- What is the Tolling and Payments Concept of Operations?
- How did it originate?
- Who is developing it?
- How can one participate?
- Where can I get more information on VII?
A Concept of Operations supports a significant element of VII — the need for, and requirements of, national, interoperable applications. This project intends to identify and develop the operations and business model requirements to allow tolling and payment systems providers to take advantage of the opportunities provided by VII. The project is a collaborative effort to survey and capture the needs of the toll industry, automobile manufacturing industry, and key stakeholders such as the finance/banking industry and state Departments of Transportation.
The ITS Joint Program Office (ITSJPO), which resides under the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) of USDOT, leads the VII Program. One element of the program concerns developing applications that will 'run' on the VII network. Each application must have a Concept of Operations.
The OmniAir Consortium is leading the Tolling and Payments ConOps process with the support of PBS&J who manages outreach, meeting facilitation, project documentation, and deliverable development. Booz Allen Hamilton is providing guidance with respect to ensuring that the ConOps adheres to the existing VII Architecture. The OmniAir EPS Committee serves as subject matter experts and reviews iterations of the deliverable. The major input mechanisms are workshops, teleconferences, and webex events. The ConOps is also being developed simultaneously with the VII Proof of Concept work being conducted by a number of firms including OmniAir members BAH, Mark IV, Sirit, TransCore, Raytheon, HNTB, TechnoCom and others. The POC is treated as a source of input.
The most important factor to the ConOps though, is the VII community, whose participation is requisite to ensure a valid and relevant product. Again, the entire OmniAir process provides an exceptional opportunity for stakeholders to contribute their expertise to actually help shape and determine the critical business and operational components of VII-based tolling and payment systems.
Contact OmniAir's Tim McGuckin, or Tom Delaney and Philip Miller of PBS&J.
For general info on the VII Program, see www.its.dot.gov/vii/.