Today, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) sent a letter to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Acting Administrator, Dr. Neil Jacobs, regarding the upcoming release of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC). The EPIC program’s goal is to advance U.S. weather prediction by fostering collaboration within the weather community to address the longstanding gaps in research-to-operations, operations-to-research, and forecasting accuracy.

“When finalizing the RFP, we hope that NOAA will consider recommendations from the hearing and ensure that the RFP appropriately positions EPIC to fulfill its legislative mandate of creating a truly community-driven modeling system that leverages the broader weather enterprise,” said Chairwoman Johnson and Ranking Member Lucas in the letter. “Moreover, we believe that the RFP should result in a single award being issued to ensure EPIC is implemented in a unified manner that prevents fragmentation of the program. The future of U.S. leadership in numerical weather prediction depends on the success of EPIC. It is therefore extremely important that the RFP solicits the best proposals from across the weather enterprise.”

A copy of the full letter can be found here.

The hearing referenced can be found here.