Request For Information - Assist In Establishing A Transportation Operations Lab

Request for Information Information to Assist in the Establishment of the Transportation Operations Laboratory (TOL) and Identification of Potential Research Partners Section 1. Submittal Information Issue Date: April 6, 2011 Due date for responses: May 13, 2011 4:00 PM EST Submit email responses to: Federal Highway Administration Office of Acquisition Management 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE (HAAM-30A) Mail Stop: E65-101 Washington, DC 20590 robert.ferlis@dot.gov or joe.peters@dot.gov For further information, contact Robert Ferlis, (202) 493-3268 robert.ferlis@dot.gov ; or Joe Peters, (202) 493-3269 joe.peters@dot.gov. Section 2. Introduction This is a Request for Information (RFI). It is NOT a solicitation for proposals (RFP) or proposal abstracts. The purpose of this request is to obtain information that can assist the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in the establishment of a Transportation Operations Laboratory (TOL) at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) that will enable FHWA to conduct research that, if implemented nationally, can lead to benefits in transportation safety, mobility and environment. A secondary purpose is to identify those laboratories and research centers which desire to be considered as potential partners in potential future endeavors. Note, however, that this RFI is for FHWA planning purposes only and shall not be construed as an RFP or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Details of the Government's research interests are described below. Unless information submitted in response to this RFI is marked proprietary, it will be made publicly available so that useful research information is easily accessible and proactively shared among the public and private sectors and academic communities. Information that is appropriately marked proprietary, will be received and protected accordingly by the U.S. Government. All information obtained as a result of this RFI, whether proprietary or not may be used by the U.S. Government for program planning on a non-attribution basis. Note again, however, that this RFI is for planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a RFP or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Responding to this RFI will neither increase nor decrease an information provider's likelihood of being awarded any contract in the future by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for the requisite services. Section 3. Background The Nation's transportation system is in transformation. With rapid evolution in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies encouraged by public and private sector research investments, the Nation's transportation systems are experiencing unprecedented innovations aimed at significant improvements in transportation safety, mobility and reduction of environmental impacts across all modes of transportation. New vehicular technologies, positioning systems, mapping and navigation systems, telecommunications to include available dedicated short range communication (DSRC) bandwidth, in-vehicle devices, and new roadside communication devices are enabling technologies that, together with the newly available data, will define the next wave of transportation systems. The USDOT believes that solid research is required to pioneer advancements of the nation's transportation system with reduced risks and high return on investment. This RFI intends to obtain input from the general public to assist the FHWA in the establishment of a Transportation Operations Laboratory (TOL) at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center as part of the national transportation research efforts. The TOL includes three testbeds: a Data Resources Testbed, a Concepts and Analysis Testbed, and a Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Testbed. These testbeds will be used to support the FHWA's research programs. Data Resources Testbed The Data Resources Testbed will provide researchers access to live and archived multi-source data (i.e. any relevant data) to support transportation system performance measurement and transportation system management applications. These multi-source data include data from traditional roadway sensors, data from vehicle probes, data from personal mobile devices, data from transit and freight operators, as well as data from any other relevant sources. The testbed will have the following capabilities: access, host, federate, assemble and archive traffic application data; analyze operations and performance; provide advanced visualization tools to improve situational awareness; and aid strategic program and tactical operations decision making. The testbed will access and host real world data from a variety of sources (potentially decentralized) to support research and development in transportation system performance measurement and transportation system management. Concepts and Analysis Testbed The Concepts and Analysis Testbed will incorporate a repository of transportation tools at the macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic levels to enable traffic simulation runs and visualizations of representative traffic networks. This suite of traffic analysis tools will support fundamental transportation research and experimentation to quantitatively assess the potential mobility, environmental, and safety impacts of transformative transportation management strategies. The tools include: Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software products; software development tools; customized COTS products; products of national research projects; internal research products; and associated datasets, with illustrative demonstration data. This library of associated data sets will preserve analytical capital (e.g., calibrated tool input files) from ongoing or completed modeling and simulation projects. In addition, the testbed will provide a repository of authoritative and representative calibration and validation datasets associated with ongoing or completed field tests that will enable technical and performance measures to be compared in realistic scenarios and across projects, regardless of partner and perhaps even choice of model platform, so that valid assessments can be made. The testbed will allow FHWA research staff to refine the experimental strategies through direct interaction with tools and data to determine the strategies' potential value to various stakeholders. The outputs of simulation analyses can, for example, provide an authoritative basis for conducting benefit/cost analyses of proposed management strategies. The testbed and its resources will be used to improve the consistency, quality, efficiency, transparency, and availability of research results and government deliverables. The testbed will be used by consultants supporting FHWA research projects, and other onsite or external researchers. Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Testbed The Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Testbed (CVHT) will enable FHWA to explore the enabling technologies for Vehicle to Infrastructure (V-I) applications and to assess the potential of new transportation services based upon cooperative systems and wireless communication. The CVHT will leverage previous investments by the US DOT in FHWA's Intelligent Intersection (a signalized intersection on the TFHRC grounds with vehicle-infrastructure communication) and can encourage additional investments by FHWA, the ITS program, and others in facilities, equipment, and services that will enable the CVHT to support critical research priorities and projects. The facilities, equipment, staff support, and other resources of the CVHT will enable FHWA researchers to develop prototypes, install systems in the infrastructure and on vehicles, and conduct tests directed to investigate and answer key research questions needed to advance research and development efforts. The CVHT will initially use existing facilities at the TFHRC, including service roads that allow access to the Intelligent Intersection. However, the need to conduct more extensive tests, including service concepts involving various stages of vehicle control and automation, will likely require additional specialized test track facilities at TFHRC. The three testbeds in the TOL will all work together. Collectively, these testbeds will reside in an integrated environment that supports essential functions for online/offline analysis, visualization, data collection/processing, and monitoring the field devices and controls used for the testbeds. The TOL consists of field devices, equipped vehicles, databases, and data intelligence/engines, data sources, and a suite of advanced analysis/development tools to be defined to support research and technology experiments and evaluation. Section 4. Nature of the Request This RFI calls for information that will assist FHWA in designing and operating FHWA's Transportation Operations Laboratory (TOL) as well as in identifying potential stakeholders who wish to join in collaborative efforts to conduct research of mutual interest in the primary area of transportation operations. The mission of the TOL is to assist FHWA in the exercise of national leadership in federal research and development that results in innovative procedures and inventive technologies that alleviate congestion, improve travel time reliability, and increase overall user satisfaction with the surface transportation system of the nation. Inextricably intertwined with these performance outcomes are inherent safety and environmental benefits that the TOL will measure in experiments as well as in technical and operational tests. The TOL will provide a state-of-the-art R&D facility as well as a unique place for the collaborative development of a nationally coordinated operations research and development framework. To assist in TOL development and to begin the collaborative process, this RFI requests information from public and private universities, research centers, and laboratories that conduct similar research. The TOL is expected to improve FHWA's capability to collaborate with the larger transportation research community, and so information from this community is needed now so that the TOL and its research program can be designed and operated to support such collaboration. The research outcomes and products enabled by the TOL resources will be published or transferred for use by FHWA partners (universities and other national laboratories) and state and local government agencies where appropriate and practical. Both the development of the TOL facility and the process of identifying potential research partners in performing transportation operations research can benefit with information such as: Name and description of research centers and laboratories that perform work similar to that envisioned for the TOL. These could include closed test tracks for which FHWA, or partners, might extend testing programs initiated at the TOL. Also of special interest are open road facilities that could be labeled as "living laboratories" where testing with live traffic can be done within acceptable safety limits. Please include a list of existing or potential "living laboratories" that a state or local or similar authority has in operation or in the planning stages. Such a "living laboratory" would have to be equipped with data collection to support research, and not just be used for demonstration. Of course, information on research centers and facilities that are not considered as living laboratories is also requested. This includes items such as research program scope and focus, relevant current research projects, names of major customers and stakeholders, physical design and equipment, organization and staff (including on-site and remote as well as capabilities), budget and sources of funding, challenges and limitations encountered in implementing the research program, plans for future growth, and potential opportunities for research partnerships with the TOL. Methods of establishing and using analytical tools to support the transportation research mission of the TOL. These might include, for example, experiences in using specific models and data resources. Resources that support the operation of the research laboratory such as analysis and testing guidelines, training materials, handbooks, or research protocols that might be adapted or utilized by FHWA for the TOL. In addition, communications plans, marketing materials, and laboratory demonstration ideas would be of interest to FHWA. Research topics for consideration by FHWA in developing a research program plan for the TOL. FHWA participated in the recent ITS Strategic Plan development effort coordinated by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, and is actively engaged in the ITS research programs, and expects to incorporate the specific topics identified in these activities separately. (To learn more about the ITS research program, you can visit the following website: http://www.its.dot.gov/about.htm). Our intent here is to identify additional research topics and new facilities that are needed but do not yet exist, as well as research topics that reflect a generally longer timeframe than other ITS initiatives. For example, topics of interest include those that involve the high risk/potentially high reward paradigm typical of FHWA's Exploratory Advanced Research or similar research programs that might provide valuable opportunities for analysis and testing at the TOL. Successful technology evaluation and transfer. New technologies in a pre-deployment stage need evaluation, refinement and improvement to stabilize and eventually lead to robust products. The TOL is also expected to support technology transfer by providing access to testing resources, prototype systems, and government technical staff familiar with these. In addition, the resources of the TOL will likely enhance opportunities to expose stakeholders to the new technologies and products. FHWA is interested in identifying other methods that have been used, in the United States and elsewhere, to facilitate technology evaluation and transfer. Section 5. Submittal Instructions to this Request for Information Interested parties who are conducting innovative research or developing new technologies that could inform FHWA about the design and operation of the TOL as well as those wishing to participate as potential research partners are invited to submit a response to this RFI through the appropriate contact information detailed in Section 1. Respondents are requested to furnish the following information: 1. Name and address of respondent 2. Responses to the Government interest areas described in Section 4 Information in electronic media is preferred, but not required. PAGE LIMIT: Responses should not exceed ten (10) pages in length with font size 12 or larger. Do NOT submit marketing material. Do NOT submit resumes. Section 6. Notes THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT INTEND TO AWARD A CONTRACT ON THE BASIS OF THIS RFI OR TO OTHERWISE PAY FOR THE INFORMATION SOLICITED. USDOT will not return any information submitted in response to the RFI.