The U.S. government is taking aim at its own civil agencies to build a solid customer base for the commercial remote sensing industry. A working group established last spring is presenting its findings to the White House, and preliminary indications are that it views awareness as the single biggest hurdle facing greater use of commercial remote sensing by civil government.
This awareness essentially is two sides of the same coin. Many government agencies are not familiar with the capabilities that now are available from the newest remote sensing systems currently in orbit. Similarly, these agencies do not realize how these systems—and their multifaceted products and services—could serve their earthbound needs.
The working group was put together in the spring shortly after the release of a new White House remote sensing policy. The group held its first formal meeting in May, and it since has held more than two dozen meetings to deliver its implementation plan in September. About 20 agencies have been involved in the process, with the three most active agencies being those named in the policy: NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Open forums have provided input from nonmember agencies and industry groups.
The key to improving awareness among civil government agencies may be communications. The working group encompassed all the interested parties from both government and industry, and its own activities may have sown the seeds of education for government to exploit the technology fully.
“We think of this as a governance model,” says R.J. Thompson, chief, USGS EROS Data Center, and head of the interagency task force implementing the president’s new policy on commercial remote sensing. “[It is] a governance model for improving the communication and coordination among the civil agencies, the flow of information to commercial industry, the visibility of what commercial industry has to offer—all those things play in this governance model.”
This group has worked to establish communications and coordination within the array of civil agencies that are active in the use of remote sensing—particularly space remote sensing—and their scientific programs.
The civil agency representatives on the working group focused on understanding their respective concerns and how the commercial policy will assist in resolving those concerns, Thompson allows. The group aims to build an awareness of the space remote sensing data that is available from commercial sources.
Another objective is facilitation. When civil agencies want to use civil remote sensing data, they would receive advice on available capabilities and methods for obtaining useful products. This thrust would include simplifying the acquisition process.
But, this education and facilitation process is a two-way street. Commercial firms also need to learn about the needs of civil agencies, Thompson notes. So, the group aims to increase awareness of the government requirements process, which has a mixed record of effectiveness among different agencies. Thompson relates that some agencies have fairly clear definitions of requirements, while others do not know how they might use this data and only vaguely understand its value.
“There is a requirements process that needs to be enhanced within the federal agencies,” he says. “Some agencies do a pretty good job of defining their requirements and planning for their future program requirements. Some don’t do as good a job. We are trying to encourage the civil agencies to document their requirements, communicate those to commercial industry, and at the same time make the civil agencies aware of what the commercial industry representatives have to offer,” Thompson explains.
He admits surprise at how difficult it has been to get civil agencies to recognize that this new policy is an opportunity rather than a problem. Many individuals do not have a commitment to the technology and as a result are not inclined to dive into its aspects. Even though officials may not be comfortable with the results if they are not a part of the process, it still can be a struggle to build participation, Thompson allows.
It is the array of products and services from industry that surprise agencies the most, Thompson says. In addition to building and launching systems, the commercial sector has been developing baseline data and value-added services to offer customers. This complex array includes hardware and software, raw imagery data and information products. So, an agency may not know whether it wants raw data or a finished geospatial imagery product. If it wants a finished product, the agency may not know what that product should be or which company is best equipped to provide it.
Every time a civil agency representative goes to a commercial imagery provider, the acquisition becomes a procurement process that may require competition, Thompson notes. “There are a number of things that can be perceived as obstacles to gaining access to that array of products and services,” he adds.
Making civil agencies aware of existing products and capabilities is only part of the solution. Another aspect aims to spur agencies to look ahead to potential requirements in future years. Agency experts might try to predict how they might be able to exploit future remote sensing capabilities—spectra, resolution and products—that do not even exist today, for example.
Once those requirements are understood, government and industry must work to facilitate greater commerce. This might entail governmentwide contracts, or even simple approaches such as having the commercial providers market their wares in their own ways. “We would be building a conduit between industry and civil agencies,” Thompson says.
The group produced its final draft report at the end of August, and industry and government comments ensued through the month of September. The final report was presented to the White House at the end of September.
