February 17, 2000
To: The Honorable Joan R. Challinor,
Commissioner
National
Commission on Libraries and
Information Science
From: Louisa W. Day, President Local 1627
On behalf of the NTIS Bargaining
Unit
Sub: The Union’s Perspective on the future of
NTIS
This is in response
to your request of February 14th concerning the union’s perspective
as to where NTIS should be housed in order to serve the public good in the best
way possible. In particular you wanted to know how the
employees felt about being merged with the Government Printing Office (GPO).
NTIS employees
believe NTIS functions are intrinsically Executive branch functions. We believe that transferring these functions
to the legislative branch will diminish their performance, jeopardize the
seedbed of technical innovation, and compromise maintaining this nation's
predominant position in the global economy.
By maintaining NTIS
functions in the Executive branch, the President and his representatives can
direct them as instruments of Federal scientific and technology policy. After all, the primary rationale for NTIS
enabling legislation in 1970 was to create an executive agency that could build
on the successes of NTIS’ predecessor organizations since World War II in
collecting, preserving, and disseminating the results of Federal R &
D.
Notably, NTIS and its
predecessor organizations have a demonstrated legacy of making vital
contributions to the unparalleled scientific and technical advances in the U.S.
for the past fifty years. Now, we are
entering a new century where we will face increasing challenges in managing and
performing Federal R & D for the benefit of this nation's citizens.
For maximum
flexibility and control by the President in responding to these challenges,
NTIS functions must be maintained in the Executive branch where they can be
nurtured and administered as instruments of Executive policies and
prerogatives.
Recommendation
Therefore, on behalf
of the NTIS Bargaining Unit, the union respectfully recommends the following
alternative as in the best interest of the public good:
Establish NTIS
as an independent entity with oversight from the President’s Science
Advisor. Under this arrangement NTIS
would be in a position to continue building upon its existing status as a
unique and valuable repository of government-sponsored scientific and technical
research.
Justification for Union’s Position
There are several reasons for supporting this option including:
1. NTIS' Experience with Scientific and Technical Information: The United States government invests over 60 billion
dollars annually in government-sponsored research and development. The
dissemination of government scientific and technical research is too important
to the future of the U.S. economy and national prosperity to be relegated to a
tertiary existence within a non-executive agency. Historically, NTIS was created to serve the needs of U.S.
businesses through the dissemination of government research results*.
NTIS has been fulfilling this role successfully for more than 50
years. As an autonomous entity, NTIS
would be afforded the necessary flexibility, resources, knowledge base, focus,
and political backing to meet the needs of U.S. businesses and academia as the
economy transitions further into the Information Age.
2. Maximizing Existing NTIS Relationships and Resources: The Executive branch agencies are the major sources of new
research. The results of this research
are usually contained in the reports generated by the agencies and by their
contractors, sub-contractors and grantees. As an Executive entity, NTIS would
be able to continue building upon its existing close relationships with
Executive branch agencies. NTIS has
been working in partnership with these agencies to further expand the
comprehensiveness of the NTIS collection of scientific, technical, engineering
and business-related reports. Equally
important is that NTIS has been serving as the permanent repository for these
agencies of all government-sponsored scientific and technical research
reports. As a result, their reports are
archived and available in perpetuity.
3. American Technology Preeminence Act (ATPA): Currently, the ATPA requires that Executive branch agencies forward to NTIS the reports of their scientific research. This new arrangement would not only underscore the value of NTIS’ mission, but the oversight of the President’s Science Advisor would also ensure that this important requirement is met by the agencies.
4. Building upon
NTIS’ Cost Recovery Status: NTIS has faced, and continues to face many
challenges as a cost- recovery agency in order to accomplish its mission. Under this proposed arrangement, NTIS would
encounter the least number of constraints and have the best opportunity to grow
in order to ensure the continuation of its unique position as the nation's
repository for Federal scientific and technical research reports. Therefore it is important to place NTIS
within the Executive branch where it could be managed in such a way as to offer
a bridge between government-sponsored and private sector research and
development efforts.
5. Taking
Advantage of Existing Resources: NTIS and its electronic component,
FedWorld, possess the necessary infrastructure, knowledge base, and
adaptability to use technology to meet the government’s acquisition and
dissemination functions that are required in today's digital environment. For another agency to replicate these
resources would be costly, and counterproductive. Instead, NTIS should be
offered an opportunity to build upon their existing assets and to strengthen
its services in the interest of the
public’s good.
Conclusion
For an organization with NTIS’ mission,
this proposed recommendation to establish the agency as a separate entity would
be especially advantageous. Not only
would NTIS have the support and oversight of the President’s Science Advisor,
but as each Administration changes, NTIS would also be in a position to carry
out that administration’s information policy if the policy should change
because of a shift in the political climate.
NTIS’ position as the central source and primary distributor of
government-sponsored research would be ensured and public access to this information
would be simplified. NTIS would then be
able to fully achieve the purpose for its existence—serving the public good
cc: Judith C. Russell, Deputy Director
Robert S. Willard, Executive
Director
Woody
Horton, Consultant