[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 226 (Tuesday, November 24, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64994-64997]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-31266]
[[Page 64993]]
_______________________________________________________________________
Part II
Department of Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
Federal Transit Administration
Federal Highway Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
Request for Letters of Interest to Participate in an Operational Test
of an Electronic Payment System for Transit Fare Collection and Other
Applications; Notice
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 226 / Tuesday, November 24, 1998 /
Notices
[[Page 64994]]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Request for Letters of Interest to Participate in an Operational
Test of an Electronic Payment System for Transit Fare Collection and
Other Applications
AGENCY(S): Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announces a
Request for Letters of Interest from eligible applicants for an
operational test of an electronic payment system for transit fare
collection and other applications. The USDOT is interested in
identifying and evaluating issues associated with the establishment of
partnerships between public transit service providers and other
entities in the development and use of multiple-application electronic
payment systems. The Department is specifically interested in an
operational test of a payment system that includes a variety of
applications, with preferred emphasis on multiple transportation
applications, government benefits applications, and retail
applications. This Request for Letters of Interest will be followed by
a Request for Proposals (RFP) at a later date. To assist potential
respondents this notice contains proposed draft text of the RFP.
DATES: Letters of Interest shall be submitted by 4:00 P.M. EST on or
before 60 days after the date of the Federal Register Notice.
RESPONSE FORMAT: Letters of Interest shall not exceed five (5) pages in
length. A page is defined as one (1) side of an 8\1/2\ by 11-inch
paper, line spacing no smaller than 1.5 with a type font any smaller
than 12 pt. The first page of the Letter of Interest shall include the
name, address, and telephone number of the individual to whom
correspondence and questions may be directed. Within the Letter of
Interest, the respondent is asked to provide a summary of a potential
proposed operational test with goals and objectives consistent with
proposed draft text of the RFP presented below. Respondents are also
invited to include comments on the proposed draft text of the RFP
below. These comments shall not exceed ten (10) pages in length and
shall be submitted as an Appendix to the Letter of Interest.
ADDRESSES: Letters shall be submitted to Walter Kulyk, Director, Office
of Mobility Innovation (TRI-10), Federal Transit Administration, 400
7th Street SW., Room 9402, Washington DC 20590 and shall reference
Electronic Payment System Demonstration.
ELIGIBILITY: It is important to note that only those agencies that
submit Letters of Interest will be eligible to respond to the Request
for Proposals. The Request for Letters of Interest is extended to
public agencies and organizations in the United States including public
transportation agencies and operators, transportation authorities and
commissions, metropolitan planning organizations, local Councils of
Government, and State and local Departments of Transportation.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sean Ricketson, Office of Mobility
Innovation, (TRI-11), at (202) 366-6678.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proposed Draft Text of a Request for Proposals (RFP)
The remainder of this notice contains proposed draft text of the
RFP to be made at a later date. Please note that though the text is
draft, Section II, Vision, Goals and Objectives, is final and will not
change. The remaining text is subject to change and revision.
Respondents should use the draft text to guide their summary proposals
to be included in their Letters of Interest. Respondents are also
invited to comment on the text.
Contents
I. Background
II. Visions, Goals, and Objectives
III. Definitions
IV. Project Development
A. General
B. Management Oversight
V. Partnerships
VI. National ITS System Architecture
VII. Project Evaluation Activities
VIII. Funding
IX. Schedule
X. Proposals
A. Technical Plan
B. Management and Staffing Plan
C. Financial Plan
XI. Proposal Evaluation Criteria
I. Background
Recent developments in card systems and card technology present a
unique opportunity for public and private institutions to establish
mutually beneficial partnerships in the development and management of
electronic payment systems for transportation. Recent developments
include stored-value card systems created by financial institutions,
contactless smart card systems for public transportation, electronic
toll collection systems on highways and card systems for human service
agencies' program management and benefits delivery. Private industry
and public agencies foresee substantial benefits in establishing
partnerships to develop further capabilities in electronic fee
collection, delivery of benefits payments, funds transfer and financial
clearinghouse functions. However, a number of institutional issues
continue to restrict the formation of these partnerships. Through the
development of an operational test this project intends to be a step
toward identifying and addressing the complex institutional issues
surrounding electronic fare payment systems in transportation.
