Discretionary Cooperative Agreements To Support Biomechanics Research |
|---|
|
George L. Parker
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Federal Register
June 2, 1994
[Federal Register: June 2, 1994]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Discretionary Cooperative Agreements To Support Biomechanics
Research
AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.
ACTION: Announcement of Discretionary Cooperative Agreement to Support
Biomechanical Research.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice announces a discretionary cooperative agreement
program with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to
support research studies to evaluate the biomechanical response of
human surrogates to impact and solicits applications for projects under
this program.
DATES: Applications must be received on or before July 5, 1994.
ADDRESSES: Applications must be submitted to the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Contracts and Procurement
(NAD-30), ATTN: Belinda Leapley, 400 Seventh Street, SW., room 5301,
Washington, DC 20590, USA. All applications submitted must include a
reference to NHTSA Cooperative Agreement Program No. DTNH22-94-R-07260.
Interested applicants are advised that no separate application package
exists beyond the contents of this announcement.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: General administrative questions may
be directed to Belinda Leapley, Office of Contracts and Procurement, at
(202) 366-9566. Programmatic questions relating to this cooperative
agreement program should be directed to Richard M. Morgan, Biomechanics
Division (NRD-12), 400 Seventh Street, SW., room 6221B, Washington, DC
20590, USA, at (202) 366-4717.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background and Objectives
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is responsible
for devising strategies to save lives and reduce injuries from motor
vehicle crashes. The purpose of this cooperative agreement program is
to promote the improvement of traffic safety for the public through the
support of research studies designed to evaluate the biomechanical
response of human surrogates to impact as a means of expanding the base
of scientific knowledge in this field and to provide for the
coordinated exchange of scientific information collected as a result of
the studies conducted.
Impact trauma research employs the principles of mechanics to
discover the physical response and physiological results of impacts to
the human body. Generally, the teams doing the research are comprised
of individuals from different disciplines: engineering, physiology,
medicine, biology, and anatomy. The team studies the physical response
of the body to impact by measuring and recording engineering parameters
defining the event, such as force, accelerations, displacements,
surface contours, strains, pressure, etc., and observing the
physiological consequences in terms of physical or functional
alterations to the body.
One of the major research materials used to simulate injury to the
living human is the human cadaver (hereinafter referred to as a human
surrogate) exposed to impact and detailed response measurement.
The focus of this cooperative research effort is the study of human
surrogate response and injury to physical impacts simulating some
significant aspect of automotive impact injury, i.e., head, neck,
torso, or lower extremity injury produced in drivers and passengers,
restrained by various safety devices and exposed to either a frontal,
lateral, or rear impact. The specific objectives of this cooperative
research effort are to: (1) Delineate the mechanism of injury, (2)
develop functional relationships between the measurable engineering
parameters and the extent and severity of injury, and (3) quantify the
impact response of the body in such a way as to allow the development
of mechanical analogs of the human body.
NHTSA Involvement
The NHTSA, Biomechanics Division, will be involved in all
activities undertaken as part of the cooperative agreement program and
will:
1. Provide, on an as-needed basis, one professional staff person,
to be designated as the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative
(COTR), to participate in the planning and management of the
cooperative agreement and coordinate activities between the
organization and the NHTSA;
2. Make available information and technical assistance from
government sources, within available resources and as determined
appropriate by the COTR;
3. Provide liaison with other government agencies and organizations
as appropriate; and
4. Stimulate the exchange of ideas and problems among cooperative
agreement recipients, and, if appropriate, NHTSA contractors and other
interested parties.
Involvement for Recipient of an Award
Any recipient of an award will:
1. Perform an effort in accordance with the application proposal
and any incorporation revisions;
2. Contribute any in-kind resources, that might have been specified
by the recipient in the application, for the performance of the effort
under the agreement;
3. Meet periodically with the NHTSA COTR to promote the exchange of
information so as to assure coordination of the cooperative effort and
related projects; and
4. Provide the NHTSA COTR with following required reports:
a. Data Reports: The dynamic and other data measured in each human
surrogate impact test will be provided by the recipient(s) within four
(4) weeks after the test is run. For each and every test performed with
a human surrogate, a data package shall be submitted to the COTR. For
example, were a human subject to be impacted by pendulum to the right
femur and later to be impacted by pendulum to the thorax, the two (2)
impacts are separate tests even though there was only one (1) human
surrogate.
A data package consists of (1) high speed film, (2) paper test
report, and (3) either magnetic tape or floppy disk complying with the
NHTSA Data Tape Reference Guide. The NHTSA, Biomechanics Division,
maintains a Biomechanics Data Base which provides information, upon
request, to the public, including educational institutions and other
research organizations.
To facilitate the input of data as well as the exchange of
information, any recipient of a cooperative agreement awarded as a
result of this notice must provide the magnetic tape in the format
specified in the ``NHTSA Data Tape Reference Guide.'' A copy of this
document may be obtained from the programmatic information contact
designated in this notice.
b. Performance Reports: The recipient shall present one (1) hour
semiannual technical performance briefings at the NHTSA headquarters
building (at 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590) which shall
be due 30 days after the reporting period and a final performance
report within 90 days after the completion of the research effort. An
original and two copies of the final performance report shall be
submitted to the COTR.
