[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 2 (Friday, January 3, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 359-364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-57]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 021114275-2275-01]


Joint Hurricane Testbed (JHT) Opportunities for Transfer of 
Research and Technology Into Tropical Cyclone Analysis and Forecast 
Operations

AGENCY: Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is soliciting 
preapplications (Letters of Intent) under

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the United States Weather Research Program (USWRP), established under 
section 108 of the NOAA Authorization Act of 1992 (15 U.S.C. 313 note), 
as governed by the USWRP Joint Hurricane Testbed (JHT). The JHT is 
operated by NOAA in cooperation with the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration (NASA) and the United States Navy. This notice also 
provides guidelines for the submission of full proposals. This notice 
describes opportunities and application procedures for the transfer of 
relevant research and technology advances into tropical cyclone 
analysis and forecast operations. Eligible applicants include 
institutions of higher education, other non-profit, and commercial 
organizations, state, local and Indian tribal governments. This notice 
calls for researchers to submit proposals to test and evaluate, and 
modify if necessary, in a quasi-operational environment, their own 
scientific and technological research applications. Projects satisfying 
metrics for success and operational constraints may be selected for 
operational implementation after the completion of the JHT-funded work. 
The period of the award is from one up to two years.

DATES: Preapplications submitted by Principal Investigators (PIs) must 
be received at the Tropical Prediction Center in Miami, Florida 
(address provided below) no later than 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time 
(EST) on February 3, 2003. Response letters will be sent from NOAA no 
later than 5 p.m. EST on March 4, 2003.
    PIs will be informed of the submittal deadline for full proposals 
in the response letter.

ADDRESSES: Preapplication and full proposals must be submitted, in 
accordance with the requirements described in Section VIII of this 
notice, to: Dr. Jiann-Gwo Jiing, Director, Joint Hurricane Testbed, 
Tropical Prediction Center, 11691 SW. 17th Street, Miami, FL 33165. 
Full proposals must be submitted as printed hard copies to the above 
address. Preapplications may be sent as printed hard copies to the 
above address, or they may be submitted electronically by sending in 
portable document format (PDF) via e-mail to: [email protected].
    The standard NOAA Grants and Cooperative Agreement Application 
Package, which contains required forms to be submitted with a full 
proposal (but not with a preapplication), and other important 
supplemental information to this notice (an overview of the JHT and 
operational Tropical Prediction Center IT environments), can be 
obtained by contacting Karen King, DOC/NOAA, Office of Weather & Air 
Quality Research, Routing Code R/WA, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 
11216, Silver Spring, MD 20910, phone (301) 713-0460 ext. 202, e-mail 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen King, DOC/NOAA, Office of 
Weather & Air Quality Research, Routing Code R/WA, 1315 East-West 
Highway, Room 11216, Silver Spring, MD 20910, phone (301) 713-0460 ext. 
202, e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Program Authority

    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 2904(c)(3).

II. Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA)

