NSF and NOAA Agree to Joint Management of U.S. GLOBEC
by William Peterson
One year ago, the U.S. GLOBEC program became an interagency endeavor
through signing of a formal agreement between NSF assistant director for
Geosciences, Robert Corell, and NOAA assistant administrator for
Fisheries, William Fox. Terms of that agreement are summarized in this
article.
U.S. GLOBEC is organized around two major foci, the Scientific Steering
Committee (SSC) and the Interagency Program Coordination Office (IPCO).
The SSC, responsible for developing the scientific rationale for the
program, is comprised of members from both the NSF and NOAA communities.
IPCO manages day-to-day matters and direction of the program by
coordinating field activities, arranging logistical support and ensuring
adherence to U.S. GLOBEC data management policies. IPCO is headed by a
program manager (Bill Peterson). Overall direction of U.S. GLOBEC via
the IPCO is provided by two co-directors: Mike Sissenwine, senior
scientist for Fisheries of NOAA, and Phil Taylor, program manager of
biological oceanography of NSF. The co-directors will receive
recommendations from an advisory council which will consist of members
of each NOAA Line Office and the NOAA Chief Scientist Office, and
representatives from the NSF Advisory Committees for Ocean Sciences and
Polar Programs. The council will be established later this spring.
Research support for U.S. GLOBEC is provided by the National Science
Foundation, NOAA/Office of Global Programs and NOAA/National Marine
Fisheries Service.
The Interagency Program Coordination Office and the Program Manager
Presently, the IPCO and program manager are located at Fisheries
Headquarters: NOAA/NMFS, F/RE3, 1335 East-West Highway, Silver Spring,
MD 20910. The location may be changed if NOAA and NSF agree that a
change is beneficial to U.S. GLOBEC. The host organization provides
facilities support. The manager is responsible for:
- Management of U.S. GLOBEC planning and research activities.
- Interagency coordination, including that with non-sponsoring agencies.
- Coordination with the Scientific Steering Committee.
- Coordination with other relevant and appropriate scientific programs.
- Preparation of joint NOAA/NSF solicitations for proposals for U.S. GLOBEC activities; organization and supervision of the relevancy, priority and merit review of research proposals; coordination and direction of award funding; and adherence to all agency procurement and review regulations.
- Coordination of implementation teams for large multi-disciplinary, multi-investigation projects.
- Intergovernmental coordination in International GLOBEC activities.
Status
An RFP for research on Georges Bank/Northwest Atlantic was issued last
summer with a proposal deadline of September 15, 1992. An
implementation plan review panel convened on December 17, and the
proposal review panel convened on December 18-19. Decisions on Georges
Bank/Northwest Atlantic funding were delayed due to budgetary
uncertainties caused in part by the change in administration. The
precise amount of the FY 1993 budget for U.S. GLOBEC was dependent upon
a number variables and even at this writing, is still not completely
known! Money from the NOAA side was released in early April 1993, but
the NSF appropriation is tied to President Clinton's Economic Stimulus
Package which, at the time of this writing, is held up by a filibuster
in the Senate.
Decisions have been made on all awards; however, not all PI's know the
size of their awards because we do not have a final budget yet. The
next newsletter will contain a summary of projects which we have
initiated.
Bill Peterson
(301) 713-2367 (Phone)
(301) 588-4967 (FAX)
Omnet: W.PETERSON
CCMAIL through NMFS: W.PETERSON