NASA/Headquarters Acquisition Division, Code CW, 300E Street SW, Washington, DC 20546

A -- PROTOTYPE EARTH SCIENCE INFORMATION PARTNERSHIPS IN SUPPORT OF EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE, CAN-97-MTPE-01 SOL CAN-97-MTPE-01 DUE 071497 POC Martha E Maiden, Program Integration Manager, Phone (301) 286-0012, Fax (301) 286-1671, Email martha.maiden@gsfc.nasa.gov WEB: Click here for the latest information about this notice, http://procurement.nasa.gov/EPS/HQ/date.html#CAN-97-MTPE-01. E-MAIL: Martha E Maiden, martha.maiden@gsfc.nasa.gov. This NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) solicits proposals from all sources for Working Prototype Earth Science Information Partners (WP-ESIPs). Through this solicitation and award process, NASA seeks to support and stimulate public purposes authorized by law; namely, to invigorate the EOS community and encourage it to explore and demonstrate alternate ways for ensuring the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) provides the most valuable, current Earth science data to the research community in a cost-effective, innovative, and useful manner. This CAN begins the first phase of identification, demonstration, and validation of technical approaches that could be used to transition major EOSDIS functions to a Federation of ESIPs. NASA plans to initiate the Federation of ESIPs through an evolutionary, prototyping process, starting with a Working Prototype Federation (WP-Federation) of Working Prototype ESIPs (WP-ESIPs). The objective of the WP-Federation is to experiment with and evolve processes to make Earth system science data easy to preserve, locate, access and use for all beneficial applications, including research, education, and commercial, many of which may cross the Federation membership. This CAN solicits proposals only from those wishing to be Type 2 WP-ESIPs, to be a part of the WP-Federation and to provide information products and services in support of Earth system science. A companion CAN solicits proposals for Type 3 WP-ESIPs. As working prototypes, Type 2 WP-ESIPs are expected to deliver real services to real users, recognizing that the reliability and availability of these services may be limited because the ESIPs are still in an exploratory stage of development. CAN-97-MTPE-01 will be released on or about May 8, 1997. An electronic copy can be obtained from the Mission to Planet Earth Home Page: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/mtpe/ under MTPE Research Announcements or via anonymous ftp at : ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/mtpe. Paper copies will be available for those who do not have access to Internet by calling (202)358-3552 and leaving a message via voice mail. NASA will hold a Preproposal Conference on May 28, 1997 in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area to answer questions about this and the companion CAN. Questions regarding this CAN should be submitted one week ahead of the conference to the e-mail address MTPECOMM@HQ.NASA.GOV in order for NASA to prepare a response for the Conference. Answers for questions raised at the Conference will be provided via the MTPE Home Page. The Preproposal Conference information and logistics will be available on the MTPE Home Page, at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/mtpe/nra.html, prior to the Preproposal Conference. Please check the Home Page for details prior to attending the Preproposal Conference. (0113)

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