Notice of Intent to Sole Source for RailFlow Tool Update Services

The United States Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Office of Acquisition Services, under the authority of the Federal Acquisition Rules (FAR) Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures, intends to issue a sole source purchase order to Caliper Corporation of Newton, MA to upgrade the RailFlow tool, a “macro” imbedded in Caliper Corporation’s TransCAD software.  The upgraded RailFlow tool will be used to audit the 2015 Confidential Surface Transportation Board Waybill Sample.  

The justification is as follows.  The contractor is the original developer of the RailFlow tool.  Utilizing another developer to update the tool would quite likely result in additional time and money in order to bring that developer up to speed on the tool.  Furthermore, use of a different contractor could introduce a significant level of risk of project failure. The data reported in the Waybill Sample is used to support the FRA safety critical mission and STB critical mission of regulating railroad rates and level of service. Accordingly, the data must be sound to perform this function and the RailFlow tool is employed to ensure the accuracy of this data.  Use of another contractor to update the tool would substantially increase the possibility of flawed data being accepted in the Waybill Sample and relied upon for these safety critical functions.  

NO SOLICITATION OR REQUEST FOR QUOTE IS AVAILABLE.  Notwithstanding, any firm that believes it is capable of meeting this requirement may submit a response, which if received within fifteen days of the closing date of this announcement, will be considered.  Responses to this announcement must be in writing to the Contract Specialist, Ryan Daniels, at ryan.daniels@dot.gov.