V3272020_SSJ_V1_Redacted.pdf

Procurement Request No. V3272020

ITS EPRIMER UPDATE – VOLPE CENTER PR PAGE 1 OF 2 7 FEBRUARY 2020

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

VOLPE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS CENTER (VOLPE CENTER)

Program Development and Capacity Building Division (V327)

SOLE SOURCE JUSTIFICATION

A. Description of Supplies/Services.

Under a succession of Inter-Agency Agreements (IAA), the USDOT Volpe Center has supported the

Intelligent Transportation Systems Professional Capacity Building (ITS PCB) Program since its establishment in 1996. The ITS PCB Program is a cross-cutting program based in the United States

Department of Transportation (USDOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO).

An ongoing activity that the Volpe Center performs is the frequent creation of bid packages for the development and delivery of training courses and other outreach and educational products by third parties.

As an alternative method to the traditional procurement and development process, the ITS PCB Program

Manager has requested that the Volpe Center conduct all activities necessary to progress from training course and educational material concept to development to delivery, including the procurement of third parties to create and deliver the training and educational products, if necessary.

A cost-effective way to achieve the goal of bringing 21st-century learning to ITS professionals is to leverage existing resources, such as the ITS ePrimer, for continued knowledge sharing. The ITS ePrimer provides transportation professionals with fundamental concepts and emerging practices related to ITS technologies in a fully accessible on-line format. Because significant technological advances continue to occur since the development and publication of the original ITS ePrimer, content in many of the ePrimer modules are now out-of-date. With this knowledge in mind, the ITS ePrimer was intentionally designed in an electronic modular format to facilitate its continued update.

One critical task that was highlighted under the current IAA for FY20 is the development of updated and new ITS ePrimer modules. Specifically, the Volpe ITS PCB team will work with the Institute of

Transportation Engineers (ITE) to create the next phase of ITS ePrimer training products. ITE’s two-year development of the eight updated and new ITS ePrimer modules

B. Market Research.

In 2012, the U.S. DOT ITS JPO’s PCB Program teamed with the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) to produce the initial set of 14 ITS ePrimer chapters, posted on the ITS PCB website in 2013. It was logical for the ITS PCB Program to collaborate with ITE in 2012 because this was to be an updated and online version of the original 550-page Intelligent Transportation Primer, developed by ITE. The ITS PCB once again aligned with the ITE to lead the update of seven of the 14 modules in 2016.

For 20 years, ITE has maintained a close relationship with the ITS PCB Program and this association is considered a vital partner with the development and deployment of ITS-relevant training and education materials. The ITE staff is very familiar with the objectives of the ITS PCB Program and continues to contribute to a variety of ITS PCB training materials, including the 77-chapter ITS Standards training modules.

Procurement Request No. V3272020

ITS EPRIMER UPDATE – VOLPE CENTER PR PAGE 2 OF 2 7 FEBRUARY 2020

C. Supporting Rationale.

(1) Sole Source: Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

(i) The ITE has already produced the initial ITS ePrimer in 2012 and the partial update in 2016. ITE staff is familiar with the process involved and the general look and format of the educational modules.

(ii) The ITE can create the supplemental module webinars with their own resources, saving the ITS

PCB Program valuable time in the production of each webinar event and the subsequent development of the online archived recordings.

(iii) The ITE has an established network of subject matter experts that can be called upon to be module authors and to provide critical review within the technical advisory committee(s).

(iv) The ITE will also ensure that this product is designed by the transportation professional for the active practitioner. The Volpe Center will ensure that the contract and associated activities are managed in an effective manner, but the ITE will ensure that working transportation professionals are active participants in the ITS ePrimer module development and updates.

(2) Brand Name: N/A.

(3) Unusual and Compelling Urgency: N/A.

required for procurements over $25,000)