[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 138 (Thursday, July 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46773-46778]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-15432]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
[Docket No. 2307014-0168]
RTID 0648-XV193
Request for Information on Equitable Delivery of Climate Services
AGENCY: Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Department), via the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), requests additional
input from interested parties on how to enhance NOAA's delivery of
climate data, information, science, and tools (``climate services'')
and ensure that this delivery is equitable and accounting for the needs
and priorities of a diverse set of user communities as they engage in
climate preparedness, adaptation, and resilience planning. Building on
the work that NOAA is already doing to prepare communities for
increasing climate impacts, the input from this Request for Information
(RFI) will be used to create an Action Plan that will inform more
equitable and inclusive design, production, and delivery of climate
services for users of all disciplines and backgrounds.
DATES: Responses are due on or before September 21, 2023.
NOAA will host virtual public listening sessions during the months
of August and September for participants to provide comments. See
ADDRESSES below for more information on dates, times, and registration.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document by any of the
following methods:
Email Submission: Interested individuals and organizations
should submit written or recorded comments by email to
[email protected]. If submitting via email, include the title of
this RFI, ``Request for Information on Equitable Delivery of Climate
Services'' in the subject line of the email.
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Attachments will be accepted in plain text, Microsoft Word, or Adobe
PDF, or recorded formats only, not to exceed a file size of 25 MB. If
comments are submitted via recording, they must be in .mpg, mpeg, or
.wav file formats. All comments submitted via email in recorded format
will be transcribed.
Electronic Submission: Comments may also be submitted in
writing only via www.regulations.gov/. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and enter the title of this action, ``Request for
Information on Equitable Delivery of Climate Services'' in the Search
box. Click the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and
enter or attach your comments. Enter ``N/A'' in required fields if you
wish to remain anonymous.
Mail: Submit written comments to Ella Clarke, Room 58010/
HCHB, 1401 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20230. Include the
title of this RFI, ``Request for Information on Equitable Delivery of
Climate Services'' in the written response.
Public Listening Sessions: Provide oral comments during
virtual public listening sessions, as described under DATES.
Registration details and additional information about how to
participate in these public listening sessions is available at https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/equitable-climate-service-delivery-2404789.
Instructions: Response to this RFI is voluntary. Respondents need
not reply to all questions listed. Each individual or institution is
requested to submit only one response. All comments received are part
of the public record and may be posted, without change, on NOAA's
website at https://www.noaa.gov and on https://www.regulations.gov.
Commenters should include the name of the person and/or organization
filing the comment. All identifying information (e.g., name, email
address) submitted voluntarily by the sender will be publicly
accessible. NOAA, therefore, requests that no business proprietary
information, copyrighted information, or sensitive personally
identifiable information be submitted in response to this RFI. Comments
will be accepted in English and Spanish. Comments submitted in Spanish
will be translated to English for public posting.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ella Clarke, Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, (771) 216-1352; [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Climate change is here. Communities around the country and the
world are feeling its impacts every day. Brutal heat waves on land and
in the ocean, extreme and prolonged drought, and coastal and inland
flooding are just some of the risks that are threatening our economies,
ecosystems, and ways of life. Communities of color, Indigenous, Tribal
communities, and other marginalized communities--communities already
facing systemic economic, social, civic, and environmental inequity--
experience disproportionate impacts. Historically, these communities
have been without access to resources that would support them in
advancing their community priorities, preparing for climate-related
disasters, adapting to a changing climate, and avoiding the worst
future damages.
NOAA is a leading provider of climate data, information, science,
and tools (described as ``climate services'' for the purpose of this
document--see Definitions below), and plays a critical role in
improving our Nation's ability to adapt and build resilience to climate
change. Equity is a core component of NOAA and the Department of
Commerce's vision. NOAA has committed to making equity central to every
part of its mission, including its climate service delivery, as part of
NOAA's Strategic Plan (https://www.noaa.gov/organization/budget-finance-performance/value-to-society/noaa-fy22-26-strategic-plan) and
Climate Ready Nation initiative. This includes improving discovery of,
access to, and usability of climate services to adapt to climate change
and prepare for and enhance resilience to its impacts. Following
through on that equity commitment requires NOAA to center the needs and
priorities of historically underserved communities in its delivery of
climate services. NOAA has taken strides to improve how underserved
communities benefit from NOAA's climate services through a series of
Climate Equity Roundtables and subsequent Climate Equity Pilots
(https://www.noaa.gov/regional-collaboration-network/noaas-climate-and-equity-roundtables), among other efforts, but we acknowledge that there
is more that we can do. NOAA also has opportunities to improve equity
in its climate service delivery through increased capacity and improved
access to climate services for climate preparedness, adaptation, and
resilience planning in underserved and Tribal and Indigenous
communities, including consideration and inclusion of Indigenous
Knowledge in the design and delivery of NOAA's climate services.
