RFI - 2023 Data Science Platform

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY.  This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future.  This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever.  Further, NGA is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals.  Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI.  All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense.  Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. 

The purpose of this RFI is to determine those who can satisfy the following requirements for access to commercial and unclassified government GEOINT. NGA’s Economic and Security Division (AOR) is interested in programmatically accessing a host of specific datasets from a common repository to fulfill its missions.

1.  Requirements

AOR seeks a vendor of commercial and government GEOINT including, but not limited to, various missions and products of Sentinel, Modis, Aster, Landsat, and VIIRS, as well as a population density raster, CHIRPS, and ArcticDEM. The offerings should include optical, radar, IR, and hyper-spectral imagery. AOR is seeking Software as a Service (SaaS) rather than Data as a Service (DaaS), and wishes to bring custom algorithms and packages to the data. The data should be gridded, tiled, and otherwise staged for processing visually and programmatically. AOR prefers a python-based infrastructure and environment for working the data (e.g. Jupyter Notebeooks or python API), as this is the language most common throughout the NGA data science community. AOR desires the ability for documentation to help work the data, and support NGA with technical and scientific consulting on its unclassified missions. Finally, it seeks flexibility in terms of use regarding the requirement to report activities to the vendor.

2.  Requested Information

          2.1. Administrative

Information to include the following as a minimum:  Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, company website, and e-mail of designated point(s) of contact.

Business Type: Based upon North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 518210, Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services provided the best fit for describing this request for information, as applicable to this acquisition, the responder is to provide answers to the following questions: 

To be considered for a Small Business set-aside, at least 50% of the cost of contract performance incurred for personnel shall be expended for employees of the responder. (FAR 52.219-14, Limitation of Subcontracting)    

• Are you a Small Business? (FAR 19.102), If so, which type:
• Small Disadvantaged small business? (FAR 19.304)
• Service Disabled small business? (FAR 19.14)
• 8(a) Small Disadvantaged small business? (FAR 19.8)
• HUBZone small business? (FAR 19.13)
• Woman-Owned Small Business? (FAR 19.15)
• Involved in a mentor and/or protégé program? (DFARS 219.71)

• Recommendation for another NAICS Code?  Provide rationale for any NAICS Code applicable to the planned acquisition.
• Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) Code:       

3.  Responses

Interested parties shall respond to this RFI with a white paper and include the following:

• Response to Sections 1 and 2 above.
• Written responses shall not include proprietary information. Any responses that are marked proprietary will not be considered.
• To aid in the Government review, any response shall be in Microsoft Word for Office or compatible format and shall not exceed 10 pages.
• The first page of the submission must state the RFI title and provide the name, mailing address, phone number, fax number, company website, and e-mail of designated point(s) of contact. The first page shall also provide a short description of the company to include capabilities, company size and category (e.g. large, small, small disadvantaged).

4.  Summary

This RFI is only intended for the Government to identify sources that can provide the needed services and determine the best way forward. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding to the Government. The Government has not made a commitment to procure any of the RFI requirements discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.