Mr. Robert Willard
Executive Director
National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
1110 Vermont Avenue, NW
Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005-3552
Dear Mr. Willard:
I would like to thank the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) for its efforts in addressing the proposed closure and transfer of function of the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). In response to your request for comments on the NCLIS "Emerging Consensus Position Paper Proposed NTIS Closure and Transfer," I submit the following comments on behalf of the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA).
I. About SIIA and the Information Industry
SIIA is the principal trade association of leading code and content companies involved in the creation, distribution and use of information products, services and technologies. Our more than 1,200 member companies range from large multinationals to entrepreneurial start-ups as well as a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Association includes many traditional and electronic publishers that provide a wide variety of information products and services covering nearly every subject matter imaginable, as well as companies that obtain information from government agencies and incorporate this data into products and services that are then sold to the public. There are thousands of private sector information products and services based in whole or in part on public information. Many of these products and services complement the federal, state and local sources of this information. The private sector information industry therefore plays a key role in promoting and enhancing public access to public information.
SIIA member companies help serve the varied needs of society that obtain information from sources other than government itself, whether for reasons of convenience, privacy, or efficiency. Thus, when discussing access to public records, it is important to remember that users of private sector information products and services are also part of the public. To ensure that this significant segment of government information users continues to have access to the information products and services on which they rely, it is necessary for government to adopt policies which will encourage a diversity of sources for data generated by public institutions.
II. Access to Public Information in the Information Age
Information has long been recognized as playing an essential role in a democratic political system. It is widely accepted that information generated or held by government agencies is a valuable resource that provides the people with knowledge of their government, society, and economy, and with the means to accomplish both public and private goals. Every segment of the American society needs access to public information to function-including governments themselves, business and industry, libraries and schools, the media and ordinary citizens.
Advances in information technology, including computing and telecommunications, have dramatically expanded public access to public information, both directly and through private sector redisseminators. As policymakers grapple with the future of NTIS' role, they can look to an existing framework to address new and recurring problems confronted by agencies. This legal framework-drawing from the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Copyright Act of 1976, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), as well as statutes and case law, agency regulations, and reports from legislative oversight committees-has the salutary effect of promoting the wide dissemination of public information.
SIIA has developed its own set of principles based on the existing framework and the governing precepts of information policy as practiced successfully in the United States. Although these principles are hardly radical, they reflect an adaptation for the Information Age of precepts that have allowed our citizens broad and flexible access to public information that is unparalleled anywhere in the world.
In accord with NCLIS' commitment "to keeping the larger context in mind as it proceeds with both short and longer-term actions" with regards to addressing the "NTIS issue," SIIA requests that the Commission consider this framework and these principles as guidelines. SIIA's principles are summarized as follows:
III. Considerations Regarding the Current and Future NTIS Business Model
In general, NTIS, which is required to be self-sustaining, has adopted the philosophy that the business of government is to be in business. The fact that it must be self-sustaining has driven this philosophy at NTIS and its attendant actions. Largely in order to meet its self-sustaining mandate, NTIS policies have often violated SIIA's good government information policy principles and stretched or extended the boundaries of federal laws and regulations. In some instances NTIS has acted in direct opposition to information dissemination policies contained in OMB Circular A-130-such as duplicating private sector products already available in the market.
NTIS was created to collect and disseminate scientific, technical and engineering information (STEI) which is generated by various federal government agencies. The mandate for transfer of STEI was intended to allow NTIS to become an efficient service to provide information to the American people to aid the drive for increased American competitiveness. However, NTIS' profit-making approach to its operations, aggravated by its monopoly position, is seriously flawed.
In order to fund itself, NTIS was forced to subordinate the public interest to the goal of generating fees. To maximize fees, and therefore revenue to a fund under its control, NTIS tended to act more like a business rather than custodian of taxpayer funded information. It viewed non-government users as competitors and tended to restrict access to the information, charge fees in excess of cost of dissemination, and restrict the recipients' redissemination of the information. NTIS also expanded its mission over the years to collect and disseminate government information outside of its original statutory mandate. These practices discouraged rather than encouraging a diversity of sources for the dissemination of public information.
As the future of the NTIS is considered, SIIA urges policymakers to ensure that the government information policy principles raised here are applied. Providing appropriated funds for the NTIS functions which are inherently governmental to continue will help assure that the public good is met. This will require justification of the expenditures to the appropriators, including the need for the activity as well as the means by which NTIS or its replacement has chosen to proceed. Further, it will provide an opportunity for examination of the activities against a backdrop of the public interest. Even after Congress decides on the future of NTIS, the agency or its replacement will be cognizant that their activities will be scrutinized continuously during future authorization and appropriation cycles. Therefore, legislative oversight will serve both as an opportunity for public input as well as a continuing mechanism for ensuring fairness and practicality.
However, when considering long term solutions to improve the future NTIS business model, providing appropriated funds and requiring the justification of NTIS expenditures will not alone ensure that key government information policy principles are upheld. It is therefore imperative that these principles be applied to any reassignment and ongoing authorization of NTIS functions.
IV. The Cost of Dissemination and "Value-added" Services
While there is general consensus that "dissemination of government information for the public is a governmental obligation," SIIA has concerns regarding the recommendation by NCLIS that "NTIS be allowed to charge for the sale of documents, and to recover information dissemination expenses where certain special, value-added services and assets are provided to its user publics."
As stated in the principles above, government information should be provided at no more than the marginal cost of dissemination. The 1995 PRA prohibits agencies from "establish[ing] user fees for public information that exceed the cost of dissemination." This pricing mechanism encourages the widest possible dissemination of public information. Government's imposition of excessive cost barriers to the development of new information products and services derived from public information will result in fewer information products and services to the public and higher costs to consumers.
The government is in the business of providing public services, not commercial services. In the absence of a public purpose, the private sector rather than the government should be providing any services demanded by information users. For this reason, the government should take into account private sector activities when considering "value-added" dissemination activities, such as technologically advanced methods of indexing and abstracting. The government should not create value-added services and products where public-private partnerships or independent private services and products can efficiently and effectively provide the desired added value for information users.
V. Conclusion
SIIA agrees that additional time is necessary to determine the best possible outcome for the future of NTIS. We look forward to working with NCLIS, NTIS, the Department of Commerce and Congress to assist in this process. Additionally, SIIA welcomes the opportunity to participate on the panel of public and private sector representatives convened by NCLIS to review the revised NTIS business model, particularly with regard to "value-added" services and dissemination activities.
Sincerely,
Ken Wasch
President