15 U.S.C. § 1537 — Needs assessment for data management, archival, and distribution

(1) Within 12 months after October 29, 1992, and at least every two years afterward, the Secretary of Commerce must assess whether NOAA’s environmental data and information systems are adequate. The Secretary must consider the need to—(A) have enough capacity to manage, archive, and distribute environmental data and information collected or expected to be collected and processed by NOAA and other appropriate departments and agencies; (B) establish, develop, and maintain information bases and needed management systems that support consistent, efficient, and compatible transfer and use of data; (C) create effective connections among NOAA’s systems and those of other appropriate departments and agencies; (D) develop and use nationally accepted data formats and standards for data from national and international sources; and (E) combine and interpret data from different sources to produce information decisionmakers can use to develop policies responding effectively to national and global environmental concerns. (2) Within the same 12-month period, and every two years afterward, the Secretary must develop and submit to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committees on Science, Space, and Technology a comprehensive plan, based on the assessment, to modernize and improve NOAA’s systems. The plan must—(A) state modernization and improvement goals for the 10 years beginning with the year of submission, including needed facilities and critical new technology; (B) propose specific agency programs and activities to carry out the plan; (C) identify NOAA’s data and information management, archiving, and distribution duties toward other Federal departments and agencies and international organizations, including NOAA’s role regarding large systems such as the Earth Observing System Data and Information System; and (D) give an implementation schedule and estimate the funding needed to meet the goals.