A01 PWS Small Grains Area Estimates Middle East_North Africa.docx

Performance Work Statement (PWS)

Small Grains Planted Area Monitoring, Evaluation, and Estimates for the Middle East and North Africa

1.0 BACKGROUND

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Global Market Analysis (GMA), International Production Assessment Division’s (IPAD) strategic mission and mandate is to produce and provide the most objective and accurate assessment of the global agricultural production outlook, and the conditions affecting crop production and food security in the world. The reports are produced and provided monthly to the USDA’s World Agriculture Outlook Board (WAOB) through the Interagency Commodity Estimates Committees (ICEC) chaired by WAOB senior analysts. Each month, IPAD reports are used in the USDA’s publication of crop supply and demand estimates for the world in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.

IPAD utilizes satellite-based remote sensing indicators and analyses to provide timely, relevant, and strategic imagery intelligence and geospatial information to monitor and quantify agricultural crop planted area, yield, and production in support of the USDA/FAS marketing and export credit decisions, as well as promote international trade. Early or advance signals and warning of unusual or anomalous agricultural crop conditions or rapid changes in cropping areas and production outlook detected by satellite imagery derivatives such as land use/land cover classification or crop area identification is beneficial to agricultural producers, commodity markets, and policy-decision makers. The Middle East and North African regions presents significant operational challenges to FAS/IPAD in terms of reliability and accuracy of data collection, analysis, evaluation, and actionable reporting of crop area and productivity. This is due in part, to the current limited practice of sourcing estimates from the national/public institutions such as Ministries of Agriculture, National Bureau of Statistics, and in-country private industry crop reporting sources. These reports can at best be characterized as random-unpredictable schedules, with the accuracy and reliability ranges from quantitatively good-to-poor to non-existent, and generally qualitative. Often the regions are faced with internal conflicts leading to disruption and disorganized public and private services.

FAS/IPAD needs to have an independent source of small grains (wheat and barley) area estimates for the countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The Middle East and North Africa account for 22 and 50 percent of global wheat and barley imports, respectively. FAS is trusted by U.S. decision-makers and entities around the world to provide relevant, sound, and reliable information related to foreign agricultural markets, crop conditions, trade barriers, and related policy developments. In addition, through our work, we maintain robust public-facing databases to provide up-to-date information, such as Production, Supply and Demand (PSD). More reliable crop area estimates will improve crop production and import forecasts.

In-season high spatial resolution (5 meter or less) satellite imagery-based derivatives (planted area estimates, crop identification maps) over the Middle East and North Africa countries will augment other “Landsat Class” satellite imagery (10 to 30 meter) which will be used to monitor and quantify small grains (wheat, barley). High spatial resolution satellite imagery-based products are of particular emphasis in these regions primarily due to: (a) lack of opportunity for IPAD analysts to conduct ground-truthing sampling operations, (b) insufficient or absence of reliable calibration (training) and validation datasets, (c) the potential to inform on challenges related to cropping season planted area spatial extent, a critical factor in monitoring crop progress within season and between seasons throughout the growing season, and (d) provide early warning near-real-time indications of potential agricultural disasters from climate, weather, or environmental factors.

All satellite imagery-based crop planted area monitoring and quantifying reports will be delivered by the vendor to USDA/FAS/IPAD and shall provide access to the reports via vendor’s preferred operational platforms, including, but not limited to Application Programming Interface (API) for ArcGIS and standard web browser or streaming service interfaces. Web streaming and downloading shall be available via applicable web services and compatible with the existing USDA/FAS/IPAD platforms and Google Earth Engine cloud environments.

2.0 OBJECTIVE

The objective of this acquisition is to acquire mid-season (March-April) satellite imagery-based planted area monitoring and quantification reports, and landcover classification (crop identification) maps of small grains (wheat and barley) over select countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The countries of interest listed in order of priority are Syria, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.

The small grains (wheat and barley) crop area monitoring, quantification, and crop classification/identification (CropID) maps will be constrained by cropland or cultivated regions. This will limit the scope and spatial extent of satellite imagery collections to only agricultural intensive areas. That is, the area monitoring and quantification reports and CropID maps of small grains (wheat and barley) will be limited to Areas-of-Interest (AOIs) defined by the intensity of agricultural cropping. In addition to the target small grains AOIs, efforts will be made to monitor land use changes or expansion of small grains cropland in known marginal or non-agricultural regions. The contractor shall be responsible for the determination and incorporation of such regions.

