[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 123 (Friday, June 26, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34955-34956]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-16762]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration


Broad Agency Announcement: Funds Availability for Research 
Projects and Technology Advancements Under the Next Generation High-
Speed Rail Program

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of funds availability: Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 
for research projects and technology advancements under the next 
generation high-speed rail program.

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Introduction

    The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is soliciting pre-
proposal concept papers for various research projects, technology 
advancements and/or demonstrations directed at enhancing the deployment 
of high-speed rail service in the United States. Technologies most 
likely to enhance the deployment of high-speed rail service in the U.S. 
are those which will--(a) enhance the revenue-generating capability of 
high-speed operations; (b) bring about capital cost reductions and 
economy in producing equipment and facilities; (c) reduce operating 
costs of high-speed rail service; (d) improve the reliability of 
equipment and infrastructure components; (e) improve safety; and/or (f) 
enhance the social benefits and/or environmental aspects of high speed 
rail.

Eligible Participants

    This is an unrestricted solicitation. Any responsible source may 
submit a pre-proposal concept paper for consideration including, but 
not limited to, states or local governments, or organizations of state 
or local governments, institutions of higher education, hospitals or 
other non-profit organizations, private individuals, corporations, 
businesses or commercial organizations, except that any business owned 
in whole or in part by the Federal Government is not eligible. Although 
businesses owned in whole or in part by the Federal Government are not 
eligible for funding under the Program, they may contract with eligible 
participants. Cooperative arrangements (e.g., joint ventures, limited 
partnerships, teaming arrangements, or collaboration and consortium 
arrangements) are permitted and encouraged. Small, Small Disadvantaged 
(SD), and Women-Owned (WO) Business Concerns, and Historically Black 
Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Minority Institutions (MIs) are 
encouraged to submit pre-proposal concept papers on their own and/or in 
collaboration with others. However, no portion of this BAA will be set 
aside exclusively for Small, SD, or WO Business Concerns, or for HBCU 
and MIs. Attention: Minority, Women-Owned and Disadvantaged Business 
Enterprises (DBEs)! The Department of Transportation (DOT), Short-Term 
Lending Program (STLP) offers working capital financing in the form of 
lines of credit to finance accounts receivable for transportation 
related contracts. Maximum line of credit is $500,000 with interest at 
the prime rate. For further information call (800) 532-1169. Internet 
address:     http://osdbuweb.dot.gov.

Exchanges and Points of Contact

    Exchanges of information between interested parties and the 
Government, prior to submission of pre-proposal concept papers, are 
strongly encouraged. Such informal exchanges may provide would-be 
offerors with preliminary information on the Government's level of 
interest in prospective works or projects or on the availability of 
funds. Any exchanges of information must be consistent with procurement 
integrity requirements of section 27 of the Office of Federal 
Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423, as amended) (see Federal 
Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 3.104). For technical inquires, interested 
parties may contact the BAA primary technical point of contact, Mr. 
Robert McCown (Tel: 202/632-3250, Fax: 202/632-3854), or one of the 
other, secondary technical points of contact identified in Appendix A 
of the BAA 98-01 Pre-Proposal Preparation Package (BAA 98-01 Package), 
available from the FRA. All non-technical inquiries should be directed 
to the Grants/Contracting Officer, Mr. Thomas Riddle (Tel: 202/632-
3391, Fax: 202/632-3846). Please note that FRA anticipates changing its 
telephone service on or about July 10, 1998. New telephone numbers will 
be assigned during this change over. For the first 30 days after the 
change over, there will be a automatic bridge/link in which the service 
provider will furnish callers with the new number of the party they are 
trying to reach when an old [replaced] number is dialed. After 30 days, 
a caller who dials an old number will be routed to the DOT operator for 
assistance/new number, or the caller may dial the DOT information line 
direct at 202/366-4000. As of the date this announcement/notice was 
submitted for publication, the following numbers have been tentatively 
assigned for the points of contact identified above, for usage on or 
after July 10, 1998: Mr. McCown--Tel: 202/493-6350, RDV-30 Fax: 202/
493-6333. Mr. Riddle--Tel: 202/493-6149.

BAA Time Line

    BAA 98-01 is being published in both the Commerce Business Daily 
(CBD) and the Federal Register (FR) in June 1998. (Note: BAA 98-01 is a 
single broad agency announcement of the FRA, that is being advertised 
and published in these two different media to reach a broad base of 
prospective applicants. The description of BAA 98-01 may different 
slightly in form between the two publications, but each will be 
substantially the same as the other in all material respects.) FRA will 
accept pre-proposal concept paper submissions, inquiries and requests 
for the BAA 98-01 Package under BAA 98-01, immediately upon its 
announcement and appearance in either the CBD, or FR, or June 22, 1998, 
whichever single date/event occurs first. However, to allow interested 
parties adequate time to prepare pre-proposal concept papers, FRA will 
not begin its technical evaluations before July 22, 1998. Unless BAA 
98-01 is superceded or canceled, FRA will continue to accept concept 
submissions, inquiries and package requests, through April 30, 1999; 
however, fiscal year 1999 (FY 99) awards are subject to the 
availability of FY 99 appropriations or the continued availability of 
unobligated prior no-year funds. Although the BAA is open for an 
extended period, interested parties would be well advised to submit 
proposals as early as possible.

Funding Authority and Related Information

    Funds for this program are authorized in the Department of 
Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 1998, Public Law 
105-66 (October 27, 1997). FRA will make available up to $4.3 million 
for awards under the BAA during fiscal year 1998 for research project 
and technology advancements in areas of research interest to the FRA, 
that are evaluated favorably and determined by the FRA to be consistent 
with the objectives of this BAA and of interest to the Government, and 
for which adequate funding exist. Awards

[[Page 34956]]

may be of any dollar value within the maximum amounts allowed for each 
area of interest (so long as those amounts do not exceed the total 
amount available under the BAA), but it is anticipated that most, if 
not all, individual awards (or that part of the Government's portion in 
a cost sharing arrangement) will have dollar values ranging between 
$25,000 and $500,000 each. Prospective offerors are advised that awards 
greater than $500,000 will generally require the awardee (except a 
small business concern) to already have in place or prepare, at or 
before the time of award, an acceptable plan to maximize the 
participation of minority, women-owned and disadvantaged business 
enterprises. Because the range and diversity of activities that may be 
proposed under the BAA does not permit a common work statement, no 
single Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code will be issued for 
the BAA. SIC codes will be specific to each individual contract award 
as determined by the type of activity in which the actual offeror will 
be engaged, and as a function of the ownership characteristics of the 
prospective offeror. Cost sharing by awardees is not mandatory under 
this BAA, however because of the potential for long-term benefits to 
those firms or institutions involved in these research and development 
activities, offerors are strongly encouraged to consider sharing the 
cost of their proposed projects.

Awards

    Research projects, technology advancements, and/or demonstrations 
proposed under this BAA will be considered for award through a two-step 
process. In the first step, interested parties must submit a pre-
proposal concept paper for each research project, technology 
advancement or demonstration (by area of interest) the applicant wishes 
the FRA to consider. The purpose of the pre-proposal concept paper is 
to preclude unwarranted and possibly costly effort on the part of 
interested parties whose proposed work may not be of interest to the 
FRA under this BAA. Pre-proposal concept papers submitted under this 
BAA will be subject to technical review in accordance with the 
established evaluation criteria. Based upon its evaluations, the FRA 
will subsequently notify each respondent who submits a pre-proposal 
concept paper as to whether the Government encourages or does not 
encourage the submission of a full proposal. In the second step, 
respondents whose pre-proposal concept papers are evaluated favorably 
and determined by the FRA to be consistent with the objectives of the 
BAA and of interest to the Government, may be requested to submit a 
full technical and cost proposal or other information relative to the 
initial submission for further consideration. Such a request will NOT 
guarantee the applicant that an award will be forthcoming for the 
offered work or project, nor otherwise create an obligation on the part 
of the Government. Awards may take the form of contracts, grants or 
cooperative agreements. Contracts will be used when the principal 
purpose is the acquisition of supplies or services (including research 
and development) for the direct benefit or use of the Federal 
Government. Grants or cooperative agreements will be used when the 
principal purpose of the transaction is to stimulate or support 
research and development for another public purpose.

Areas of Technology Interest

    Technologies which are high-priority research candidates for 
evaluation pursuant to this announcement include: (1) Grade crossing 
hazard mitigation systems. (2) Innovative, low cost technologies to 
improve track and structures. (3) Advance train control systems. (4) 
Non-electric locomotives and passenger equipment systems. (5) Other 
scientific study, technology adaptation, or demonstration directed 
toward advancing the state-of-the-art or increasing the knowledge or 
understanding of high-speed passenger rail service in the U.S.

Pre-Proposal Concept Papers and Preparation Instructions

    Pre-proposal concept papers should be ten (10) pages or less 
(except as otherwise noted). Pre-proposal concept paper submissions 
must contain a Technical Concept Section and a Cost or Pricing Section, 
and when applicable, should contain a Phased or Follow-on Research 
Project Section. Specific content and format requirements and 
additional instructions for preparing submissions, as well as further 
information on the areas of interest themselves and the evaluation/
selection process, are provided in the BAA 98-01 Package. Interested 
parties may obtain a copy of the BAA 98-01 Package by submitting a 
written request to U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Railroad 
Administration, Office of Acquisition and Grants Services, RAD-30, 400 
7th Street, SW, Mail Stop 50, Washington, DC 20590, or via tele-
facsimile request (Fax No. 202/632-3846), to the attention of the 
Grants/Contracting Officer, Mr. Riddle. The request should also 
reference the Solicitation No. BAA 98-01. The BAA 98-01 Package should 
also be available on the Internet in July 1998,

Evaluation Criteria

    Pre-proposal concept papers (and later full proposals or other 
submissions, if and when requested) will be evaluated using the 
following criteria, which are listed in descending order of relative 
importance: (1) The overall scientific merit and/or technical merits of 
the proposal. (2) The degree to which the overall proposed technical 
effort will advance U.S. high-speed rail technology, and the extent to 
which its application to railroad operations would improve intercity 
passenger operations through improved railroad capital equipment or 
infrastructure, traffic control centers, interfaces among these, or 
operating methods, and/or its potential for performance improvement in 
one or more qualities such as, cost effectiveness, reliability, safety, 
availability, or maintainability. (3) The technical qualifications and 
demonstrated experience of key personnel proposed to perform the 
technical efforts. (4) The administrative qualifications and 
demonstrated experience of the proposing organization to support 
projects such as those proposed. (5) The reasonableness and realism of 
the proposed costs and fee (if any). (6) The degree to which Federal 
funds are leveraged by private, non-Federal, and/or Federal funds 
available from sources other than FRA programs. (7) The availability of 
funds. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONSTITUTES THE ONLY SOLICITATION. NO OTHER 
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS OR ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE ISSUED.

    Dated: June 18, 1998.
James T. McQueen,
Associate Administrator for Railroad Development.
[FR Doc. 98-16762 Filed 6-25-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P