(This is not the complete RFP. View the full RFP at https://brpfoundation.org/viewshed-analysis-rfp.)

Project Title: Blue Ridge Parkway Viewshed Analysis

RFP No. 2025-006

RFP Issue Date: November 7, 2025

Deadline for Questions: November 19, 2025, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Response to Questions: November 24, 2025, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Proposals Due: December 8, 2025, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Award Notification: On or around December 18, 2025

Required Project Completion Date: No later than December 18, 2026

1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Overview

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation (Foundation or BRPF) seeks proposals from qualified vendors to utilize a Geographic Information System (GIS) to guide viewshed analysis and conservation along the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina. The primary goal of this work is to determine which lands and waters currently lacking any conservation status should be prioritized for conservation attention and landowner outreach.

This GIS-based work must collect, display, analyze, and report on specific data fields, single-metric rankings, and combined rankings of viewsheds and specific land parcels. Throughout the process, the selected vendor will interact with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation's director of Blue Ridge Rising and a multi-partner viewshed analysis action team to provide GIS support, services, products, and a related webtool. Deliverables include:

• GIS-based maps showing which lands are visible from Blue Ridge Parkway overlooks and other significant viewpoints on or near the Parkway. This analysis will likely need to include visibility (yes/no), quality of the view, and frequency of the view (i.e., how many different Parkway viewpoints can see the selected area?). This visibility analysis should include all lands visible from the Parkway, but it will not include parcel-level data or analysis. This data and analysis should be made available online through access to GIS-based data (e.g., in ArcGIS) and through PDFs of related maps, so that the information can be easily shared with any interested parties (e.g., land trusts and county and regional planning agencies).
• A consensus set of variables and weightings of those variables (e.g., parcel size, adjacency to other conserved lands, distance from the Parkway) to rank and prioritize individual parcels within or near Parkway viewsheds. These variables and weightings will be finalized with the input and guidance of the viewshed protection action team and the selected contractor. Iterative analysis will likely be required to determine the most insightful and useful variables and weightings. See “Potential Ranking Variables” below for the current draft list.
• A GIS-based model and analysis for ranking all relevant land parcels and then determining the highest ranking 750-1,000 parcels for conservation attention. This parcel-level analysis is expected to incorporate—at a minimum—approximately 200-250 viewpoints along the Blue Ridge Parkway (a list made up primarily but not exclusively of official Parkway overlooks) and all land parcels of five acres or more within one mile of each viewpoint. (The five-acre minimum and one-mile limit are open to discussion and revision.)
• Data output (e.g., Excel, Google Sheets) providing the locations, owner name(s), and mailing information for the highest ranking 750-1,000 parcels in the Blue Ridge Parkway corridor, as indicated by the application of the data detailed above.
• A user-friendly and adjustable online Blue Ridge Parkway viewshed analysis webtool (e.g., for ArcGIS online or equivalent) for use by the Foundation and its partners after the project performance period. The data layers, webtool, and related elements must be able to be shared with key project partners (e.g., National Park Service (NPS), local land trusts), including the ability for project partners to alter the relevant geography (e.g., to rank only the parcels in their geographic footprint); and to adjust the variables and weightings to match their individual priority-setting (e.g., to change the weighting of a particular ranking factor; to remove a variable entirely from a ranking effort; and/or to add new variables).

At the end of the performance period, the contracted vendor will turn over the data layers, data outputs, webtool, and any other related project elements to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, who will in turn share those items with project partners and other key agencies. The contractor's work should conclude no later than December 18, 2026.

Potential Ranking Variables

The following variables have been suggested as a draft set of factors to analyze and rank the viewshed corridor's unprotected lands and waters:

• Parcel size
• Proximity to the Parkway
• Adjacency to protected lands and waters (e.g., NPS, USFS, gamelands, conservation easements)
• Quality and significance of the existing viewshed to the Blue Ridge Parkway and the visitor experience (qualitative analysis data to be provided by BRPF and other project partners)
• Natural resource values (e.g., rare plant and animal species and rare natural communities, cold water/brook trout waters, dark sky light readings)
• Climate-related data, such as potential south-north and upslope migration corridors/areas (e.g., The Nature Conservancy's Resilient Land Mapping Tool) – please see the next section of this RFP for more information on the climate issue.
• Local community priorities (e.g., Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Monacan Indian Nation tribal priorities, drinking water sources, green space and local parks, working lands, potential for public recreation, and other sites of cultural or community significance)
• NPS/Blue Ridge Parkway land acquisition criteria (several of which are already addressed above)
• Potential for funding for acquisition, conservation easements, or other conservation efforts (e.g., land values, absence/presence of structures (# and value)).

The selected contractor will work with the viewshed analysis action team to refine this list of variables and to determine effective weighting of the variables, in part through iterative analysis of the data, weightings, and results.

Climate Data

To address the conservation role that these lands might play in a changing climate, the viewshed analysis action team will work with the selected contractor to review available data, such as The Nature Conservancy's Resilient Land Mapping Tool. The selected contractor will then apply the selected data across the region and review the results with the action team. Because climate-related analysis and reporting can be supported by some grant sources but not others, the costs of the climate-related analysis and products must be separated from the rest of the work. Further, the final landscape analysis and products must include one version incorporating climate-related data and another version without that data.

