CALL FOR TENDERS

 2004 GBIF Demonstration Project

Background:

The 7^th meeting of the GBIF Governing Board (October 2003) approved the development of a new Demonstration Project, with the view of showing in an exciting, clear and practical way the relevance and usefulness of GBIF’s data and applications to the wide international community. 

Eligibility

Please take note that only GBIF Participants (in South Africa- this is the Department of Science and technology) are invited to submit proposals.

Objective:

The 2004 GBIF Demonstration Project is focused on developing prototype or proof-of-concept products and tools to promote GBIF to a wide range of audiences.  GBIF intends to use the demonstration project to promote GBIF, expand its membership and assist in catalyzing fund raising efforts.   The goal is to fund a single practical, useful, applicable, scalable and successful prototype project or proof of concept that showcases new approaches to our target audiences and in a clear and unambiguous manner shows the beauty and usefulness of the GBIF concept and philosophy.

Target Audience:

The demo project needs to primarily address:

1.             Potential new GBIF Users (scientific and research institutions, governmental and non-governmental institutions, conservation organizations, policy and decision-makers)

2.            Existing Participants who –among others- would benefit from getting useful and practical tools and applications and examples that could be easily replicated and implemented at different levels (national, regional and global)

Criteria:

The 2004 demo project will be reviewed using the following criteria:  

1.                              Must address a theme of high impact and high visibility and be able to actively persuade people on the advantages of joining GBIF.

2.                              In building a proof of concept or prototype, the following aspects should be considered: creative ways of using biodiversity data, integration of data from different sources, building of user interfaces and interactive tools.

3.                              The proof of concept or prototype must use (but is not restricted to) data served through the GBIF data portal (see Annexes). It is desirable that it also integrates other sources and layers of data (i.e. GIS, observational, ecological, genetic, environmental, etc.).  Networking with different biodiversity subcommunities and their integration into the project is expected.

4.                              The demo should show in a practical manner how data from species and specimens can be utilized for scientific and/or practical applications, including important national and international topics (e.g. such topics as biodiversity conservation, analysis and conservation of biodiversity hotspots, management of protected areas, spread of diseases, alien invasive species, pest management, sustainable agriculture for global food security, understanding of emerging diseases and changing environments as a result of land use change or global climate change).

5.                              Invites other GBIF Participants to become involved in the project from the very beginning, as this would allow the Participants to embrace the project and actively participate in its wide dissemination and promotion.

Budget:

GB7 approved a total of US$ 50,000 for this activity. The proposals should include a detailed budget and a clear timeline of expenditures.

Duration:

Project starts 1 September 2004 and will conclude 31 May 2005 (9 months).

Timetable for the 2004 Demo Project for South African participants

Application and Selection Procedures:

1. Tenders should be a maximum of 10 pages long (including annexes, if any)
2. Information to be provided within the 10 pages:
   1. Project summary (max. 200 words)
   2. Project description
   3. Milestones and timeline
   4. Technical and human resources
   5. Institutional support and partnerships
   6. Project budget (USD 50,000 or less from GBIF)
3. In a separate file, the applicants should also send CVs for the individual(s) who would carry out the work and also submit 2 letters of recommendation.
4. Proposals should be sent in electronic format (word, pdf or html files) to the SABIF secretariat ()
5. Should you have any questions about the Demo Project you may wish to send an email to

6. The SABIF Steering Committee will shortlist the applications which will be endorsed by the Department of Science and Technology before being sent to the GBIF secretariat

Annex 1: Using data from the GBIF Network

GBIF is developing central web services to enable applications and portals to use data present in the GBIF Network.  These services are still under development but will be available for use during the timeframe allocated for the Demonstration Project.  The GBIF Secretariat will provide more information as they are developed and will work to assist the Demonstration Project team in accessing them.

The services to be made available will include the following:

1. A DiGIR service to query specimen/observation data from the network (see http://digir.sourceforge.net/).  This will support queries to find specimens or observations by scientific name, country, latitude/longitude bounding box and collection date.  This service will make use of synonymy data within the GBIF Network to return records stored under synonymous taxon names.  The responses will provide the information required for software to submit requests to the original providers for further detail.

2. A service for browsing and searching the taxonomic names present in the GBIF Electronic Catalogue of Life (Get Synomyms, Get Vernacular Names, Get Taxonomic Hierarchy, Get Subordinate Taxa).  This service is still being defined and developed

Annex 2: Providing data through the GBIF Network

GBIF is developing an international network to provide universal digital access to biodiversity data.  As the network develops, GBIF plans to integrate many different classes of data.  To make this achievable, GBIF is identifying appropriate data standards and protocols for accessing each class of data.  The following notes describe how data can be served through the GBIF Network today, and identify other standards which GBIF expects to adopt during the timeframe allocated for the Demonstration Project:

1. Specimen and observation data (“taxon occurrence data”).  Any data recording the collection or observation of taxa should be made available in one of the following ways:

·         Using DiGIR provider software to make the data available in Darwin Core 1.2 format (see http://digir.sourceforge.net/ and download software from GBIF at http://circa.gbif.net/Public/irc/gbif/ict/library?l=/digir_provider_package).

·         Using BioCASe provider software to make the data available in ABCD format (see http://www.biocase.org/provider/default.shtml).

·         Using any revised version of the DiGIR/BioCASe protocol and software to be adopted by the TDWG meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand in October 2004 (sharing data using the Darwin Core or ABCD.formats)

2. Taxonomic name and taxonomic concept data.  Data providing information on taxonomic names and concepts (including nomenclatural data, vernacular names and checklist data) should be made available in one of the following ways:

·         Through the integration activities of the Catalogue of Life Partnership (Species 2000, and ITIS, ).

·         Using the exchange format for taxonomic name/concept data currently being developed for GBIF/TDWG/SEEK and to be presented at the TDWG meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand in October 2004.  These data may be made available either as a web-accessible XML document in the given format, or using any search/query interfaces presented to TDWG to accompany the format.

3. Descriptive data.  Data providing structured descriptive information (e.g. character state tables and diagnostic keys) related to specimens or taxa can be made available as follows:

·        Through the Structured Descriptive Data (SDD) exchange standard being developed by TDWG (see ) and to be presented at the TDWG meeting in Christchurch, New Zealand in October 2004.  These data may be made available as a web-accessible XML document in the given format.