Request for Proposals (RFP) for Socioeconomic Assessment of USGS National Land
Cover Database (NLCD)
Please find application instructions and more detail here: WWF CONVEI.
Deadline extended to October 9, 2026
The Collaborative Network for Valuing Earth Information (CONVEI), a collaboration between WWF,
NASA and USGS, is seeking pre-proposals for research that quantifies, in monetary terms, the
economic value of NLCD data products to their users and to society.
CONVEI—together with USGS and the NLCD team—is seeking valuation experts to design and
execute an economic valuation of NLCD. This work will address persistent gaps between data
producers who want the value of their products quantified and the specialists equipped to do so.
We are seeking expertise from both experienced researchers and early career researchers.
Selected teams will collaborate closely with CONVEI and NLCD partners throughout the work.
ABOUT NLCD and Motivation
The National Land Cover Database (NLCD), produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) with
additional support through the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium, is the
definitive land cover dataset for the United States. Built from the Landsat record at 30-meter
resolution, NLCD has for more than three decades served as foundational information for
scientists, land managers, planners, and decision-makers across thousands of applications. With
the release of the latest Annual NLCD (Collection 1.2), the product suite now provides consistent
land cover and land change information for the conterminous United States for 1985–2025, a
substantial increase in both temporal frequency (annual compared to the prior 2–3 year epochs)
and length of the temporal record.
Despite this broad use, the economic value that NLCD delivers to society has not been rigorously
quantified. Prior economic valuation of Earth observation programs — most notably the USGS
studies estimating that Landsat imagery provided users roughly $3.45 billion in benefits in 2017 —
has focused on raw satellite imagery. NLCD is distinct: it is a derived information product that
transforms imagery into an analysis-ready, classified land cover layer. Valuing NLCD therefore
requires quantifying the value of the classification, integration, and continuity that turn Landsat
pixels into usable land cover information. Establishing credible, defensible estimates of NLCD’s economic value serves several concrete
purposes: informing investment prioritization; demonstrating the return on public investment in
land cover monitoring; guiding decisions about product scope, resolution, and update frequency;
and strengthening the broader evidence base on the socioeconomic value of Earth science
information.
Purpose and Objectives
This Request for Proposals (RFP) seeks research that quantifies the economic value of NLCD data
products to their users and to society. Pre-proposals should clearly articulate how NLCD improves
decisions or outcomes and estimates the economic value of that improvement.
Specific objectives include:
Funding
Award amount: $40,000 (flat), paid against agreed deliverables. Note: NLCD partners and USGS
scientists participate in this process as collaborators and are not compensated through this
engagement. Only the selected consultant team(s) receive funding under the resulting award.
Research support: up to an additional $5,000 for direct research needs (e.g., data acquisition,
survey administration, or travel), itemized and justified in the budget.
