Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Nautical Discrepancy and Data Reporting System

The Department of Commerce will submit the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on June 9, 2026, during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

Title: Nautical Discrepancy and Data Reporting System.

OMB Control Number: 0648-0007.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Request: Regular submission. Revision and extension of a currently approved information collection.

Number of Respondents: 1,135.

Average Hours per Response: 10 minutes: Project Status Report Forms; ASSIST Discrepancy Reports: 30 minutes.

Total Annual Burden Hours: 641.

Needs and Uses: This request is for a revision to and extension of the currently approved Nautical Discrepancy and Data Reporting System (System). The System consists of both the Aimed Stakeholder Interaction and Survey Tool (ASSIST) and the Project Status Report Forms, which include the Permit/Public Notice Status Report, the Artificial Reef/Mariculture Status Report, and the Submerged Pipeline Status Report forms.

NOAA's Office of Coast Survey (Coast Survey) is the nation's nautical chart maker, maintaining and updating over a thousand charts covering the 3.5 million square nautical miles of coastal waters in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and the Great Lakes. The marine transportation system relies on charting accuracy and precision to keep navigation safe and coastal communities protected from environmental disasters at sea.

Coast Survey also writes and publishes the United States Coast Pilot ® (Coast Pilot), a series of ten nautical books that supplement nautical charts with essential marine information that cannot be shown graphically on the charts and is not readily available elsewhere. Coast Pilot information includes, but is not limited to, channel descriptions, anchorages, bridge and cable clearances, tides and tidal currents, prominent features, pilotage, towage, weather, ice conditions, wharf descriptions, dangers, routes, traffic separation schemes, small craft facilities, and Federal Regulations applicable to navigation.

The marine environment and shorelines are constantly changing. Coast Survey makes every effort to update information portrayed in nautical charts and described in the Coast Pilot. The purpose of the System is to offer a formal, standardized instrument to information sources that facilitates corrections and updates and also monitors and documents the changes Coast Survey makes to nautical charts and the Coast Pilot.

Information sources include, but are not limited to, pilot associations, shipping companies, towboat operators, state marine authorities, city marine authorities, local port authorities, marine operators, hydrographic research vessels, naval vessels, Coast Guard cutters, merchant vessels, fishing vessels, pleasure boats, U.S. Power Squadron Units, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Units, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

As stated above, the System consists of both ASSIST and the three Project Status Report Forms. Coast Survey uses ASSIST ( www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/​customer-service/​assist/​) to receive discrepancy reports and construction notifications in the form of USACE-issued Public Notices, Permit Applications, and Permits, which could include a proposal or authorization to dredge and/or construct, remove, or abandon structures. Coast Survey vets these Public Notices, Permit Applications, and Permits for the potential of a charting action, and then registers them into a database.

Coast Survey uses the three Project Status Report Forms ( i.e., the Permit/Public Notice Status Report, the Artificial Reef/Mariculture Status Report, and the Submerged Pipeline Status Report forms) to determine the status of USACE-permitted projects and obtain as-built and/or survey data associated with the completion of these projects. The Project Status Report Forms give USACE permittees a standardized way to notify Coast Survey of the status of their projects so that the as-built and survey data can be used by Coast Survey for nautical charts and the Coast Pilot. Permittees are asked to notify Coast Survey of the completion of their projects. Permittees may find blank Project Status Report Forms on the Coast Survey website, or permittees may request an email version of the forms from Coast Survey. Coast Survey periodically mails customized versions of the Project Status Report Forms to permittees, requesting information on the completion status of their permitted projects. The Project Status Report Forms are also periodically mailed to permittees as a way of gathering information regarding ongoing permitted projects. A permittee's use of these forms enables Coast Survey to capture complete, registration-ready source packages that require less ( printed page 56642) frequent correspondence with the permittee prior to source registration. In other words, use of the forms is instrumental in accelerating the availability of important, and possibly critical, nautical data to Coast Survey's cartographic production branches for charting action.

Coast Survey has made several updates to one of the Project Status Report Forms: The Permit/Public Notice Status Report form. These changes ensure that third-party data meets Coast Survey's quality standards required for authoritative charting. Key enhancements to the Permit/Public Notice Status Report form include expanded data collection for hydrographic surveys, such as construction start and end dates and specific units or datums for both Vertical and Horizontal Coordinate Reference Systems. To align with modern open-data policies, a new Data License section has been added to the Permit/Public Notice Status Report form, offering CC0-1.0 or CC-BY-4.0 equivalency and directing users to the Coast Survey data licensing website for further details. Structurally, the Permit/Public Notice Status Report form now features a dedicated second page for “Special Instructions,” providing more granular technical guidance than previous versions. Additionally, the contact section of the Permit/Public Notice Status Report form now requires a Company/Organization Name. This change facilitates better customer service and serves as a vital link for resolving nautical discrepancies with information sources. The Citizen Science Chart Update Project is complete and that collection is being removed from this OMB Control Number.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; state, local, and tribal government; universities; individuals or households; not for-profit institutions, professional and other mariners, etc.

Frequency: On occasion.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

Legal Authority: None.

This information collection request may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website: www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number 0648-0007.