3.0 SCOPE OF WORK

The vendor shall deliver to FAS/GMA-IPAD mid-season (March -August) reports of small grains (wheat and barley) planted area derived from satellite imagery and landcover classification (crop identification) maps over select countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Syria, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. The primary purpose of these deliverables is for FAS/GMA-IPAD to incorporate independent, satellite remotely-based crop area estimates of Middle East and North Africa, which would be used in the FAS market intelligence system to enhance the reliability of crop production estimates as well as the reliability of import forecasts for this vital market region through the established USDA ICEC and WAOB lockup process. The information shall be considered when determining official USDA estimates, which are disseminated to the public through our robust, public-facing databases, such as PSD. Comment by Cassidy, Erica - TFAA-FAS, CO: Please spell out. Comment by Mita, Dath - TFAA-FAS, DC: Production, Supply and Demand Comment by Cassidy, Erica - TFAA-FAS, CO: My apologies, this is spelled out earlier in the document so it doesn’t need to be spelled out here again.

Deliverables include:

1. A mid-year cropping-season (March-August) report augmented with high spatial resolution (5 meter or less) satellite imagery-based planted area quantification report(s) of small grains (wheat and barley) over select countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

2. A mid-year cropping-season (March-April) landcover classification (crop identification) map(s) with downloadable datasets of small grains (wheat and barley) over select countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

3. The production, delivery, and access of the reports and classification maps shall be available from March 2024, through end-of-season in August 2024, but the reports shall be accessible for a 12-month period from April 1, 2024, through March 30, 2025 Comment by Cassidy, Erica - TFAA-FAS, CO: Is this supposed to be April 2024? August doesn't line up with the next sentence that states the info should be accessible for a year thereafter. Comment by Mita, Dath - TFAA-FAS, DC: The active cropping season is March through August (6-months) and that is the critical period during which the reports must be generated and delivered. However, the data and all other services must still remain accessible to USDA beyond 6-months but for 12-months period Comment by Cassidy, Erica - TFAA-FAS, CO: Understood, thanks you

4. The reports and maps downloads for identified and agreed upon Middle East and North Africa countries shall include Geographic Information System (GIS) scalable download accessible for operational use by/for all USDA agencies and other users identified by USDA FAS/GMA-FAS.

In addition, where applicable, the vendor shall provide USDA FAS/GMA-FAS all the underlying data to perform analysis with their existing dashboard tools (Google Earth Engine GEE, ArcPro) to further support their crop reporting requirements. These basemaps shall be accessible for a 12-month period from April 1, 2024, through March 30, 2025. Comment by Cassidy, Erica - TFAA-FAS, CO: Please spell out if it's an acronym Comment by Mita, Dath - TFAA-FAS, DC: Google Earth Engine Comment by Cassidy, Erica - TFAA-FAS, CO: Thank you

4.0 SPECIFIC TASKS AND SUBTASKS

4.1 The vendor shall be directly responsible for delivering satellite imagery-based small grains (wheat and barley) planted area reports and classification maps to USDA FAS/GMA-FAS for the specified and agreed upon Middle East and North Africa select countries conforming to the following requirements:

A. Satellite Imagery-based derivatives/products requirement: The primary crop (small grains) identification spectral signature training data for the processing of planted area reports and crop classification maps will be based on high spatial resolution (5 meter or less) satellite imagery and may be incorporated or used in conjunction with medium resolution data (10 – 30 meter resolution satellites designed specifically to deliver the wealth of data and imagery that are central to crop monitoring such as Sentinel and Landsat). The products shall be made available mid-cropping-season (March-April). The vendor shall provide streaming and downloading access to these products via the vendor’s preferred operational platforms, including APIs for ArcGIS, Google Earth Engine, basemap viewer, WMTS/XYZ tile services, and other standard web browser or application interfaces. Web streaming and downloading shall be available via applicable web services and compatible with the USDA/FAS/GMA-IPAD Google Earth Engine, ArcPro, and other environments.

B. Satellite Imagery Source: The imagery collections used for the requisitioned satellite imagery-based derivatives (planted area reports and classification maps) shall be sourced from “vendor preferred constellation” current constellation of high-resolution satellites and, where applicable, from medium resolution satellites with similar functionality spatial and spectral characteristics.

C. Period of Performance (POP): Twelve months from date of award.

D. Base Cropland Coverage: The coverage area will be primarily limited to agricultural cultivated AOIs as determined by the vendor.

