Vehicle Electronic Systems Safety
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (USDOT) NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION (NHTSA) Synopsis for Solicitation 693JJ920R000020 Vehicle Electronic Systems Safety Synopsis This syno... UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (USDOT) NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION (NHTSA) Synopsis for Solicitation 693JJ920R000020 Vehicle Electronic Systems Safety Synopsis This synopsis, in accordance with FAR 5.203(a), issues an updated 15-day public notification prior to the issuance of solicitation 693JJ920R000020. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) intends to issue a solicitation for a Full and Open Competition in support of the NHTSA, Electronic Systems Safety Division of the Office of Vehicle Crash Avoidance and Electronic Controls Research. Introduction and Background The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). NHTSA’s mission is to save lives, prevent injuries and reduce traffic-related health care and other economic costs. The agency develops, promotes and implements effective educational, engineering and enforcement programs with the goal of ending preventable tragedies and reducing economic costs associated with vehicle use and highway travel. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Electronic Systems Safety Division (NSR-330) of the Office of Vehicle Crash Avoidance and Electronic Controls Research (NSR-300), conducts studies, testing and other research to identify and evaluate how vehicle electronic subsystems can affect vehicle safety risk and what countermeasures would minimize that risk. In 2017, motor vehicle-related crashes on U.S. highways claimed 37,473 lives. Analysis of crash causation factors imply that the vast majority of serious crashes are due to dangerous choices or errors people make behind the wheel. In addition to the historical contributors to these statistics, such as impaired driving and failing to use seat belts, we are now faced with increased distraction resulting in avoidable deaths and injuries. The Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) research plan represents National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Vehicle Safety Research’s plan for conducting research to advance the safe development and deployment of crash avoidance (CA) technologies (SAE Level 0) as well as driver assistance systems that require full driver engagement (SAE automation levels 1 & 2). The overall objective of NHTSA’s ADAS Research program is to provide automotive industry stakeholders with information, analyses and tools to help advance the safe development and deployment of these systems, and when appropriate, removing regulatory barriers that may prevent introduction of advanced technology driver assistance systems. The research is being aligned with industry stakeholder’s current key research topics and focus areas. The NHTSA’s research activities are not intended to replace or duplicate other research community efforts, but will complement the current state of ADAS research. Advanced driver assistance and automated driving systems (ADS) technologies seek to mitigate, if not remove, these errors and save lives. ADS additionally offers mobility accessibility to the previously underserved community of people with disabilities and physical challenges. It is envisioned that the ingenuity and innovation accompanying ADS technologies will be harnessed to provide safe transportation options for all of the traveling public. The vision of NHTSA’s Automated Driving Systems (ADS) research is to establish a research framework, contribute to the body of knowledge, and provide leadership that advances the safe testing and deployment of ADSs such that their benefits are optimized and risks appropriately mitigated. This research addresses the technical challenges associated with safe testing and deployment of SAE automation levels 3 through 5—conditional, high, and full-driving automation, collectively referred to as Automated Driving Systems (ADSs). See Figure 1. ADSs include systems for which there is no human driver, or for which the human driver can give up control to the ADS and is not expected to perform any driving-related tasks for a period of time. Ever since digital electronics were first introduced into vehicles in the 1970s and 1980s for engine ignition and injection control, their use has been continually expanded to include many new safety, mobility, and efficiency features commonly included in modern cars today. These software-intensive functions, and wired and wireless data exchange interfaces, introduce cybersecurity challenges and potential safety concerns. While cybersecurity is germane to data security, intellectual property, and privacy, NHTSA’s primary focus in its vehicle cybersecurity work are the safety implications. The vehicle cybersecurity research being conducted by NHTSA emphasizes the importance of partnering with industry to broadly implement cybersecurity best practices throughout the vehicle lifecycle, thus addressing potential safety risks to the motoring public. To this end, this research considers the vehicle as a principal element within a complex, connected ecosystem. The research covers the need to identify risks, defensive methods, test tools, and ecosystem factors impacting vehicle security; lifecycle cybersecurity risk management; processes that manage associated safety and security risks; and a look forward to emerging research opportunities that have the potential to facilitate continuous improvement in the cybersecurity of motor vehicles. In the area of vehicle cybersecurity, the research covers a broad range of motor vehicles, such as passenger vehicles, light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks and buses, motorcycles, and low-speed vehicles. The purpose of this research is to communicate gaps identified through stakeholder engagement and address the areas where NHTSA can provide value by bridging the gaps. NHTSA’s research activities are intended to complement research undertaken by industry, academia, and other government agencies to advance the state of cybersecurity knowledge and practice to enhance the security posture of the automotive sector. Objective/Scope of Work The objective of this Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract is to provide NHTSA with the capability to award Task Orders that require a range of research skills, which could be called into use to quickly plan, conduct, and document studies concerning vehicle safety to address any and all aspects of vehicle safety technologies, reliability, cybersecurity, automated driving systems, testing and simulation of vehicle safety systems, conducting of large scale data collection studies, and evaluation of safety benefits. Offerors may qualify for one or more of the subject areas and need not be pre-qualified in all of the areas below to be selected for a task order in a particular area only the research area of interest to that task. The tasks and experiments performed under this IDIQ Contract will provide the support needed by NHTSA in seven major research areas performed through the Electronic System Safety Division. These major research areas are: 1. Controlled-Environment Evaluation Facilities and Methods Test-track research to support vehicle-level testing for both ADAS and ADS vehicles. Associated advanced tool development to support evaluation of the safety performance of crash avoidance (ADAS) technologies and ADS-equipped vehicles. For example: crash targets; robotic vehicles and other necessary apparatus to support controlled, repeatable and accurate testing. Expertise and experience in vehicle instrumentation and data collection to support controlled environment and test-track research, including data storage, off-loading, and analyses. 2. Virtual Environment Evaluation (Simulation & Modeling) Experience and expertise in simulation and modeling of vehicle operations within a virtual environment. Experience in application of simulated roadway and traffic environments Support for evaluating ADAS and ADS vehicle operations and performance in a virtual test environment. Identification and development of candidate testing scenarios, maneuvers and behavioral competencies that may be used to evaluate ADS vehicles in a virtual environment, but also may be adaptable for test-track and/or on-road testing. 3. Vehicle Component Testing and Functional Safety Assessments Functional safety assessments of vehicle electronic sub-systems including perception systems; vehicle control systems, and other electronic and software related systems. Research into the Safety of the intended Functionality (SOTIF) of various safety related subsystems and vehicle-level functions. Other electronic, control, & component level testing support to examine performance, durability and operational characteristics of individual components such as such as sensors, actuators and electro-mechanical components. Such research may include use of Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) and/or Software-in the-Loop (SIL) to support component level testing. Facilities, experience and expertise to support research on other vehicle sub-systems that may impact safety (tires; lighting, mirrors, steering or braking components). 4. Management of Field Operational Tests (FOTs), Naturalistic Studies, and On-road testing. Planning and managing operation of Field Studies. Vehicle-level instrumentation and data collection to support on-road testing. ADAS and ADS Pilot concepts and support. Analysis of vehicle data collected through on-road studies. Capability in “big data” management, translation and transfer. 5. Safety Impact Assessment Support Motor vehicle crash data acquisition and analysis. Crash causation and crash modeling studies. Countermeasure modeling and simulation. Safety benefits analysis. Development of safety performance evaluation frameworks, methods and metrics. Expertise in Federal motor vehicle safety standards and regulations, and removing regulatory barriers for technology innovations. 6. Cybersecurity and Vehicle System Software Research Vehicle cybersecurity risks and defensive methods. Vehicle cybersecurity evaluation approaches. Communication ecosystem factors impacting cybersecurity Cybersecurity Preparedness. Emerging Considerations in Vehicle Cybersecurity. Experience in machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and related advanced machine control sciences. 7. Vehicle Safety Communications Expertise in Connected Vehicle technologies, system development, and related safety applications. Communication technologies. Spectrum research. Communications security. Mapping, GPS, and location-based technologies. In their response to this solicitation, offerors may propose to qualify for supporting NHTSA in one or more of the subject Research Areas (up to all seven) listed above. Offerors shall designate in their technical proposal which research areas they are proposing to qualify for, and provide supporting details in separate sections of the proposal for each Research Area (i.e., Understanding of the Research Area, Technical, and Organizational Approach). Contract Type, Period of Performance, and NAICS Code NHTSA intends to issue a minimum of two (2) or more multiple-award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contracts, whereby individual Firm Fixed Price (FFP), Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF), Cost No fee, or a hybrid variation of FFP and Cost Reimbursement Task Orders will be issued in accordance with FAR 16.5 to obtain professional and technical services. Individual task orders will be designated with a focus pertaining to one or more of the subject research areas. For most task orders, it is expected that the task order will contain a designation of only one research area. Offerors may qualify for one or more of the subject research areas (up to all seven) depending on the offeror’s capabilities and interest in their proposal. Note that it is not necessary to be qualified in all seven research areas to be eligible to compete for task orders, but Offerors need to be qualified and receive an IDIQ award in a research area to bid on a task order of a particular research area. In some instances, a task order may be designated as being eligible to be bid on by contractors prequalified in any of multiple research areas. For example, a task order may involve managing a field study to better assess safety benefits of various ADAS technologies. In such instances, NHTSA may choose to issue such a task order to contractors pre-qualified in Management of FOT’s (Research Area #4), those pre-qualified in Safety Impact Assessment Support (Research Area #5), and contractors prequalified in both research areas. The anticipated period of performance is 60-Months, inclusive of three (3) consecutive, 12-month Base Years and two (2) Option Years to be exercised at the Government’s discretion. The NAICS Code for this anticipated contract is 541380 (Testing Laboratories) with a size standard of $16.5M. Place of Performance/Physical Location The work performed under the proposed Contract and any Task Orders issued under the Contract shall be accomplished at the Contractor’s facilities and those facilities shall be located within the continental United States. There shall be no deviation from or waiver of this requirement. System for Award Management Registration Contractors must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) database located at www.sam.gov in order to receive an award in response to the solicitation. THIS NOTICE OF SYNOPSIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. This notice is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The solicitation will be released electronically via this Government Point of Entry (GPE) otherwise known as Federal Business Opportunities or beta.sam.gov. As such, no written, telephonic or other type of request for an advance copy of the solicitation will be entertained. Potential offerors/vendors are encouraged to register on beta.sam.gov to receive any further information in reference to the subject action inclusive of any announcements, and/or amendments to the solicitation after its release. The anticipated award date is February 12, 2021. The solicitation will be issued on or about September 3, 2020.
Data sourced from SAM.gov.
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