Table of Contents
1. Purpose
2. General Criteria
3. Policy
4. Guidelines for Responding to Inquiries
5. Guidelines for Providing Weather Briefings and other Related Weather Services in Support of a Special Event
6. Implementation
Appendix: Summary of Comments and Responses to Draft Policy Statement
1. Purpose. On January 18, 1991, a policy statement on the weather service/private sector roles entitled: "The National Weather Service (NWS) and the Private Weather Industry: A Public-Private Partnership" was published in the Federal Register. The purpose of this policy statement is to define the relationship and respective roles of the NWS and private sector to ensure that Federal resources are focused on providing essential core functions and to encourage the private sector to provide those services which it is ideally suited to provide. The goal is a partnership which enhances total service to the American public, government and industry. The policy statement which follows was never intended to, nor could it draw an exact line between public and private sector responsibilities. Its primary purpose is to strengthen the foundation of a public/private partnership that has evolved over the past 50 years. This policy statement applies only to the NWS and should not be interpreted to apply to any other component of NOAA.
The guidelines that follow (sections 4 and 5) are intended to give flexibility to continue our tradition of service, while minimizing confusion in the field in complying with the policy. This chapter does not attempt to design a national template to fit each and every situation and recognizes that the policy implementation must be handled at the field manager level. It is not intended to diminish the NWS's long-standing tradition of service or to sacrifice its traditional roles of responding to public requests. The guidelines are an attempt to outline a sensible and moderate approach in dealing with inquiries, whether from the public, the media, government entities, or business and industry as well as in providing weather briefings and other related services in support of special events. In the final analysis, responding to requests for service must be left to the good judgment of our field managers as well as each employee.
2. General Criteria. The policy statement is based on the respective roles of the NWS and the private sector described below:
a. The primary mission of the NWS is the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. Hence, the basic functions of the NWS are the provision of forecasts and warnings of severe weather, flooding, hurricanes, and tsunami events; the collection, exchange, and distribution of meteorological, hydrologic, climatic, and oceanographic data and information; and the preparation of hydrometeorological guidance and core forecast information. The NWS is the single "official" voice when issuing warnings for life-threatening situations and is the source of a common national hydrometeorological information base. The national information base forms an infrastructure on which the private sector can build and grow.
b. The NWS will not compete with the private sector when a service is currently provided or can be provided by commercial enterprises, unless otherwise directed by applicable law.
c. The private weather industry is ideally suited to put the basic data and common hydrometeorological information base from the NWS into a form and detail that can be utilized by specific weather and water resources-sensitive users. The private weather industry provides general and tailored hydrometeorological forecasts, and value-added products and services to segments of the population with specialized needs.
On December 2, 1989, a draft policy statement was published in the Federal Register for comment. The comments reflected some concern on the part of the private weather industry that the policy statement could provide restraints in existing activities. Several comments urged the NWS to more clearly define what the relationship between the public and private weather industry should be. Appendix A to this chapter addresses the significant comments received and the responses to them which will serve to provide additional background on the development of the final policy statement.
3. Policy. In order to carry out its mission and foster this public-private partnership, the NWS shall:
a. Collect and exchange hydrometeorological data and information on a national and international basis;
b. Issue warnings and forecasts of severe weather, floods, hurricanes, and tsunami events which adversely affect life and property;
c. Issue weather, river, and water resources forecasts, and related guidance materials used to form a common national hydrometeorological information base for the general public, private sector, aviation, marine, forestry, agricultural, navigation, power interests, land and water resources management agencies, and emergency managers at all levels of government;
d. Provide climatological summaries, frequencies, and limits of hydrometeorological elements to establish a basis for various Federal regulations and design criteria, and to support the real-time operations of federally operated facilities;
e. Provide private weather access to near real-time alphanumeric and graphical data and information through a variety of techniques;
f. Establish basic quality controls for the observed and collected data, and provide the user community with sufficient information to evaluate data and forecast reliability and applicability;
g. Conduct and support research and development of atmospheric and hydrometeorological models; and
h. Produce global, national, or general regional atmospheric models and river basin models.
The NWS also recognizes the important contribution that private broadcast meteorologists, newspapers, and news agencies make to the timely dissemination of NWS watches and warnings and other products that may require public response. The relationship is one of mutual support and cooperation. In order to protect the competitive nature of the privately- owned media, direct NWS participation with the radio and television media should be limited to those situations requiring urgent public action as in the case of severe or extreme weather and flooding or educational and preparedness activities.
The private weather industry provides:
a. Tailored weather, river, and water resources forecasts, detailed hydrometeorological information, consultation, and data for weather, river, and water resources sensitive industries and private organizations;
b. Value-added products such as weather and hydrologic-related computer hardware and software, observational systems, imaging systems, displays, communications, charts, graphs, maps, and images for clients;
c. Climatological summaries, probability values of weather extremes, and similar material for specific design and construction problems.
