SOURCES SOUGHT
B -- UNIVERSITY TRANSPORTATION STUDY
- Notice Date
- 9/18/2009
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 611310
— Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools
- Contracting Office
- USA Engineer District, Nashville, P.O. Box 1070, 801 Broad Street, Nashville, TN 37202-1070
- ZIP Code
- 37202-1070
- Solicitation Number
- W912P5-09-R-0037
- Response Due
- 9/25/2009
- Archive Date
- 11/24/2009
- Point of Contact
- James Choate, 615-736-7946
- E-Mail Address
-
USA Engineer District, Nashville
(James.E.Choate@LRN02.usace.army.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The Nashville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is examining the possibility of classing the University of Tennessees Center for Transportation Research as a sole source contractor for the proposed Phase III study: The Potential Contribution of Commercial Navigation to Freight Mobility in the Tennessee River Basin. CTR submitted the proposed scope of work to the Nashville District in June 2009. An outline of the proposal precedes the Centers unique capabilities to complete the research project. Study Scope Analysts are well aware of the nature and volume of mode-specific traffic moving by truck, rail, and water. However, for commercial barge transportation to provide additional freight capacity relief, it will be necessary for some movements in specific traffic lanes to divert from one mode to another. This realization gives rise to three specific questions that form the heart of the current proposal. These questions include: Are there measurable quantities of specific commodity movements that could reasonably divert from their current modal routing to a routing that better utilizes commercial navigations capacity? Under what economic conditions would such diversions be feasible? And To what extent would freight diversions that better utilize barge capacity result in increases in usable highway capacity and improved regional air quality? Additionally, there is a question of how needed port infrastructure and/or port access improvements would be funded and who at the State level would become an advocate for such improvements. This study will focus on a (1) determination of projects in the State of Tennessee that might quality for the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program and on the (2) creation of a Water Transportation Advisory Group that would advise Department of Transportation (TDOT) transportation planners in matters of needed upgrades to commercial barge transportation infrastructure. 2.2 Evaluating the Economics of Diversion. Based on the 50 most promising candidate diversions identified in Task 2.1, the study team will begin the arduous process of identifying the economic conditions that would be necessary to make diversions to barge-inclusive routes feasible for shippers. A case study approach will be used to analyze supply chain costs related to freight mode decisions. Knowledgeable transportation managers will be surveyed to gain recommendations as to the fiscal or infrastructure leverage necessary to entice them to shift transport modes. The case studies would, then: (1) identify supply chain costs resulting from freight choice decisions for the businesses; (2) assess the criticality of the costs as it pertains to the operation being captive to truck transportation; (3) determine the nature and quantity of the incentive needed to induce modal shifts, and (4) perform a highway capacity analysis to determine the air pollution benefits associated with the modal switch. 2.3. Estimating Air and other social Benefits from Traffic Diversions. Having identified the candidate diversions from highway to rail or barge transportation components, the basic methodology of the study models traffic conditions in the study area and then transforms traffic and congestion impacts into additional fuel consumed, time spent in transit, air pollution, and crashes. Dollar values are placed on each of the four effects using data obtained from the ASSHTO Red Book (User Benefit Analysis for Highways) and the Environmental Protection Agency. This methodology was recently used by the Center for Transportation Research in a study of the potential closure of three navigation locks in the vicinity of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was determined that certain of the river traffic would move into Pittsburgh by truck transportation if one or more of the river navigation failed.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/USA/COE/DACA62/W912P5-09-R-0037/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: USA Engineer District, Nashville P.O. Box 1070, 801 Broad Street Nashville TN
- Zip Code: 37202-1070
- Zip Code: 37202-1070
- Record
- SN01961019-W 20090920/090919000422-19d90beea09ab9723282128cbceba629 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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