Message from Assistant Administrator Mary Kicza
on the President's 2013 Budget

Dear NESDIS Constituents:

The President submitted his FY 2013 budget request to the Congress on February 13. I want to provide you with the details of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) portion of the budget as well as context for the decisions that were made as this budget was developed.

We are grateful for the support the Administration has demonstrated for NESDIS. This support will allow us to continue to provide vital satellite observations and to develop the next generation of these capabilities, as well as providing stewardship of the enormous volume of environmental data that is generated.

While there are some areas where NESDIS will be receiving less funding for activities this year, overall the budget outlook is positive, in particular in comparison to the budgets in other parts of NOAA. We acknowledge that the support for NESDIS was thanks in part to hard decisions made on the funding of other important priorities within NOAA, the Department of Commerce and across the Federal Government. This underscores now more than ever the tremendous responsibility that NESDIS has to ensure that it implements its programs in an efficient and effective manner.

Calendar year 2011 was a challenging year in which we executed two appropriations bills, the FY 2011 continuing resolution and the FY 2012 enacted bill. At the same time, we were adjusting to the reality of fewer resources available to support the work we are charged to do. We received some very clear Congressional directives that we had to take into account as we developed the FY 2013 budget. As such, we are analyzing our entire operation, from spacecraft architecture to ground systems, operations to research and development, to find efficiencies and savings.

From a strategic point of view, NOAA leadership determined that priority should be given to preserving core functions which are defined as inherently governmental and which provide unique and essential services for the American people. In the end, the FY 2013 President's budget request is one of the leanest budgets we have developed, and represents significant streamlining of some of our satellite acquisition plans and data center operations to fit the tight guidelines that we were given.

The President has also directed agencies to identify cost-saving efforts that will improve operational efficiency and improve the rate of return to taxpayers. NOAA supports this initiative, and this budget proposes several efficiencies that will maintain a high level of service while lowering costs. This includes reducing NOAA's footprint through facility consolidations, and reducing administrative costs through reshaping business operations. These realignments will help us be more efficient. We are already supporting the Department of Commerce's Administrative Efficiencies Initiative this year, finding ways to lower our administrative costs for property, travel and other overhead.

We were fortunate that many of you spoke up and publicly attested to the importance of our contribution to the Nation. For this, we are grateful and we will build on that support for a successful FY 2013 budget request that funds NOAA's satellite, data and information portfolio.

You will receive a Save the Date notice shortly for the NESDIS Constituents briefing which will occur on Tuesday, February 21 at 1 pm in at the NOAA Auditorium in Silver Spring. I urge you to come and hear the details of what the FY 2013 budget request means. Please bring questions or concerns for discussion with me and the NESDIS Leadership Team.

Let me turn to the FY 2013 budget, which the President delivered to the Congress.

Highlights of the President's FY 2013 Budget for NESDIS

The FY 2013 budget request for NOAA is $5.060 billion. Of that amount, the FY 2013 budget request for NESDIS is $2.041 billion, a $163.2 million increase over FY 2012 Spend Plan allocations.

Operations, Research, and Facilities (ORF) account

The FY 2013 Budget requests $191.1 million for NESDIS activities funded from its ORF accounts. The table below summarize the FY 2013 budget request compared to the FY 2012 Spend Plan allocations.

* FY 2012 Spend Plan is pending final Congressional approval

Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction (PAC) account

The FY 2013 Budget requests $1.850 billion for NESDIS activities funded from its PAC accounts. This PAC funding will allow us to continue acquisition of our next generation geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites, while transitioning key research missions to NOAA operational environments. The table below summarizes the FY 2013 budget request compared to the FY 2012 Spend Plan allocations.

* FY 2012 Spend Plan is pending final Congressional approval

The Administration has decided to streamline two of its satellite acquisition programs by merging the Restoration of Climate Sensors into the JPSS Program.

NOAA, with assistance from NASA as its acquisition agent, will continue the development of the JPSS flight segment (instruments and spacecraft bus) and the ground system.

The FY 2013 proposed funding profile supports a second quarter FY 2017 launch readiness date of the first JPSS satellite to minimize any potential gap in coverage with the Suomi-NPP satellite, and preserves all weather related measurements. Suomi-NPP has a design life extending through the first quarter of FY 2017. FY 2013 funding will be used to support the continued development of critical climate sensors currently underway for measuring ozone, earth radiation and solar irradiance. This includes the accommodation of the earth radiation sensor, CERES, on the first JPSS satellite (JPSS1), and the completion of the first solar irradiance instrument, TSIS-1. The FY 2013 budget request prioritizes continued calibration and validation of data from the Suomi-NPP polar-orbiting weather satellite to meet National Weather Service forecasting needs.

For the GOES-R Program, the FY 2013 budget request will continue development and maintain the projected launch schedule of the four-satellite GOES-R Program. The budget request will allow us to continue ground system and flight development for a GOES-R launch in October 2015.

We will continue to work with NASA to refurbish the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) to support NOAA's operational space weather mission. In FY 2012, the Air Force received an appropriation to support the launch of DSCOVR.

The FY 2013 President's budget requests funds to continue NOAA's contribution to the joint US-EUMETSAT Jason-3 mission.

In closing, NESDIS products and services are foundational to all of NOAA's mission areas, and many Federal agencies along with State and local governments continue to rely on our data. Our dedicated and professional workforce continues to work tirelessly to ensure that our satellites are functioning properly and providing data, and our data and information services are available 24 x 7, 365 days per year to support NOAA's mission, our customers and partners, and the Nation.

Please visit the NOAA website http://www.noaa.gov where NOAA's FY 2013 budget request can be found, including detailed descriptions of our satellite acquisition plans.

We have a unique obligation to provide the best service to the Nation, especially at this time of fiscal constraint. I believe the FY 2013 budget request will provide us with the necessary resources to undertake this important mission. I thank all of you for your continued support of NOAA and its missions.

Sincerely,

Mary E. Kicza

Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services

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