Information for Contractors

Contractors for the Highway (NCHRP), Transit (TCRP), Airport (ACRP), Behavioral Traffic Safety (BTSCRP), Freight (NCFRP), Hazardous Materials (HMCRP), and Rail (NCRRP) Cooperative Research Programs are required to comply with the Procedural Manual for Contractors Conducting Research in the Transportation Research Board's Cooperative Research Programs (updated March 2018). Particular issues that are often of concern are further addressed below.

Subcontract Approval

Subcontracts over $25,000 must be approved by the National Academy of Sciences before they are executed.  Draft subcontracts should be submitted in hard copy to the Contract Administrator designated in the contract. See section 3.7 of the Procedural Manual for more information.

Quarterly Progress Reports

Quarterly progress reports (QPRs) are due within 5 business days of the end of each calendar quarter (i.e., 3/31, 6/30, 9/30, 12/31).  QPRs are critical to reviews, by the respective staff and panel, of a project's progress and must be in sufficient detail to communicate achievements to date and future work, including potential problems. The QPR must include an exhibit showing the progress on the project tasks and the budget status. See section 2.7 of the Procedural Manual for more information.

Surveys

Many projects include a survey of transportation agencies.  These can often be burdensome to the agency staff and care should be taken in their design and in determining the best person to receive the survey.  Useful information on survey design is available at http://lap.umd.edu/survey_design/questionnaires.html

Invoicing

Invoices should use this Excel form as described in the Procedural Manual.  Invoices for fixed-price contracts should include a copy of the payment schedule.  Questions regarding invoices should be addressed to the individuals below according to Program.

Report Preparation and Delivery

Principal investigators should review Chapter 5 of the Procedural Manual as they begin to develop material for the final products of the research. Chapter 5 also includes information on obtaining necessary copyright permissions, including a sample letter for requesting permissions.

As an informational resource, the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) offers short videos ( many under 5 minutes long) that address common questions about what is protected by copyright, how attribution differs from copyright permission, what "open access" means, use of images or video in presentations or video, and other topics. To access the videos, go to http://www.copyright.com/learn/resources/ and use the "Filter Resources" button to select "Copyright," "Videos," and, if desired, a "Professional Area."

Contractors may elect to use the CRP-developed Microsoft Word template, CRP_format_template.dot, to format deliverables. Information on how to use the template is provided in the two-page guide CRP_Word-Template-Guide.doc. CRP_Sample_format.doc provides a sample of text formatted using the styles in the template. Further information on formatting deliverables is available in Chapter 5 of the Procedural Manual or by contacting the CRP editors via email at crpeditors@nas.edu.

Webinars on Final Products

TRB's webinar program features Cooperative Research Program publications and other TRB publications. If principal investigators or members of the project panel are interested in conducting a webinar on the results of a project, they are encouraged to contact the TRB Staff Officer for more details about considering a webinar in the TRB program.