This Solicitation opportunity from Department Of Transportation was posted on May 29, 2026. The submission period has ended. Browse the details below for market research, or find similar active opportunities.
Study on the Economic Impact of the International Maritime Organization Net Zero Framework
Contract Overview
Solicitation details, issuing organization, response deadlines, documents, and interested companies for this government contract opportunity.
Active Opportunities Like This One
AI Contract Overview
The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) is seeking proposals for a detailed cost analysis study of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Net Zero Framework (NZF) adopted in April 2025. The focus of the study is to evaluate the framework's economic impact on the United States, specifically examining key policy mechanisms such as global greenhouse gas pricing and levies, emissions trading systems, carbon offset rules, fuel and technology mandates, compliance regimes, fund governance, and enforcement measures. The analysis should assess how these mechanisms might affect operating and capital costs for U.S. flagged and dependent shipping, import/export costs and trade competitiveness, demand for U.S. energy and technology services, administrative burdens, and risks like leakage or ineffective mitigation. Quantification of impacts, identification of assumptions and uncertainties, and distributional effects across U.S. industries, ports, and regions are required. The contractor must compare outcomes under the proposed NZF mechanisms against alternative designs that limit levy or offset components and scenarios involving delayed or phased implementation. Recommendations should include practical safeguards or design changes to reduce economic burdens while ensuring emission reductions remain effective. Clear metrics and analytical methods must be provided to support MARAD and U.S. negotiators in future evaluations. Proposals are due by 12:00 PM EDT on June 3, 2026, to be submitted electronically to specified MARAD contacts. No paper submissions will be accepted, and late proposals will be disqualified. The study will aid in informing U.S. policy and negotiating positions concerning the NZF.
General Info
Agency
NAICS
Place of Performance
Washington, DC, 20590, USASet-Aside
Timeline
Submission Closed
Organization & Contact Information
Full Description
The purpose of this amendment no. 0003 is to provide Q&As to this RFP.
The purpose of this amendment no. 0002 is to provide Q&As to this RFP.
*****CAREFULLY REVIEW ENTIRE ATTACHED RFP*****
The U.S. Maritime Administration is commissioning a targeted cost analysis of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) “Net Zero Framework” (NZF), adopted in April 2025, that centers on the NZF’s specific policy mechanisms and their economic consequences for the United States. The study should examine, at minimum, the NZF’s:
(a) global GHG pricing/levy proposals (including scope, price trajectory, and pass-through mechanisms).
(b) emissions trading and crediting systems.
(c) use and role of carbon offsets and related crediting rules.
(d) fuel/energy standard or fuel blending mandates.
(e) technology mandates, exemptions, and phase in schedules.
(f) monitoring, reporting, and verification, auditing and compliance regimes.
(g) Fund governance, revenue collection, and allocation rules (including conditionality and funding flows to ports, projects, or countries); and
(h) enforcement, penalties, and potential border or trade adjustment measures.
MARAD is particularly interested in how each mechanism could:
(1) alter operating and capital costs for U.S. flagged and U.S. dependent shipping and logistics; (2) affect import/export unit costs (TEU/ton) and trade competitiveness.
(3) change demand for U.S. energy, technology, and maritime services.
(4) create administrative and compliance burdens; and
(5) risk leakage, double counting, or ineffective mitigation (for example, reliance on offsets that do not deliver measurable reductions).
The study should quantify impacts where feasible, identify key assumptions and uncertainties for each mechanism, and analyze distributional effects across U.S. industries, ports, and regions.
The contractor should compare outcomes under: (A) the NZF as proposed (mechanism by mechanism); (B) alternative designs that limit or reshape levy/offset components; and (C) delayed or phased implementation scenarios. For each mechanism, the study must recommend practical safeguards, alternative policy instruments, or design changes that would reduce unnecessary economic burdens on U.S. interests while maintaining emissions outcomes rooted in reality, and provide clear metrics and analytical methods that MARAD and U.S. negotiators can use to evaluate NZF proposals moving forward. For each mechanism, the study shall compare the proposed mechanism relative to a “No Action” approach to fully distinguish the costs and benefits to U.S. maritime, trade, and economic interests.
*****CAREFULLY REVIEW ENTIRE ATTACHED RFP*****
Submission Dates and Times.
The deadline for proposal submission is 12:00 PM EDT on Wednesday, June 3, 2026. Please submit proposals in PDF format via email to: Christian Onwudiegwu at Christian.onwudiegwu@dot.gov and Kelly Mitchell-Caroll at K.mitchell-carroll@dot.gov. Do not send paper copies, or other media of the proposal via post office or delivery service. Proposals received by MARAD after the deadline will not be considered for award. An email will be deemed “received” by MARAD on the date and time the email was “sent” to the email address in Section E.7, below, as determined by MARAD’s servers.
*****CAREFULLY REVIEW ENTIRE ATTACHED RFP*****