FG_CD_CSO_QandA 792026.xlsx
XLSX spreadsheet 82 KB Posted
- Solicitation number
- HM047626SC001
About this file
This is a Questions and Answers document for the Foundation GEOINT (FG) Change Detection (CSO) Commercial Solutions Opening (HM047626SC001) issued by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The Q&A addresses 30 vendor questions submitted in response to the CSO solicitation with response date of July 21, 2026.
Key technical requirements clarified include: change detection capability for areas as small as 100 square meters with no limit on the number or total area of Areas of Interest (AOIs); quarterly delivery of global change detection results covering 3-month periods; output in vector format (GeoJSON polygons) with metadata including date, source, location, areal extent, and confidence scores; and a 3-month baseline for historical comparison. The solution must identify Foundation GEOINT-relevant change while filtering non-relevant changes on a global scale using computer vision and AI/ML technology. NGA expects high industry standards for accuracy and QA/QC processes without specifying acceptable false-positive or false-negative rate thresholds. Vendors must source their own open-source or commercial imagery and computing power, as NGA will not provide Government Furnished Information. The output will function as a stand-alone data delivery solution compatible with standard government GIS formats; NGA will perform analyst review of results. No specific hardware requirements, sensor constellation requirements, or implementation/operational support services are mandated. NGA has made no determination regarding whether an award will result from this CSO or the timeline for subsequent phases, and lower-priced solutions are favored.
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Other files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| FG_CD_CSO_QandA_20260715.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| FG_CD_CSO_QandA_20260713v2.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| FG_CD_CSO_QandA20260713.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attch2_FG_CD_CSO_TOI_20260707.pdf | ||
| FG_CD_CSO_QandA_20260707.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attch1_FG_CD_CSO_20260623v2.pdf | ||
| Attch1_FG_CD_CSO_20260623v2.pdf | ||
| Attch5_FG_CD_CSO_QandA.xlsx | XLSX spreadsheet | |
| Attch2_FG_CD_CSO_TOI_20260623.pdf | ||
| Attch4_FG_CD_CSO_Clause_List_20260623.pdf | ||
| Attch3_FG_CD_CSO_SD_Template_20260623.pdf |
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CD-CSO
| CD-CSO-Vendor Questions | ||
| Question Numbers | Comment/Question | NGA Response |
| 1 | To support solution sizing and ROM pricing, can NGA provide the anticipated annual demand for on-demand change analysis requests? Specifically, what is the expected annual area of analysis (square kilometers), typical AOI size, and approximate number of requests, independent of the quarterly global change notification requirement? | As mentioned in the FG CD CSO TOI, “major challenge in this process is determining how to most efficiently understand if change has occurred to prompt an update to our products” and “Automated recurrent global change detection would inform future FDT data”. The purpose of this CSO will be to help NGA to gage foundation GEOINT relevant change and omit non-relevant on a global scale. It is yet to be determined the periodicity of accomplishing the FG group level global change detection requirements. Annual frequency and size of requests will be highly dependent on DOW and IC priorities, world events, and existing currency of data over these areas. The ideal solution should provide a cost-efficient process for identifying GEOINT relevant change over large regions of the earth, when combined, provide global coverage change detection on an annual or nearly annual basis. |
| 2 | The Topic of Interest primarily describes the delivery of a commercial change detection capability and associated data products. Beyond product delivery, does NGA anticipate requiring implementation or operational support services (e.g., system integration, deployment support, training, on-site support, or other professional services) as part of any resulting award? |
| Clarification on the expected balance between commercial product delivery and implementation services will help offerors propose an appropriately scoped solution and accurately address the Viability evaluation factor. | The primary purpose of the FG CD CSO will be to show detection capabilities of foundation GEOINT relevant change and omit non-relevant on a global scale. Agile change detection solutions that are compatible with standard government GIS formats and environments would typically offer the most viable solutions. While there is no requirement for implementation or operational support services, in the FG_CD_CSO_20260623 document Section A, there mentioned “Solutions may include existing technologies or procedures that are not currently in use that would enhance or streamline mission capabilities.” | ||
| 3 | The bulleted list under "Problem Statement" includes, "Detection of change over areas as small as 100 sq. meters." Does 100 sq. meters here refer to the AOI extent or the area of change detected? | The 100 sq meters refers to minimum areas of change. | |
