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Part I. Overview– The plan assumes that funds will be appropriated to Executive Agencies as a part of the normalbudget process, and that the funds will be earmarked for DMAC. The exact mechanismfor appropriation and allocation to DMAC is outside the scope of this plan (for details, referto the IOOS Implementation Plan, Parts I and II).– It is assumed that Agencies will apply earmarked DMAC funds to the execution of the activitiesin this plan, under the coordination of a DMAC Program Management Office.– The cost model is designed to support the Data Management and Communications subsystemof the IOOS only; costs for sensors, data ingest, modeling, and end user capabilities arenot included. Specifically, the DMAC does not include the costs of the observing subsystemsnor the modeling and analysis subsystem, although those components are part of the IOOS.– The cost model is transparent with respect to the origin of the observation type; e.g. remotelysensed data would be within scope, but only from the point at which the data enter the IOOS,not including data providers’ sites.– The overall costs of the plan were not derived by comparison to like systems; indeed, it is notbelieved that a comparable system of the magnitude of IOOS exists today. Rather, the costestimates were derived by a combination of level of effort analysis and estimates of the magnitudeof system capacity required. It is fully anticipated that the planned Systems EngineeringTasks will provide more refined estimates of acquisition and integration costs.• Pilot Projects - The goals of the Pilot Projects are to provide proof-of-concept demonstrationsand advanced technology development and integration. Given these goals, it should be notedthat the cost estimation for Pilot Projects is much less precise than that for the labor costs of thethree subsystems. Pilots are intended to move components from the developmental to the operationalstage.– Pilot Projects include both design and demonstration, depending on the level of maturity ofthe underlying technology. The program assumes an approximate division of 60% for designand 40% for demonstration.• Labor by Subsystem – This category reflects the labor costs to develop system capabilities andreach a Full Operating Capability by Year 5.– “Program Integration Labor” consists of the total cost of labor for the development and integrationactivities of the three segments: Metadata and Data Discovery (including On-lineBrowse), Data Archive and Access, and Data Transport. Labor costs are based on a standardcontractor rate of $180,000 per annum, except for staffing of the AA, at $100,000 per annum.The exact distribution of the labor costs can be determined from the Phased ImplementationPlan, Part II of this document. The DMAC Subsystem has been conceived to minimally impactthe freedom of individual data providers to make independent data management choices.Yet providers of data—Federal, regional, commercial, etc.—will nonetheless incur significantexpenses creating metadata that conforms to DMAC (FGDC) standards and configuringthe Data Transport software components that will make their data accessible to others. Thesecosts are included under “Program Integration Labor.”43