SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- State of Knowledge and Practice for Using Automated License Place Readers for Traffic Safety Purposes
- Notice Date
- 9/19/2014
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541720
— Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- Contracting Office
- Department of Transportation, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, 55 Broadway, Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142-1093
- ZIP Code
- 02142-1093
- Solicitation Number
- DTRT5714SS00007
- Archive Date
- 10/18/2014
- Point of Contact
- Thomas Martin, Phone: 6174943687
- E-Mail Address
-
thomas.martin@dot.gov
(thomas.martin@dot.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- Description: 1.0 Summary The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center), Cambridge, MA, is conducting market research to identify businesses for support services with the objective of researching the full range of issues associated with the implementation and use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) for traffic safety purposes. This Sources Sought Notice does not constitute a solicitation and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The Government will not pay for any effort expended in responding to this notice. 2.0 Background The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). NHTSA's mission is to save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards and enforcement activity. Under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), Subsection 402(c), the Secretary, acting through the NHTSA Administrator, shall establish a cooperative program to research and evaluate State highway safety countermeasures. NHTSA, in conjunction with the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), has identified several areas for research and evaluation to be conducted under this program. In support of NHTSA, Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe), will assist in establishing and managing this new cooperative program. As part of this program, NHTSA, in conjunction with the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), identified a need to discover and report on the state of knowledge and practice as it relates to ALPRs. ALPR systems automatically capture an image of a vehicle's license plate, transform that image into alphanumeric characters, compare the captured license plate number to one or more databases of vehicles of interest (e.g., Hot Lists), and alert the officer when a plate matching an agency's Hot List is observed. The automated capture, analysis, and comparison of vehicle license plates to a Hot List generally occur within seconds. In support of NHTSA, the Volpe Center is conducting preliminary qualitative research on the feasibility of using ALPRs as countermeasures to improve traffic safety. While ALPRs are deployed for a variety of purposes (i.e., homeland security, locating and recovering stolen vehicles, etc.), the purpose of this study is to focus on the use of ALPRs for traffic safety purposes. Within traffic safety, the emphasis will be on license offenses, including revoked, suspended, or restricted licenses; however, the study should reveal whether ALPRs are being used for any other type of traffic safety function (e.g., speed enforcement). 3.0 Description The research shall examine the full range of issues associated with the implementation and use of ALPRs for traffic safety purposes, including: • Extent of ALPR use for traffic safety purposes (overall and relative to other purposes) • Development, implementation, and maintenance of ALPR databases (e.g., "Hot Lists") • Cost to deploy and maintain ALPRs (including training) • Effectiveness of ALPRs o Benefits/value/usefulness of deploying ALPRs for traffic safety purposes o Challenges and problems encountered when utilizing ALPRs for traffic safety purposes, including technical, operational and institutional (and how they were overcome)\ • Legal issues surrounding the use of ALPRs and how have they been addressed • Law enforcement acceptance for traffic safety purposes • Community acceptance for traffic safety purposes • Privacy concerns • Other issues or concerns It is anticipated that the research will consist of 8-12 case studies of local law enforcement agencies that are using ALPRs for traffic safety purposes. Qualitative interviews will be conducted with law enforcement officers from each of the selected case studies, including a mix of onsite and telephone interviews. The Volpe Center seeks support in conducting this work. Support efforts will include, but are not necessarily limited to, conducting a literature review to understand current knowledge and practice with respect to the use of ALPR technology for traffic safety purposes; obtaining clearance for the data collection effort from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB); selecting case studies (law enforcement agencies) for deeper investigation; designing discussion guides; conducting the qualitative interviews; analyzing the collected data, and writing a final report of findings. 4.0 Submission Instructions Interested Contractors must submit a written Statement of Capabilities of sufficient detail demonstrating their understanding of the Section 3.0 description of requirements (above). Contractors must also demonstrate expertise (i.e., history of research experience) in utilizing qualitative research methods and in conducting interviews with local law enforcement agencies (e.g. police officers of different ranks). Sources may also provide information on whether their staff has previously worked in law enforcement; however, this does not constitute expertise in conducting interviews with law enforcement agencies (rather, sources must demonstrate that they have worked on projects that involved interviews with local law enforcement agencies). Other relevant experience includes expertise in the evaluation of technologies and expertise in obtaining clearance for information collection efforts from OMB (as per the Paperwork Reduction Act). All capability information detailing previous relevant projects shall include: Customer (Government agency, private industry); contract value and type of contract; period of performance; and description of product/services. Information provided should be detailed in the area(s) above (i.e. history of research experience using qualitative methods, interviewing law enforcement agencies, evaluating technologies, and obtaining clearance from OMB) so the Government can assess the ability of the company to provide the described services. All of the information sought should be conveyed in no more than six (6) pages. Page size is set at 8.5" X 11" and text should be no smaller than 11 point and double spaced. Each response must reference the Sources Sought title. Ensure to provide the Contractor's name and the following Contractor information: 1) Point of Contact (along with telephone and email address); 2) DUNS Number and CAGE Code; 3) Contractor Address; and 4) NAICS code as registered in the System for Award Management. Interested small businesses shall indicate their socio-economic small business size status (Total Small Business, 8(a) business development, historically underutilized business zone, service disabled veteran owned, small disadvantaged, or woman-owned) in the appropriate North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. As a result of recent changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 19, small business concerns must ensure that their status certifications are up to date. Interested parties must respond to this announcement in writing by October 3, 2014 at 3:00 pm Eastern Time. Telephone requests will not be honored. All responses must be submitted via e-mail to Thomas Martin at Thomas.Martin@dot.gov. Electronic attachments to the e-mail should be submitted in Microsoft Office 2007 (or later) productivity application formats, or any format that can be imported by Microsoft Office. 5.0 Information Availability THIS NOTICE IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. This notice is for information and planning purposes only, and is a market research tool to determine the availability and technical capability of contractors prior to determining the method of acquisition and possible issuance of a Request for Proposal. The notice does not constitute a solicitation for bids, quotations, and proposals, and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The information provided herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to solicit for or award a competitive contract. The Government is not obligated to and will not pay for any information received from potential sources as a result of response to this Sources Sought notice. The Government will not pay for any materials provided in response to this synopsis and submittals will not be returned to the sender. Submissions must be disclosable to the public or the submitter should provide a summary statement that can be disclosed to the public with fuller supporting information that is clearly marked as restricted. The Government will use customary means to safeguard proprietary information, but only when such information is (1) clearly marked as proprietary; (2) is, in fact, information that could not have been obtained from another party or source; and (3) is otherwise deserving of such treatment under standards and processes described in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Executive Order 12600. For information about the Volpe Center refer to the Volpe Center website at http://www.volpe.dot.gov.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DOT/RITA/VNTSC/DTRT5714SS00007/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: DOT/RITA/Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, 55 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142, United States
- Zip Code: 02142
- Zip Code: 02142
- Record
- SN03520384-W 20140921/140919235605-2df765acc2f0788ae1bc40ff0d70fe30 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
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