The Smart City Challenge Application and Selection Process
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. The conference will begin momentarily.
Ladies and gentlemen , thank you for standing by. Welcome to the beyond traffic webinar. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. You may submit your questions into the chat box located at the bottom bottom left corner of your screen at any time. I would like to turn it over to Mister Brian Cronin.
Good afternoon everyone. Hope you enjoyed your weekend. This is our fourth in a series of five information series of smart city challenge. Today, myself and Sarah from the office of acquisitions will walk you through the application selection process for the smart city challenge.
Today we would like to go up go over background to provide overview of the face one cut talk to about their application content, and talk to you about the evaluation selection award process, and provide a short overview of the face to a funding opportunity, and end with some more information on how to stay connected with the smart city challenge.
As I have indicated in earlier webinars, the beyond traffic smart city challenge rank courage to encourage cities to submit [ Indiscernible ]. Beyond traffic 2045 we identified a bunch of different challenges that society is facing as we move forward over the transportation system. We are looking toward the smart city challenge we are looking for data, and how we can integrate those into a city to address these transportation challenges.
We'd like to demonstrate in ITS technology can be used to read deuce reduce transportation.
Another way to convey the same information about how we look at how technology convergence is revolutionizing transportation. We see dramatic ways to improve safety mobility, and do this where we are reducing costs and environmental impacts. Connected vehicles, vehicle automations are at the forefront of the technology space in which you want to use for smart cities. When you add it into machine learning big data and things like mobility on-demand services that enable us to bring data together, and tools and technologies to improve transportation. On the benefit side, we see order of man magnitude safety improvements., Reduce a fossil fools, improving access to jobs and services, reducing transportation costs, and approving the accessibility mobility in the transportation system.
To US DOT vision for the smart city, first we recognize that each city is unique. It has different issues contributed to different situations, and we know that a demonstration needs to be tailored to their problems and challenges. It also needs to be consistent with the nationwide issues that we have seen. Our vision is through the smart silly challenge is to identify an urbanized area where advanced technology is integrated in the aspects of the city, and play a critical role in helping cities in safety, and adjust climate change.
The US DOT has an dental 512 vision elements. Without making each of them a requirement for war. Award.
Stars were highest priority in terms of using , connected vehicles, and intelligent sensor-based infrastructure. These of the found patient for a foundation for smart city. We look at innovative approaches and how do you provide these transportation elements. Looking at user focus mobility, urban analytics, urban logistics. We know you're going to need strategic big pot business partners and models, also tie into the smart grid and road grid electrification. We imagine the citizens being connected and involved.
The architecture and standards that would support any smart city but having low false low costs [ Indiscernible ].
Last week we talked to you about all of these elements except the urban delivery and logistics. We discussed that on January 6. With that I'm going to handed over to Sarah to talk to about the notice in the details.
We have a comment, the slides are not advancing.
Can other people confirmed that?
This is JD, I was able to advance them halfway through.
Can you advance that
? It is advancing now.
Yes, they are.
Hopefully we have fixed the slide advancing problem. Another question is will the transcript we posted on the website. The answer to that is cut yes. After today's webinar that we will be able to post the slides, the reporting, and the transcript. They will all be available on the smart city website.
Is Brian set set -- said. I am the contracting officer/branch officer. I will go through the acquisition elements of the smart city challenge.
We included two phases. In the current phase phase one copy issued notice of funding opportunity on December 7 for submitting applications. They are due February 4. Under phase one, we intend to select five city smart city challenge finalists. These will be in the amount of $100,000 each. These awards would supply provide support. We anticipate the selection of the five finalists to occur in March. Effaced to cut the US DOT will issue a second notice of funding opportunity with competition limited to only the five finalists selected under the phase want. A notice is estimated to be released in March and it will be posted publicly@grants.gov as well as on the smart city challenge website.
Those finalists, will have roughly 2 months to prepare a detail, technical and budget application for the proposed application. In June , 2016 we intend to sell X the one winner select the one winner.
There is one eligibility requirement to be applicant of the smart city challenge. As we stated in the notice, applicants must be state or local governments , tribal governments, [ Indiscernible ], other subdivision of the state or local government, or multijurisdictional group applying to a single lead. We do anticipate that a prime applicant will use various team members to carry out the actual demonstration. Team members may be subcontractors, or sub awardees or partners. For this phase one application, you are asked to provide an outline around I wound of team members anticipated. These arrangements do not need to be firm or finalizing the phase when application. The phase one is in tended to be a high level of your vision.
In your in face to cut there will be requirement for detail description of team members.
