AI-Enabled Incident Response System with sUAS and Human Copilots (AIRS-COP)

The Federal Highway Administration intends to solicit an 18-month labor-hour contract with cost-reimbursable travel to design, develop, and flight-test an AI-augmented small unmanned aircraft system integrated with Traffic Management Centers and human operators for highway incident response, with responses to the sources sought notice due by October 15, 2026.

Work is performed at Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center and approved flight-test facilities. The contractor must own FAA-certified sUAS, hold FAA Part 107 remote pilot certification, comply with FY24 NDAA requirements for non-covered foreign entity components, implement security measures consistent with OMB M-26-02, and carry commercial aviation liability insurance. The contractor provides all personnel, sUAS, equipment, supplies, facilities, and transportation.

Six major task areas cover project management; literature review, stakeholder engagement, and recommendations; sUAS automated and autonomous navigation; AI-augmented sUAS as first responders using vision-language models; sUAS-TMC CoPilot human-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop framework development; and documentation and conference presentation. The total budget is $321,000, composed of $319,000 labor and $2,000 travel. NAICS code 541715 applies; the small business size standard is up to 1,000 employees. Both large and small businesses are encouraged to respond. Responses must be brief capabilities statements of no more than six one-sided pages (8.5 by 11 inches, 10-point font minimum) including company information, business size status, DOT security clearance capability, and ability to begin performance upon award. Submit to jason.motala@dot.gov.