U. S. Department of Transportation Small Business Innovation Research Fiscal Year 17 Solicitation

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center), intends to issue a solicitation pursuant to the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982, PL 97-219, as amended by PL 99-443 and PL 102-564 and reauthorized by PL 106-554, as amended and reauthorized by PL 112-81 which was signed into law on December 31, 2011, extending the SBIR program through September 30, 2017. The solicitation will be issued on or about October 19, 2016 with proposals due sixty calendar days from the solicitation release. Topics to be included in this solicitation may include: Accurate and Rapid Measurement of Adsorption Capacity of Fly Ash in Concrete Mixtures, Rapid Assessment of Air Void System in Fresh Concrete, Methods for Remanufacturing Creosote-Railroad Ties, Broken Rail Detection from Flashing Rear End Device, Resilient Wayside Structures to Reduce Severity of Passenger Equipment Collisions and Derailments, Smart Phone Application for Onboard Railroad Passenger Information System, Train Crowding and Information Dissemination for Transit Users, Detection of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) Use in Drivers, and System and Supply Chain for Recycling Lithium-ion Batteries in the Transportation System. The purpose of this solicitation is to invite U.S. small businesses to submit innovative research proposals that address high priority requirements of the U.S. DOT. Each concern submitting a proposal must qualify as a small business in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) 13 CFR 121.701-121.705. The applicable North American Industry Classification System code is 541712 with a size standard of 500 employees. In addition to this FBO posting, the SBIR solicitation and any documents related to it will be available on the DOT SBIR Program website at http://www.volpe.dot.gov/work-with-us/small-business-innovation-research. The solicitation shall be issued through electronic means only; no hard copies will be available. Offerors desiring to receive electronic notification of this solicitation's posting and availability for downloading should register on the FedBizOpps website. Offerors are warned that when they register to receive solicitations, amendments, and other notices, the responsibility for providing the Government with an accurate and complete e-mail address lies with the Offeror. Sources interested in receiving the solicitation are encouraged to register at this site to receive notification when the solicitation is posted and available for viewing/downloading, which will also be available at the DOT SBIR Program website. Offerors are reminded that they may register at any time to receive the solicitation. A pre-proposal webinar is being held on October 24, 2016 from 1:30-3:00 PM Eastern Time. Information on the pre-proposal webinar may be obtained from the DOT SBIR Program website.