NOAA aims to elicit comments on how to enhance the agency's
delivery of climate services and ensure that this delivery is equitable
and accounting for the needs and priorities of a diverse set of user
communities. Building on the work that NOAA is already doing to prepare
communities for increasing climate impacts, we will gather critical
feedback from a wide swath of users of all disciplines and backgrounds,
including but not limited to those working in public health, housing,
economic development, environmental justice, and other communities that
we aim to better support (see Target Audience list below). A summary of
responses will be shared publicly and will be used to develop an Action
Plan to further embed equity in NOAA's climate service design,
production, and delivery based on feedback received from respondents.
(1) RFI Objectives
Solicit feedback on the climate services and other
decision support needed to help a range of user communities,
particularly historically underserved, Tribal, and Indigenous
communities, move forward with their climate preparedness, adaptation,
and resilience planning.
Leverage responses to spark further conversation within
NOAA and with community partners to drive organizational change and
ensure that NOAA both (1) provides and co-produces climate services
that meet the needs and enhance the capabilities of those we serve, and
(2) sustains productive feedback loops with users to adaptively manage
its climate services for continual improvement and more equitable
outcomes.
Take concrete action to make NOAA's climate services more
accessible, understandable, usable, inclusive of the social and
economic impacts of climate change, and capable of addressing complex
and compounding hazards.
Take concrete action to build capacity and support users
of all disciplines and backgrounds, particularly for historically
underserved communities and Tribal and Indigenous communities, by
expanding science literacy and successfully applying technical
information and data to science-based decisions about climate
preparedness, risk, and resilience.
(2) Target Audience
NOAA is particularly interested in hearing from communities that it
may
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not engage with regularly, including but not limited to:
Community and city planners
Community organizers
Public health workers
Affordable housing advocates
Environmental non-profits
Environmental justice groups
Small business owners
Food banks, urban and community gardens
Students and youth organizers
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)
Tribal and Indigenous government officials and community
members
State and territorial governments
Local government
II. NOAA Investment in Equitable Climate Service Delivery
The Biden-Harris Administration has laid out clear priorities
around climate resilience, adaptation, and equity through Executive
Order 13985, which calls for the Federal Government to ``pursue a
comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of
color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized,
and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality''; and
Executive Order 14008 on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and
Abroad. Other Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Emergency Management
Administration, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, have used
these Executive Orders as impetus for releasing RFIs to enhance their
incorporation of equity considerations into existing climate
preparedness, adaptation, and resilience programs.
(1) Climate Service Delivery for Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples
NOAA recognizes the critical contributions of Indigenous Knowledge
that Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples make to climate
preparedness, adaptation, and resilience practices, and the importance
of ensuring that NOAA's consideration and inclusion of Indigenous
Knowledge is guided by respect for the sovereignty and self-
determination of Tribal Nations; the Nation-to-Nation Relationship
between the United States and Tribal Nations, and the United States'
trust responsibility; and the need for the consent of and honest
engagement with Tribal Nations and Indigenous Peoples. NOAA, in
response to the Indigenous Knowledge Guidance (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/OSTP-CEQ-IK-Guidance.pdf)
provided by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and
the White House Council on Environmental Quality, has updated its NOAA
Tribal Consultation Handbook (https://www.noaa.gov/legislative-and-intergovernmental-affairs/noaa-tribal-resources-updates) and reaffirmed
NOAA Administrative Order NAO 218-8A: Policy on Government-to-
Government Consultation with Federally Recognized Indian Tribal
Governments (https://www.noaa.gov/organization/administration/nao-218-8A-policy-on-G2G-consultation-with-federally-Recognized-Tribal-Governments). This RFI seeks to further understand Tribal and
Indigenous needs around and contributions to NOAA's suite of climate
services.