E. Reports and map image downloading services: Reports and map image downloading services shall be provided but may be constrained at a volume/rate negotiated with the vendor.

F. Analytic capabilities: The small grains (wheat, barley) Crop Classification or CropID maps shall provide operationally Analysis Ready Data (ARD) capabilities based on vendor’s proven data services.

G. Pixel Resolution: The vendor shall produce the final products and/or derivatives (CropID maps) based on 5-meter or less high spatial resolution orthorectified satellite imagery as the primary basis for deriving spectral signature training data, and where applicable incorporated into medium resolution data of 10–30-meter resolution.

H. Geo-referencing: Orthorectification of image acquisitions to a CE90 (Circular Error of 90%) or within one pixel of image ground sample distance is desired.

I. Data Access and Usability: Effective and efficient data finding, access, interoperability, and usability protocols shall be provided to USDA/FAS/GMA-IPAD other USDA agencies as requested and deemed appropriate. The vendor shall provide technical support for issues related to finding, access, usability, collections, and any other IT related performance. To this effect, the vendor shall engage with USDA/FAS/GMA-IPAD staff monthly for purposes of evaluating product performance, product utility, issues encountered and subsequent resolutions.

J. Temporal Resolution or Overpass Frequency: Temporal resolution (as defined by the amount of time needed to revisit and acquire data for the exact same location) will be at the discretion of the vendor to meet the production of high quality and high certainty (confidence level) products. The vendor shall, however, provide information of the orbital characteristics of the sensor platform as well as sensor characteristics of the imagery being utilized.

K. Product Accuracy and other Characteristics: The vendor shall provide summary metadata regarding accuracy and other characteristics vital to ascertaining confidence level of the products.

L. Technical merit. The categories for ranking technical merit are listed in Section M of the solicitation. The proposal shall clearly address technical requirements in Section M.

a. License: License descriptions and prices should be clearly stated in the final proposal. The minimum license requirement by USDA/FAS is one Federal agency, being USDA only including collaborating institutions, contractors, research and development (R&D) institutions supporting USDA projects.

b. Final proposals should include the minimum one Federal agency being USDA only license, and Federal/Civil license.

M. Delivery Schedule: The vendor shall provide the in-season deliverables of planted area reports and CropID/Classification maps as specified in the deliverables schedule table (see below) via preferred operationally sound vendor platforms, APIs for ArcGIS and standard web browser interfaces. Web streaming shall be available via applicable web services. The delivery platforms shall be in compliance with USDA’s IT systems security and efficiency protocols.

4.2 It is preferred, but not required, that data be tested for accuracy and that the accuracy be reported according to National Standard for Spatial Data Accuracy (NSSDA) guidelines. At a minimum, statements concerning source materials and production processes must be provided at the project level sufficient to meet the requirement of section 3.3 of the guidelines. Any other available documentation regarding product accuracy shall be provided at the project level.

a. File Naming Convention: Vendors shall state in their proposal a description of the file naming convention used for the data products. A descriptive file naming convention that include data imagery and path/row identification are preferred.

b. Metadata and Ancillary Data: The vendor’s standard offering of metadata is a required deliverable.

c. Media and Format: Vendors should propose delivery method, which may include the direct downlink of reports and maps. The final map data product format desired is GeoTIFF, but contractor can propose different formats deemed more effective and efficient before the contract begins.

5.0 OTHER PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS

5.1 Orientation Briefing and Project Plan

Within one week of the contract award the Contractor shall conduct an orientation briefing and presentation of a Project Plan to the Contracting Officer and Contract Officer’s Representative (COR) to demonstrate confirmation of their understanding of the contract framework, contract requirements, and associated deliverables to be accomplished under this PWS. The contractor shall prepare and present a Project Plan during the orientation briefing detailing expected imagery delivery and access via APIs for ArcGIS and standard web browser interfaces. The Project Plan shall detail the key activities and milestones, with end of month reports detailing the products delivered to and downloaded by USDA/FAS/GMA-IPAD. The COR shall receive the Project Plan in both hard copy and electronic form, preferably using Microsoft Word. Based on the Project Plan, the COR will provide approval to move forward on activities planned. The contractor shall request prior approval on all activities not included in the plan or any modifications to the plan after approval has been given.