11.431--Climate and Atmospheric Research

III. Program Description

    The USWRP, via the JHT, seeks to accelerate the rate at which 
promising research and technology benefit operational tropical cyclone 
analysis and forecasting. The goal of this notice is to identify such 
promising research and technology, and to support the testing and 
evaluation, in a quasi-operational environment, of techniques and 
applications developed and provided by PIs to responding to this 
notice. Federal assistance is provided to PIs allow them to tailor 
their techniques for the operational environment. Depending upon the 
nature of the proposed research and technology, PIs are asked to 
provide documentation and instructions to facilitate the testing and 
evaluation of their techniques by operational center staff. Projects 
satisfying metrics for success and operational constraints may be 
selected for operational implementation after the completion of the 
JHT-funded work.
    JHT Projects: Whereas the operational forecast center where JHT 
projects will be tested and evaluated could be the NOAA Tropical 
Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center (TPC/NHC), the Joint 
Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) operated by the United States Navy and 
Air Force, or the NOAA Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC), TPC/NHC 
will be specified in this document, both for brevity and to acknowledge 
the current focus of the JHT on that operational center. Use of other 
facilities is possible depending on requirements, workload, and 
opportunity.
    The JHT mission is to facilitate the rapid and smooth transfer of 
new technology, research results, and observational advances of the 
USWRP, its sponsoring agencies, the academic community, and other 
groups into improved tropical cyclone analysis and prediction at 
operational centers. This mission will be accomplished by funded PIs 
and their support staffs, in collaboration with operational center 
forecasters and other staff, and facilitated by JHT staff, via the 
following JHT project activities (as relevant to each project):
    (1) Utilizing a quasi-operational environment to facilitate the 
testing and evaluation by operational center forecasters and support 
staff of research products and techniques provided by the PIs, subject 
to metrics that mandate good scientific performance while meeting 
forecaster ease-of-use needs and time constraints.
    (2) Preparation for funded researchers of scientific and technical 
documentation that is sufficient to facilitate the testing and 
evaluation of the new product or technique.
    (3) Utilizing advanced statistical and numerical model output and 
stimulating model improvement in tropical cyclone analysis and forecast 
applications.
    (4) Completing tests of codes provided by the PIs that preferably 
follow established and open programming standards for ease of 
portability.
    (5) Facilitating the transfer of tested and evaluated forecast 
guidance products, research codes, and observations into the computer, 
communication, and display systems of the operational forecast center, 
while incorporating adjustments necessary to generate forecast guidance 
products that are forecaster-friendly and time-efficient.
    Upon acceptance of a proposal, JHT staff will provide project 
administration and facilitation. The JHT Director will coordinate with 
each project PI, prior to initiation, a time line and well-defined 
operational metric(s) for success in terms of scientific performance, 
ease of use, and time constraints. The time line and progress toward 
success will be monitored and updated during the project. Additionally, 
the TPC/NHC Director will designate for the project the forecaster and/
or technical point(s) of contact from the TPC/NHC staff.
    The JHT will provide to the funded projects access to the JHT IT 
infrastructure (computer hardware, software, and data) to facilitate 
the testing and evaluation in an environment that closely matches that 
of the operational center. An overview of the JHT and TPC/NHC 
operational IT environments can be obtained along with the standard 
NOAA Grants and Cooperative Agreement Application Package, as described 
previously in the

