Waybill Statement of Work.pdf

ATTACHMENT 1

Statement of Work Surface Transportation Board

Railroad Carload Waybill Sample

1. Introduction

The purpose of this firm fixed price contract is to obtain a full range of processing services in connection with the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) Carload Waybill

Sample in support of the mission of the STB and the Federal Railroad Administration

(FRA).

The FRA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) concerned with intermodal transportation. FRA was created by the Department of Transportation

Act of 1966. FRA’s mission is to enable the safe, reliable, and efficient movement of people and goods for a strong America, now and in the future.

2. Background

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is an independent, bipartisan adjudicatory body. Until December 2015, STB was organizationally housed within DOT. STB has jurisdiction over certain surface transportation economic regulatory matters. The term

“Government” is used to refer to the FRA and the STB collectively.

STB regulations, at 49 CFR Part 1244, require, among other things, that a subject railroad file with the STB waybill sample information for all line-haul revenue waybills terminated on its lines if it terminates at least 4,500 revenue carloads in any of the three preceding years, or if it terminates at least 5% of the revenue carloads terminating in any state in any of the three preceding years. A subject railroad may file waybill sample information by using either: (1) authenticated copies of audited revenue waybills (the manual system); or (2) a computer-generated sample containing specified information (the computerized system, also referred to as Machine Readable

Input or MRI). See 49 CFR 1244.4 and Statement 81. After processing, the waybill submissions are combined in a 913-byte length record format file, the Confidential

Waybill Sample, and produced in Annual, Quarterly and Monthly subsets. The “Public

Use File,” derived from the 913- byte Annual Confidential Waybill Sample, aggregates the data to protect the confidentiality of specific shipper and railroad information.1

Information from the Confidential Waybill Sample and the Public Use File is used to carry out the regulatory responsibilities of the STB and as input to STB dockets, projects, analysis, and studies. This data is also of value to the FRA in its oversight of the railroad industry. In addition, other federal agencies use waybill data as an important dataset for various studies and projects, and maintain information derived from it as part of their information base. Many states also used waybill data as a major source of information for developing state transportation plans. Finally, non-government entities seek access to waybill data for specific uses, including, but not limited to, the preparation of testimony and verified statements in STB and other regulatory proceedings, such as uses before

State Boards. Access to the Confidential Waybill Sample is controlled by the STB as

1 See. Creation of the Public Use Waybill Sample https://www.stb.gov/stb/industry/econ_waybill.html.

https://www.stb.gov/stb/industry/econ_waybill.html discussed below.

The Confidential Waybill Sample identifies originating and terminating freight stations, the names of all railroads participating in the movement, the point of all railroad interchanges, the number of cars, the car types movement weight, the commodity, and the freight revenue. The names of the shipper and consignee may be part of the railroad’s data submission but are not included in the final sample data. Other data in the sample, such as the origin and destination Freight Station Accounting Code (FSAC) and seven-digit Standard Transportation Commodity Code (STCC), may permit the identification of a shipper and consignee (and some railroad data submissions may contain shipper/consignee information). Accordingly, the Confidential Waybill Sample and the associated railroad data submissions are highly confidential because they can disclose railroad customers, specific volumes, and the rate at which that railroad transports the traffic. Federal law and regulations prohibit the disclosure of such information without specific authority. See 49 U.S.C. 11904-Unlawful of Disclosure of Information; 49 CFR

1244.9.-Procedures for the Release of Waybill Data

3. Scope

a. General Description

The contractor must perform the work in accordance with this Statement of Work

(SOW). The FRA and STB seek to hire a contractor (or contractors) with the necessary expertise to build a complete and accurate Confidential Waybill Sample and, from it, a

Public Use File. This task consists of two (2) separate and distinct phases, with various deliverables within each phase as described in the following sections. Respondents to this solicitation may bid on either Phase I, Phase II, or both. (see section(s) 3 and 4 below for more detail on phases) Although the same contractor may bid for both Phase I and Phase

II, the contract phases will be awarded, administered, and compensated separately. All contractor proposals must specify the phase(s) for which the contractor wishes to be considered and how the contractor will satisfy the requirements.

The FRA Contracting Officer (CO) will issue the contract for the required services and deliverables. Because the Waybill is collected and processed pursuant to the STB’s regulations, the STB will provide a project liaison to provide technical assistance to the

Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). The contractor must provide, in accordance with the requirements specified in this SOW, all resources necessary to research, write, and furnish the services and deliverables described herein.

As discussed in Sections 3 and 4 below, the waybill processing cycle (including Phases I and II) for the period of performance takes place over a 24-month period, beginning with data collection for rail movements on or after January 1 of data collection year, except the base period, the data collection begins on or after July 1, 2023. Using secure electronic transfer protocols, railroads submit to the STB (via the Phase I Contractor) those traffic movements that have been entered into the railroads’ accounting systems between

January 1 (July 1 for the base period), and that have not been reported in a previous waybill sample, and December 31. The Phase I tasks are completed between January 1

(July 1 for the base period) and June 1, 2024, including interim monthly/quarterly waybill data submissions and reporting and the delivery of an acceptable annual

Confidential Waybill Sample file and documentation to the Government.

