 , or other measures of driver performance. The advanced technologies include those already described above, ones that are used to warn the driver, detect driver state, automatically intervene, continuously assist, or help with navigation and guidance. They include both those that rely and those that do not rely on V2X communications (unlike the above where these efforts on a simulator were separated into those that do and those that do not rely on V2X communications). Finally, they include all levels of vehicle automation which, for passenger cars, are now Levels 0 – 5.

In order to understand how these advances in automation will impact the human operator, work in this area will demand subject matter experts across the modes who have: a knowledge of the factors that determine how operators in the field using any of the advanced technologies that have been described above will perform differently than operators without access to such technologies; the skills required to predict operators’ behavior in the short and long term as they adapt to the advanced technologies, including an in-depth cognitive task analysis where this is relevant; the experience and skills needed to conduct a naturalistic study or field operational test (the latter, perhaps using some version of augmented reality), including obtaining the vehicles, instrumenting the vehicles to gather vehicle, driver and physiological measures, uploading the data from the vehicle, storing the data, and making the data available for analysis; and the skills needed to analyze the terabytes of vehicle, driver and physiological data that are available from naturalistic and field operational studies.

The work tasks in this area may involve one or more of the design of naturalistic studies and field operational experiments, the conduct of such studies and experiments, and the gathering and analysis of vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors.

Use of advanced project management techniques is required in all projects, including the preparation of a

Example tasks could include:

a) Design, conduct or analyze naturalistic studies or field operational experiments to understand how drivers will respond to platooning with connected vehicles and their impact on crashes/near crashes and conflicts;

b) Design, conduct or analyze naturalistic studies or field operational experiments to understand driver interactions with different vehicle automation levels and their impact on crashes/near crashes and conflicts;

c) Design, conduct or analyze naturalistic studies or field operational experiments to understand how transit bus operators will respond to various pedestrian and bicycle collision warning systems and how that response will impact crashes/near crashes and conflicts;

d) Design, conduct or analyze naturalistic studies or field operational experiments to understand how locomotive engineers will respond to advanced technologies designed to increase safety and/or fuel efficiency and how that response could impact crashes/near crashes and conflicts;

e) Design, conduct and/or analyze naturalistic studies or field operational experiments at aerodromes to understand better why pilots are involved in runway incursions and how countermeasures could reduce crashes/near crashes and conflicts; and

f) Generate reports, presentations and publications.

3 A near crash is defined as any circumstance that requires a rapid, evasive maneuver by the subject vehicle, to avoid a crash with another vehicle, pedestrian, cyclist, or animal. A traffic conflict is an observable situation in which two or more road users approach each other in space and time to such an extent that a collision will occur if the driver does not intervene

The scope and major elements of the research project will be detailed by Volpe Center staff. Depending on the project, the actual conduct of the naturalistic studies or field operational experiments may be undertaken by the contractor with oversight from the Volpe Center or with Volpe Center researchers actively engaged as project participants. The design of the particulars of the research and the particulars of the analysis of the data may be undertaken in concert with researchers at the Volpe Center; in some cases, the Volpe Center will conduct most though not necessarily all of the analyses. Field operational experiments and naturalistic studies would need to be conducted outside the Volpe Center.

4. Education and Training

This work area covers the development and evaluation of novel training programs in the laboratory, on a simulator or in the field that are designed to provide operators with the skills, knowledge and abilities that they need in order to operate vehicles with the advanced technologies in a way which maximizes the impact of these technologies on increases in safety and mobility on the one hand and decreases in congestion on the other hand. These novel training programs can range from simulator-based programs designed to decrease, say, driver distraction, on the one hand to child-to-adult programs designed to decrease the adult driver’s distraction on the other hand. The advances in in-vehicle technologies such as V2V and V2I communications will require operators of automobiles, trucks, buses and motor coaches to understand that they are being warned of threats they cannot see and may never materialize. The advances in automation will require operators of these same vehicles, especially at Levels 1 – 3, to learn how to remain situation aware and, when necessary, take over control after long periods when such control was not necessary. In aviation, as commercial pilots become less and less involved in the actual flying of the airplane, they will continue to need the knowledge and skills to take over the aircraft should automation fail.

