The Department of Transportation, Office of Operations Research and Development (R&D) at Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) may have a continuing requirement for technical support to conduct research, development, test, and evaluation activities that meet the growing demands for smoother running transportation systems.

Transportation operations research is in increasing demand due, in large part, to the ever increasing amounts of congestion in the United States (US) and demand for better services to support the growth of the US economy. Operations R&D uses electronics, information processing, and communications technologies to improve the efficiency and sustain the existing surface transportation system. It leads to increasing the effective handling capacity of the existing roadway system without the expense of building and
maintaining new roads. Examples of the outcomes of successful operations R&D are: reduced travel times due to higher capacity and better utilization of existing roadways, greater reliability of the transportation system evidenced by more on-time arrivals; increased safety evidenced by reduced crashes, injuries, and fatalities (including crashes, injuries, and fatalities possibly caused by congestion); reduced stress evidenced by fewer customer complaints and improved customer satisfaction; and, reduced carbon footprints evidenced by more eco-friendly transportation solutions.

A major part of FHWA’s mission is to improve transportation systems management and operations. FHWA has transportation operations research staff and facilities at TFHRC in McLean, Virginia, dedicated to implementing key transportation operations, intelligent
transportation systems, and connected vehicles initiatives. Researchers at TFHRC have developed innovative transportation systems, including various traffic control systems and transportation models such as the CORSIM family of microscopic traffic simulation tools, and DynaSmart. The former Traffic Research Laboratory (TReL) supported many of these efforts and housed hardware-in-the-loop technology and simulation models that were used to develop new traffic control systems and to assess them prior to field testing, ensuring that the new systems were sufficiently robust and mature. Researchers at TFHRC have a long legacy in the development of technologies, such as vehicle sensors and vehicle-highway communications, which enable new solutions to solving congestion problems. This includes foundational research needed to develop technologies including Dedicated Short Range Communication Systems (DSRC) and research and development of services such as intersection collision avoidance that can be supported through new cooperative vehicle-highway communication technologies.

The objectives of this requirement are:

• Provide technical laboratory management services for the efficient and safe Operations and Management (O&M) of the lab facilities, equipment, testbeds, and research vehicles.  This includes coordinating and scheduling lab assets amongst the numerous task orders and other external requests, maintaining an accurate inventory and asset tracking system, and keeping equipment in a ready to use condition.
• Provide technical assistance, technical studies, and laboratory and field experiments that support activities and strategies of HRDO, the FHWA Office of Operations (HOP), other FHWA program offices, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology’s (OST-R) ITS Joint Program Office.  This work includes, but is not limited to, efforts to develop, design, and integrate systems in which vehicles, users, and the infrastructure interact with each other seamlessly to support enhanced mobility, safety, environmental sustainability, productivity and economic competitiveness, and overall customer satisfaction and livability.
• Provide effective Communications, Outreach, and Marketing (CO&M) materials and media that distribute information regarding the research and research projects being conducted in support of HRDO’s mission and activities, as well as those of its sponsors and partners. Such CO&M materials will include projects conducted offsite by other contractors as well as research and projects conducted internally in the Saxton Lab. The CO&M task also includes conference and demonstration support and website development and maintenance.