US Government is big business for GPS

CSI Wireless has received a $3 million purchase order from US-based 3-D Marketing for its MBX-3S differential (DGPS) beacon receiver.

CSI Wireless has received a $3 million purchase order from US-based 3-D Marketing for its MBX-3S differential (DGPS) beacon receiver.

3-D Marketing uses the MBX-3S as the differential source of its Configuration 1 DGPS System that it is currently selling to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other Federal Departments/Agencies under a multi-year USDA national contract.

3-D Marketing specialises in sales to the US Government, and is a recognised expert in executing the formal approval processes required for federal procurement contracts.

3-D Marketing has successfully taken the MBX-3S through the federal approval process and it is now a mandatory component for all USDA Configuration 1 DGPS systems to be supplied by 3D Marketing.

Since the inception of this national contract in September 2001, the USDA and several other federal departments/agencies have been steady buyers of CSI's GPS technology through 3-D Marketing.

This has resulted in more than $1.6 million of revenue for CSI to date.

US Government contract sales are a growing source of income for CSI Wireless, and the company is working with 3-D Marketing to generate further sales opportunities from other CSI Wireless products.

This announcement is an indication of this business relationship's potential as US Government demands require larger and larger volumes of high-accuracy GPS technology.

"Because of their potential size, US Government contracts represent substantial opportunities", said Stephen Verhoeff, CSI Wireless President and CEO.

"Selling to government bodies can be challenging, but 3-D Marketing understands the process and we are working with them on other sales opportunities we have mutually identified".

Dean Steeves, Director of Marketing at 3-D Marketing said: "The USDA is comprised of several different agencies such as, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency and Rural Development.

These agencies use GPS technology to satisfy a myriad of identified operational requirements that include demand for higher accuracies and increased productivity.

Because these agencies use geographic information to provide products and services to their customers and clients, GPS technology like CSI's enables them to do it faster and better than ever before".

The Farm Service Agency alone administers more than 40 programmes in farm commodity, credit, conservation, environmental, and emergency assistance.

GPS enables calculation of field areas, lengths, and locations that can be readily provided to producers and contractors.

In recent years, several Farm Service Agency offices found that GPS immediately improved the efficiency of their staff, independent of GIS hardware and software.

Once integrated with GIS (geographical information systems), those gains increase substantially, not only in saved time, but in the ability for staff to better do their jobs and provide high-quality products and services.

According to the USDA, GPS units will significantly reduce workload and improve accuracy in disaster assessments such as flood areas or hail damage, mapping of buffer strips, and in conservation programme enrolment and monitoring.

As part of an integrated GIS suite, GPS will permit agency staff to complete field assignments in a fraction of the current response time.

"Not only is CSI Wireless a global leader in DGPS", said Steeves, "Today, CSI Wireless is one of the only companies fully committed to beacon DGPS.

More and more applications are demanding differential accuracy.

Beacon differential is proving to be the winning high-accuracy differential technology due to its reliability and consistency.

This is very important for today's applications, and will also be critical for many requirements being driven by new Homeland Security initiatives".

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