Global Marketing Insights Inc. Selected to Lead Business Plan Development for USDA Foreign Agriculture Service.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Global Marketing Insights, Inc., has been selected by Arctic Slope Regional Corporation (ASRC) Management Services to lead the business plan development effort for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agriculture Service (FAS).

The USDA FAS is among the biggest government customers for Landsat imagery and also accesses information from other sources to stay abreast of daily agricultural changes around the world. Synergy is the key function for continuing to promote the use of remote sensing imagery. The business plan development project is a combined activity of the FAS Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division (PECAD) involving ASRC Management Services, Global Marketing Insights, and JLB Associates.

The business plan will outline a new approach calling for a single company to oversee satellite imagery acquisition for the FAS, focusing not on obtaining a certain number of scenes per year but on delivering specific information. FAS is hoping that a new approach will help the agency use its budget in a more effective manner by providing information for the FAS/PECAD analysts as opposed to more data.

Brad Doorn, remote sensing coordinator for the FAS' Crop Assessment Division stated, "The premise of the new contract is that we need to be efficient. I'm not expecting to obtain a large budget increase. I'm expecting the money that I have, and (we are) looking at that and saying how can we use that money more efficiently and provide better service to the USDA with the budget we have."

The new contract, awarded by FAS to ASRC Management Services of Greenbelt, MD, took effect March 1. The initial value of the contract is $2 million to cover the last six months of the 2005 budget year. It also includes one-year options valued at $4 million per year. ASRC Management Services, a subsidiary of Alaska's Arctic Slope Regional Corp., has several contracts in its portfolio for providing various management and support activities at NASA field centers. Global Marketing Insights, Inc. of Cleveland, OH, is responsible for developing the initial business plan to carry them into the future.

FAS will not direct Arctic Slope on which satellite imagery to buy but will specify which information to deliver. "I'm sure we will still be using Landsat data and still be using weather data," Doorn said. "The real goal here is to have a contract with a company that gives them more flexibility to handle the acquisition of the products. The company will do what they feel they can do from a business standpoint, which should give them more creativity and allow them to be more innovative."

"Combining the resources, skills, knowledge and experience of ASRC along with our practical, remote sensing industry business skills results in a strong team to assist FAS/PECAD as they look to the future for additional data sources and information," stated Dr. Shawana P. Johnson, President, Global Marketing Insights, Inc.

Established in 1997, Global Marketing Insights Inc. provides a wide range of business planning and market research services, including targeted product/service market studies and competitive market research. Global Marketing Insights Inc. provides strategic planning and market research to government agencies and private sector firms seeking to develop their geospatial business interests. Global Marketing Insights Inc. is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Log onto the Global Marketing web site at www.globalinsights.com for more information.