Broad Agency Announcement: Funds Availability for Research Projects and Technology Advancements Under the Next Generation High- Speed Rail Program

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

Broad Agency Announcement: Funds Availability for Research

Projects and Technology Advancements Under the Next Generation High-

Speed Rail Program

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of

Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of funds availability: Broad Agency Announcement (BAA)

for research projects and technology advancements under the next

generation high-speed rail program.

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Introduction

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is soliciting pre-

proposal concept papers for various research projects, technology

advancements and/or demonstrations directed at enhancing the deployment

of high-speed rail service in the United States. Technologies most

likely to enhance the deployment of high-speed rail service in the U.S.

are those which will--(a) enhance the revenue-generating capability of

high-speed operations; (b) bring about capital cost reductions and

economy in producing equipment and facilities; (c) reduce operating

costs of high-speed rail service; (d) improve the reliability of

equipment and infrastructure components; (e) improve safety; and/or (f)

enhance the social benefits and/or environmental aspects of high speed

rail.

Eligible Participants

This is an unrestricted solicitation. Any responsible source may

submit a pre-proposal concept paper for consideration including, but

not limited to, states or local governments, or organizations of state

or local governments, institutions of higher education, hospitals or

other non-profit organizations, private individuals, corporations,

businesses or commercial organizations, except that any business owned

in whole or in part by the Federal Government is not eligible. Although

businesses owned in whole or in part by the Federal Government are not

eligible for funding under the Program, they may contract with eligible

participants. Cooperative arrangements (e.g., joint ventures, limited

partnerships, teaming arrangements, or collaboration and consortium

arrangements) are permitted and encouraged. Small, Small Disadvantaged

(SD), and Women-Owned (WO) Business Concerns, and Historically Black

Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MIs) are

encouraged to submit pre-proposal concept papers on their own and/or in

collaboration with others. However, no portion of this BAA will be set

aside exclusively for Small, SD, or WO Business Concerns, or for HBCU

and MIs. Attention: Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business

Enterprises (DBEs)! The Department of Transportation (DOT), Short-Term

Lending Program (STLP) offers working capital financing in the form of

lines of credit to finance accounts receivable for transportation

related contracts. Maximum line of credit is $500,000 with interest at

the prime rate. For further information call (800) 532-1169. Internet

address: http://osdbuweb.dot.gov.

Exchanges and Points of Contact

Exchanges of information between interested parties and the

Government, prior to submission of pre-proposal concept papers, are

strongly encouraged. Such informal exchanges may provide would-be

offerors with preliminary information on the Government's level of

interest in prospective works or projects or on the availability of

funds. Any exchanges of information must be consistent with procurement

integrity requirements of section 27 of the Office of Federal

Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423, as amended) (see Federal

Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 3.104). For technical inquires, interested

parties may contact the BAA primary technical point of contact, Mr.

Robert McCown (Tel: 202/632-3250, Fax: 202/632-3854), or one of the

other, secondary technical points of contact identified in Appendix A

of the BAA 98-01 Pre-Proposal Preparation Package (BAA 98-01 Package),

available from the FRA. All non-technical inquiries should be directed

to the Grants/Contracting Officer, Mr. Thomas Riddle (Tel: 202/632-

3391, Fax: 202/632-3846). Please note that FRA anticipates changing its

telephone service on or about July 10, 1998. New telephone numbers will

be assigned during this change over. For the first 30 days after the

change over, there will be a automatic bridge/link in which the service

provider will furnish callers with the new number of the party they are

trying to reach when an old [replaced] number is dialed. After 30 days,

a caller who dials an old number will be routed to the DOT operator for

assistance/new number, or the caller may dial the DOT information line

direct at 202/366-4000. As of the date this announcement/notice was

submitted for publication, the following numbers have been tentatively

assigned for the points of contact identified above, for usage on or

after July 10, 1998: Mr. McCown--Tel: 202/493-6350, RDV-30 Fax: 202/

493-6333. Mr. Riddle--Tel: 202/493-6149.

BAA Time Line

BAA 98-01 is being published in both the Commerce Business Daily

(CBD) and the Federal Register (FR) in June 1998. (Note: BAA 98-01 is a

single broad agency announcement of the FRA, that is being advertised

and published in these two different media to reach a broad base of

prospective applicants. The description of BAA 98-01 may different

slightly in form between the two publications, but each will be

substantially the same as the other in all material respects.) FRA will

accept pre-proposal concept paper submissions, inquiries and requests

for the BAA 98-01 Package under BAA 98-01, immediately upon its

announcement and appearance in either the CBD, or FR, or June 22, 1998,

whichever single date/event occurs first. However, to allow interested

parties adequate time to prepare pre-proposal concept papers, FRA will

not begin its technical evaluations before July 22, 1998. Unless BAA

98-01 is superceded or canceled, FRA will continue to accept concept

submissions, inquiries and package requests, through April 30, 1999;

however, fiscal year 1999 (FY 99) awards are subject to the

availability of FY 99 appropriations or the continued availability of

unobligated prior no-year funds. Although the BAA is open for an

extended period, interested parties would be well advised to submit

proposals as early as possible.

