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[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 155 (Thursday, August 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49832-49834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-20397]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No DOT-OST-2011-0145]

Notice of Market Assessment and Public Meeting for Digital 
Transportation Exchange

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Public Meeting and Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with OMB Memoranda M10-06, ``Open Government 
Directive,'' the U.S. Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) 
is evaluating the feasibility and value of a new cloud-based platform 
to connect citizens, businesses, state and local governments, industry, 
entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors like never before--creating a 
thriving marketplace for digital transportation solutions. The Digital 
Transportation Exchange (DTE) will be a public exchange where citizens, 
businesses, state and local governments, industry, entrepreneurs, 
researchers, and investors will converge to find the best way to 
develop, fund and market the best digital products and services for the 
transportation industry--from very simple to very complex. Recognizing 
that transportation solutions are often adopted locally, this site will 
provide a single location for all of these local solutions to be 
showcased nationally, encouraging reuse, investment and improvement. 
DOT is seeking partners to develop, build and maintain this portal. As 
part of this evaluation, the Department invites the public to 
participate in a comment process designed to help the Department 
develop a feasible and high value concept for this portal and the 
partnership model designed to sustain it. The Department also will hold 
a stakeholder meeting to discuss and consider comments. Comments and 
suggestions from these two forums may be incorporated into a follow on 
procurement that will be released in 2011 to solicit partners.

DATES: The Department will receive comments from interested parties 
until September 23, 2011.
     Specifically, the Department will hold a stakeholder 
meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET on September 16, 2011, at the DOT 
headquarters, to discuss the concept.
     Deadline to register to attend meeting in person/watch Web 
stream/listen by phone--September 2, 2011. Attendees are asked to RSVP 
for the meeting via e-mail (Open@dot.gov) and indicate how you intend 
to participate (via webcast, call in by phone, or in person). 
Additionally, please provide the following information if you intend to 
attend in person; if you are a U.S. Citizen please provide your name 
and agency/company. If you're not U.S. Citizen please provide your 
name, title or position, country of citizenship, date of birth, and 
passport number.
     Agenda released on http://www.dot.gov/open/DTE--September 
12, 2011.
     Web streaming/call-in info distributed to registrants--
September 12, 2011.
     Stakeholder Meeting--September 16--9:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to the Department DOT-OST-2011-0145 
by any of the following methods:
     Online: DTE Ideascale Community. DTE.ideascale.com. 
Participants can provide comments online, rate others' comments, and 
comment on others' comments throughout the entire comment period, 
starting from the release of this notice through September 23, 2011.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001. 
If you submit comments by mail and would like to know that they reached 
the facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope or 
postcard.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m. ET., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax to DOT Docket Management Facility: 202-493-2251.
     E-mail: open@dot.gov

To avoid duplication, please use only one of these five methods. The 
DOT encourages commenters to use to Ideascale community as the 
preferred comment submission method. All comments received will be 
posted without change to the docket in www.regulations.gov and will 
include any personal information you provide.
    DOT encourages you to read the full concept paper and supplemental 
materials that describe this concept in

[[Page 49833]]

more detail at http://www.dot.gov/open/DTE before submitting comments. 
If you do not have access to the Internet, you may view the materials 
by visiting the Docket Management Facility in Room W12-140 on the 
ground floor of the Department of Transportation West Building, 1200 
New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs. Kristen Baldwin, Director, 
Resource Management Office, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. E-mail: Open@dot.gov

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Concept Overview

    The U.S. Department of Transportation (Department or DOT) is 
evaluating the feasibility and value of a new cloud-based platform to 
coordinate, develop, and showcase identified issues and resulting 
solutions to current issues in the Transportation industry in 
collaboration with the public and non-traditional industry players and 
entrepreneurs. The goal of the DTE initiative is to simultaneously 
increase the supply of transportation solutions available, through 
injecting private capital and expanding the industry base, and the 
demand for those solutions, by involving consumers of those solutions 
including state and local government, individual citizens, and the 
transportation infrastructure industry.
    DTE is intended to create an exchange across the Transportation 
industry--connecting people and technology for transportation 
innovation. Stakeholders could include: Citizens, businesses, state and 
local governments, industry, entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors. 
DTE is intended to drive collaboration across these stakeholder 
communities by identifying existing problems, establishing a one-stop-
shop for resources to develop solutions, connecting users to develop 
partnerships, and then showcasing those solutions. It would present a 
consolidated view of existing transportation-related solutions as well 
as issues in need of a technology solution.
    The community would be managed to engage and promote ideas, report 
back on implemented solutions, and connect with stakeholders. While 
digital transportation solutions exist in the public and private 
sector, these technology innovations are not easily shared across 
political jurisdictions and potential markets, nor are these solutions 
matched to investors that may help them scale. DTE will ``build a 
home'' for transportation technology innovation. More specifically, the 
functions that DTE might provide include, but are not limited to:
    Prioritizing Problems: Help identify and prioritize major 
transportation problems by size and intensity through ideation and 
crowd sourcing from citizens, industry, operators, businesses, experts 
and academics.
    Solutions Teaming: Encourage teaming of entrepreneurs, developers, 
experts and government entities to create innovative digital 
transportation strategies and plans for funding.
    Funding and Financing: Attract attention of the investment 
community including angels, venture capitalists and strategic investors 
to digital transportation business plans for funding. Stimulate 
solution development through innovative funding mechanisms like prizes 
and competitions.
    Market Development: Create a transportation focused service 
provider exchange consisting of legal, marketing, communications, 
accounting and other expertise. Increase the supply of solutions by 
involving non-traditional actors as well as the demand by drawing the 
attention of users and investors.
    DOT is seeking partners to develop, build and maintain the DTE. 
Although the DOT will act as a partner in the management of the 
exchange, DTE will utilize strategic partnerships with industry leaders 
to provide an externally hosted solution. DOT is potentially looking to 
develop a public-private partnership to support this work. Partners 
would be expected to stand-up and sustain a business model over time, 
understanding DOT may not have funding to contribute. Please see the 
detailed description of this concept on http://www.dot.gov/open/DTE 
before submitting comments.

Stakeholder Participation and Request for Comments

    DOT is interested in general comments pertaining to the concept 
paper and is also particularly interested in comments about the 
following questions:
     How would you use the DTE? What transportation topics 
should the DTE focus on? How do you think the concepts of using shared/
interactive technology (DTE) can best be used in the transportation 
industry?
     Given what you currently know about the use of DTE related 
concepts, are there any additional functions that would be needed for 
you to use it most effectively?
     Can you suggest specific opportunities to build public/
private partnerships as they relate to the DTE?
     How can in-person/face to face interactions compliment the 
online DTE? If so, what kinds of activities would best connect people 
and technology to stimulate transportation innovation?
     Who are the critical partners that should be involved in 
launching and maintaining the DTE to ensure its success?
     In your opinion, what are the greatest challenges for 
integrating the use of shared/interactive technology (DTE) in the 
transportation industry?
     What strategies would you use to stimulate innovation in 
this era of using shared/interactive technology in the transportation 
arena?

The preferred method for the submission of comments on these questions 
is through the ideascale site (DTE.ideascale.com) or at the public 
meeting, though alternative methods for submitting comments are 
described earlier in this notice.

Stakeholder Meeting Procedures

    The meeting will begin with a discussion of Department's 
preliminary concept for DTE and a summary of comments received to date. 
After that, we plan to facilitate focused discussions on the issues 
identified earlier in this notice. The Department's Director of Public 
Engagement will preside over the meeting. Other senior officials will 
participate in this meeting as well to discussion issues pertaining to 
this project concept with stakeholders.
    The meeting is designed to gather additional information for DTE 
concept and partnership. Therefore, the meeting will be conducted in an 
informal and non-adversarial manner. It is our intent that the meeting 
will provide an opportunity for the senior officials to interact with 
individuals or stakeholder representatives. To enable them to 
effectively participate in the meeting, they will need some information 
in advance. As a result, we are establishing the following process.
    1. Preparing to Attend the Stakeholder Meeting:
    a. Commenters are asked to RSVP for the meeting via e-mail 
(Open@dot.gov) by September 2, 2011 and indicate how you intend to 
participate (via webcast, call in by phone, or in person). Due to 
security requirements, all public attendees must register to ensure 
their access to the building. To register, contact Kristen Baldwin. If 
you intend to attend the meeting in person and are a U.S. citizen 
please RSVP with your name and agency/company. Foreign

[[Page 49834]]