We estimate making five awards under this phase one. These awards will be fixed amount of $100,000 each with no cost share. A fixed amount award. I wanted to address that. The type of grant agreement under which the Federal awarding agency provides a fixed amount of funding without regard to actual costs incurred under the Federal award. This type of federal wort reduces some of the administrative burden and recordkeeping requirement for those parties. Accountability is based primarily on performance and results, and payments are based on meeting specific requirements for the federal wort. There's no governmental review of the actual costs incurred by their warty in the performance of a fixed amount award.
It would be six months and we estimate awarding them in March immediately following the announcement of the selected finalists. The scope of these phase one awards will include concept development and planning activities such as development of budget budget plan documents and implementation planning.
The US DOT intense for the concept development awards to support the finalist to submit detailed application for the performance that they are proposed demonstration under the phase 2 application. We end we intend to allow each finalists [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ].
During the phase one award period, the finalists will participate in the number planning outreach and educational opportunities with the US DOT to further develop their plans.
Deliverables for the phase one warrants are listed on page 22 of the notice. They include such items men's as monthly progress reports competition patient participation in meetings with DOT. They include a video, a presentation to the US DOT and a final report.
What is the content of the application for this phase one. The intent of the phase when application is to be a high level summary narrative of your cities vision of a smart city demonstration. Applications for this phase one should reflect the high level vision for the demonstration, and need only to include a framework and initial of your proposed demonstration. The detail approach in a detailed budget are not required under this first solicitation.
The second solicitation copies to cover require the finalist to submit a detailed technical and management approach to implementing their demonstration as well as a detailed budget.
The application for this phase one should include a part one color vision narrative any part to which consist of standard forms and some organizational information.
There is a page limit to the part one vision narrative. The limit is 30 pages of technical content. Not including a cover page and a table of contents, and not including letters of commitment or support that you choose to submit.
We do ask that you do not submit excess marketing material or videos. The reason we have the page limitation is to make sure that all applications remain on a evening even playing field for the evaluations.
The phase when application part one vision narrative is described in pages 27 through 30 of the notice of funding opportunity out where we spelled out in detail the 13 items that you should address and your vision narrative. I have summarized them than them on the slide. Keep in mind intent of this phase when application is to be a high level description of your proposed demonstration.
Three of the bulleted items on this slide number 23 and five to relate directly to other part of the notice of funding opportunity. Bullet five, SQ to address your ideas aligns with our list of 12 vision elements, which are contained in the notice.
We recognize that each city has unique attributes and each city's proposed demonstration will be tailored to the city's visions and goals. The notice presented our visit as your mail element, 12 vision elements contained in the notice is a framework
The bulleted items number two and three raise a lot of questions. Those items ask you to address in your application how your city outlines with our list of what we call desired characteristics. Just as with the 12 vision elements, these care to read -- characteristics are not required but our desire. They reset they represent we USD US DOT [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ].
I have listed them here on this light. The population and density characteristics that are included in the notice. These characteristics are not firm legibility requirements. They serve to communicate the US DOT ideal attributes for the demonstration. We will evaluate the technical merit of each application as a whole, including the degree that the city outlines with the US DOT desired characteristics.
What if our city is outside these guidelines I am ask. Applicants that are outside the population and density guidelines, are certainly welcome to apply. We invite all eligible applicants to submit applications. We want to make clear, if you do not -- when you make your business decision to apply or not, you should consider the technical merit evaluation criteria as a whole, realizing shortcomings in one area because such is not falling within the desire population guidelines, will likely remain competitive.
Help with this issue of the population guidelines. There's a list of cities we have posted that according to our research. It is posted at the smart city challenge website. After smart city/population.
I have provided some senses websites for you to look up the information.
Part two of the application is the business part. Is a standard form and some organizational information.
The forms are available in PDF format on the grants.gov website. The notice of funding opportunity on page 30 one gives you guidance on how to fill out certain data fields. If there any questions, you can email or call me with any questions about the forms.
I want to point out one item. The standard form for two for a -- 424A . That should be easy form to fill out. When you get to phase 2 application, those forms would have to be filled out to perform a detailed budget.
On organizational information Copley just 32 and 33 in the notice identify a list of items to be included in your application to describe your organization.
One of the items is usually ask you to identify any exceptions you have to the award terms and conditions that are contained in the notice.
Section F of the notice contain our awards and conditions as well as a link to general terms that we keep online. We ask you to review those terms. And identified them on your application.
We have been asked [ Indiscernible ] Duns number. It is required that awardees be registered in Sam.gov. To be registered, you have to have done's number Duns number. Start that process as soon as possible. You do not have to have the registration complete to submit your application, but you will have to have it complete in order to receive an award that is required by regulation.
The Sam.gov website has a lot of very good information on how to get registered. It has a help desk, it has training videos, it has a feature where you can check the status of your Sam.gov registration. So I will refer you to that website to use the valuable information beer to get registered information there to get registered.
