Request for Information for the Provision of Satellite Imagery for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM)

Tender description

The Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) is the Department’s spatial database. The system was built on initial digitising of paper maps completed back in 1995 for the original EU area-aid schemes. Each year almost €1.7 billion is paid out to farmers based on the land data within LPIS. It contains over 1.3 million polygons/parcels representing the land holdings of over 130,000 farmers and forest owners. These parcels have been updated and modified on a continual basis since then. Digital ortho-imagery is a critical component of the spatial database. It allows the Department to validate the claims of applicants for various Department schemes on an annual basis. The imagery and any derived products allow the Department to determine the land cover of holdings and hence the eligibility of land for agricultural scheme payments. It is vital that Department have access to the most up to date imagery, which can be used in processing of the requested updates and various projects. The Department’s aim is to acquire complete coverage of the Republic of Ireland within the maximum period of three years. While there is a contract in place with the external aerial imagery supplier, the Department is exploring possible solutions to procure additional data. The Department receives new ortho imagery on an annual basis. Due to the various constraints outside of control (i.e. difficult and unstable weather conditions) completing the capture for the whole area of the Republic of Ireland is very difficult. It is envisaged that the high-resolution satellite imagery will complement the aerial imagery. It is expected the satellite imagery would cover areas of the Republic of Ireland not flown by DAFM’s aerial imagery provider in the previous year. A shapefile would be provided showing the maximum area required. It is understood there may not be VHR satellite imagery for all of the area of interest (AOI) in required period. For example, to complete the coverage for 2023 RGBI imagery of 1m spatial resolution (or better) captured between March and October 2023 for an area of approximately 29,000 km2 would be required. The images would be free of extensive cloud/shadow/snow (e.g. less than 20 percent cloud cover, off-nadir less than 30 percent). The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (the “Contracting Authority”) invites responses to this request for information (“RFI”) from economic operators (“Tenderers”) for the supply of services as described above. The Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) is the Department’s spatial database. The system was built on initial digitising of paper maps completed back in 1995 for the original EU area-aid schemes. Each year almost €1.7 billion is paid out to farmers based on the land data within LPIS. It contains over 1.3 million polygons/parcels representing the land holdings of over 130,000 farmers and forest owners. These parcels have been updated and modified on a continual basis since then. Digital ortho-imagery is a critical component of the spatial database. It allows the Department to validate the claims of applicants for various Department schemes on an annual basis. The imagery and any derived products allow the Department to determine the land cover of holdings and hence the eligibility of land for agricultural scheme payments. It is vital that Department have access to the most up to date imagery, which can be used in processing of the requested updates and various projects. The Department’s aim is to acquire complete coverage of the Republic of Ireland within the maximum period of three years. While there is a contract in place with the external aerial imagery supplier, the Department is exploring possible solutions to procure additional data. The Department receives new ortho imagery on an annual basis. Due to the various constraints outside of control (i.e. difficult and unstable weather conditions) completing the capture for the whole area of the Republic of Ireland is very difficult. It is envisaged that the high-resolution satellite imagery will complement the aerial imagery. It is expected the satellite imagery would cover areas of the Republic of Ireland not flown by DAFM’s aerial imagery provider in the previous year. A shapefile would be provided showing the maximum area required. It is understood there may not be VHR satellite imagery for all of the area of interest (AOI) in required period. For example, to complete the coverage for 2023 RGBI imagery of 1m spatial resolution (or better) captured between March and October 2023 for an area of approximately 29,000 km2 would be required. The images would be free of extensive cloud/shadow/snow (e.g. less than 20 percent cloud cover, off-nadir less than 30 percent). The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (the “Contracting Authority”) invites responses to this request for information (“RFI”) from economic operators (“Tenderers”) for the supply of services as described above.