Skip to main content

Business Case

Print

Table of Contents

  • Investment Summary Information
  • Investment Detail
  • Investment and Contracts
  • Historic CIO Rating
  • Investment Spending
  • Projects and Activities Detail
Section A: Investment Summary Information
Investment Name
NOAA/OCIO/ NOAA R&D High Performance Computing System (HPCS)
Unique Investment Identifier
006-000380400

Investment Description

High performance computing resources are used for weather and climate research in the development and use of sophisticated numerical models to predict and understand atmospheric and oceanic phenomena.
Agency Department of Commerce
Point of Contact Brian Epley - CIO
Investment Type Major IT Investments
Bureau National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Mission Support Not Applicable
Shared Service Category Not Applicable
Shared Service Identifier Not Applicable
TMF Initiatives
  • Not Applicable
FY 2025 IT Spending $68.77 M
Current CIO Rating 3
Data As Of: 02/26/2026

Total Projects

8

Cost Variance

  • 8Low
  • 0Medium
  • 0High

Schedule Variance

  • 8Low
  • 0Medium
  • 0High

Cost Variance

  • Low: Projects that have <10% Cost Variance
  • Medium: Projects that have ≥10% and <30% Cost Variance
  • High: Projects that have ≥30% Cost Variance
Cost Variance: ((Planned Total Costs - Projected or Actual Total Costs) / Planned Total Cost) x 100

Schedule Variance

  • Low: Projects that have <10% Schedule Variance
  • Medium: Projects that have ≥10% and <30% Schedule Variance
  • High: Projects that have ≥30% Schedule Variance
Schedule Variance: ((Planned Completion Date - Projected or Actual Completion Date) / Project Duration) x 100
Download: Project and Variance Source Data (CSV)
Date Investment First Submitted
09/20/2021
Date of Last Investment Detail Update
02/26/2026
Section B: Investment Detail
  1. Briefly describe the investment's return on investment, including benefits internal and external to the government and outcomes achieved or planned.
Section C: Investment and Contracts

Public URLs

Contracts

Section D: Historic CIO Rating
Data Last Updated On: 09/29/2021
Section E: Investment Spending

Table 1: Distribution by Spending Type

Spending Type PY 2024 CY 2025 BY 2026
DME Costs 0 0 0
O&M Costs 68.267 68.767 0
Total 68.267 68.767 0

Table 2: Distribution by Cost Pools

Cost Pools PY 2024 CY 2025 BY 2026
External Labor 4.926 4.926 0
Facilities & Power 3.53 3.53 0
Hardware 23.51 24.01 0
Internal Labor 4.665 4.665 0
Internal Services 0 0 0
Other 0 0 0
Outside Services 22.861 22.861 0
Software 1.96 1.96 0
Telecom 6.815 6.815 0
Total 68.267 68.767 0
Cost PoolsCost in millions (M)

Table 3: Distribution by IT Towers

IT Tower PY 2024 CY 2025 BY 2026
Application 0.354 0.504 0
Compute 49.822 50.322 0
Data 0 0 0
Data Center 1.051 1.051 0
Delivery 0 0 0
End User 0 0 0
IT Management 3.41 3.41 0
Network 6.09 6.09 0
Output 0 0 0
Platform 0 0 0
Security & Compliance 1.975 1.975 0
Storage 5.565 5.415 0
Total 68.267 68.767 0
IT TowersCost in millions (M)
Data Last Updated On: 02/26/2026
Section F: Project Detail

Table 1: Project Details

Project Name Project UID Status Planned Total Cost ($M) Cost Variance (%) Planned Start Date Planned End Date Schedule Variance (%) Schedule Variance (Days) TMF Initiative
FY21 R&D HPCS O&M 3804M16002 Complete 0 -0.23 0 0 Not Applicable
FY22 R&D HPCS O&M 3804M16002 Completed 63.1 0 2021-10-01 2022-09-30 0 0 Not Applicable
FY23 R&D HPCS O&M 3804M16002 Completed 68 0 2022-10-01 2023-09-30 0 0 Not Applicable
BIL Supplemental Funding - FY 22 Infrastructure IIJA 3804M14012 Completed 80 0 2022-08-01 2024-09-30 0 0 Not Applicable
DSRA Supplemental Funding - FY22 DIS SUPP PL 117-43 3804M14013 Completed 50 0 2022-05-01 2024-09-30 0 0 Not Applicable
FY24 R&D HPCS O&M 3013804001 Completed 68 0 2023-10-01 2024-09-30 0 0 Not Applicable
FY25 R&D HPCS O&M 3013804002 Completed 68 0 2024-10-01 2025-09-30 0 0 Not Applicable
FY26 R&D HPCS O&M 3013804003 In Progress 68 0 2025-10-01 2026-09-30 0 0 Not Applicable
LowMediumHigh

