C. Responsibilities and Program Assignments

Line Managers (Institute and Center Directors, Division
and Section Chiefs) will be responsible for developing
plans and executing and reporting programs at their respec-
tive levels. Section and Division Chiefs will concur in

the technical feasibility of program plans.

Project Leaders will be responsible for project planning, execution and reporting, and will prepare the NBS 228s.

Subelement Managers

will be responsible for program

planning, execution and reporting. They will review
NBS 228s and will prepare program documentation as needed
by the Subcategory Manager.

Subcategory Managers will be responsible for subcategory planning, execution and reporting. They will annually prepare a Subcategory Document and will make presentations to the Director and Executive Board of Subcategory accomplishments, plans, reprogramming, and proposed new initiatives and expansions.

Executive Board will be responsible for specific goals, objectives, and guidelines for planning and programming at NBS. Based on critically evaluated Subcategory Documents and Subcategory Presentations, the Executive Board will establish programmatic priorities for NBS. The Board will review the Budget Justification Document (BJD) that is prepared by the Budget Division and will be responsible for establishing the final budget priorities.

Program Office I will have oversight of the planning/ programming phases and will have responsibility for organizing the Executive Board Long-Range Planning Conference, Executive Board Strategy Conference, Strategy Feedback Conference, Program Reviews, the Program Priorities Conference, and the Priorities Feedback Conference. The Office will conduct program analysis, including critical analysis of the SD and BJD. The Office will prepare the Preview Memorandum which informs the Secretary of Commerce of programmatic plans for the forthcoming year.

Budget Division

will have oversight of the budgeting/ budget execution phases and will have responsibility for coordinating all external budget liaison. The Division will prepare the BJD and the Fiscal Plan for NBS. The Division will establish SD formats and will suggest improvements in specific SDs.

Management and Organization Division

will prepare and maintain the Management Calendar for planning, programming, and budgeting, The Division will establish NBS 228 formats and manage a central file of the documents, including auditing of cost centers to measure file completeness. (See p. 7 for Program Assignments.)

D. Terminology

The following chart is given to show the relationship of organizational terms used in this book,

Complete procedures for the Long-Range Planning Conference
(A, B, and C) were provided to the Executive Board in
Dr. Sorrows' memo of July 8, 1976.

Although the planning process is the same as that used last
year (i.e., is in keeping with comments at last year's
Executive Board critique session), there are two significant
changes:

• Topic Selection is by the MOU manager rather than by
the Program Office. The MOUS, as the responsible
parties, should initiate the discussion of strategies
and objectives.

• Executive Board Strategy Conference (new) provides
closure to the planning process in a formal definitive
way rather than the rather informal (one-to-one
discussion and regular Executive Board meetings) way
it ended last year.

The long-range planning process is described by milestones,
a flow chart, and Conference agenda (Figures 1, 2, and 3);
further details follow here:

Trends

Long-range planning formally began on August 20 when the
Program Office forwarded to the Executive Board a descrip-
tion of the climate for Bureau-level planning for 1979-1985.
Areas of specific concern to MOUS (e.g., materials,
information processing) were given only brief coverage, if
any, with the expectation that trends in these areas would
be covered comprehensively in the MOU planning documents.

Trend/Scenario/Strategy Preparation

On the basis of the Bureau-level climate and program-level .
trends, the Institutes, OADA, and OADIP each prepare detailed
Trend/Scenario/Strategy papers on topics of major concern to
the Bureau programs and operations under their subcategories
and/or general responsibility. The format and general rationale
are the same as last year. The T/S/S papers will be made avail-
able to the Executive Board by September 24. They will highlight
important strategic issues and options for Executive Board
consideration.

Executive Board Long-Range Planning Conference

October 7-8, 1976

This Conference provides the Executive Board with an opportunity
to hear and discuss important trends with external experts. On
the first day (October 7), a group of outside speakers with
expertise in various segments of society and the economy presents
views on current developments relevant to NBS. The second day of
the Conference (October 8) consists of a review of major trends
in the NBS environment and presentations by the Executive Board
of long-range T/S/SS for their MOUS.

Presentations by outside speakers:

- EMERGING NATIONAL POLICY ISSUES: POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Richard Darman, Assistant Secretary for Policy, DOC

OPPORTUNITIES AND UNMET NEEDS OF MEASUREMENTS, STANDARDS, AND DATA
Norman Hackerman, President, Rice University

- CRITERIA FOR THE FEDERAL ROLE IN R&D

Daniel Kearney, Associate Director, Economics and Government Division, OMB

THE ECONOMIC PARAMETER IN THE FUTURE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Carl Madden, Professor, School of Administration, The American University CONGRESSIONAL PERCEPTIONS OF FEDERAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Tom Kramer, Science Consultant, Subcommittee on Science, Research, and
Technology

THE FEDERAL/INDUSTRIAL R&D PARTNERSHIP: PROBLEMS AND DIRECTIONS
Paul Chenea, Vice President, Research Laboratories, General Motors
Corporation

Executive Board Strategy Conference
November 9, 1976

The major change in the planning process from last year is a greater emphasis on strategy development. Following the Long-Range Planning Conference, the Program Office will forward a summary/critique of the Conference and a Bureau-level Trend/Scenario/Strategy paper to the Executive Board in the third week of October. This summary will form the basis for an Executive Board Strategy Conference for final debate and decision on Bureau objectives and strategies for FY 1979 and beyond. Principal Programmatic Objectives for FY 1979 will be developed at this Conference.

Strategy Feedback Conference
November 23, 1976

The planning process will culminate in a brief Strategy Feedback Conference during which the Director will outline Bureau goals, objectives, and strategies for FY 1979 and beyond for the Program Managers.