SHRP 2 Safety Data Baseline Oversight Services

THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. The proposed contract action is for services for which the Government intends to solicit and negotiate with a single source under the authority of FAR 13.106-1(b). The intent of this notice is not to request competitive proposals, and any information received from interested parties will only be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether a competitive procurement should be conducted. However, interested parties may submit a description of their firm's capabilities for satisfying this requirement, which demonstrates they possess the ability to successfully perform this effort. Pursuant to 13.106-1(b), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) intends to negotiate a sole source purchase order with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Transportation Institute to provide baseline operation and management of the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) data and SHRP 2 Roadway Information Database (RID) – together referred to herein as the SHRP 2 Safety Data. Description of Services: Manage the SHRP 2 Safety Data Hosting Environment: The Contractor shall manage and maintain all SHRP 2 Safety Data, including the Naturalistic Driving Study Data, the Roadway Information Database, Dataverse, and InSight. The Contractor shall manage requests for Data Use Licenses. The Contractor shall maintain the middleware and other data management tools that streamline access to the data for data requestors. Under the Purchase Order, VTTI shall perform the following tasks to meet the objectives of the order: Operate and maintain the SHRP 2 Safety Data; Manage and administer requests for Data Use Licenses; and Maintain the middleware and other data management tools that streamline access to the data for data requestors. Background: SHRP 2 was authorized by Congress under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA- LU), Section 5210 (Public Law 109-59) to address highly pressing needs related to the nation’s highway system, including the reduction of highway deaths and injuries. The SHRP 2 Safety Data – which includes the world’s largest NDS database – were collected and made available to the research community by Spring 2015. To prepare for the management of such a large database, FHWA, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences (TRB), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) dated June 26, 2014, to provide a framework for the conduct of implementation and oversight of the SHRP 2 Safety Data for an initial Phase I period. Following the MOU, on August 4, 2014, FHWA awarded Cooperative Agreement No. DTFH6114H00017 to TRB to fund “Phase I of SHRP 2 Safety Data Implementation and Oversight.” The objective of the Phase I agreement was to make SHRP 2 Safety Data available to qualified users during the Phase I timeframe, and to gain experience that could support decisions about implementation and oversight of these data in a transition to Phase II. Under the Phase I agreement, TRB entered into a subaward with VTTI for Phase I data management and data access activities. The subaward to VTTI to maintain the repository of the SHRP 2 Safety Data expires on May 15, 2020. FHWA has identified the need to continue the maintenance of the repository of the SHRP 2 Safety Data to enable continued access and use by researchers in the future. To ensure the valuable data is managed at a minimum baseline level, FHWA has identified the need for a sole source Purchase Order to VTTI to provide baseline data management of the SHRP 2 Safety Data.