[Pollinator] Request for Pollinator Proposals to Digitze Data

Ladadams at aol.com Ladadams at aol.com
Wed Oct 15 14:19:10 PDT 2008


More information can be found  at _http://pollinators.iabin.net/_ 
(http://pollinators.iabin.net/) 
 
 
 
[English starts here, ver Español abajo] 

Dear IABIN  Friends  

Please find attached the third IABIN Pollinators Thematic Network (PTN) 
Request for Proposals  (RfP) both in English and Spanish, to digitize   POLLINATORS 
 data. Please note that the deadline for submitting proposals is  January 
5th, 2009
. We would appreciate your  sending the RfPs to interested organizations in 
your country .   

For questions,  please contact Rita Besana (_rbesana at iabin.net_ 
(mailto:rbesana at iabin.net)   ) or Mike Ruggiero at ( _ruggierm at si.edu_ 
(mailto:ruggierm at si.edu) ) 

Thank you. 

[Español empieza aquí ] 


Estimados  Amigos de IABIN, 

Adjunto  encontrarán el tercer Llamado a Concurso para digitalizar datos  
sobre   POLINIZADORES  de la Red de  Polinizadores  de IABIN (PTN), tanto en 
inglés como en  español. Por favor tome nota que la fecha límite para recibir 
propuestas  es   el   5 de enero de  2009 . Les agradeceríamos que envíen el 
Llamado a Concurso a  organizaciones interesadas  en su país .   

Para  cualquier pregunta, favor de contactar a  Rita Besana 
(_rbesana at iabin.net_ (mailto:rbesana at iabin.net)  ) o   Mike Ruggiero al _(_ 
(mailto:abreu at umich.edu) _ruggierm at si.edu_ (mailto:ruggierm at si.edu) )  

Gracias  

Rita I. Besana  
Content Manager /Gerente  de Contenido 
Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network  (IABIN) 
Organization of American  States / Organización de los Estados Americanos 
Edificio 801, Ciudad del Saber, Clayton 
Ciudad de Panama 
República de  Panama 
Tel: (507) 317-1993 and  317-1994 
Fax: (507) 317-1992  
E-mail: _rbesana at iabin.net_ (mailto:rbesana at iabin.net)  
Web  page: _www.iabin.net_ (http://www.iabin.net/)  