II. Vision, Goals, and Objective(s)
The vision this operational test supports is one of improved public
transit customer service and improved operational efficiency for
transit providers. While the goals and objectives described below are
focused on technical and institutional outcomes, the success of the
test will be dependent upon whether it makes a positive contribution to
the enhancement of public transit customer service and operational
efficiency. This focus must be maintained throughout the planning,
development and execution of the project by the grantee.
The goal of the operational test is to provide solutions to transit
operators and other transportation and government service providers
exploring the potential of integrating transportation payment systems
with other payment systems and other applications. Additionally the
operational test is intended to offer insight to those in the card
industry, financial services industry, and other industries interested
in becoming involved or integrating their services with a
transportation payment system.
The objective of the operational test is to evaluate one or more
transportation payment applications, one of which must be transit fare
collection, within a card system of more than one card issuer and more
than one service provider, with a financial institution functioning as
a clearinghouse.
Additional objectives, if feasible, are to evaluate the viability
and benefits of integrating a transportation payment system with a
government benefits program and/or commercial stored-value card system
(e.g., retail, telephone, etc.).
III. Definitions
Card issuer--the entity (e.g. transit agency, bank or financial
institution, university, human service agency) that provides the card
media (and may be identified on the media) and reconciles with
participating service providers based on the stored value they have
received from users.
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Service provider--an entity (e.g., transit agency, retail store,
university, human service agency, telephone company) which provides a
service or product in exchange for payment via the card system.
Financial institution--bank or financial service company.
Application--a use or purpose for the card and card system, such as
fare collection, telephone, welfare benefits, or electronic cash.
Government benefits program--disbursement of benefits by local,
State, or Federal government to eligible customers. Examples include
food stamps, welfare programs, and Social Security.
Clearinghouse--an entity or organization responsible for
collection, reconciliation and settlement of customers' transactions
among the participants of the card system. Additional tasks may include
managing support functions of the system. These functions can include
card management, issuance, distribution, revenue management, customer
service and marketing.
Stored value card--a card application where monetary value is
stored on a card in an electronically readable form. Card reader
devices deduct the appropriate amount from the card. Stored value cards
can be implemented with a variety of technologies including chip cards
and conventional magnetic stripe cards.
IV. Project Development
A. General
The operational test will need to achieve an optimal balance of
meeting local needs while also providing a worthwhile national model of
payment system coordination and partnerships for implementation in
other locations.
B. Management Oversight
The operational test will be managed by the grantee and local
partners in the project. Additional guidance will be provided by the
FTA advisory committee composed of transit industry representatives
that provides guidance on electronic fare payment activities. Any
changes in project scope or direction will be made in consultation with
this advisory committee. For this project, the committee may be
augmented by experts from other industries as needed, such as financial
institutions and human service agencies. Concurrently, this committee
will direct a separately funded effort being conducted by USDOT to
develop and document a set of guidelines for the integration of
electronic fare payment with other payment systems. These guidelines
will assist individuals and agencies with the integration of a transit
multi-use card with electronic payment systems for other uses, such as
benefits transfer, toll collection, security, parking, retail,
financial services, telephones, identification and access control. The
results of the operational test are intended to contribute to the
advancement of the guidelines document. In turn, the development of the
guidelines document is intended to assist the advisory committee, the
grantee, and local partners with the implementation of the operational
test.
V. Partnerships
The USDOT will generally work with the lead public agency (grantee)
participating in the partnership (State, City, Regional Agency,
depending on site) to ensure the needed support to achieve the
objectives of the field operational test. The USDOT will verify that
the needed institutional, partnership and funding arrangements are in
place. All necessary partnership arrangements and institutional
agreements to support the project need to be specifically documented.
