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U.S. DOT FY 2024.2 Phase I Pre-Solicitation Q&A



3/1/24  Update: The Pre-solicitation is now closed. Topic questions are no longer being accepted. * * *

This U.S. DOT Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Pre-solicitation Q&A Forum provides small businesses an opportunity to submit clarifying questions on the topic published in the U.S. DOT Fiscal Year (FY) 2024.2 Phase I Pre-Solicitation. Questions will be answered by the Technical Experts/Topic Authors during this period. Questions shall be limited to improving the understanding of a particular topic's requirements and should not share proposal ideas nor proprietary information.

The U.S. DOT’s FY 2024.2 Pre-Solicitation period is February 1, 2024, through March 1, 2024, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time (ET). Only questions posted within this period will be responded to.

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Please note, all comments will be public information. Potential offerors shall not include in the question(s) or comment(s) any information that they do not wish to be made public. Telephone inquiries or meeting requests will not be addressed and may be removed. The U.S. DOT shall not respond to requests for advice or guidance on any offeror’s solution to any SBIR topic and shall not consider any submitted materials other than questions.

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55 results found

  1. What intellectual property (IP) rights will apply to the data and software deliverables produced in different phases

    For phase II's beta software tool, what level of access and usage rights does the DoT expect from companies (government pupose rights, unlimited rights, or negotiated licenses)?

    What are the potential(expected) licensing options for the fully functional software developed in phase III (consider commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) licensing or the DoT wants the IP rights)? What are the DoT's long-term goals for ownership and operation of the phase III software?

    Pre-existing IP: if companies use pre-existing IP in their deliverables, can you clarify ownership and licensing rights for those components?

    7 votes

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  2. Focus on data, or the decision making tool?

    Is the focus of the SBIR the data generation or the decision making tool? The presolicitation talks about both. However, without the underlying data available, we cannot build a good decision making tool, especially the NLP examples given. Is DoT looking for easy to use decision making tools, or the tools to fill in the missing data elements?

    7 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  3. Data Ownership Rights

    APPENDIX A states “The data and methodologies generated from this initiative that reflect existing bicycle, pedestrian, and accessibility infrastructure shall be hosted publicly in an open and accessible format” — Can you expand on this? Will this be a carveout of data ownership rights? How long will this data be publicly hosted on whose servers?

    6 votes

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  4. Scope of the decision support tool?

    Should the decision support tool we're developing for this project aim to cover all three aspects outlined in Appendix A: identifying gaps, proposing solutions to fill those gaps, and evaluating the potential impact of those solutions comprehensively? Alternatively, would it be sufficient for the tool to focus on addressing a specific urgent issue within the network, such as bike safety, thereby improving the overall quality of the complete streets network?

    5 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  5. Road Weather & Conditions

    I don't see weather/road conditions as Context data elements to generate or enhance. Is that data element intentionally not included and is it a data element that should be included as it impacts safety, efficiency, etc.?

    5 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  6. Preferred standard for data to fill in

    Will the DOT be supplying a preferred standard for each of the unavailable or incomplete data attributes?

    For example, for a dataset that collects sidewalk surface conditions, a standard may include categories and values to choose from, such as:

    • Surface issue: roughness, cracking, heaving
    • Severity: mild, moderate, high
    • Etc.

    This way, there is a national standard for each of the incomplete data attributes that need to be filled out. Perhaps this can only be created after the development of each dataset.

    2 votes

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  7. Working with small business.

    Numerous companies that would not be defined as small businesses collect or could collect data that can be used to help develop the tool that this project is seeking. Will Volpe consider curating a list of companies that could be partners to a small business looking to develop the desired tool(s).

    3 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  8. Does the DOT have a list of Metro transit agencies or Regional Planning organizations who would be willing to work with Small businesses pla

    Does the DOT have a list of Metro transit agencies or Regional Planning organizations who would be willing to work with Small businesses as part of this topic ?

    3 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  9. james.menendez@alliedmission.com

    Simple Initial Questions:
    1. How are geographic areas selected or assigned?
    2. Can multiple parties work on the same area?
    3. Is there a preference or targeted benefit from starting in a community area that is part of a larger SMSA that will prove effective for broader analysis, testing/proofing, and deployment?
    4. Is there additional value from leveraging both urban and rural community examples for initial research to drive a broader data and analytic set and provide correlations between them to gain broader coverage?
    5. Are sustainability factors meaningful to add to scoring models for infrastructure or are broader ESG…

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  10. Focus of the decision support tool?

    If the proposed the decision support tool for this project is focused on a particular data element listed in Table 2 of Appendix A, like on-street curb management, would that be a broad enough scope for this project given the multimodal nature of managing curbs safely and effectively?

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  11. Testing Our Traffic Planning Tools: How important are simulation features for our tools, and what should they include?

    Example: Incorporate simulation modes for visualizing traffic flow changes with 3D models and heatmaps.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  12. Keeping Traffic Tools Up-to-Date: What’s the expected frequency for data updates in our tools?

    Example: Refresh data nightly and schedule major software updates quarterly based on user feedback.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  13. Tools Working Together: How can we ensure compatibility of our tools with other urban planning systems?

    Example: Develop APIs for easy data exchange with common traffic management systems.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  14. Updating Traffic Information in Real-Time: How critical is real-time data processing for our tools, and what are the expectations?

    Example: Real-time processing with data updates within 1 minute is crucial for traffic management.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  15. Designing User-Friendly Tools: What features should be included to make the traffic tools user-friendly?

    Example: Incorporate intuitive dashboards with real-time traffic visualizations.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  16. Detailed Traffic Data Needs: Could you provide more details on the specific traffic data to focus on?

    Example: Concentrate on lane usage data, peak traffic hours, and bike lane occupancy.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  17. Making Tools Easy for Everyone to Use: How do we ensure our tools are accessible to users with disabilities?

    Example: Follow WCAG 2.1 guidelines for accessibility, like screen reader compatibility.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  18. Making Sure Our Tools Work Well: Which performance benchmarks do our tools need to meet for effectiveness?

    Example: Your tools should process requests within 2 seconds and maintain a system uptime of 99.9%.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  19. Handling More Data as We Grow: What scalability considerations are needed for our tools as data volume increases?

    Example: Design your tools for scalability using cloud services to manage increased data loads.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
  20. Protecting Our Systems: What security measures are required to safeguard the traffic data and tools?

    Example: Implement SSL encryption for data transmission and robust user authentication mechanisms.

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Admin →
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U.S. DOT FY 2024.2 Phase I Pre-Solicitation Q&A

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