USGS_response_to_Combined_Questions_for_USGS_OAG_0001.pdf

Questions for USGS OAG SACRAMENTO ACQUISITION BR.

Solicitation: 140G0322Q0006

Purchase Request Number: 0040556240

To Contracting Officer: Cheryl Ciccarelli

1. In paragraph 3 of statement_of_work_nlud_v_2, “For industrial use, ancillary spatial datasets will be used to refine estimates of water use deliveries using industry NAICS codes and industrial land use areas.”

Question: Will the government provide these “ancillary spatial datasets” for analysis use?

No, publicly available data sets compiled by the contractor will be used.

2. In paragraph 4 of statement_of_work_nlud_v_2, “Additionally, other ancillary data sets will be used to refine residential areas that receive self and publicly supplied water, including land pattern metrics, water supply district boundaries (where available), and topographic constraints.”

Question: Will the government provide these “Additionally, other ancillary data sets will be used to refine residential areas that receive self and publicly supplied water,” other ancillary datasets used to refine residential areas

It is our understanding that there are no data sets that provide source water type for all buildings in the US. This analysis will be done using ancillary data and assumptions about community structure. The contractor is responsible for collecting ancillary data and developing defensibly assumptions to support this analysis.

3. In statement_of_work_nlud_v_2, Table 1., Task 1 “Updated

NLUD that includes higher resolution (10 30 m) land use classes, and building heights for urban areas and industrial areas”

Question: How will accuracy of the deliverables be assessed?

Contractor is responsible for developing a defensibly assessment of accuracy, with understanding of data limitations. Emerging publicly available data sets should be used.

a. Commercial and industrial square footage

Contractor will develop defensible analysis; no comprehensive complete data set will be provided by the USGS.

b. Building heights

Contractor will develop defensible analysis; no comprehensive complete data set will be provided by the USGS.

c. Increased resolution of land cover types

Where possibly, 10 m resolution ancillary data sets will be used to refine/improve 30 m dominant land use classification. Higher accuracy land use data will be provided by the contractor for linear features that are smaller than 30 m resolution (e.g., roads). Sub-30 m resolution data will be provided through additional attributes describing the percent of dominant land use classification.

4. In statement_of_work_nlud_v_2

Question: Is there a reference version of the NLUD available open to the public domain?

Link in the paper is broken. Data provided to public.

NLUD documentation is provided here. Note that the link to the NLUD data set in the paper is broken. Contractor should reach out to the author of NLUD for a copy of the data set.

5. In statement_of_work_nlud_v_2

Question: Are ancillary datasets to be used in the project limited to data in the public domain?

Yes, all ancillary data used for this work is available through the public domain.

Q1: Is the government expecting machine learning incorporated into the data set refinement?

Not necessarily. We are not expecting a particular analytical approach, although ML is likely useful for developing these data sets.

Q2: Is this a new contract? Or is there an incumbent contractor currently providing these services?

This is a new contract.

Q3: What is the expected budget? Please determine your pricing based on the solicitation package/Statement of Work.