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Addresses section following the Summary of this notice. Copies of 
operational codes may be made available to prospective applicants as 
needed, but without guaranteed support.
    The PI and his/her research staff, working with JHT personnel, will 
modify (if necessary) their proposed system so that it may be run 
during the hurricane season, utilized by the operational center 
forecasters, and tested and evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively 
in a quasi-operational environment. In preparation for testing and 
evaluation, the funded researcher must provide sufficient documentation 
and instructions to the JHT staff and TPC/NHC forecasters and technical 
point(s) of contact to enable them to conduct the tests and 
evaluations. Following any necessary modifications to make the 
researcher's proposed system functional in the JHT environment, initial 
testing and evaluation will be conducted, but not necessarily in real-
time or during hurricane season. When the results of these initial 
tests and evaluations show sufficient progress, the TPC/NHC and JHT 
Directors, with input from the TPC/NHC point(s) of contact, may make 
the decision for the proposed system to be configured for quasi-
operational, real-time testing and evaluation during hurricane season 
in the JHT environment. Researchers should anticipate that their funded 
work period will include their involvement during quasi-operational 
testing where tuning and adjustment may be required. Experience gained 
from current JHT projects indicates that the process of testing and 
evaluation often uncovers opportunities to make modest improvements to 
a project during its lifetime, and a project advances most rapidly when 
researchers, the JHT staff, and TPC/NHC forecasters and technical 
points of contact remain flexible an collaborate closely.
    A successful JHT project will result in one or more of the 
following: (1) A forecast guidance product or technique leading to 
improved tropical cyclone analyses and/or forecasts; (2) operational 
availability of data from a new observational system that has provided 
documented evidence of positive diagnostic or forecast impact; and/or 
(3) a converted research code that, running with an operational data 
stream on forecast center computers and display systems, is effectively 
utilized by the operational forecasters to improve products and 
services. Final testing, validation, and acceptance of the new product 
will be the responsibility of, and at the discretion of, the 
operational forecast center. When the operationally capable system is 
demonstrated to provide improved forecast guidance according to the 
agreed-upon metric(s) for success and meets operational constraints, 
the operational forecast center Director may make the decision for full 
operational implementation. The JHT-funded researcher and the JHT staff 
will then provide materials for the operational center to develop its 
own documentation and training for the new technique or product. Long-
term maintenance and support of the new technique or product will then 
become the responsibility of the operational forecast center. Codes 
resulting from JHT work accepted for operational implementation will be 
the property of the U.S. government and will be in the public domain, 
which will readily facilitate cooperative work between research, 
educational, governmental, and other organizations.
    Program Priorities: The USWRP has established the following goals 
for its Hurricane Landfall program:
    A. Reduce landfall track and intensity errors by 20 percent.
    B. Extend track forecasts to 120 hours with an average error less 
than 250 nautical miles.
    C. Increase warning lead time to 24 hours and beyond with 95% 
confidence.
    D. Make skillful forecasts (compared to persistence) of gale- and 
hurricane-force wind radii out to 48 hours with 95% confidence.
    E. Extend quantitative precipitation forecasts to three days and 
improve skill of day-three forecasts to improve inland flooding 
forecasts.
    The Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center (TPC/NHC) 
of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) has 
identified its operational forecast improvement needs, which are 
closely related to the USWRP goals. The highest TPC/NHC hurricane 
forecaster priorities involve the following six areas of need:
    (TPC A-1) Improve guidance for tropical cyclone intensity change, 
with highest priority on the onset, duration, and magnitude of rapid 
intensification events.
    (TPC A-2) Develop statistically-based real-time ``guidance on 
guidance'' for track, intensity and precipitation (e.g., multi-model 
consensus approaches) and provide guidance to forecasters in 
probabilistic and other formats.
    (TPC A-3) Improve guidance for tropical cyclone precipitation 
amount and distribution.
    (TPC A-4) Identify and then reduce the occurrence of guidance and 
official track outliers, focusing on both large speed errors (e.g., 
accelerating ``recurvers'' and stalling storms) and large direction 
errors (e.g., loops and tropical cyclone tracks such as those of Mitch 
(1998) and Keith (2000)).
    (TPC A-5) Implement improved observational systems in the storm and 
its environment that provide data for forecaster analysis and model 
initialization.
    (TPC A-6) Develop guidance for changes in tropical cyclone size and 
related parameters, including combined sea heights.
    Additional TPC/NHC areas of need include, but are not limited to:
    (TPC B-1) Improve operational analysis and forecast guidance for 
the surface wind field, including maximum sustained winds, during 
tropical cyclone landfall.
    (TPC B-2) Develop probabilistic forecast guidance for tropical 
cyclone surface wind speed.
    (TPC B-3) Develop guidance for tropical cyclone genesis that 
exhibits a high probability of detection and a low false alarm rate.
    (TPC B-4) Improve numerical and statistical guidance on specific 
forecast problems, including the following: interactions between upper-
level troughs and tropical cyclones, track forecasts near mountainous 
areas, and extratropical transition.
    (TPC B-5) Develop analysis techniques, which improve upon the 
Dvorak technique, for surface winds in tropical cyclones passing over 
and north of the sea-surface temperature gradient in the eastern North 
Pacific Ocean.
    (TPC B-6) Develop generalized strike probability programs 
applicable to all tropical cyclone basins for which the TPC/NHC, CPHC, 
and JTWC are responsible.
    (TPC B-7) Develop improved storm surge guidance models, including 
guidance on breaking waves and featuring high resolution input and 
output.
    (TPC B-8) Improve the utility of microwave satellite and radar data 
in tropical cyclone analysis.
    Much of the improvement in tropical cyclone forecasting is 
attributed to advances in numerical weather prediction (NWP). These 
advances are mainly the result of improvements in observations, data 
assimilation techniques, and improved model physics in global forecast 
systems and high resolution regional models, in addition to the 
development of ensemble-based model guidance. Individual proposals 
directed toward the NWP issues will be expected to be closely 
coordinated with the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC)

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of NCEP. Work should be concluded within a two year period.
    High priority areas of work associated with NWP advancements for 
tropical cyclone forecasting are:
    (EMC 1) General model improvements to advance track and intensity 
forecasts.
    (EMC 2) Improved boundary layer representation for coupled air/sea/
land models by, for example, exploiting results from field projects 
such as C-BLAST (for improved parameterization of surface fluxes in 
high wind regimes, and effects of sea spray on transfer coefficients).
    (EMC 3) Improved targeting strategies for hurricane surveillance 
missions to improve model track forecasts.
    (EMC 4) Model validation techniques suitable for 3D high resolution 
verification for storms in the process of extratropical transition or 
storms at landfall.
    (EMC 5) Diagnostic techniques to further increase the utility of 
global models (e.g., NCEP, UKMO, NOGAPS) in forecasting tropical 
cyclone genesis.

