Federal Contracting Vehicle Benefits State and Local Efforts

The Takeaway: The vehicle makes available tens of millions of dollars for geospatial projects and helps officials respond quickly when disasters strike.

Local, state, and federal agencies are getting faster and easier access to the nation’s top geospatial firms through a streamlined process developed by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management. The contract also can process task orders rapidly during times of national disaster.

Seven firms (representing over 80 subcontractors) are sharing up to $49 million over five years to provide data and services that help communities protect their coastal economies and boost resilience to flooding, development, and other hazards. The Office for Coastal Management has awarded more than 150 task orders on projects that include these five:

  • With funding of $490,000, Fugro Geospatial and EarthDefine are developing a land cover classification for NOAA’s Coastal Change and Analysis Program. It will be used to assess wetlands, wildlife habitat, urban growth, and land changes over time in parts of coastal Alabama, California, Georgia, Mississippi, and Wisconsin.
  • With funding of $372,000, Dewberry collected lidar for northern Lake Michigan’s Beaver Islands and South Manitou Island. NOAA and the National Park Service are using the data to analyze lake-level fluctuations and lake-floor characteristics, critical factors in the coastal economy.
  • With funding of $300,000, Tetra Tech and Atlantic collected high-resolution aerial imagery of coastal Georgia to assess recent hurricane impacts and update the coastal-dock inventory.
  • With funding of $185,000, Quantum Spatial is developing GIS data to be included in MarineCadastre.gov’s Ocean Reporting Tool. The new data will expand tool coverage to the entire U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and add a “mariculture” focus area.
  • With funding of $120,000, Woolpert’s aerial imagery has helped the State of Connecticut monitor and manage land and recreational uses, natural resources, and vegetation. (2018)

More Information: Fact sheet

Partners: Atlantic, Dewberry, EarthDefine, Fugro Geospatial, Quantam Spatial, Tetra Tech, Woolpert

Fast Fact: Did you know that annually, coastal counties produce more than $8.3 trillion in goods and services and pay $3.4 trillion in wages? For more statistics related to this story, check out Economics and Demographics and Ocean Jobs.

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