In order to understand how training an operator can decrease the likelihood that the various advanced technologies provide the full benefit of which they are capable, work in this area requires subject matter experts from the different modes who have: an understanding of what skills, knowledge and abilities lay operators and professional operators need to help them overcome the challenges posed by the advanced technologies; the experience required to develop such training programs as are needed; the skills required to predict how much training will be required to achieve a given level of performance and how long that level of performance will be retained over time, including an in-depth cognitive analysis where possible that can improve predictions of behavior; the experience required to conduct evaluations of the training programs on simulators in the lab and vehicles in the field; the skills needed both to gather and to analyze the complex vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors that can be measured in the laboratory, on a simulator, or in the field and are used to assess learning; and an in-depth knowledge of the wide variety of different training methods that can be used to improve the performance of operators confronted with the advanced technologies, including real-time feedback, web-based training, and simulated error learning, just to name a few.

The work tasks in this area may involve one or more of the design and development of training programs, the design and the conduct of experiments (including the recruitment of professional participants) to evaluate the effects of training on operators, the gathering and analysis of vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors that bear on the evaluation of the effects of the training programs, and the development and evaluation of altogether novel methods for delivering the training.

Use of advanced project management techniques is required in all projects, including the preparation of a

a) Develop and evaluate (in the laboratory, on a simulator, or in the field) a training program to provide drivers of automobiles with advanced levels of automation the experience that they need in order safely to operate the vehicle;

b) Develop and evaluate (in the laboratory, on a simulator, or in the field) a training program to provide transit operators with the experience that they need in order to use effectively the pedestrian and bicycle collision warning systems that are being installed on their vehicles;

c) Develop and evaluate (in the laboratory, on a simulator, or in the field) a training program that provides locomotive engineers with the skills, knowledge and abilities that they need in order to operate safely and efficiently the new safety-critical (e.g., Positive Train Control) and efficiency-critical (e.g., Trip Optimizer) technologies that are being installed in the cab of the locomotive;

d) Develop and evaluate (in the laboratory, on a simulator, or in the field) a training program that provides airline pilots with the manual skills that are increasingly disappearing as automation takes over more and more of the flying for the pilot; and

e) Prepare reports, presentations and publications.

5. Vulnerable Transportation Users

This work area covers the design, conduct and/or analysis of innovative ways to protect vulnerable transportation users with the advanced technologies that have been described above using experiments in the laboratory, on a simulator, or in the field. Vulnerable transportation users include not only pedestrians and bicyclists, but also at risk maintenance crews (e.g., maintenance crews in work zones), general aviation pilots, and motorcyclists, just to name a few. The advances in technologies such as warning systems inside the vehicle (either based on sensors or V2X communication where X could be a pedestrian, a bicyclist or a motorcyclist) have the potential to reduce greatly the number of collisions between automobiles and vulnerable road users. These and other advanced technologies are now also available to vulnerable road users as well, providing an extra level of protection. In rail, the automobile at highway-rail grade crossings is, in effect, a vulnerable road user. Vehicle-to-train communications could potentially reduce the number of train-vehicle strikes at highway-rail grade crossings. Finally, the safety of general aviation (GA) continues to be a concern. Compared to pilots who fly for airlines, GA pilots have more authority to equip their aircraft with new technologies that may improve aviation safety and they may be some of the first to adopt new technologies, but the extent to which these new technologies will be helpful versus harmful for GA is yet to be understood.

In order to understand how best to address the human factors issues that will arise with the new technologies that are available to vulnerable transportation users, work in this area requires subject matter experts from the different modes who have: a knowledge of the factors that determine why operators’ performance varies across different systems that provide them information about vulnerable transportation users, why vulnerable transportation users’ performance varies across different systems that warn them of an approaching or imminent threat, and, more generally, why vulnerable transportation users might have particular problems using the various advanced technologies that could decrease their risk; the skills needed to design studies in the laboratory, on a simulator, or in the field that can be used to evaluate the different hypotheses, different systems, or different programs which address vulnerable transportation users; the skills required to predict operators’ and vulnerable transportation users’ behavior in real time as a function of a given intervention using appropriate task analyses as a baseline; the experience required to conduct studies in the laboratory, on a simulator, in a field operational experiment, or in a naturalistic study; the skills needed both to gather the complex vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors that can be measured in a study and then to analyze those behaviors; and a deep knowledge of the possible new technologies, countermeasures and processes one might develop in order to improve the benefit that the new technologies can provide vulnerable road users.