 
Request  for Proposals
Country:
IABIN  Eligible countries_[1]_ (#_ftn1) 
Implementing  Agency:   
International  Bank for Reconstruction and Development / World  Bank   
Executing  Agency:   
General  Secretary of the Organization of American  States   
Project:  
Building  the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network  (IABIN)   
Thematic  Network   
IABIN  Pollinator Thematic Network (PTN)    
Period:  
1-12  months   
Type:  
Data  Content-Building Grants  for  Pollinators 
I.  GENERAL INFORMATION 
This  Request for Proposals (RfP) seeks proposals from institutions with 
information and data about  pollinating species (e.g., bees, hummingbirds, bats, 
and moths).  Proposals that are accepted will be  awarded seed grants for 
making data available  through the Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network 
(IABIN) Pollinator Thematic Network (PTN). As one  of the IABIN Thematic 
Networks, the PTN is being developed as a system to  provide access to content 
elements such as metadata and data currently scattered  and inaccessible.  The 
system will  organize and manage pollinator information, and information about 
the plants  they pollinate, in order to facilitate the exchange of information 
on  pollinating species throughout the Western  Hemisphere.  The overall  goal 
of the Pollinator Content-Building Grants is to make existing pollinator  
databases accessible and interoperable through the IABIN Pollinator Thematic  
Network.  
I.1.  Rationale  
Internet-accessible  information systems can provide crucial resources for 
the conservation of  pollinating species. These species are distributed across 
national boundaries  and need to be understood in terms of their total ranges.  
Interoperable national, regional and  sub-regional databases provide the 
building blocks for information  exchange.  The Pollinator  Content-Building 
Grants seek to provide access to existing but currently  difficult-to-access 
information and data so as to facilitate pollinator  information exchange and 
management.  Making this digitized data available will open up new opportunities for 
 scientific analysis and provide new sources of data for decision making, and 
 will increase awareness about the economic and ecological value of  
pollinators. 
I.2.  Responsible Officers 
Michael  Ruggiero, Co-PI, IABIN Pollinator Thematic Network, and Rita Besana, 
IABIN Data Content  Manager. 
I.3.  For further information 
Contact  Michael Ruggiero at _ruggierm at si.edu_ (mailto:ruggierm at si.edu)  or 
Rita  Besana at _rbesana at iabin.net_ (mailto:rbesana at iabin.net) .  
I.4.  Eligibility 
Organizations  from IABIN eligible countries, vested with legal personality 
that have  high-quality data and metadata on pollinators in, such as: 
    1.  Non-Governmental  Organizations,  
    2.  Government  agencies (only if they can establish that they (i) 
operate under commercial  law, and (ii) are not dependent agencies of the GS/OAS or 
any Coordinating  Institution of IABIN),  
    3.  Academic  and scientific institutions 
The grantees must explicitly agree  to make data and metadata developed 
through the project freely available through  the IABIN network and the PTN central 
website (_http://pollinators.iabin.net_ (http://pollinators.iabin.net/) ) 
under conditions  described in the section “ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND 
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY  REGULATION.”
I.5.  Award Information 
·         Size  of awards:  Grants of up to a maximum award of $10,000 US. 
The average cost to digitize  specimen data under previous IABIN data digitizing 
grants is $0.66 per specimen.   
·         Estimated  number of awards:  Approximately 10 awards. 
I.6.  Cost Sharing Requirements 
There  is a matching funds requirement of at least 1:1 in order to obtain an 
IABIN  Content-Building Grant.  The  matching can be achieved through one or 
more of the  following: 
·         Project  funds from non-IABIN sources  
·         salaries  of people involved in the project that are paid by 
non-IABIN funds (at a  percentage equal to the percentage of their working week 
spent directly on the  project) 
·         volunteer  time spent directly on the project calculated at an 
hourly wage  equivalent 
·         in-kind  support to the project (donation of hardware, software, 
travel costs,  etc.) 
It  should be noted that overhead will not be eligible as a cost to be 
covered with  IABIN funds administered by the General Secretariat of the 
Organization of  American States (GS/OAS), but it will be acceptable as matching  funds. 
I.7.  Target Dates 
1.                  RfP  released by October 15th, 2008.  
2.                  Proposals  due by January 5th, 2009. 
3.                  Proposal  reviewed by January 26th, 2009. 
4.                  Successful  Proposal applicants contacted by January 30, 
2009. 
II. TO  BE CONSIDERED FOR FUNDING, PROPOSALS MUST: 
1.  Address the overall goal of  creating and providing access to pollinator 
datasets. The  overall goal of the PTN grants is to develop and provide access 
to datasets of  information on pollinating species in the Western Hemisphere, 
such as species  checklists, specimen and observation records, and 
pollinator/plant associations,  in a format that is interoperable (e.g. adheres to the 
