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GeoConnections
Announcement of Opportunity
for
Canadian Organizations
2007 Announcement of Opportunity for CGDI User Communities
UC/IC-Announcement code: IAO7xxxxx3
Announcement Summary
WHAT IS THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OF OPPORTUNITY?
The objective of this announcement of opportunity (AO) is to solicit letters of intent for projects that will ultimately account for, build and draw upon distributed sources of geospatial information over the Internet. Projects will address specific issues within one of three priority areas: public health, public safety and security, and matters of importance to Aboriginal People. Projects should access and make use of the policies, standards, technologies, services and datasets that comprise the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) and facilitate information sharing in support of decision making. Furthermore, these projects should build capacity within user communities, and also promote, expand, and increase the use of the CGDI.
NOTE: This third round of the 2007 Announcement of Opportunity for CGDI User Communities will not be soliciting projects addressing the theme of Environment and Sustainable Development. Also, in order to meet strategic targets, GeoConnections may give special consideration to projects focused in the North and Atlantic Canada, or Capacity Building and those addressing needs related to multi-agency systems.
WHO CAN APPLY?
Letters of Intent will be accepted from end-users or enablers. Suppliers and developers are encouraged to collaborate with end-users and enablers to complete projects. Suppliers of authoritative data may also be eligible for applying, depending upon the type of project.
WHAT CAN BE APPLIED FOR?
GeoConnections is soliciting letters of intent for initiatives comprised of one or more of the following projects. For example, it is possible to submit a letter of intent that describes an initiative that begins with the development of a strategic plan, followed by a user needs assessment and culminates in a regional atlas or a geospatial decision support system. This integrated approach ensures that initiatives move through each logical step in the spectrum of opportunities offered here.
We encourage you to carefully read this document and whichever combination of appendices is relevant to your initiative:
Category 1 - Strategic Planning:
Projects funded under this category support the development of strategic and business plans for the use of sustainable, collaborative geomatics strategies that leverage the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI). See Appendix F for further details.
Category 2 - Capacity Building:
Projects funded under this category support the building of internal, sustainable capacity to use geomatics (e.g. hardware/software, data, training) for decision-making within regional partnerships and support preparations to take advantage of the CGDI. See Appendix G for further details.
Category 3 - User Needs Assessments:
Projects funded under this category support the research of users’ needs for data, geospatial decision support systems, and regional atlases that make use of standards endorsed by GeoConnections and technologies that form part of the CGDI. See Appendix H for further details.
Category 4 - Publishing Thematic Data:
Projects funded under this category support the publishing of geospatial data online through the CGDI by closest to source data suppliers. Projects must make use of standards endorsed by GeoConnections. See Appendix I for further details.
Category 5 - Thematic Data Standards:
Projects funded under this category support thematic geospatial data content standards through the development of best practice guides, data exchange guides and/or data models. See Appendix J for further details.
Category 6 - Regional Atlases for Community Awareness:
Projects funded under this category support the collaborative development of online atlases that use the CGDI to enable access to integrated, distributed, regional-scale, inter-jurisdictional geospatial information as thematic views, relevant to specific end-users. Regional atlases will increase community awareness, and support the decision-making needs of actively engaged end-user communities. See Appendix K for further details.
Category 7 - Geospatial Decision Support Systems:
Projects funded under this category support the development of Geospatial Decision Support Systems that process and analyze essential data and information, including geospatial data and information that is required by decision makers. The systems must make use of standards endorsed by GeoConnections, and technologies which form part of the CGDI. See Appendix L for further details.
Note that the letters of intent may request funding for multiple linked projects. For example a letter of intent may request funding for a user needs assessment, followed by development of a regional atlas with thematic data publishing linked to content within the regional atlas. Or, a letter of intent may request funding for a strategic planning project followed by a capacity building project.
Projects must support specific issues within one of the following priority areas:
- Public Health: Facilitating Population Health Surveillance or Health Emergency Response and Inter-Emergency Planning
- Public Safety and Security: Facilitating Critical Infrastructure Identification or Situational Awareness & Management of Consequences
- Matters of Importance to Aboriginal People: FacilitatingLand and Resource Management/Community Planning.
HOW MUCH CAN BE APPLIED FOR?
GeoConnections funding and project length varies depending on the type of project(s) applied for. The maximum funding per project is as follows.
- Category1 - Strategic Planning: $40,000
- Category 2 - Capacity Building: $70,000
- Category 3 - User Needs Assessments: $40,000
- Category 4 - Publishing Thematic Data: $75,000
- Category 5 - Thematic Data Standards: $75,000
- Category 6 - Regional Atlases for Community Awareness: $100,000
- Category 7 - Geospatial Decision Support Systems: $150,000
WHAT IS THE PROCESS?
GeoConnections is soliciting letters of intent (LOI) which are no more than five pages long. The template for LOIs is the same, no matter which or how many projects are being applied for. These letters will be evaluated against defined criteria and will form the basis for discussions with GeoConnections’ staff and for subsequent screening.
Letters of Intent must be submitted by e-mail to Jodi Rowland at the GeoConnections Value Management Office: jrowland@nrcan.gc.ca.
On the basis of this evaluation and screening, a select number of applicants will be invited to submit full proposals for the first project of their initiative. These proposals will be reviewed against the criteria required for each project. Additional criteria, specific to each project type, may be used and can be found in the respective Appendices (F to L). Note that proposals should be written and must be submitted by the proponent, and not a collaborator or private contractor. Full proposals are accepted by invitation only. Invitation to submit a full proposal is not a guarantee of funding.
See the full announcement for more detail.
WHAT ARE THE DEADLINES?
This announcement defines three rounds of funding as follows:
|
Round 1 (closed) |
Round 2 (closed) |
Round 3 |
Announcement Released |
June 6, 2007 |
Sept 17, 2007 |
January 7, 2008 |
Letter of Intent deadline |
July 6, 2007 |
October 12, 2007 |
February 1, 2008 |
Proposal deadline |
August 31, 2007 |
December 7, 2007 |
March 28, 2008 |
Project start (estimated) |
December 1, 2007 |
April 1, 2008 |
June 30, 2008 |
These deadlines and rounds are subject to change.
For additional funding opportunities, please refer to http://www.geoconnections.org/en/opportunities
For all deadlines, documentation must be received no later than midnight (2400) Pacific Standard Time.
WHO DO I CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION?
Paula Rojas |