Invitation To Qualify (ITQ) for the OGC Collaborative Solutions and Innovation Pool (OGC COSI Pool)

Collaborative Solutions and Innovation (OGC Innovation) is a global, innovative, collaborative, hands-on engineering, research, and testing program designed to accelerate innovation in the geospatial IT sector. Development of high-tech technological systems typically depends on the successful synchronized development of the individual technologies needed. Assessment of the readiness of the individual technologies allows risk reduction in budget and planning.

The main purpose of Collaborative Solutions and Innovation is to accelerate the advancement of technology from early ideas to final products. Collaborative Solutions and Innovation Policies and Procedures describe this process in detail based on the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale, where OGC Innovation spans the full span from TRL levels 2-3 to 7-8. Additionally, OGC Innovation supports validation, testing, and enhancement of the individual technologies that form the OGC standards baseline and its corresponding products. The OGC standards baseline is the complete set of member-approved Abstract Specifications, Standards including Profiles and Extensions, and Community Standards.

The OGC Innovation supports the enhancements of geospatial IT from low to high technology readiness levels through the exploration and testing of new and existing technologies, the development of prototypes, and the demonstration of OGC products in specific domains. The OGC Innovation itself is defined in the OGC COSI Program Policy and Procedures (OGC Innovation PnP), which provides the general policy and procedures for all OGC Innovation activities.

The OGC COSI Policy and Procedures describe a number of different initiative types. All initiatives bring together a group of sponsors, participants, and the Innovation Program Team (OGC COSI Team). The OGC COSI Team plays a key role in an OGC Innovation Initiative, as it includes the initiative managers and architects. The OGC COSI Team members are principally OGC staff employees. The OGC COSI Team may be completed by further individuals. These individuals, called Consultants, are either employees of OGC member organizations or individual OGC members. In order to serve on the OGC COSI Team as a Consultant, the individual needs to be a member of the OGC COSI Pool, as all consultants are selected from the OGC COSI Pool. Identifying individuals qualified for the OGC COSI Pool is the subject of this Invitation to Qualify (ITQ).

The purpose of this invitation is to solicit individuals from OGC member organizations or OGC individual members, who wish to become part of the OGC OGC COSI Pool and to be considered for selection to a future OGC COSI Team. Collaborative Solutions and Innovation will conduct its mission by tapping expertise from the OGC COSI Pool to form OGC COSI Teams that conduct OGC Innovation Initiatives.

Individuals that are part of the OGC COSI Pool will have certain skills and experiences related to geospatial IT, including, but not limited to, any one or combination of the following:

Individuals comprising the OGC COSI Pool will also possess:

Individuals working on OGC Innovation Initiatives will gain valuable experience by fulfilling opportunities to advance OGC specification development. Experience will include the provision of software, data, architecture, or solution development, as well as other skills such as communication, integration, and conflict handling when various approaches or perspectives need to be brought to consensus. Members who qualify for OGC COSI Pool will be in leadership positions for maturing the open geoprocessing and location systems marketplace, and will gain practical experience applying OGC-based products and services to requirements that encompass longer-term enterprise life cycles.

Individuals that qualify for OGC COSI Pool and participate in OGC Innovation Initiatives will enjoy the following benefits:

OGC COSI Team roles are defined in the OGC Innovation PnP. This ITQ seeks to pre-qualify candidates for these OGC COSI Team roles:

To participate in the OGC COSI Pool, OGC membership either as an employee of an OGC member organization or by individual membership is required.

Individual OGC members or employees of OGC member organizations that qualify for OGC COSI Team may elect also to work with OGC staff on tasks associated with project management and planning. Those individuals that wish to work with OGC will be required to “firewall” from their company to avoid organizational conflict of interest if their company wishes to also respond to Call for Participation coming from the OGC.

Note to individuals that do not yet hold an OGC membership: Individuals wishing to submit a response to this ITQ that do not hold a membership in OGC are welcome to do so, provided they include a completed application for OGC Membership with their ITQ response. OGC membership information is available on the Open Geospatial Consortium homepage at Join OGC. Given the nature and type of work to be undertaken by OGC COSI Teams will require prior experience with OGC’s programs, we strongly encourage new members to pro-actively participate in their particular areas of interest.

OGC staff will review documentation submitted in response to this ITQ. OGC has control of all submissions and will not use these for other purposes without prior written consent of the submitter. Proprietary and confidential information submitted in response to this ITQ must be marked accordingly.

OGC COSI Pool members selected for a specific OGC Innovation project will be required to enter into a contractual Agreement with OGC. This Agreement defines OGC COSI Team responsibilities and by signing this Agreement all parties will agree to work together towards the common goals of OGC.

The OGC Executive Director Innovation Program shall possess the authority to remove any OGC COSI Pool member at any time due to gross misconduct or breach of the requirements of an Initiative. Such cases may be referred to the OGC President for review.

Individuals previously qualified into the OGC COSI Pool may be retired from the OGC COSI Pool if:

Before retiring an individual from the OGC COSI Pool, a Director of the OGC Collaborative Solutions and Innovation Program shall notify the individual of the intent to retire the individual from the OGC COSI Pool. The individual may appeal by addressing the retirement criteria above. A retired individual will be delisted from the public OGC COSI Pool web page.

Submit electronic versions of your response to the address below. Microsoft Word® or PDF formats are preferred. Please use this template for your proposal.

Submission Address: innovation@ogc.org

Questions and requests for clarification should be sent electronically to OGC by email to innovation@ogc.org.

OGC will not reimburse submitters for any costs incurred in connection with preparing responses to this ITQ. OGC will reimburse for OGC COSI Team duties on an hourly basis.

The ITQ is open until further notice. OGC may close this ITQ at any time.

Responses should include the following sections: * Name, contact information, and requested cost per hour in US dollars when working as OGC COSI Pool member. * Overview - Provide an overview of your background. * Statement of Qualifications - Provide a brief Statement of Qualifications that discusses relevant experience according to the Qualifications Categories identified in Clause 3.1. * Membership Application - This may be obtained from the Open Geospatial Consortium web site. Required only if the organization is not currently an OGC member.