IABIN-PTN standards and  protocols) with data made available by other 
institutions through the PTN. This  can be achieved by using the PTN Data Digitizing 
Tool which can be downloaded  from the PTN central website 
(_http://pollinators.iabin.net_ (http://pollinators.iabin.net/) ). 
2.  Support the IABIN philosophy by demonstrating  a commitment to making the 
resulting data freely available to the public and  explicitly agreeing to 
conditions given under Section I.4. This will be achieved  by installing in your 
server a connector which will be provided by the PTN.   
(http://circa.gbif.net/Public/irc/gbif/dadi/library?l=/architecture)  
3.  Create databases that contain at least the same data fields as those in 
the ITIS  Workbench format for species lists, Darwin Core for specimen and 
observation  records, and Darwin Core Extended for pollinator/plant associations.  
Data exchange protocols must follow  DiGIR or TAPIR standards.    
III.  PROPOSAL REVIEW CRITERIA 
The  goal of these content building grants is to populate the PTN with the 
most  pollinator data possible.  While  data richness is a prime consideration, 
the selection of proposals will attempt  to keep a geographical balance among 
grants.  Previous experience working with  pollinating species and submittal 
of budgets that reflect an appropriate balance  among direct and indirect cost 
will be additional aspects taken into  consideration during proposal 
evaluation. 
1.  Commitment to communicate with, and provide information to, the IABIN 
Focal  Point and the PTN Lead of the institution’s home country, if present, 
otherwise  to the PTN Coordinating Institution responsible person.  Please include 
the contact information  (name, title, organization, phone, email) for the 
IABIN Focal Point in your  country, and, if applicable, for the PTN Lead in your 
country. It is not  necessary to have worked previously with the Focal Point 
and/or PTN Lead in your  country, but you must make contact and keep a 
continuous relationship from the  time of proposal submission. The names and contact 
information of the IABIN  Focal Points is found in _www.iabin.net_ 
(http://www.iabin.net/)   
2.  Commitment to develop  the project with a  team approach that includes an 
IT professional locally who can help with the  technical aspects of the 
set-up of the PTN tools and the digitization. This IT  professional will be trained 
by the PTN over the internet and will be a resource  to your organization 
(the data holder) as it begins the digitization  process 
3.The  proposed digitization addresses the overall goal  of providing public 
Internet access to pollinator datasets and metadata  and thereby supports the  
IABIN philosophy.  Explanations should be provided where  appropriate as to 
how the project meets these criteria.  
4.  Cost-efficiency and Metrics. Projects that will produce large, 
high-quality  datasets will be favored. This includes the number of species included, 
the  number of records for species occurrences as well as the number of fields 
to be  completed for each record, and geographic coverage. 
5.  Demonstrated commitment to PTN standards and IABIN principles. (To review 
these,  please examine 
_http://www.iabin.net/index.php?option=com_bookmarks&itemid=15&mode=o&catid=25&navstart=o&search=*_ 
(http://www.iabin.net/index.php?option=com_bookmarks&itemid=15&mode=o&catid=25&navstart=o&search=*) ,  and 
_http://pollinators.iabin.net/standards.html_ 
(http://pollinators.iabin.net/standards.html) )   
6.  Data to be digitized fills major needs in the proponent’s country, as 
described  by the proponent.  
7.  Data to be digitized meets the following criteria of “new  data”, as 
approved by the IEC, to ensure  proposals indeed digitize new data and also for 
the purpose of measuring the  indicators in the GEF project: 
    *   Data  that have never been digitized;  
    *   Data  that are digitized but are not accessible via the  internet;
·         Data  accessible via the internet but that needs modification in 
order to comply with  IABIN standards. 
8. Availability  of co-financing (at least 1:1 matching). 
9.  Availability of qualified personnel. 
10.  Relevance for pollinator conservation and sustainable use. 
11.  Projects will be favorably considered  if, in addition to the above, 
they demonstrate a potential for at least one of  the following:  
·         Leveraging  additional funding to continue the cataloguing and 
digitizing activities after  the PTN grant runs out. 
·         Bringing  together datasets from several institutions. 
12.  Data quality provisions. Proposals should show how the quality of the 
data will  be ensured. 
13.  Performance and impact indicators. How and when these will be measured 
should be  clearly stated in the proposal. Proposals that do not include this 
will be  disqualified. 
EXAMPLE  of quantifiable performance indicators.  
Activities  
Month  2  
Month  4  
Month  5  
Month  6   
Digitize  3,000 specimens bees plus their associated plants  
750  specimens digitized in en 2 meses (25%)  
1,500  specimens digitized in 4 months 
(50%)  
3,000  specimens digitized in 6 months (100%)   
Digitize 4,000 bat specimens    
1000 bat specimens  digitized  
2000 bat specimens  digitized  
3000 bat specimens  digitized   
Digitize  6,000 bird specimens  
2  000 bird specimens digitized 