(2) Climate Ready Nation
NOAA launched Climate Ready Nation to better organize and deliver
NOAA's climate services and get actionable weather, water, and climate
information and data in the hands of decision makers to help them build
a thriving, equitable, and resilient future in the face of climate
change. But, NOAA and the Federal Government cannot ready the Nation
alone. Through the Climate-Ready Nation initiative, the focus is on
strengthening a broad range of partnerships with the end goal of
creating and sustaining a climate service enterprise that extends far
beyond what NOAA alone can do. This includes:
Serving climate needs within the Department of Commerce;
Supporting other members of the Federal Government in
climate-proofing their investments;
Tailoring service delivery to state and local leaders,
including leaders in communities, with academic institutions and non-
governmental organizations (NGOs), and across the U.S. and territories;
Engaging with Tribal and Indigenous communities and
leaders, recognizing the value of traditional knowledge and,
simultaneously, that climate change poses particular threats to
indigenous populations;
Working with businesses and the private sector to enable a
robust public-private service delivery enterprise; and
empowering the public to take action in their own lives.
This will be successful only if we take a purposeful approach to
our partnerships and ensure that this vast, multi-stakeholder group of
climate service providers is using authoritative and fit-for-purpose
information to inform climate actions.
(3) NOAA Climate Equity Roundtables and Pilots
The NOAA Regional Collaboration Network is supporting NOAA's
commitment to sustained engagement with underserved communities through
seven pilot projects in the coming years. Each regional pilot will
respond directly to feedback received from partners during Climate and
Equity roundtable discussions. Pilots will take a unique, place-based
approach to helping vulnerable communities better understand, prepare
for, and respond to climate change. You can read more about the Pilots
here: https://www.noaa.gov/noaa-regional-collaboration-network-announces-climate-and-equity-pilot-projects.
(4) NOAA Grant Programs Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and
Inflation Reduction Act
On June 6, 2023, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced
historic funding for NOAA under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA;
https://www.noaa.gov/inflation-reduction-act), highlighting plans to
implement $3.3 billion in investments focused on ensuring America's
communities and economy are ready for and resilient to climate change.
Through the IRA, and building on investments made under the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Act (BIL; https://www.noaa.gov/infrastructure-law), NOAA
will continue its efforts to build a climate-ready nation. This
includes funding that will empower NOAA to address the growing demand
for climate services and support for climate preparedness, adaptation,
and resilience planning in a way that is accessible and equitable for
users of all disciplines and backgrounds. More information on these
investments can be found here: https://www.noaa.gov/inflation-reduction-act.
III. List of Questions for Commenters
NOAA seeks responses to three categories of questions below in
Sections A, B, and C. We invite any member of the public, particularly
those in the Target Audience list above, to provide input on some or
all of the questions in the below categories:
A. Enhancing Accessibility of NOAA Climate Services
B. Capacity Building, Education, and Technical Assistance
C. Community Outreach, Engagement, and Co-production of Climate
Services
Respondents are welcome to respond to as many or as few questions
below as are applicable to their experience with NOAA's climate
services. Response to
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all questions listed below is NOT required. You may also include links
to online material or interactive presentations. If including data
sets, please make the data available in a downloadable, machine-
readable format with accompanying metadata. (See ADDRESSES for further
instructions.)
A. Enhancing Accessibility of NOAA Climate Services
NOAA is a leading provider of climate data, information, science,
and tools, and maintains a rich array of climate services that are
designed to inform decisions on climate preparedness, adaptation, and
resilience. However, an abundance of scientific resources and gaps in
climate services, particularly at smaller scales, can create challenges
as communities look to access, understand, and use information that
suit their particular needs. In addition, the data, tools, and services
that NOAA provides may also not be accessible, understandable, or
usable for all communities. The questions below seek to gather feedback
on how NOAA is, or is not, addressing the information needs and
priorities of communities as they seek to make decisions about their
climate preparedness, risk, and resilience. Responses could include
(but are not limited to): feedback on discoverability (finding the
right data for use), ease of accessing NOAA data, tools, and services;
scale of data; usability of data; translation of NOAA data and tools
into multiple languages; and/or data gaps related to Indigenous and
place-based knowledge, community expertise, and/or social and economic
impacts of climate change. NOAA invites comment on the following
questions:
Use of Climate Services
1. When and why do you seek information about climate and the
environment? What are your priorities when looking for this
information, and what do you want to do with the information you are
seeking?
2. What data, information, science, and tools (``climate
services'') do you use to make decisions about your risk from climate-
related natural hazards (e.g., drought, heat waves, wildfires, floods,
intense precipitation, extreme weather) and your preparedness,
resilience, and adaptation planning and actions?
a. What do you find most useful about the data, tools and
information you use? What's missing?
b. Are these resources from NOAA? If not, where are they from?
Access/Accessibility
3. Please tell us, with stories or examples, about your experiences
accessing NOAA climate services on climate hazards, risk, and
resilience.
