Purpose
Evaluate one named rail corridor bottleneck and produce a fixed-scope decision brief before larger engineering, grant, legal, environmental, or construction spend.
Sample SOW
The starting scope is deliberately narrow.
This is the public shape of a RailForge corridor brief scope. Exact contracting language is handled in the buyer packet.
RF-SOW-SAMPLE10-day brief
Scope of services
Kickoff, document request, corridor definition, source-record inventory, authority screen, funding screen, risk register, and proceed / pause / kill recommendation.
Buyer inputs
Corridor name, owner/sponsor path, maps, track charts, known constraints, bridge/signal/crossing records if available, prior estimates, funding target, procurement owner, and decision deadline.
Deliverables
Corridor brief, record request, authority matrix, funding route, risk register, and next-scope memo.
Acceptance criteria
Delivered within 10 business days after records cutoff; assumptions and missing records listed; facts separated from inferred judgments; excluded specialist scopes named.
Exclusions
Engineering design, bridge load rating, track safety certification, legal opinion, NEPA determination, procurement advice, or construction/bid estimate.
Authority boundary
Pre-engineering decision support, not certification.
RailForge does not certify track condition, bridge capacity, signal safety, environmental clearance, legal authority, procurement compliance, Buy America compliance, or construction readiness.
Track safety
RailForge screens records
Track owner / qualified track personnel
Bridge capacity
RailForge flags missing evidence
Track owner / railroad bridge engineer
Signals
RailForge maps interface risk
Responsible railroad / signal specialist
NEPA / permitting
RailForge identifies likely gates
Sponsor / lead agency / environmental professional
STB / legal authority
RailForge names the question
Rail counsel / responsible agency
Procurement / BABA
RailForge packages assumptions
Buyer procurement and compliance office