Following receipt of the Confidential Waybill Sample file from the Government on or about June 2, 2024, the Phase II Contractor completes work between that date and

December 31, 2024, including interim milestone deliverables such as the delivery of the miled and modified waybill file in July 2024.

Any subsequent Option Periods exercised by the Government would follow the cycle that starting on January 1 and ending on December 31 of the following year.

Both the Phase I Contractor and the Phase II Contractor must provide program management, quality control, and error-correction procedures in accordance with the detailed requirements below.

b. Personnel, Materials, Facilities and Automation

Personnel—Both the Phase I and the Phase II Contractor must designate a Project

Manager. The Project Manager must possess the skills and experience needed to manage the personnel required for projects of the magnitude and complexity presented by this statement of work. The Project Manager is responsible for tracking the contractor’s cost, schedule, and technical performance. Further, the Project Manager must ensure that the required level of expertise is applied to the services performed of this contract. Phase I and the Phase II require key personnel with the following minimum requirements, as applicable:

Personnel Discipline Minimum Education/Experience

Program Management (Phase I and II) Experience handling waybill data, 3 years of experience as a program manager

Data Collection (Phase I) Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field of study, or 3 years of related field experience

Rail Network Modeling (Phase I and II) Bachelor’s degree in transportation engineering or related field, or 5 years of related experience

Transportation modeling and traffic assignment (Phase II)

Bachelor’s degree in transportation engineering or related field of study, or 5 years of related experience

Statistical Analysis (Phase I and II) Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics or a related field of study, or 5 years of related experience

Data Analysis (Phase I and II) and Miling (Phase II)

5 years of work-related experience

Quality Assurance Analyst 5 years of work-related experience in data analysis quality assurance

In reviewing proposals, preference will be given to firms that offer key personnel with sufficient complex experience with large datasets similar to the waybill.

Individuals performing in the Key Personnel role(s) must be employed by the contractor.

“Key Personnel” are designated Key because they are deemed crucial to the mission and overall success of the program. “Key Personnel” substitutions are therefore scrutinized with higher rigor than perhaps, non-key personnel.

Replacement of “Key Personnel” can be disruptive and interfere with the government’s ability to accomplish the efforts in a timely manner. The potential impacts of a “Key Personnel” replacement can sideline the mission and impact the goals of the affected Program office for a substantial amount of time. The Contractor must not remove or replace any personnel designated as “Key Personnel” for this contract vehicle, without the written concurrence of the Contracting Officer. Prior to utilizing personnel other than the individuals initially specified for the roles in the table above, the contractor must notify the Contracting Officer. This notification must be no later than fifteen (15) calendar days in advance of any proposed substitution, and must include justification, including resume(s) and labor category of each proposed substitution(s) in sufficient detail to permit evaluation of the impact on the firm fixed price contract performance, including a discussion in response to the following:

• Reason(s) why it is in the government’s best interest to accept such a change

• How the government can expect to maintain continuity in the efforts that are ongoing at present, considering the retraining and re-familiarization with our organization and assigned tasks that inevitably must happen with the introduction of any new individual.

Requests for replacement must also include a detailed resume containing a description of position duties and qualifications, information about the qualifications of the individual(s) proposed, and any additional information requested by the Contracting Officer in sufficient detail to permit the

Contracting Officer to evaluate the impact on the work the Contractor is obligated to perform hereunder. “Key Personnel” substitutions should be accompanied by convincing assurances that the

Contractor has proposed a replacement individual whose qualifications are equal or exceed those of the previous individual in that labor category and position.

NOTE: The proposed substitutions are not compared with the original contract requirements, but rather the previous individual’s qualifications for whom the proposed substitution is intended.

General Staffing Requirements: The contractor must provide staff to ensure all work is performed on schedule in accordance with the deliverable schedule outlined in the contract. All staff interfacing with the Government must be fluent in the English language, verbal and written.

Furthermore, the contractor must assign only competent personnel for performance of the engagement. Competent personnel means those individuals possessing the education, skills, and experience necessary to aid in researching, writing the report to be delivered to the Government.

Materials—Both the Phase I and the Phase II Contractor must furnish all material, including hardware and software, required to process the waybill data submitted by the railroad industry and produce the deliverables specified in Section 4. This includes copies of forms OPAD-1 and OPAD-2 Transmittal forms, as specified in 49 CFR 1244.5, and all other items (e.g., software or other processing mechanisms) necessary for the collection, maintenance, control, and processing of the Waybill Sample. The Phase I Contractor and Phase II Contractor must make all arrangements necessary to access the required Industry Reference Files (IRF) described below and assume all related costs of obtaining that material. No Government

Furnished Equipment (as defined in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)) is required for this contract.

i. Industry Reference Files

Standard Transportation Commodity Classification Code (STCC): The Standard

Transportation Commodity Code (STCC) is a publication containing specific product information used on waybills and other shipping documents. A STCC code is a seven-digit numeric code representing 38 commodity groupings.