The work tasks in this area may involve one or more of the design of studies (laboratory experiments, simulator experiments, field operational experiments, naturalistic studies) targeting vulnerable transportation users and new technologies, the conduct of such studies (including the recruitment of vulnerable transportation users), the gathering and analysis of vehicle, operator and vulnerable transportation user behavior, the development of novel operator-machine and vulnerable transportation user-machine interfaces to the new technologies, and the development of novel training programs. The advanced technologies considered as remedies for problems faced by vulnerable transportation users can include any of those mentioned in the sections above (new and better operator-machine interfaces, alternative environments outside the vehicle along with new ways of communicating to the operator the status of various objects in that environment, and new training programs that address the advanced technologies). The evaluations themselves can be undertaken in the laboratory, on a simulator, in a field operational experiment, or in a naturalistic study.

Use of advanced project management techniques is required in all projects, including the preparation of a

a) Design, conduct and/or analyze studies to compare the performance of pedestrians (or cyclists) using a vehicle threat warning system to the performance of those not using such a warning system;

b) Design, conduct, and/or analyze experiments on a driving simulator equipped with a train model to compare the performance of drivers using vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-train communications to control their stopping behavior at highway-rail grade crossings with the performance of drivers whose vehicles were not so equipped;

c) Design, conduct, and/or analyze studies to compare the performance of transit bus operators using different systems to warn the pedestrian or bicyclist of a potential threat;

d) Design, conduct and/or analyze studies to compare the performance of GA pilots who are given special training to use the various advanced technologies with the performance of GA pilots who are given only the manufacturers’ recommended training; and

Some of the tasks such as the above could be completed on the available simulators at the Volpe Center (automobile, train, flight), in combination with the simulators at the Volpe Center (connected to simulators at other locations), or separate from the simulators at the Volpe Center. Studies on a pedestrian, bicycle or transit bus simulator would need to be conducted at some other facility. Field operational experiments and naturalistic studies would also need to be conducted outside the Volpe Center.

6. Impairment Detection and Remediation: Mainly Laboratory, Simulator and Field Studies

This work area covers the design, conduct and/or analysis of innovative studies to fight impairment in transportation across the modes. Impairments that affect the different modes include distraction, alcohol, drugs (prescription and nonprescription), drowsiness and a wide range of cognitive and physical disabilities that prevent a driver from operating a vehicle. Cognitive distraction is becoming more and more of an issue as nomadic devices become ubiquitous inside the vehicle. Cannabis, or marijuana, is increasingly the focus of concern as it is legalized in states for both medical and recreational uses. Mental and physical impairments may soon yield to advances in automation. Improvements in driver-state detection algorithms are making rapid advances which could impact all of these problems.

In order to understand how the improvements in technology that allow for the better detection in real time of driver-state and the transfer of control when necessary from the driver to the automated vehicle can reduce crashes, work in this area requires subject matter experts from the different modes who have: a knowledge of the measures that can be used to identify different driver states and of the ways to relate different levels of driver state both to crash risk and to the requirement that control be transferred from the driver to the vehicle (assuming the vehicle has the required level of automation); when simulation is used, the skills needed to storyboard the simulator scenarios that will be needed to validate the measures of driver state and the relation between driver state and crash risk; the skills required to predict operators’ dynamic levels of impairment in real time under widely varying conditions, predictions based on an in-depth cognitive task analysis where this might be necessary; the experience required to conduct experiments on the various modal simulators or in the field across the different modes; the skills needed both to gather the complex vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors that can be measured and then to analyze those behaviors; and the requisite understanding of the possible new technologies that one might develop to detect the various driver states that can be used to reduce crash risk and increase mobility for those with cognitive and physical impairments.