| 4 | Is there a limit to the number of AOIs that will be run on the program? | There is no limit to the number of AOI’s. The purpose of this CSO is for identifying GEOINT relevant change over large regions of the earth, that could be accomplished through a multitude of smaller AOI’s or fewer larger AOI’s. | |
| 5 | Is there a limit to the total AOI area that will be run on the program? | While there is no limit to the total AOI area, for the CSO it will be a large area or series of smaller areas that when combined could start to simulate a global business model. | |
| 6 | Is there a limit to the total AOI area that will be run on the program? | NGA response is the same as for Question 5. | |
| 7 | Is there a timeline for the next phases for this effort-- Pitch, Full Proposal and Award? | NGA has not made a determination if there will be any award resulting from this CSO, or a timeline. | |
| 8 | Does the Agency intend to offer any GFI to support vendor proposals? | NGA has no intention of offering any GFI in support of the CSO at this time. | |
| 9 | What ground cover increments in square kilometers are expected to satisfy the CSO requirements? 250k, 500k, 1M, 25M, 50M, 100M, Global? | The TOI specifies possible areas as small as 100 sq meters, otherwise, there is no limit to the total AOI area. The CSO will require a large area or series of smaller areas that when combined could start to simulate a global business model. | |
| 10 | To optimize the change-detection deliverable, can NGA describe how the GeoJSON output is intended to be consumed downstream — e.g., ingested into a production or tasking system, reviewed by analysts, or persisted in some way? | NGA at this time will perform analyst review of the GeoJSON output to determine identification of FG relevant change. | |
| 11 | Does NGA maintain established confidence or accuracy expectations associated with specific feature classes, such that a change-detection confidence score should align to existing per-feature benchmarks rather than a single method-derived value? | In the FG CD CSO, NGA did not specify a specific threshold concerning confidence, accuracy or acceptable false-positive and false-negative rates. However, in the TOI Problem Statement, it specifies the proposed solution should include “transparent QA/QC process metrics ensuring the highest confidence in accuracy of the data”. While there is no specified number, NGA expects offerors to leverage technology to achieve high industry standards in this area. | |
| 12 | What are the target acceptable false-positive and false-negative rates for the fully automated stage — i.e., how accurate does detection need to be before a case gets flagged for analyst validation instead of passing through automatically? | In the FG CD CSO, NGA did not specify a specific threshold concerning confidence, accuracy or acceptable false-positive and false-negative rates. However, in the TOI Problem Statement, it pecifies the proposed solution should include “transparent QA/QC process metrics ensuring the highest confidence in accuracy of the data”. While there is no specified number, NGA expects offerors to leverage technology to achieve high industry standards in this area. | |
| 13 | Does the pipeline need to natively ingest and normalize multi-sensor inputs (e.g., comparing a PlanetScope 3-meter visual image to a Sentinel-2 10-meter spectral tile), or will operational input assets always come from identical sensor constellations? What is the expected resolution range (min & max)? | The primary purpose of the FG CD CSO will be to show detection capabilities of foundation GEOINT relevant change and omit non-relevant on a global scale. While there is no specific requirement concerning sensor and resolution, desired solution attributes should include “Leverage and continuously improve use of computer vision AI/ML technology”. | |
| 14 | Is there an operational requirement to filter out changes based on specific target classes (e.g., ignoring heavy commercial vehicles parked on hardstanding while flagging permanent concrete extensions)? | A desired solution attribute of this CSO is to leverage collaborative commercial market solutions to identify broad area FG-relevant change, while removing nonrelevant. | |
| 15 | What hardware limitations should we consider, and what are the specs of the system you’ll be testing on? | For this CSO, NGA has no hardware or system specs at this time other than to identify broad area FG-relevant change, while removing nonrelevant in vector, open standard formats with metadata, such as polygons in GeoJSON format. | |
| 16 | What data should be used for this project — open-source/commercial imagery sourced by the offeror, or will imagery/data be provided by NGA? | NGA has no intention of offering any GFI in support of the CSO at this time, open source/commercial imagery sourced by the offeror should be used. | |
| 17 | When the TOI refers to "historical" data, is comparison against the single most recent clear image sufficient, or does the baseline need to be composited from several older images (useful for persistently cloudy regions)? | For the purpose of this CSO, the baseline will be 3 months, in most cases, going backwards for “comparison against the single most recent clear image” may be sufficient to identify broad area FG-relevant change, while removing nonrelevant. When the “single most recent clear image” does not suffice, NGA expects demonstrations of agility as specified in the TOI Solutions Attributes and adjust and go back further as needed. | |
