Information for Contractors
Contractors for the Highway (
NCHRP), Transit (
TCRP), Airport (
ACRP), and Behavioral Traffic Safety (
BTSCRP) 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 June 2023). Particular issues that are often of concern are further addressed below. Process Documentation and Technical Guidance for developing ACRP WebResources can be found at
crp.trb.org.
Principal Investigators performing work on NCHRP, TCRP, or ACRP Syntheses of Practice should follow the guidance in
Information for Principal Investigators Preparing Syntheses (updated September 2021).
Principal Investigators performing work on NCHRP, TCRP, or Rail Safety IDEA projects should refer to the
IDEA Report Guidelines.
Conflict of Interest
Contractors must ensure that they remain in compliance with Cooperative Research Program Conflict of Interest requirements for the duration of their contract. If a conflict of interest develops or becomes known during the conduct of research, the contract is subject to termination. Refer to the
CRP Conflict of Interest Resource Page for more information.
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) for CRP research projects 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.
*QPRs are not generally required for syntheses and legal studies. For IDEA projects, please see guidelines above.
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.
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.
(All phone extensions below begin with 202-334-xxxx, and clicking on a name will initiate an email to that person.)
Subject Area |
Highway CRP
(NCHRP) |
Transit CRP
(TCRP) |
Airport CRP
(ACRP) |
Behavioral Traffic Safety CRP
(BTSCRP) |
Program Finances,
Sponsor (federal/state) Inquiries,
Subcontract & Consultant Agreements |
Dan Somerset
(ext. 2291) |
Amy Przybocki
(ext. 1671) |
Sophia Ramirez
(ext. 2449) |
Vendor / Subcontractor
Invoice Status |
Anthony Bailey
(ext. 1456) |
Sophia Ramirez
(ext. 2449) |
Committee & Panel
Travel Reimbursements |
Shierra Ramirez
(ext. 1478) |
Report Preparation and Delivery for CRP Research Reports
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
https://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.