Directory of Hazardous Material Shipping Descriptions: Hazardous Materials

Shipping Description Database contains Hazardous Materials Regulatory information which allows railroads and customers to properly create EDI transactions and shipping papers for hazardous materials being shipped in the

United States, Canada, and internationally. The database allows for error checking when EDI transactions are received from connecting carriers and customers.

The Official Railway Equipment Register

The Official Railroad Station List (OPSL 6000): The Official Railroad Station List, known in the rail industry as the OPSL, is used to denote railroad industry geography.

The Centralized Station Master (CSM): The Centralized Station Master (CSM) is a geographic location file which contains data about rail and motor carrier points for North America and international areas.

ii. Waybill specifications. The successful bidder for each phase must be thoroughly familiar with the following materials detailing the waybill specifications:

Collection of the Waybill Sample: See Appendix A contained herein for the format used by subject railroads to submit data in the 237-byte record layout. To facilitate the identification of individual waybills, the Phase I Contractor must assign a unique serial number to each waybill, which becomes the means for identifying individual waybills throughout the waybill process. The Phase I

Contractor must also assign a unique tracking number to each waybill. The unique tracking number differs from the unique serial number (Field 1) because the unique tracking number will not change from monthly, to quarterly, to annual files.

Drawing the Sample: See 49 CFR 1244.4 (Sampling of Waybills) and Statement

No. 81 Procedures for Sampling Waybill Records by Computer (Statement 81, available on the Board’s website) for a description of required waybill sampling procedures.

Waybill Specifications for the Waybill File: See 49 CFR 1244; Statement No. 81, Annual Reference Guides for the STB Carload Waybill Sample showing the 913-byte record layout used to create the annual waybill file (available on the STB’s website). See Appendix A contained herein for 445-byte record layout used to create monthly/quarterly/annual interim waybill files and the 913 byte record layout used to create the annual waybill file

Waybill Specifications for the Public Use File: See 49 CFR 1244; Statement No.

81, Annual Reference Guides for the STB Carload Waybill Sample showing the

253-byte record layout used to create the Public Use file (available on the STB’s website as well as in Appendix A).

Facilities—The Phase I and Phase II Contractors must perform all work associated with this contract at their own facilities, with the exception of the meetings described in the

Requirements section below.

4. Requirements

4.ARequirements for Phase I

The Phase I Contractor must collect and compile waybill data from the subject railroads, draw the sample for subject railroads that do not self-sample, and edit and correct the waybill data. The Phase I Contractor must provide the processed data and report to the

STB on monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting cycles, enabling the STB to monitor the data the Phase I Contractor submits for errors and direct the Phase I Contractor to resolve any errors from the reporting railroads prior to the completion of Phase I of the

Confidential Waybill File.

The Phase I Contractor must undertake the following responsibilities:

Collection of Waybill Data—The Phase I Contractor must collect waybill data from the subject railroads, utilizing secure electronic transfer protocols, in the format described in the 247- byte record layout. See Reference Guide described on page 11. To facilitate the identification of individual waybills, the Phase I Contractor must assign a unique waybill serial number to each waybill. This unique serial number will be the means for identifying that individual waybill throughout the remainder of Phase I and Phase II of the waybill process. The unique serial number will be assigned to the monthly, quarterly, and annual files so that individual records can be tracked throughout the monthly, quarterly, and annual files submissions.

Drawing the Waybill Sample—The Phase I Contractor must draw the sample from those railroads that report 100% of their terminating waybills pursuant to the applicable STB sampling methodology. Currently, there are 46 railroads that do not self-sample and instead report 100% of their terminating waybills. This number can change from year to year.

Editing, Correcting and Reporting Waybill Data—To facilitate the identification and the correction of data errors, the Contractor must maintain an Attribute Transaction File. In the Attribute Transaction File, the Phase I Contractor Shall track changes made to the

Confidential Waybill Sample after the data is received from the railroads. After the initial load of the railroad’s data, the Phase I Contractor must log every change made to an attribute in the Confidential Waybill Sample into the Attribute Transaction File. For example, the file starts with the unique serial number followed by the attribute number being modified. The old value and the new value of the data are then added. The Phase I

Contractor can apply an explanation to the end of the record if necessary. Certain adjustments may require the Phase I Contractor to provide an explanation. The explanations can be as simple as numeric codes agreed upon by the Phase I Contractor and the STB but may be more complex. The data in this transaction file can be either in a fixed format or be delimited by a standard delimiter character.

This Attribute Transaction File must identify the changes that the Phase I Contractor has made to the Confidential Waybill Sample. The Phase I Contractor must submit this file as part of a report to the STB monthly, quarterly, and annually along with the waybill data.

Correcting Data Errors—The Phase I Contractor is responsible for identifying and correcting data errors pursuant to the Phase I Required Field Checks detailed below on page 15, including data errors that are subsequently identified by the Government.

