Request for Proposals Fall 2016

MID-ATLANTIC TRANSPORTATION SUSTAINABILITY University Transportation Center (MATS UTC)

Overview

The MATS UTC serves as the focal point in the mid-Atlantic to accelerate adoption of sustainable practices in the provision of transportation services. Agencies and firms in the region recognize that the standard environmental practice in transportation has focused on “compliance” with regulations, as opposed to a focus on sustainability. Given the significant changes that have resulted from the focus on sustainability in other industries (for example, the rise of LEED certification in building construction), it is critical that transportation agencies transition from minimal compliance to sustainability. The MATS UTC serves the region through applied research, education, workforce development, and technology transfer focused on environmental sustainability.

A critical element of the MATS UTC is the competitive, collaborative research program, which is intended to provide investigators in the MATS UTC consortium (University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, Morgan State University, Marshall University and University of Delaware) an opportunity to propose research that directly addresses the goal of accelerating adoption of sustainable practices in the provision of transportation services.

MATS UTCResearch Areas of Interest

This request for proposals is targeted to investigator generated ideas for projects that lead to advancements in one of our five MATS UTC focus areas:

  • Energy efficient urban transportation
  • Coastal infrastructure resiliency
  • Sustainable freight movement
  • Enhanced water quality management
  • Sustainable land use

Note that a number of projects are currently underway in each of the focus areas. Descriptions of these projects may be found on the MATS UTC website ( ). Proposers are expected to be aware of the existing MATS UTC research program, and to clearly distinguish their proposed effort from current and/or completed projects.

Conducting Research within the MATS UTC

Collaboration Requirements

  • Each PI may only submit one proposal as lead investigator. The lead investigator must be a faculty member at one of the six universities in the MATS UTC consortium.
  • Each MATS UTC member university may only submit a maximum of five proposals with lead investigators from that university.
  • Proposals that include 2 or more MATS UTC member institutions are highly encouraged. The underlying philosophy of the center is that true collaboration will result in projects with greater impact.

Budget Considerations:

  • There is a maximum of $1.1Mthat will be awardedin this third round of funding in the competitive, collaborative research program.
  • All projects require full 100% non-federal match. Proposers are required to clearly communicate this match in the proposal budget.

Schedule Considerations:

  • All Research MUST BE COMPLETED no later than May 31, 2018.
  • Proposals should be prepared with an expected start date ofMay 1, 2017or later.

Reporting Considerations

  • Investigators must be responsive to MATS UTC leadership in terms of communication, reporting and providing inputs. The leadership team must be kept abreast of project changes and activities spanning challenges and triumphs. Reports will include:
  • Project description in MATS UTC format (due two weeks after project award).
  • Semi-annual progress reports in MATS UTC format
  • Lists of associated papers and presentations, media mentions, other technical transfer
  • Updated deployment plan (annually and with project completion)
  • Final project report in MATS UTC format (due by May 31, 2018 or 45 days after project completion, whichever is earlier).

General submission guidelines:

1)Executive Team member(s) at the respective universities must be notified in advanceof all investigators on your proposed team. (Names and emails of Executive Team members are available in the Deadline section below.) Executive Team members will need to report the expected focus areas and working titles of the proposals their university will submit by October 14 so that external technical reviewers can be lined up.

2)Virginia Tech has determined which investigators are eligible to respond to this RFP as lead investigator or a co-PI or collaborator. This list can be obtained from Hesham Rakha

3)The PIs should report their interest to Executive Team members by early October. At UVA and ODU this date is October 3. At MSU and UD this date is October 7.

4)Minimum font size of 11 pt, in Cambria, Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, or Times New Roman. Single-spaced, 1 inch margins, written in English.

