U.S. Geological Survey, 205B 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192

T -- FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COMMITTEE (FGDC) NATIONAL SPATIAL DATA INFRASTRUCTURE (NSDI) PARTNERSHIP FUNDING PROGRAMS SOL 1434-HQ-97-PA-00044,45 and 46 DUE 022198 POC Kathy Craig (CO) 703-648-7357, Karen Staubs (Contact) 703-648-7372 WEB: FGDC and NSDI Solicitations, www.usgs.gov/contracts/index.html. This is a U.S. Geological Survey announcement of a program under the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance No. 15-809 entitled, "National Spatial Data Infrastructure Competitive Cooperative Agreements Program." The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is seeking applications to facilitate and foster partnerships and alliances within and among various public and private entities to assist in building the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The NSDI consists of policies, standards, agreements, and partnerships among a variety of sectors and disciplines that promote more cost-effective production, ready availability, and greater use of high quality geospatial data. Three separate but related programs constitute the FGDC Partnership Funding Programs under three Program Announcements (PA): the NSDI Competitive Cooperative Agreements Program (CCAP), PA #1434-HQ-98-PA-00044, (Ms. Kathleen Craig, CO at (703) 648-7357), the NSDI Framework Demonstration Projects Program, PA#1434-HQ-98-PA-00045 (Ms.Tammy Fanning, CO at (703) 648-7363), and the NSDI Benefits Program, PA#1434-HQ-98-PA-00046, (Ms. Deborah Walsh, CO at (703) 648-7384). Activities initiated under each of the three separate programs will promote development and maintenance of and access to data sets that are needed for national, regional, state, and local analyses. The CCAP provides funding for projects that focus on promoting metadata collection and creating clearinghouses of geographic data linked to the Internet; developing and promulgating NSDI standards in data collection, documentation, transfer, and search and query; developing and implementing educational outreach programs to increase the awareness and understanding of the NSDI vision and concepts; and, organizing and strengthening state-wide or regional programs for geographic data sharing. The Framework Demonstration Projects Program provides funding for projects that demonstrate or operationalize the framework concept. Projects can address basic or advanced technical, operational,and business aspects/capabilities to collaboratively create and maintain certain categories of commonly needed Framework' data, or deal with specific framework topics such as coding permanent feature identifiers, data integration, generalization, transactions and feature maintenance, feature level metadata, and data certification. Framework data are defined as geodetic control, cadastral, digital orthoimagery, elevation, bathymetry, transportation, hydrography, and governmental units. The Benefits Program provides funding for projects that assess the benefits of using a shared geographic data resource, or spatially referenced information, to aid a public decision-making process within a particular geographic area. Assessment of the benefits of data sharing can be by quantitative or qualitative measures. No restriction is placed on the primary issue or problem being addressed. The problem may be environmental, economic, social, or cultural. Defined geographic areas might include watersheds, ecosystems, counties, regions, municipalities and so forth. Applications require partnering between two or more organizations. Applications may be submitted by Federal agencies, State and local government agencies, educational institutions, private firms, private foundations, and Federally acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups. Applications from Federal agencies are not competed with other organizations. The program announcements and application forms for each of the three aforementioned programs are expected to be available on or about November 29, 1997. Applications must be received on or before approximately Feb. 28, 1998. Copies of Program Announcement #1434-HQ-98-PA-00044 for the NSDI CCAP, Program Announcement #1434-HQ-98-PA-00045 for the NSDI Framework Demonstration Projects Program, and Program Announcement #1434-HQ-98-PA-00046 for the NSDI Benefits Program may be obtained by writing to: Ms. Karen Staubs, U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Acquisition and Federal Assistance, Mail Stop 205B, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia 20192, (703) 648-7372, fax (703) 648-7901. Specify which of the three PAs are requested. Requests must be in writing and fax requests will be accepted. Telephone requests will not be honored. When available, copies of each PA will be accessible via the Internet at <www.usgs.gov/contracts/index.html>. (0321)

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