Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 123 / Friday, June 26, 1998 / Notices 34955

Issued in Washington, DC, on June

22,1998.

Vanester M. Williams,

Clearance Officer, United States Department

of Transportation

[FR Doc. 98–17068 Filed 6–25–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–62–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

Broad Agency Announcement: Funds

Availability for Research Projects and

Technology Advancements Under the

Next Generation High-Speed Rail

Program

AGENCY: Federal Railroad

Administration (FRA), Department of

Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notice of funds availability:

Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for

research projects and technology

advancements under the next generation

high-speed rail program.

Introduction

The Federal Railroad Administration

(FRA) is soliciting pre-proposal concept

papers for various research projects,

technology advancements and/or

demonstrations directed at enhancing

the deployment of high-speed rail

service in the United States.

Technologies most likely to enhance the

deployment of high-speed rail service in

the U.S. are those which will—(a)

enhance the revenue-generating

capability of high-speed operations; (b)

bring about capital cost reductions and

economy in producing equipment and

facilities; (c) reduce operating costs of

high-speed rail service; (d) improve the

reliability of equipment and

infrastructure components; (e) improve

safety; and/or (f) enhance the social

benefits and/or environmental aspects

of high speed rail.

Eligible Participants

This is an unrestricted solicitation.

Any responsible source may submit a

pre-proposal concept paper for

consideration including, but not limited

to, states or local governments, or

organizations of state or local

governments, institutions of higher

education, hospitals or other non-profit

organizations, private individuals,

corporations, businesses or commercial

organizations, except that any business

owned in whole or in part by the

Federal Government is not eligible.

Although businesses owned in whole or

in part by the Federal Government are

not eligible for funding under the

Program, they may contract with eligible

participants. Cooperative arrangements

(e.g., joint ventures, limited

partnerships, teaming arrangements, or

collaboration and consortium

arrangements) are permitted and

encouraged. Small, Small

Disadvantaged (SD), and WomenOwned (WO) Business Concerns, and

Historically Black Colleges and

Universities (HBCU) and Minority

Institutions (MIs) are encouraged to

submit pre-proposal concept papers on

their own and/or in collaboration with

others. However, no portion of this BAA

will be set aside exclusively for Small,

SD, or WO Business Concerns, or for

HBCU and MIs. Attention: Minority,

Women-Owned and Disadvantaged

Business Enterprises (DBEs)! The

Department of Transportation (DOT),

Short-Term Lending Program (STLP)

offers working capital financing in the

form of lines of credit to finance

accounts receivable for transportation

related contracts. Maximum line of

credit is $500,000 with interest at the

prime rate. For further information call

(800) 532–1169. Internet address:

http://osdbuweb.dot.gov.

Exchanges and Points of Contact

Exchanges of information between

interested parties and the Government,

prior to submission of pre-proposal

concept papers, are strongly

encouraged. Such informal exchanges

may provide would-be offerors with

preliminary information on the

Government’s level of interest in

prospective works or projects or on the

availability of funds. Any exchanges of

information must be consistent with

procurement integrity requirements of

section 27 of the Office of Federal

Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423,

as amended) (see Federal Acquisition

Regulation (FAR) 3.104). For technical

inquires, interested parties may contact

the BAA primary technical point of

contact, Mr. Robert McCown (Tel: 202/

632–3250, Fax: 202/632–3854), or one of

the other, secondary technical points of

contact identified in Appendix A of the

BAA 98–01 Pre-Proposal Preparation

Package (BAA 98–01 Package), available

from the FRA. All non-technical

inquiries should be directed to the

Grants/Contracting Officer, Mr. Thomas

Riddle (Tel: 202/632–3391, Fax: 202/

632–3846). Please note that FRA

anticipates changing its telephone

service on or about July 10, 1998. New

telephone numbers will be assigned

during this change over. For the first 30

days after the change over, there will be

a automatic bridge/link in which the

service provider will furnish callers

with the new number of the party they

are trying to reach when an old

[replaced] number is dialed. After 30

days, a caller who dials an old number

will be routed to the DOT operator for

assistance/new number, or the caller

may dial the DOT information line

direct at 202/366–4000. As of the date

this announcement/notice was

submitted for publication, the following

numbers have been tentatively assigned

for the points of contact identified

above, for usage on or after July 10,

1998: Mr. McCown—Tel: 202/493–6350,

RDV–30 Fax: 202/493–6333. Mr.

Riddle—Tel: 202/493–6149.

BAA Time Line

BAA 98–01 is being published in both

the Commerce Business Daily (CBD) and

the Federal Register (FR) in June 1998.

(Note: BAA 98–01 is a single broad

agency announcement of the FRA, that

is being advertised and published in

these two different media to reach a

broad base of prospective applicants.

The description of BAA 98–01 may

different slightly in form between the

two publications, but each will be

substantially the same as the other in all

material respects.) FRA will accept preproposal concept paper submissions,

inquiries and requests for the BAA 98–

01 Package under BAA 98–01,

immediately upon its announcement

and appearance in either the CBD, or

FR, or June 22, 1998, whichever single

date/event occurs first. However, to

allow interested parties adequate time to

prepare pre-proposal concept papers,

FRA will not begin its technical

evaluations before July 22, 1998. Unless

BAA 98–01 is superceded or canceled,

FRA will continue to accept concept

submissions, inquiries and package

requests, through April 30, 1999;

however, fiscal year 1999 (FY 99)

awards are subject to the availability of

FY 99 appropriations or the continued

availability of unobligated prior no-year

funds. Although the BAA is open for an

extended period, interested parties

would be well advised to submit

proposals as early as possible.

Funding Authority and Related

Information

Funds for this program are authorized

in the Department of Transportation and

Related Agencies Appropriations Act

1998, Public Law 105–66 (October 27,

1997). FRA will make available up to

$4.3 million for awards under the BAA

during fiscal year 1998 for research

project and technology advancements in

areas of research interest to the FRA,

that are evaluated favorably and

determined by the FRA to be consistent

with the objectives of this BAA and of

interest to the Government, and for

which adequate funding exist. Awards
34956 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 123 / Friday, June 26, 1998 / Notices

may be of any dollar value within the

maximum amounts allowed for each

area of interest (so long as those

amounts do not exceed the total amount

available under the BAA), but it is

anticipated that most, if not all,

individual awards (or that part of the

Government’s portion in a cost sharing

arrangement) will have dollar values

ranging between $25,000 and $500,000

each. Prospective offerors are advised

that awards greater than $500,000 will

generally require the awardee (except a

small business concern) to already have

in place or prepare, at or before the time

of award, an acceptable plan to

maximize the participation of minority,

women-owned and disadvantaged

business enterprises. Because the range

and diversity of activities that may be

proposed under the BAA does not

permit a common work statement, no

single Standard Industrial Classification

(SIC) code will be issued for the BAA.

SIC codes will be specific to each

individual contract award as

determined by the type of activity in

which the actual offeror will be

engaged, and as a function of the

ownership characteristics of the

prospective offeror. Cost sharing by

awardees is not mandatory under this

BAA, however because of the potential

for long-term benefits to those firms or

institutions involved in these research

and development activities, offerors are

strongly encouraged to consider sharing

the cost of their proposed projects.

Awards

Research projects, technology

advancements, and/or demonstrations

proposed under this BAA will be

considered for award through a two-step

process. In the first step, interested

parties must submit a pre-proposal

concept paper for each research project,

technology advancement or

demonstration (by area of interest) the

applicant wishes the FRA to consider.

The purpose of the pre-proposal concept

paper is to preclude unwarranted and

possibly costly effort on the part of

interested parties whose proposed work

may not be of interest to the FRA under

this BAA. Pre-proposal concept papers

submitted under this BAA will be

subject to technical review in

accordance with the established

evaluation criteria. Based upon its

evaluations, the FRA will subsequently

notify each respondent who submits a

pre-proposal concept paper as to

whether the Government encourages or

does not encourage the submission of a

full proposal. In the second step,

respondents whose pre-proposal

concept papers are evaluated favorably

and determined by the FRA to be

consistent with the objectives of the

BAA and of interest to the Government,

may be requested to submit a full

technical and cost proposal or other

information relative to the initial

submission for further consideration.