Period of Support
The research effort described in this notice will be supported
through the award of at least one cooperative agreement. NHTSA reserves
the right to make multiple awards depending upon the merit of the
applications received.
Contingent upon the availability of funds and satisfactory
performance, a cooperative agreement(s) will be awarded to an eligible
organization(s) for project periods of up to five years. No cooperative
agreement awarded as a result of this notice shall exceed $550,000 per
year or $2,750,000 for five years.
Eligibility Requirements
In order to be eligible to participate in this cooperative
agreement program, an applicant must be an educational institution or
other nonprofit research organization. For profit research
organizations may apply; however, no fee or profit will be allowed.
Application Procedure
Each applicant must submit one original and two copies of their
application package to: Cooperative Agreement Program No. DTNH22-94-R-
07260, Office of Contracts and Procurement (NAD-30), NHTSA, 400 Seventh
Street, SW., room 5301, Washington, DC 20590, USA. Only complete
application packages received on or before the date identified above
under DATES: shall be considered. Submission of three additional copies
will expedite processing but is not required.
Application Contents
1. The application package must be submitted with OMB Standard Form
424 (Rev, 4-88, including 424A and 424B), Application for Federal
Assistance, with the required information filled in and the certified
assurances included. While the Form 424-A deals with budget
information, and section B identifies Budget Categories, the available
space does not permit a level of detail which is sufficient to provide
for a meaningful evaluation of the proposed costs. A supplemental sheet
should be provided which represents a detailed breakdown of the
proposed costs, as well as any costs which the applicant proposes to
contribute in support of this effort.
2. Applications shall include a program narrative statement which
addresses the following:
a. The objectives, goals, and anticipated outcomes of the proposed
research effort;
b. The method or methods that will be used;
c. The source of the human surrogates to be used;
d. The number, quality, and anticipated ages at death (Because
NHTSA has interest in obtaining knowledge of the impact injury process
and its effect on the total automotive-population-at-risk, an
experimental human subject pool with ages representative of this
population is highly desirable.) of the human surrogates (viz human
cadavers) the applicant expects to use for this research effort along
with documentation (retrospective or prospective) that provides
evidence that the applicant has access to the proposed quantity,
quality, and projected ages of the experimental material;
e. The proposed program director and other key personnel identified
for participation in the proposed research effort, including a
description of their qualifications and their respective organizational
responsibilities;
f. A description of the general, as well as specialized impact
simulation, test facilities and equipment currently available or to be
obtained for use in the conduct of the proposed research effort; and
g. A description of the applicant's previous experience or on-going
research program that is related to this proposed research effort.
Review Process and Criteria
Initially, all applications will be reviewed to confirm that the
applicant is an eligible recipient and to assure that the application
contains all of the information required by the Application Contents
section of this notice.
Each complete application from an eligible recipient will then be
evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Committee. The applications will be
evaluated using the following criteria:
1. The applicant's understanding of the purpose and unique problems
represented by the research objectives of this cooperative agreement
program as evidenced in the description of their proposed research
effort. Specific attention shall be placed upon the applicant's stated
means for obtaining the quantity of experimental material necessary to
conduct the proposed research effort.
2. The potential of the proposed research effort accomplishments to
make an innovative and/or significant contribution to the base of
biomechanical knowledge as it may be applied to saving lives and
reducing injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes.
3. The technical merit of the proposed research effort, including
the feasibility of the approach, planned methodology, and anticipated
results.
4. The adequacy of test facilities and equipment identified to
accomplish the proposed research effort, including impact simulation.
5. The adequacy of the organizational plan for accomplishing the
proposed research effort, including the qualifications and experience
of the research team, the various disciplines represented, and the
relative level of effort proposed for professional, technical, and
support staff.
Award Selection Factors
The award selection may not be based solely on the evaluation
results. Award preference may be given to an innovative or creative
approach that offers a potentially significant contribution to achieve
the specific objectives of this cooperative research effort. Award
preference may be given to a proposal with a larger percentage of cost
sharing.
Terms and Conditions of the Award
1. The protection of the rights and welfare of human subjects in
NHTSA-sponsored experiments is established in Department of
Transportation 49 CFR Part 11 and in NHTSA Orders 700-1, 700-3, and
700-4. Any recipient must satisfy the requirements and guidelines of 49
CFR part 101 and the NHTSA Orders 700 series prior to award of the
cooperative agreement. A copy of 49 CFR part 11 and the NHTSA 700
series may be obtained from the programmatic information contact
designated in this notice.
2. Prior to award, each recipient must comply with the
certification requirements of 49 CFR part 29--Department of
Transportation Government-wide Department and Suspension
(Nonprocurement) and Government-wide Requirements for Drug-Free
Workplace (Grants), as well as 49 CFR part 20-- Department of
Transportation New Restrictions on Lobbying.
3. During the effective period of the cooperative agreement(s)
awarded as a result of this notice, each agreement shall be subject to
the general administrative requirements of OMB Circular A-110, the cost
principles of OMB Circular A-21, A-122, or FAR 31.2 as applicable to
the recipient, the requirements of 49 CFR parts 20 and 29, and the
NHTSA General Provisions for Assistance Agreements.
Issued on: May 20, 1994.
George L. Parker,
Associate Administrator for Research and Development.
[FR Doc. 94-13457 Filed 6-1-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-59-P