4. What obstacles or challenges have you faced in accessing NOAA
climate services for decision-making around climate preparedness,
adaptation, and resilience in your community?
Understanding
5. Please tell us, with stories or examples, about your experiences
understanding NOAA climate services on climate hazards, risk, and
resilience.
6. What obstacles or challenges have you faced in understanding
NOAA climate services for decision-making around climate preparedness,
adaptation, and resilience in your community?
Use/Application
7. Please tell us, with stories or examples, about your experiences
applying NOAA climate services to support decision-making around
climate preparedness, adaptation, and resilience in your community.
8. What obstacles or challenges have you faced in applying NOAA
climate services to decision-making around climate preparedness,
adaptation, and resilience in your community?
Barriers/Opportunities for Improvement
9. Does NOAA provide climate resilience science, data, tools, and/
or information that is relevant to you and in your preferred language?
How has this impacted your climate preparedness and resilience
planning?
10. Does NOAA provide climate services that are relevant to your
needs and at a scale that is useful in your decision-making around
climate preparedness and resilience? Please explain your answer.
11. What climate services (science, data, tools, and/or
information) would you like to have about the socioeconomic impacts of
climate, such as on housing, the economy, food security, workforce,
migration, etc.? Please explain your answer.
a. What would you like to be able to do with these data, tools,
and/or information?
b. How can socioeconomic impacts of climate change be better
integrated into the climate services NOAA provides?
B. Capacity Building, Education, and Technical Assistance
NOAA recognizes that many communities, particularly underserved
communities and Tribal and Indigenous communities, may not have
equitable access to NOAA climate services, nor to NOAA staff,
scientists, and project development processes to help ensure their
voices, needs, and priorities are heard. There is an opportunity for
NOAA to make its climate services easier for users of all disciplines
and backgrounds to apply. NOAA wants to hear more about what we can do
to help communities increase their capacity to understand and apply
NOAA climate services to assess their climate risk and develop
resilience and adaptation strategies to prepare for the impacts of
climate change. This could include feedback on gaps in NOAA training
and workforce development for climate preparedness, resilience, and
adaptation, supporting users of all disciplines and backgrounds across
sectors, scales, and hazards, or leveraging existing delivery
mechanisms or technical assistance programs to reach users more
broadly. NOAA invites comment on the following questions:
1. Do you have capacity in your organization or community to use
NOAA climate data, information, science, and tools (``climate
services'') in preparedness, adaptation, and resilience planning?
Please explain your answer--what additional capacity or resources would
be helpful and why?
2. How could NOAA climate services be improved to support your
organization or community in adapting to climate change?
3. What are the training and workforce development needs that NOAA
could better address through our climate services?
4. What are the specific ways in which NOAA can support communities
in assessing their climate risk, preparing for the range of hazards
they face, and building long-term resilience--particularly through
capacity building and technical assistance?
5. How can NOAA climate services be better used to advance climate
and environmental justice and prioritize underserved communities?
C. Community Outreach, Engagement, and Co-Production of Climate
Services
Fully understanding the needs, priorities, capacity, and
capabilities of the communities we serve, and where additional
capacity, training, and education gaps may exist requires a meaningful
and continued commitment to outreach, engagement, and relationship
building with communities. This could include better leveraging NOAA
and other agency ``extension'' programs and other public/private
partnerships; better understanding what users want/need to know about
climate change; or co-producing climate
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services and guidance on how to use them based on user experience and
needs. NOAA invites comment on the following questions:
1. Has NOAA directly engaged with your community to gather
feedback, jointly design or produce climate data, information, science,
or tools (``climate services'')? Please provide a brief description.
a. If so, was it effective and in what ways? If not, how could it
be improved to better build a strong trust relationship with your
community?
2. Is NOAA effectively using community feedback and relationships
to co-design and disseminate climate services? How can NOAA improve
meaningful community engagement that leads to design and dissemination
of climate services that communities need?
3. Are there partnerships that have enhanced your access to or
understanding of climate change and/or potential preparedness,
adaptation, and resilience solutions? Are there partnerships NOAA
should invest in to enhance and sustain community access and
understanding? Please explain your answer.
4. How can NOAA more meaningfully integrate your organization or
community, including individuals with lived expertise, in the co-
production of climate services?
5. How can Indigenous Knowledge, local, place-based knowledge, and
other ways of knowing be included meaningfully into the climate
services that NOAA provides, particularly for climate preparedness,
adaptation, and resilience?
