shall be considered to be part of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration. Any employee of 
such a non-Federal asset or Regional Information Co-
ordination Entity, while operating within the scope 
of his or her employment in carrying out the purposes 
of this section, with respect to tort liability, is deemed 
to be an employee of the Federal Government. 
(f) INTERAGENCY FINANCING, GRANTS, CONTRACTS, 
AND AGREEMENTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The member departments and 
agencies of the Council, subject to the availability of 
appropriations, may participate in interagency fi-
nancing and share, transfer, receive, obligate, and ex-
pend funds appropriated to any member agency for 
the purposes of carrying out any administrative or 
programmatic project or activity to further the pur-
poses of this section, including support for the Inter-
agency Working Group, the Interagency Coordinating 
Program Office, a common infrastructure, and inte-
gration to expand or otherwise enhance the System. 
(2) JOINT CENTERS AND AGREEMENTS.—Member 
Departments and agencies of the Council shall have 
the authority to create, support, and maintain joint 
centers, and to enter into and perform such contracts, 
leases, grants, and cooperative agreements as may be 
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necessary to carry out the purposes of this section and 
fulfillment of the System Plan. 
(g) APPLICATION WITH OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in 
this section supersedes or limits the authority of any agency 
to carry out its responsibilities and missions under other 
laws. 
(h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than two years after 
the date of enactment of this section, the Adminis-
trator through the Council shall submit to Congress a 
report that describes the status of the System and 
progress made to achieve the purposes of this section 
and the goals identified under the System Plan. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The report shall include discus-
sion of the following: 
(A) Identification of Federal and non-Fed-
eral assets as determined by the Council that 
have been integrated into the System, including 
assets essential to the gathering of required obser-
vation data variables necessary to meet the re-
spective missions of Council agencies. 
(B) A review of procurements, planned or 
initiated, by each Council agency to enhance, ex-
pand, or modernize the observation capabilities 
and data products provided by the System, in-
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cluding data management and communication 
subsystems. 
(C) An assessment regarding activities to 
integrate Federal and non-Federal assets, nation-
ally and on the regional level, and discussion of 
the performance and effectiveness of Regional In-
formation Coordination Entities to coordinate 
regional observation operations. 
(D) An evaluation of progress made by the 
Council to achieve the purposes of this section 
and the goals identified under the System Plan. 
(E) Recommendations for operational im-
provements to enhance the efficiency, accuracy, 
and overall capability of the System. 
(3) BIENNIAL
UPDATE.—Two years after the 
transmittal of the initial report prepared pursuant to 
this subsection and biennially thereafter, the Adminis-
trator, through the Council, shall submit to Congress 
an update of the initial report. 
(i) PUBLIC-PRIVATE USE POLICY.—The Council shall 
develop a policy within 6 months after the date of the enact-
ment of this section that defines processes for making deci-
sions about the roles of the Federal Government, the States, 
Regional Information Coordination Entities, the academic 
community, and the private sector in providing to end-user 
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communities environmental information, products, tech-
nologies, and services related to the System. The Council 
shall publish the policy in the Federal Register for public 
comment for a period not less than 60 days. Nothing in 
this subsection shall be construed to require changes in pol-
icy in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(j) INDEPENDENT COST ESTIMATE.—The Interagency 
Working Group, through the Administrator and the Direc-
tor of the National Science Foundation, shall obtain within 
one year after the date of the enactment of this section an 
independent cost estimate for operations and maintenance 
of existing Federal assets of the System, and planned or 
anticipated acquisition, operation, and maintenance of new 
Federal assets for the System, including operation facilities, 
observation equipment, modeling and software, data man-
agement and communication, and other essential compo-
nents. The independent cost estimate shall be transmitted 
unabridged and without revision by the Administrator to 
Congress. 
(k) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—It is the intent of Congress 
that funding provided to agencies of the Council to imple-
ment this section shall supplement, and not replace, existing 
sources of funding for other programs. It is the further in-
tent of Congress that agencies of the Council shall not enter 
into contracts or agreements for the development or procure-
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ment of new Federal assets for the System that are esti-
mated to be in excess of $250,000,000 in life-cycle costs 
without first providing adequate notice to Congress and op-
portunity for review and comment. 
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Union Calendar No. 341 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 2342 
[Report No. 110–558, Part I] 
A BILL 
To direct the President to establish a National In-
tegrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System, 
and for other purposes. 
MARCH 31, 2008 
Committee on Science and Technology discharged; com-
mitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
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