MODIFICATION
R -- Advancement of Freight Management and Operations
- Notice Date
- 1/12/2010
- Notice Type
- Modification/Amendment
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Office of Acquisition Management, HAAM, Mail Stop E65-101, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20590
- ZIP Code
- 20590
- Solicitation Number
- DTFH61-10-S-101210
- Archive Date
- 2/10/2010
- Point of Contact
- Robert A Robel, Phone: (202) 366-4227
- E-Mail Address
-
robert.robel@dot.gov
(robert.robel@dot.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- NOTE: The Place of Performance is Amended As Follows: DELETE: Delaware CHANGE TO: District of Columbia Request for Information Advancement of Freight Management and Operation Section 1. Submittal Information Due date for responses: January 26, 2010 4:00 PM EST Submit responses to: FHWA Office of Freight Management and Operations 1200 NJ Ave., SE E84-446 Washington, DC 20590 See below Section 6 entitled “Requested content of responses to this sources sought notice” for submittal content instructions. One (1) hard copy should be submitted. Section 2. Introduction This is a Sources Sought notice. It is NOT a solicitation for proposals or proposal abstracts. The purpose of this notice is to obtain information, for planning purposes, regarding: (1) the availability and capability of qualified sources to perform all or some of the work described below; and (2) the size classification of the available and capable sources relative to the North American Industry Classification (NAICS) code for the proposed acquisition. This notice does not solicit proposals. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Additionally, the U.S. Government will not provide reimbursement for any information that may be submitted in response to this Request for Information (RFI). 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 FHWA for the requisite services. The Government is conducting market research to: Determine what sources exist that are capable of satisfying the Government’s requirements as listed below; Determine the capabilities of potential contractors; Determine the size and status of potential sources; and Determine the level of competition. Section 3. Background The purpose of this Sources Sought announcement is to conduct market research. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) anticipates work will be performed under Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts. From time to time, those awarded an IDIQ contract will be invited to compete for award of task orders that may include technical support and assistance for freight management and operations. The Office of Freight Management and Operations is currently included in an IDIQ for “Technical Support and Assistance for the FHWA’s Office of Operations”. The Office of Freight Management and Operations is contemplating award of an IDIQ to place greater emphasis on the need for freight expertise. Section 4. Nature of Work A. Background The Federal Highway Administration is a major agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), a cabinet-level organization of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government. FHWA is charged with the broad responsibility of ensuring that America’s roads and highways continue to be the safest and most technologically up-to-date. Although State, local, and tribal governments own most of the Nation’s highways, FHWA provides financial and technical support to them for constructing, improving, and preserving America’s highway system. Within the FHWA, the Office of Freight Management and Operations promotes efficient freight movement on the U.S. transportation system and across our borders. Efficient freight movement is important to our nation's economic competitiveness and to our global connectivity. To advance this mission, the Office: •Conducts policy and applied research •Develops analytical tools and data integration •Develops and advances technology applications that improve the efficiency of freight movement •Engages in technology transfer •Develops and administers a professional capacity building program that improves the knowledge and ability of transportation professionals to address freight movement •Administers national level programs that address freight movement (e.g., Projects of National and Regional Significance, National Corridor Infrastructure Improvement, Freight Intermodal Distribution Pilot, and Truck Parking) •Administers Federal truck size and weight requirements. Together, these activities build a greater understanding of freight transportation issues and trends, foster public/private partnerships, improve operations through advanced technologies, and educate and train transportation professionals. B. State of Freight and Challenges The projected increase in freight movement over the next twenty plus years will increasingly strain the Nation’s transportation network including intermodal and global connectivity. Ensuring that freight continues to move efficiently on the US transportation network is critical to the nation’s economic health. The economic benefits that accrue at the local, regional and national levels come with challenges that need to be addressed, e.g., emissions, energy consumption, congestion, modal productivity, local costs/benefits relative to more dispersed benefits. These challenges are not unique to the highway system but present themselves across the transportation network on all modes. The movement of freight is a complicated system involving multiple governmental organizations at all levels, private interests that control the assets that move the freight, and, of course, the beneficial owners of the freight itself. All need to work together to ensure that the transportation system functions effectively and efficiently for all. Understanding the dynamics of this movement and the relationship of all the players is necessary for transportation decision makers. The freight transportation challenge is decidedly different from urban commuting