Instrumented Roadways for Speed-related Problems v2.0

This is a Pre-Solicitation notice (synopsis) for a full and open competitive procurement in accordance with FAR Part 5.203; to provide notice of the Government's proposed contract action listed herein. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). NHTSA's mission is to save lives, prevent injuries and reduce traffic-related health care and other economic costs. The agency develops, promotes and implements effective educational, engineering and enforcement programs with the goal of ending preventable tragedies and reducing economic costs associated with vehicle use and highway travel. Background: Speeding-related crashes continue to be a serious problem. For over a decade, there has been little change in the proportion of speeding-related fatal crashes. In 2011, nearly one-third (30%) of all fatal crashes had speeding as a contributing factor, the same percentage as in 1996. Speeding is a complicated behavior that varies by driver and situation. Speeding is also common behavior, with most drivers reporting they drive over the speed limit at least some of the time. In NHTSA's 2011 National Survey of Speeding Attitudes and Behaviors, when asked how often they drove 10 or 15 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, over half of the respondents (52%) reported having driven 15 mph over the speed limit on multi-lane divided highways, over one-third (36%) reported having driven 15 mph over the posted speed limit on two-lane roads, and 36% also reported having driven 10 mph over the posted limit on neighborhood or residential streets. Nine percent of those surveyed reported having been stopped by the police for speeding in the previous year, and 8% reported receiving a speeding ticket through the mail for a violation recorded by a speed camera. Given the widespread occurrence of speeding and the high toll in injuries and lives lost in speed-related crashes (9,944 fatalities in 2011), as well as the high economic costs of speed-related crashes (estimated at $40.4 billion per year), this is a safety issue that demands a great deal of attention. While law enforcement is attentive to speed enforcement in most places around the country, diminishing resources and competing priorities can negatively impact their ability to effectively and efficiently deal with speed management. Data-driven approaches to resource management are becoming increasingly common and an emphasis on using crash data to determine when and where to direct traffic safety efforts, rather than focusing on quantity of citations, is becoming increasingly accepted practice in law enforcement. The U.S. Department of Transportation's 2013 Speed Management Strategic Initiative states that "the effective and efficient collection, analysis, and dissemination of high quality data is the foundation upon which all traffic safety efforts related to speed and speed management must be built." For these efforts to be most effective, what is needed is a tool to help law enforcement anticipate the level of effort necessary to expect positive changes in traffic speeds and crash frequency. This project will examine the use of continuous roadway data in normal speed management and speed enforcement at a selected test site. It will also link crash records with collected traffic data on speeds and traffic density. The results of this effort will provide the basis for the development of an implementation guide to aid law enforcement officials and program planners in management of speed enforcement, with an emphasis on achieving results in crash reduction. Combined with localized earned media efforts, this should provide law enforcement with a realistic tool that will help them to focus and manage limited resources to affect road safety improvement and speeding related crashes. Purpose: This project is a naturalistic study of speed management program efforts to reduce speeding-related safety problems in a medium sized city or county with a dedicated traffic law enforcement division. Traffic measurement devices will be deployed to collect traffic speed data on various road types in the participating jurisdiction, including road sections with speeding-related problems. Data will be collected on both the instrumented roadway sections and traffic enforcement activities throughout the project. After a 90-day period of baseline data collection period, the data will be shared in real time with the enforcement agency to use in their speed management efforts. These speed management efforts will be determined by the participating jurisdiction. The Contractor shall observe and collect data in order to evaluate how the data is used to deploy resources and address the speeding-related problems in the jurisdiction for one year. After completion of the naturalistic observation study of the speed management program, an optional task may be exercised to evaluated specific speeding countermeasures (details to be determined by NHTSA in agreement with the Contractor and participating jurisdiction). This project will select and work with a site with a speeding-related crash problem that is interested in making a concerted effort to reduce their speeding-related traffic safety problem. The site selected must be a medium sized jurisdiction (city or county with an approximate population of 150,000 to 500,000) with a dedicated traffic division and an analyst available to handle traffic data and statistical reports for local law enforcement. The Contractor shall work with the selected site to instrument targeted roadway sections with speed collection devices, collect roadway, enforcement, crash, and earned media data, and provide the data to the research team and NHTSA. The Contractor shall also provide this data to the site's law enforcement agency for use in their speed management efforts on the instrumented roadways. The jurisdiction will then use the data to assist them as they carry out traffic enforcement according to their own policies and decisions. The Contractor shall collect data and observe traffic enforcement activities and conduct an independent analysis of traffic speeds and enforcement levels on the targeted roadways to examine the relationship of speeding, traffic volume and crashes at those sites and to ascertain optimal levels of enforcement for reducing speeding and speeding-related crashes for those locations. Solicitation Information: The Government contemplates that a Time and Material Type Contract with a period of performance not to exceed thirty-six (36) months will be awarded. The forthcoming solicitation and any related documents to this procurement will only be available electronically for download at https://www.fedbizopps.gov referenced by the solicitation number (DTNH22-14-R-00774). The anticipated issuance date of the forthcoming solicitation is on or about 09 May 2014 with a tentative closing date of 10 June 2014. However, it is the Offeror's sole responsibility to monitor the Internet site for the release of the solicitation and amendments (if any). Potential Offerors will also be solely responsible for downloading their own copy of the solicitation and amendments (if any), as well as other related documents. All Contractors wishing to do business with the Government are required to register in the System for Award Management (SAM) Central Contractor Registry (CCR) Database prior to any subsequent award. SAM Registration may be accomplished online at https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/. Contractors are further advised that failure to register in SAM/CCR Database will render your firm ineligible for award. Registration requires applicants to have a DUNS number. Recommend registering immediately in SAM in order to be eligible for timely award. The single source of entry for all documentation pertaining to this acquisition will be http://www.fbo.gov. All interested parties are responsible for checking this website to ensure they have the most current information (i.e., issued Amendments, Changes to the Statement of Work, etc.). Telephone and Fax requests for a solicitation package will NOT be accepted. NO FURTHER PROCUREMENT INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME.