Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights - September 1999

Economic Growth and Trade

Advance America's economic growth and competitiveness domestically and internationally through efficient and flexible transportation.

Lease Information Management System Deployed (FAA)

In mid-August, Mr. Bob Stouffer and Ms. Phalla Keo, both of the Logistics and Strategic Management Division, working with FAA real estate and budget personnel, deployed the Lease Information Management System (LIMS) Version 1.0 for use by FAA headquarters and regional offices. The Volpe Center developed LIMS to support the Airway Facilities Financial Management Division's duty to fund land and space acquisitions (including leases and purchases) and disposals. Version 1.0 incorporates approved changes and enhancements from the earlier prototype. This Web-enabled application operates over the FAA's intranet and is accessible to any FAA-authorized person with a desktop computer. Using a standard browser, the application provides data entry and query capability, seven standard reports, and two special budget estimation reports for the 5-year budget call process. The budget call process produces funding requests for submission to Congress.

Through the reports and data displays, LIMS also provides immediate access for FAA staff to the terms and conditions of each lease, easement, or owned property record. The ability to recall and research this data will improve the response to internal and external requests for information. The FAA owns property valued at approximately $2 billion and manages approximately 3,300 non-GSA leases for facilities, land sites, buildings, easements, and rights-of-way.

Presentation at NAWBO-Sponsored SBIR Conference (OST)

Ms. Lynn Murray of the Communications and Technology Outreach Division was a featured speaker at the Third Annual Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Conference held August 20 and 21 at California State University - Fullerton in Garden Grove, California. The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) of Orange County sponsored the conference. Ms. Murray, in support of the Department's Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, spoke on the opportunities for small business firms in transportation research and development and, more specifically, on the opportunities through the SBIR program and the Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) program. The SBIR program is a research and development program mandated by Congress with the purpose of developing technological innovations using the high level of expertise in the small business community throughout the United States. The IDEA program, sponsored by the Transportation Research Board and funded primarily by FHWA, FRA, FTA, and NHTSA, offers four separate but integrated programs that encourage investigation of innovative but untested concepts offering the potential for technological breakthroughs in transportation.

"Comparison of International Transportation R&D Expenditures and Priorities" Report Publication (OST)

U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Mortimer L. Downey authorized the publication of the white paper, "Comparison of International Transportation R&D Expenditures and Priorities," which will be distributed in October 1999. This paper summarizes expenditures in total research and development (R&D) as well as transportation R&D, major transportation-related research projects, and national efforts to bolster "key" or "critical" technologies in the Group of Seven countries (United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy). The paper was co-authored by Mr. Mark Safford of the Transportation Strategic Planning and Analysis Division and Dr. Kanti Prasad of the Infrastructure Protection and Operations Division. Mr. Safford and Dr. Prasad are currently researching additional countries (including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden) for inclusion in the second edition of this paper. This work is part of a series of papers on transportation research and technology that the Volpe Center is preparing for the National Science and Technology Council.

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