and other passenger travel in several ways: •Freight moves long distances through localities and responds to distant economic demands while the majority of passenger travel occurs between local origins and destinations. Freight movement may generate local costs that exceed local benefits. •Freight movements fluctuate more quickly and in greater relative amounts than passenger travel. While both passenger travel and freight respond to long-term demographic change, freight responds more quickly than passenger travel to short-term economic fluctuations. Fluctuations can be national or local. The addition or loss of just one major business can dramatically change the level of freight activity in a locality. •Freight movement is heterogeneous compared to passenger travel. Patterns of passenger travel tend to be very similar across metropolitan areas and among large economic and social strata. The freight transportation demands of farms, steel mills, and clothing boutiques differ radically from one another. Solutions aimed at average conditions are less likely to work because the freight demands of economic sectors vary widely. •Improvements targeted at freight demand are needed as freight accounts for a larger share of the transportation system, and as improvements targeted at general traffic or passenger travel are less likely to aid the flow of freight as an incidental by-product. C. Objectives As the FHWA’s resource for freight transportation and as a major contributor to US DOT freight policy and programs, the Office of Freight Management and Operations is seeking to identify sources that can provide support services related to: 1.Support to staff in understanding freight issues, trends,and market dynamics. 2.Support to staff in the development and application of technology to more efficiently move freight. 3.Support to staff in the development of policy, programs, projects, and regulations that advance freight management and operations. 4.Support to staff for communications activities, including marketing and outreach to raise awareness, understanding, and the application of freight management and operations concepts. 5.Support to staff for the development and use of data integration, analytic and technical tools, user interfaces, models, and interactive and asynchronous instruction to advance freight programs. 6.Support to staff for technology transfer and technical assistance programs to state and local transportation professionals to facilitate application of freight programs. 7.Support to staff for program assessment of freight programs and projects, including project evaluation, performance measurement, finance, and process improvement related to freight programs. D. Technical and Freight Expertise Knowledge and Skill Areas The government believes that the following skills and knowledge areas may be needed. These skills may be supplied by professional staff having all or parts of the specified skills. It is desirable to have a balance of first hand experience or field work and research capabilities in the following areas: NOTE: The government is seeking sources that can provide skills in any combination of areas identified below. A source may address a single skill area. Skills Matrix Please indicate capability to provide this type of expertise. Skill AreaCapable with organization staffCapable with subcontractors or through teaming approachCurrently not capable or not interested Communications Technology (that improve information flow attendant to the physical movement of freight.) Computer Programming Database and web access design Economics The ability to conduct economic analysis and identify and explain various economic trends and impacts that impact freight. Economic development/Land Use Relationships of freight to supporting local economic activity, trucking access to commercial and industrial sites, interaction of local economic development and livibility Facilitation, collaboration and negotiation Freight transportation involves relationships between the public and private sectors and most freight solutions require joint action by both public and private sectors Finance (public and private) Understanding of private and public finance models for funding freight transportation projects; Understanding and experience with financial and economics of freight systems and involved parties. Freight Analysis Framework Freight analysis/market functioning (Understanding private sector business operations) (commodities, industry/shippers, transportation mode/carriers, consumer/wholesale, geographic, socio economic, multijurisdictional decision making and corridor level activity) Freight modeling (At National, regional, or local scales) network development and assignment Freight Operations and Technologies Freight Plan development and oversight (national, corridor, state, local) Freight Trends and Statistics the ability to perform quantitative analyses to characterize and optimize the financial and other performance of transportation systems within large and complex institutional settings, involving public and private sectors. Geographic information systems Cartography Industry analysis and operations and market research (trucking, rail, marine, air) Instructional System Design International trade and transportation Labor issues and freight (practices/workforce characteristics and requirements) Legislative/Policy Analysis (ability to identify legislative and policy characteristics and analyze various benefits and impacts of legislative and policy alternatives) Multi-jurisdictional decision making (including corridor level activity) Performance measurement (multi-modal performance measurement/management (private and public sector experience)) Program Evaluation Statistics/data analysis Supply chain logistics, including technologies Taxation private and public sectors experience/understanding Transportation Planning integrating freight into Urban goods movement urban planning/urban design to deal with freight and livability; urban goods movement Vehicle