2.0 QUESTIONS AND RFP UPDATES

Submit any questions about this RFP in writing to projects@brpfoundation.org, no later than November 19, 2025, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with RFP No. 2025-006 in the subject line. Submitted questions and responses to those questions will be posted no later than November 24, 2025, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, on the same webpage where the original RFP appears: https://brpfoundation.org/viewshed-analysis-rfp.

There will be no in-person or virtual meeting to discuss this RFP. Verbal comments provided by any party shall not be binding. Any updates or revisions to the RFP will be posted at https://brpfoundation.org/viewshed-analysis-rfp.

3.0 FEDERAL FUNDING

This viewshed analysis project is partially funded through a federal grant. If these federal funds are reduced, delayed, or discontinued for any reason, the Foundation may be required to pause, amend, or conclude this project. The Foundation is committed to transparency and will make every effort to communicate any such developments promptly with the selected contractor.

4.0 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Proposals shall include at a minimum:

• Cover Letter: Acknowledging receipt of RFP.
• Company Information to Include: Legal name, Address, Main Point of Contact (Name, Email Address, Physical/Mailing Address, Phone #).
  • Proposed Methodology and Schedule of Work to achieve the project deliverables detailed in Section 1.0, INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND. This section of the proposal should indicate how the vendor would work with BRPF and the action team to:

1. Conduct the visibility analysis.
2. Conduct the parcel analysis.
3. Conduct the climate data analysis.

Issues to address for each analysis should include how the applicant would work with BRPF and the action team to:

1. Refine the choice and weighting of the ranking variables/data sets.
2. Apply the selected variables/data sets and weightings, and then share, review, and revise the results.
3. Process and deliver parcel and contact information for the owners of the highest ranking 750-1,000 parcels. (This item is not relevant to the visibility analysis.)
4. Create a user-friendly and adjustable online Blue Ridge Parkway viewshed analysis webtool (e.g., for ArcGIS online or equivalent), including associated data layers and ranking variables, that will be provided to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation to use and to share with project partners.

Other factors to address in the proposal could include: which variables or data sets the vendor believes will be most effective in developing clear priorities, and how many cycles of analysis and revision the vendor is proposing to conduct as part of this project. The planning process should be comprehensive and transparent.

• Cost Proposal, including a clear overall price, and within that:
  • For all work other than climate-related data and analysis: Separate line-items for personnel costs and non-personnel costs (e.g., travel, materials), including an estimate of the number of hours of work to be performed on this project by position. Personnel costs should be shown by the individuals participating in the work of the project, their hourly rate, the number of hours, and their overhead rate.
  • For climate-related data and analysis: Separate line-items for personnel and non-personnel costs (e.g., travel, materials) associated with incorporating climate-related data into the project and related deliverables, including an estimate of the number of hours of work to be performed on this aspect of the project by position. Personnel costs should be shown by the individuals participating in the work of the project, their hourly rate, the number of hours, and their overhead rate.

Please note that any on-the-ground qualitative analysis of Parkway viewsheds would be conducted by project partners and/or volunteers, not by the contracted vendor. Also, all travel costs of the contractor/vendor should be included in the cost proposal. If the proposal includes any in-person meetings with the action team, separate funds are available to cover the travel expenses of the action team members to/within the project area.

• Capacity: Provide details of company resourcing to demonstrate an ability to execute the project within the prescribed period of performance.
• Key Personnel: Identify the individuals that will be conducting the work, including their prior
  experience, education, training, awards, etc.
• Examples of Similar Projects: Provide at least two examples of similar work conducted and completed in the last five years by the key personnel described above. These examples may include printed color materials within the submitted proposal and/or links to websites, online GIS resources, reports, and/or similar products or deliverables.
• Past Performance References: minimum of three within the last five years, including names, email addresses, and phone numbers; at least two of the references should be knowledgeable and able to comment on one of the two project examples indicated above.
• Valid Certificates of Insurance – Workers Compensation and General Liability:
  • $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate;
  • Must be issued by a company licensed to do business and in good standing in North Carolina and Virginia.

5.0 SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Submit proposal no later than Monday, December 8, 2025, 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, by email in PDF format to: projects@brpfoundation.org, with RFP No. 2025-006 in the subject line. Submissions received after the due date/time will not be considered.

6.0 EVALUATION CRITERIA

The contract will be awarded to the responsible vendor whose proposal conforms to the requirements listed above and provides the best value considering the evaluation factors stated below:

• Proposed Methodology and Schedule of Work: 20%
• Qualifications and Technical Expertise: 20%
• Price: 20%
• Availability and Capacity: 20%
• Past/Relevant Experience and References: 20%.

Vendors are reminded to include their best price and non-price information and terms in their initial offer and not to assume that they will have an opportunity to participate in discussions or be asked to submit a revised offer.

END OF RFP