Accordingly, when data errors are discovered, the Phase I Contractor must immediately notify and direct the reporting railroad to take corrective action within 10 calendar days to ensure a smooth flow of waybill data from the railroads through the Phase I

Contractor and to the STB.

Error correction must be performed by the Phase I Contractor on a continual basis.

Accordingly, monthly, quarterly, and annual reports submitted by the Phase I Contractor must include an accounting of all identified, corrected and pending errors, as well as a description of the error review process.

Within 10 business days of each quarterly/monthly submission from the Phase I

Contractor to the STB, the STB must notify the Phase I Contractor of data errors discovered by the STB. The Phase I Contractor must then have 15 business days to obtain the corrected data or advise the STB as to why the correction has not been made.

Before submitting the monthly, quarterly, and annual deliverables to the STB, the Phase I

Contractor must ensure that the file is 99% accurate based on the Phase I Required Field

Checks below and the quality assurance checks in Appendix B.

Phase I Required Field Checks and Correction (237-byte File) - The Phase I

Contractor must undertake the following required Field checks and correct as necessary:

Car Initial—The Phase I Contractor must validate the car initial. The car initial must be a valid code. An invalid car initial must be counted against the 1% error limit. The Phase I Contractor must provide a list of all valid car initials with the car initial owner to the STB.

Trailer or Container Initial—The Phase I Contractor must validate the trailer or container initial. The Phase I Contractor must provide a list of all valid trailer or container initials with the trailer or container initial owner to the STB.

Intermodal Service Code—The Phase I Contractor must check the intermodal service code against the ownership of the trailer or container.

Billed Weight—The Phase I Contractor must check the billed weight and the actual weight to verify that the weight is less than or equal to the maximum lading possible for the car used.

Freight Revenue—The Phase I Contractor must develop a table of revenue per ton-miles by STCC classes by distance from the best sources available. The

Phase I Contractor must check reported freight revenue against this table.

Reporting Railroad v. Terminating Railroad—The Phase I Contractor must maintain a list of valid reporting railroads and terminating railroad pairs. The

Phase I Contractor must check the reporting railroad and terminating railroad against this list.

Carload Waybill Sample User Guide—The Phase I Contractor Shall edit the delivered waybill sample record against the file description printed in the available

Carload Waybill Sample User Guide. For example, if field 28 is shown in the

User Guide as having defined values of 0, 1, 2, and 3, then a blank, any letter or any other number would be an error. The Phase I Contractor must deliver the waybill sample free of this type of error and any errors in this area will be counted against the 1% maximum error rate.

Car Type—The Phase I Contractor must verify that the AAR Equipment Type is valid. The Contractor must then verify that the STB Car Type is valid. The definition of the STB Car Type is defined on field 90 of the 900-byte record layout: “The STB car type is inferred from the AAR Equipment Type, as described in item 70 of the Record layout and corresponds to the line number on the STB R-1 Schedule 710 for type of car.

Invalid Carload Field—The Phase I Contractor must recognize that any carload field that is not numeric and greater than zero is invalid.

Car Ownership—The Phases I Contractor must recognize that Car ownership must have a valid value. Car Ownership Category is defined as: “Alpha/numeric code which identifies the owner of the car: (R) Railroad owned; (P) Privately

Owned; (T) Trailer Train.” (This definition is on field 93 of the 900-byte record layout)

Alignment with Industrywide Data—The Phase I Contractor must demonstrate that the waybill sample aligns with the aggregate, industry-wide data to ensure overall reasonability and that the Phase I Contractor has removed data errors related to seasonality.

Invalid Waybill Date—For the processed year, the Phase I Contractor must verify that the waybill date must fall before December 31 of the year of the date of the movement. The waybill is not processed for the current year if the date is out of bounds.

Invalid Car Field—The Phase I Contractor must verify that the carload field is numeric and greater than zero.

Invalid TOFC/COFC Load Count—If a TOFC/COFC (Trailer on Flat Car and

Container on Flat Car) move is indicated, the Phase I Contractor must verify that the number of the TOFC/COFC unit (load count) is numeric, and either (1) less than the sum of the waybill carloads multiplied by three, or (2) identified as a valid stack train movement.

Invalid Freight Revenue—The Phase I Contractor must verify that freight revenue is numeric. If the freight revenue is zero, the transit code must be either 1 or 9.

The freight revenue amount, divided by the number of waybill carloads, cannot be less than 1 or greater than the table-look-up value (by two-digit STCC). The range represents positive values plus and minus 4 standard deviations from the mean.

Revenue Amount is Zero—The Phase I Contractor must verify that if the revenue amount is zero, the transit code must be 1 or 9.

Revenue Per Ton Mile—The Phase I Contractor must correct data entry if the revenue per ton mile is not in the range established for the 2-digit STCC.

Waybills which list high freight revenues should be verified individually (e.g., trans-continental movements of hazardous materials); if the revenue is valid for the waybill, the Phase I Contractor must remove the revenue error flag after the final edit procedure.