Table 2: Project Related Details

FY21 R&D HPCS O&M
  1. Are information technology investments adequately implementing incremental development methodology? (Y/N)
  2. What is the frequency of incremental development iterations? (ex. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or greater)
  3. Please describe the iterative development methodology being employed. (500 characters or less)
FY22 R&D HPCS O&M
  1. Are information technology investments adequately implementing incremental development methodology? (Y/N)
  2. What is the frequency of incremental development iterations? (ex. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or greater)
  3. Please describe the iterative development methodology being employed. (500 characters or less)
FY23 R&D HPCS O&M
  1. Are information technology investments adequately implementing incremental development methodology? (Y/N)
  2. What is the frequency of incremental development iterations? (ex. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or greater)
  3. Please describe the iterative development methodology being employed. (500 characters or less)
BIL Supplemental Funding - FY 22 Infrastructure IIJA
  1. Are information technology investments adequately implementing incremental development methodology? (Y/N)
  2. What is the frequency of incremental development iterations? (ex. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or greater)
  3. Please describe the iterative development methodology being employed. (500 characters or less)
DSRA Supplemental Funding - FY22 DIS SUPP PL 117-43
  1. Are information technology investments adequately implementing incremental development methodology? (Y/N)
  2. What is the frequency of incremental development iterations? (ex. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or greater)
  3. Please describe the iterative development methodology being employed. (500 characters or less)
FY24 R&D HPCS O&M
  1. Are information technology investments adequately implementing incremental development methodology? (Y/N)
  2. What is the frequency of incremental development iterations? (ex. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or greater)
  3. Please describe the iterative development methodology being employed. (500 characters or less)
FY25 R&D HPCS O&M
  1. Are information technology investments adequately implementing incremental development methodology? (Y/N)
  2. What is the frequency of incremental development iterations? (ex. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or greater)
  3. Please describe the iterative development methodology being employed. (500 characters or less)
FY26 R&D HPCS O&M
  1. Are information technology investments adequately implementing incremental development methodology? (Y/N)
  2. What is the frequency of incremental development iterations? (ex. 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months or greater)
  3. Please describe the iterative development methodology being employed. (500 characters or less)
Section G: Performance Metrics
Metric Description Performance Measurement Category Unit of Measure Reporting Frequency Agency Baseline Capability Measurement Condition Target 2025 CY Latest Actual Result Date of Latest Actual Result Met Target
Cost per teraflop of R&D HPC. This includes all of the costs, including hardware, power, facility, and labor. Financial Performance $/TF Annual 7.096 Under target 8 7.323 2025-09-30 MET
Fairmont HPC System Availability Customer Satisfaction Percentage Monthly 96 Over target 98 99.31 2026-01-31 MET
Climate: Number of regional scale projections for assessments & decision support Strategic and Business Results Number of Projections Semi-Annual 3 Over target 3 3 2026-01-31 MET
Climate: Cumulative number of new decadal prototype forecasts and predictions made with high-resolution coupled climate model Strategic and Business Results Number of Forecasts Semi-Annual 3 Over target 3 3 2025-09-30 MET
Computational Hours made available to users (in Millions) Customer Satisfaction millions of hrs per month Monthly 101.675 Over target 380 698.732 2026-01-31 MET
HPC Data Availability Strategic and Business Results Percentage Monthly 99 Over target 99 100 2026-01-31 MET
Improved treatment of key physical processes in climate models aimed at improving: model performance, understanding of uncertainties, and confidence in climate change projections and predictions. Customer Satisfaction Number of improvements Semi-Annual 3 Over target 3 3 2025-09-30 MET
Percentage uncertainty in possible 21st century sea level rise (0-1m = 100% uncertainty) Customer Satisfaction percentage (%) Semi-Annual 75 Under target 75 75 2025-09-30 MET
ORNL HPC System Availibility Customer Satisfaction Percentage Monthly 96 Over target 98 99.12 2026-01-31 MET