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U.S. DOT FY 2026 Phase I Pre-Solicitation Q&A



5/29/26 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 topics published in the U.S. DOT Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Phase I Pre-Solicitation. Questions will be answered by the Technical Experts/Topic Authors at the U.S. DOT Operating Administrations 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 2026 Pre-Solicitation period is April 29, 2026, through May 29, 2026, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time (ET). Only questions posted within this period will be responded to.

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Search: Browse the existing questions by category to find the topic you are interested in and to see if your question has already been addressed. If you see a question, you are also interested in, you can add a vote to the question, or leave a comment.

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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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229 results found

  1. What catch basin localities are we going to perform operation on?

    Is it going to be Freeways, Streets, Residential Communities, Commercial Communities, Local Roads, Parking Lots?

    2 votes

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  2. Will a traffic management crew be deployed alongside the inspection platform?

    Will a crew be deployed during field operations, including personnel responsible for setting up cones, lane dividers, road work signage, dynamic message displays, and lane closure coordination?

    2 votes

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  3. 2 votes

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  4. 26-FH1

    Would a solution that incorporates AI-powered diagnostics and fault detection for traffic signal cabinets to ensure continuous uptime of the edge computing nodes required by the Edge AI-V2X system fall within the scope of this topic?

    2 votes

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  5. Wastewater/byproducts

    Are there environmental constraints on the discharge method, specifically, are chemical byproducts or wastewater acceptable in the proposed solution?

    2 votes

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  6. Scale

    Should the Phase I prototype demonstrate discharge on individual cells, battery modules, or full battery packs?

    2 votes

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  7. Definition of success

    What specific metrics define a successful proof of concept for Phase I is there a target residual voltage threshold, discharge time requirement, or safety standard we should design around?

    2 votes

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  8. Benchmark performance

    What current discharge times and methods are considered the baseline benchmark that Phase I solutions should improve upon?

    2 votes

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  9. Battery Specifications

    What battery chemistries (LFP, NMC, LCO), voltage ranges, and capacity sizes should proposers target for the Phase I proof of concept?

    2 votes

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  10. Does the DOT have baseline data for all five proposed sensor modalities

    Will the baseline data for optical, LiDAR, RADAR, thermal, and radiation sensors relevant to the catch basin inspection be provided as Government-Furnished Information?

    2 votes

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  11. What is the expected size of the sensor boom?

    Are there any dimensional constraints related to roadway clearance, vehicle footprint, or sensor proximity to the catch basins?

    2 votes

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  12. 2 votes

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  13. 2 votes

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  14. 2 votes

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  15. For 26-FH2, is vehicle road testing expected in Phase I or Phase II?

    Develop a low-cost mobile screening system that uses a modular multi-sensor array and AI processing to flag catch basins likely needing maintenance without opening the grate.

    2 votes

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  16. Annotated Safety Event Dataset as Phase I Deliverable

    Does the DOT expect Phase I to deliver a real-time operational alerting or dashboard product rather than AI training-ready data infrastructure?

    2 votes

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  17. Clarification on Transportation Readiness Pathways Within Transportation Participation Ecosystems

    For Topic 26 FT1, can transportation readiness pathways, including pathways that support progression toward transportation independence, be considered part of broader transportation participation ecosystems when functioning as supplemental AI Infrastructure support to Complete Trip objectives?

    1 vote

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  18. Does topic 26-OS1 contemplate hardware-based safety solutions

    Does topic 26-OS1 contemplate hardware-based safety solutions that directly address CMV roof ice-shedding compliance, or is the scope limited to data analytics and software platforms?

    2 votes

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  19. 26-FH1: How is 'edge' defined: RSU-class hardware, TMC server, or proposer-defined?

    Does edge computing refer to RSU-class roadside hardware, a local server co-located at or near a Transportation Management Center, or is the proposer expected to define and justify their own edge-cloud boundary as part of the system architecture?

    2 votes

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  20. For 26-OS2, is a formal agency partnership required at Phase I, or is a Letter of Intent with a Phase II engagement plan sufficient?

    The topic mentions collaboration with state or local agencies is 'encouraged.' For Phase I specifically, is a formal letter of commitment or partnership agreement from a state/local agency required at proposal submission, or is a demonstrated plan for Phase II agency engagement sufficient?

    2 votes

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