NATIONAL OCEANIC AND
ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Coastal Zone Management and National
Estuarine Research Reserve System Programs
Require Management Attention to
Increase Effectiveness
Inspection Report No. IPE-9044 / December 1997
PUBLIC
RELEASE
Office of Inspections and Program Evaluations
U.S. Department of Commerce
Report IPE-9044
Office of Inspector General
December 1997
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PURPOSE AND SCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
I.
NOAA Coordination to Aid Coastal Management is Deficient
. . . . . . . . . . . 8
A.
NOAA Needs to Further Focus and Integrate Its Coastal
Stewardship Efforts
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
B.
Federal Interagency Coastal Council Is Needed to Fulfill Mandate . . . . . 12
C.
OCRM and the Coastal Services Center Must Work Together
. . . . . . . 14
II.
Administration of CZM Cooperative Agreements Warrants NOAA
Management’s Attention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
A.
Multi-Year Cooperative Agreements Offer Potential Opportunity to
Alleviate Administrative Workload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
B.
Continuous Nature of the Coastal Zone Management Program
Requires Different Accounting for Program Management Costs . . . . . . 21
C.
Timeliness of Cooperative Agreement Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
D.
Coordination Between OCRM and GMD Needs Improvement . . . . . . . 2