Sources Sought
AI-Enabled Incident Response System with sUAS and Human Copilots (AIRS-COP)
Department of Transportation · Federal Highway Administration · Sol. 693JJ3-26-SN-0010
Due in 7 days
AI summary Beta
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is asking companies whether they can build and flight-test an AI-enabled drone system (called AIRS-COP) that flies to highway crashes and works with traffic management centers and responders. This is a Sources Sought notice, meaning market research, not a request for quotes. The planned work is an 18-month research and development order of about $321,000 total, performed at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, VA, contractor sites and test sites.
Watch out for
- Sources Sought only, no award promised. This is market research for planning; the Government is not committing to buy, and will not pay for responses.
Note: This sources sought notice is not construed as a commitment on the part of the Government to
- Large scope for a small budget. The work covers six tasks including AI development, flight tests in bad weather, papers and a conference talk, yet the Government says the budget is only about $321,000, so margins may be thin.
Due to a very limited budget, this work in SOW is obtainable for $319,000.00 for the labor hour
- Very small travel cap. Travel across the continental US for meetings, an in-person stakeholder event, flight tests and a conference is capped at $2,000 for the whole term.
The travel budget for the entire period of performance is $2,000.This amount cannot be exceeded.
- Costly drone, FAA and supply-chain requirements. You need NDAA-compliant drones you own, FAA-approved pilots, flight-plan paperwork 7 days before each flight, insurance and supply-chain traceability, which are heavy for a firm without an existing drone program.
The Contractor should also possess and maintain the approval from FAA for flying sUAS in
- Real R&D build and flight testing. The goal is to design, build and test a working prototype with AI models, with flight tests in wind, fog, darkness, rain and snow, which needs strong in-house technical staff.
The objective of this purchase order is to design, develop, and flight-test a smart copilot system
- Unclear set-aside signals. The notice says no set-aside is used, yet it mentions the 50% subcontracting rule that applies to small business set-asides, so the final solicitation could be restricted.
Note: Under a Small-Business Set-Aside, in accordance with FAR 52.219-14, the small business
Read from the notice and 1 attachment.
- Source Sought Notice_693JJ3-26-SN-0010.pdf
Full brief
What they want
- Project management: management plan, kickoff, bi-weekly meetings, monthly reports (Task 1)
- Literature review and stakeholder engagement on drones for traffic incident management, with a tech memo and report (Task 2)
- Build and flight-test an automated drone navigation controller and an AI 'last-mile' search to find the exact incident scene (Task 3)
- Develop a vision-language-model AI agent that interprets incident scenes and sends traffic recommendations to traffic management centers (Task 4)
- Build and test human-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop frameworks for drone, traffic center and police teamwork (Task 5)
- Write the final report, conference and journal papers, and present at a conference (Task 6)
- Supply your own certified drones, equipment, facilities and FAA-approved pilots
- Contract type
- Planned single-award labor-hour research and development award with cost-reimbursable travel (the SOW calls it a non-personal services purchase order); not yet solicited
- Period of performance
- 18 months from the effective date of award
- Place of performance
- Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (McLean, VA), contractor or subcontractor facilities, and offsite test facilities
- Estimated value
- $321,000 total: $319,000 for labor hours plus $2,000 for travel
- Offers due
- October 15, 2026 (SAM.gov lists 10:00 PM at UTC-4; the attached notice gives no time)
- How to submit
- Email a capabilities statement to jason.motala@dot.gov
- Page limits
- Capabilities statement of no more than 6 one-sided 8.5x11 pages (cover and table of contents not counted), font no smaller than 10 point
What to include when you submit
- Answer the six capability questions: edge/cloud AI and vision-language models, NDAA/FAA readiness and traffic center integration, trajectory planning and dynamic routing, human-AI teaming, hardware/software/facility resources, and pricing
- For project examples give the title, contact, period of performance, and whether you were prime or sub
- Include company name, address, Unique Entity ID, and points of contact with phone and email
- State whether you are a large business, Small Business, 8(a) SDB, WOSB, HUBZone or SDVOSB
- Include a statement about your ability to obtain Department of Transportation security clearances for personnel
- State your ability to begin performance on award
- Do not send classified material, marketing materials, slide presentations or technical papers; responses will not be returned
- No phone or email status inquiries are accepted
You must have
- No set-aside is used and the notice invites large and small businesses alike (NAICS 541715, size standard 1,000 employees)
All potential sources, regardless of whether they are large or small in accordance with the
- Own certified small drones (sUAS) for the work and hold FAA approval to fly them at approved sites
The Contractor should own certified sUAS that are selected and to be used in this purchase order.
- Drones and components must be NDAA-compliant (no covered foreign-entity drones); be ready to disclose supply chain sources and allow FHWA audits
Confirm your ability to deploy FY24 NDAA-compliant sUAS with FAA Part 107 certified pilots
- Pilots in command must hold a current FAA Remote Pilot Certificate and have at least five flights on the proposed drone model, and a Visual Observer is required
holds a current FAA Remote Pilot Certificate and has completed at least five flights on the
- Carry commercial general liability and aviation liability insurance covering drone operations
The Contractor must maintain commercial general liability and aviation liability insurance that
- Ability to obtain DOT security clearances for personnel must be stated in the response
Statement regarding capability to obtain the Department of Transportation (DOT) security
- Protect federal data on the drone systems (multifactor authentication, encryption, trusted firmware updates, FHWA control of data destination) consistent with OMB M-26-02
Not in the notice text
- Evaluation factors and how an award would be decided (none given in a Sources Sought notice)
- When the actual solicitation will be released and whether it will be set aside for small business
- Applicable contract clauses (listed as TBD) and Exhibit 2, the Schedule of Services (to be included at award)
- Required level of DOT security clearance for personnel
- Phase-in/phase-out requirements (section left blank)
- Whether the Government will help arrange access to the TFHRC test site and airspace approvals
- Exact response deadline time (SAM.gov shows 10:00 PM Eastern; the attached notice gives only a date)
- Whether there is a current contractor or related prior work (not mentioned)
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Key facts
- Response due
- Oct 16, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC
- Posted
- Sep 30, 2026
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Solicitation
- 693JJ3-26-SN-0010
- Agency
- Department of Transportation · Federal Highway Administration
- Office
- 693JJ3 Acquisition and Grants MGT
- Set-aside
- No Set aside used
- NAICS
- 541715
- Product/service code
- AS13
- Business type
- Engineering, architecture & research
- Place of performance
- Mclean, VA
- Contracting contact
- Jason Motalajason.motala@dot.gov
Full notice text from SAM.gov
Title: "AI-Enabled Incident Response System with sUAS and Human Copilots (AIRS-COP)” See attachment for full details and information
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