-The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC®) has issued a Request for Quotations/Call for Participation (RFQ/CFP) to solicit proposals in response to requirements for the OGC Geo4NIEM Project. The Geo4NIEM Initiative will result in recommendations to enhance the geospatial capabilities within the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM). Sponsors have identified specific Information Exchange Packages (IEPs) from Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Justice/Law Enforcement domain, and the Maritime domain as representative examples for investigation in this initiative.

The RFQ/CFP is available at http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/requests/98. Deadline for submitting questions on the RFQ/CFP is 5pm EST on 21 February 2013. More information is available at the above URL. Responses are due by 5 pm EST on 4 March 2013.

The Point of Contact is Lew Leinenweber: techdesk@opengeospatial.org.

Geo4NIEM Initiative sponsors are:

• Program Manager – Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE)
• National Information Exchange Model – Program Management Office (NIEM PMO) 

The focus of Geo4NIEM project will be to address requirements in the context of the following information exchange domain areas:

Justice/Law Enforcement. The Justice/Law Enforcement domain in NIEM is defined by the Global Justice XML Data Model (Global JXDM). The Global Justice XML Data Model (Global JXDM) is an XML-based framework that enables the US justice and public safety communities to effectively share information at all levels.

Maritime Domain Awareness. The Maritime domain supports the effective understanding of anything associated with global maritime that could impact the United States' security, safety, economy, or environment. NIEM facilitates this understanding through effective, timely sharing of vital, secure information among many key partners by representing vessels, people, cargo, and maritime locations and activities.

The Geo4NIEM Project has been organized to address specific functional requirements to meet the following objectives:

• Develop recommendations for the inclusion and standard use of embedded GML with NIEM IEP documents (IEPDs).
• Develop recommendations for the standardized use of Naming and Design Rules and the use of adaptors (e.g. NIEM wrapper for GML).
• Test and demonstrate use of a standardized embedded GML and adaptors within NIEM IEPDs.
• Develop Architecture documentation and a fact sheet for the use of embedded GML and adaptors for use with NIEM IEPDs.
• Develop Recommendations for the inclusion of a Geospatial Domain within NIEM. 

The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 480 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OGC Standards support interoperable solutions that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org/.