The Southeastern Transportation Alliance was formed in 1996 for the purpose of undertaking the Latin America Trade and Transportation Study (LATTS). Members of the Alliance included Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The effort was funded through an FHWA Pooled Fund Study using State Planning and Research (SPR) funds. The purpose of LATTS was to estimate trade volumes with Latin America, evaluate infrastructure investments needed to support growth in international trade, and develop strategies to guide infrastructure investments. The overall goal was to help the Southeastern Transportation Alliance states develop their competitive advantages to capture trade opportunities and the associated economic benefits. Following the completion of LATTS (Phase I) in 2001, the study was taken to the next level under the name LATTS II which was a two-year analysis of the critical infrastructure needs identified in LATTS (Phase I). To continue the original study initiatives, the remaining Alliance states formed an independent entity entitled the Institute for Trade and Transportation Studies (ITTS). Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD) is the current lead state for this Transportation Pool Fund Study along with Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Virginia, and West Virginia and has an existing contract with Mentis LLC that expires on June 30, 2018. The Scope of Work for that contract encompasses providing planning, research, and peer exchange activities for participating states that yielded products and accomplishments including: - Development of individual state freight profiles for inclusions in freight plans or marketing/informational prospectus - Acquisition of and training for Tableau software for freight data integration - Development of a multi-state Southern Highway Interactive Freight Traffic Model for multi-state corridor analysis - Acquisition of and training for TransCAD software for freight traffic model analysis - Development of a multi-state Freight Economic Analysis Tool which can serve as a resource for grant applications such as TIGER and FASTLANE - Peer exchange among member states on topics/issues such as FAST Act, MAP-21, performance measures, Freight Advisory Committees, national freight networks, Critical Urban and Rural Freight Corridors, and general freight planning

The purpose of ITTS is to support member states in developing their competitive advantages to capture and quantify trade opportunities and economic benefits through improved transportation planning, investments, collaboration, and operations.

ITTS shall be soliciting proposals for a scope of work that includes but is not limited to: - Provide a platform for regional collaboration by facilitating workshops and conferences to enable coordination of freight program activities and to provide a continuing education and peer exchange opportunities - Provide support to member states such as: o Inform members of current and anticipated freight trends o Develop effective freight planning tools and maintain existing tools o Assist to integrate freight planning into their core business procedures - Identify and nurture close and collaborative working relationships with relevant federal and state agencies, associations, academic institutions, and private sector firms, to keep up-to-date of developments in freight planning and trade and to enhance the outcomes of work on common interests - Partner with other organizations, including but not limited to, public agencies, private firms, multi-state coalitions, and industry associations, to advance freight planning through research and collaboration

- Minimum seven states required. - Project to be funded at $39,800 per state per year. - 100% SPR funding request has been sent to FHWA for approval.