# Presentation: 267461

## Draft NOAA Cooperative Institute Policy A Presentation to the NOAA Science Advisory Board

- John Cortinas
- Program Manager
- OAR Cooperative Institutes
- March 23, 2005

## Outline

- Purpose
- Issue
- Presentation of Briefing
- NOAA Coordination and Views
- Desired Outcomes

## Purpose

- Update the SAB on the proposed NOAA Cooperative Institutes policy.
- Request comments on the proposed policy.

## Issues

- Proposed Cooperative Institute (CI) policy developed in response to SAB sponsored research review.
- NOAA-wide approach aligns establishment and maintenance of CIs with NOAA mission goals.
- Expands opportunities for the extramural research community through competition.
- Current CIs will transition to competitive program.

## Cooperative Institute

- Non-federal organization with outstanding research program in one or more areas relevant to NOAA.
- Strong education program with established degree programs in NOAA-related sciences.
- Research related to NOAA’s long-term mission needs.
- Substantial involvement with NOAA and one or more research units, students, and postdoctoral scientists.

## Proposed Policy(Page 19 of CI Policy Proposal)

- CIs conduct collaborative long-term research utilizing resources at the CI, including student support.
- Open competition and peer review.
- NOAA-wide involvement in creating new CIs.
- Five-year awards, with one non-competitive renewal up to an additional five years based on the outcome of a review.

## Proposed Process: Initiation

- Initiation
- Requests for new CIs are made to the NOAA Research Council (RC) by one or more NOAA Goal Teams and/or Line Offices (LOs).
- After a favorable evaluation, the RC recommends creating a CI to the NOAA Executive Council (NEC)/NOAA Executive Panel (NEP).
- After NEC/NEP and Under Secretary approval, a competitive announcement of opportunity is issued.
- CIs are awarded a 5-year cooperative agreement

## Proposed Process: Maintenance

- Maintenance:
- One NOAA LO is responsible for administration of CI award and is primary contact for all CI activities.
- CI submits annual plans for NOAA review.
- LO processes funding requests.
- LO insures CI activities follow NOAA policies.
- NOAA reviews annual performance reports.
- LO organizes review for renewal.

## Renewal

- Renewal:
- CIs are peer reviewed during the 4th year of the first 5-year award to determine renewal period and funding.
- Review evaluates quality of research and program management: outstanding, acceptable, unacceptable.
- Outstanding – Up to 5 additional years at a reasonable level of funding.
- Acceptable – May renew up to 5 additional years at a reduced level of funding.
- Unacceptable – Sunset CI.
- NOAA reviews renewal work plan.  If acceptable, CI is renewed.

## Sunsetting CIs

- NOAA may close down CIs for many reasons:
- Poor research quality,
- Poor CI management,
- Poor fiscal management,
- Inability to complete proposed research,
- No available NOAA funding for the research area(s) pursued by the CI.
- NOAA notifies CI of problem and determines jointly if a solution is possible.
- If problem cannot be corrected or NOAA does not accept improvement plan, NOAA will terminate current award.

## Transition to New Process

- NOAA will require all CIs that were awarded non-competitively to be competed at some future time.
- Issues:
- 13 OAR and NESDIS CIs are scheduled to be renewed by July 1, 2006.
- Too many to compete at one time.
- Insufficient time to recompete any CI using new process before July 1, 2006.
- Need sufficient time to plan for transition to possible new partner.
- Key Factors:
- Age of CI
- Number of NOAA-supported employees
- Total annual funding

## NOAA Coordination & Views

- Proposed policy was approved by the NOAA Research Council, the NEP, the NEC, and the NOAA Administrator.
- Policy was published in the Federal Register on March 8, 2005 asking for public comments until April 4, 2005.
- All comments will be considered and a final policy and process will be presented to the NEP and NEC for approval and recommendation to the NOAA Administrator.

## Desired Outcomes

- Request for SAB:
- Provide comments on proposed CI policy and process.

## END

## Current Cooperative Institutes

## Cooperative Institute Funding

| Type of Funding | FY04 Funding ($M) |
| --- | --- |
| NOAA Intramural Research  | 345.1 |
| NOAA Extramural Research | 219.9 |
| Total Cooperative Institutes Funding* | 120.6 |
| NESDIS Institutes | 7.9 |
| NMFS Institutes | 5.1 |
| NWS Institutes | 0.4 |
| OAR Institutes | 107.2 |
| *Cooperative Institutes funding includes NOAA funding awarded through other NOAA competitive programs.   |  |