Evaluation of Distracted Driving Laws

Solicitation: DTNH2215RQ-00243 Agency/Office: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Location: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration HQ NAICS Code: 541910, Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling, $15 Million. Point of Contract: Vincent Lynch, Contracting Officer, ph(202) 366-9568 Title: Evaluation of Distracted Driving Laws Description(s): SYNOPSIS This Sources Sought Notice is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The purpose of this Notice is to identify potential qualified Small Business concerns that may be interested in and capable of performing the work described herein. NHTSA welcomes all qualified Small Business concerns, with the appropriate NAICS Code and past experience to submit their Corporate Capability Statements that demonstrate their ability to successfully accomplish the goals of the project as listed below. NHTSA does not intend to award a contract on the basis of responses to this notice or otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted. Acknowledgement of receipt of responses will not be made; no formal evaluation of the information received will be conducted by NHTSA. NHTSA may; however later on issue a Request for Proposals (RFP). However; should such a requirement fail to materialize, no basis for claims against NHTSA shall arise as a result of a response to this notice. BACKGROUND Distracted driving is an issue that has received increased media coverage. In response, many States have implemented laws to ban drivers from using hand-held cell phones or texting while driving. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), as of November, 2014, 44 States and the District of Columbia have laws banning text messaging by drivers and an additional 4 States have texting laws specific to novice drivers. There are fewer laws banning hand-held phone use by drivers, with only 14 States (i.e., California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia having such laws.[1] Distracted driving laws vary across the States in how they are written and how they can be enforced. Some laws specify particular behaviors, such as reading, writing, or sending a text message, but don't include the many other actions that could be completed on a hand-held device, such as dialing a phone number, searching the internet, or emailing. Laws like this require enforcement to differentiate between particular actions, a requirement identified as challenging by States in the 2012 GHSA Distracted Driving Survey.[2] For example, Indiana reported, "Yes. It is being enforced, but lightly. Many officers are reluctant to enforce it because they claim they cannot tell if someone is dialing a number or texting." The GHSA survey suggests States are having problems enforcing distracted driving laws, which may, at least partially, explain why respondents reported such low awareness of distracted driving enforcement in NHTSA's 2012 National Survey on Distracted Driving Attitudes and Behaviors.[3] Due to the increasing number of law enforcement agencies that are mobilizing to enforce State legislation restricting hand-held phone and texting use, and the apparent challenges faced by States to enforce such laws, providing a comprehensive picture of the laws across the States, including the challenges faced by enforcement and the strategies used to overcome those challenges, will help produce effective enforcement actions, and stimulate the issuance of citations for drivers who engage in these dangerous behaviors. OBJECTIVE The primary objectives of this research are to: Catalog all distracted driving laws to identify major clusters of law types; and Conduct a survey of law enforcement from each major law type identified to learn about the challenges faced by enforcement operating under these law types, and find out about enforcement strategies used to overcome these challenges. The Contractor will be responsible for the cataloging of distracted driving laws across all States and for analyzing the law content to identify clusters of law types. Further, the Contractor will be responsible for the development of survey items, a sampling plan, and recruitment strategies to address the objectives of the project. The Contractor will conduct all data collection procedures, compile the data, and submit the data file prepared for analysis procedures to the NHTSA. The Contractor will be responsible for submitting a methodological report of the study. The report will include an overview of the study, background information, descriptions of the survey development and procedures, sampling approach, recruitment strategies, and data collection procedures. Of critical importance in the project is experience in survey research and traffic laws. CAPABILITIES The corporate capability statement must address the capabilities necessary to accomplish the scope outlined above as well as the additional tasks and characteristics given below: Experience and expertise in conducting survey research. Experience and expertise in sampling and recruitment of participants. Experience and expertise developing survey instruments and conducting appropriate testing prior to implementation of the survey. Experience and expertise performing qualitative analysis of open-ended questions. Experience and expertise working with statistical software packages, working with raw data, organizing data, and developing data manuals. Knowledge of traffic safety data sources. Experience writing technical and non-technical reports. Experience and knowledge related to preparing and submitting the documents necessary for OMB clearance and Institutional Review Board approval. Format of Corporate Capabilities Statement: Any interested qualified SB firms should submit their Corporate Capability Statement, which demonstrates the firm's ability and past experience in no more than 10 pages to perform the key requirements described above to the identified NHTSA point of contact listed herein. Any proprietary information should be marked as such. All respondents are asked to certify the type and size of their business organization is in-line with the requirements of this Sources Sought Notice, and must be received no later than 2 calendar days from the date of publication of this notice. [1] http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/laws/cellphonelaws?topicName=distracted-driving [2] The Governors Highway Safety Association. (2013). Distracted driving survey of the States. Retrieved from http://www.teensafedriver.com/doc/distracted-driving-survey-of-states.pdf [3] Schroeder, P., Meyers, M., & Kostyniuk, L. (2013, April). National survey on distracted driving attitudes and behaviors - 2012. (Report No. DOT HS 811 729). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration