U. S. Coast Pilot Print-on-Demand

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS AND SOURCES SOUGHT
PRINT-ON-DEMAND U.S. COAST PILOT

The Office of Coast Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) makes the official United States Coast Pilot®. The Coast Pilot is a 9-volume text supplement to the official nautical charts. It is used aboard all commercial vessels, federal vessels, and on many recreational boats to enhance the safety and efficiency of navigation, and for other purposes.

The traditional version of the Coast Pilot is printed in quantity annually using lithographic technology then stored and sold at wholesale to retail sales agents. This method results in the sale of a gradually obsolescing product with some mariners purchasing a new volume that may require a year's worth of weekly corrections in order to comply with federal chart and publication carriage regulations.

NOAA intends to improve its Coast Pilot updating and publishing practice using Print on Demand technology. With this new approach , NOAA will update the Coast Pilots weekly and provide digital versions in .PDF format to official "Publishing Agents" who will then print from the up-to-date files when copies are ordered. A Publishing Agent will sell Coast Pilots through its own network of retailers and distributors and be compensated by its sales. No funds will be provided by the government.

NOAA intends to accept a limited number of Coast Pilot Publishing Agents. These agents would, of necessity, have to be sufficiently competent technically to manage, assemble, and print the NOAA digital files. These partners would also have to establish a successful sales effort in order to be compensated.

While the weekly updating process is not yet operational, NOAA is establishing the Publishing Agent network as qualified applicants come forward.  Agents will be provided with digital files of the annually-printed Coast Pilot as they are released to use in establishing the Agents' printing, selling, and distribution capability.

NOAA is soliciting questions and comments on its intention, on the Agent Agreement, and is also soliciting non-binding statements of interest from potential Publishing Agents. Respond by e-mail to Thomas.Loeper@NOAA.gov; by fax to 301-713-9312; by letter to Thomas Loeper, Chief, Coast Pilot Branch, Office of Coast Survey, NOAA, (Mail Stop: NOS/OCS/NSD/CPB); 1315 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD, 20910; or by phone to Thomas Loeper, 301-713-2750 x 165.