NGA posts open source operations RFI

By Loren Blinde July 14, 2017

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On July 13, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency posted a request for information about open source operations support. Responses to this RFI are due no later than 9:00 a.m., Eastern Time on July 21.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is seeking information on how an interested contractor can support the collection and manipulation of open source information for use in a classified environment using a non-proprietary software service.

The purpose of this RFI is to determine interest, feasibility, and capability. It does not constitute a Request for Proposal or indication that the Government will contract for any of the items and/or services described in this notice. In accordance with FAR 52.215-3, the Government will not pay for any information/items submitted in response to this synopsis. Data will not be returned.

This RFI does not commit the Government to award a contract. This RFI is for market research only and there is currently no solicitation for this effort. Any solicitation resulting from this announcement will be published separately. Not responding to the RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued.

The following sections of this announcement contain details of the scope of technical efforts of interest, along with instructions for the submission of responses.

Background & Scope

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Science and Methodologies Directorate (ATS) program uses open source and other sources of geo-spatial data to provide a holistic view of geospatial-related activities.

ATS currently uses Open Source Software Image Map (OSSIM) for the collection of geospatial-related open source data. APIs are developed to pull information from OSSIM; algorithms, and other computer science techniques, are developed to pull imagery data for placement into the designated Amazon Cloud C2S S3 bucket. Services are configured to extract imagery data for search, discovery, and access from the S3 bucket.

The collected data is transferred to classified S3 buckets for further analysis and dissemination. Algorithms and other computer science techniques are developed using O2 Services visual, indexed, and cataloged tools to prepare imagery for use by NGA customers.

NGA is interested in comments or recommendations for the following:

What resources may be necessary to manage the collection of open source data including the development of APIs, algorithms, and other techniques?
What resources may be necessary to manipulate the data in the classified environment for ingest into legacy systems?
What labor categories would you recommend to complete the anticipated duties for the unclassified and classified?
What contract type would you recommend?
What information would you need to know to respond to a solicitation, if a solicitation was issued?
Is there anything else the government may need to know or better understand for inclusion in a solicitation?