The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center), intends to issue its Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Phase I solicitation pursuant to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. DOT's FY 2018 Phase I is authorized under Federal SBIR programs, which have been extended through September 30, 2022, as part of the 56th National Defense Authorization Act.  The solicitation will be issued on or about January 17, 2018 with offers due March 20, 2018.  The purpose of this solicitation is to invite U.S. small businesses to submit innovative research offers in response to the solicitation topics, which serve as key research areas for the DOT.  Each small business concern submitting an offer must qualify as a small business in accordance with the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR); 13 CFR 121.702. The applicable North American Industry Classification System code is 541715 with a size standard of 500 employees. In addition to this FedBizOps posting, the DOT SBIR FY 2018 Phase I solicitation and any documents related to it will be available on the DOT SBIR Program website at http://www.volpe.dot.gov/work-with-us/small-business-innovation-research. The solicitation shall be issued through electronic means only; no hard copies will be available. Offerors desiring to receive electronic notification of this solicitation's posting and availability for downloading should register on the FedBizOps website. Offerors are warned that when they register to receive solicitations, amendments, and other notices, the responsibility for providing the Government with an accurate and complete e-mail address lies with the Offeror. Sources interested in receiving the solicitation are encouraged to register at this site to receive notification when the solicitation is posted and available for viewing/downloading, which will also be available at the DOT SBIR Program website. Offerors are reminded that they may register at any time to receive the solicitation.  A pre-offer webinar is being held on January 23, 2018 from 1:30-2:30 PM Eastern Time.  Information on the pre-offer webinar may be obtained from the DOT SBIR Program website.  Also on the DOT SBIR Program website are frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) relative to the overall SBIR program, as well as any specific to this solicitation. Offerors must go to the website to obtain this FAQ information, which is continuously updated with FAQs data as received.

Topics to be included in this solicitation may include:

Analysis of Acoustic Wheel/Rail Contact Signals
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools for Relating Various Sensor Data to Adverse Vehicle/Track Inspection
Drone-Based Track Safety Inspection System
System Design for Remote and/or Autonomous Operation of a Locomotive Hauled Consist
Virtual and Augmented Reality to Aid Transit Use by All Travelers
Innovative Technologies for Nondestructive Determination of Fracture Toughness for Pipeline Steels in Transportation Infrastructure
Dual Purpose Internal Integrity Assessment and Cleaning Tool for Hazardous Liquid Pipelines
Machine Vision System to Support Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Safety Applications
Use of High Resolution Imaging Techniques for Condition Assessment and Damage Detection of Bridges
Integrated Sensor Unit for Signalized Intersections
An AI-Based System for Advanced Freeway Data Collection and Analysis
Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and Other Crash Data Visualization and Analysis Tool
Digital Application to Improve Consumers Access to NHTSA Safety Information