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Call for FY 2010 International Scan Proposals

Since 1991, the U.S. has reached beyond its borders to expand transportation knowledge through the International Technology Scanning Program (ITSP). The ITSP connects U.S. highway experts with their counterparts around the world to learn about the newest technologies and practices. This allows the U.S. transportation community to learn from the successes, as well as the failures, of other countries in order to avoid duplicative research and to accelerate improvements to U.S. transportation facilities. Over 75 international scan studies have been conducted to date, resulting in a wealth of information and benefits to the U.S. transportation community.

The ITSP is carried out by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in cooperation with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Transportation Research Board's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-36 "Highway Research and Technology - International Information Sharing." This cooperation includes shared financing, joint proposal and selection of scan topics and joint responsibility for implementing scan results.

The scan process features the formation of expert teams (managers and specialists in a particular discipline) that travel abroad to consult with foreign counterparts in other countries where advances in transportation relevant to the United States are being made. Each scan focuses on a topic of high interest to the domestic transportation community and is led by a designated FHWA and AASHTO Co-Chair. Scan team members typically represent FHWA, State Departments of Transportation, local governments, transportation trade and research groups, the private sector, and academia. After a scan is completed, the scan team evaluates findings and develops a comprehensive report, which is circulated throughout the U.S. highway transportation community.

The most important element of the ITSP is its focus on implementation. This focus is incorporated into each step of the scan process and includes the development of a Scan Technology Implementation Plan by each scan team that focuses on evaluating promising new technologies or practices identified abroad and demonstrating them to relevant organizations. The actual implementation is accomplished when leaders in State and local transportation agencies put the new concepts and technologies into practice. Scans, in effect, become the stimulus for the implementation of new ideas and emerging technologies.

More information on the International Technology Scanning Program is available at www.international.fhwa.dot.gov/scan/

Deadline for Scan Proposals:

Scan proposals are due by September 30, 2008.

Scan Proposal Submissions:

Scans may be proposed by FHWA, AASHTO and indirectly by NCHRP Project Panel 20-36 "Highway Research and Technology - International Information Sharing," as detailed below:

FHWA - Scan proposals may be submitted by FHWA Program Offices and the FHWA Resource Center. Proposals originating from other offices (i.e. Division Offices) must be channeled through a Program Office or the Resource Center. FHWA offices that submit scan proposals should plan on funding 25% of the total cost of their scan, if it is selected. Proposals may be submitted jointly by two or more Program Offices or by the Resource Centers and a Program Office(s) - i.e. crosscutting scan topics.

AASHTO - Scan proposals may be submitted by any AASHTO Committee or Subcommittee dealing with road transportation. Proposals may be submitted jointly by two or more AASHTO committees or subcommittees - i.e. cross-cutting scan topics.

NCHRP Project Panel 20-36 - Other non-AASHTO or FHWA scan proposals (such as transportation industry associations or academia) may be submitted to NCHRP Project Panel 20-36 (please contact Nanda Srinivasan at: nsrinivasan@nas.edu). Project Panel 20-36 will evaluate such proposals and forward promising ones to the relevant AASHTO Committee for consideration in preparing scan proposals.

Scan Proposal Form:

• Review Blank Form
• Sample complete forms
  • Thinking Beyond Building Freeways To a Future of Building and Operating Managed Lanes on Freeways
  • Survey of Innovative Pedestrian and Bicyclist Infrastructure Improvements and Policies to Increase Safety and Mobility
• Begin Completing Scan Proposal Form

Please be thorough when completing the proposal form. Proposals may be returned with a request for further information or development.

Please feel free to contact the FHWA Office of International Programs if you would like to discuss potential scan ideas and/or if you would like to receive guidance on completing the scan proposal form. Please contact Hana Maier at Tel: 202-366-6003 or E-mail: Hana.Maier@dot.gov.

Scan Selection Criteria:

Scan proposals will be reviewed, evaluated and selected by a joint panel of FHWA, AASHTO and NCHRP representatives. The following criteria will guide the selection process:

• Does the proposed scan address FHWA and AASHTO strategic goals? (View FHWA strategic goals and AASHTO strategic goals)
• Is the proposed scan timely and of nation-wide importance?
• Does the proposed scan have the potential to produce technologies and/or practices that the U.S. highway community could adopt/adapt?
• Does the proposal identify the key countries, including specific projects or programs, which have made the most significant advances and/or have had the most experience in the topic to be studied?
• Are similar efforts already underway or potentially duplicative?
• Has the proposed topic already been addressed on previous scans? (View list of previous scans)