In response to Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (Public Law 106-554), and to implement guidelines issued by the Office of Management and Budget, NOAA has issued Information Quality Guidelines for ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information which it disseminates. The NOAA guidelines also establish an administrative mechanism allowing affected persons to seek and obtain correction of information that does not comply with OMB or NOAA applicable guidelines.
NOAA Information Quality Guidelines
OMB's Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review (OMB Peer Review Bulletin) directs federal agencies to adopt or adapt the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) policy for evaluating conflicts of interest when selecting peer reviewers who are not federal government employees. (Federal employees are subject to federal ethics requirements.) NOAA has adapted the NAS policy. The OMB Peer Review Bulletin and the NOAA conflicts policy as adapted ("NOAA COI Policy") appear below.
Disclosure forms for non-federal government peer reviewers, per NOAA COI Policy:
Confidential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form for General Scientific and Technical Studies and Assistance (Microsoft Word file) (Editable pdf fillable form)
Confidential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form for Studies Related to Government Regulation (Microsoft Word file) (Editable pdf fillable form)
Saving a completed fillable pdf form in Adobe Reader: The free version of Adobe Reader does not presently allow the user to directly save a completed form. However, this can be accomplished indirectly as follows:
- Completely fill out the form; edit it for mistakes; sign it. Select File>Print… The Print box will appear. Click on the drop-down menu for printer selection and select “Adobe PDF.”
- Click “Print.” Rather than printing a paper copy of the document, Reader will produce a .pdf file. Enter a unique name and save it to somewhere you can find it again. This file is a new .pdf file with your entries. Submit this version, along with a copy of your CV, to the NOAA office coordinating the peer review.