Program Notes
Many federal agencies will be able to consolidate purchases of geospatial technology under the new, governmentwide Geospatial Line of Business initiative. Work is under way on a multi-vendor blanket purchase agreement (BPA)—potentially the largest in history—that will provide small, medium and large government users a common portfolio of geospatial technology options. Sponsored by the Office of Management and Budget, the initiative focuses on improving government effectiveness by promoting the use of geospatial information in order to improve both the policy decisions and the internal business processes of federal agencies. The initiative is coordinated by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) chaired by the Department of the Interior.
“This consolidated purchase of geospatial technology will help reduce costs and greatly improve the government’s access to high-quality commercial geospatial software, data and other products,” said James Cason, associate deputy secretary of the interior and chair of the FGDC steering committee.
Although federal agencies currently use many of the same commercial products to perform geospatial operations, they use different contractual vehicles in procuring geospatial software and services. This practice hinders agency savings and forces commercial vendors to invest disproportionately in coordinating many separate accounts within an agency or department. As a consequence, many agencies do not have access to other services the commercial sector might provide, such as training and technical support.
The Geospatial Common Services Work Group, composed of representatives from several agencies, is working with the General Services Administration SmartBUY Team to implement the multi-vendor BPA to provide a common set of available software and services in geospatial technology. Types of software within the current scope of the BPA include computer-aided design, Web-based visualization, imagery analysis, geocoding, national and international road networks, and geospatial analytics and modeling. The SmartBUY BPA is expected to deliver a range of benefits to both government customers and participating vendors, including cost savings and improved efficiency across government; enhanced alignment with the Federal Enterprise Architecture by enabling access by all agencies to a common set of services and software; and increased access to value-added services such as training, integration services and batch services.
Officials expect to select vendors for the program early next year. ♦
* Compiled by KMI Media Group staff