technology including alternate fuels Section 5. Additional Background Material To learn more about the freight transportation within the Department of Transportation, you can visit the following websites: http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/index.cfm http://www.freight.dot.gov/ The following is a listing of selected freight transportation documents that are helpful to freight practitioners: •Building Freight Professional Capacity in the 21st Century - Efficient freight movement is a fundamental underpinning of our nation's economic strength. Enabling transportation professionals to improve their skills and knowledge to fully integrate freight movement into our transportation system's development and operations is the objective of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA's) Freight Professional Development (FPD) Program. This brochure describes many of the options available in the FPD Program. •Financing Freight Improvements - This Guidebook describes funding and financing tools available for freight investments. The Guidebook has been designed to provide information to the FHWA, states, MPOs, and other parties interested in investing in freight infrastructure. •Freight Facts and Figures 2008 - A snapshot of the volume and value of freight flows in the United States, the physical network over which freight moves, the economic conditions that generate freight movements, the industry that carries freight, and the safety, energy, and environmental consequences of freight transportation. •Freight Glossary and Acronyms - Provides definitions for key freight terms and a list of commonly used freight-related acronyms. •Freight Story 2008 - A national perspective on freight transportation challenges and responses. •Freight Technology Story - Provides information about the state of the art and the adoption of effective technologies by the freight industry and its customers. •Guide to Quantifying the Economic Impacts of Federal Investments in Large-Scale Freight Transportation Projects - This guide focuses on economic effects and the secondary passenger benefits that often accrue due to freight projects. •Quick Response Freight Manual Second Edition - This report provides background information on the freight transportation system and factors affecting freight demand, helps planners locate available data and freight-related forecasts compiled by others, shows how to apply this information in developing forecasts for specific facilities, and provides simple techniques and transferable parameters that can be used to develop freight vehicle trip tables. Section 6. Requested Content of Responses to this Sources Sought Notice Interested parties who consider themselves qualified to perform the listed services for all or some of the knowledge and skill areas are invited to submit a response to this Sources Sought Notice. Sources are requested to furnish the following information: 1. Name and address of company/organization/firm 2. Capability statement 3. Skills matrix 4. Organization Classification 5. Other Support Information- optional Capability Statement Keeping FHWA’s Office of Freight Management’s business objectives and anticipated research and support requirements in mind, outline how you would support the requirements. Sources are requested to submit a capability statement that addresses their ability to deliver the required products and/or services. Sources who are only interested in specific areas may only submit a capability statement that addresses specific area of interests. PAGE LIMIT: Responses should not exceed ten (10) pages in length with font size 12 or larger, excluding transmittal page and table of contents. Do NOT submit marketing material. Do NOT submit resumes. Skills Matrix FHWA has created a skills matrix (see Section 4.D) that will allow the opportunity for sources to provide an at-a-glance view of their expertise to meet anticipated FHWA requirements. Sources should complete this matrix as completely as possible. Organization Classification Provide GSA Schedule numbers (if applicable). Is your firm:  A small business?  A small disadvantaged business?  A woman-owned business?  An 8(a) business?  A Hub Zone business?  Service Disabled Veteran-Owned small business?  A large business?  A non-profit?  Other (specify)? Other Support Information - Optional Sources can at their own discretion submit a separate document, no longer than five (5) pages, that summarizes your comments on the various freight transportation requirements the FHWA’s has provided. The sources can use this document as a mechanism to identify any gaps in areas provided by FHWA or to provide innovative approaches to understanding and addressing freight transportation that was not covered in any by any of the requirements developed by FHWA. The documentation could also provide comments on missing or ambiguous requirements and any other general comments or concerns. Feedback in the white paper may also include specific comments and suggestions for refining the requirements. Section 7. Notes PARTICIPATION IN THE MARKET RESEARCH IN NO WAY INFLUENCES THE SOURCE SELECTION FOR THESE SERVICES. This Notice is not to be construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to award a contract, nor does the Government intend to directly pay for any information or responses submitted as the result of this Notice. As a result of this Market Research, FHWA anticipates issuing a solicitation for these services, at FedBizOps.gov. Please review this website in the future to locate the related solicitation. Thank you for participating in FHWA’s market research.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOT/FHWA/OAM/DTFH61-10-S-101210/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington, District of Columbia, 20590, United States
- Zip Code: 20590
- Zip Code: 20590
- Record
- SN02040833-W 20100114/100112235313-e12a3d9deb6a4a1107e3f182b2ac57cd (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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