Internet IM Update, January 22, 1999

• Dallas Workshop on International Meteorological Cooperation--Update
• Upcoming GOES Y2K Testing
• OIG Semi-Annual Report to Congress
• EPA Competitive Solicitation

As mentioned in the previous edition, forty one invitees representing six WMO regions, the media, academia, and the private sector participated in a collaborative problem-solving day-and-a-half program in Dallas on January 9^th and 10^th, 1999. (With NOAA/AMS staff the total attendance approached fifty.) Within the next two weeks, IM will post the entire results of the professionally-facilitated workshop. Herein, is background and a brief summary of areas of agreement reached at the workshop.

According to the written feedback from a large majority of attendees, the workshop met its goals to:

1. Provide a means for a balanced and fair sharing of all viewpoints on the future of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services;

2. Begin the process of collaborating as a world community to clarify the role of the media and private sector in the provision of weather services; and

3. Fully understand the range of perspectives and issues related to information access and exchange and the use of the internet.

Attendees reached consensus on a set of operating principles and the need for next steps including a working group that will carry forward with the results of the workshop. Among the agreed-to premises are two striking admissions:

1. Public, private, and academic meteorological services are INTERDEPENDENT. We need each other for overall system viability and success. Equality of all participants in the global meteorological community is critical; and

2. Competition is as real a part of our relationship as is cooperation. We must account for it in our interactions and processes.

A group of attendees will complete edits of the report by early February and make it available to all interested parties.

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The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service invites all users of GOES GVAR data to test their receiving and processing systems for Year 2000 compliance January 28^th through January 30^th, 1999. GVAR data modified with year 2000 dates will be transmitted from the GOES-7 spacecraft. A detailed schedule of the test transmissions is available on the web at:

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The Office of Inspector General (OIG) Report to Congress is available on the web at: http://www.oig.doc.gov. NOAA's section begins on page 44. Also of interest beginning on page 72 is the OIG review of the Department of Commerce management.

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a $3.4 million competition as part of a new program called Environmental Monitoring for Public Access and Community Tracking (EMPACT). The solicitation will lead to grant awards to selected cities and public-private sector partnerships to establish pilot programs. The pilot programs will emphasize advanced and innovative technologies to monitor environmental conditions and communicate the information to the public.

The full solicitation is on the web at: http://es.epa.gov/ncerqa/rfa/empact99.html.

Applications are due by April 8, 1999.

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