22 -- Third Party Assessor for IDOT PTC Project

This shall serve as the official pre-solicitation notice for an independent third party assessment of product safety validation and verification for the Illinois Department of Transportation Positive Train Control (IDOT PTC) project, Build 2. The IDOT PTC project is currently in the critical design review phase and will field test the Build 2 implementation during mid 2003. Once validation and verification efforts are complete and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Office of Safety approval has been attained, the Build 2 system will be put into revenue operation on high speed passenger trains on a 120 mile corridor in Illinois. Prior to granting approval, the FRA requires completion of an independent third party safety assessment of the PTC System Development and Integration (SDI) work.The third party assessment must be performed in accordance with the FRA?s Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) published in the Federal Register on August 10, 2001, ?Standards for Development and Use of Processor-Based Signal and Train Control Systems?. The purpose of the assessment along with general requirements and descriptions of what must be done are defined in Appendix D of the NPRM. Documentation to be reviewed by the assessor include, but are not limited to: Railroad Safety Program Plan (RSPP) and Product Safety Plan (PSP) as defined in the NPRM, contractor Safety Program Plan, Preliminary Hazard Analysis, System Specification, Software Requirements Specifications, Hardware Requirements Specifications, Software Design Documents, Hardware Design Documents, schematics, and selected software modules. The period of performance will be approximately nine months from issuance of Notice to Proceed. These documents total approximately 10,000 pages, not including schematics and software listings. Schematics to be assessed include onboard computer, onboard display, vital locomotive interface module, location determination system (including GPS and inertial navigation equipment), and various types of vital wayside interface units. The total amount of safety critical software being developed is approximately 200,000 lines of source code, distributed over central office, wayside, and onboard (locomotive and hi-rail vehicle) segments. A randomly selected subset of the software modules is to be audited. Prospective offerors must respond in the form of a Statement of Interest and Qualifications. As a minimum, the Statement of Interest and Qualifications must include: 1) professional qualifications of staff, 2) evidence of a proven track record of providing customer satisfaction in performance of similar projects along with the description and volume of this specialized experience within the past 5 years, and applicable customer contact information, 3) customer performance evaluations on relevant projects, 4) evidence of familiarity with PTC and North American intercity freight and passenger railroad operations, 5) organization capacity for conducting work of this nature in the timeframe required, and 6) statement of independence from the SDI team. The Request For Proposal (RFP) for this work effort will be sent only to parties determined to be qualified based on responding to the Point of Contact at the address below no later than the Response Date above. All correspondence should reference the solicitation number above. Responses received after the above Response Date will not be considered. PLEASE BE ADVISED that due to the remote location of the Transportation Technology Center, no special mail service exists. Those companies responding to this advertisement shall bear the sole responsibility of ensuring the complete and timely delivery of their Statement of Interest and Qualifications. This work will receive federal funding. Prospective offerors must comply with flow-down provisions associated with 49CFR part 19, FRA-IDOT Grant Number DTFR53-95-G-00045, IDOT and TTCI General Articles of Contract, all of which will be incorporated into the RFP, as well as the resulting award document. Original Point of Contact: Gary Kleinheim, Contracting Officer, Transportation Technology Center, Inc., 55500 DOT Road, PO Box 11130, Pueblo, CO 81001 Phone: 719/584-0535, Fax: 719/584-0735, Email: contact@example.gov.