This measure determines the perceived value added by the University Centers (UCs) to their clients. EDA funds UCs to provide technical assistance and specialized services (for example, feasibility studies, marketing research, economic analysis, environmental services, and technology transfer) to local officials and communities. This assistance improves the community’s capacity to plan and manage successful development projects. UCs develop client profiles and report findings to EDA, which evaluates the performance of each center once every 3 years and verifies the data. “Taking action as a result of the assistance facilitated” means to implement an aspect of the technical assistance provided by the UC in one of several areas: economic development initiatives and training session development; linkages to crucial resources; economic development planning; project management; community investment package development; geographic information system services; strategic partnering to public or private sector entities; increased organizational capacity; feasibility plans; marketing studies; technology transfer; new company, product, or patent development; and other services.

The final result from May 2017 was 315,036

This performance indicator measures the number of EDA grants made to communities and regions to help build community and regional capacity for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Tracks the USPTO’s efforts in relation to prioritizing countries of interest for purposes of improved IP protection and enforcement, capacity building, and legislative reform, including creation of country/region strategic plans
and specific action plans.

The public, private sectors, emergency managers, and government institutions at all levels in this country and abroad use NOAA tropical cyclone forecasts to make decisions regarding the protection of life and property. This goal measures the difference between the projected and actual location of the center of tropical cyclones in nautical miles (nm) for the Atlantic Basin, averaged over all the 48-hour forecasts occurring during the calendar year.

* Annual Hurricane Season begins June 1 and ends November 30. The final values are produced after a verification and validation period.

Because tropical cyclones are relatively rare events, this measure can show significant annual volatility. Projecting the long-term trend, and basing out-year goals on that trend, is preferred over making large upward or downward changes to the targets each year.

This measure shows the average number of days to complete an informal ESA Section 7 consultation. Federal agencies must consult with NOAA when any project or action might affect an ESA-listed marine species or a critical habitat. The process begins as informal consultation, but if it is determined that the action is likely to adversely affect a listed species and/or its critical habitat, the consultation must be formal. A large majority of consultations are handled informally.

Number of jobs created through minority business manufacturing and export activity. MBDA tracks job creation and job retention through its national network of Minority Business Centers, Advanced Manufacturing Centers, the Federal Procurement Center, and the American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian Broad Agency Announcements.

This metric will measure BIS's success in reaching the diverse members of the exporting community, including small businesses and underserved community members. As anyone exporting dual-use or less sensitive military items out of the United States is subject to the Export Administration's requirements, BIS has a responsibility to try and reach as many of these parties as possible. Effective outreach efforts by BIS will increase the overall level of exports and ensure that a higher percentage of exports are completed in compliance with export control law and regulations.

Reducing bias in OAR’s Earth System Model is an indicator of the improved skill of precipitation simulation. Bias is defined as the long-term mean (or average over time) difference between a simulated (model generated) value and the observed value. This performance measure will track the reduction in bias (e.g., percent reduction of the current FY21 bias) in U.S. seasonal precipitation simulations in OAR Earth System models based on a percentage of bias in past Earth System models.

The number of anticipated miinority customers reached through marketing and outreach including (but not limited to) social media, email campaigns, website visitors, phone/other promotional campaigns that build awareness of MBDA programs and services; online and in person training; as well as information and/or referral to other federal/state/local resources to assist in business formation and/or growth. Customers are broadly defined and can be persons, business entities and other organizational entities. The number of customers will include email campaign open rates, number of website visitors, virtual and in-person event attendance, and other digital /E-service counts.