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GeoEarthScope News


GeoEarthScope Acquisition Plan

NSF revised the GeoEarthScope plan in early 2006. The previous plan, in which individual proposals for imagery and geochronology acquisition were submitted by PI's in response to NSF Document 04-589, is being phased out. The new plan centralizes GeoEarthScope project management at UNAVCO and will be guided by working groups consisting of members representing the LiDAR, InSAR and geochronology communities. An overview of the new acquisition plan follows.

Imagery

In order to meet the goals of NSF's EarthScope Facility Project, UNAVCO intends to procure LiDAR and InSAR imagery for selected targets from appropriate providers. In carrying out this effort, UNAVCO will seek advice and assistance from LiDAR and InSAR working groups selected to represent EarthScope's LiDAR and InSAR user communities. UNAVCO will identify providers and acquire imagery through various means that may include an RFP process and data request proposals.

  1. LiDAR and InSAR working groups will be formed. These working groups will 1) represent the LiDAR and InSAR communities, 2) identify and prioritize targets for the acquisition of LiDAR and InSAR imagery, 3) advise UNAVCO as needed to identify acquisition specifications, techniques and data products, 4) assist UNAVCO as needed to identify imagery providers, an effort that may include providing guidelines for the creation of a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) and assisting with evaluating RFP responses, and 5) assist UNAVCO as needed to develop acquisition proposals to InSAR providers (e.g. ESA Cat-1 proposals). Working group membership will be determined by UNAVCO and approved by NSF.
  2. UNAVCO will identify LiDAR and InSAR providers capable of providing imagery products as specified by the working groups. Some providers may be identified through an open RFP process. Some providers, such as the European Space Agency (ESA) for InSAR imagery, may be considered de facto providers. Final decisions on the providers to receive subawards/subcontracts will be made by UNAVCO with approval by NSF.
  3. Members of the LiDAR and InSAR working groups will be ineligible to respond to any RFP's associated with the working groups.
  4. UNAVCO will purchase imagery products from the identified providers. For LiDAR, it is assumed that this will include coordinating subawards/subcontracts for dedicated acquisition missions. For InSAR, it is assumed that this will include the submission of proposals to providers (e.g. ESA Cat-1 proposals).
  5. Imagery data acquired under GeoEarthScope will be archived with other EarthScope data products by UNAVCO either at UNAVCO or at a selected archive. All data and meta-data will be publicly available as soon as possible with no artificial delays introduced.

Geochronology

In order to meet the goals of NSF's EarthScope Facility Project, UNAVCO intends to procure geochronology services from several laboratories. In carrying out this effort, UNAVCO will seek advice and assistance from a working group selected to represent a broad spectrum of the geochronology community. UNAVCO will identify labs through a request to provide geochronology products using various techniques (argon, cosmogenic, etc.) that will be purchased by UNAVCO using EarthScope MREFC funds. This document describes the steps that will be followed in this process.

  1. A geochronology working group will be formed. This group will 1) represent the geochronology community, 2) identify geochronology techniques and products most appropriate to achieving the scientific goals of EarthScope, 3) provide guidelines for the creation of a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) including a delineation of the dating techniques to be procured, specification of the standards to be met by each technique, metadata to be included, and RFP review process, and 4) evaluate responses to this RFP and make recommendations. Working group membership will be determined by UNAVCO and approved by NSF.
  2. UNAVCO will issue an open RFP for vendors (laboratories) capable of providing geochronology products as specified by the working group. Responses to the RFP will include technical details of the analysis services proposed along with a corresponding price list for geochronology products. The working group will review the proposals and produce a ranked list recommending labs and corresponding dollar volumes, for each. There are no a priori constraints on the number of techniques to be included, nor on the number of labs for each technique. Final decisions on the labs to receive subawards will be made by UNAVCO with approval by NSF.
  3. Members of the Geochronology Working Group will be ineligible to respond to the RFP.
  4. UNAVCO will purchase ages from the successful laboratories. Upon notification of their award, the labs will invoice UNAVCO and receive payment for a specified number of ages. UNAVCO and/or NSF will then maintain a credit list indicating the number of dates available from each of the labs.
  5. Geologic samples, from which ages will be produced, will be provided to the identified labs by principal investigators successful in NSF peer review process. UNAVCO will have no financial involvement at this stage.
  6. For all samples that are dated under GeoEarthScope, the Principal Investigators and the dating lab will provide UNAVCO with complete data and meta-data regarding the sample. These will be archived with other EarthScope data products by UNAVCO either at UNAVCO or at a selected archive. All data and meta-data will be publicly available as soon as possible with no artificial delays introduced.
 

Last modified: 2019-12-24  02:12:56  America/Denver