NOAA Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Research Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The NOAA Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Research Act directs the Department of Commerce, acting through NOAA, to establish a program for sustained global ocean monitoring and observing research. The program must support in-situ systems such as One-Argo, basic and applied research, public-private technology testing, open and interoperable data, baseline ocean measurements, and improved understanding of ocean heat, carbon, Arctic conditions, biogeochemistry, and related processes.
The program also must improve forecasting of hurricanes, atmospheric rivers, and other weather and climate conditions; test autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and other emerging technologies; and coordinate federal, academic, private, and international activity. Within one year, NOAA must publish a research and development framework with goals and performance metrics after consulting data users, and establish an annual review process for scientific quality and operating efficiency.
NOAA may provide competitive, merit-based financial assistance through contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements to academic institutions, cooperative institutes, private entities, and other eligible organizations. Selection must encourage competition and avoid unnecessary sole-source arrangements. The bill establishes program authority but states no specific appropriation amount.
Who Benefits and How
University and cooperative-institute ocean researchers benefit from new competitive funding and access to coordinated observing systems. Ocean-technology companies gain contract, grant, and testing opportunities. Weather forecasters, coastal communities, emergency managers, mariners, fisheries, and climate researchers benefit from better observations, public data, and prediction tools. New vendors may benefit from the direction to avoid unnecessary sole-source awards.
Who Bears the Burden and How
NOAA program, procurement, data, and scientific-review staff must design the framework, consult users, coordinate partners, administer competitions, maintain public data, and conduct annual assessments. Applicants and award recipients must compete on merit and satisfy federal contract or assistance requirements. Federal research accounts bear program costs to the extent Congress supplies funds. Vendors relying on sole-source arrangements may face increased competition.
Key Provisions
- Establishes a NOAA global ocean monitoring and observing research program.
- Expands sustained in-situ observing systems and ocean baseline measurements.
- Supports forecasting research for hurricanes, atmospheric rivers, and other hazards.
- Requires public, findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable ocean data.
- Directs testing of autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, cloud tools, and other technologies.
- Requires a one-year research framework with goals and performance metrics.
- Establishes annual scientific-quality and operational-efficiency reviews.
- Authorizes competitive contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements without specifying an appropriation amount.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes a NOAA global ocean monitoring and observing research program that develops sustained observing systems, improves public data and forecasting, coordinates partners, and competitively funds outside research and technology development.
Key Policy Areas
Ocean Science, NOAA, Climate Research, Weather Forecasting, Research Grants, Ocean Technology, Public Data
Primary Purpose
Establishes a NOAA global ocean monitoring and observing research program that develops sustained observing systems, improves public data and forecasting, coordinates partners, and competitively funds outside research and technology development.
Policy Domains
Section 2 NOAA global ocean monitoring and research program
Identified Gains
- University ocean researchers
- NOAA cooperative institutes
- Ocean-observing technology companies
- Weather forecasting organizations
- Coastal emergency managers
- Maritime industries using ocean forecasts
- Climate and ocean data users
Identified Costs
- NOAA ocean-program staff
- NOAA research-award administrators
- Ocean-research assistance applicants
- Federal ocean-research accounts
- Incumbent sole-source ocean vendors
- Federal ocean-data management staff
Sponsors
Gabe Amo
D-RI | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Introduced in House
Mr. Amo (for himself and Mr. Scott Franklin of Florida) …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Climate and ocean data users, Incumbent sole-source ocean vendors, Ocean-observing technology companies
Positive-direction: Climate and ocean data users, Ocean-observing technology companies
Negative-direction: Incumbent sole-source ocean vendors
Federal ocean-research accounts, NOAA ocean-program staff, NOAA research-award administrators
NOAA cooperative institutes, University ocean researchers
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "noaa"
- → National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- "data_user"
- → User consulted on ocean observing priorities, products, and data access
- "research_recipient"
- → Academic, cooperative, private, or other entity receiving competitive assistance
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A one-year NOAA framework stating program priorities, goals, objectives, and performance metrics after consultation with ocean-data users.
Competitive, merit-based support delivered through contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements to eligible outside entities.
Artificial intelligence as defined by the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology