NASA Procurement Office, Code DA00, Stennis Space Center (SSC), MS 39529-6000

A -- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION-NASA EARTH SCIENCE ENTERPRISE DUE 012100 POC Michael R. Thomas, Scientist, Phone (228) 688-2401, Fax (228) 688-7455, Email michael.thomas@ssc.nasa.gov -- Bruce A. Davis, Project Element Manager, Phone (228) 688-1921, Fax (228) 688-7455, Email bruce.davis@ssc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://nais.msfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/EPS/bizops.cgi?gr=D&;pin=64#RFI-00-1. E-MAIL: Michael R. Thomas, michael.thomas@ssc.nasa.gov. NASA Earth Science Enterprise Request for Information 1. Introduction NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) provides near-term economic and societal payoffs from the public's investment in the Agency through the activities of the Applications, Commercialization, and Education (ACE) Division. A major initiative of the ESE, to be implemented in FY2000, through the ACE Division, is the Earth Science Extension Network (ESEN). ESEN is an integrated initiative involving the development of improved data access, distribution, visualization, display and utilization techniques designed to enable the practical use of ESE results by the broader user community. Initial ESEN efforts will focus on state and local organizations that could use remotely sensed data to perform their day-to-day activities. As an integral part of the ESEN Initiative, the goal of the State and Local Program will be to provide the operational use of ESE science results, applications, technology, and data products by state and local resource managers and policymakers. The objectives are to: (1) capture, understand and address the practical decision-making needs of the state and local user community; (2) mobilize NASA expertise in applications, science and technology that can meet those needs; and, (3) extend the socio-economic benefits directly to state and local users through a series of cooperative applications activities. 2. Rationale Many of the Nation's critical challenges in the early 21st Century will stem from the availability, use and management of the Earth's finite resources. Most decisions that govern the use and care of these resources are made at the state and local level. NASA science, technology and data have advanced to a stage where they can be applied to monitor and manage many of these resources. Furthermore, NASA has innovative partnership programs to team with commercial data providers to design, develop, and evaluate prototype data products that could be used with NASA provided data to provide customized solutions to regional problems. Understanding regional variation in terms of requirements for image data is important. Some state and local needs involve human health, including comprehensive management of safe, dependable drinking water, the understanding of and informed responses to environmental conditions contributing to diseases, and the safety of people exposed to natural hazards such as suburban wildfires. Other needs involve urban and infrastructure planning, where land use and demographics are changing rapidly and are applying pressures on parks and recreation facilities, transportation networks, and environmental quality. The Nation's shoreline also is under pressure from development and, as a consequence, prediction and mitigation of impact from severe natural events is important to protect both people and properties. 3. Recent Activities To understand the requirements and define priorities of state and local government organizations, ACE has conducted three joint workshops with representatives of this community. Thepurpose of these workshops was to establish a basis for a NASA strategy to cooperate with state and local entities in a program to utilize advanced remote sensing techniques and related technologies to solve state and local problems. A small workshop was held in Santa Barbara on June 3-4, 1999, confirmed the need for a state and local effort and identified two sets of information needs, one for state level issues and one for local issues. These needs were presented to a larger workshop in Denver on June 24-26, 1999. This workshop included a significant number of representatives from state and local organizations and was hosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Western Governors' Association (WGA). Their review of the information needs was in basic agreement with the findings of the Santa Barbara workshop. Finally, the same list of information needs, along with the definition of the five work elements and a Preliminary Program Plan, were discussed at the Annual Meeting of the National State Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) in New Orleans on August 31, 1999. Throughout these meetings representatives of state and local government agencies were involved along with staff members of the host association. 4. Partnership Opportunities NASA is seeking responses to this Request for Information (RFI) in order to form partnership relationships with a limited number (i.e. 2 -- 4) of national associations that collectively represent and serve the interests of all state and local governments. NASA views the approach of using national associations that include direct participation by state and local agency personnel as the most efficient and coordinated way to accomplish the objectives of the State and Local Program. The basic function of the associations is to serve as partners with NASA, and possibly other federal agencies, to accomplish Program objectives. Details of other responsibilities will be negotiated with the associations but would include: 1. Serve on the Program steering committee to oversee implementation of the Program. 2. Serve as the primary mechanism to communicate the needs and priorities of their constituents to NASA. 3. Serve to coordinate the distribution and communication of information from NASA to their constituents. Associations should be familiar with remote sensing and geospatial technologies to the extent that they can communicate effectively regarding requirements and results of partnership activities. Associations interested in responding to the RFI should include the following information: 1. Who do you represent -- what level of government and primary interface within that level of government? 2. How large is your association and how is it managed? 3. How does information get from your association to your members? 4. What is your experience working with Federal government -- does this involve technology transfer or similar activity? 5. What is your experience base or interest in geospatial technologies (i. e. remote sensing, GIS, GPS) and do you have dedicated staff in this area? The partnership approach envisioned by NASA is based on the concept of cost sharing by all parties. Cost sharing is generally defined as sharing of direct cost, dedicated staff or facilities, or the acquisition of dedicated equipment or materials. Associations responding to this RFI should present a description of how they would work in partnership with NASA. Incidental costs associated with travel and other obligations resulting from the partnership may be paid by NASA. Submissions to this RFI should be no greater than 7 pages in length and are due no later than January 21. NASA anticipates selection of associations by late February in time for participation in a set of regional workshops to be conducted throughout FY 2000. If you have any questions please call Dr. Michael R. Thomas or Dr. Bruce A. Davis at Stennis Space Center (228-688-2042). Stennis Space Center will coordinate the responses with NASA HQ for selection. Submissions to this RFI should be sent to: Dr. Bruce A. Davis Building 1100, Mail Code XA00 NASA Stennis Space Center SSC, MS 39529 Posted 11/18/99 (D-SN402096). (0322)

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