SMART Grant Program-ExE PROJECT EVALUATION PHASE Annual Emplementation

Strengthening Mobility And Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grant Program

EXHIBIT E (PROJECT EVALUATION PHASE): Annual Implementation Report Guidance for SMART Grant Recipients

Annual Implementation Reports

Project Overview (All Reports)

• Describe the project and highlight the technologies being deployed (if multiple technologies are being deployed, this may be organized as “use cases”)

• Summarize what constitutes end-of-project successes

Evaluation Goals/Objectives, Evaluation Questions, Performance Measures (All Reports)

• Describe project evaluation goals and/or objectives and associated evaluation questions (or hypotheses) and performance measures

• The inclusion of a table that demonstrates how these elements map to one another is strongly recommended (in addition to explanatory text).

Elements Specific to Stage 1 Reporting

• Describe anticipated costs and benefits of the project, including:

  • data on the performance metrics for the proof-of-concept or prototype;

  • preliminary baseline data for an evaluation of at scale implementation;

  • a detailed description of the community that would be impacted by at scale implementation and the anticipated distribution of benefits; and

  • quantitative data to substantiate key assumptions.

• Demonstrate the feasibility of at scale implementation, including identified strategies or demonstrated progress in addressing the following implementation feasibility and readiness factors by the end of the Stage 2 Grant.

  • Legal, Policy, and Regulatory Requirements (e.g., environmental permits and reviews; public outreach; State and local approvals; equity and accessibility requirements)

  • Procurement & Budget (e.g., availability of suppliers and equipment; Buy America requirements; reliability of cost estimates; critical property acquisition)

  • Partnerships (e.g., MOUs for stakeholder coordination; private sector and user adoption and acceptance)

  • Technology Availability (e.g., systems engineering including ConOps and Detailed Design; maturity of technology; compatibility with existing infrastructure)

  • Data Governance (e.g., storage capability; database analytic capability; integration requirements; sharing agreements; cybersecurity and privacy protocols)

  • Workforce Capacity (e.g., availability of workforce from development and installation to operations and maintenance; availability of workforce training; agency capacity for deployment, operation, and evaluation)

  • Sustainability (e.g., agency/institutional capacity for continued operations following the grant funded period; revenue needs for continued operations)

  • Other Relevant Factors

Elements Specific to Stage 2 Reporting

• Describe the evaluation method(s) and data sources used to measure the outcomes/impacts of the project

• Describe whether the project is on track to meet its original expectations

• Provide evaluation-related progress updates (e.g., is the grantee having any issues with data collection).

• Describe project challenges and lessons learned, including where resource gaps may exist.

Elements Specific to Final Implementation Report:

• Description of evaluation design, methods, data sources, and data collection period

  • Summary of any evaluation challenges and/or limitations

• Final assessment of the deployment and operational costs of the project, as compared to the benefits and savings;

• Final evaluation findings, including the extent to which the grantee met original expectations, as projected in the SMART grant application, related to their specific goals, such as (for example):

  • reducing traffic-related fatalities and injuries;

  • reducing traffic congestion or improving travel-time reliability;

  • effectiveness of providing the public with access to realtime integrated traffic, transit, and multimodal transportation information to make informed travel decisions;

  • reducing barriers or improving access to jobs, education, or various essential services;

• lessons learned and recommendations for future deployment strategies to optimize transportation efficiency and multimodal system performance.

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