Oceanographic Facilities and Equipment Support

Oceanographic facilities and equipment are supported by the Integrative Programs Section (IPS) of the Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE), Directorate for Geosciences (GEO). These awards are made for the procurement, conversion and/or upgrade, enhancement, or annual operation of platforms in the ocean, coastal and near-shore waters, and Great Lakes. Awards are generally directed specifically to support facilities that lend themselves to shared use within the broad range of Federally supported research and education programs. The primary objective of these awards is to ensure the availability of appropriate oceanographic facilities for Federally funded investigators and educators. The individual programs covered within this solicitation include: (1) Oceanographic Technical Services (Tech Services), which provides support of institutional technical services to enhance the scientific productivity of research programs aboard research vessels and in shore-based, shared-use facilities; (2) Oceanographic Instrumentation (OI), which provides support to enhance the scientific capabilities and productivity of seagoing research projects that utilize research vessels as well as shore-based, shared-use facilities; and (3) Shipboard Scientific Support Equipment (SSSE), which provides support to improve safety and enhance scientific capabilities and productivity of seagoing research programs that utilize research vessels as well as shore-based, shared-use facilities.