IV. Definitions
There are several terms used throughout this RFI that NOAA will
define here to ensure clarity and ease of response to the questions.
Adaptation: The process of adjusting to new (climate)
conditions in order to reduce risks to valued assets (https://toolkit.climate.gov/content/glossary).
Capacity Building: The process of developing and
strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources
that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive
in a fast-changing world (https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/capacity-building).
Climate Services: ``Scientifically-based, usable
information and products that enhance knowledge and understanding about
the impacts of climate change on potential decisions and actions.''
This may involve services that are available for consistent use as well
as more ongoing, deliberative services shaped by engagement, knowledge
co-production, and capacity-building. In addition, Indigenous,
traditional and local knowledge are important components for developing
climate services in some contexts or for specific cultures and
communities (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/FTAC_Report_03222023_508.pdf). In the context of this RFI, ``climate
services'' refer to NOAA climate data, information, science, and tools,
as well as decision-support, designed to address climate-related
hazards, such as heat, drought, sea level rise and coastal inundation,
inland flooding, and wildfire. An example of a climate service that
NOAA provides to the general public is Climate.gov (https://www.climate.gov), which includes a host of maps, data sets, educational
materials on climate change, and the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit.
The Climate Resilience Toolkit is designed to help communities meet the
challenges of a changing climate, learn about potential climate
hazards, and understand how to protect and prepare for climate hazards.
Co-production: The process is generically described as one
that ``brings together diverse groups to iteratively create new
knowledge and practices,'' whether to generate actionable knowledge or
spur the redistribution of power and societal transformation'' (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022CSJ000021). Co-production is a
methodology that leverages the expertise of practitioners and community
members to develop holistic solutions to multifaceted problems at the
intersection of society and the environment. By fostering collaboration
and integrating diverse perspectives, co-production enables a deeper
understanding of causes and potential remedies of environmental
stressors (https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/co-production-of-environmental-knowledge-methods-and-approaches). For more information
and examples of co-production in a NOAA context, see the following:
https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/45596/noaa_45596_DS1.pdf.
Equity: The consistent and systematic fair, just, and
impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who
belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment,
such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons,
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color;
members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live
in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent
poverty or inequality (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/).
Indigenous Knowledge: A body of observations, oral and
written knowledge, innovations, practices, and beliefs developed by
Tribes and Indigenous Peoples through interaction and experience with
the environment (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/OSTP-CEQ-IK-Guidance.pdf).
Resilience: The capacity of a community, business, or
natural environment to prevent, withstand, respond to, and recover from
a disruption (https://toolkit.climate.gov/content/glossary).
Service Delivery: The continuous process of engaging with
users in order to provide relevant and timely information via
appropriate mechanisms (https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-02/A-Model-of-Service-Delivery-for-the-NOAA-Water-Initiative_FINAL.pdf).
Technical Assistance: Targeted coaching for users to help
them access, understand, and use NOAA products and services for their
own decisions (https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-02/A-Model-of-Service-Delivery-for-the-NOAA-Water-Initiative_FINAL.pdf).
Underserved Communities: Populations sharing a particular
characteristic, as well as geographic communities, that have been
systematically denied a full opportunity to participate in aspects of
economic, social, and civic life, as exemplified by the list in the
preceding definition of ``equity'' (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/).
User(s): A person(s), group, or organization who accesses
and applies information, products, or services (https://www.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/2022-02/A-Model-of-Service-Delivery-for-the-NOAA-Water-Initiative_FINAL.pdf).
V. Other
Please note that this is an RFI only. In accordance with the
implementing regulations of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
specifically 5 CFR 1320.3(h)(4), this general solicitation is exempt
from the PRA. Facts or opinions
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submitted in response to general solicitations of comments from the
public, published in the Federal Register or other publications,
regardless of the form or format thereof, provided that no person is
required to supply specific information pertaining to the commenter,
other than that necessary for self-identification, as a condition of
the agency's full consideration, are not generally considered
information collections and therefore not subject to the PRA.
This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes; it
does not constitute a request for proposals, applications, proposal
abstracts, or quotations. This RFI does not commit the U.S. Government
to contract for any supplies or services or make a grant award.
Further, we are not seeking proposals through this RFI and will not
accept unsolicited proposals. Choosing not to respond to this RFI does
not preclude participation in any future procurement, if conducted.
Dated: July 17, 2023.
Jainey Kumar Bavishi,
Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere and Deputy Administrator,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-15432 Filed 7-19-23; 8:45 am]
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