VI. National ITS System Architecture
The National ITS System Architecture provides a common structure
for the design of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The
architecture defines the function that must be performed to implement a
given user service, the physical entities or subsystems where these
functions reside, the interfaces/information flows between the physical
subsystems, and the communication requirements for the information
flows. In addition, the architecture identifies and specifies the
requirements for standards needed to support national and regional
interoperability, as well as product standards needed to support
economy of scale considerations in deployment.
Proposals shall provide a ``Statement of Intent'' to design a
system that is consistent with SAE J1708T Bus Vehicle Area Network, the
National ITS Architecture, including the Transit Communications
Interface Profiles (TCIP) and national ITS standards, protocols, or
standards requirements as these emerge from the National ITS
Architecture Development Program. Information about SAE J1708T may be
obtained from the Society of Automotive Engineers, 400 Commonwealth
Drive, Warrendale, Pennsylvania, USA, 15096-0001; phone: 412-776-4841,
fax: 412-776-5760, or through the Internet at http://www.sae.org.
Information about TCIP can be obtained on the TCIP homepage at http://
www.tcip.org or by contacting the Institute of Transportation Engineers
525 School St., S.W., Suite 410 Washington, DC 20024; phone: 202-554-
8050. Copies of the Architecture Definition Documents, the draft
Standards Requirements Document, and the Standards Development Program
from the Architecture Development Program are available from ITS
America, 400 Virginia Avenue, S.W., Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 20024,
telephone 202-484-4847. Electronic copies are available on the ITS
America Internet Homepage, http://www.itsa.org. These documents provide
insight into the definition of the National ITS Architecture, and the
emerging approaches being taken toward standardizing interfaces that
would support the integration of transportation management components.
In developing plans for standards and architectural consistency,
proposals should recognize the practical benefits of this requirement.
The ability to integrate systems and exchange data among applications
offers some of the strongest benefits of ITS. As an illustration of
understanding of this point, plans should identify potential
opportunities for integration and data sharing among fare payment and
other systems and applications. Information about key indicators of the
electronic payment component of the ITS metropolitan infrastructure and
integration of it with other components can be found in, ``Measuring
ITS Deployment and Integration: August 1998'' available through the
Internet at URL Http://www.its.fhwa.dot.gov/cyberdocs/welcome.htm the
report is document number 4372 in the Electronic Document Library
maintained at this website.
VII. Project Evaluation Activities
A major goal of the FTA is to promote development of innovative
applications of advanced technologies. In order for the FTA to be able
to encourage the widespread adoption of technological innovations, the
technologies tested, and the results obtained must be analyzed,
documented and reported. Accordingly, evaluations are an integral part
of each field operational test and are critical to the success of the
National ITS Program.
This electronic payment system operational test will be evaluated
by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) and
its contractors. They will develop an Evaluation Plan which will
specify the data collection requirements which will enable an
assessment of the
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achievement of the goals and objectives of the National ITS Program
applicable to this project as well as the goals and objectives of the
implementing organizations. They will assemble all the data collected
in accordance with the Evaluation Plan, analyze these data, and prepare
the Evaluation Report.
Although the Evaluation Plan will detail the specifics of the
evaluation, it is anticipated that it will include an assessment of the
technological issues, operational issues, customer acceptance, system
reliability, attitudes of implementing organizations, implementation
and continuing operational costs, integration issues, and a variety of
institutional issues including partnership arrangements, legal issues,
clearinghouse operation, the reason for selecting the type of system
(closed or open), and the success in obtaining multiple agency
participants.
The operational test partners (all participating agencies and
institutions) will be involved in all phases of the evaluation. They
will be expected to provide the local goals and objectives, review and
comment on the Evaluation Plan, collect the data specified in the
Evaluation Plan (including any surveys that may be necessary), provide
information on external factors that may affect the project's results,
and review and comment on the Evaluation Report prepared by the Volpe
Center.
