CEROS' mission is to support the Department of Defense technology requirements; encourage leading edge R&D in ocean sciences and technology in Hawaii; foster use of ocean R&D facilities in Hawaii; provide an interface between specialized small businesses with expertise in ocean related R&D and DoD users of advanced technology; and develop avenues to ocean science expertise and facilities at the University of Hawaii (UH).
Marine Corps communities. Industry and academic representatives heard from DARPA, the Office of Naval Research, Naval Sea Systems Command, Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Command, local operational commands, and other military organizations to better understand the needs of the military. "All of the research must have a real live requirement," Hess says. "There must be metrics." Not surprising, much of the research is aimed at improving the Navy's ability to hunt submarines and conduct special operations, two of the sea services pressing needs."All proposals are evaluated by The CEROS Research Advisory Board for technical merit, innovation, and value according to criteria published in the solicitations," Hess says. The panel reviewed 70 abstracts in 2007 and expects more than 100 in 2008. Each member of the evaluation team independently determines the best proposals based on critical evaluations. After the evaluation team recommendations are compiled, the list is endorsed by a separate Research Advisory Board. Then Hess must present the findings to the Natural Energy Laboratory of the Hawaii Authority (NELHA) board of direcwww.seadiscovery.com
tors before he negotiates the contracts and authorizes work. CEROS supports projects with "transition potential", that is a potential to enter the DoD acquisition stream and actually benefit the nation's defense capabilities. Contract deliverables can be a combination of narrative reports, software, hardware, or a demonstration. In the best case, Hess says, the research can result in follow-on funding for an expanded effort, and actually deliver an operational capability. "The Navy might say that if this company does what they say they can do, we'll commit." The funding per project isn't enormous, but it adds up. Since 1993, the CEROS Research Programs have funded nearly 220 projects at a value of over $80 million. Overhead is low, Hess says, and maintained at less than ten percent. The contracts can mean a lot to a small company. Even a few hundred thousand can provide salaries, facilities, or recapitalization funding for new instrumentations or computing capability. A successful project can be a big breakthrough, and can mean big business in the future. The most recent FY08 solicitation is available at
www.ceros.org Marine Technology Reporter 19
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