A Financial Plan for Marine Science 



251 



The Commission has not been asked and 

 has not undertaken to judge where a marine 

 program should stand on the list of national 

 spending priorities. This is for the Congress 

 and the President to decide. However, the 

 Congress requested the Commission to pro- 

 pose "an overall plan for an adequate nation- 

 al oceanographic program * * * with esti- 

 mated cost." Although we found it difficult 

 to comply with this mandate, we recognized 

 its importance and have done our best. Cost 

 estimates have been provided throughout our 

 report ; this chapter brings the estimates from 

 the previous chapters together into an overall 

 financial plan. 



The Commission recognizes the difficulty of 

 planning programs or assuring proper fund- 

 ing levels under a system of annual program 

 justifications and appropriation. In exam- 

 ining the history of Federal support for ma- 

 rine activities, the Commission has been re- 

 minded many times of the difficulties caused 

 by substantial changes in appropriations 

 from year to year. In some cases, severe bud- 

 get cuts for a single year have effectively 

 nullified the value of years of work and 

 expenditure. 



To mount the national effort recommended 

 by the Commission will require a buildup 

 over the years of qualified personnel and 

 suitable facilities. The Commission feels 

 strongly that the buildup should take place at 

 a rate which can be sustained. Attempting too 

 ambitious a start could cause the program to 

 face erratic support in later years. 



The Commission's Approacii to 

 Cost Estimates 



The cost estimates presented by the Com- 

 mission are necessarily subject to a number 

 of definitions, assumptions, and limitations; 

 these should be made explicit. 



The methods of costing the individual 

 parts of the recommended program differed 

 widely one from the other. In some cases we 

 have simply identified a desired level of ef- 

 fort. In other cases we have relied on our 

 knowledge of similar projects in Government 

 or industry. Estimates for research support 

 are geared to a large extent to estimates of 

 the scientific manpower likely to be available. 

 Tliere is therefore an inevitable uncertainty 

 surrounding the Commission's cost estimates. 



The figures prepared by the Commission 

 are presented in terms of constant 1969 dol- 

 lars and represent the incremental amounts 

 over existing budget levels which appear 

 likely to be required over the next 10 years 

 to carry out the Commission's recommenda- 

 tions. 



The Nation is already spending large sums 

 for marine and atmospheric scientific inves- 

 tigations and services and will continue to 

 spend large amounts regardless of the action 

 taken on our report. The Commission has 

 recommended expansion of several programs 

 and initiation of others, but its recommenda- 

 tions also are designed to assure the most 

 efficient use of whatever amounts may become 

 available in the future. 



The funding problem for the marine pro- 

 gram is quite different from that which ac- 

 companied the launching of the space pro- 

 gram. The National Aeronautics and Space 

 Administration was entrusted with the or- 

 ganization of a new program which had 

 very few antecedents and which was placed 

 on a timetable requiring a very rapid buildup 

 of scientific and engineering effort. The ob- 

 jective of the Commission's proposal, in con- 

 trast, is to emphasize and rationalize pro- 

 grams which, for the most part, are already 

 in existence and which are already returning 

 benefits to our people. 



Furthermore, the programs which would 

 be brought within NOAA already are ptow- 



