Inactive Total Small Business Set-Aside (FAR 19.5)

THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is not a solicitation or a request for proposal and no contract will be awarded from this notice. No solicitation or specifications are available at this tim... THIS IS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY. This is not a solicitation or a request for proposal and no contract will be awarded from this notice. No solicitation or specifications are available at this time. Please monitor www.Beta.SAM.gov for any further action; this Sources Sought Notice will not be linked to the solicitation. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (US DOT/Volpe Center) is conducting market research to determine if any Small Business sources have the current relevant qualifications, experience, personnel, and capability to perform the work described herein under a program entitled “Consulting and Engineering/R&D services for spectrum measurements and analysis on wireless, cooperative-Intelligent Transportation Systems and cooperative automation”. The primary NAICS codes for this sources sought notice is 541330 engineering services and 541690 other scientific and technical consulting services. The service we seek is measurement and analysis capability of highly tailored communications chipsets, devices, and signals (both transmission and receipt) for cooperative and automated intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The communications technologies are tailored to meet specific requirements of the transportation environment—transmissions must be sent/received by rapidly moving vehicles that are affected by Doppler shifts, ground nulls and ground bounces, reflectivity of foliage and buildings, urban canyon issues, and other relative positioning effects. Both the measurement and analysis must take these effects in to consideration in the set-up, collection, and analysis of the data. Any conclusions from the data analysis must be independent, objective and rigorously drawn from the data, but also be put into context of the cooperative-ITS industry’s (public and private sectors) ongoing deployments and operations, existing ITS standards and FCC band rules, and the industry’s certification processes. This multi-disciplinary approach is necessary produce conclusions and recommendations that are actionable. The US DOT/Volpe Center requires the services of experts as a we launch a large-scale, controlled field test of emerging technologies used specifically for critical safety-of-life, crash avoidance communications. To ensure a complete and objective team, the U.S. DOT’s Volpe Center is seeking specific expertise that combines communications expertise with deep knowledge of short-range radio broadcast devices (chipsets, radios, antenna, security, and applications) used by cooperative and automated ITS vehicles, roadside units, portable units, and other devices that are in operations in the market today. The tests are being performed with and on behalf of the ITS Joint Program Office because the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has advanced a notice of proposed rulemaking to change the rules for how transportation safety spectrum is used in the 5.9 GHz band. The US DOT is performing tests to show whether or how the rules will change the nature of providing safety to all traveling citizens. Therefore, the US DOT/Volpe Center is seeking qualified contractors to perform the following potential work: 1. Test Plan and Device Assessment/Integration into Test System The goal of this task is to have expert analysis on the draft test plan as well as the devices under test and how they will be integrated into the test system. Under this task, the contractor shall: Review the draft test plan—its test scenarios that encompass edge-case transportation conditions, the field set-up of the devices under test, the integration of the devices with the data control and collection system, and the proposed data analysis methodology. The contractor shall provide review and mark-up of the test plan to the Volpe Center task manager within 2 weeks of the award. Work with the Institute for Telecommunications Sciences in Boulder, Colorado (ITS Boulder) to assess whether the test devices are configured to meet the most recent versions of the IEEE 802.11p and/or the SAE 3161 standards. The contactor shall also assess the integration of the radio layer with the upper layers associated with J2945/x standards. The contractor shall develop a written, technical memo on any deviations found. The contractor may need to also perform some analysis on his or her own bench/lab set-up. Evaluate the control/data collection system that is under development with the U.S. DOT and ITS Boulder. The contractor shall review and perform a gap analysis on the system requirements and document in a technical memo. 2. Spectrum Measurements and Analysis The goal of Task 2 is to perform spectrum measurements with the U.S. DOT’s spectrum team on a range of devices. This activity will focus on spectrum measurements to assess (1) the completeness of transmissions; (2) corruption of transmissions due to interference; (3) or suppression of transmissions due to interference. Other work will involve identifying the source/level of interference (for instance, out-of-band or out-of-channel emissions, data loading, streaming issues, or other problems) that creates packet error rates, information age delay, inter-packet gaps, or other effects on the V2X transmissions. The