5)Proposals are expected to include the following information. The total length of a proposal must be 9 pages or less:

  1. Three pages exactly following the template on pages 5-9 of this RFP of investigator and collaborator contact information, project highlights, project dates, MATS UTC focus area, research need, research goals and objectives, future research, USDOT-ready Research Description, and Technical Transfer/Research Deployment Plan. The Research Deployment Plan/Route to Implementation is ½-1 page. Ideally external champions for the project should be identified with proposal submission.
  2. Technical descriptions must be no longer than 4 pages - The four-page maximum includes all graphics and references. Technical description should include Overview, Methodology/Work Plan, and Expected Impacts/Benefits. The contributions of different investigators and different universities should be obvious and complementary in the joint project.
  3. Budget and schedule should be provided on 1-2 pages. These projects require 100% non-federal match. If required by your institution, please submit your proposal to your central research office for review of appropriate fringe benefit rates, overhead rates, and cost share. The external reviewers will evaluate whether the budget, schedule, described match and roles of each investigator seem realistic and supported given the scope of the technical text. We expect that these projects can start by May1, 2017 and must be completed by May 31, 2018. The 5 proposals awarded in Year 1 ranged in value from $73,609 to $150,000 of federal funds with an average value of $134,721. The 6 proposals awarded in Year 2 ranged from $157,796-$200,000 with an average of $177,663.

6)Proposals may be accompanied by letters of support. Most successful proposals in the past have had support letters from transportation agencies and other related organizations.

Proposal Evaluation:

External Reviews:

Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of external reviewers with expertise in transportation and sustainability. The evaluators will consider relevance to the call, originality, potential impact, implementation feasibility, quality of presentation, budget and schedule.

Proposals may receive a maximum of 100 points.

(Up to 15 points) How well does the proposed research fit MATS UTC needs as identified in the RFP?

(Up to 5 points) Is this a collaborative proposal (with meaningful contributions from multiple universities)?

(Up to 5 points) Have they adequately described the need for the research, their goals and objectives, and potential future research?

(Up to 10points) Technical Transfer/Implementation—Is this adequately described? Do you believe that their plan is realistic? Have the researchers identified potential implementers of their work? Agency champions of their work?

(Up to 50 points) Technical Description including Overview, Methodology (detailed description of tasks), Expected Impacts and Benefits. How excited are you by this topic and the potential contributions of the researchers? Do the highlight bullets reflect the merits of the proposal? For multiple university proposals, you may think in terms of 40 points for the technical merit of the proposal and 10 points for whether different investigators and universities have obvious and complementary contributions.

(Up to 15 points) Schedule and Budget—Does the schedule and budget seem reasonable for the described tasks? Is there a good use of match money and funds distribution among universities and collaborators?

Advisory Board:

We anticipate providing brief project information including the project title and highlights to our Advisory Board members to get their inputs. Advisory Board members will assess the regional need for the project as well as the potential for implementation.

MATS UTC Executive Team:

The MATS UTC Executive Team will use the external reviews and Advisory Board reviews toselect the winning proposals. Executive Team judgement will also consider past performance on MATS UTC projects and an assessment of collaboration.

Deadline:

Electronic submission of proposals:

  • Lead investigators should submit your proposal by no later than November 1, 2016by5pm EDTto the MATS UTC Executive Team member at your university:
  • UVA: Emily Parkany
  • VT: Hesham Rakha ; Ihab El-Shawarby
  • ODU: Cetin, Mecit
  • UD: Ellen Pletz
  • Marshall: Wael Zatar
  • Morgan State: Andrew Farkas

Note that your proposal may become a permanent part of the MATS UTC website, visible to everyone.

  • You will be notified regarding the status of your proposalonce the external reviewers have made their reviews and the Advisory Board has reviewed the submissions and made their selections. Furtherinstructions from the advisory board on proceeding with your research will be available in the terms of your acceptance.

Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability University Transportation Center

ResearchProjectProposal

ContactProjectTitle

Lead PI ______Email

Lead PI Institution______

Project Title:

Research Area: Please select which of the MATS-UTC research areas this project applies to (select one)

□ Coastal Infrastructure Resiliency□ Sustainable Freight Movement

□ Energy Efficient Transportation□ Enhanced Water Quality Management

□ Sustainable Land Use

Investigators and their Contact Information

For each investigator, include Name, Title, Department, Institution, Mailing Address, Email, Contact Phone (office or mobile). For each investigator you must indicate whether the MATS UTC Director at this university is aware of this proposal and team.