Billed Weight Capacity—The Phase I Contractor must verify that billed weight is not greater than load limit. Waybills that list very high or low billed weights must be individually verified (e.g., heavy load capacity cars, or intermodal shipments with eights below one ton); if the weight is valid for the waybill, the Phase I

Contractor must remove the billed weight error flag after the final edit procedure.

Unique Serial Number- To allow for unique identification of waybills, the Phase I

Contractor must assign a six-digit value to all waybills processed as follows:

hardcopy (File Transfer Protocol) waybills are assigned serial numbers in the

100,000 to 199,999 range. MRI waybills are assigned serial numbers in the

200,000 to 999,999 range; once those values are exhausted, MRI waybills are assigned alphanumeric serial numbers where the first digit is a letter and the remaining digits are numbers, zero filled (e.g., "A00001" to "Z99999"); once those values are exhausted, the first two digits are letters and the remaining digits are numbers, zero filled (e.g., "AA0001" to "AA9999", "AB0001" to "AB9999", etc.).

Unique Tracking Number- The Phase I Contractor must assign a unique tracking number to each record in the file. The unique tracking number must differ from the Unique Serial Number (Field 1) because the unique tracking number will not change from monthly, to quarterly, to annual files.

In addition to editing and self-correcting of data entry errors, the Phase I Contractor must correct errors identified by the STB during its review of monthly, quarterly, and annual data. The Phase I Contractor must also provide documentation of actions taken (a change log) when correcting for errors identified by the STB during its review of monthly, quarterly, and annual data. Prior to the initial submission to the STB of and for each Phase I monthly, quarterly, and annual deliverable, the Phase I Contractor Quality

Assurance Analyst must provide a quality assurance log and certify in writing to the STB that s/he has reviewed the deliverable for completeness and correctness using the quality assurance checks in Appendix B of this statement of work.

4.B Requirements for Phase II

After the STB has accepted an annual Confidential Waybill Sample from the Phase I

Contractor, the STB will provide the Phase II Contractor with the annual Confidential

Waybill Sample File. The Phase II Contractor must: 1) take the data contained in the

Confidential Waybill Sample File and compute the mileage for each movement, and 2) make additional, prescribed modifications to the Confidential Waybill Sample File, including adding fields 24, 113-123, and 145-156 as described below. After the STB has costed the waybill, the Phase II Contractor must also create the Public Use Waybill File and produce an annual Reference Guide containing information about the Public Use

Waybill File.

Before submitting the monthly, quarterly, and annual deliverables to the STB, the Phase

II Contractor must ensure that the file is 99% accurate based on the Phase II required waybill modifications below in 4.A.i. and the quality assurance checks in Appendix B of this statement of work.

4.A.i Required Waybill Modifications for Phase II

After receiving the Confidential Waybill Sample, the Phase II Contractor Shall complete the miling and modification process described below:

Factoring of cars, tons, and revenue by stratum—The Phase II Contractor must evaluate expansion factors (field 88 in the 900-byte record layout), especially for traffic with greater than 1/3 sampling rate, including crude oil and ethanol traffic.

Correcting Freight Station Accounting Codes (FSACs), Standard Point Location

Codes (SPLCS), Carriers and Rule 260 Junction Alphas—The Phase II Contractor must correct any incorrect origin and termination FSACs, SPLCs, carriers, Rule

260 junction alphas. The Phase II Contractor must translate SPLCs and Rule 260 junction alphas so that traffic may be assigned to the FRA’s North American

Network Model (NARN).

Individual and Total Route Mileage—The Phase II Contractor must compile individual and total route mileage for each waybill by routing traffic on railroad networks between on-points and off-points using a routing formula acceptable to the Government that uses data from actual rail movements and/or is designed to model actual rail movements. The Phase II Contractor must be provided with the annual FRA North American Rail Network (NARN) for the waybill cycle in the

Base Period and any Option Period. All proposals for Phase II must include a detailed description of the methodology, models, and data sources that the contractor intends to use to calculate route mileage. The Government will evaluate miling proposals based upon their reliability, compatibility with prior miling estimates, and documentation.

Invalid Reported Routes and Missing Rule 260 Junction Alphas—The Phase II

Contractor must correct invalid reported routes and missing Rule 260 junction alphas, such as a missing overhead carrier between railroads with no common interchanges.

Redundant Overhead Carriers and Interchanges—The Phase II Contractor must correct redundant overhead carriers and interchanges.

Calculation of Short-Line Miles—The Phase II Contractor must calculate short-line miles by routing traffic on railroad networks between on-points and off-points using a minimum distance routing formula.

Division of Waybill Revenue— The Phase II Contractor must allocate the total revenue on a waybill record to the carriers involved in each movement by multiplying the total revenue by each carrier's share of the total number of 100-mile blocks in the movement, where the originating and terminating carriers each receive credit for an additional block. The revenue split algorithm will be provided to the Phase II Contractor by the STB.

Translation of the STCC and SPLC codes—The Phase II Contractor must translate STCC code containing hazardous materials codes (49 series) and bulk commodities codes (50 series) to the product class STCC code (excluding the 49 and 50 series codes). The Phase II Contractor must also translate SPLC codes to state, province of Mexican estado (state) alphas, Bureau of Economic Analysis areas, freight territories, freight rate areas, Standard Metropolitan Statistical areas

(SMSA) and Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) codes.

