Draft Guidelines Procurement of Geospatial Products

 The Guidelines were prepared by a working committee within the ASPRS Professional Practice Division. Chaired by Charles Mondello of Pictometry International Corp., the committee includes representation from the commercial sector, state, and federal government. The intent of the Guidelines is to provide clarification on what constitutes a commercial geospatial mapping product and how procurement of products is differentiated from procurement of professional services.

In fall 2009, ASPRS adopted the "Guidelines for Procurement of Professional Aerial Imagery, Photogrammetry, Lidar and Related Remote Sensor-based Geospatial Mapping Services," which provides recommendations on the methodology of procuring professional services. This document updated procurement guidelines that were first adopted in 1986.

The need for differentiating best practices for the procurement of professional services, technical services, and commercial geospatial products has led to the ongoing efforts in guideline development. Once approved by the ASPRS Board, these Guidelines will be paired with the 2009 Professional Services Guidelines to form a complete package of procurement guidelines for the industry.

A draft copy of the "Guidelines for Procurement of Commercial Geospatial Products" is available online at http://www.asprs.org/a/society/divisions/ppd/products/CGPG_public_review_draft_1.doc and appears in the June 2011 issue of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PE&RS). Interested parties are encouraged to submit comments by email to guidelines@asprs.org no later than 15^th January 2012. The current plan is to review all comments and finalise the document for ASPRS Board approval at its 23^rd March 2012 meeting.