VIII. Funding
Federal funds available for this operational test will initially be
$1.3 million with an anticipated additional $1.0 million available
within one year of the grant award. Federal funding shall not exceed
50% of total project costs.
Implementing organizations will be required to furnish the
specified evaluation data and perform reviews of evaluation documents.
No additional Federal funding will be provided for this effort. The
evaluation activities conducted by the Volpe National Transportation
Systems Center (Volpe Center) will be funded separately by the FTA.
The USDOT, the Comptroller General of the United States, and, if
appropriate, individual States have the right to access all documents
pertaining to the use of Federal ITS funds and non-Federal
contributions. Non-Federal partners must submit sufficient
documentation during final negotiations and on a regular basis during
the life of the project to substantiate these costs. Such items as
direct labor, fringe benefits, material costs, consultant costs, and
subcontractor costs, and travel costs should be included in that
documentation.
IX. Schedule
The project must remain operational for a period long enough to
obtain valid evaluation data. The data collection period will be for a
minimum of twelve (12) months from the time that the project is fully
operational (i.e., all elements are working as intended). Upon the
completion of data collection there shall be a six (6) month period of
analysis and report coordination before a final evaluation report is
submitted. The system shall remain operational throughout the
evaluation process until the final report is received and accepted by
the Department.
X. Proposals
The USDOT will select one (1) or multiple sites to evaluate the
issues associated with the establishment of partnerships between public
transit service providers and developers of stored value card systems,
electronic payment systems and financial clearinghouses.
Applications should, where possible, focus on utilizing currently
available card technology. The Department is specifically interested in
an operational test that includes a variety of applications with the
primary emphasis on multiple transportation applications, government
benefit applications and retail applications.
Applications that offer the greatest potential for demonstrating
and evaluating the benefits of using electronic fare payment in a
multi-application transportation environment with a private partnership
will be considered the most desirable.
Proposal Criteria
A proposal shall not exceed thirty (30) pages in length including
title, index, tables, maps, appendices, abstracts, resumes and other
supporting materials. A page is defined as one (1) side of an 8\1/2\ by
11-inch paper, line spacing no smaller than 1.5 with a type font any
smaller than 12 pt. A proposals exceeding than thirty (30) pages is
strongly discouraged. Ten (10) copies plus an unbound reproducible copy
of the proposal shall be submitted. The cover sheet or front page of
the proposal shall include the name, address and phone number of an
individual to whom correspondence and questions about the application
may be directed. Each proposal shall include a Technical Plan,
Financial Plan, and a Management and Staffing Plan that describes how
the proposed objectives will be met within the specified time frame and
budget. These plans should be structured so that they contain the
following information.
A. Technical Plan
General Requirements
1. General Description of the local transit market and other
proposed card system markets. Information shall include transit
ridership statistics, outline of current fare collection process and
payment media as well as any multi-modal aspects of the transportation
system. Additionally, potential public/private agency(s) involvement
such as partnerships, merchants, retailers, etc. must be outlined.
2. Interagency, public/private cooperative arrangements currently
in place or planned, which will participate in the operational test and
evaluation effort.
Concept Overview
1. Define existing infrastructure and support systems in place,
e.g., current fare collection system and cash handling procedures, as
well as current systems of those additional applications being
considered for integration.
2. Describe how the existing infrastructure will be expanded and
used to support the proposed system.
3. Describe the proposed system and how it will be integrated with
other applications and participating institutions.
4. Summarize the expectations of the proposed system (e.g. costs,
benefits, risks, operations, maintenance issues, plans, and system
support).
Technical Approach
The technical approach will be judged on its ability to incorporate
the requirements of a multi-application card system within a transit
fare system. Proposals will be evaluated on demonstrated capability to
integrate the requested scope of services with the necessary public and
private sector partners in the transit environment.