The Phase II Contractor must add state through flags, indicating the states through which a waybill route travelled.

Enhancement of Intermodal Records—The Phase II Contractor must enhance intermodal and potential intermodal records by checking car types versus TOFC-

Serv_Code, TC-Units, TC_Init and TC-Num fields.

Determination of Service Type Codes—The Phase II Contractor l must add the applicable service type codes (e.g., intermodal, bulk/coal, autorack and general merchandise).

Disaggregation of Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific

Railway System (CPRS)—The Phase II Contractor must disaggregate CN and

CPRS in the waybill sample into separate U.S. and Canadian portions. For ease of identification, the railroad alphas for the U.S. portions are to be changed to

CNUS and CPUS respectively. The reported routes are to be modified to include junctions between the US and Canadian portions.

Prior to the submission to the STB of the Phase II Confidential Waybill File deliverable, the Phase II Contractor Quality Assurance Analyst must provide a quality assurance log and certify in writing to the STB that s/he has reviewed the deliverable for completeness and correctness using the following quality assurance checks in Appendix B of this statement of work.

4.A.ii Creation of the Public Use Waybill File

Once the STB has received a complete and corrected Confidential Waybill File from the

Phase II Contractor, the STB will add costs to the waybill and return the costed

Confidential Waybill Sample to the Phase II Contractor. The Phase II Contractor must then create the Public Use Waybill File.

The Public Use Waybill File—The Phases II Contractor must create the Public Use

Waybill File from the 900-byte Confidential Waybill Sample File. The Information needed for the Phase II Contractor to create the Public Use Waybill file will be identified in the 253 Byte Public Use Record Layout (See Appendix A). The Phase II Contractor must have 15 business days from receipt of the costed Confidential Waybill Sample to create the Public Use Waybill File and submit it to the Government for review.

Once the Government has accepted the File in writing, the processing of the waybill for the previous year is complete.

Prior to the submission to the STB of the Phase II Public Waybill File deliverable, the

Phase II Contractor Quality Assurance Analyst must provide a quality assurance log and certify in writing to the STB that s/he has reviewed the deliverable for completeness and correctness using the quality assurance checks in Appendix B of this statement of work.

4.B. Documentation and Industry Reference Files Requirements (Phases I and

II)

The Phase I Contractor and the Phase II Contractor must provide to the Government all documentation and Industry Reference Files necessary to use the files produced pursuant to this SOW, as specified in the Section 4 Deliverables below. The documentation is required in machine readable form.

4.C Project Review Meetings and Travel Requirements (Phases I and II) The

Phase I and Phase II Contractors must provide in-depth briefings on the status of the waybill processing for Government personnel. These meetings will be scheduled at the request of the Government or the contractor and will be held at the STB or FRA

(or via telephone or videoconference if the Government consents). The Government anticipates one (1) meeting each month with the Phase I Contractor and three (3) meetings with the Phase II Contractor but may require additional meetings if necessary. The meetings will cover, among other things:

1. Any key events occurring since the last review meeting.

2. A briefing from the Quality Assurance Analyst summarizing the Contractors ability to meet the quality assurance standards set forth in this Statement of Work and Appendix B.

3. Any problem area and the contractor’s proposal for resolving the problems, including any previous actions by the contractor and any actions that the contractor believe only the STB can take.

4. A review of all railroads that are delinquent and/or failing to submit data under the required sampling procedures. The contractor must outline the specific steps it has taken to collect the data and outline future steps for correcting reporting problems.

5. Other items as may be required to assure the success of the waybill processing.

5. Deliverables

Phase I Deliverables

The Phase I Contractor must deliver the following:

Monthly and Quarterly Deliverables—The Phase I Contractor l must provide the STB monthly and quarterly waybill data submissions (excluding the data in fields numbered

18, 24, 89, 97-119, 122-131, 134, 138-141, 145-152, 155-156, and 180-191) and reports.

STB regulations require railroads to submit waybill data on a monthly or quarterly basis, within 60 days of the end of the reporting period specified in 49 CFR 1244.5 There are seven Class I railroads that currently elect to submit their waybill data monthly basis, and

46 railroads that submit on a quarterly basis – all currently do so electronically via secure electronic file transfer protocols. Railroads that submit data on a monthly basis generally submit waybill data shortly after the end of the month; quarterly reporting railroads generally submit waybill data shortly after the end of the end of the quarter. Accordingly, the timelines in this

SOW are tied to the Government’s expected delivery of waybill data from the railroads.

The monthly waybill submission from the Phase I Contractor to the STB will include waybill data from those railroads that submit their waybill data on a monthly basis and the quarterly waybill submission will include waybill data from all submitting railroads.

