Mobile Railcar Inspection Portal (m-RIP) system

NOTICE OF INTENT TO AWARD A SINGLE SOURCE REQUIREMENT. THIS IS NOT A  REQUEST FOR COMPETITIVE PROPOSALS.

This is a notice of intent to solicit and award a single source contract under statutory authority RFO FAR 12.201-1 and 41 U.S.C. 1901 and 1903, set forth in FAR 6.302-1, Only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) intends to award a sole source contract to Duos Technologies, Inc., using the authority under RFO FAR 12.201-1 (Commercial Services) (Test Program for Certain Commercial Items). The acquisition will procure a Mobile Railcar Inspection Portal (m-RIP) system and associated commercial services to support the FRA Safety Test Pilot Program. Duos Technologies is the only known provider capable of furnishing the m-RIP system, a proprietary, commercially available automated inspection technology. The anticipated award date for this action is June 1st, 2026.

The requirement is to establish a Solution-as-a-Service (SaaS) Test Pilot Program to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mobile Railcar Inspection Portal (m-RIP) technology. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) seeks to validate the system's ability to identify ‘Areas of Interest' (AOIs) that correlate to potential mechanical defects on rolling stock in a live operational railroad environment to enhance national rail safety.

Duos Technologies is the sole manufacturer and provider of the Mobile Railcar Inspection Portal (m-RIP). The m-RIP is a proprietary, integrated hardware-and-software platform capable of capturing high-resolution imagery of moving railcars and applying automated analytics to support safety inspection research. As a result of a Sources Sought posted on February 11, 2026, FRA determined only Duos Technologies offers an existing mobile portal. Other vendors provide stationary or non-automated imaging solutions, but none meet FRA's portable, high-speed, high-resolution requirements. No other open-source or licensed alternatives exist that duplicate the proprietary portal architecture.

This notice of intent is NOT a request for quotations (RFQ) and no solicitation document exists for the requirement; however, if a vendor challenges the basis for this requirement, please submit a capability statement that includes sufficient detail and with convincing evidence that clearly demonstrates the capability to provide this system and services.  A request for documentation or additional information or submissions that only ask questions will not be considered as an affirmative response. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. The Government will not be responsible for any cost incurred in preparation of responses to this notice. A determination by the Government to compete this proposed contract, based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government.

Challenges are due no later than 1600 Eastern Time, 05 May 2026.  Capability statements shall be submitted via email ONLY as an Adobe PDF attachment to the following email addresses: Akwasi.kankam@dot.gov or paul.szymanski@dot.gov.