This shall serve as the official Request for Expression of Interest (REI) to participate in a project to demonstrate and test a high performance data radio for Communication Based Train Control (CBTC) and to support interoperable communication among railroad business applications. The purpose of this REI is to solicit Data Radio suppliers who have products that may meet the requirements of the railroad industry and who are interested in having their products considered by the railroad industry as a data radio solution for CBTC and other railroad communication needs. Responding to this REI does not ensure that the respondent’s products will be purchased or tested under this program. Responding to this REI allows the respondent’s products to be considered as a possible data radio solution for the railroad industry. The US and Canadian railroad industry has approximately 20,000 locomotives, 5,000 radio base station locations, and 50,000 wayside equipment locations that could be possible candidates for application of the new HPDR. Participation in this program by Data Radio Suppliers and providing a solution that meets the requirements developed in this program does not ensure that the product will be adopted by any railroad. The HPDR project does not represent a railroad industry commitment to purchase. Qualifications for Selection as a Participating Organization: Organization(s) will be selected for participation based on their response to this Request for Expression of Interest, which must include as a minimum the following: 1. Provide a positive response to this Request for Expression of Interest indicating a desire to participate in the Higher Performance Data Radio Project. This response must also include as a minimum: a. Provide a preliminary assessment and opinion of the technical feasibility of providing an existing, modified, or new high performance data radio system for use by the railroad industry to support CBTC systems and additional railroad business applications. This assessment should include as a minimum the following sections: i. Overview – demonstrating an understanding of the objectives and scope of the project ii. Approach – presenting an outline of a feasible approach for meeting the project objectives and scope iii. Resources – describing the resource needs of the project including both those needed and those contributed by the participating organization. b. Provide a qualifications statement indicating a proven record of performance and long-term, relevant experience in developing and supplying wireless data radio equipment in North America. c. Descriptions, specifications, etc. of available products that may meet railroad industry needs. Supplier responses to this Request for Expression of Interest will not result in contract award. This solicitation does not commit or obligate TTCI to pay for any costs incurred in the preparation, presentation or submission of a response hereto. Project Sponsor: This project is sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Association of American Railroads, and the Railroad Research Foundation through Cooperative Agreement # DTFR53-04-H-00014 with Transportation Technology Center, Inc. Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads (AAR), is the Prime Contractor for this project. Background: Background information for the project, including preliminary use assumptions, design considerations, and preliminary requirements, will be provided by email via a PDF format document in response to email request made to Thomas Nast. (
[email protected]). Questions regarding this program and background information should be submitted via email to Thomas Nast. (
[email protected]). Objective of Project: The objective of the HPDR project is to identify or develop, demonstrate and evaluate the performance of a higher performance data radio system for operation in a CBTC system and supporting interoperable communication among railroad business applications. The participating organizations will be the candidate data radio equipment suppliers. Scope: The scope of the Higher Performance Data Radio Project effort is summarized by the following task overview (subject to change). TASK: Railroad Data Radio Requirements Analysis. RESPONSIBILITY: TTCI and designated contractors are conducting a data network demand analysis of CBTC systems and railroad business applications. This network demand analysis will be used to further develop data radio performance requirements. TAASK: Survey Data Radio systems. RESPONSIBILITY: Concurrent with the railroad data radio requirements analysis task, TTCI issues a REI to identify data radio suppliers who are interested in participating in the program and solicit data radio suppliers for detailed information on products capable of supporting the requirements demanded by CBTC and additional railroad business applications. TTCI and railroad industry representatives will review candidate systems and issue a request for information (RFI) to suppliers of candidate data radio systems, if further information is required. The RFI will include detailed requirements based on results of the railroad data radio requirements analysis. Candidate data radio systems will comprise products of participating organization(s). TASK: Issue Request for Proposal. RESPONSIBILITY: TTCI plans to issue a formal Request for Proposal to those organizations that have product offerings that satisfy the Railroad Data Radio Requirements evaluation criteria. TTCI and railroad industry representatives will review the proposals to determine which products may be suitable for test and evaluation. TASK: Acquisition and Test. RESPONSIBILITY: If funding is available, TTCI will issue contract(s) to procure the higher performance data radio equipment for test and evaluation. Acquired equipment will be demonstrated and evaluated at TTCI or at a location designated by TTCI.The selected organization(s) will provide technical support and assist TTCI in the installation, configuration, and operation of data radio equipment. TASK: Analysis of Test Data. RESPONSIBILITY: TTCI will perform all analyses of test data. The participating organization(s) will review and comment. TASK: Preparation of Final Report. RESPONSIBILITY: TTCI will prepare and deliver the final report to the Railroad Research Foundation and the FRA. The project task efforts and results, to the extent funded by the FRA, must be open and non-proprietary. Accordingly, the participating organization(s) may find it desirable to fund the development of their prototype. Point of Contact Responses to this request must be sent to Thomas Nast 719-584-0658 Preferred means of contact is by email:
[email protected] Closing Date for Responses: Friday the 19th of May 2006. The preferred means of response is to the email address listed above. Submitted documents should be in MS Office or PDF format. Place of Performance: Development of the prototype can occur at the participating organization’s facility. Demonstration and test of the data radio equipment will be conducted at the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo Colorado or other location as designated by TTCI.