ADVANCING NOAA PRIORITIES THROUGH REGIONAL
COLLABORATION

For many years, NOAA programs around the country have been experimenting with more extensive and effective mechanisms for cross-Line Office communication and coordination. From Tampa Bay and the Great Lakes to Seattle, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Region, NOAA employees have found innovative ways to build efficiencies, reach out to the community, and truly exhibit the benefits “One NOAA” to the nation.

NOAA now has the opportunity to expand upon these regional coordination and communication efforts with a shift towards Regional Collaboration, which adds the component of integrating program activities to address NOAA’s priorities important at both the national and regional scale. The purpose of regional collaboration is to improve NOAA’s productivity and value to customers, using existing authority and accountability structures. This effort does not entail any changes to NOAA’s organizational structure. Rather, it seeks to identify and apply NOAA’s full range of capabilities, within and across regions, to design the best, geographically specific solutions for customers.

Three programmatic priorities are natural focus areas for NOAA’s existing capabilities to be integrated within a regional framework: Integrated Ecosystem Assessments, Integrated Water Resource Services, and NOAA contributions to Hazard Resilient Coastal Communities. These priority areas are consistent with the 2009-2013 Annual Guidance Memorandum and have been identified by NOAA’s stakeholders as important roles for the agency as a whole. All require a geographically specific approach to be addressed adequately.

NOAA recognizes outreach as a fourth priority area to unify collaborative efforts across regions and is expanding the “One NOAA” outreach component of existing regional coordination programs into a more systematic approach within a defined regional framework. Such outreach efforts will continue to build awareness of NOAA’s capabilities and products, strengthen our planning and execution with strong user and partner interactions, and increase environmental literacy with a focus on the programmatic priorities of the region.

Regionally-tailored implementation of NOAA’s programmatic priorities and a more systematic approach to outreach and communications will together improve services for NOAA’s customers, increase the value and productivity of our partnerships, improve stakeholder relations, improve internal communications and efficiency across line offices and programs, and create a more visible and valued NOAA brand. We have a very exciting opportunity to build upon our past successes in a way that improves the services NOAA provides to the nation. I hope you will all embrace this opportunity to engage your colleagues and look for ways to advance NOAA’s regional work in these important areas.

Further information about NOAA’s Regional Collaboration effort is located on our internal website at: https://www.ppbs.noaa.gov/.

Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.

Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator