ASRC Management Services, Greenbelt, MD, managers of the Prime Vendor Contract (PVC) effort for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service, Office of Global Analysis (OGA), today announced Earth Observation Technologies LLC (“EOTec”) as the latest addition to the Prime Vendor Contract.

EOTec, of Bethesda, MD, recently became a prime vendor on the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Management Services Prime Vendor Contract for the USDA and will provide satellite imagery for the CartoSat-1 data. Launched May 5, 2005 by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Department of Space, CartoSat-1 data consists of 2.5 Meter Panchromatic (i.e., black and white) high-resolution stereo imagery with a swath of 30 km.

ASRC Management Services, a subsidiary of Alaska’s Arctic Slope Regional Corp., has several contracts in its portfolio for providing various management and support activities to various government agencies including USDA, NASA, and USGS. Global Marketing Insights, Inc. Cleveland, OH, is responsible for negotiating and managing the on-going prime vendor contract vehicle with ASRC MS.

ASRC Management Services is an 8(a) Alaskan Native-owned Corporation that provides a full array of GIS consulting and design services, ASRC Management Services specializes in enterprise needs assessments, and ongoing geodatabase and GIS maintenance, which requires extensive and specialized knowledge of the GIS software, computer networking, database systems and GIS-related technologies such as global positioning systems (GPS) and mobile mapping applications.

ASRC Management Services provide GIS business solutions that use the most appropriate and cost effective technologies to achieve both short and long term goals for clients and works with clients to continually identify improvements that will positively affect their business operations.

The Office of Global Analysis of the USDA FAS is responsible for global crop condition assessments and estimates of area, yield, and production for grains, oilseeds, and cotton. The primary mission of OGA is to target, collect, analyze, and disseminate timely, objective, useful, and cost-effective global crop condition and agricultural market intelligence information.

One of OGA’s key missions is to provide unbiased commodity estimates and forecasts to create a marketing edge for U.S. producers in world markets. (Source: USDA and NASA) The Prime Vendor Contract vehicle allows them to obtain agriculture analysis solutions using satellite imagery and ancillary information quickly and cost effectively.