Department of Commerce Peer Review Report for FY 2008

Instructions for FY’08 Report pursuant to the

Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review

As you prepare your report, please ensure that your agency’s Peer Review Agenda (the Agenda) includes agency plans for the foreseeable future¹ and that each Agenda entry is up to date regarding both the timing of the review and whether the review has been completed. Agenda entries should be updated whenever new information becomes available; every six months is the minimum for updating the Agenda.

Once a peer review has been completed (that is, the final product has been edited to reflect the reviewers’ comments), the Agenda entry should be updated to include a link to the peer review charge, the reviewers’ names, and the peer reviewers’ comments, as well as the final version of the product. For highly influential scientific assessments, the agency’s responses also should be posted. Two examples of good practice are the Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service² agenda and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention³ agenda.

Please use the attached template to record peer reviews conducted pursuant to the Bulletin between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008. This form has two parts: 1) A “department-level summary,” which should aggregate information across all of the agencies/bureaus/offices in the department and 2) an “agency report” that should be completed by each agency within a department. A separate “agency report” should be completed for each agency that produces information subject to the Bulletin. For those agencies that do not have any peer reviews to report for this fiscal year, it is necessary to complete only the General Information component of the “agency report.” Agencies that are not part of departments do not have to complete the summary page; they should type “Not Applicable” on the “Department” line.

To ensure consistency across agencies, please use the guidance below to determine which peer reviews were “conducted” during the last fiscal year, and thus should be reported.

• Include peer reviews for which the peers have provided the agency with their (final) comments, regardless of whether the agency has:

o completed its response to the reviewers, or

o made the peer review comments public.

• Exclude peer reviews:

o for which the reviewers are still considering the information,

o that are planned for the future, or

o that were planned for the current fiscal year, but were not conducted.

Agencies that reported last year that they do not produce information subject to the Bulletin do not need to fill out a report this year unless the disclaimer no longer applies. Rather, those agencies should send an email to OMB_peer_review@omb.eop.gov with the agency’s current point of contact for the Bulletin and the current URL to the disclaimer. The agencies to which this applies are listed in Appendix D, part C of OMB’s draft 2008 Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations.⁴ The template for the appropriate disclaimer is shown below:

“based on the review it has conducted, the [AGENCY] believes that it does not currently produce or sponsor the distribution of influential scientific information (including highly influential scientific assessments) within the definitions promulgated by OMB. As a result, at this time the [AGENCY] has no agenda of forthcoming influential scientific disseminations to post on its website in accordance with OMB's Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review.”

Agencies not listed in Appendix D, part C should submit a report this year. Please send your draft Peer Review Bulletin Annual Report (Due November 26, 2008) to Peter.L.Grimm@noaa.gov.

Template for FY’08 Report pursuant to the

Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review

I. Summary Page for Department (if Applicable)

Department __ Commerce____(Please note that NOAA is the only Commerce operating unit that conducts peer reviews.)____________________________________________

Departmental Contact for Implementation of the Bulletin for Peer Review

Name and title: Diana Hynek, Commerce E-Government Team Lead

Email address: dhynek@doc.gov

Phone number: 202-482-0266

Provide the URL for Department’s portal for compliance with the Bulletin

_______http://ocio.os.doc.gov/ITPolicyandPrograms/Information_Quality/index.htm

Is this URL:

A Department-wide Peer Review Agenda (Y/N) or Y

A set of links to each agency (bureau or office’s) agenda (Y/N)?___

How would a member of the public locate this peer review portal if she/he did not have this URL? Check all that apply:

A link from Department’s home page __X___

A link from Department’s Information Quality home page ____X____

Other means, e.g., a link from a science page (please describe) __________________

Number of peer reviews conducted subject to the Bulletin in FY’08 (see instructions for what should and should not be included here).

Number of influential scientific information peer reviews (ISI) (not including highly influential scientific assessments) ____23_____

Number of highly influential scientific assessments (HISA) ___5_____

Number of Waivers, Deferrals, Exemptions, or Alternative Procedures used: Total # _0___

Number of peer reviews that included at least one peer reviewer appointed pursuant to any exception to the applicable independence or conflict of interest standards of the Bulletin, including determinations by the Secretary or Deputy Secretary pursuant to Section III (3) (c).

Total # ____

Number of peer review panels that held in conjunction with public meetings: Total # __9__

Number of public comments provided on the Department’s peer review plans during FY 08, regardless of whether the peer review was actually completed during FY 08: Total # _0___

Template for FY’08 Report pursuant to the

Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review

II. Agency Report

GENERAL INFORMAITON

Agency _National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)_ _

Agency Contact for Implementation of the Peer Review Bulletin

Name and title: Carla Steinborn

Email address: Carla.A.Steinborn@noaa.gov

Phone number: 301-713-3525 ext. 197

URL for Agency’s Peer Review Agenda http://www.cio.noaa.gov/Policy_Programs/prplans/PRsummaries.html and see also http://www.cio.noaa.gov/Policy_Programs/info_quality.html __

What pathway(s) can a member of the public use to find the Agency’s peer review agenda if she/he did not have this URL?

o Link from Departmental or Agency home page, YES

o Link from Agency Information Quality home page, YES

o Link from science, research, or regulatory pages (please specify) __All Line Office (NMFS, NOS, NWS, etc.) home pages and many other pages__________

o Other (please describe) _____________

Does the agenda provide links to peer review reports for all completed peer reviews? __yes____________

Continue to Next Page

INFORMATION ABOUT REVIEWS CONDUCTED

Number of peer reviews conducted subject to the Bulletin in FY 08. (see instructions for what should and should not be included here).

