§3504a — Title 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters | U.S. Code

Summary

Within one year after the National Ocean Exploration Act was passed, the NOAA Administrator must set up a matching funds program called the Brennan Ocean Mapping Fund. It will work with federal, State, Tribal, local, nonprofit, private industry, and academic partners to get more ocean and coastal mapping data for U.S. waters. The Administrator must write simple rules for who can apply, how applications are judged, the required match amounts, and how money is given (for example, grants, agreements, or contracts). The program must use federal geospatial expertise and existing government mapping contracts and can hire private companies to make data collection more efficient.

Title 33, §3504a

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of the National Ocean Exploration Act,11 See References in Text note below. the Administrator shall develop an integrated ocean and coastal mapping Federal funding match opportunity, to be known as the “Brennan Ocean Mapping Fund” in memory of Rear Admiral Richard T. Brennan, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with Federal, State, Tribal, local, nonprofit, private industry, or academic partners in order to increase the coordinated acquisition, processing, stewardship, and archival of new ocean and coastal mapping data in United States waters.

(b)The Administrator shall develop administrative and procedural rules for the ocean and coastal mapping Federal funding match opportunity developed under subsection (a), to include—

(1)specific and detailed criteria that must be addressed by an applicant, such as geographic overlap with preestablished priorities, number and type of project partners, benefit to the applicant, coordination with other funding opportunities, and benefit to the public;

(2)determination of the appropriate funding match amounts and mechanisms to use, such as grants, agreements, or contracts; and

(3)other funding award criteria as are necessary or appropriate to ensure that evaluations of proposals and decisions to award funding under this section are based on objective standards applied fairly and equitably to those proposals.

(c)The ocean and coastal mapping Federal funding match opportunity developed under subsection (a) shall leverage Federal expertise and capacities for geospatial services and Federal geospatial contract vehicles using the private sector for acquisition efficiencies.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of the enactment of the National Ocean Exploration Act, referred to in subsec. (a), probably means the date of enactment of Pub. L. 117–263, which was approved Dec. 23, 2022. Prior versions of the bill that was enacted into law as title CIII of div. J of Pub. L. 117–263 included such

Short Title

, but it was not enacted as part of Pub. L. 117–263.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 12206 of Pub. L. 111–11 was renumbered 12208 and is classified to section 3505 of this title.

§3504a Ocean and Coastal Mapping Federal Funding Opportunity