Maryville Daily Forum – MARYVILLE, MO, October 29, 2015 – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to Midland GIS Solutions and Midland Surveying Inc. of Maryville to provide geospatial products and services to the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
According to a NASA release, the contract specifies that Midland, doing business as Midland GSS Joint Venture, is to fulfill the terms of the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity agreement over 24 months, with an option of up to 36 months.
The contract specifies a not-to-exceed payment total of $20 million with an $8 million base and a $12 million option.
Under the deal’s terms, Midland will be required to “operate, maintain, and update current Langley geospatial support services” and also provide “recurring and one-time specific geospatial product and service deliverables.”
Midland President Troy Hayes said Wednesday the contract means his company will be tasked with offering the same kind of geographic information systems services the firm currently provides to numerous cities and counties, including Maryville and St. Joseph.
Hayes, who will serve as project manager under the NASA contract, said the sprawling Langley Research Center amounts to “a small city” and provides a work environment for several thousand employees.
Services called for under the contract will be provided by a team of 14 employees already located in Virginia who have been doing much the same kind of work for another firm. Those workers will now be transferred to the Midland payroll.
In essence, Hayes said, the team’s mission is to maintain and implement the Langley facility’s geospatial infrastructure, a complex of systems that includes utilities, buildings, equipment, safety features, new construction, and other components.
Hayes said Midland, which has approximately 50 employees, competed for the contract against nine other firms and received the highest ranking during the NASA selection process, which began in late July.
Eligible firms, he said, were limited to HUBZone companies, a U.S. Small Business Administration acronym standing for Historically Underutilized Business Zone.
HUBZone operations are defined as, among other things, small businesses operating in non-metropolitan counties. Such companies must locate their principle office within the zone, and at least 35 percent of the firm’s employees must live there.
Hayes said Midland is one of the few HUBZone commercial geospatial services providers in the United States.
LINK: Maryville Daily Forum
Posted on October 29, 2015 by Tony Brown – Maryville Daily Forum, News Editor