Maine Climate Resilience and Risk Hubs

2026-11-03

The Maine Office of Community Affairs and the Department of Agriculture , Conservation and Forestry seek proposals to develop a suite of climate resilience tools including a geospatial database and viewer for risk assessment , and a website and associated database to provide an online resilience resource navigation portal . This project will be implemented through two ( 2 ) concurrent and coordinated items : Item 1 – Online Risk Data Hub : Develop a geospatial and data - centric platform that integrates climate hazard and exposure information from authoritative sources ; provides visualization and summary tools ; and enables screening - level analysis of vulnerability and resilient design assessments to inform local and regional planning . The resulting platform will serve as the foundational online information system for the State Resilience Office ’ s resilience data management and community assistance functions . Item 2 – Maine Community Resilience Hub : Build a site with parallel architecture to deliver a user - facing navigation portal that connects communities to resilience guidance , tools , and funding opportunities ( such as those available on the Maine Funding Finder ) through an interactive pathfinder interface and resource catalog . Together , these items will create enduring public resources that : Promotes consistent access to reliable climate - risk information across State , regional , and local programs . Reduces duplication of effort among agencies and external partners . Strengthens data - driven coordination among State resilience initiatives ; and Supports long - term maintainability by State staff within the existing GIS and data - governance framework . MOCA and DACF invite responses from qualified Bidders to provide information on the following : Their expertise in preparing user - defined and user - friendly online interfaces . Their expertise in designing and developing geospatial data hubs . Their expertise in developing tools for risk , hazard , and vulnerability analysis . Their expertise in synthesizing technical data into accessible guidance and resources for technical and non - technical users . Their familiarity with national and state guidance on best practices and standards for resilient infrastructure design and climate risk mitigation Their expertise in search engine development to find and assemble resources that can be tagged according to type ( personnel , data service , mapping tool , etc .), geographic extent , area of expertise , and resilience - specific focus . Their expertise in assembling search output that is accessible , recallable , and organized by user input . Their expertise is designing search engines with the capacity to learn as new resources are generated by contributing resilience resource professionals . Introduction The State of Maine seeks proposals from qualified Bidders to design , develop , and implement a suite of tools including a risk data hub and a climate resilience navigator . These coordinated and complementary efforts consist of : The Online Risk Data Hub : a centralized , web - based platform for integrating , visualizing , and sharing Maine ’ s climate risk , hazard , and resilience - related data . The Maine Community Resilience Hub : a resource navigation and guidance platform that connects users to tools , programs , and funding opportunities . These platforms are functionally distinct but technically integrated and may be developed and deployed concurrently or in overlapping timelines to ensure interoperability and efficiency . Both platforms share a common goal : to help Maine communities and agencies access actionable climate risk data and resilience resources through intuitive , public - facing platforms . The awarded Bidder will provide a configurable , user - focused solution that meets the functional requirements described below while allowing room for innovation and adaptation during a collaborative design process with the State . A design and discovery phase will precede final implementation to refine workflows , visualization methods , and user experience features with input from agency staff and advisory committee stakeholders . Functional Requirements Administration and User Experience Uniform Administration : Provide an administrative dashboard that allows authorized staff to : Manage datasets , resources , metadata , tags , and descriptive content ; Review , publish , update , or archive resources through role - based curation workflows ; Monitor usage patterns to support continuous improvement ; Coordinate content management activities between DACF and MOCA ; Apply governance practices that support transparency , data stewardship , and consistent content standards . Administrative tools should be intuitive , easy to learn , and support efficient management of content and updates . Clear and Intuitive System : The Bidder must apply human - centered - design principles to ensure the system is clear , intuitive , and usable for a wide range of stakeholders across Maine . The platform should : Use consistent branding , layout , and navigation across both platforms ; Present content in clear , plain - language formats accessible to diverse audiences ; Provide simple pathways for new users , including optional guidance or onboarding support ; Include intuitive feedback channels to help identify opportunities for improvement ; Support a cohesive , unified user experience that aligns with the goals of both platforms . Core Functionalities : The platform ( s ) will provide a secure , user - friendly web environment for accessing , visualizing , and managing statewide climate and resilience data . They will : Integrate existing and future application programming interfaces ( APIs ), and data services related to hazards , exposure , vulnerability , and resilience resources , including but not limited to those maintained by state agencies , and be designed to incorporate additional data sources , features , and partner tools as needs evolve . Support visualization and comparison of geographic and thematic data at regional , municipal , and community levels . Allow DACF and MOCA to manage and update content , metadata , and resources without code modification . Support presentation of multiple content types , including geospatial layers , tabular data , narrative resources , and descriptive metadata . Support iterative enhancements informed by user engagement , analytics , and program requirements . Be scalable and adaptable for future analysis tools , resource linkages , and program integrations . The Bidder may propose the most effective technology stack , hosting environment , and user - experience approach they believe is most effective , provided the solution adheres to all State of Maine security , privacy , accessibility , and technology standards as outlined in the Technical Requirements . Risk Data Hub The Risk Data Hub will centralize existing state , regional , and community - level hazard , risk , and vulnerability information , increasing the consistency in the data available for state and municipal resilience planning . This will include a publicly available , user - friendly platform for screening - level analysis of vulnerability and resilient design options , which should direct users to relevant recommendations and resources available through the Maine Community Resilience Hub . Key expectations include : Inventory of Existing Resilient Design Standards ( Early Deliverable ): In collaboration with the Advisory Committee of state agency representatives : Compile current state agency resilient design standards and guidance . Compare design guidance with state hazard and risk information to assess potential resilient updates and gaps by infrastructure asset category .

Maine

2026-05-01