A. INTRODUCTION This Request For Information (RFI) is for market research and planning purposes only and shall not be considered as an Invitation for Bid, Request for Quotation, Request for Proposal or as an obligation on the part of the Government to acquire any products or services. Your response to this RFI will be treated as information only. No entitlement to payment of direct or indirect costs or charges by the Government will arise as a result of contractor submission of responses to this announcement or the Government use of such information. The Government reserves the right to reject, in whole or part, any contractor input resulting from this request. This request does not constitute a solicitation for proposals or the authority to enter into negotiations to award a contract. Unsolicited proposals related to this announcement will not be accepted. No funds have been authorized, appropriated, or received for this effort. The information provided may be used by the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in developing its acquisition strategy, Performance Work Statement, Statement of Objectives and/or Performance Based Specification(s). Parties responding to this RFI are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or competition sensitive information contained in their response. Responders are cautioned against making blanket exclusions from public disclosure, which may present USGS with difficulty in determining whether to pursue a procurement for these services. The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this RFI or to otherwise pay for the information submitted in response to this RFI. Information gathered from this RFI will be useful in determining availability of sources, developing a description of services, defining deliverables, and developing a government estimate. B. BACKGROUND The USGS collaborates with the DOIs National Park Service (NPS) to develop baseline land cover/land use products for various parks within the NPS system. Typically, these datasets are created from 4-band stereo imagery with a resolution of 0.3-0.5 meters/pixel. Stereo models are constructed using GPS/IMU information acquired at exposure so that photos can be viewed and classified on 3D computer monitors. C. INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPONDENTS 1. USGS anticipates a need for collecting high-resolution digital aerial imagery covering approximately 3,500 square miles for the Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming in anticipation of mapping all or portions of this area. Two resolutions are anticipated 0.3 meter/pixel and 0.5 meter/pixel (resolution selected will be based on detail required and budget). In addition, each set of imagery will be color-balanced 12-bit (or higher), 4-band (red, green, blue, near IR) stereo imagery with at least 60% endlap and 30% sidelap. Collection preference is late-summer and leaf-on. Provide pricing structure/strategy, recommended unit of issue, and estimated price per unit of issue for these services. 2. Address related collection costs, schedules, and risks if applicable. Include feedback or suggestions on related issues. 3. Identify your business by name, address, and name/phone/email address of primary point of contact to answer questions regarding your submission. 4. Any proprietary data that is included in the response must be marked appropriately at the paragraph level (page level is acceptable for full page table, graphs, etc). Any response marked proprietary at the document level will not be considered. 5. Your response must be in Adobe Systems(R) PDF (Portable Document Format) format and readable by the Adobe Acrobat Reader(TM). To aid in Government review, the total pages for the entire submission are limited to not more than 10 pages and file size shall not exceed 2 MB. Your response must be provided by email to
[email protected] no later than 3:30 PM (Central Time) on May 25, 2012. E. CONTACT INFORMATION Clarifications or questions regarding this RFI must be submitted in writing to
[email protected]. All clarifications or questions must reference this RFI. Contracting Office Address/Point of Contact: Kris MurrayContract SpecialistU.S. Geological Survey, Reston Acquisition BranchNational Wildlife Health Center6006 Schroeder RoadMadison, WI 53711-6223phone: 608-270-2446fax:
[email protected]