Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

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Volpe Center Highlights - January/February 2003

Organizational Excellence

Volpe's First Staff Exchange with Dutch Ministry

On November 4, 2002, Mr. Gerben Bootsma of the Transport Research Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Transport began an assignment on-site at the Volpe Center. Mr. Bootsma's assignment is the first under the collaboration agreement between the two national transportation research centers, which collaborate on a broad range of topics, including operator fatigue and alertness, public-private roles in funding and operating passenger railroads, and professional capacity building for transportation planning. The Volpe coordinator of the agreement, Mr. William Lyons of the Planning and Policy Analysis Division, is organizing this first exchange. Mr. Bootsma is assigned to the Planning and Policy Analysis Division, where he will focus on statewide and metropolitan planning and capacity building as well as user and societal acceptance of new technology.

Supporting Asset Supply Chain Management (FAA)

The goal of the FAA's national ASCM program is an integrated solution for agency-wide asset management requirements. ASCM will provide an efficient, effective, national system to headquarters, regional, and remote field users regardless of their organization or business line.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is improving its ability to effectively manage and account for all of its assets, valued in excess of $17 billion. The FAA has initiated a national program, Asset Supply Chain Management (ASCM), to replace existing asset management systems. To the maximum extent possible, the ASCM capability will be developed using a commercial, off-the-shelf solution. Under the leadership of Mr. Joe McGann of the Technology and Knowledge Engineering Division, the Volpe Center is engaged in developing technical specifications and a strategy for acquiring an integration contractor and product solution for the ASCM Program.

The FAA's ASCM Program Manager has requested that Mr. Steve Czapczynski, also of the Division, serve as a key technical consultant to the ASCM investment analysis team. FAA investment analysis, a cornerstone of the FAA's acquisition process, ensures that early decisions that shape and launch new programs are good, implementable corporate decisions. Each analysis identifies alternatives; analyzes their potential by studying such factors as performance, lifecycle costs, benefits, risk, schedule, affordability, and compatibility with the overall system architecture; and identifies reasonable, cost-effective solutions for the core set of critical requirements. In late November, Volpe began working with the FAA on the analysis, which in spring 2003 will culminate in the presentation of the Investment Analysis Report and recommendations to the FAA's Joint Resources Council for an investment decision. Also in November, an acquisition milestone was met with the announcement of a short list of offerors who participated in an initial screening. Volpe's acquisition team lead, Mr. Russ Furtado of the Division, supported this early step in the critical process of identifying appropriate integration contractors to participate in the request-for-offer process later this year.

Volpe supported the FAA in its successful completion of the first acquisition phase for its Asset Supply Chain Management Program. The second phase is under development.

In support of the ASCM acquisition effort, the Volpe technical team, led by Mr. Czapczynski, has completed a detailed Technical Specification that identifies the more than 1,100 requirements necessary for ASCM implementation. Associated with this effort, Mr. Brian Willim, also of the Division, created a Requirements Traceability Tool that maps the detailed requirements to top-level requirement categories. The FAA/Volpe team will use this tool to develop phased implementation strategies and budgets, manage stakeholder expectations, and reduce "requirement-creep" risks inherent in large-scale system implementation efforts.

Other Volpe team members have included: Mr. Steven Walkinshaw and Mr. John Smith, Technology and Knowledge Engineering Division; Mr. Ken McGillvary and Ms. Olive Lesueur, Intermodal Logistics Systems Planning and Integration Division; Mr. Harvey Brand, Information Integration Division; Ms. Sheila MacLean, Office of Information and Logistics Management; and Mr. Robert Robinson, Resource Planning and Management Analysis Division.

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