IV. Funding Availability

    The estimate for total JHT funding that will be available in FY 
2003 is $1,500,000. Funding of any JHT proposals is contingent upon 
availability of these funds. NOAA issues this notice subject to 
appropriations made available under the current continuing resolution 
(CR), H.J. Res. 111, ``Making continuing appropriations for the fiscal 
year 2003, and for other purposes,'' Public Law 107-229, as amended by 
H.J. Res. 112, Public Law 107-235, H.J. Res. 122, Public Law 107-240, 
H.J. Res. 123, Public Law 107-224, and H.J. Res. 124, Public Law 107-
294. NOAA anticipates making awards under this program provided that 
funding for the USWRP is continued beyond January 11, 2003, the 
expiration of the current continuing resolution. Issuance of awards, 
however, is subject to the future availability of fiscal year 2003 
funds. In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be 
responsible for proposal preparation costs if this program fails to 
receive funding or is canceled because of other agency priorities.

V. Funding Instrument

    The funding instrument will be a Cooperative Agreement based on the 
envisioned substantial involvement of NOAA scientists in projects 
funded by this notice. NOAA collaborates on cooperative research 
activities and provides financial support to enhance the public 
benefits to be derived from these research activities. NOAA envisions 
that JHT project testing and evaluation will involve close 
collaboration, facilitated by the JHT staff, between JHT-funded 
researchers and operational center forecasters and point(s) of contact.

VI. Eligibility

    Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, other 
non-profit, and commercial organizations, state, local and Indian 
tribal governments. Funding for contractual arrangements for services 
and products for delivery to NOAA are not available under this notice.

VII. Award Period

    The period of awards is from one up to two years. All funded PIs 
are required to submit written semiannual reports during the project to 
describe the progress made toward the goals and deliverables 
established in the original proposal and agreed-upon time line. A final 
report must also be submitted at the conclusion of the project. The due 
dates for these reports will be coordinated with the JHT Director upon 
project initiation. Two-year projects will be reviewed by the JHT 
Steering Committee, and/or other designated reviewers, and the JHT and 
TPC/NHC Directors near the end of the first year for suitability for 
continuation into the second year. PIs are required to submit a renewal 
proposal along with the second semiannual report for this review. The 
renewal proposal must provide updates to the project work plan, 
deliverables, time line. IT requirements, budget, documentation and 
training plans, etc. This review is also based upon the semiannual 
reports and upon feedback received from the TPC/NHC point(s) of 
contact. The criteria upon which the renewal review is based are: (1) 
The progress toward milestones in the original time line, (2) the 
potential for completing the testing and evaluation process and 
providing the stated deliverables by the end of the second year, and 
(3) appropriateness and reasonableness of the budget with respect to 
available JHT funds. Given a favorable review, each project may be 
funded for a second year.
    A JHT project reaches its completion in one of two ways. A two-year 
project may end at any time, particularly after appropriately one year 
if the TPC/NHC and JHT Directors and the JHT Steering Committee (and/or 
other designated reviewers) decide, as described above, that 
insufficient progress has been made to justify continuation of the 
project into year two. A JHT project ends more conventionally with the 
submission of a final report at the conclusion of the original agreed-
upon project duration, with the subsequent action being the decision by 
the TPC/NHC Director on whether or not operational implementation of 
the project deliverables will occur.

VIII. Submission Requirements

    The guidelines for preparation of preapplications and full 
proposals provided below are mandatory (except where otherwise noted). 
Failure to adhere to these guidelines will result in preaplications 
and/or full proposals being returned without review. See the ``Dates'' 
and ``Addresses'' sections following the ``Summary'' earlier in this 
notice for submission deadlines and addresses.

A. Preapplications (PA)

    (1) Prior to submitting a full proposal, PIs are strongly 
encouraged to submit a PA for each planned proposal. However, PIs who 
do not submit a PA will not be precluded from submitting a full 
proposal.
    (2) The PA must be no more than two pages in length, using a 12-
point font and one inch margins, and it must include the name(s) of the 
PI(s) and their home institution(s).
    (3) The PA must contain a brief description of the intended 
project.
    (4) The PA must include a brief budget which summarizes how 
resources will be allocated [e.g., salaries, computing and 
communications, equipment (provide justification), indirect charges, 
and travel]. Note that funding for secretarial support and IT 
improvements at the PI's home institution is not generally available.
    (5) Each PA will be reviewed, following the criteria specified 
below in Section IX of this notice, by members of the JHT Steering 
Committee and/or other designated reviewers, who will make their 
recommendations to the JHT Director and TPC/NHC Director.
    (6) PIs will not be encouraged to submit a full proposal for any PA 
deemed to be unresponsive to this notice. However, they will not be 
precluded from submitting a full proposal for any such PA.

