SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- Request For Information/Comments on Open Source Licensing Options for the TRansportation ANalysis and SIMulation System (TRANSIMS)
- Notice Date
- 3/10/2005
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Office of Acquisition Management, HAAM, Room 4410 400 7th Street, S.W., Washington, DC, 20590
- ZIP Code
- 20590
- Solicitation Number
- Reference-Number-TRANSIMS-001
- Response Due
- 4/15/2005
- Archive Date
- 4/30/2005
- Point of Contact
- Angel Delgado, Contract Analyst, Phone (202) 366-4106, Fax (202) 366-3705, - Rick Murray, Contracting Officer, Phone (202) 366-4250, Fax (202) 366-3705,
- E-Mail Address
-
angel.delgado@fhwa.dot.gov, rick.murray@fhwa.dot.gov
- Description
- THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) BEING RELEASED PURSUANT TO FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATIONS (FAR) PART 10, MARKET RESEARCH. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) seeks public comment on research, application, and commercialization issues regarding the release of TRANSIMS under an open source license. As the technology moves from research and development and into deployment, FHWA is considering all options for increasing the public’s access to this technology. TRANSIMS BACKGROUND: The Transportation Analysis and SIMulation System (TRANSIMS) is a set of travel modeling procedures (http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/transims/modeling_procedures.stm) designed to meet the State Department of Transportations’ (DOTs’) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations’ (MPOs’) need for more accurate and sensitive travel forecasts for transportation planning and emissions analysis. TRANSIMS outputs detailed data on travel, congestion, and emissions; information that is increasingly important to investment decisions and policy setting. Because TRANSIMS simulates and tracks travel by individuals, the benefits to and impacts on different geographies and travel markets can be evaluated as well. Furthermore, TRANSIMS has the capability to evaluate highly congested scenarios and operational changes on highways and transit systems. TRANSIMS is based on four primary modules: population synthesizer (http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/transims/popn_synthesizer.stm), activity generator (http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/transims/activity_generator.stm), route planner (http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/transims/route_planner.stm), and traffic micro simulator (http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/transims/traffic_microsimulator.stm). Using these components, TRANSIMS estimates activities for individuals and households, plans trips satisfying those activities, assigns trips to routes, and creates a micro simulation of all vehicles, transportation systems, and resulting traffic in a given study area. TRANSIMS differs from previous travel demand forecasting methods (http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/transims/transims_compared.stm ) in its underlying concepts and structure. These differences include a consistent and continuous representation of time; a detailed representation of persons and households; time-dependent routing; and a person-based micro simulator. These advances are producing significant changes in the travel forecasting process. To date the TRANSIMS models have been tested with data from Dallas, Texas, and Portland, Oregon. TRANSIMS was developed by researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and is available commercially through the IBM TRANSIMS Solution Center. The development of TRANSIMS has been funded by the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy of the United States Department of Transportation, and by the Environmental Protection Agency. OPEN SOURCE BACKGROUND: FHWA is considering the release of the TRANSIMS software and source code under the NASA Open Source Agreement (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/nasa1.3.php). This would allow anyone a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, redistribute, and display the software. Any subsequent changes to the original source code files by anyone must also be made available under the same terms. However, combinations with larger works would not be subject to the same terms. While there are other well-known examples of managed open source licenses, FHWA considers the NASA Open Source Agreement superior in that the terms are more clearly specified relative to other similar licenses. KEY ISSUES: 1. Under a copy-left style license such as the NASA License, a technical gatekeeper function would be necessary to preserve the functional integrity of the code base, deal with all version control issues, and ensure an appropriate degree of security as third parties propose changes to the current code base. How might this be implemented? 2. Under a copy-left style license such as the NASA License, an intellectual property gatekeeper function would likely be necessary to maintain the integrity of the license and document the flow of contributions as third parties propose changes. How might this be implemented? 3. What are the expectations for technical support and maintenance? How does communal support compare to fee-for-support? 4. What are the likely advantages/disadvantages/concerns with using open source software in an academic environment? 5. What are the likely advantages/disadvantages/concerns with using open source software in a commercial environment? 6. What issues and concerns do private entities/public agencies have regarding open source software? 7. What are any other issues/concerns that should be addressed but have not been? RESOURCES: USDOT Travel Model Improvement Program http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/transims/ Los Alamos National Labs http://transims.tsasa.lanl.gov/ IBM http://www.transims.net/ Open Source Initiative http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ There is no bid package or solicitation document associated with this announcement. Responses are being solicited on the Key Issues and all other related items. The due date for the responses is April 15, 2005. This request for information does not constitute a commitment, implied or otherwise, that a procurement action will be issued. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of the submission of contractor’s information. The Government shall not be liable for or suffer any consequential damages for proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable Government regulations. Responses including the specified documentation shall be e-mailed to: angel.Delgado@fhwa.dot.gov or Rick.Murray@fhwa.dot.gov. No facsimile response will be accepted. NOTE: THIS NOTICE WAS NOT POSTED TO WWW.FEDBIZOPPS.GOV ON THE DATE INDICATED IN THE NOTICE ITSELF (10-MAR-2005); HOWEVER, IT DID APPEAR IN THE FEDBIZOPPS FTP FEED ON THIS DATE. PLEASE CONTACT fbo.support@gsa.gov REGARDING THIS ISSUE.
- Web Link
-
Link to FedBizOpps document.
(http://www.eps.gov/spg/DOT/FHWA/OAM/Reference-Number-TRANSIMS-001/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: Unknown at this time.
- Record
- SN00766506-F 20050312/050310213732 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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