Infratech: New Opportunities for Public/Private Partnerships and Unsolicited Proposals

Just as refrigerators and other household appliances have suddenly become smart over the past few years, so too have traffic signals, street lights, water meters, parking garages, and a growing list of other types of public infrastructure. Examples of projects funded by the program include a $2 million grant to use AI software and sensors to predict and prevent traffic accidents in Detroit and a $1.7 million grant awarded to the Santa Clarita Valley Transportation Authority to upgrade traffic signals to give priority to city buses. A full list of recent SMART grants is here and includes technologies such as: None Connected vehicles (internet-connected cars that can communicate with other cars and infrastructure) None Curb management (including management of street parking and loading zones to more efficiently utilize curb space)Infratech can also be applied to public-health issues, and the development and implementation of smart air quality sensors, is growing. Although one could argue that the public sector is equally capable of operating and maintaining roads and bridges as the private sector (although capability does not equate to actual performance, as maintenance budgets are often the first cut, and deferred maintenance is a well-known problem in publicly operated projects), that is almost certainly not the case with infratech, which by its nature involves complex and changing technologies requiring specialized expertise.Unsolicited proposals are also particularly well suited for infratech. Infratech, by its nature, involves rapidly changing technology, and a top-down procurement approach, where the government first evaluates all available technologies and decides what it needs before soliciting proposals, is often not a suitable approach, as there is a high risk of being a step behind the latest advancements or not knowing when an opportunity to incorporate infratech even exits.