This is a Sources Sought Notice and is for market research purposes only. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, QUOTATION, OR BID. NO SOLICITATION IS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting market research to determine if there are interested and capable offerors in the marketplace with the knowledge, skills and capability to provide the Robotic Driving System (RDS) described below. The RDS will be used to drive traces like the LD FTP75, HWFET, and US06 within the criteria specified in the CFR. The RDS shall be capable of starting the vehicle, shifting an automatic transmission into "Drive" from ¿Neutral¿ and driving the trace within tolerances listed in CFR §1066.425(c) on a chassis dynamometer. Only commercially available (i.e. "off-the-shelf" or "stock"; not custom made) systems will be considered for this solicitation. The evidence of a commercially available system is the demonstration of existing systems installed in U.S. facilities and delivered to a third party by the contractor. The contractor shall provide a list of RDS units of the same model currently in operation in the US. The system will be installed in light-duty, i.e. passenger cars and trucks, emissions test vehicles, usually more than one vehicle per day. The RDS must typically run an over-night soaked vehicle and then be moved to a second soaked vehicle. The vehicle soak period cannot be broken by a key-on or engine-on prior to running the test. The RDS shall remember a vehicle from previous learning so that the vehicle can maintain soak prior to the test without needing to key-on or start the engine. The RDS shall be capable of being installed into a vehicle by one person. The weight of the installed piece(s) must not exceed 20 kg each. Handles and grips appropriate to the size and weight of the installed pieces shall be provided. The RDS shall fasten securely to the vehicle. Total physical installation time into the vehicle should be 10 minutes or less with one person. The RDS shall have the capability to receive cycle start and drive cycle information from the test cell controller. The RDS will send readiness and cycle complete messages to the test cell. The RDS must be compatible with AVL Puma and Horiba CDTCS cell controllers. The RDS shall integrate with the test cell E-stop (emergency stop) so that the vehicle will come to a controlled stop when the RDS or test cell E-stop is activated. A controlled stop may be configured in the RDS controller to include brake application prior to RDS shutdown. The RDS shall be capable of operating at temperatures between 10 ºF and 90 ºF. The RDS will control the accelerator and brake pedals in an automatic transmission vehicle. Options will include a PRNDL control and push button and key style vehicle starting capability. The PRNDL control will allow the RDS to shift from Neutral into Drive at cycle start and back to Neutral at the end of the cycle. The RDS will shift to and from Neutral only when the dynamometer rolls are stationary. The push button or key start actuator will allow the RDS to automatically turn on the vehicle at cycle start and turn it off at cycle end. The E-stop shall also be configured to turn off the vehicle. The RDS shall have an operator interface that allows the operator to select the vehicle and driving mode at a minimum. The RDS will be able to learn a vehicle¿s driving characteristics after driving at most 20 minutes on the dynamometer. The RDS will retain this calibration in a user-named file so that the vehicle does not require another learning cycle. The RDS shall have the capability to adjust the driving style to meet the needs of the test program. This would include parameters to control the trace following accuracy, throttle and brake activity, and level of feed-forward control. The RDS shall be capable of operating hybrid and battery electric vehicles. Safeties shall be provided with each RDS to allow safe operation without an operator in the vehicle. Examples of safeties would be software and hardware watchdogs that would detect improper software or hardware operation and then act to safely shut down the test. Another example would be vehicle motion detectors that would safely shut down the test if the vehicle moved on the rolls (e.g. in case of a tire blow-out or restraint failure). Fail-safes, for example, not shifting into Park when the vehicle speed is not zero should also be part of the RDS. The RDS shall have its own E-Stop button that safely shuts down the system and test cell in the event of an emergency. The button shall be easily visible to an operator in the vehicle. The primary purpose for utilizing an RDS will be repeatability over the driving cycles. Data shall be provided to show that these requirements are met over the US06 driving cycle: EER_pct 2¿ <0.30 RMSSE_mph 2¿ <0.07 ASCR_pct 2¿ <0.60 IWR_pct 2¿ <1.00 These statistics shall be calculated using the definitions in SAE J2951 Drive Quality Evaluation for Chassis Dynamometer Testing NARRATIVES SHALL BE NO LONGER THAN SEVEN (7) TOTAL PAGES. Please include a narrative for the requested information and discuss any questions/concerns. Additional information such as brochures and other industry information is not included in the 7-page limitation. Please include the following information in your response/narrative: (1) Company name, address, and point of contact information; (2) Identification and verification of the company's business status (i.e. Large, Small, Certified HubZone, 8(a), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned, or Women-Owned Business; (3) Descriptions of Previous experience within the previous five (5) years on projects considered similar in technical scope and complexity to the proposed EPA project. Please include dates of work, references, project costs, and complexity of the projects; (4) A statement on the portion of the work that will be self-performed on this project, and how it will be accomplished. All interested and capable qualified businesses are encouraged to reply to this market survey request by submitting a narrative demonstrating their experience in Robotic Driving Systems as described above. This market survey is to determine whether or not this project should be set-aside for small businesses or a small business subcategory based on the responses received. If you have any questions, please contact Angel Taylor, Contracting Officer, at contact@example.gov. This is NOT a solicitation and does not constitute any commitment by the Government. Responses to this sources sought notice will be utilized by the Government to make appropriate acquisition decisions. All interested sources must respond to future announcements separately from responses to this market survey. Responses to this sources sought announcement are to be sent via email to Angel Taylor, Contracting Officer, at contact@example.gov, no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, November 4, 2018.