B. Full Proposals

    (1) The proposal must include a title page signed by the PI(s) and 
the appropriate representatives(s) of their home institution(s). Each 
PI and institutional representative should be identified by full name, 
title, organization, telephone number, mailing address, and e-mail 
address.
    (2) A one page abstract must be included and must contain a brief 
summary of the work to be completed. The abstract must appear on a 
separate

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page, headed with the proposal title and the name(s) of the PI(s) and 
their home institution(s).
    (3) All proposals must provide a Statement of Work that includes:
    a. The proposed duration of the project, from one up to two years;
    b. If known, suggested forecaster and/or technical point(s) of 
contact at TPC/NHC and, if necessary, other operational center(s);
    c. A brief description of the project, with prior research results 
(including references) to demonstrate sufficient maturity and potential 
for a successful transition to operations at TPC/NHC and other 
operational forecast centers (e.g., CPHC, JTWC) and/or, if applicable, 
at a numerical weather prediction center;
    d. A work plan for the project, including hardware and software 
needs, the testing and evaluation approach, metric(s) for success, 
project deliverables, a time line with key milestones, real-time 
operational data needed as input, and a plan to port necessary codes to 
the operational environment of TPC/NHC and/or NCO (an overview of the 
JHT and TPC/NHC operational IT environments can be obtained along with 
the standard NOAA Grants and Cooperative Agreement Application Package, 
as described previously in the ADDRESSES section following the SUMMARY 
of this notice);
    e. A time line for delivering scientific and technical 
documentation and training materials over the course of the project 
that are sufficient to enable testing and evaluation of the proposed 
techniques. If the proposal is funded, researchers are expected to 
coordinate with the JHT Director to formalize this time line;
    f. Schedule and needs for expected travel (PIs are strongly 
encouraged to plan and budget during each year of the project to 
describe their work at the annual Interdepartmental Hurricane 
Conference (IHC), sponsored by the Office of the Federal Coordinator 
for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, and visits by PIs 
and/or their support staff to the TPC/NHC, and any other operational 
center(s) as necessary, may be beneficial for training JHT staff and 
the forecaster and technical point(s) of contact in preparation for 
project testing and evaluation); and
    g. Estimates of JHT staff requirements in terms of on-site (or off-
site) JHT Facilitator efforts, and estimated computational, 
communication, and/or display requirements at the researcher's home 
institution and/or at JHT via remote access and data transfer.
    (4) Applicants must submit a budget using the Standard Form 424A 
(4-92), Budget Information--Non-Construction Programs. This form is 
included in the standard NOAA Grants and Cooperative Agreement 
Application Package (see ADDRESSES section that follows the SUMMARY 
earlier in this notice). The budget must include PI and scientific and 
technical support staff salaries, JHT facility requirements, computing 
and communications funding, equipment funding (provide justification), 
indirect charges, and travel. Note that funding for secretarial support 
and IT improvements at the PI's home institution is not generally 
available.
    (5) Applicants must also use the following forms when applying for 
financial assistance: Standard Forms 424, Application for Federal 
Assistance, 424B, Assurances--Non-Construction Programs, and SF-LLL 
(Rev. 7-97); Department of Commerce forms CD-346, Applicant for Funding 
Assistance, and CD-511, Certifications Regarding Debarment, Suspension 
and Other Responsibility matters: Drug-Free Workplace Requirements and 
Lobbying. These forms are also included in the standard NOAA Grants and 
Cooperative Agreement Application Package (see ADDRESSES section that 
follows the SUMMARY earlier in this notice).
    (6) An abbreviated Curriculum Vita for the PI must be included. 
Reference lists should be limited to all publications in the last three 
years with up to five other relevant papers.
    (7) Current and pending Federal support: Each investigator must 
submit a list that includes project title; supporting agency with grant 
number, investigator months, dollar value and duration. Requested 
amounts should be listed for pending Federal support.
    (8) Additional proposal requirements include:
    a. One signed original and two hard copies of the complete proposal 
must be submitted (submission of five additional hard copies is 
encouraged, to expedite the review process, but is not required);
    b. Each proposal must be dated with pages numbers;
    c. Items 3a through 3g above must be contained within no more than 
ten pages, using a 12-point font and one-inch margins.

