USDA Virtual Government (vGov) Project

Contract: AG 3142-C-10-0029

About the Contract

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Virtual Worlds (vGov) contract is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) vehicle for obtaining a broad range of high-quality virtual world software products to assist the agency in the development of virtual world solutions for the federal government.

SAIC is one of the prime contractors under the vGov vehicle and is providing virtual world software products to the USDA as required, including the enterprise-grade, secure On-Line-Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE) software platform.

The period of performance for the vGov IDIQ task/delivery order is the base period, from date of award through September 2010, and three (12-month) option periods from Oct. 1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2013. The government will issue task orders on a firm-fixed unit price or time and materials/labor hours basis for software, software maintenance, training, and IT professional support services.

vGov Objectives

While there are government organizations currently utilizing virtual worlds technology, significant challenges remain related to cross-agency accessibility, security, scalability, and interoperability. A major objective is to create a multi-agency advisory committee to create new and innovative government-wide solutions; the virtual worlds effort provides such a solution.

vGov Mission

Several federal government agencies (both civilian and military) have entered into a partnership to explore the viability and applicability of virtual worlds as a means to support the government's mission and business needs. One software platform or more will be required to enable the government to build, customize, and host one or more interactive, persistent virtual worlds where users can operate over networks for the purposes of collaboration, training, rehearsal, analysis, simulation, experimentation, and socialization. The government requires that the private virtual world be able to operate using firewalled or classified networks and be capable of integrating with legacy and emerging technologies.

The government envisions:

• A fully, immersive, persistent 3D experience using avatars as the user interface.
• A solution that is extensible where specialized functionality can be provided through the use of plug-ins developed by other government programs and commercial entities
• An open architecture solution to provide the level of interoperability and extensibility that will be necessary for the wide variety of use cases anticipated