Transportation board taps 3 for research work

Three companies have been selected to provide homeland security-related research services to two units of the National Academy of Sciences' Transportation Research Board.

A five-year task order was awarded to Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego. Joining SAIC as team members are Parsons Brickenhoff of New York and the Mineta Transportation Institute of San Jose, Calif.

The two units are the Transit Cooperative Research Program and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. They are valued at more than $4 million for 2002.

The SAIC team will provide quick-response research on transportation emergency issues related to terrorist attacks. The research will develop analytical methods, tools, procedures and techniques to support state, local and metropolitan transportation organizations in planning, exercising and evaluating their security programs.

The project includes developing strategies to address the threat of nuclear, chemical, biological and other weapons of mass destruction. There will be emphasis on developing tools and strategies to be used to assess local threats, but implemented in an integrated manner with regional and national response and recovery programs.

Other task orders went to Aecom Technology Corp. of Los Angeles and McCormick, Taylor and Associates Inc. of Philadelphia.