Parametric Railway Line Capacity Modeling

Quick Summary

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is soliciting proposals for the development of a new Parametric Railway Line Capacity Model (PRLCM). This combined synopsis/solicitation seeks to update an obsolete 1975 model to support high-level operations analysis and planning. This is an unrestricted, Full and Open Competition for a single Firm Fixed-Price (FFP) contract. Phase I submissions are due March 10, 2026, and Phase II submissions are due March 20, 2026.

Purpose & Scope

The FRA requires a validated, reproducible Parametric Railway Line Capacity Model (PRLCM) to serve as an important adjunct to existing railroad operations simulation tools. This model will be used for early project feasibility studies, regional intercity passenger rail planning, and developing hypotheses for operating and infrastructure changes. The contractor will be responsible for the model's design, estimation, testing, validation, and delivery of reproducible source code (in R or Python), associated documentation, and a non-production demonstration user interface. The effort includes establishing methodological guidelines for capacity analysis and preparing the model for independent Government use.

Key Deliverables

Key deliverables include a validated, reproducible Railroad Parametric Capacity Model (RPCM), comprehensive documentation, source code, technical reports on methodology and development, an Algorithm Description Document, a non-production demonstration interface, and transition assistance for Government engineers.

Contract Details

• Contract Type: Firm Fixed-Price (FFP) with reimbursable travel costs.
• Period of Performance: 18 months from the effective date.
• Set-Aside: Full and Open Competition (Unrestricted).
• NAICS Code: 541330 (Engineering Services), with a $25.5 million small business size standard.
• PSC Code: AS12 (Transportation R&D Services; Surface Transportation, Public Transit, And Rail; Applied Research).
• Place of Performance: Federal Railroad Administration, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20590.

Submission & Evaluation

• Submission Deadlines:
  • Questions: February 23, 2026, 12:30 pm EST
  • Phase I (Prior Corporate Experience and Past Performance): March 10, 2026, 12:30 pm EST
  • Phase II (Technical Volume and Oral Presentations): March 20, 2026, 12:30 pm EST
• Submission Requirements: Quotations must be emailed to Matthew Carr at matthew.carr@dot.gov. Submissions include Volume I (Cover Letter), Volume II (Prior Corporate Experience and Past Performance, max 5 pages), Volume III (Oral Presentation), and Volume IV (Price Quotation in an unlocked MS Excel spreadsheet).
• Evaluation Factors: Award will be based on a best value determination, considering non-price and price factors. Evaluation will focus on: 1) Demonstrated Prior Corporate Experience and Past Performance (most important, Phase I), 2) Oral Presentation (Phase II), and 3) Price (Phase III). The Government intends to award without discussions, so initial offers should represent the best terms.

Special Requirements

Bidders must propose a Performance Work Statement (PWS) that aligns with the Statement of Objectives (SOO), demonstrating innovative strategies and knowledge of parametric capacity models and railroad operations. Stringent cybersecurity, Zero Trust, AI, and data protection requirements apply, including a prohibition on using Government Data for training AI/ML models without explicit authorization. All work must adhere to FRA/DOT IT security standards and Section 508 Accessibility requirements.