Funding Authority and Related Information

Funds for this program are authorized in the Department of

Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 1998, Public Law

105-66 (October 27, 1997). FRA will make available up to $4.3 million

for awards under the BAA during fiscal year 1998 for research project

and technology advancements in areas of research interest to the FRA,

that are evaluated favorably and determined by the FRA to be consistent

with the objectives of this BAA and of interest to the Government, and

for which adequate funding exist. Awards

[[Page 34956]]

may be of any dollar value within the maximum amounts allowed for each

area of interest (so long as those amounts do not exceed the total

amount available under the BAA), but it is anticipated that most, if

not all, individual awards (or that part of the Government's portion in

a cost sharing arrangement) will have dollar values ranging between

$25,000 and $500,000 each. Prospective offerors are advised that awards

greater than $500,000 will generally require the awardee (except a

small business concern) to already have in place or prepare, at or

before the time of award, an acceptable plan to maximize the

participation of minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business

enterprises. Because the range and diversity of activities that may be

proposed under the BAA does not permit a common work statement, no

single Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code will be issued for

the BAA. SIC codes will be specific to each individual contract award

as determined by the type of activity in which the actual offeror will

be engaged, and as a function of the ownership characteristics of the

prospective offeror. Cost sharing by awardees is not mandatory under

this BAA, however because of the potential for long-term benefits to

those firms or institutions involved in these research and development

activities, offerors are strongly encouraged to consider sharing the

cost of their proposed projects.

Awards

Research projects, technology advancements, and/or demonstrations

proposed under this BAA will be considered for award through a two-step

process. In the first step, interested parties must submit a pre-

proposal concept paper for each research project, technology

advancement or demonstration (by area of interest) the applicant wishes

the FRA to consider. The purpose of the pre-proposal concept paper is

to preclude unwarranted and possibly costly effort on the part of

interested parties whose proposed work may not be of interest to the

FRA under this BAA. Pre-proposal concept papers submitted under this

BAA will be subject to technical review in accordance with the

established evaluation criteria. Based upon its evaluations, the FRA

will subsequently notify each respondent who submits a pre-proposal

concept paper as to whether the Government encourages or does not

encourage the submission of a full proposal. In the second step,

respondents whose pre-proposal concept papers are evaluated favorably

and determined by the FRA to be consistent with the objectives of the

BAA and of interest to the Government, may be requested to submit a

full technical and cost proposal or other information relative to the

initial submission for further consideration. Such a request will NOT

guarantee the applicant that an award will be forthcoming for the

offered work or project, nor otherwise create an obligation on the part

of the Government. Awards may take the form of contracts, grants or

cooperative agreements. Contracts will be used when the principal

purpose is the acquisition of supplies or services (including research

and development) for the direct benefit or use of the Federal

Government. Grants or cooperative agreements will be used when the

principal purpose of the transaction is to stimulate or support

research and development for another public purpose.

Areas of Technology Interest

Technologies which are high-priority research candidates for

evaluation pursuant to this announcement include: (1) Grade crossing

hazard mitigation systems. (2) Innovative, low cost technologies to

improve track and structures. (3) Advance train control systems. (4)

Non-electric locomotives and passenger equipment systems. (5) Other

scientific study, technology adaptation, or demonstration directed

toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing the knowledge or

understanding of high-speed passenger rail service in the U.S.

Pre-Proposal Concept Papers and Preparation Instructions

Pre-proposal concept papers should be ten (10) pages or less

(except as otherwise noted). Pre-proposal concept paper submissions

must contain a Technical Concept Section and a Cost or Pricing Section,

and when applicable, should contain a Phased or Follow-on Research

Project Section. Specific content and format requirements and

additional instructions for preparing submissions, as well as further

information on the areas of interest themselves and the evaluation/

selection process, are provided in the BAA 98-01 Package. Interested

parties may obtain a copy of the BAA 98-01 Package by submitting a

written request to U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad

Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants Services, RAD-30, 400

7th Street, SW, Mail Stop 50, Washington, DC 20590, or via tele-

facsimile request (Fax No. 202/632-3846), to the attention of the

Grants/Contracting Officer, Mr. Riddle. The request should also

reference the Solicitation No. BAA 98-01. The BAA 98-01 Package should

also be available on the Internet in July 1998,

Evaluation Criteria

Pre-proposal concept papers (and later full proposals or other

submissions, if and when requested) will be evaluated using the

following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative

importance: (1) The overall scientific merit and/or technical merits of

the proposal. (2) The degree to which the overall proposed technical

effort will advance U.S. high-speed rail technology, and the extent to

which its application to railroad operations would improve intercity

passenger operations through improved railroad capital equipment or

infrastructure, traffic control centers, interfaces among these, or

operating methods, and/or its potential for performance improvement in

one or more qualities such as, cost effectiveness, reliability, safety,

availability, or maintainability. (3) The technical qualifications and

demonstrated experience of key personnel proposed to perform the

technical efforts. (4) The administrative qualifications and

demonstrated experience of the proposing organization to support

projects such as those proposed. (5) The reasonableness and realism of

the proposed costs and fee (if any). (6) The degree to which Federal

funds are leveraged by private, non-Federal, and/or Federal funds

available from sources other than FRA programs. (7) The availability of

funds. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. NO OTHER

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS OR ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE ISSUED.

Dated: June 18, 1998.

James T. McQueen,

Associate Administrator for Railroad Development.

[FR Doc. 98-16762 Filed 6-25-98; 8:45 am]

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