Number of influential scientific information peer reviews (ISI) (not including highly influential scientific assessments) __NESDIS: 1 NOS:_8_NMFS: 14___

List the title of each ISI. Indicate whether the Peer Review Report has been completed (Y/N) add more lines as needed NOTE: It is acceptable to provide a screen shot of your peer review agenda as an attachment.

NESDIS

ID86, State of the Climate in 2007

NOS

ID52, Condition Report for Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary

ID54, Condition Report for Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

ID77, 2006 Observations of Deep Coral and Sponge Assemblages in Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, Washington

ID87, Condition Report for Monitor National Marine Sanctuary

ID88, Condition Report for Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary

ID91, Condition Report for Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary

ID92, Condition Report for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

ID105, Condition Report for Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary

NMFS

ID04, Comprehensive Passage (Compass) Model

ID58, Required Survival Rate Changes to Meet Technical Recovery Team Abundance and Productivity Viability Criteria for Interior Columbia ESA-Listed Pacific Salmon Populations

ID68, Critical Habitat Designation for Elkhorn and Staghorn corals under the Endangered Species Act

ID69, Pacific coast black rockfish and blue rockfish stock assessments

ID79, SEDAR 15, South Atlantic Red Snapper and Greater Amberjack (Renamed from: Benchmark Stock Assessment for South Atlantic Greater Amberjack, Red Snapper, and South Atlantic/Gulf of Mexico Mutton Snapper)

ID95, Stock Assessment of Pacific Hake / Whiting in U.S. and Canadian Waters – 2008

ID97, NMFS draft Biological Opinion on the Klamath River Water Operations

ID98, Stock Assessments of Fish and Invertebrates from the Northeast Coast of the United States, specifically, summer flounder

ID99, Stock Assessments of Fish and Invertebrates from the Northeast Coast of the United States, specifically, Striped bass

ID100, 2008 Groundfish Assessment Review (GARM III)

ID101, Critical Habitat Designation for the U.S. Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of Smalltooth Sawfish under the Endangered Species Act

ID103, Atlantic White Marlin Status Review

ID111, U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico Marine Mammal Stock Assessment (2008)

ID122, Status Review and Extinction Assessment of Cook Inlet Belugas (November 2006) and Assessment Models

Number of highly influential scientific assessments (HISA) _ 5 _

List the title of each HISA. Indicate whether the Peer Review Report has been Completed (Y/N) add more lines as needed

CCSP

ID17, CCSP Product 2.4 Trends in emissions of ozone-depleting substances, ozone-layer recovery, and implications for ultraviolet radiation exposure

ID18, CCSP Product 1.3 Re-analysis of historical climate data for key atmospheric features. Implications for attribution of causes of observed change

ID21, CCSP Product 3.2 Climate projections for research and assessment based on emissions scenarios developed through the Climate Change Technology Program.

ID26, CCSP Product 5.3 Decision support experiments and evaluations using seasonal to interannual forecasts and observational data: A Focus on Water Resources

ID102, United States Climate Change Science Program Scientific Assessment

Provide the titles of ISIs and HISIs for which Waivers (W), Deferrals (D), or Exemptions (E) were invoked or Alternative Procedures used (A). If deferral is marked, please indicate the duration of the deferral.

Title of Document Type of Document W, D, E, or A

ISI or HISA (and duration)

None

Number of peer reviews that included at least one peer reviewer appointed pursuant to any exception to the applicable independence or conflict of interest standards of the Bulletin, including determinations by the Secretary or Deputy Secretary pursuant to Section III (3) (c)?

Number of ISIs (not including highly influential scientific assessments) ______

List titles None

Number of HISAs ______

List titles None

Number of peer review panels that held public meetings:

Number of ISIs (not including highly influential scientific assessments)_______

Number of HISAs ___9_____

Number of peer review panels that allowed public comment:

Number of ISIs (not including highly influential scientific assessments)_______

Number of HISAs ____4____

Number of public comments provided on the agency’s peer review plans during FY 08, regardless of whether the peer review was actually completed during FY 08 ____0____

Number of times agency specifically solicited peer reviewer nominations from professional societies. _____5______

If such nominations were solicited, were any recommendations provided? Yes X_ No ___

¹ As stated in the November 28, 2005, memo from the Deputy Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Agenda is not a six month forecast (i.e., it should not be limited to information (documents) that the agency plans to disseminate (or peer review) in the next six months).

² APHIS: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/about_aphis/peer_review-agenda.shtml

³ CDC: http://www2a.cdc.gov/od/peer/peer.asp

⁴ page 84 of http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/costs_benefits/2008_draft_cb_report.pdf