The Phase I Contractor must submit this data as follows: (i) for the monthly submission, on the first day of the second month after the end of the month (for example if the end of the reporting month is March 31, then the contractor submits the monthly data to the

STB on May 1); and (ii) for the quarterly submission, on the first day of the second month after the end of the quarter (for example if the end of the reporting quarter is

March 31, then the contractor submits the quarterly data to the STB on May 1). Along with the waybill data, the Phase I Contractor should provide the STB with the report including the Attribute Transaction File as described above.

The Phase I Contractor’s monthly and quarterly reports to the STB must contain the following:

A. Summary of waybill processing by individual railroad—The Phase I

Contractor must document the volume of waybills received for the month or quarter, the number of these waybills processed a list of waybills received and not processed as well as the reason for not processing them and the cumulative number of waybills processed to-date.

B. Delinquent Railroads—The Phase I Contractor must list those railroads which are technically late with their initial or corrected submissions. The STB expects the Phase I Contractor to work closely with their railroad points of contact to collect this information. The Phase I Contractor is expected to identify the steps taken to correct the problem, including copies of all correspondence. The STB may intervene with those railroads not in compliance with waybill reporting requirements (and take what actions it deems appropriate).

C. Problems Requiring STB Action—The Phase I Contractor must advise the

STB of problems or potential problems in collecting the waybill sample.

D. Errors Analysis and Corrective Action—The Phase I Contractor must explain the contents of the attribute transaction file described above.

E. Process Improvement Update—The Phase I Contractor must provide the STB with the status of any project that the contractor is undertaking to improve the process of the waybill sample.

Annual Deliverables—The Phase I Contractor must prepare and deliver to the STB the following reports, tables, and files:

The Final Report—The Phase I Contractor must deliver to the STB the final report with the last monthly and quarterly submission. The Phase I Contractor’s final report must contain at a minimum the following:

1. Summary of Waybill Processing—documenting by the railroad the volume of waybills received and each railroad’s submission methods.

2. Delinquent Railroads— listing those railroads which are technically late with their initial or corrected submissions.

3. Data Exceptions—Report all exceptions and provide statement of position for each exception reported pursuant to format in prior year Reference Guides available on the STB’s website. Provide tables detailing all known data exceptions and sampling deviations in the current waybill sample.

4. Error Analysis and Corrective Action—a summary of the waybill attribute file broken down by individual railroad.

5. Waybill Contact Mailing List—an updated list containing the contact information of those railroad officials (by railroad) responsible for submitting the waybill sample.2

6. Final Waybill Record Layout and Data Element Descriptions—detailing the final waybill record, describing the data elements, and defining the error flags.

Each item in the Confidential Waybill File must be numbered. All numbered items must match the item number used in the data element description.

2 The Phase I Contractor Shall keep this list current by contacting each submitting railroad at least once per year to confirm the railroad’s point of contact.

7. Documentation and Industry Reference Files—all documentation necessary to use the files. The documentation is required in computer readable form. The required documentation must include but is not limited to the following:

a. Standard Transportation Commodity Code Directory

b. Directory of Hazardous Material Shipping Descriptions

c. Freight Station Accounting Code Directory

d. Official Railroad Station List

e. The Official Railway Equipment Register

f. Centralized Station Master (CSM)

g. A list of all railroads in the sample (originating, terminating, or bridge) with the reporting marks used by those carriers.

h. Railway Accounting Rules (including ISS Rules)

i. A Reference Guide containing information about the Confidential Waybill

Sample (following the format of prior Reference Guides), This item is to be acquired through the STB from the Phase II Contractor.

Phase I Delivery Schedule Applicable to Base Period and All Option Periods.

Title Government Contractor

Quarterly/Monthly Waybill

Data Submissions and

Quality Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

No later than 31 calendar days after the end of the quarter/month.

Monthly Reports and Quality Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

No later than 31 calendar days after the end of the month.

Quarterly Reports and Quality Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

May 1, August 1, November 1, February 1

Completed Final Annual Report and Quality Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

February 1

Supplemental Error Correction

& Resubmission of Final

Annual Report and Quality

Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

February 2 – June 1

Completed Documentation and Industry Reference Files and Quality Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

June 1

All Phase I Deliverables must be accompanied by the Quality Analyst’s certified quality

Phase II Deliverables

The Phase II Contractor must deliver the following:

Miling and Modifying the Waybill Sample—Upon receiving the Confidential

Waybill Sample File from the STB, the Phase II Contractor must supply the remaining information to the Confidential Waybill Sample by adding or correcting the fields specified in Section 4 above and returning the file to the STB according to the delivery schedule appearing in the table below.

Creating the Public Use File—Once the STB has received the Miled and Modified

Waybill Sample from the Phase II Contractor, the STB will cost the Confidential Waybill

File. After the STB has costed the Confidential Waybill File and returned the costed file to the Phase II Contractor, a process that typically takes between 15-30 days, the Phase II

Contractor, within 15 business days, must create the Public Use Waybill File and submit it to the Government for acceptance.

In addition, the Phase II Contractor must include in its deliverables an annual

Reference Guide containing a technical description of the methodology and sources used to derive the miling data as well as a description of the modifications to the Public Use

Waybill Sample made by the Phase II Contractor (following the format of prior

Reference Guides, provided by STB see 7(i) on page 34).

