EPA to get Virtual Earth technology

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to use Microsoft’s Virtual Earth Mapping technology to make geospatial information easily available, according to an announcement on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site.

The EPA plans to hold a reverse auction to find a contractor that can provide a two-year enterprise license for the Virtual Earth Mapping application programming interfaces, according to the announcement made June 1.

Third-party reverse auction provider FedBid will conduct the online auction, which will be anonymous and done with a browser-based application, the agency said.

Vendors don't have to pay a fee to register, review procurement data or bid on www.FedBid.com. The auction has begun, and bidding will end June 11, the agency said.