contractor will also provide analysis on the collected data and determining how best to use it in analysis and simulation that appropriately represents the challenges and characteristics of the transportation environment and the safety applications. The contractor shall: Work with the U.S. DOT’s Spectrum team to perform on-site measurements at controlled test tracks of LTE-CV2X and DSRC transmissions—separately, together to look at adjacent channel issues, and in the presence of unlicensed Wi-Fi—using different parameters on the devices. The U.S. DOT estimates up to 4 weeks of travel at F.A.R. approved travel rates. Use business-owned/leased equipment to perform local-area measurements of wireless internet service provider (WISP) transmissions or other types of transmissions (i.e., other forms of unlicensed Wi-Fi or new 5G) to create measured data to use within simulations. Perform independent data analysis on the collected data. Review the conclusions developed by the U.S. DOT team in their draft report and provide comment and mark-ups. 3. Project Management The goal of Task 3 is to provide overall technical oversight to ensure that the project achieves its objectives to perform and provide analytical reports, presentations, and memos to U.S. DOT on a specified subset of the research analysis activities associated with U.S. DOT’s evaluation of next generation communications technologies. The U.S. DOT requires project management activities as follows: Conduct a kick-off meeting at an agreed upon date virtually within 1 week after award. Perform weekly meetings and regular communication with U.S. DOT/Volpe Center Task Manager by telephone or in conjunction with project team meetings (at minimum, teleconference with assigned U.S. DOT personnel approximately every month or as needed). Provide a monthly financial/work status report no later than mid-month each month. Please respond to the following questions. Failure to address any of these questions will result in your firm not being considered as part of this market research. Can you briefly discuss your approach to providing the support required in Tasks 1, 2 and 3 above? Also, briefly identify past experience that demonstrates that your firm is qualified to perform work under the support tasks identified above with regard to: transportation communications, spectrum measurements and analysis, transportation environments and variability, transportation cooperative and automated technologies, and unlicensed Wi-Fi.. Can you briefly describe your experience with and ability to create meaningful test set-ups on the field to ensure that the spectrum data collected is accurate and ready for analysis? Do you have access to and expertise to operate a spectrum analyzer? Can you describe your understanding of the value of using a wireless spectrum protocol analyzer? Please briefly describe your knowledge of and experience with Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications and devices. Please briefly describe your knowledge of the FCC process for establishing rules—in particular the Part 90 and Part 15 rules that govern short-range, low latency, non-networked broadcasts as opposed to the standard networked cellular or Wi-Fi systems. Please describe your background and experience with ITS standards that are specifically related to V2X communications testing. Are you available to participate in controlled-test track tests during Fall/Winter 2020-2021? Does your firm qualify to compete under a total small business set-aside under: NAICS 541330 engineering services, NAICS 541690 other scientific and technical consulting services, and/or 541511 Custom Computer Programming Services? If a total small business set-aside is conducted, will your firm compete? Please include points of contact and telephone numbers. Is your firm registered in System for Award Management (SAM)? You must be registered in SAM to do business with the government. Please make sure your Reps and Certs are up to date in SAM. https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/ INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONENTS. In your submission, please address the three (3) support requirements and provide a brief narrative in how you will achieve them. Also, please respond to the eight (8) questions listed above and provide your qualifications to perform this work in your response. Your responses should be limited to five (5) pages in total and must be emailed into the Volpe Center. No hard copies will be accepted for this Sources Sought Notification. All inquiries on this Sources Sought Notification should be emailed to David Berger at david.berger@dot.gov or 617-494-3470. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS. This is for planning purposes only and is a market research tool to determine availability and capability of potential Small Business Sources. This is not a solicitation and in no way obligates the Government to award any contract. Additionally, any response to this sources sought notice is not a request to be added to a prospective bidders list or to receive a copy of any forthcoming solicitation. Please monitor www.Beta.SAM.gov for any modifications, changes and/or solicitation regarding this Sources Sought Notification. The Government will not reimburse responders for the cost of the submittals. Statements of Capability, that is the title of your submission, should be sent David Berger, Contracting Officer and Small Business Specialist by email only to david.berger@dot.gov.