Example:

Lead PI: Emily ParkanyCollaborator: Fred Smith

Research ScientistAssociate Professor

Civil and Environmental EngineeringEngineering

University of VirginiaMarshall University

P.O. Box 4007421001 Address Lane

Charlottesville, VA 22904Huntington, WV XXXXX

434-982-2695 (office)YYY-YYY-YYYY (office)

Yes, Brian Smith knows about this proposal.Yes, Wael Zatar knows about this proposal.

Project Highlights and Impacts

New this year, we’re looking for 3-5 bullets of highlights of each project. Make the case for (a) regional need, (b) potential for implementation, and (c) the expected impacts of this project. Succinctly explain why this work should be funded.

Anticipated start and end dates:From To

Need for Research: Describe why this research is necessary, the problem/issue you propose to address, and/or the need statement put forth by the customer. (Limit to space here.)

Research Goals and Objectives: Describe the anticipated or desired outcome of the research. (Limit to space here.)

Future Research: Please describe how this research can lead to larger research projects with diverse research partners. Include who you envision being part of that research team. (Limit to space here.)

Research Description and Approach: Enter a clear, succinct project description, including the approach/process planned. Describe how the objectives will be accomplished through a logical, innovative, and rational plan. This is the description that will be submitted to USDOT immediately following project selection. (Fill space here or use a maximum of one page.)

Expected Technical Transfer Outcomes: Please select all that apply, then describe how these will be executed in the next item.

□ I anticipate this project will result in a traditional or online training program for professionals

□ I anticipate this project will result in a guidebook or similar publication in addition to an academic report

□ I anticipate this project will result in a potential patent or otherwise marketable product

□ I anticipate the ability to make the data for this project available in the MATS UTC Dataverse

□ I anticipate this project will be a viable subject for a webinar

□ Other

Expected Technical Transfer Outcomes (cont.): Technology Deployment/Research Implementation Plan: Describe in detail your plan for how these research results will be implemented in the field, adopted into best practices, or otherwise find application in the real world that will be of direct benefit to your customer or the transportation community at large. Specifically describe who your target audience is and how your research will reach them. Identifying agency project champions in the proposal stage is encouraged. Describe the potential professional development opportunities, training, products, and/or processes that will result from this research. (Fill space here or use a maximum of one page.)

Technical Description (Limited to maximum of four pages.) The Technical Description MUST include: Overview, Methodology/Work Plan with detailed description of the tasks to be conducted and a schedule for each phase or task, and Expected Impacts and Benefits. The contributions of different investigators and different universities should be obvious and complementary in the joint project. The page limit includes all graphicsand references.

Budget and schedule should be provided on 1-2 pages. These projects require 100% non-federal match. The following tables match what we need for UTC reporting. If required by your institution, please submit your proposal to your central research office for review of appropriate fringe benefit rates, overhead rates, and cost share.At many universities these proposals do not have to be submitted through your OSP (that will happen after award) but the review will include whether the budget, schedule, described match and roles of each investigator seem realistic and supported given the scope of the technical text. We expect that these projects can start byMay 1, 2017.

UTC Budget Category / University 1 Name / University 2 Name / Total
Salaries, Faculty
Salaries, Staff
Salaries, Student
Fringe Benefits, Faculty
Fringe Benefits, Staff
Fringe Benefits, Student
Subtotal Personnel
Student Support, Tuition
Student Support, Health Insurance
Equipment (over $5,000)
Materials & Supplies
Computer Software/Peripherals
Travel, Domestic
Other Direct Costs (explain)
Total Direct Costs
F&A - Modified Total Direct
Total Budget
Non-Federal Cost-Share Budget Category / University 1 Name / University 2 Name / Total
Salaries, Faculty
Salaries, Staff
Salaries, Student
Fringe Benefits, Faculty
Fringe Benefits, Staff
Fringe Benefits, Student
Subtotal Personnel
Student Support, Tuition
Student Support, Health Insurance
Equipment (over $5,000)
Materials & Supplies
Computer Software/Peripherals
Travel, Domestic
Other Direct Costs (explain)
Total Direct Costs
F&A - Modified Total Direct
Total Budget

Non-Federal Cost-Share Sources:

University 1 Sources:

University 2 Sources:

(for example: VDOT, Private Industry Organization Name, Internal University Support)

1