Department Of The Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Acquisition and Federal Assistance, Mail Stop 205B, Room 6A331, 12201 Sunrise Valley, Reston, VA 20192

T -- FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COMMITTEE (FGDC) FRAMEWORK DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS PROGRAM (FDPP) COMPETITIVE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROGRAM DUE 051697 POC Tammy Fanning, Contract Negotiator (703) 648-7363 WEB: FGDC Web Site, http://www.fgdc.gov. E-MAIL: fgdc e-mail, gdc@usgs.gov. The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) invites applications for competitive cooperative agreement awards under the FGDC National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Framework Demonstration Projects Program (FDPP) for fiscal year 1997. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (FDAC) Program Number 15.808 Geological Survey, Research and Data Acquisition The purpose of the FGDC NSDI FDPP task is to facilitate and provide resources for the development and implementation of the NSDI framework concept. Under this FY 1997 program announcement, applications are to be directed towards projects that test a full range of information content; technical, operational, and business contexts; and institutional interactions of the framework concept. These sites will demonstrate the sustained ability, over a geographic area, to supply data to the greater geospatial data community from locally available data sources through the implementation of the framework process. In addition, these projects will provide practicalexamples in implementation, suggest innovative alternative approaches pursued to accomplish the framework goals and indicate topics for future research and development. Applicants are being sought who are establishing long-term organizational structures, and cooperative arrangements with other organizations in sustained efforts to build, maintain, and disseminate framework data resources. Outcomes of these projects will include the establishment of operational framework sites that will provide guidance on policies and practices for the framework. They also will act as examples of applied framework for other implementers and as starting points for future framework research and development. Applications of digital geospatial data vary greatly, but users have a recurring need for a few common themes of data. The framework concept outlined in the report "Development of a National Digital Geospatial Data Framework" (April, 1995) proposes a means by which the geospatial data community can work together to produce and maintain commonly needed data for national, regional, state, and local analyses. Within the geospatial data community, multi-agency, and multi-sector partnerships are being established in local and regional areas to collaboratively leverage resources and funding, and coordinate data collection, utilization, and access. The framework builds on these activities by providing a basic information content, and the technical, operational, and business contexts by which a distributed, collaborative data collection and maintenance effort for the nation would operate. The information content considered by framework consists of geodetic control, digital orthoimagery, elevation, transportation, hydrography, governmental units, and cadastral data categories. While the framework concept is well received by the geospatial data community, questions remain as to its practical implementation, and the modifications in approach that will occur as the community evolves. This program is a means by which the FGDC facilitates and provides resources for the development, and implementation of the NSDI Framework concept. This program will fund the development of institutions and technology needed for framework operations. Proposals should be from geographic areas where multiple parties have data to share for at least a subset of the framework data content. Project activities may include establishment of the following institutional roles: evaluating, developing and implementing technical standards; coordinating data creation, maintenance, and dissemination for a geographic area; ensuring updates of framework data from local data contributions; developing data quality certification policies; and ensuring data integration among themes, and geographic areas. Technical development and applications may include the following: permanent feature-based identification; the support of multiple resolution data; mechanisms for maintaining the users' data investment when updating their data holding from the framework; processes for gathering and evaluating user satisfaction to the framework; and the evaluation of methods for implementing metadata (including data quality information), required for the framework data. Applications may be submitted by State and local government agencies, educational institutions, private firms, private foundations, and Federally acknowledged or state-recognized Native American tribes or groups. Each project must be collaborative and involve two or more organizations. The FGDC encourages the collaboration of Federal agencies in these projects, however, Federal agencies may not lead a FDPP project nor submit proposals. The USGS intends to award approximately 7 cooperative agreements with funds totaling $460,000 during fiscal year 1997. Funds requested for a specific project shall not exceed $65,000. Authority for this program is contained in the Organic Act of March 3, 1879, 43 U.S.C. 31 and Executive Order 12906. The program announcement is expected to be available on or about March 7, 1997. Applications must be received on or before May 16, 1997. The report and additional information about the framework are available from the FGDC Secretariat. The materials can be retrieved from the committee by mail at the U.S. Geological Survey, 590 National Center, Reston, VA 20192; by voice telephone at (703) 648-5514, by facsimile at (703) 648-5755 or at the site/link at the bottom of this notice. Copies of Program Announcement No. 1434-HQ-97-PA-00023 may be obtained by writing to Tammy Fanning, U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Acquisition and Federal Assistance, Mail Stop 205B, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, Virginia 20192. Requests may also be made by facsimile to (703) 648-7901. Confirmation by telephone at (703) 648-7372 is recommended. (0043)

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