Pub. 10 2015 Issue 1

www.ucls.org 26 Issue 1 2015 / UCLS Foresights Unfair Competition With Private Sector Geospatial Firms Geospatial technology, identified by the U.S. Department of Labor as one of the top three emerging technologies for the 21st century, is estimated to be a $100 billion worldwide market growing at an annual rate of 10-15%. In this difficult economy, government agencies should be utilizing private sector geospa - tial firms to the maximum extent practical, not duplicating or directly competing against them. The federal government has more than 1.1 million em- ployees who are involved in performing commercially available activities, such as surveying, mapping and geospatial services. These are activities that can be found in the “Yellow Pages” from private companies, including small business, on Main Street, USA. Numerous government studies have identified surveying, mapping and other “geospatial” activities as prime examples of commercial activities in which the federal gov - ernment competes with private enterprise and duplicates the private sector. ACTION REQUESTED: MAPPS and NSPS respectfully urge members of Congress to offer amendments to appropriations bills and authorization legislation calling for utilization of the private sector to the max - imum extent practical for geospatial activities. MAPPS and NSPS opposes limits on the ability of agencies to utilize the private sector and urges members of Congress to reject such provisions and repeal existing restrictions. MAPPS and NSPS also urge Con - gress to enact a moratorium on insourcing. Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform (FLAIR) Act: Improving Real Property Stewardship Since 2003, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has repeatedly designated ‘Managing Federal Real Property’ as an area of “high risk” of waste, fraud and abuse. This activ - ity is again on the list released by GAO on February 11, 2015 (GAO-15-290). One of the reasons cited by GAO is the fact that the government does not have a current, accurate inventory of the land it owns, most recently noted “effective real proper - ty management and reform are undermined by unreliable real property data.” The General Services Administration (GSA) col - lects data from at least 30 federal agencies, but GAO has found its system, the Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP), “unreliable and of limited usefulness” and “not current or reliable.” This point was underscored once again by the House Appropriations Committee in the FY 15 Financial Services appropriations bill report. This bill creates a single, federal multipurpose cadastre (a uniform Federal computer database), in accordance with stan- dards recommended by the National Academy of Sciences. It also calls for an “inventory of inventories,” so that duplicate, wasteful activities can be identified and eliminated. The FLAIR Act will provide all agencies owning federal real property an improved accounting of their land assets. Such an invento - ry will assist in improved federal land management, resource conservation, environmental protection and utilization of real property, as well as identify property the federal government no longer needs to own. ACTION REQUESTED: MAPPS and NSPS respectfully urge Representatives to cosponsor the FLAIR Act in the 114th Congress. To cosponsor, please contact Natalie Mamerow in Representative Kind’s office at 5-5506. MAPPS and NSPS respectfully urge Senators to spon - sor companion legislation in the 114th Congress. Geospatial Location: Enabling Safe Corridor Utility Distribution It is said that the pipeline in the United States could encircle the Earth 25 times. The American Public Works Association estimates that an underground utility line is hit somewhere in the United States every 60 seconds. Geospatial information directly influences all aspects of Accurate Safe Utility Location (ASUL) risk assessment, and emergency management. Advanced location surveying technologies, including light detection and ranging (LiDAR), sonar, radar and imagery, provide input into Geographic Information System (GIS) data and other geospatial assets are of most critical value in emergency response during the initial hours and days immediately following any incident. When utilized in the field at specific incident response locations, ASUL maps can be effective and life-saving tools. In California, a utility’s disastrous gas pipeline incident brought forth an emergency plan from an independent review panel (IRP), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), industry associations and regulators such as Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), former NTSB leadership, American Gas Association (AGA), Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and others. Over the past decade, many deaths, injuries, and billions of dollars in repairs to the utilities and damaged property associ - ated with poorly mapped or maintained distribution systems. Millions of dollars in environmental cleanup, countless road and NSPS Report BY STEVE KEISEL During the spring meetings, NSPS governors and directors will meet with federal lawmakers to discuss the following four items.