National registrants must provide your full name, title, country of 
citizenship, date of birth, passport number, and passport expiration 
date when registering. Because seating space is limited, we may have to 
limit attendees in order of date and time of registration.
    b. Please submit any initial comments in advance of the meeting 
through one of the mechanisms identified earlier in this notice. The 
initial comments should contain enough details to permit DOT officials 
to sufficiently prepare responses to, ask questions about, and discuss 
those comments.
    c. The initial comments may be augmented anytime before the end of 
the full comment period.
    d. Anyone who needs auxiliary aids and services, such as sign 
language interpreters, to effectively participate in the meeting should 
contact Ms. Baldwin as soon as possible.
    2. Stakeholder Meeting:
    a. After receiving the initial stakeholder comments, the Department 
will organize those suggestions by topic for discussion during the 
public meeting.
    b. The Department will hold the meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET 
on September 16, 2011 at the Department of Transportation, West 
Building, Ground Floor, DOT Conference Center, Oklahoma Room, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC. We will make a meeting outline and 
agenda available on http://www.dot.gov/open/DTE by September 12, 2011 
in advance of the meeting.
    c. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early for processing through 
security. All participants and attendees must enter through the New 
Jersey Avenue entrance (West Building--at the corner of New Jersey 
Avenue and M Street, SE.). Photo identification is required and Foreign 
National attendees must bring their passports with them. Participants 
or attendees who have Federal government identification will still need 
to register to attend. To facilitate security screening, all 
participants and attendees are encouraged to limit the bags and other 
items (laptops, cameras, etc.) they bring into the building. Anyone 
exiting the building for any reason will be required to re-enter 
through the security checkpoint at the New Jersey Avenue entrance.
    d. DOT does not offer visitor parking; we suggest that attendees 
consider using alternative means of transportation to the building. DOT 
Headquarters is served by Metrorail (Navy Yard station), Metrobus, DC 
Circulator, and taxi service. There are a number of private parking 
lots near the DOT building, but the DOT cannot guarantee the 
availability of parking spaces.
    e. For those unable to attend the meeting in person, portions will 
be broadcast via Web streaming (with captioning) and over a listen-only 
phone line. Registrants will be given the Web URL or phone number on 
September 16, 2011. Because the number of people who can participate in 
Web streaming and by phone is limited, we will provide access in order 
of date and time of registration.
    3. Other Written Comments:
    The Department will continue to accept written comments through 
September 23, 2011. Those who do not wish to attend the stakeholder 
meeting may, of course, submit comments at any time during the comment 
period through the other methods identified earlier in this notice.
    4. Follow-up Action by DOT:
    We will place a transcript or summary of the stakeholder meeting on 
our Web site (http://www.dot.gov/open/DTE) as soon as possible after 
the end of the meeting; the record will be available in the docket on 
http://www.regulations.gov.

DOT IdeaScale Web Site

    To provide the public with alternative means of providing feedback 
to DOT in ways that may better suit their needs, we have created a Web 
site using IdeaScale that will allow submissions to DOT in a less 
formal manner. This Web site will provide members of the public an 
opportunity to submit their ideas about our concept and partnership. 
Participants in this site may discuss one another's ideas and agree/
disagree with others. This Web site may be particularly useful for 
individuals and small entities that prefer a less formal method of 
submitting ideas to DOT. It may also assist participants in refining 
their suggestions and gathering additional information or data to 
support those suggestions.
    To ensure that ideas are most useful, you should include a 
description of any concerns regarding the concept (e.g. it is 
duplicative, too costly, etc.), any supporting information (e.g., 
actual cost or benefit data, references to duplicative slides, etc. * * 
*), and comments on the particular issues identified in the concept 
overview section of this notice that would assist DOT in making a 
decision. Please also include in your comment whether you found this 
Web site useful for your purposes, so that we can best plan how to 
deploy DOT's scarce resources to most effectively reach the public in 
the future. To go directly to the IdeaScale Web site use the following 
link: DTE.ideascale.com.

Follow-Up Action by DOT

    As soon as possible after the stakeholder meeting and the close of 
the comment period, taking account of the number of comments received 
and the complexity of issues raised, DOT will publish a report 
providing at least a brief response to the comments we receive, 
including a description of any further action we intend to take on the 
initiative's Web site at http://www.dot.gov/open/DTE.

    Issue Date: August 5, 2011.
Kristen Baldwin,
Director, Business Management Office, Chief Information Officer, U.S. 
Department of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 2011-20397 Filed 8-10-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P
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