• Business With Volpe
  • Procurement Opportunities
  • SBIR
    • SBIR News
    • About SBIR
    • Current Solicitation
    • Previous Solicitations
    • Helpful Hints
    • Proposal Preparation Tips
    • Contact SBIR
    • FAQ
    • Links
  • FOIA
  • Innovation in Acquisition
  • Project Management Innovation
  • How To Start Work with Volpe
  • Understanding Project Costs
  • Customer Satisfaction

 

PROGRAM SOLICITATION
Small Business Innovation Research Program

IV.    Method of Selection and Evaluation Criteria

Previous Section   |   Program Contents   |   Next Section

A.    General

All Phase I and Phase II proposals will be evaluated and judged on a competitive basis. Initially, all proposals will be screened to determine responsiveness to the solicitation. Proposals that meet the solicitation requirements will be evaluated to determine the most promising technical and scientific approaches. Each proposal will be judged on its own merit. The DOT is under no obligation to fund any proposal or any specific number of proposals on a given topic or subtopic. It may elect to fund several or none of the proposed approaches to the same topic or subtopic.

A Phase II award will be made to the responsive and responsible Offerors whose offers provide the best value to the Government, based on the Technical Proposal and Cost Proposal. While it is the Government's intent to make Phase II awards based upon initial offers, the Government may, nevertheless, determine during the evaluation period that it is necessary to conduct discussions. In that case, the Contracting Officer will proceed to establish a competitive range and conduct negotiations with the firms in that range.

B.    Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation process involves the following factors:

1. Scientific and technical merit and the feasibility of the proposal's commercial potential, as evidenced by:
1. Past record of successful commercialization of SBIR or other research;
2. Existence of Phase III funding commitments from private sector or non-SBIR funding sources; and
3. Presence of other indicators of the commercial potential of the idea.
2. The adequacy of the work plan and approach to achieve specified work tasks and stated objectives of the proposed effort within budgetary constraints and on a timely schedule.
3. Qualifications of the proposed principal/key investigator(s) including demonstrated expertise in a disciplinary field related to the particular R/R&D topic that is proposed for investigation.
4. Adequacy of supporting staff and facilities, equipment, and data for the successful completion of the proposed R/R&D.

C.    Prescreening

Each proposal submission will be examined to determine if it is complete and contains adequate technical and pricing data. Proposals that do not meet the basic requirements of the solicitation will be excluded from further consideration. Each offeror will be notified promptly by email of such action.

D.    Schedule

All DOT evaluations shall be completed and recommendations for award will be submitted to the U.S. DOT SBIR Program Office within eight weeks of the closing date for Phase I proposals.

E.    Program Selection

Each of the Department's Operating Administrations will establish technical evaluation teams comprised of federal staff, including engineers and/or scientists and provide written evaluations and recommendations for award to the DOT SBIR Program Director. The DOT SBIR Program Office will post a listing of awards on the webpage: http://www.volpe.dot.gov/sbir.

F.    Contact with DOT

Contact with DOT relative to this solicitation during the Phase I proposal preparation and evaluation period is restricted for reasons of competitive fairness. Technical questions pertaining to the FY10.2 DOT SBIR solicitation research topics must be submitted to the DOT SBIR Program Office by e-mail to: linda.duck@dot.gov. Technical questions submitted after April 23, 2010 may not be answered before the solicitation closing date.

No information on proposal status will be available until the complete list of FY10.2 Phase I Award Recommendations is posted on the DOT SBIR Program Webpage: http://www.volpe.dot.gov/sbir. For planning purposes the notification of FY10.2 Phase I Award Recommendations are expected to be posted on the DOT SBIR Program web page by 5 PM Eastern Time, on/or about Friday, July 9, 2010. Phase I proposals which are not included in the list of FY10.2 Phase I Award Recommendations will not receive an award. NO WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE REGARDING PROPOSAL STATUS WILL BE ANSWERED.

After the FY10.2 Phase I Award Recommendations are posted on the DOT SBIR Program webpage, a debriefing comprised of the overall comments on the proposal may be provided to the offeror upon request.

Debriefing requests should be submitted to the SBIR Program Contracting Officer by e-mail to: darren.shaffer@dot.gov, and must include the offeror's name, address, research topic number, and the proposal identification number assigned on the acknowledgement of receipt card. The identity of the evaluators will not be disclosed.