4  000  bird specimens  digitized  
6  000 bird specimens digitized 
EXAMPLE  of impact and result indicators  
At  the end of the project, there will be a integrated database for all bird, 
 mammal, amphibian and reptile species present in XXXX.  

Objectives  
Impact  indicators  
Result  Indicators   
Digitize  the bee collection of XXX   
Data  is available to the public through the IABIN portal, the PTN portal and 
 the CHM in XXX in 2009.    
Involve  the sectors of society Such as the academics and individual experts 
to  contribute to this effort   
The  data on the collection will be captured in case anything happens to the  
collection   
Increased  experts and academics participation in the PTN     
Build  and make available scientifically correct data to assist in decision  
making for Biodiversity use and conservation.   
Decision  making based on scientifically credible information increases.    
An  up to date pollinator specimens  database 
14.  Measures to ensure sustainability. The proposal should demonstrate how 
the  maintenance of the database will be ensured after the grant funds run out. 
  
15.  Adherence to the preparation and submission instructions  below. 
Annex 1  describes the proposal evaluation procedure. 
IV. Transfer  of funds 


For  proposals that are selected, the GS/OAS will prepare an Agreement in  
coordination with the IABIN Secretariat and the Coordinating Institution. The  
Agreement, duly signed by the Institution receiving project funding, must be  
returned to the GS/OAS within 30 days; failure to do so will result in  
forfeiture of funding. 
Recipients  receive an initial payment of 30% upon receipt by the GS/OAS of 
the duly signed  Agreement. The 70% balance of the funds is retained pending 
the submission of an  acceptable Interim Progress Report (30%) and Final Report 
(40%) (See Annex 3 for  template of the Interim Progress Report and Final 
Report), which should include  a statement of expenditure for the funds provided 
and the matching funds  provided by the Institution. 
V.  PROPOSAL PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS 
Proposal  submissions should be sent via e-mail to Rita  Besana at 
_rbesana at iabin.net_ (mailto:rbesana at iabin.net)  (with cc to Michael Ruggiero, 
_ruggierm at si.edu_ (mailto:ruggierm at si.edu) , in MS Word or PDF using the  following 
outline. Please note that proposals should be not more than seven (7)  pages long 
and will only be accepted if they follow the format indicated.   
VI.1.  REQUIRED FORMAT OF PROPOSAL: 
Proposals  may be submitted in Spanish, English, or Portuguese; abstracts are 
required to  be in both the original language as well as in English and  
Spanish. 
PAGE  1: 
A. Title  of Proposed Project  
B. Contact  Information for Principal Investigator(s) 
·         Name: 
·         Address: 
·         Country: 
·         Telephone: 
·         Fax: 
·         Email: 
·         Website: 
C. Contact  information for Managing Institution 
·         Institution  Name: 
·         Address: 
·         Institutional  Contact Person 
·         Name: 
·         Telephone: 
·         Fax: 
·         Email: 
·         Website: 
D. If  Applicable, a List of other participating Institutions   
PAGE  2: 
E. Project  Summary: An abstract of the proposal (200 words or less). This 
must be submitted  in the proponent’s native language and in English and Spanish 
(as the case may  be). 
PAGES  3-6: 
F. Project  description (Maximum four pages) - A description of the proposed 
outcome  (product) of the project. This  should follow a basic scientific 
proposal content in which the following  questions are addressed:  what is 
proposed and its relevance (objectives and relevance), how this will be  done 
(methodology), what will be achieved, what outputs will be delivered, what  
innovation will be generated, how the  project success will be measured.  This should 
also include relevant information as  to: 
·         Specific  description  of the ways in which the project possesses 
the characteristics listed above.   
·         Describe  the project’s value to your institution and other 
institutions in your country  (or the country of origin of the data). Describe any 
overlap or  complementarities with existing informatics or pollinator  
activities in your country or neighboring countries.  Describe how this data will fill  
existing gaps. 
