This report provides guidance on the procurement of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), including variable message signs, traffic detectors, signal controllers, and a variety of other hardware and software that entails applications of advanced electronics and information management to regulate and facilitate traffic flow. This guide should be useful to government officials, traffic engineers, system integrators, and others involved in the specification and purchasing of ITS installations. Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) procurements often entail sophisticated assemblages of electronic equipment and software that are challenging to specify because they are tailored to the unique requirements of the procuring agency and use components embodying technology that can advance substantially in the time between an installation’s conception and realization. Because of these complexities and uncertainties, the low-bid contracting http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_560.pdfprocess that transportation agencies traditionally use to purchase capital improvements often is not the best approach for ITS procurements. Experience has shown that the ITS procurement method can have substantial influence on the ultimate success of the ITS installation. The procurement method determines how responsibilities are distributed and decisions are made, the qualifications of the contractor, the systems engineering process, and the controls available to the contracting agency. The procurement method, ideally selected to suit the characteristics of the procuring agency as This report may be accessed by Internet users at well as those of the project, can make or break a project. The objective of this research was to develop a guide to contracting ITS projects and services, which would highlight best practices and recommend contracting strategies and contract types, terms, and conditions for ITS development, integration, system acceptance, warranty, maintenance, and upgrade. The research was designed to address these matters at all levels, from determining an overall procurement strategy that is compatible with a systems engineering process; to selecting appropriate contract types and defining contract deliverables, managing the contract and change orders, validating and verifying software, and accepting the system; to addressing ongoing system support. Under NCHRP Project 3-77, “Guide to Contracting Intelligent Transportation System Projects,” researchers at Edwards and Kelcey, Inc. (1) reviewed the transportation and technology literature to identify effective contracting methods and their strengths and weaknesses, augmenting the review by surveying state and local transportation agencies; (2) identified contracting methods used in other industries that might be suitable for ITS procurements in the transportation industry; (3) characterized ITS projects based on the project complexity, level of new development required, scope and breadth of technologies involved, amount of interfacing to other systems, likelihood of technology evolution, and fluidity of system requirements; (4) described how a systems engineering process may be incorporated into the various contract types and assessed the impact of changing technology and requirements, from project conception to completion, on the contract and the potential implications for contracting flexibility; (5) recommended contract types, including new, innovative approaches, for the likely range of ITS procurements; and (6) prepared the guide presented here. In addition to this guide, the research team prepared a final report describing their work and many interim results that may be of value to other researchers and professionals facing ITS procurement issues. That report is being published simultaneously as NCHRP Web- Only Document 85 (www4.trb.org/trb/onlinepubs.nsf/). Finally, the researchers developed an on-line tool that applies the guide’s decision-making process; the tool may be accessed from the project description on the TRB web site (www4.trb.org/trb/crp.nsf/All+Projects/ NCHRP+3-77). (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting