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Investment Details

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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 email 202-482-4797
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: 03/31/2025

Total Projects

7

Cost Variance

  • 7Low
  • 0Medium
  • 0High

Schedule Variance

  • 7Low
  • 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

Cost and Schedule Variance color coding is based on absolute values. For example, a +40% variance and a -40% variance are both High/Red.
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Download: Project and Variance Source Data (CSV)
  • This section displays the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Risk ratings for the investment. CIOs rate each investment using a set of pre-established criteria and issue a CIO Evaluation Number that reflects the investment’s ability to accomplish its goals within the current fiscal year. This number ranges from 1 - 5, and the higher it is, the better the investment has been rated to meet its goals.
    CIO Rating Date Comments
    3 Mar 26, 2025 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.04%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 571,415,040. Large increase to NOAA Enterprise HPC Compute in FY25 without supporting O&M funding that is impacted by $20M reduction in FY 2024 and possible hard earmark to program further impacting future capacity. Funding shortfall increases risk starting end of FY2025. Progressing with risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Feb 27, 2025 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.13%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 615,606,912. Large increase to NOAA Enterprise HPC Compute in FY25 without supporting O&M funding that is impacted by $20M reduction in FY 2024 and possible hard earmark to program further impacting future capacity. Progressing with risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Jan 28, 2025 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.18%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 557,214,336. Large increase to NOAA Enterprise HPC Compute in FY25 without supporting O&M funding that is impacted by $20M reduction in FY 2024 and possible hard earmark to program further impacting future capacity. Progressing with risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Nov 22, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.64%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 558,497,587. Large increase to NOAA Enterprise HPC Compute in FY25 without supporting O&M funding that is impacted by $20M reduction in FY 2024 and possible hard earmark to program further impacting future capacity. Progressing with risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Oct 24, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.12%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 540,481,536. R&D HPCS Program rated as Yellow due to funding deficiency and capacity shortfall - $20M reduction in FY2024 will have O&M impacts for FY 2025, 256PF is the ultimate goal to meet 100% requirement. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Sep 17, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.59%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 547,067,240. C6 (Oak Ridge) in Production increased Compute Hours total. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Jul 30, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.59%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 330,356,736. C4 retired at Oak Ridge for drop in compute hours, C6 near production to compensate in Q3. Increase in compute hours is due to allocations starting on C6. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Jun 28, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.59%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 341,368,627. C4 retired at Oak Ridge for drop in compute hours, C6 near production to compensate in Q3. Increase in compute hours is due to allocations starting on C6. Full production in June 2024. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 May 24, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.23%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 330,356,736. C4 retired at Oak Ridge for drop in compute hours, C6 near production to compensate in Q3. Increase in compute hours is due to allocations starting on C6. Full production in June 2024. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Apr 29, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.61%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 348,936. R&D HPCS Program risk challenge is a capacity shortfall identified by NOAA Sci Adv 256PF is the ultimate goal to meet 100% requirement. C6 at Oak Ridge will ad 12PF in Q3. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Mar 27, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.48%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 326,424,000. R&D HPCS Program risk challenge is a capacity shortfall identified by NOAA Sci Adv 256PF is the ultimate goal to meet 100% requirement. C4 retired at Oak Ridge for drop in compute hours, C6 near production to compensate in Q3. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating.
    3 Feb 26, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and consistently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.34%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 420,074,304. R&D HPCS Program risk challenge is a capacity shortfall identified by NOAA Sci Adv 256PF is the ultimate goal to meet 100% requirement. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating. The Human Capital risk continues to be addressed and partially mitigated.
    3 Jan 23, 2024 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.64%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 406,730,880. R&D HPCS Program risk challenge is a capacity shortfall identified by NOAA Sci Adv 256PF is the ultimate goal to meet 100% requirement. Currently approaching 37PF of available HPC. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating. The Human Capital risk continues to be addressed and partially mitigated.