Within the technical approach the following areas need to be
clearly addressed:
1. Describe the goals and objectives of the system. These should
include descriptions of both improved customer service and improved
operating efficiency.
2. Describe the system design concept outlining extent of system
integration, type of proposed media, settlement processes, and
partners.
3. Describe implementation of the system in probable phases with
funding for each phase clearly specified.
4. Describe the technical approach by which the system design
concept will be
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refined, developed, and operationally tested.
5. Document the schedule of work, assumptions and technical
uncertainties, and proposed specific approaches to resolve any
uncertainties.
6. Show evidence that the project team has thought through the
service delivery part of the project design addressing such issues as:
who will use the new payment media; and what problems will it solve for
the participating transportation providers? What will the benefits of
the new system be and how will the project team market the system to
the rider?
7. Describe the plan for concluding the operational test (Closure
Plan), indicating whether hardware, software, and infrastructure will
remain in revenue service, be sold, or returned to participating
vendors, if applicable. Closure Plans may be contingent upon the
results of the operational test, in which case more than one Closure
Plan may be developed.
B. Management and Staffing Plan
Provide names and positions of all personnel related to managing
the project. Identify key management/control responsibilities for
system database and the overall system. Provide a timeline and define
key milestones and deliverables for the project for each funding year.
Provide estimated professional and technical staffing in staff-months
and staff-hours. Demonstrate that the project manager is capable,
available and able to commit to a level of involvement that ensures
project success. Include biographical data on key management personnel.
C. Financial Plan
Provide a description of total project costs and sources of
matching funds, if applicable.
Provide a system budget identifying costs for system design,
development, implementation, project management, operations,
maintenance and evaluation support.
The applicant's evaluation support costs shall include the
following information:
Breakdown costs identifying them by one of the following: (1)
Local; (2) State; (3) Private; (4) Federal ITS; (5) Other Federal-aid;
(6) Other (describe). Note: Costs attributed to Federal dollars
proposed to be received through award of this operational test are
Federal ITS.
Provide cost estimates by phase by funding year as defined in the
technical plan.
All financial commitments to the project from both public and
private sectors shall be documented in signed MOU's and included in the
proposal.
The proposal shall provide an in-depth description and assessment
of the total cost of achieving the objectives of the Electronic Fare
Payment System field operational test. The Financial Plan should
describe a phased approach that delineates what will be accomplished
with the project funding.
The proposal should provide a comprehensive, concise plan that
ensures systems integration of the functions necessary to support an
electronic payment system for fare collection. The plan shall include a
discussion of the ways in which design, acquisition, construction, and
other procurement activities will affect systems integration.
XI. Proposal Evaluation Criteria
The primary evaluation criterion for the proposal will be the
degree to which the proposal demonstrates common use of a multi-use
card payment system with a multi-modal approach. It is important to
note that the proposal needs to demonstrate not only regional
applicability but provides the baseline for a national model. The
proposal should emphasize in detail the nature and arrangement of the
proposed public-private partnerships. The proposal will also need to
illustrate the potential benefits as well as the associated risks and
costs to the transit agency(s). The demonstration test will provide an
opportunity to document and collect data that will be shared with the
industry. Additionally, the grantee will need to specify how the
demonstration test can contribute to the continued development of the
design guidelines document.
Significant consideration will be given to those projects with
greater levels of private and local funding contributions.
Significant consideration will be given to those projects involving
public agencies with previous work or experience developing and
integrating electronic payment systems.
All applicants must submit an acceptable ``Technical Plan,''
``Financial Plan,'' and ``Management and Staffing Plan,'' that provide
sound evidence that the proposed partnership can successfully meet the
above stated objectives.
Issued: November 18, 1998.
Edward L. Thomas,
Associate Administrator for Research, Demonstration and Innovation,
Federal Transit Administration.
Dennis C. Judycki,
Associate Administrator for Safety and System Applications, Federal
Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 98-31266 Filed 11-23-98; 8:45 am]
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