The work tasks in this area may involve one or more of the design of laboratory, simulator and field experiments, the conduct of experiments (including the recruitment of professional participants), the gathering and analysis of vehicle, driver and physiological behaviors, and the development of novel driver-state detection systems and innovative predictors of crash risk in a simulator.

Use of advanced project management techniques is required in all projects, including the preparation of a

a) Develop different mobility impairment detection systems (e.g., fatigue, drugs, distraction detection systems) for passenger car drivers and then design, conduct, and/or analyze experiments both to compare the validity and reliability of different mobility impairment detection systems and to determine how well the impairment detection systems can predict crash risk;

b) Develop different mobility impairment detection systems (e.g., fatigue) for locomotive engineers and then the design, conduct, and/or analyze experiments both to compare the validity and reliability of different impairment detection systems and to determine how well the impairment detection systems can predict crash risk;

c) Develop different mobility impairment detection systems (e.g., fatigue) for transit bus drivers and then design, conduct, and/or analyze experiments to determine both the relation between the level of a given mobility impairment and the extent of impaired driver behaviors and to identify the relation between these impaired behaviors and crash risk;

d) Develop different fatigue impairment detection systems and then design, conduct and/or analyze experiments on a flight simulator both to compare the validity and reliability of different fatigue detection systems and to determine how well the fatigue detection systems can predict crash risk;

and

Tasks such as the above which are carried out on simulators could be completed on the available simulators at the Volpe Center (automobile, train, flight), in combination with the simulators at the Volpe Center (connected to simulators at other locations), or separate from the simulators at the Volpe Center.

7. Programs and Guidelines

The work in this area is focused on programs and guidelines. The work targeting programs covers both the design, conduct and evaluation of programs that are focused on improving the safety of operators and other workers in the transportation system where advanced technologies are involved and the prediction of the behaviors of the workers in these complex systems in ways which can be used to develop countermeasures.

The work targeting guidelines covers the design, conduct and evaluation of studies that provide information on how well industry is adhering to product and process guidelines. Examples of product guidelines include the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Visual-Manual Distraction Guidelines.

In order to understand whether the programs are having the intended impact on the safety of workers and operators in the transportation system, work in this area requires subject matter experts from the different modes who have: a knowledge of the broad sweep of safety management systems and their relation to a culture of safety; experience implementing, conducting and overseeing programs which impact the safety and the safety culture of transportation workers and operators; a knowledge of the tools to predict the behaviors of operators in such complex systems; an understanding of how to gather the information on changes in both the safety of workers and operators and the safety culture within which they are embedded;

and experience analyzing such information. In order to understand whether the various sets of guidelines are having the intended impact on the evaluation of products used by the human operator or worker and on processes and procedures performed by the human operator or worker in the transportation system, work in this area requires subject matter experts across the modes who have: a deep knowledge of the science and engineering which has led to the formulation of the guidelines; experience conducting evaluations of producers’ adherence to programs, products and process guidelines; knowledge of what information to gather in order to answer relevant evaluation questions; and experience analyzing the information so gathered.

The work tasks in this area focusing on programs may involve one or more of the design of programs, the implementation and conduct of programs, the gathering of information on the performance of programs, the prediction of operator behaviors in complex systems, and the evaluation of the information so gathered. The work tasks in this area focusing on guidelines may involve one or more of the design of procedures to evaluate adherence to process and product guidelines, the implementation and conduct of these procedures, the gathering of information relevant to adherence to process and product guidelines, and the analysis of such information.

Use of advanced project management techniques is required in all projects, including the preparation of a

a) Design, conduct, and/or analyze studies of what processes are in place in the relevant industries to evaluate the visual, manual and cognitive distraction effects of in-vehicle and nomadic devices that make use of advanced technologies and make sure that the aforesaid conform to guidelines;

b) The design, conduct, and/or analysis (formative and summative) of programs or the design, implementation and analysis of countermeasures (or other tools) that improve the safety (e.g., decrease the incidence of fatigue) and/or safety culture of passenger car…