SOLICITATION NOTICE
R -- Clarus Weather System Design
- Notice Date
- 10/21/2004
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- NAICS
- 541990
— All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical 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
- DTFH61-05-R-00102
- Response Due
- 12/22/2004
- Archive Date
- 10/31/2005
- Description
- There is NO INCUMBENT CONTRACTOR. This is a FULL-AND-OPEN-COMPETITIVE procurement. In a Request for Proposals (RFP) which will be published soon in FedBizOpps at Internet address http://www.eps.gov, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will be seeking proposals for one 20-month cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for a project to be entitled ?Clarus Weather System Design?. Clarus is the Nationwide Surface Transportation Weather Observing and Forecasting System. Clarus is NOT an acronym, but instead is simply the Latin word for ?clear?. Clarus will demonstrate a road weather observation data-sharing network and a suite of forecasting tools enabled through establishment of the network. The contractor selected in THIS procurement will be required to apply the Clarus Concept of Operations and Use Case Diagrams-----those items are currently being created by a SEPARATE contractor OUTSIDE this procurement, and the FHWA hopes to make at least a preliminary version of those items available to offerors under THIS procurement, as an attachment to THIS procurement?s RFP----to establish Clarus system requirements, to develop design documents for an open extensible system, and to conduct a Proof-of-Concept Demonstration. The contractor selected in THIS procurement will be required to create an open systems design for exchanging and managing surface transportation weather observations and forecasting, to demonstrate a working proof of concept showing coordinated performance among the system?s components, and to prepare enhancements to the system design that overcome limitations of the observed proof of concept demonstration. The contractor selected in THIS procurement will be required to utilize a systems engineering approach-----consisting of High Level System Requirements (such as user interaction with the system for road weather information needs); Detailed System Requirements (such as communications protocols, programming interfaces, format translators, and data storage capabilities); an Architecture Analysis and a Design Gap Analysis to develop a High Level Design by examining alternative architectures and exposing limitations in Environmental Sensor Stations deployment; Detailed Design, including System Design Documents that define the hardware configuration and develop system software specifications; and Implementation, integration and testing in a Proof of Concept Demonstration; Subsystem Verification; System Verification----to develop full system design documentation that complies with the Concept of Operations and Use Cases. The system will be evaluated to determine how it supports basic observation sharing that will ultimately fulfill road weather information needs. Following the demonstration, the contractor shall use lessons learned to correct and enhance the system design and produce final system design documents. An INDEPENDENT system verification and evaluation MAY occur under a procurement SEPARATE from THIS one. The FHWA estimates that this procurement?s project will require: 472 staffing hours for a Program Manager; 1,240 staffing hours for a Principal Investigator; 2,440 aggregate hours for Senior/Key Task Professionals; 4,160 aggregate hours for Other Senior Professional/Technical Staff; 3,060 aggregate hours for Mid-Level Professional/Technical Staff; 2,060 aggregate hours for Junior Level Staff; 1,040 hours for Researchers/Technical Writers; 268 hours for Computer Support; and 528 aggregate hours for General Support Staff. The minimum requirements for the staff members? education and experience are as follows: The Program Manager shall possess a technical degree and at least 15 years of experience in the research and application of ITS technologies, and shall possess at least five years of experience in managing a group of engineers in this field; but that five years of managerial experience COULD be contained WITHIN the 15 years of research experience. The Principal Investigator shall possess at least 10 years of experience in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), road weather management, meteorology or transportation operations and should have a bachelors degree related to one of the following disciplines: civil engineering; systems engineering; meteorology; computer science; meteorology; or, management information systems. Senior/Key Task Professionals shall possess five or more years of experience in ITS, road weather management, meteorology or transportation operations and shall have a technical degree preferably related to one of the following disciplines: civil engineering; systems engineering; meteorology; computer science; meteorology; or, management information systems. Other Senior Professional/Technical Staff shall possess five or more years of experience in technical areas related to road weather management and should have a technical degree preferably related to one of the following disciplines: civil engineering; systems engineering; meteorology; computer science; meteorology; or, management information systems. Mid-Level Professional/Technical Staff shall possess two or more years of experience in technical areas related to road weather management and should have a technical degree preferably related to one of the following disciplines: civil engineering; systems engineering; meteorology; computer science; meteorology; or, management information systems. Junior Level Staff shall possess a degree relevant to transportation management or ITS and be capable of performing analyses, research, and the evaluation of technical products. Each General Support Staff Member shall have a high school diploma or an equivalency certificate, plus at least one year of work experience in general support. The following are materials that may be considered in preparing a response to this solicitation: (1) ?Where the Weather Meets the Road: A Research Agenda for Improving Road Weather Services?, National Academy of Sciences, available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10893.html, 2004; (2) ?Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) Data Integration Guidelines,? Enterprise and Aurora Consortium, available at http://www.aurora-program.org/pdf/RWIS_Data_Integration_rpt.pdf, 2002.; (3) ?Introduction to Systems Engineering for Advanced Transportation? Course (NHI Course # 137024), which Mr. Mowery should be able to e-mail to prospective offerors, upon their specific e-mailed request, starting on about October 25, 2004; (4) ?Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS)?, available at http://www-sdd.fsl.noaa.gov/MADIS/; (5) ?ITS Standards Impacting the Maintenance Community?, FHWA and Mitretek Systems, 2004, which Mr. Mowery can e-mail to prospective offerors, upon their specific e-mailed request. Because the ENTIRE RFP will be posted in FedBizOpps at the Internet address given above, the FHWA does NOT plan to issue any HARD copies of the RFP to any prospective offeror. Therefore, prospective offerors are instructed NOT to send letters or faxes or e-mails requesting a copy of the RFP. TELEPHONED, E-MAILED, AND FAXED REQUESTS FOR THE RFP WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. Instead, all prospective offerors are to obtain the RFP from FedBizOpps. Any subsequent AMENDMENTS to the RFP will LIKEWISE be published in FedBizOpps at the Internet address given above, and the FHWA does NOT plan to mail out HARD copies of any Amendments. Therefore, it shall be the responsibility of each prospective offeror to closely and frequently monitor FedBizOpps for any AMENDMENTS to the RFP. Monitoring FedBizOpps for any amendments to the RFP will be absolutely essential for all prospective offerors, since amendments usually contain crucial information. It is currently estimated that the RFP will be posted to FedBizOpps on November 19, 2004. The ?DUE? date shown above is merely an ESTIMATE of the date on which proposals will be due. The ACTUAL due date for the FHWA?s receipt of proposals will be stated in the RFP. To repeat: THIS RFP WILL BE FULL AND OPEN COMPETITIVE, AND THERE IS NO INCUMBENT CONTRACTOR.
- Record
- SN00697236-W 20041023/041021211658 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |