[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 9, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15861-15864]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-8794]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Discretionary Cooperative Agreements to Support Vehicle and 
Occupant Protection Systems Research

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Announcement of discretionary cooperative agreement to support 
vehicle occupant protection systems research.

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SUMMARY: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 
announces a discretionary cooperative agreement program to support 
research studies to evaluate potential improvements in occupant 
protection during motor vehicle crashes and solicits applications for 
projects under this program.

DATES: Applications must be received at the office designated below on 
or before May 29, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Applications must be submitted to the National Highway 
Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Contracts and Procurement 
(NAD-30), ATTN: Ms. Amy I. Poling, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Room 5301, 
Washington, DC 20590. All applications submitted must include a 
reference to NHTSA Cooperative Agreement Program No. DTNH22-96-H-07150, 
and identify the program area for which the application is submitted. 
Interested applicants are advised that no separate application package 
exists beyond the contents of this announcement.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
General administrative questions may be directed to Ms. Amy I. Poling, 
Office of Contracts and Procurement, at (202) 366-9552. Programmatic 
questions relating to this cooperative agreement program should be 
directed to Dr. William T. Hollowell, Safety Systems Engineering & 
Analysis Division (NRD-11), 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Room 6226, 
Washington, DC 20590 (202) 366-4726.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Each year in the United States, more than 40,000 deaths and 
millions of injuries occur as the direct result of motor vehicle 
traffic accidents. As part of its mission to alleviate this toll, the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration vigorously conducts an 
extensive research program to develop and evaluate new technologies and 
methodologies which have the potential for improving the crash 
worthiness of passenger vehicles and protecting their occupants. NHTSA 
is conducting crash worthiness research in four broad areas:


[[Page 15862]]

I. Accident Statistics Studies and Fleet Characterization
II. Development of New Computer Modeling Methodologies
III. Development of New Experimental and Test Methodologies
IV. Development of New or Enhanced Injury Countermeasures

Objectives

    The proposed cooperative research agreement program seeks to 
establish collaborative research efforts between NHTSA and qualified 
research organizations to study advanced methodologies for occupant 
protection in passenger vehicle crashes. The collaboration will include 
problem definition, sharing of scientific and technical data, and joint 
research and development of new methodologies and technologies for 
occupant crash protection.
    To improve and better understand occupant crash protection, NHTSA 
seeks collaborative research efforts in any of the four broad research 
areas stated above. Examples of specific NHTSA interests are summarized 
below.
    Accident Statistics Studies and Fleet Characterization--
Collaborative efforts are being sought in which data from the National 
Accident Sampling System, the Fatal Accident Reporting System, and from 
State accident data files are evaluated for investigating:
     Air bag injury reduction effectiveness.
     Vehicle aggressiveness metrics.
     Geometric vehicle-to-vehicle incompatibility including 
bumper-door sill incompatibility.
    Development of New Computer Modeling Methodologies--Collaborative 
efforts are being sought to advance the state of the art in finite 
element analysis methodology for:
     Models for simulating human interaction with vehicle 
structures.
     Models for simulating human interaction with restraints.
     Models of vehicle structures under crash loading.
     Models of humans or human surrogates under crash loading.
     Methods or techniques for rapidly generating finite 
element models of complex vehicle or biomechanical structures for 
simulation of response to crash loading.
     Material models for describing the behavior of engineering 
and biomechanical materials under crash loading.
     Models of the air bag and inflator during the early 
deployment phase.
     Models which simulate glazing under crash loading.
     Modeling of internal air bag pressure, temperature, flow 
rates and particulate distribution during deployment and interaction 
with the occupant.
    Development of New Experimental and Test Methodologies--
Collaborative efforts are being sought in which nonintrusive measuring 
techniques are developed including:
     Nonintrusive door velocity measurement instruments for 
side impact.
     Nonintrusive floorpan intrusion measurement instruments 
for frontal-offset impacts.
     Nonintrusive measurement of internal air bag pressure, 
temperature, flow rates and particulate distribution during air bag 
deployment.
    Also, collaborative efforts are being sought for developing 
improved test methods for detecting and quantifying liquid and/or 
gaseous fuel leaks in crashes.
    Development of New or Enhanced Injury Countermeasures--
Collaborative efforts are being sought in the development of new or 
enhanced countermeasures for reducing crash victim injuries, including 
research into:
     Advanced occupant restraints.
     Advanced air bag inflator methodologies.
     Non-azide air bag inflators.
     Adaptive air bag Systems to tailor bag deployment over the 
expected range of crash severities, occupant heights, occupant ages, 
occupant positioning, etc.
     Advanced occupant seating systems.
     Ejection prevention technologies.
     Internal and/or external air bag systems for higher speed 
collisions and configurations of other frontal impacts.
     Anticipatory crash sensing technologies and algorithms.
     Pedestrain protection technologies.
     Heavy truck safety technologies.
     Motorcycle safety technologies.
    The above list of potential program areas constitutes only a 
sampling and applicants are encouraged to suggest from these and others 
those which are believed by the applicant to provide the potential for 
practical improvement of current occupant crash protection and are most 
amenable to the special skills and experience of the applicant.
    It is envisioned that three broad phases may be applicable to these 
programs: (1) Preliminary studies identifying the system performance 
improvement desired, an estimate of additional production costs related 
to the improvement, the benefits to be appreciated from such 
improvement, and the approximate magnitude of national injuries and 
fatalities now occurring due to the absence of the improvement. (2) 
Prototype development and establishment of reliable production costs. 
(3) Prototype demonstration. The duration of each phase will vary 
according to current state-of-the-art and in some instances may be 
overlapped.
NHTSA Involvement
    The NHTSA will be involved in all activities undertaken as part of 
the cooperative agreement program and will:
    1. Provide one professional staff person, to be designated as the 
Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR), to participate 
in the planning and management of the cooperative agreement and 
coordinate activities between the cooperative agreement participant 
organization and the NHTSA.
    2. Make available information and technical assistance from 
government sources, within available resources and as determined 
appropriate by the COTR.
    3. Provide liaison with other government agencies and organizations 
as appropriate.
    4. Stimulate the exchange of ideas, problems, and solutions among 
cooperative agreement recipients who agree to such sharing, and, if 
appropriate, NHTSA contractors and other interested parties; and
    5. Share nonproprietary information developed at Government expense 
with the scientific and industrial community.
Period of Support
    The research and development effort described in this notice may be 
supported through the award of a cooperative agreement. The NHTSA 
reserves the right to make multiple cooperative agreement awards for 
the effort described in this notice depending upon the relative merit 
of the applications received and the Federal resources and amount of 
Federal funding available.
    Contingent upon the availability of funds, a cooperative 
agreement(s) will be awarded to an eligible organization(s) for project 
periods of up to five years. It is currently intended that no 
cooperative agreement awarded as a result of this notice shall exceed 
$50,000 per year.
Eligibility Requirements
    In order to be eligible to participate in this cooperative 
agreement program, an applicant must be a for-profit business 
organization (small or large), a non-profit organization, or an 
educational institution. Consortiums of organizations from any of the 
above categories may apply. Regardless of the

[[Page 15863]]

type of organization applying for Federal funding assistance, no fee or 
profit will be allowed.

Application Procedure

    Each applicant must submit one original and two copies of their 
application package to: Office of Contracts and Procurement (NAD-30), 
NHTSA, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Room 5301, Washington, DC 20590. 
Applications are due no later than 45 days after the appearance of this 
announcement in the Federal Register. Only complete application 
packages received by the due date shall be considered. Submission of 
three additional copies will expedite processing, but is not required. 
The applicant shall specifically identify any information in the 
application which is to be treated as proprietary, in accordance with 
the procedures of 49 CFR Part 512, Confidential Business Information.

Application Contents

    The application package must be submitted with a Standard Form 424 
(rev. 4-88), Application for Federal Assistance, which shall include 
the certified assurances, and provide a program narrative statement 
which addresses the following:
    1. A description of the research to be pursued which addresses:
    a. The objectives, goals, and anticipated outcomes of the proposed 
research effort;
    b. The method or methods that will be used;
    c. The source of crash and injury statistics to be used;
    d. The primary occupant protection system (e.g., inflatable or 
padded interior) which will be most probably benefitted;
    2. The proposed program director and other key personnel identified 
for participation in the proposed research effort, including a 
description of their qualifications and their respective organizational 
responsibilities.
    3. A description of the vehicle occupant population and crash modes 
to be addressed, test facilities and equipment currently available or 
to be obtained for use in the conduct of the proposed research and 
development effort.
    4. A description of the applicant's previous experience or on-going 
research program that is related to this proposed research effort.
    5. A detailed schedule and budget for the proposed research effort, 
including any cost-sharing contribution proposed by the applicant as 
well as any additional financial commitments made by other sources.
    6. A statement of any technical assistance which the applicant may 
require of NHTSA in order to successfully complete the proposed 
program.

Review Process and Criteria

    Initially, all applications will be reviewed to confirm that the 
application contains all of the information required by the Application 
Contents section of this notice.
    Each complete application from an eligible recipient will then be 
evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Committee. The applications will be 
evaluated and ranked using the following criteria:
    1. The applicant's understanding of the purpose and unique problems 
represented by the research objectives of this cooperative agreement 
program as evidenced in the description of their proposed research and 
development effort. Specific attention shall be placed upon the 
applicant's stated proposed development and demonstration effort.
    2. The potential of the proposed research effort accomplishments to 
make a timely and an innovative and/or significant contribution to 
occupant protection technology knowledge as it may be applied to saving 
lives and reducing injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes.
    3. The technical and financial merit of the proposed research 
effort, including the feasibility of the approach, practicality, 
planned methodology, and anticipated results. Financial merit will be 
estimated by the cost of the cooperative agreement to be borne by NHTSA 
and the in-kind contribution provided by the applicant as compared to 
the anticipated benefits to vehicle crash occupants or pedestrians.
    4. The adequacy of test facilities and equipment identified to 
accomplish the proposed research effort.
    5. The adequacy of the organizational plan for accomplishing the 
proposed research effort, including the qualifications and experience 
of the research team, the various disciplines represented, and the 
relative level of effort proposed for professional, technical, and 
support staff.

Terms and Conditions of the Award

    1. The protection of the rights and welfare of human subjects in 
NHTSA-sponsored experiments is established in NHTSA Orders 700-1 and 
700-3. Any recipient must satisfy the requirements and guidelines of 
the NHTSA Orders 700 series prior to award of the cooperative 
agreement. A copy of the NHTSA Orders 700 series may be obtained from 
the information contact designated in this notice.
    2. Prior to award, the recipient must comply with the certification 
requirements of 49 CFR Part 29--Department of Transportation 
Government-wide Debarment and Suspension (Nonprocurement) and 
Government-wide Requirements for Drug-Free Workplace (Grants).
    3. During the effective period of the cooperative agreement(s) 
awarded as a result of this notice, the agreement(s) shall be subject 
to NHTSA's General Provisions for Assistance Agreements; the cost 
principles of OMB Circular A-21, A-122, or FAR 31.2, as applicable to 
the recipient, and the requirements of 49 CFR Part 29. Each agreement 
with a non-profit organization or an educational institution shall also 
be subject to the general administrative requirements of 49 CFR Part 
19.
    4. Cooperative agreement(s) awarded as a result of this notice will 
include the provisions of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 52 
contract clause 52.227-11 Patent Rights Retention by the Contractor 
(Short Form).

Reporting Requirements

1. Written Research Reports

    The recipient shall submit bimonthly research reports suitable for 
public dissemination which shall be due 15 days after the reporting 
period, and a final research report within 45 days after the completion 
of the research effort. An original and three copies of each of these 
research reports shall be submitted to the COTR.

2. Oral Briefings

    The recipient shall conduct semiannual oral presentations of 
research results for the COTR and other interested NHTSA personnel. For 
planning purposes, assume that these presentations will be conducted at 
the NHTSA Office of Crash worthiness Research, Washington, DC. An 
original and three copies shall be submitted to the COTR.

3. Data Reports

    Dynamic and other data measured in research, development, and 
prototype evaluation and demonstration tests will be provided by the 
recipient(s) within three (3) weeks after the data is obtained, in the 
format of a data package as described below. The recipient may be 
relieved of the data package report requirement for certain activities 
by agreement from the COTR.
    A data package consists of high speed film, paper test report, and 
magnetic tape complying with NHTSA Data Tape

[[Page 15864]]
Reference Guide, Volume III: Component Data Base. The NHTSA's Safety 
Systems Engineering & Analysis Division maintains a Vehicle Crash Test 
and a Component Data Base which it provides upon request to the public, 
including educational institutions and other research organizations.
    To facilitate the input of data as well as the exchange of 
information, any recipient of a cooperative agreement awarded as a 
result of this notice must provide the magnetic tape in the format 
specified in the ``NHTSA Data Tape Reference Guide.'' A copy of this 
document may be obtained from the programmatic information contact 
designated in this notice.

    Issued on: April 4, 1996.
William A. Boehly,
Associate Administrator for Research and Development.
[FR Doc. 96-8794 Filed 4-8-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-M