MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT

BETWEEN

NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

AND

UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

THROUGH WHICH

the parties will cooperate on

accelerating the production of approved S-57 Electronic Navigational Charts and other related matters

 

NOS Agreement Code: MOA-2001-543

  2. PARTIES. The parties to this Agreement are the National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG).
  3. AUTHORITY. This Agreement is authorized under the provisions of:
    1. 33 U.S.C. § 883e, which provides that the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with, and to receive and expend funds made available by, any State or subdivision thereof, any Federal agency, or any public or private organization, or individual, for surveys or investigations authorized in 33 U.S.C. § 883 et seq. or for performing related surveying and mapping activities, including special-purpose maps, and for the preparation and publication of the results thereof; and
    2. 33 U.S.C. § 883a & b, which provides that the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to provide charts and related information for the safe navigation of marine and air commerce, and to provide basic data for engineering and scientific purposes and for other commercial and industrial needs; and in order that full public benefit may be derived from the operations of NOS by the dissemination of data resulting from activities herein authorized and of related data from other sources, the Secretary is authorized to conduct … processing and publication of data, information, compilations , and reports…; compilation and printing of nautical charts of the U.S., its Territories, and possessions…; and distribution of nautical charts and related navigational publications for the U.S., its Territories, and possessions.
    3. 14 U.S.C. § 93(d) & (u), which provides that the USCG is authorized to conduct experiments, investigate, or cause to be investigated, plans, devices, and inventions relating to the performance of any Coast Guard function and cooperate and coordinate such activities with other Government agencies and with private agencies; and enter into cooperative agreements with other Government agencies and the National Academy of Sciences;
    4. 14 U.S.C. § 141, which provides that the USCG is authorized to use its personnel and facilities to assist other Government agencies when requested to perform any activity for which such personnel and facilities are especially qualified and, correlatively, authorizes the Coast Guard to utilize the personnel and facilities of other Government agencies.
  4. PURPOSE. The purposes of this Agreement are to:
    1. Set forth terms by which NOS and USCG will establish a cooperative working relationship to accelerate the production of NOS-approved S-57 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENC) thereby promoting the public safety.
    2. Ensure that a supply of national hydrographic office-maintained, International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)-compliant ENCs are available and maintained for USCG use.
    3. Make provisions for the improvement, streamlining, formatting, and transmission of changes to Aids to Navigation (AtoN), bridges, obstructions, chart source data, and other information between NOS and the USCG for chart updating.
  5. DEFINITIONS. The following definitions are taken from IHO Publication S-52, Appendix 3, Glossary of ECDIS-Related Terms, 3rd Edition – December 1997.
    1. Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS): A navigation system which with adequate back-up arrangements can be accepted as complying with the up-to-date chart required by regulation B/20 of the SOLAS convention, by displaying selected information from a System Electronic Navigational Chart (SENC) with positional information from navigation sensors to assist the mariner in route planning and route monitoring, and if required display additional navigation-related information.
    2. Electronic navigational chart (ENC): The database, standardized as to content, structure and format, that is issued for use with ECDIS on the authority of government authorized hydrographic offices. The ENC contains all the chart information necessary for safe navigation and may contain supplementary information in addition to that contained in the paper chart, e.g., sailing directions, which may be considered necessary for safe navigation.
    3. Electronic chart system (ECS): Generic term for equipment which displays chart data but which is not intended to comply with the IMO Performance Standards for ECDIS, and is not intended to satisfy the SOLAS Chapter V requirement to carry a navigational chart.
    4. Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS): International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea developed by IMO.
    5. International Hydrographic Organization (IHO): Coordinates the activities of national hydrographic offices; promulgates standards and provides advice to developing countries in the fields of hydrographic surveying and production of nautical charts and publications.
    6. International Maritime Organization (IMO): The specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for measures to improve the safety of international shipping and to prevent marine pollution from ships.
  6. BACKGROUND.
    1. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has developed a performance standard for ECDIS that, with the use of official hydrographic office ENCs, would eliminate the need for SOLAS regulated vessels to carry paper charts. In the past several years, the USCG has been developing electronic chart systems (ECS) for use on its cutters. Currently, USCG ECSs are not compliant with the IMO ECDIS standard due, in part, to the lack of official ENCs. NOS has an ongoing effort to produce IHO-compliant ENCs, however, progress is slow due to resource constraints. Because of the lack of official data coverage in the ENC format, the USCG has engaged a vendor to produce unofficial ENCs.

      2. Both parties to this Agreement have substantial interests in the development of ENCs to promote safe navigation - NOS as an ENC provider and the Coast Guard as an ENC user and regulator. Both agencies have conducted ENC electronic chart development independently with varied degrees of success. NOS’ Office of Coast Survey (OCS), as the national hydrographic office, has succeeded in producing ENCs compliant with the IHO S-57 ENC Product Specification. Funds and staffing limitations, however, have limited OCS's production capability. Hence, NOS has not achieved the degree of coverage needed to satisfy the mariner's needs. Although the Coast Guard has funded development of electronic charts, these charts have not met the IMO requirement to have national hydrographic office (OCS) approval.

