Page 15: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2006)

March 2006 15

Maggie Merrill spent some time with

Dr. Andrew Clark — president of Harris

Corp.’s Maritime Communication sub- sidiary and Industry Liaison for the

National Office for Integrated and

Sustained Ocean Observing (Ocean.US) and the Integrated Ocean Observing

System (IOOS) — at Underwater

Intervention in Tampa, Fla.

MR What is your role with IOOS?

Clark During my term as President of the Marine Technology Society, I was asked to testify before the then just cre- ated U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOPS) — this was so shortly after 9-11 that all the buildings on Capitol

Hill were still shut down over the anthrax scare and we held that session at the Navy Memorial. I emphasized in my testimony that a nationally integrat- ed ocean observing capability (not yet coined as "IOOS") was critical to the nation and that such an ambitious under- taking would require a full partnership with the private sector - particularly

U.S. Industry. This really resonated with the Ocean Commission as in their report, not only was the IOOS among their priority recommendations to the

President, they also emphasized that its success would hinge upon the participa- tion of U.S. Industry. In the interim I wrote a paper for an Oceans conference and an op-ed piece emphasizing the issues. A little over a year ago, I got a call from some of the senior government leadership who are responsible for establishing IOOS saying that they agreed that U.S. Industry must become engaged and asked if I could help.

MR So a classic example of "be careful what you wish for?"

Clark Something like that. Actually, I was honored to be asked and fortunate to be in a position that I could essential- ly "take a sabbatical" from my day job and pitch in. I consider this my "answer to the call of public service." Actually, most of the staff of The Office for

Integrated and Sustained Ocean

Observations (www.Ocean.US ) are also "on loan" from their posts either at other

Federal agencies or from universities and oceanographic institutions around the country. I am only unique in that I was the first recruited from industry.

MR Are there opportunities for marine companies in this IOOS initia- tive and if so, how do they find and respond to them?

Clark Yes there are. Actually, as we speak, there is an RFQ (Request for

Quotations) that has just been posted seeking firms who are interested in pro- viding conceptual designs for IOOS. By the time this interview runs, these response will have been received and in the evaluation process. Prior to this, two other awards were already made; one to

Boeing and the other to Northrop-

Grumman, to develop some demonstra- tion products of how IOOS could address some of the complex problems faced by NOAA and the U.S. Navy.

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Q&A with Dr. Andrew Clark: Industry Opportunities in IOOS

Q&A

Emily Speight, Marine Technology Society and

Dr. Andrew Clark, Industry Liaison for IOOS. (Photo credit: Maggie L. Merrill)

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