U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Procurement, RAD-30, 400 7th Street, S.W., Room 8222, Washington, D.C. 20590

A -- FRA SPONSORSHIP IN NAS/TRB FOR PERFORMANCE OF SERVICES IN SUPPORT OF RAILROAD RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SOL DTFR53-96-Q-00352 DUE 083096. POC Contracting Officer, Thomas L. Riddle, 202/366-0565. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) intends to award a one-year fixed price purchase order to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Transportation Research Board (TRB) for sponsorship in the NAS/TRB. Sponsorship shall include the performance of nonpersonal services aimed at promoting the furtherance of railroad science and engineering, the stimulation of railroad research and development activities, and the dissemination of scientific and technical information. The NAS/TRB is a private nonprofit honorary organization of more than 1500 scientists, engineers, educators, attorneys and other professionals elected on the basis of outstanding contributions to knowledge. The NAS/TRB was chartered by an Act of Congress in 1863, and under the terms of that charter is called upon to act as an official, yet independent, advisor to the Federal government in any matter of science or technology. The objective of the proposed contract is to secure FRA membership in an sponsorship of TRB research and development activities. Activities will include performance of the following task requirements: (1) Technical Papers/Presentations - Every January, the contractor shall conduct a broad based transportation research meeting in Washington, DC to bring together some 5,000 registrants into 200 or more sessions and over 200 committee meetings. The contractor, through its committee structure, shall solicit for the Annual Meeting, technical papers and presentations on topics of pressing railroad research needs and/or expert research findings. The contractor shall review and screen the technical paper submissions to determine their suitability for presentation at the Annual Meeting and shall also be responsible for post-meeting publication of presented papers in the Transportation Research Record. (2) Technical Committee Activities - The contractor shall maintain standing committees of authorities in relevant subject areas in the railroad transportation field; make necessary arrangements for the committees and task forces to each convene annually and report on each committee's activities and progress; and have each committee prepare Research Needs Statements on a recurring basis, for publication in Transportation Research Circular or Special Reports. (3) Railroad Community Synergism - The contractor shall provide for the interaction by rail planning and operating agencies with the TRB through the Field Visit Program (FVP). The FVP shall be a systematic personal interchange of relevant information about research findings with the staff of state departments of transportation, academic institutions that have transportation programs, and railroad companies. The contractor shall annually schedule the FVP with approximately 30 rail planning and operating agencies, regional planning agencies, and universities, and shall report its finding to the FRA. (4) Information Dissemination - The contractor shall prepare, edit, publish, and distribute the TR News (bi-monthly) which will include news items and transportation research articles of interest to the transportation community. (5) Outreach - The contractor shall continue to increase railroad activity inviting individuals with a railway orientation to serve on committees and group councils. Special emphasis will be placed on developing the involvement of representatives of regional and short line railroads in committee activities. Pursuant to the authority and guidance under Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 13.101, 13.103, 13.105(c)(2), and 13.106-1(a)(4), the Contracting Officer has determined that the proposed acquisition is within the simplified acquisition threshold, that only one responsible source is reasonably available and that the circumstances for a small business set-aside do not exist, and as such, the proposed purchase order will be negotiated using simplified acquisition procedures on an unrestricted sole source basis. This is neither a request for proposal nor request for quotations and a competitive solicitation is not available. (213)

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