Will go through information on the evaluation, selecting official and the award
On this slide I have listed the evaluation criteria that are contained in the notice. The are contained in section E page 35 to 37. They are listed in importance these are the criteria in the evaluators we used to evaluate your technical merit of your phase one application.
Section E of the notice the funding operation a team of experts from across US DOT will review applications received against the technical merit criteria contained in the notice. The team one document strengths, weaknesses and risk of each application, and provide a rating of recommended or not recommended. The expert team will present their information and results to leadership. The leadership Willow buys the secretary of their evaluation results. The secretary will then select the estimated five smart city challenge finalists.
Application selected for award will undergo what's called a risk assessment prior to award.
We anticipate the secretary will announce such selections in March. After the announcements [ Indiscernible ] to occur in March. The word document itself for the phase one awards, will consist of development portions of the notice that need to appear in the award. Specifically comp awards willing to include the terms and condition in section F of the notice. Grant regulations in the notice, a list of deliverables and reporting requirements, this is on page 5. The world will include the necessary accounting information, and the war will look include a scope of work which is concept development and planning activities.
The award will also include a payment plan for the fixed amount payments as mutually agreed upon by the parties. It must be linked to performance, deliverables or milestones. We anticipate authorizing fixed amount monthly payments to a line with the monthly progress report, but schedule fixed amount will be worked out between the parties.
Looking ahead to the phase 2. We will be issuing a notice of funding opportunity with eligibility open only to the phase one finalists. The phase 2 notice of funding opportunity will be issued@grants.gov in the smart city website.
Applicants will be invited to submit an application to include detailed technical and management approach as well as a detailed budget. Applicants will also be invited to provide oral presentation to the secretary. The evaluation and selection process to the phase 2 will be similar to the phase one process. A panel of experts from across the OT will evaluate the applications, document strengths, weaknesses, and we . Following the selection, award document will be assigned by both parties.
As a reminder, this is the fourth in a series of five webinars. We just added the fifth one. You're able to RSVP for that from the smart city challenge website. As I stated, the slides in this reporting and a transcript of today's webinar will be made available in the smart city challenge website as well.
At this point, we are going to move on to questions. I have a number of questions that I have received so far. I wanted to share my own Russians and answers first before opening up the chat box.
I have been asked numerous times can accounting be applied. The answer is yes. -- County.
I want to point out that the desired characteristics regarding population and density, applies to a city limit.
I also have been asked about the Duns number I did touch on that that you need to have your Sam.gov registration completed prior to award.
Do I have to identify consultants in phase one application? The answer to that is no. If you have some already framed out cut you can certainly mention them and describe what the information you have on hand now. It is a high-level vision, and the phase 2 application will require application of all team members in details regarding team organization.
Another question, how can I team? We do not currently have a mechanism to help you team.
Another big question I received is what you think of this idea, what you think of my idea. I want to remind everyone this is the competitive acquisition. Due to the competitive nature of this initiative, we cannot comment in advance on individual I ideas. We are unable to let you know what is favorable. Each application received will under gray undergo -- by panel.
We welcome innovative applications from you, but how you choose to apply and what you choose to propose our business decision that each applicant has to make on their own, realizing that this is a competition for federal funds.
With that, I will open it up to any questions.
We are posting on transportation.gov/smart city we have the population information, we have transcripts of the webinars, the slides, etc. We also have information [ Indiscernible ], that information is available on the website. Lastly, we want to remind everyone that beyond traffic 2045 is available on the website. That has lot's of information. We were unable to post the presentation but the document has all of that information.
One of the first questions was, if we partner with the neighboring jurisdiction or MPO, how will we [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ].
The requirement for the population in the density, does apply to a singular city limit. You might have teaming between jurisdictions, there does have to be a singular city that's within the limits of that city and compare that to our guidelines.
I think Sarah has answered the next question. If you are city with a population with approximately 800,000 what do would you be deemed an eligible.
[ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ]. That is can considered as part of our [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ].
What do you propose between pros and graphics?
That is a business decision on your part. We cannot advise you on that. Sarah is looking up the single and double spaced to see will be shat -- said. It should be in the notice.
I don't think we said exactly single space versus double space. You should respect the readability. If you look at page 26 of the notice and make sure you comply to those.
Our projects that are not currently listed [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ].
Yes. This is an open funding research program. [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ], follow regulations and so forth.
In multiple jurisdictions be combined combined to meet the population requirement
The answer is, no. In terms of meeting the desired characteristics , those guidelines do relate to a singular city. There does have to be a singular city if you want to meet those guidelines.
When you say technical merit, she would be getting our IT department involved [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ]?
Start by looking at our vision elements and what we describe in the notice. The technical merit is a term of art in the contracting world.
