Sponsors (4)
The bill expands NOAA's ability to support sustained ocean and atmospheric research and student training through cooperative institutes and external expertise, at the cost of higher federal spending and risks to competition, equity for smaller institutions, and administrative/oversight complexity.
Researchers at eligible universities will receive sustained cooperative funding and support to conduct long-term NOAA-relevant ocean and atmospheric research.
Students and postdocs at partner institutions will gain concrete research, training, and outreach opportunities through institute activities and student involvement requirements.
NOAA will be able to fill gaps in in-house capabilities by funding external expertise, improving federal research capacity without hiring permanent staff.
Taxpayers may face increased federal expenditures due to multi-year cooperative awards and potential renewals to external institutions.
Researchers and universities could see reduced transparency or fairness if limited (restricted-pool) competitions concentrate awards or bypass full open competition.
Smaller institutions and non-participating university programs may be disadvantaged if consortia consolidate management into a single lead institute, limiting access to funding and opportunities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a NOAA Cooperative Institute program to fund competitive partnerships between NOAA and eligible non‑Federal research institutions for long‑term research, training, and outreach.
Official title: Direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to maintain the Cooperative Institute Program.
Introduced August 6, 2026 by Maria E. Cantwell · Last progress August 6, 2026
Creates a permanent Cooperative Institute program at NOAA to fund and sustain long-term research partnerships between NOAA and eligible non-Federal research institutions or consortia. The program will support basic and applied oceanic and atmospheric research, education, training, outreach, and research capabilities NOAA lacks, using competitive cooperative agreements and periodic needs assessments. Sets definitions and eligibility rules, requires merit-based open competition (with limited exceptions), allows collocation of staff, encourages consolidated administration for multi‑institution institutes, and tasks NOAA with biennial reviews to identify needs for new cooperative institutes aligned with program goals.