- Both the GSA and USGS have laser scanning and LiDAR projects in the que.
- The GSA will issue 5 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts and the USGS will focus on elevation data collects.
- Unfortunately the go-ahead for these projects continues to get delayed.
The GSA has released their detailed spending plan as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. They have been authorized by Congress to spend some $5.55 billion on a variety of building projects, which as noted by Charles Matta, Director of Federal Buildings and Maintenance at the recent Spar conference will include funding for 5 Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity laser scanning service contracts.
BTW, you can sign up to receive GSA 3D-4D-BIM and laser scanning notices here, and there is also a valuable summary of how to do business with the GSA.
The USGS is supposed to be receiving their notice of stimulus funding any day. A portion of this funding will be going for elevation data, which translates into LiDAR projects. The funds for elevation data will be used in 3 ways: 1) for grants solicited from non-federal partners through an announcement on grants.gov (the announcement should be out in a few weeks); 2) to support lidar acquisition for several ongoing USGS science projects nominated by USGS regional science management; 3) through USGS geospatial contracts for collaborative work with other Federal agencies. The USGS focus for data acquisition with the stimulus funds is still on coastal watersheds and counties.
In both cases, in checking with the key individuals the actual notices have not been made to date. It really is unfortunate that these projects are being delayed given the state of the economy. As soon as I hear I will let you know.