    2. NOS uses USCG- provided AtoN data to update its charts. The current process used to collect and deliver this data is manual, labor intensive, error prone, and therefore undesirable. To mitigate the errors resulting from the lack of a common format (transfer standard) and an effective quality control regimen, it is imperative that this process is updated to use a standard format and take advantage of advances in data and communications technology.
    3. NOS is committed to make official ENCs available to the public, and intends to produce and maintain a complete U.S. folio of ENCs. Lack of resources required to complete initial production might force NOS to continue ENC production at a slow pace. To accelerate the production of official ENCs, NOS has proposed a synergistic partnership with the Coast Guard that would:
      1. Enable NOS to achieve full ENC coverage of its area of responsibility more rapidly;
      2. Provide all mariners a source of IHO-compliant, NOS- approved & maintained ENCs; and
      3. Enable USCG ECSs to move closer to full compliance with ECDIS standards.
  7. RESPONSIBILITES.
    1. NOS agrees to:
      1. Develop with the USCG a list of deliverables and an implementation schedule for the items described in this Agreement, including the provision of all available source data to the contractor for ENC production;
      2. Coordinate production priorities and scheduling for ENC production with the USCG;
      3. Maintain a portfolio of up-to-date IHO S-57 ENC Product Specification-compliant ENCs with full coverage of U.S. coastal waters;
      4. Provide the maintained ENCs at no cost to federal agencies;
      5. Investigate, together with the USCG, other opportunities to promote the safety of navigation, and the inclusion of other partners in agreements similar to this one.
    2. The USCG agrees to:
      1. Assist NOS in obtaining intellectual property rights for all ENCs and other electronic charts that have been produced or may be produced in the future for the Coast Guard;
      2. Provide field evaluations of NOS ENCs from USCG vessels using the ENCs for operations;
      3. Provide chart correction information (AtoN, bridges, obstructions, etc.) to NOS electronically in a format conducive to their processing needs;
      4. Investigate, together with NOS, other opportunities to promote the safety of navigation, and the inclusion of other partners in agreements similar to this one.
  8. POINTS OF CONTACT.
    1. Michael B. Brown

      2. ENC Product Manager

      National Ocean Service, Office of Coast Survey

      National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

      N/CS2x2, SSMC3 7643

      1315 East West Highway

      Silver Spring, MD 20910

      Phone: (301) 713-2712

      Fax: (301) 713-4516

      E-mail: mike.brown@noaa.gov

    2. Lieutenant Daniel Mades, USCG

      3. Chief, Charting Branch

      United States Coast Guard Navigation Center

      7323 Telegraph Road

      Alexandria, VA 22315

      Phone: (703) 313-5857

      Fax: (703) 313-5805

      E-mail: dmades@navcen.uscg.mil

    3. The Parties agree that they will notify each other in writing regarding any changes to the information in this section.
  9. OTHER PROVISIONS.
    1. This Agreement defines in general terms the basis on which the Parties will cooperate, and as such, does not constitute a financial obligation to serve as a basis for expenditures. Each Party may expend funds, and provide human resources, equipment, supplies, facilities, training, public information, and technical expertise to the extent that their participation is required and resources are available.
    2. This Agreement is not a fiscal or funds obligation document. Any activities involving reimbursement or contribution of funds between the Parties will be in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and procedures. Such activities may be documented in separate agreements containing the details of specific projects. Future separate agreements will reference this Agreement.
    3. This Agreement in no way restricts the Parties from participating in similar activities or arrangements with other public or private agencies, organizations, or individuals.
    4. This Agreement does not obligate the Parties to expend appropriations or to enter into any agreements, contracts, or other obligations.
    5. Nothing herein is intended to conflict with current Department of Commerce or Department of Transportation or USCG directives. If the terms of this Agreement are inconsistent with existing directives of either of the agencies entering into this Agreement, then those portions of this Agreement which are determined to be inconsistent shall be invalid; but the remaining terms and conditions not affected by the inconsistency shall remain in full force and effect. At the first opportunity for review of the Agreement, all necessary changes will be accomplished by either an amendment to this Agreement or by entering into a new Agreement, whichever is deemed expedient to the interest of both Parties.
    6. Should disagreement arise on the interpretation of the provisions of this Agreement, or amendments and/or revisions thereto, that cannot be resolved at the operating level, the area(s) of disagreement shall be stated in writing by each Party and presented to the other Party for consideration. If agreement on interpretation is not reached within 30 days, the Parties shall forward the written presentation of the disagreement to respective higher officials for appropriate resolution.
  10. EFFECTIVE DATE. The terms of this Agreement will become effective upon the date of signature by both Parties.
  11. MODIFICATION. This Agreement may be amended, extended, or renewed at any time through the written mutual consent of the Parties. Either party may unilaterally amend this agreement to change the contact information provided in Part 7. The Parties will review this Agreement at least once every three years to determine whether it should be revised, renewed, or canceled.
  12. DURATION & TERMINATION. The Agreement will remain in effect unless terminated by (1) mutual written consent of the Parties, or (2) 60 days advance written notice by either Party.

    13.  

  13. APPROVALS. This Agreement is entered into and made effective as of the date later in time indicated below.

 

 

 

________________________ Date ______

RADM Terry M. Cross

Assistant Commandant for Operations

United States Coast Guard

2100 Second St SW

Washington, DC

________________________ Date ______

Margaret A. Davidson

Acting Assistant Administrator

National Ocean Service,

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Nx3, SSMC 4, Rm13632

1305 East West Hwy

Silver Spring, MD 20910-3282