The following paragraph states the policy on the free and open international exchange of data:
The private weather industry and the NWS will work together to protect the free and open international exchange of meteorologic, hydrologic, and oceanographic data provided by the NWS by ensuring that the data are not used to compete directly with or to interfere with internal policies of national meteorological agencies in those countries where they also provide commercial weather services.
This concept of a public-private partnership is not intended to discourage or preclude the private sector from providing comments and advice on publicly issued warnings and forecasts nor government agencies from obtaining weather services from the private sector. However, in the critical area of severe weather, hurricanes, floods, and tsunami warnings, the NWS is the single "official" voice.
4. Guidelines for Responding to Inquiries. NWS offices need to consider the following factors when determining whether or not responding to a request would violate the policy governing the relationship between the NWS and the private sector weather services.
a. The ready availability of the information required to respond to the request.
b. The resources needed to prepare a response to a user's request.
c. The nature and origin of the request.
These factors are summarized in the following guidelines.
4.1 Requests from Government Agencies and Institutions. To the extent that resources permit, the NWS will honor requests for information, data, and interpretation assistance from government entities. In this instance, government refers to Federal, state, county/parish/township, and municipal government entities. In some instances a field office might refer such requests to other offices or to NOAA (e.g. the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), NESDIS, etc.) for handling.
4.2 Requests from the Public. The NWS will continue to respond to requests from the public on a time and information available basis. This includes providing requesters with interpretive information concerning NWS products. Typically, requesters should be referred first to NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) broadcasts or to public media outlets that disseminate NWS information provided by NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) or the Family of Services (FOS). Should the requester be dissatisfied with this approach, the information should then be supplied as time and availability allow. Requests that require the preparation of specialized forecast products or services should be referred to the private sector. Requests for climatological information should be honored if the information is readily available and a data search is not required (remember to charge appropriate fees for copying, etc.). If data searches are required, the requester should be referred to the NCDC, the Regional Climate Center, or the State Climatologist.
4.3 Requests from Private Industry and Businesses. If the request is for forecasts, data, information, etc., that the NWS prepares in the normal course of operations, the request should be honored on a time-available basis. This includes providing interpretive information concerning NWS products if the requests are nonroutine. To the extent possible, refer requesters to NWR, NWWS, or the FOS. If the request is routine or is for special services, including requests for climatological data that require data searches, whether on a routine or nonroutine basis, the requester should be referred to the private sector or, in the case of climatological data, to NCDC. A simple request for copies of a particular month's worth of local climatological data (LCD) available in that office could be honored at the fixed charge governed by WSOM D-90.
4.4 Requests from the Media. The NWS will support the media to the fullest extent possible given time and resource availability. This support assumes consistency with the NWS policy regarding the phase-out of direct routine support to commercial radio stations and newspapers. NWS will provide interviews regarding ongoing or potential severe weather events and other weather situations that have the potential for becoming life threatening, for causing property damage, or for causing significant disruption of public services or citizens, normal activities. The NWS will also provide full support, on a time and resource available basis, for "human interest" type weather stories that the media generates on a nonroutine basis. NWS employees, whether on official time or off duty, continue to be prohibited from appearing on the electronic media for the purpose of providing routine dissemination of day- to-day weather information.
4.5 Referrals to the Private Sector. The NWS shall not provide free advertising (by referral) for any private meteorologist or related company. A requester needing the services of a private meteorologist (either based on the preceding guidelines or a specific inquiry) should be referred to the telephone directory, the local chapter of the American Meteorological Society, the National Weather Association, or the:
American Meteorological Society
45 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
Phone (617) 227-2425
If a requester is referred to the offices or chapters of the American Meteorological Society or the National Weather Association, the requester should be informed that these two organizations actively certify those in the profession to provide various private sector services.
5. Guidelines for Providing Weather Briefings and other Related Weather Services in Support of a Special Event. NWS special event participation may require on-site support. However, more common is weather support from the NWS facility. This latter support scenario will often take the form of weather briefings provided to organizers of special events within the county warning area.
NWS occasionally provides support to special events that are nonprofit and sometimes for profit. These events include those that attract very large crowds and those situations where an individual or a small group of people undertake a special project, i.e., a small balloon flight, small boat trip, etc.
The following are some of the categories of special events where NWS participation is permitted or should be considered:
a. International sporting events held in the United States, e.g., the Olympics. This support could also be done in partnership with weather services of other World Meteorological organization (WMO) member nations.
b. International aviation events held in the United States.
c. International aviation events held in other nations where WMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization have requested NWS support.
d. International marine events, e.g., America's Cup, Marblehead-to-Halifax race, etc.
NWS shall be the sole provider of support to domestic events held in international waters (i.e., outside the U.S. 200-mile limit) based on its responsibility to provide services for assigned international waters under WMO agreements and Safety of Life at Sea conventions.
e. International events where a NOAA/NWS presence is requested, and private sector support is not appropriate.
f. Domestic aviation and marine events with substantial pilot, mariner, and/or public attendance.
g. Events where large crowds can be affected by severe weather and where continuous event-monitoring is required (e.g., golf tournaments).
Three additional criteria should also be considered prior to NWS participation:
a. Request has been made by another government agency or the event sponsor when NWS support is required for the issuance of special weather products or warnings.
b. Special event organizer should pay for or share support costs of NWS personnel and equipment being used at the event as appropriate. NWS cannot solicit travel expenses for its employee's travel to such events, but may accept unsolicited payments for these expenses in appropriate instances
c. NWS resources must be available.
6. Implementation. It is the responsibility of all NWS officials and employees to comply with this policy and the guidelines for responding to inquiries and for providing weather briefing and other related weather services in support of a special event. An effective partnership requires that the parties understand each other's role and be sensitive to the constraints and aspirations that govern their respective actions. This policy statement and guidelines cannot cover all possibilities. However, it should minimize any misunderstandings and false expectations between both parties. Close coordination and cooperation are essential to ensure that the public receives the best possible weather service. Regional and local NWS officials should arrange periodic meetings with private meteorologists and hydrologists to promote an exchange of ideas that will be mutually beneficial and increase understanding between the two groups. The overriding goal of this policy statement and guidelines is to ensure that the Nation receives full benefit of weather and hydrometeorological information to promote safety of life and property and economic prosperity. Effective partnership between the NWS and the private meteorological sector is the means to that end.
Comment - Comments were received that expressed concern on the part of the private weather industry to what it perceives as a limited role for it in providing weather service to the general public.
Response - The National Weather Service (NWS) firmly believes that the private weather industry plays an important and essential role as a partner in ensuring that the Nation receives the full benefit of weather and hydrometeorological information for promoting protection of life and property and economic prosperity. The final policy statement more clearly defines areas in which the NWS and the private weather industry will provide such products and services as well as a mechanism to implement the policy.
Comment - Under the section entitled General Criteria, the NWS noncompetition paragraph will be better stated "The NWS will not compete with the private sector in those areas where the private sector services are available." Along these same lines, a responder voiced concern over the NWS providing specialized agricultural services. Another expressed concern about the NWS withdrawing from providing these same services.
Response - The NWS will not-compete with the private sector when a service is currently provided or can be provided by commercial enterprises, unless otherwise directed by applicable law (e.g., the provision of NOAA's Appropriations Act concerning the fruit frost program which has attracted some private sector interest). The NWS will also assure the public of continuation of services when those services are not available from the private sector, unless directed otherwise.
Comment - Implication of the use of the words "single" and "official", especially in combination, is of great concern to one of the responders. He states that if the connotation of the use of the word "official" means "governmental", then the wording is not objectionable but, if there is any intent here which suggests that by making the NWS the "single official voice," that the private weather industry is to be restricted or limited in any way in providing to the public its own weather forecasts or information regarding severe weather or floods, then this is a serious incursion into the area of Freedom of Speech.
Response - In order to avoid confusion on the part of the public it is vital that there be one single "official" voice when issuing warnings of life threatening situations. The policy statement is not intended to discourage or preclude the private sector from providing comments and advice on publicly issued warnings, but the distinction between the NWS "official" warning and these comments and interpretations of it must be clear to the public. This is in no way a restraint on freedom of speech.
Comment - Placing scientific data, especially real-time information, that can affect decisions concerning life and property and the ability of firms in the private weather sector, as well as individual meteorologists and scientists to assess, analyze, comment upon, predict from, and disseminate information, is of grave concern. Placing such resources in the hands of a limited number of major corporations who have control, not only over the collection of the data but its dissemination and the establishment of the price that will be paid for the receipt of the data, coupled with the ability to pick and choose who may be given access to the data, needs to be stopped.
Response - The NWS provides access to near real-time alphanumeric and graphical data through a variety of ways. This access is open to anyone in the marketplace who signs an agreement with the NWS or a contractor who has been competitively selected to provide specialized services for the delivery of and access to data by the private sector and others requiring that data. An example is the Contel ASC contract to deliver the NWWS to the Government and other subscribers around the Nation at an agreed to price. Contel (now GTE), like any NWS contractor, cannot pick and choose who receives the data but is required to provide the data both efficiently and at a more reasonable price than the NWS could do itself.
Comment - One responder expressed concern over the direct participation of NWS personnel with the radio and television media.
Response - The policy limits direct NWS participation with the radio and television media to those situations requiring urgent public action, as in the case of severe or extreme weather and flooding or to education and preparedness activities.