Such a request will NOT guarantee the

applicant that an award will be

forthcoming for the offered work or

project, nor otherwise create an

obligation on the part of the

Government. Awards may take the form

of contracts, grants or cooperative

agreements. Contracts will be used

when the principal purpose is the

acquisition of supplies or services

(including research and development)

for the direct benefit or use of the

Federal Government. Grants or

cooperative agreements will be used

when the principal purpose of the

transaction is to stimulate or support

research and development for another

public purpose.

Areas of Technology Interest

Technologies which are high-priority

research candidates for evaluation

pursuant to this announcement include:

(1) Grade crossing hazard mitigation

systems. (2) Innovative, low cost

technologies to improve track and

structures. (3) Advance train control

systems. (4) Non-electric locomotives

and passenger equipment systems. (5)

Other scientific study, technology

adaptation, or demonstration directed

toward advancing the state-of-the-art or

increasing the knowledge or

understanding of high-speed passenger

rail service in the U.S.

Pre-Proposal Concept Papers and

Preparation Instructions

Pre-proposal concept papers should

be ten (10) pages or less (except as

otherwise noted). Pre-proposal concept

paper submissions must contain a

Technical Concept Section and a Cost or

Pricing Section, and when applicable,

should contain a Phased or Follow-on

Research Project Section. Specific

content and format requirements and

additional instructions for preparing

submissions, as well as further

information on the areas of interest

themselves and the evaluation/selection

process, are provided in the BAA 98–01

Package. Interested parties may obtain a

copy of the BAA 98–01 Package by

submitting a written request to U.S.

Department of Transportation, Federal

Railroad Administration, Office of

Acquisition and Grants Services, RAD–

30, 400 7th Street, SW, Mail Stop 50,

Washington, DC 20590, or via telefacsimile request (Fax No. 202/632–

3846), to the attention of the Grants/

Contracting Officer, Mr. Riddle. The

request should also reference the

Solicitation No. BAA 98–01. The BAA

98–01 Package should also be available

on the Internet in July 1998,

Evaluation Criteria

Pre-proposal concept papers (and

later full proposals or other

submissions, if and when requested)

will be evaluated using the following

criteria, which are listed in descending

order of relative importance: (1) The

overall scientific merit and/or technical

merits of the proposal. (2) The degree to

which the overall proposed technical

effort will advance U.S. high-speed rail

technology, and the extent to which its

application to railroad operations would

improve intercity passenger operations

through improved railroad capital

equipment or infrastructure, traffic

control centers, interfaces among these,

or operating methods, and/or its

potential for performance improvement

in one or more qualities such as, cost

effectiveness, reliability, safety,

availability, or maintainability. (3) The

technical qualifications and

demonstrated experience of key

personnel proposed to perform the

technical efforts. (4) The administrative

qualifications and demonstrated

experience of the proposing

organization to support projects such as

those proposed. (5) The reasonableness

and realism of the proposed costs and

fee (if any). (6) The degree to which

Federal funds are leveraged by private,

non-Federal, and/or Federal funds

available from sources other than FRA

programs. (7) The availability of funds.

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT

CONSTITUTES THE ONLY

SOLICITATION. NO OTHER REQUEST

FOR PROPOSALS OR

ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE ISSUED.

Dated: June 18, 1998.

James T. McQueen,

Associate Administrator for Railroad

Development.

[FR Doc. 98–16762 Filed 6–25–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 33556]

Canadian National Railway Company,

Grand Trunk Corporation, and Grand

Trunk Western Railroad Incorporated—

Control—Illinois Central Corporation,

Illinois Central Railroad Company,

Chicago, Central and Pacific Railroad

Company, and Cedar River Railroad

Company

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.