Interior reviewing Geospatial LOB proposals

The Interior Department’s U.S. Geological Survey agency is reviewing vendors’ proposals to provide program management support for the Geospatial Line of Business initiative.USGS asked vendors on the General Services Administration’s Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services schedule to submit bids by June 18.Under the request for quotes, USGS wants vendors to provide 16 program management support services including project management office support, quarterly and ad hoc reports for the Office of Management and Budget, fiscal 2008 business case and funding strategy, performance management plan, and business requirements strategy and plan.The RFQ also asks the vendor to develop a geospatial business architecture, which will help agencies understand and implement a standard geospatial business model, value chains for data and services, and other geospatial components.The winning vendor will have to develop a joint business case for 2009 and funding strategy four weeks after the award is made, and develop a performance management plan in July.The RFQ comes more than a year after GSA released a request for information for the initiative. Under the Geospatial LOB, the government will look to identify opportunities to consolidate investments; analyze cost benefits, alternatives and risks; and define roles, responsibilities, performance measures and milestones, the RFI states.OMB set the line of business in motion in the President’s 2007 budget submission to Congress. The administration hopes to identify geospatial data, improve how it is shared among agencies and save money through a more coordinated governmentwide approach.