Phase II Delivery Schedule Applicable to Base Period and All Option Periods

Title Government Contractor

Confidential Waybill Sample File sent to Phase II Contractor and

Quality Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

Approx. June 2

Completed Miled and Modified

Waybill Sample and Quality

July 2 (or 30 calendar days after receipt of the Phase I waybill file).

Costed Waybill Sent to Phase II

Contractor and Quality Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

Approx. November15

Completed Public Use Waybill File and Quality Analyst’s certified quality assurance log.

December 1 (or 15 days after receipt of costed waybill)

Completed Reference Guide, Documentation and Industry

Reference Files and Quality

December 31

All Phase II Deliverables must be accompanied by the Quality Analyst’s certified quality

Additional Tasks—with respect to either Phase I or Phase II, the FRA and the STB may exercise optional tasks to conduct additional modeling, data collection, and data analysis, that are distinct and apart from the tasks and deliverables otherwise described in this statement of work, in amount not to exceed 100 hours of additional work per year, unless the contractor agrees to more hours in writing.

Delivery Instructions—all reports, documentation, and or other deliverables required under this contract will be delivered electronically to the STB at Pedro.Ramirez@stb.gov:

Pedro Ramirez Project Liaison mailto:Pedro.Ramirez@stb.gov

Office of Economics Surface Transportation Board 395 E St. S.W.

Washington, D.C. 20423

Specified publicly accessible reports, documentation, and or other deliverables required under this contract will be delivered electronically to the FRA at

Ruby Li, FRA COR Ruby.Li@dot.gov Federal Railroad Administration Office of Policy and Program Development 1200 New Jersey Ave. S.E.

Washington, D.C. 20590

6. Period of Performance

The proposed contract, including Phase I and Phase II, is for a 24-month period except for the base period.

The base period for Phase I will run from July 1, 2023, to June 1, 2024.

Each option period for Phase I will run from January 1 to June 1 of the following year

(17- month period).

The base period for Phase II will run from June 2, 2024, to December 31, 2024 (7-month period).

Each option period for Phase II will run from June 2 to December 31.

mailto:Ruby.Li@dot.gov

There will be three (3) Option Periods for each phase, I and II. The option to extend the contracts rests exclusively with the Government.

7. Order Type

This is a fixed price task order.

8. Payment

Phase I Payment

The Government will pay the Phase I Contractor based on the following milestones:

Each Monthly and Quarterly Data/Report – 4% of total Phase I contract value (for a total of 64%);

Annual Data/Final Report Acceptance by Government After Supplemental Error

Correction– 25% of total Phase I contract value;

Documentation & Industry Reference Files Acceptance by Government – 11% of total Phase I contract value.

For each deliverable not meeting the 99% accuracy standard stated above, the

Phase I Contractor must forfeit 5% from the amount invoiced for that deliverable once it has been submitted to and accepted by the STB.

Phase II Payment

The Government will pay the Phase II Contractor based on the following milestones:

Miling and Modifying the Waybill Sample Acceptance by Government – 34% of total Phase II contract value;

Public Use File Acceptance by Government – 33% of total Phase II contract value

Documentation & Industry Reference File Acceptance by Government – 33% of total Phase II contract value.

For each deliverable not meeting the 99% accuracy standard stated above, the Phase II

Contractor Shall forfeit 5% from the amount invoiced for that deliverable once it has been submitted to and accepted by the STB.

9. Confidentiality of Information

Work under this contract requires that the contractor be granted access to confidential or proprietary business, technical and financial information belonging to other parties or the Government. Consistent with the STB’s statutory obligation under 49

U.S.C. 11904 and any other applicable law, the contractor, upon gaining access to such information, will treat this information as confidential and agree not to appropriate such information to its own use or to disclose such information to third parties unless specifically authorized by the STB in writing. The foregoing obligations shall not apply to work that is in the public domain or becomes part of the public domain after the contractor has received it, but through no action of the contractor. The Contractor must obtain from each of their employees working on this engagement a written agreement not to discuss, divulge, or disclose any confidential information or data to any person or entity except those persons within the contractor’s organization who themselves have signed a similar written agreement and are directly involved with the performance of this contract. In addition, the contractor must secure from the STB approval of these confidentiality agreements.

The Contractor must not produce any reports or make any special computer runs which require the use of the confidential Waybill File without the express prior written approval of the STB. The contractors Shall be evaluated on the security procedures it undertakes to protect the waybill data as one part of the selection criteria.

10. Security

The Contractor must communicate with the STB using secure channels so that the transfer of electronic data to and from the STB is safe. The Contractor must take reasonable measures to ensure that all communication content is free from compromise and loss.

When receiving confidential waybill data from subject railroads, the Contractor must use an electronic file transfer protocol approved by the Government.

11. Modification Authority

Only the CO, acting on behalf of the Government, shall have authority to modify any term or condition of the contract or waive any requirement and shall do so only through…