IX. Evaluation Criteria

    The JHT Steering Committee, and/or other designated reviewers, and 
the JHT and TPC/NHC Directors will base their recommendations regarding 
each preapplication and each full proposal upon the extent to which the 
following criteria (listed with assigned weights and in order of 
decreasing importance) are satisfied:
    A. (25% weight) Consistency with one or more of the USWRP goals, 
and consistency with one or more of the priorities and needs of the 
TPC/NHC (especially the highest priority ``TPC A-1 through A-6'' items) 
and/or EMC, as listed in Section III of this notice (Note: proposals 
with exceptional promise for improving operational tropical cyclone 
forecasting, but that do not fall within the scope of the listed TPC/
NHC or EMC needs and priorities, will still be considered.)
    B. (25% weight) Potential for improving operational tropical 
cyclone analysis and forecast accuracy.
    C. (20% weight) Promise for a successful transition to operations 
within one to two years, and readiness for testing and evaluation in a 
quasi-operational environment.
    D. (15% weight) Appropriations and reasonableness of the budget 
with respect to available JHT funds.
    E. (10% weight) Compatibility with the communications, computing, 
data, and display environments of TPC/NHC and/or NCEP Central 
Operations (NCO) (note that in cases where the technological advances 
of the project require cutting-edge hardware or software not yet in 
place at the JHT and at TPC/NHC and/or NCO, support for such 
enhancement from the USWRP may be considered).
    F. (5% weight) Applicability to other operational forecast centers 
(e.g., CPHC, JTWC).

X. Selection Procedures

    All full proposals will receive an independent, objective review in 
accordance with the criteria specified above in Section IX of this 
notice. Such review will be conducted by the JHT Steering Committee, 
and/or other designated reviewers, consisting of at least three federal 
and/or non-federal experts. Each member of the independent review panel 
will individually evaluate and rank the proposals. The reviewers will 
provide their rankings and recommendations to the JHT Director and TPC/
NHC Director. The JHT Director and TPC/NHC Director will together 
decide whether to endorse each proposal based upon the rankings and 
recommendations from the reviewers and based upon the availability of 
TPC/NHC resources to support each project. The JHT Director and TPC/NHC 
Director will then together present their recommendations on favorably 
reviewed and endorsed proposals to the Directors, Office of Weather and 
Air Quality Research (W&AQR) of NOAA's Office of Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Research.
    The Director of W&AQR makes the final recommendation to the NOAA 
Grants Officer regarding the funding of

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applications, taking into account the following program policy factors: 
(a) Availability of funding, (b) duplication with ongoing Federal 
support, (c) institutional diversity and (d) inter-institutional 
collaboration. Successful applicants are then notified. Funded projects 
become a JHT activity with a duration of one to two years. Note that 
two-year proposals are initially funded for one year, with funding for 
a second year contingent upon a favorable review near the end of the 
first year and upon available W&AQR funds. Unsuccessful applications 
will be notified of the final selection upon completion of the review 
and selection process. Copies of all submitted preapplications and 
proposals will be retained by the JHT staff and will become the 
property of the U.S. Government.

Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification of Requirements for 
Grants and Cooperative Agreements

    The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification of Requirements 
for Grants and Cooperative Agreements contained in the Federal Register 
Notice of October 1, 2001 (66 FR 49917), as amended by 67 FR 66109 
(October 30, 2002), are applicable to this solicitation.

Intergovernmental Review

    Applications under this program are not subject to Executive Order 
12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.''

Services for the Deaf

    The NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research does not have 
direct Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD) capabilities, but can be 
reached through the State of Maryland-supplied TDD contact number, 800-
735-2258, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Executive Order 12866

    This notice has been determined to be not significant for purposes 
of Executive Order 12866.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This notice contains collection-of-information requirements subject 
to the Paperwork Reduction Act. The use of Standard Forms 424, 424A, 
and SF-LLL has been approved by OMB under the respective control 
numbers 0348-0043, 0348-0044, and 0348-0046. Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any 
person by subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection 
of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act, unless that 
collection displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Executive Order 13132

    It has been determined that this notice does not contain policies 
with Federalism implications as that term is defined in Executive Order 
13132.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Because notice and comment are not required under 5 USC 553, or any 
other law, for this notice relating to public property, loans, grants 
benefits or contracts (5 USC 553(a)), a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 
is not required and has not been prepared for this notice, 5 USC 601 et 
seq., pursuant to Executive Orders 13256, 12900, and 13021, the 
Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration.
    In accordance with Federal statutes and regulations, no person on 
grounds of race, color, age, sex, national origin, or disability shall 
be excluded from participation in, denied benefits of, or be subjected 
to discrimination under any program or activity receiving financial 
assistance.

    Dated: December 30, 2002.
Louisa Koch,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-57 Filed 1-2-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-KD-M