    3 Nov 28, 2023 HPCS continues to be a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.52%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 388,247,520. R&D HPCS Program risk challenge is a capacity shortfall identified by NOAA Sci Adv 256PF is the ultimate goal to meet 100% requirement. Currently approaching 37PF of available HPC. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating. The Human Capital risk is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    3 Oct 30, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.86%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 406,369,880. R&D HPCS Program risk challenge is a capacity shortfall identified by NOAA Sci Adv 256PF is the ultimate goal to meet 100% requirement. Currently approaching 30PF of available HPC.C5 (Gaea) in production at Oak Ridge. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating. The Human Capital risk is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    3 Sep 14, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.53%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 406,369,059. Currently approaching 30PF of available HPC.C5 (Gaea) in production at Oak Ridge. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating. The Human Capital risk is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    3 Jul 24, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.41%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 256,740,240. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating. The Human Capital risk is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    3 Jun 27, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.33%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 246,431,452. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating. The Human Capital risk is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    3 May 30, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.38%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 241,561,913. Progressing with some risk and issues on capacity impacting the rating. The Human Capital risk is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Apr 27, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments:System availability 99.69%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 226,219,294. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Mar 31, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.46%; Data availability 99.94%; Compute hours made available 246,499,756. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Feb 27, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 266,200,000. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Jan 24, 2023 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.56%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 198,942,749. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Nov 28, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.51%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 197,003,286. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Oct 20, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.74%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 199,399,569. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Sep 13, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.53%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 197,097,269. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Jul 26, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.57%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 196,100,030. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    4 Jun 28, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.5%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 196,001,193. Progressing with some risk and issues including a Human Capital risk that is being addressed and partially mitigated.
    3 May 31, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.53%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 196,427,7124. Progressing with some risk and issues.
    4 Apr 27, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability 99.63%; Data availability 100%; Compute hours made available 195,476,748. Progressing with some risk and issues.
    4 Mar 29, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability: 99.58%, Data availability: 99.94%, Compute hours made available: 196,495,054. Progressing as expected with some risk.
    4 Feb 25, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. The HPCS investment is in Operational and Maintenance mode and constituently meets and exceeds performance metrics. Accomplishments: System availability: 99.43, Data availability: 100%, Compute hours made available: 193,623,064. Progressing as expected with some risk.
    4 Jan 27, 2022 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. Accomplishments: System availability: 99.5% (12/2021), Data availability: 100% (12/2021), Compute hours made available: 196,935,139 (12/2021). Progressing as expected with some risk.
    4 Nov 30, 2021 HPCS is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. Accomplishments: System availability: 99.74% (10/2021), Data availability: 100% (10/2021), Compute hours made available: 195,844,721 (10/2021). Progressing as expected with minimum risk.
    4 Oct 27, 2021 HPC is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. Accomplishments: System availability 99.21% (9/2021) Data availability 99.89% (9/2021; Compute hours made available 191,028,850 (9/2021). Human Capital is high risk but is being addressed and is partially mitigated.
    4 Sep 24, 2021 HPC is a constellation of super computers used by NOAA to perform research and development to improve climate and weather models that is meeting the mission requirements in performance. Accomplishments: System availability 98.96% (8/2021); Data availability 99.92% (8/2021); Compute hours made available 192,694,702 (8/2021). Human Capital is high risk but is being addressed and is partially mitigated.
    Download: Historic CIO Rating Source Data (CSV)
  • The Investment Details section views help answer questions about how an investment's financial resources are being utilized, and which funds are being assigned.
    Download: Investment Spending Details Source Data (XLSX)
  • The IT spending visualization below provides the selected IT investment's spending over 5 fiscal years. The IT Investment's spending is further broken down by Operations & Maintenance (O&M) and Development, Modernization, and Enhancement (DME). For each listed fiscal year you will see:
    • Requested amount - The IT $ amount the agency requested from Congress in the President's budget request for that fiscal year.
    • Enacted amount - The IT $ amount Congress actually funded through that fiscal year's appropriation.
    • Actual amount - The IT $ amount the agency actually spent that fiscal year based on what was appropriated by Congress.
    The availability of data for each fiscal year will depend on where in the federal budget process we currently are, and will continue to be updated as the annual appropriations process progresses.

    Download: Investment Spending Details Source Data (XLSX)
  • 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 In Progress 68 0 2024-10-01 2025-09-30 0 0 Not Applicable
    LowMediumHigh
    Download: Project Details Source Data (XLSX)
  • 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 7.5 2024-09-30 MET
    Fairmont HPC System Availability Customer Satisfaction Percentage Monthly 96 Over target 98 99.35 2025-02-28 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 2024-09-30 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 2024-09-30 MET
    Computational Hours made available to users (in Millions) Customer Satisfaction millions of hrs per month Monthly 101.675 Over target 320 571.415 2025-02-28 MET
    HPC Data Availability Strategic and Business Results Percentage Monthly 99 Over target 99 100 2025-02-28 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 2024-09-30 MET
    Percentage uncertainty in possible 21st century sea level rise (0-1m = 100% uncertainty) Customer Satisfaction percentage (%) Semi-Annual 75 Under target 75 75 2024-09-30 MET
    ORNL HPC System Availibility Customer Satisfaction Percentage Monthly 96 Over target 98 99.2 2025-02-28 MET
    Download: Performance Metrics Source Data (XLSX)