·         Metrics  (to demonstrate cost- and effort-efficiency) of the amount 
of pollinator  information made available through the project. Please specify 
the estimated  number of species records (including location,  bibliography 
and contacts) to be made available. The  inclusiveness of the data (i.e., which 
database fields will be completed for  each species) should be specified. 
Specify the taxonomic and geographic coverage  of the project, and how the 
species records and number of fields to be digitized  will be measured. 
·         Provide  time frame/work plan (including preparation of technical 
and financial progress  reports). Projects  are expected to last no more than 
one year. 
·         Relevant  literature cited as footnotes 
·         Answers  to the following questions: 
i.            What  are the user communities in your country that would be 
interested in the product  of this project? 
ii.            How will  the data be updated and maintained into the future? 
If changes in information  are made, how will this be carried into the 
publicly accessible record? 
iii.            How will  you comply with PTN standards?  (The  standards 
currently used by PTN are the Integrated Taxonomic Information Systems  (ITIS) 
for taxonomy, Darwin Core for specimens and observations, DiGIR or TAPIR  for 
data exchange, and Darwin Core – Pollinator Extension (under development)  for 
pollinator/plant associations.  In addition to the general IABIN  standards 
(for links and protocols see 
_http://www.old.iabin.net/english/bioinformatics/protocols/shtml_ 
(http://www.old.iabin.net/english/bioinformatics/protocols/shtml) ,   
http://www.old.iabin.net/english/meetings-workshops/meetings/ic4.shtml). 
iv.            What  is your institution’s expertise in informatics and 
pollinators?   
v.            How  does your institution interact with other institutions in 
your country that  manage data on pollinator  or related themes? 
vi.            What  has been your involvement in IABIN activities? What is 
your relationship to the  IABIN focal point in your country? (Note: any 
proposal submitted should have  been sent ahead of time to the IABIN Focal Point in 
your country for their  knowledge and some proof of this should be included in 
the  proposal). 
vii.            Provisions  to ensure data quality. 
viii.            Monitoring  and evaluation methodology. 
PAGE  7 
G.  Project budget   
A  one-page project budget should be submitted. All costs should be presented 
in US  dollars. The budget should show how IABIN’s funding would be spent, 
and how it  complements the (at least) 1:1 matching provided by the Institution 
(please note  the description of allowable cost-share items, set out in 
section I.6 above).   
Clearly  indicate budget items for which IABIN funds would be used.   
The  Project Budget table should have one column for the requested IABIN 
funding, and  one column for matching funds. Rows should represent all cost 
categories and  associated amounts for the period of the project. An example budget 
table  format:     
Item  
IABIN  
“Matching  funds”  
Total   
Total
The  categories of items to be financed by the IABIN are equipment purchases 
(not to  exceed $2,000 in total), consultant services, non-consultant 
technical services,  training, and operating costs.   
(i)  the term "Non-consultant technical services" means contractual 
expenditures  incurred for logistics and printing services under the  Project; 
(ii)  the term "Training" means expenditures incurred for logistic 
arrangements of  meetings, reasonable transportation costs and per-diem of trainees and 
trainers  (if applicable) and rental of training facilities and equipment 
connected with  the Project only; and 
(iii)  the term "Operating Costs" means reasonable recurrent expenditures 
that would  not have been incurred by the Institution absent the Project, for  
transportation, and per-diem costs, salary for the Eligible Institutions'  
incremental staff, Project administration costs, operation and maintenance of  
office equipment, non-durable goods, and Institutional overhead up to 5% all  
needed for the implementation of the Project. 
PAGE  8 
Attach  a copy of the document(s) stating the legal status of your 
organization, agency,  or institution.  If you require  further instructions on meeting 
this requirement, please contact one of the  responsible officers. 

