A government program to solicit and acquire geospatial applications from commercial developers has been launched by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

The GEOINT App Provider Program, IGAPP, is being managed and operated by TASC, an Engility Holdings company. The program facilitates the delivery of the application creations to the NGA GEOINT App Store, an NGA online store front that announces solicitations and bridges the gap between government contracting procedures and non-traditional businesses.

The program screens, registers and approves vendors and provides the infrastructure and support to test and offer innovative mapping apps using data from NGA and other organizations that will then be available through the GEOINT App Store, Engility Holdings said.

The contract given to TASC has a four-year term and is worth $25 million.

"We are extremely excited to partner with NGA and bring this ground-breaking program to government and the applications industry," said Engility President and CEO Tony Smeraglinolo. "Through this creative program, application developers will use unclassified geospatial data to build applications that will provide users with a wide range of content, including air, land and sea navigation information, as well as mapping and infrastructure imagery that would provide critical information in emergency situations.

"NGA's IGAPP program director has called this a '... win-win for government, industry and the American public,' and I could not agree more. We are very proud to support this first-of-its-kind initiative."