It doesn't mean IT, it will be evaluated on technical merit. We provided sub bullets to help you understand what makes up technical merits.
A combined number of questions we have answered are ready.
This should be a link to that
Actually go to frequently asked questions. It is a related link on the rights right side. I have the exact website. The popular nation list is that.
Go to information session, on the link on the right. That's where you will see the slides and presentation for the three webinars that have been completed.
There is a question about time and deployment. [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ]. To have the project done within three years.
I think it's four years total and the project done within three years and that is contained in the notice as well. Page 24 of the notice. In the period of performance clause.
[ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ], please send an email to us and let us know. Another way to address that, where you would define how you fit in the population how you match the criteria.
The floor is asking about the population. It is defined in the notice. Sarah is looking up the page and how we articulated that.
On the bottom of page 27 and the top of page 28 of the notice how we provided an explanation and websites to help you in addressing that desired criteria.
[ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ]? Back yes --
Yes.
[ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ]
We suggest you provide information as well.
The technical application does ask you to describe how you aligned with the desired characteristics. Just because you are on the list doesn't give you a pass on how you state those how you meet those requirements.
How necessary is including autonomous connected vehicles with the vision?
Both of those areas fall in our highest priority.
Why is population a key issue?
We are looking at population growth and we are looking at population density is key issues that impact how we move people and goods, and other items in the future. We determine this was a critical size for being able to demonstrate smart city solutions and help the nation look as we move forward.
Is a city limited to a single application? The answer is no. A city can submit multiple listing application if you wish to do so. We are looking at a holistic approach. You can submit multiple application from the same prime applicant.
Is there a demonstration timeline? There are not. We have asked the cities to submit their visions. [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ] the second notice will require that to be defined. We also think there could be [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ] for different cities
How far along the implementation spectrum?
I would directly to look at the the vision elements, the vision narratives and the technical merits and make your judgments.
The city that doesn't meet desired characteristics [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ], why not include those cities also went
The department defined our city size desire for this notice. If someone feels that that is important they could do a successful characteristics outside that [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ].
How many fees to awardees. There will be one.
How many fees to digital awardees? There will be one.
How can the money be provided to meet and help with the second phase? That is what it is described as a fixed cooperative agreement. We wanted to provide some resources to the cities to further their concept. We are we also [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ]. Appear for the first notice is longer than the time which we are giving the applicant to submit a proposal for face to -- phase 2.
We do not have a list of city contact people.
I am not sure what Matt questions is. Seems like the co-op agreement and contracting we take so much time.
There's a question about hyper loop we have identified a vision element and we would encourage anyone to submit their ideas in relation to those vision and other items they think will be favorable within the criteria.
Things will take a lot of agreements, we recognize that the notice to might take a little bit longer to a war, but with the fixed cooperative agreement, that should be relatively straightforward.
The expenditure for the two for phase 2. It is four years.
On page 23, it is 15 million [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ]
In terms of expenditures.
Thank you all for your questions. We still have more time. We appreciate the great interest in the smart city challenge.
Should we anticipate such grants/challenges in the near future for US DOT?
[ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ], related to deployment grants, the department will be releasing so -- soon.
Is part sharing and car sharing our items described?
We would talk about mobility in demand and customer focus mobility.
Laurus question is, [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ] and receive funding.
Yes. Universes can be part of a team universities can be part of the team [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ].
The questions about the role Vulcan we pay play in face to.
Where putting to gather information that we will release soon.
How will the funds flow? It depends on what is the lead applicant. We have the ability to send us money directly to a city or it could be allocated to a state.
If it goes to a city it would be a direct award [ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ].
[ Indiscernible - Participant too far away from the mic ]. I think that is described in the notice.
Mats question about partnerships.
Correct? I'm not sure what that means you can identify partners and teams in-your-face one application if you wish to. They don't have to be finalized in the phase one application, but will have to be more detailed and the first phase 2 application.
The 12 vision elements are defined in the notice of funding opportunity.
You can get it@transportation.gov/smart city
The beyond traffic report on the website still has draft. I have to check on that but I'm pretty sure the document is available.
Can you tell us which agencies in generally speaking, what kind of experts will be on the decision-making panel?
The technical evaluation spaniel panel we consist of US DOT personnel to evaluate the areas in question. So it will be a US DOT personnel from various modes across DOT.
Any other agencies, EPA or hide? Back at this
At this point consist of DOT only.
We have scheduled this webinar for 60 minutes, we are just about out of time.
What geographic type was use from the sinister -- census data for defining the urbanized area. We have provided information and notice of funding opportunity about that statistic. I will refer you to the notice for information on that. If there any further questions, please feel free to send an email to smart city challenge and DOT.gov. We were certainly get you an answer as soon as possible. With that, we include very much for joining us today. We look forward to your questions and your continued interest.
Thank you.
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