Annex 1 – EVALUATION TO  AWARD GRANTS 
PROCEDURE  TO EVALUATE PROPOSALS 
There  will be an Evaluation Committee (EC) that will revise all proposals 
received.  This EC will be made up of one expert from the PTN TWG (other than a 
member of  PTN Coordinating Institution), a PTN Co-PI (or someone appointed by 
this  person), one member of the Secretariat, and one Focal Point 
representative.  
Matching  grants will be awarded to institutions with high quality data, to 
support their  efforts to improve the availability of critical data and 
metadata through the  network.  The following criteria  will be used to evaluate the 
proposals.  Institutions with the highest scores will qualify to receive 
grants.  It is important that a sub regional  balance is achieved within each of 
the TNs during the life of the IABIN-GEF  project. 
Name of  Institution: ________________________________________________ 
Country:  _____________ 
Objective  of Proposal:  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
_________________________ 
Criteria  
Points  
Score  
Remarks   
Cost-efficiency.  Projects that will produce large, high-quality datasets 
will be  favored  
10    
Metrics.  Projects for databases whose records contain a large number of 
fields will  be favored  
10  
Adherence  to standards specified in Section II  
10  
Commitment  to develop the project with a team approach which includes an IT  
professional who will be trained through the internet and  will be a resource 
to your organization (the data holder) as it begins the  digitization process 
 
10  
Impact  of filling data needs  
5  
Linkage  to IABIN thematic priorities  
5  
Availability  of co-financing  (at least 1:1)  
5  
Availability  of qualified personnel  
5  
Relevance  for conservation and sustainable use  
5  
Projects  demonstrate a potential for at least one of the following:   
·          Leveraging  additional funding to support the cataloguing effort 
after the PTN grant  runs out. 
·          Bringing  together datasets from several institutions. 
5  
Project  demonstrates data quality provisions  
5  
Project  has sound performance and impact indicators and shows how these will 
be  measured  
5  
Project  shows sustainability – how the database will be maintained and 
updated  after the grant funds run out  
5  
Adherence  to the preparation and submission instructions  
5    
TOTAL  SCORE  
90  
Date of Evaluation:  ___________________
Annex 2 – TEMPLATE FOR INTERIM PROGRESS REPORT AND FINAL REPORT 
1.  Executive Summary 
(An  executive summary of the progress to date, including challenges and/or  
difficulties encountered up to the date of the report.  If possible, the 
summary should be in  both English and Spanish.) 
2.  Results of the planned products and impact of the project   
(Be  certain to complete the products agreed to in the Project  Agreement) 
(Include impact = the external effects of the  project and direct importance 
to the public) 
3.  Methodology employed and activities carried out in order to complete the 
planned  products 
(In  the final report, please include an explanation/justification of any 
database  fields left blank.) 
4.  Lessons learned, problems, and viable solutions 
5.  Brief description of how you will continue to grow the database following 
the  completion of the grant project (final  report only) 
6.  Matching Funds  (attach a spending report for matching funds in Excel 
table format, based on  template to be provided by implementing institution) 
7.  Financial Report  (attach a spending report in Excel table format, based 
on template to be  provided by implementing institution) 
8.  Annexes 

 
____________________________________

_[1]_ (#_ftnref1)  The  List of IABIN Participating countries can be found in 
 http://www.iabin.net/english/governance/national_level.shtml






Laurie  Davies Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership 
423  Washington Street, 5th floor
San Francisco, CA  94111
415-362-1137
LDA at pollinator.org

_www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 

_www.nappc.org_ (http://www.nappc.org/) 

National Pollinator Week is June 22-28, 2009.  
Beecome involved at _www.pollinator.org_ (http://www.pollinator.org/) 
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