Geological Survey April 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) initiative is being developed to respond to needs for high-quality topographic data and for a wide range of other three-dimensional representations of the Nation's natural and constructed features. The primary goal of 3DEP is to systematically collect enhanced elevation data in the form of high- quality light detection and ranging (lidar) data over the conterminous United States, Hawaii, and the U.S. territories, as well as interferometric synthetic aperture radar (ifsar) data over Alaska. The 3DEP initiative is based on the results of the National Enhanced Elevation Assessment (NEEA), which indicated an optimal benefit to cost ratio for Quality Level 2 (QL2) data collected over 8-years to complete national coverage. The implementation model for 3DEP is based on multi- agency partnership funding for acquisition, with the USGS acting in a lead program management role to facilitate planning and acquisition for the broader community, through the use of government contracts and partnership agreements. The annual Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) is a competitive solicitation issued to facilitate the collection of lidar and derived elevation data for the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP). Federal agencies, state and local governments, tribes, academic institutions and the private sector are eligible to submit proposals. The 3DEP public meetings will introduce this opportunity to the broadest stakeholder community possible and provide a forum for interested parties to discuss elevation data collection needs of mutual interest that could be addressed by a coordinated investment. Advanced Registration is required for meeting attendance. National Webinars will be recorded and made available for viewing.

We (the U.S. Geological Survey) will ask the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to approve the information collection (IC) described below. As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, and as part of our continuing efforts to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, we invite the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on this IC. This collection is scheduled to expire on September 30, 2015.