Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), on road networks at the Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) National Wildlife Refuges (NWR)

The Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, on behalf of the Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service, seeks a contractor to plan, execute, and analyze Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) performance testing at one or two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuges, with quotations due October 2, 2026 at 3:00 PM Eastern Time. This is full and open competition under FAR Part 12 simplified acquisition procedures as a firm fixed-price purchase order below the Simplified Acquisition Threshold; no set-aside applies. Questions are due September 2, 2026 at 3:00 PM Eastern Time.

Place of performance is at one or two of three refuge sites: Desert National Wildlife Refuge (Nevada), Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (Iowa), or Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (Massachusetts), with proposals including two or more locations viewed favorably. The contractor must provide all vehicles, instrumentation, fuel, and software; no Government Furnished Property is supplied. Testing involves SAE Levels 1-2 ADAS on non-autonomous vehicles driven by humans, with minimum 40 hours of data collection per site. Late-model (2025 or newer) commercially available vehicles with cutting-edge ADAS from varied manufacturers are preferred, though prototype systems will be considered. Testing windows are preferred January–April 2027 for Desert NWR (November 2027–April 2028 acceptable); April–November 2027 for Neal Smith and Parker River NWRs; other periods are not acceptable for these latter two sites.

The NAICS code is 541715 (Research and Development in Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences) with a small business size standard of 1,000 employees. The period of performance extends from award through August 15, 2028. Evaluation criteria are Technical Approach, Past Performance (combined approximately equal to Price), and Price. Quoters must submit a firm fixed-price quote and a Performance Work Statement not exceeding 10 pages, structured as two CLINs: base CLIN 00100 and optional CLIN 00200, each covering Project Management & Risk Mitigation, ADAS Performance Data Collection, Analysis of Primary and Secondary Research Priorities, and Synthesis and Reporting. For multi-location proposals, itemized site-by-site pricing is required. Universities are eligible. All raw and processed data become Government property upon request; contractor pre-existing intellectual property remains contractor-owned.