Cooperative Driving Automation (CDA) Small-Scale Industry Prototype
Pre-Solicitation Posted
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- Solicitation number
- 693JJ3-26-BAA-0005
- Agency
-
Federal Highway Administration
Department of Transportation
- Responses due
- Not on record
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- NAICS code
- 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)
- PSC
- AS13 Transportation R&D Svcs; Surface Transportation, Public Transit, & Rail; Experimental Development
- Place of performance
- Washington, District of Columbia, United States
- Points of contact
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The Federal Highway Administration intends to solicit a Broad Agency Announcement in late July 2026 for Cooperative Driving Automation (CDA) Small-Scale Industry Prototype development and demonstration, with proposals due September 13, 2026. The procurement is unrestricted but requires a mandatory teaming structure: the prime contractor must be an Original Equipment Manufacturer, Tier 1 supplier, Automated Driving Systems developer, or Infrastructure Owner-Operator, with four defined roles including an independent evaluator and access-controlled roadway testbed provider (one organization may fulfill multiple roles).
The effort aims to advance CDA prototypes from Technology Readiness Level 6–7 through controlled-environment testing in Phase 1 (base period) and optional real-world demonstration on public roads in Phase 2, contingent on successful Phase 1 completion and an Operational Readiness Review. Use cases include Work Zone Management, Traffic Incident Management, Cooperative Perception, and Emergency/Transit Vehicle Awareness. Testing will validate interoperability, functional safety, sensor fusion, and cybersecurity, with Phase 1 lasting 18 months followed by 6 months of reporting.
The estimated total value is $5,000,000 over 24 months. All offerors must be SAM-registered. Proposals are organized into two volumes with Volume I capped at 30 pages covering technical approach and team capabilities; Volume II contains cost and pricing data. The Government will evaluate Technical Merit and Importance to Agency Programs and Availability of Funds equally; only "High Confidence" proposals advance to cost evaluation. A Firm-Fixed-Price arrangement is preferred. All deliverables must be Section 508 accessible, and data and code developed with federal funding must be shared as open-source via the USDOT ITS DataHub and CodeHub. Small Business Subcontracting Plans are required for non-small businesses exceeding $900,000. Awards are anticipated by October 30, 2026.
Notice text
This is a presolicitation for the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) that will be issued in late July 2026.
BACKGROUND:
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) envisions a future transportation ecosystem where Cooperative Driving Automation (CDA) complements both human-driven and automated vehicles to improve roadway safety, mobility, and operational efficiency. While standalone vehicle automation has advanced, it continues to struggle with complex edge cases such as occlusion, complex merging, or identifying pedestrians hidden behind buildings at corners, and vehicle sensors alone cannot adequately resolve these issues.
Prior USDOT-supported research projects have successfully demonstrated the technical proof-of-concept at technology readiness levels (TRL) of 3-5 for CDA applications in laboratory and closed environments. However, most new vehicles are not equipped with CDA capabilities and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) remain reluctant to integrate these technologies into production lines due to a lack of consumer awareness and unclear regulatory, policy, and institutional frameworks.
This acquisition seeks to build on foundational CDA research by bridging the gap between research concepts and commercial viability. There is a critical need to develop and test pre-production, industry-led prototypes at a TRL of 6-7, to validate that the data shared between vehicles and roadside infrastructure is accurate, secure, and reliable enough to support functional safety. By demonstrating CDA technologies in operational conditions, researchers will gain a better understanding of cooperative systems and if they are more valuable in terms of improving roadway safety, than standalone automation or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies alone.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this requirement is to demonstrate industry-led CDA prototypes in controlled and real-world conditions in order to generate data-driven insights that will support the development of a national strategy to deploy CDA across rural, suburban, and urban roadway systems. This effort prioritizes industry-ready CDA technology for use cases with clear safety and/or mobility benefit potential, specifically focusing on: (1) Work Zone Management, (2) Traffic Incident Management, (3) Cooperative Perception, and/or (4) Emergency/Transit Vehicle Awareness.
Contractors will first validate the prototype's interoperability, functional safety, and cybersecurity in a relevant, controlled testbed environment. Following successful controlled testing, the effort will progress into a small scale real-world demonstration on public roads with mixed traffic to validate operational readiness and generate data-driven insights.
Files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| DRAFT_693JJ3-26-BAA-0005_CDA Prototype.pdf | ||
| Attachment 1 - Statement of Objectives.pdf |
Notice history
| Notice | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| Cooperative Driving Automation (CDA) Small-Scale Industry Prototype | Solicitation | |
| This notice | Pre-Solicitation |
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