5.2 Monthly Status Report

In-season monthly status reports are required during March-August, detailing: (a) satellite imagery collection progress, (b) a summary statement of any findings, activities, and accomplishments; (c) activities planned for the next reporting period as well as status of any or all deliverables including planned delivery dates and actual and/or anticipated delivery dates; (d) identification of any problems and issues encountered, or delays and recommendations as to their resolutions, and any corrective action that was taken to correct the identified problem; and (e) strategy revisions and recommended changes, including lessons learned.

5.3 Final Reports

The contractor shall provide an intermediate report in mid-April and a final report at the conclusion of the Period of Performance. The reports shall provide: (a) a summary of all activities or tasks performed, (b) detailed attribute tables of planted area numbers/quantities at national and subnational scales, and (c) maps/images of crop identification or crop classification.

Other important aspects of the report will include:

(a) Executive summary: highlights of the contract (one page), including aims/objectives, overall approach, findings, achievements, and conclusions.

(b) Background: summary of the contract including aims and objectives agreed at the start of the contract and annotate if they changed during the performance period.

(c) Methodology: summarize the overall approach taken and why this approach was chosen over other options considered (may include technical design, development, or evaluation). Finally, note any specific issues that had to be addressed by the contractor, e.g., standards, interoperability, scalability, etc.

(d) Implementation: Describe how the contractor planned and implemented the contract work and the activities it involved (may include technical development, processes, how the vendor adjusted protocols and resolutions). Include any problems or issues that arose and how they were handled.

(e) Outputs and Results: Explain the end result of the contract work in an objective way (might include overall accomplishments, results, findings, evaluation results, data, etc. If the contract created something tangible beyond the expected deliverables like content, a portal, or software, describe it.

(f) Outcomes: List project achievements against the aims and objectives set. Summarize project outcomes and their impact on USDA-FAS.

(g) Conclusions: Briefly summarize any conclusions that can be drawn from the contract work.

(h) Recommendations: List any specific recommendations, if applicable, for USDA-FAS for future considerations.

6.0 Deliverables

Item No. Comment by Cassidy, Erica - TFAA-FAS, CO: We updated the deliverables table to include the description and delivery format to let the contractor know exactly how you expect to receive the documents. Please update chart as applicable. Comment by Mita, Dath - TFAA-FAS, DC: Thanks, make sense

Ref.

Deliverable

Description

Delivery Format

Due

The 10th of the following months month: April, May, June, July, and August 2024

3.

Planted area intermediate report

5.

Final Planted Area and Crop Classification Report

5 Governmnet Furnished Property N/A

6 Contractor Key Personnel N/A

7 Travel N/A

8 Contractor Interfaces

The Contractor and/or their subcontractors may be required as part of the performance of this effort to work with other Contractors working for the Government. Such other Contractors shall not direct this Contractor and/or their subcontractors in any manner. Also, this Contractor and/or their subcontractors shall not direct the work of other Contractors in any manner.

The Government shall establish an initial contact between the Contractor and other Contractors and shall participate in an initial meeting at which the conventions for the scheduling and conduct of future meetings/contacts will be established. Any Contract Officer’s Representatives (COR) of other efforts shall be included in any establishment of conventions.

9 Disclosure of Information

Information made available to the contractor by the Government for the performance or administration of this effort shall be used only for those purposes and shall not be used in any other way without the written agreement of the Contracting Officer.

The contractor agrees to assume responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of Government records, which are not public information. Each contractor or employee of the contractor to whom information may be made available or disclosed shall be notified in writing by the contractor that such information may be disclosed only for a purpose and to the extent authorized herein.

10 Limited Use of Data

Performance of this effort may require the contractor to access and use data and information proprietary to a Government agency or Government contractor which is of such a nature that its dissemination or use, other than in performance of this effort, would be adverse to the interests of the Government and/or others.

Contractor and/or contractor personnel shall not divulge, or release data or information developed or obtained in performance of this effort, until made public by the Government, except to authorized Government personnel or upon written approval of the Contracting Officer (CO). The contractor shall not use, disclose, or reproduce proprietary data that bears a restrictive legend, other than as required in the performance of this effort. Nothing herein shall preclude the use of any data independently acquired by the contractor without such limitations or prohibit an agreement at no cost to the Government between the contractor and the data owner which provides for greater rights to the contractor.

11.0 Data Rights

All data and information generated and/or purchased for the intent and purpose of this contract, and delivered, and received by USDA under the contract is the property of the government, USDA, shall have properties rights for use, dissemination and/or distribution.

12.0 Performance Requirement Measures

% for NOT meeting the Task

End-of-PWS