| 18 | Who supplies the imagery? Will this be Gov’t sourced or commercially sourced as part of the vendor’s innovative approach? | NGA has no intention of offering any GFI in support of the CSO at this time, open source/commercial imagery sourced by the offeror should be used. | |
| 19 | Who supplies the computing power? Is there a preferred platform for computing e.g. AWS? | NGA has no intention of offering any GFI in support of the CSO at this time, computing power by the offeror should be used. | |
| 20 | What is the initial GEO graphic extent? Whole world or specific AOI/AOR? | The initial GEO graphic area or AOI, for the CSO will be a large area or series of smaller areas that when combined could start to simulate a global business model. | |
| 21 | What type of imagery? Multi-imagery EO, SAR, IR. Etc. | The primary purpose of the FG CD CSO will be to show detection capabilities of foundation GEOINT relevant change and omit non-relevant on a global scale. While there is no specific requirement concerning sensor and resolution, the FG_CD_CSO_20260623 document Section A, points out “obtain innovative solutions” and the TOI points out the “objective of this effort is to leverage collaborative commercial market solutions”. | |
| 22 | Can we reference past high-side performance? Would be ideal to highlight success of high-side app development and Machine Learning (ML) modeling and implementation/deployment. | The FG CD CSO Solution Document includes a Team & Past Performance page that could be leveraged as long as it is compliant with the FG_CD_CSO_20260623 document Section B stating, “electronically submit…an unclassified Solution Brief”. | |
| 23 | Is there a specific timeframe for the initial deliverable product? E.g. 90-days, Quarterly, etc. (does it vary from the periodicity?) | Outlined in the TOI Problem Statement, “Change notifications should be scalable to global coverage which will provide a deliverable of relevant global changes detected over a 3 months period of time delivered quarterly”. | |
| 24 | Is the preferred solution a stand-alone solution (e.g. desktop or web app) or something that will be integrated into existing systems (e.g. Docker container, etc.)? | The FG CD CSO output at this time will function as a stand-alone data delivery solution. | |
| 25 | Does NGA anticipate making multiple awards under this CSO to support complementary capabilities (e.g., data collection, change detection, analytics, exploitation), or is NGA seeking a single end-to-end commercial solution? | NGA has not made a determination if there will be any award resulting from this CSO, or a timeline. | |
| 26 | Are there metadata standards or schemas that NGA expects offerors to follow? | Outlined in the TOI Problem Statement,” Vector indicators of change in open standard formats, attributed with metadata such as date, source, location, areal extent, and confidence score in standard formats”. | |
| 27 | What does NGA's on-demand analysis requests look like - e.g., API? | The FG CD CSO output will be more of a stand-alone data delivery at this time. | |
| 28 | Does NGA envision this capability becoming part of the Foundation Digital Twin operational baseline, or will it remain a stand-alone commercial service? | NGA has not made a determination if there will be any award resulting from this CSO, or a timeline. | |
| 29 | NGA indicated that additional pricing options would be useful. Could NGA please elaborate on the specific types of pricing options it would like industry to provide? Examples may include resolution-based pricing, square kilometer tiering, differentiated product features, delivery cadence, or other variables NGA would like offerors to consider." | The FG CD CSO will consist of AOI’s that simulate a global business model and as outlined in the FG_CD_CSO_20260623 document Section D, under possibility of funding, “solutions with lower prices are favored”. | |
| 30 | The TOI requests "change analysis based on ready access (2 days or less) to global data" but does not define expected request volumes, AOI sizes, turnaround expectations, or whether this capability is intended as an analyst-driven service, self-service capability, or demonstration of data availability. Can NGA clarify the expected operational concept to support development of an appropriate technical approach and pricing model? | The FG CD CSO is intended to be a stand-alone data delivery, offering CD solutions compatible with standard government GIS formats and environments. The FG CD CSO is pursuing FG-relevant change on a global scale and while there is no limit to the total AOI, it will consist of large or series of smaller areas that when combined could simulate a global business model. This operational concept should employ computer vision, and AI/ML technology advancements that contribute to state of the art, cost-effective solutions that bring best value to the government. |
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